Week 2

There is this book that I read a few years ago that has a quote in it I really like. It's called Evening Class, but anyways, that's not too important. In the book two of the characters are talking and one of them, named Lou, says to the other, "I don't know Aiden, are you sure there really is a Heaven at all?" To which Aiden replies, "Honestly? I get more and more sure of it everyday." I love that quote and Aiden's response describes exactly how I have been feeling lately. The more time I spend on a mission and here at the MTC the more and more sure I become that there is a Heaven. That Heavenly Father is real and loves us and that we are His children. So many amazing blessings have already been poured out on me. Haha sometimes I feel overly blessed! I love the strong spirit that is here at the MTC.

Anyways, thanks again to everyone who has written me! I love love love mail time (I always sing the song from Blue's Clues). I am going to try to write a lot more people individual letters today but if I don't get to everyone this week know that I love you and hope you are doing well. Mom and Dad thank you so much for all your cute cards. And yes, I got the package. Mom you are so good at picking out things you know I would like- thank you!! Also as a random side note, I love the scarfs we bought. I wear them all the time. Tell William congrats on all the drama stuff! I wish I could be there to see you. You'll have to film part of the play so I can see it when I get home. How are all the dates going?? Driving the ladies crazy yet haha? Also a big thanks to Julia and Jake for their dearelders. Julia I love how you always put something from mylifeisaverage at the end. Haha seriously they always make me laugh.

So things here are going really well! So much has been happening, it seems like I have been here for longer than two weeks. Ali Tingey actually came in last week and I see her all the time! We usually have lunch either before or after each other so we see each other in passing. I also have seen a lot of people from school who work here at the MTC. That's always a lot of fun even though I usually don't have much time to talk to them. So time for random stories. I'll start with some more funny ones. A few days ago we had a fire alarm go off at like 7:00 in the morning! And guess where I was? THE SHOWER. (We had gym that morning, that's why I was showering later). So the alarm goes off and Sister Pierson and I have to jump out of the shower. Everyone was already gone so we hurry and throw on our PJs and run outside. We burst through the doors and of course...there's like 50 elders all dressed standing there! Hahahaha talk about embarrassing! It turns out some sister burnt popcorn. I don't know why she was making popcorn so early but whatever.

Tuesday was "magic Tuesday". The other Dutch district wouldn't tell us what it was but they kept making a really big deal about it. Hahaha so it came and...it was magical. Without going into detail it involved some special medical tests that only those going to Belgium have to have. Haha we could not stop laughing all day and when the new dutch district comes in a month we are definitely not telling them!

So our mission has actually changed. I'm not sure, maybe you have already heard, but it is now going to be the Amsterdam, Netherlands Mission. They are combining the French speaking side of the mission with the Paris France mission. It doesn't change a whole lot for us except for the mission home. We will still have parts of Belgium in our mission.

So my companion and I finally got our progressing investigator. A progressing investigator is really just a teacher, but they get a person and then we get to take them from meeting them, through all the lessons, and hopefully to baptism. It's really really cool because now we can actually start planning our lessons with a person in mind. We've taught the first lesson quite a few times already, but it's been hard because when we go into the TRC we don't know too much background about the people and sometimes they don't play the part well. Our progressing investigators name is Al. He's married, has two sons, and is a computer programmer. We didn't get to meet with him very long but we have an appointment to start teaching him the first lesson on Friday. Yeahh. :)

Dutch is coming along. It's definitely getting harder now, but as always, the Lord is blessing me! We're working on contacting more in Dutch and starting the 1st Lesson in Dutch as well. Oh and I have the first vision memorized! I was very happy/proud, but it a good way, of myself for being able to memorize it quickly. Here it is: "Ik zag recht boven mijn hoofd een lichtkolom, de helderheid van de son overtreffend, die geleidelijk neerdaalde tot zij op mij viel...toen het licht op mij russte, zag ik twee Personen, wier glans en heerlijkheid elke beschriving tarten, boven mij in de lucht staan. Een van Hen sprak tot mij, mij bij de naam moemand, en zei, wijzend op de ander: Dit is mijn geliefde Zoon. Hoor Hem!" I think it is so beautiful! I love teaching about the Restoration. There is such a special spirit that always enters the room. My testimony of Jospeh Smith is growing more than it ever has before. On Sunday night we watched the Joseph Smith movie and I kept getting goosebumps. I love the ending verse, "Shall we not go on in so great a cause?" Ahh just typing it gives me goosebumps. How I love being a missionary. Random fact-I have the bad habit of always saying "I know my companion is true" in Dutch instead of "I know my companion is right." Haha I also frequetly introduce myself as Zuster Pierson.

This week I have been working a lot of patience. There's a Christlike attributes test in PMG and patience was what I scored lowest on. So that's been my goal. I've been praying to understand the Lord's hand in my life more and it's really been working. I think it was on Saturday maybe, but I had a really discouraging afternoon. I don't know what it was but I could not get myself to be happy or to feel positive about anything. It was snowing outside and for some reason for the first time I felt really lonely. So I decided that I needed to read my scriptures and write in my journal. As I did, the most wonderful thing happened. I know this is going to sound really corny, but I turned and look at the window again and it the middle of the sky the sun broke through the snow and everything looked all light up. I felt this rush of love from my Heavenly Father. I felt the need to pray to thank Him and as I did tons of memories came rushing into my head of times when I have felt or seen the love of God in my life. It was a very peaceful moment and I received a lot of comfort and guidance that I needed. I know that Heavenly Father knows each of us personally and has such a plan for our lives. It is amazing. The power of prayer is very real.

Oh goodness, so much more to say. Sunday was incredible. Janice Kapp Perry came and spoke in RS which was so cool! She talked all about the power of hymns in teaching. She had us all sing a bunch of her songs together. We sung A child's prayer, I love to see the temple, I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ, I'm trying to be like Jesus, and Armies of Helamen. Everyone is the room was crying and I swear the spirit was almost tangible. I love the hymns of this church. In choir this week we sung Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer. Wow. There was so much power when we sung! Songs carry such a powerful testimony in them.

Know that I love you all and that I am doing well so there is no need to worry. The other Dutch district leaves on Monday! I am really going to miss them. Especially Sister Reber and Garvin. They are such amazing sisters. I hope I get the chance to serve with them again in the field. Oh and if you could keep praying that my FBI clearance will come that would be great. There have been a lot of problems with Visas lately. Remember prayer really does work! Time's up! Jammer. Oh well, hope everyone is doing splendid.

all my love--Zuster Holbein

The Big Debute: Welcome to the MTC

This is Jane's first letter from the MTC! Enjoy!

People I love! I don't know why, but trying to figure out all this email stuff has been so crazy. It has eaten up lots of my time! Oh well, I'm a lot faster at typing than letter writing so hopefully I can get everything out. (Please excuse spelling errors.) :) So today is P-day and I am so happy to be able to write because I have so much to tell! First of all, happy birthday mommy! I thought about you yesterday and sang happy birthday in my head. I'm glad you like the presents I gave you before I left. Haha did you go and make the exchanges? Anyway, you are wonderful and I hope you had the best day. Also, thank you so much to everyone who has sent me dear elders. They make my day! Haha and everyone in my district gets jealous when I get a bunch from home and then from my wonderful roommates. The love and support I feel from everyone means so much. So how is home? William- how's school and the musical? Don't forget, we're all in this together. Hahaha oh the jokes. I do miss everyone but I am so happy to be here! OK, there is so much to say and so little time to say it. Sorry if things seem a little disorganized, I need to try and outline this better next week. So like I said, I LOVE THE MTC. Really, really, everything is so great. It's definitely an emotional roller coaster, but for the most part I love every minute of it. I have never been so busy in my entire life. And it is definitely the most challenging thing mentaly I've ever done. So I'll try and run through everything. My companion is Zuster Pierson. She's from West Jordan, Utah and she's great! I totally lucked out. She's super quiet though which is funny since I am so loud. We work well together though. She is always telling me how happy she is to have me as a companion because I help bring her out of her shell. I'm happy she is mine because she is a wonderful example and a hard worker. We live with two other sisters going to the Netherlands as well. They are six weeks ahead of us though, so their Dutch is really good! They're a big help though and we have a great time laughing in our room. Their names are Sister Garvin and Rebber. I love all of the sisters here! The rooms remind me of the freshman dorms only we are told to act with "quiet dignity" hahaha. There is always a good spirit around and sisters are so open to helping each other with everything. There are two Dutch districts and we are all going to the same mission. Together we make up our zone and then our branch includes the Norwegian, Swedish, and Icelandic missionaries. There aren't many sisters but the ones that are here are great. I love my district! Besides my companion and I we have ten other elders- Elders Lutkin (from Scotland), Hawkley, Wilken, Frahm, Baddoni, Norton (District leader), Leash, and Seaman. Love, love, love these elders. They are all such hard workers and our district has already gotten really close. Zuster Pierson and I like to say we think of them as our lost boys and we are Wendy haha. Sometimes they definitely act 19 though. Like when we are trying to decide on our word of the day and they like to look up words like "self-suicide squad." They are always being told how lucky they are to have sisters though so they respect us. They'll stand up when we enter a room, take our trays at lunch, all that stuff. It's very nice haha sometimes I feel bad! Anyways, funny fact, especially for mom, but one of the Dutch elders in the other district is Elder Osmond....yep, Donny Osmonds kid! Hahaha he looks EXACTLY like his dad and he can sing really well. I like to sing Mulan to him or parts from Joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat. Hahaha it's great. Wow, time is going by fast! OK the language- Dutch is hard!!! But I love it and I'm actually learning it. I think my english is getting worse actually. I don't know who came up with the Dutch language but they must have been on drugs or something because there are so many crazy words. "Tjonge Jonge" and "Jammer" are my two favorites. They mean "oh my goodness" or "shoot dang!" as elder seaman puts it and "Bother!" The gutteral actually isn't too bad. We now say all our prayers in Dutch, bear testimony in Dutch and are learning the first lesson. I want to try and give a quick run down of each day. So Wednesday was day one and it was very overwhelming. I felt like there was so much to remember and rules and just all this stuff. Yet I still felt the spirit. Everyone here is SO happy! I honestly don't remember too much about Wednesday, it was such a blur. Thursday we had a lot of class and they taught us how to pray and bear testimony. I saw Daniel in gym which was way cool. Friday we had our service at 6:30 in the morning and we went and cleaned stairwells in one of the buildings. I was tiring but we had a lot of fun doing it. Friday we had our large group meeting for new missionaries and I got to say the prayer! Our district likes to try and sit in the front row and every meeting and try and get one of us to say the prayer. So far we have always succeeded, it's really fun. Our district loves to sing in Dutch, which always makes me laugh because sometimes we aren't very good. There are a lot of Dutch hymns that we don't have though that I like. They are peppy and fun to sing. Actually, they kind of sound like drinking songs...who knows. Saturday we started working in the TAAL lab (taal means language in Dutch) and that's a ton of fun. We get to look up words and phrases and play games to learn. The elders love looking up food words haha so we can say things like "my pie is goed" (funny story, but I think you had to be there). Sunday was amazing! All the sisters meet for Relief society together and then after we had another new sisters meeting and which my collega (companion) got to say the prayers. Random side note-learning Dutch has made me realize a lot of funny things that were said in the best two years. Haha I can't wait to come home and watch it again. Sacrament meeting here is way different. We meet with the rest of the branch and we don't know who is giving talks until we get there. Everyone is supposed to write a talk on a given topic and then they surprise us and tell us who is speaking! It's crazy but good because it gives us lots of talks. We went to the temple and took pictures after church which was great. Oh and our district joined the choir so we go and do that. Monday we had our first teaching experience. The first part was in Dutch, poor man, and then the first lesson in English. OK, I'm about out of time and I have so much more to say. Jammer! Know that I love you all and I'm doing fine. There are definitely moments of discouragement but my testimony is growing more than it ever has before and I know this is what the Lord needs of me. We're on our way to the temple after this and I'm excited to be in the Lord's house. The church is true! I love you all. Read Alma 31, I love it. Sorry this email is so random. Tot ziens. Zuster Holbein. :)

3 days till I leave for Provo. 5 days till I enter the MTC. :)

Has time really gone by that fast? It still seems almost unreal to me. Is it really time? Am I ready? Have I finally grown a foot or two?

I think I'm ready. Well, as ready as you can be. I still need to finish packing, print pictures I want to take, buy more socks (I keep forgetting to do that), and various other random things. But I feel ready inside. I have wanted to serve a mission since before I can remember and the time is finally here! I feel like my legs have permanent jumpies lately, I can never sit still.

My dad spoke with the mission president here in Kentucky a couple of months ago and asked him what was the most important thing for missionaries to do to prepare. Read the Book of Mormon? Study Preach My Gospel? Surprisingly, that's not what he said. He said that the most important thing for a missionary to do to prepare is to know why they were going to serve. I love that answer. If you think about it, that really is one of the most important things. I can read the scriptures and study all I want, but if I don't know why I am going to serve a mission, it won't mean much. When times get hard, which I know they will, there won't be that motivating force behind me to keep me going.

So, I want everyone to know why I am going to serve a mission. It isn't because anyone told me to. It isn't because I feel pressure or any other outside force. It is because I know that Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ love me. Because they love me, I have been blessed with so many amazing things in my life, the biggest one being the gospel of Jesus Christ. I would be lost without it. It has changed my life. The knowledge of who I am and the blessings that are available to me not just in this life, but for eternity, if I am a worthy member of this church, bring me so much joy! The gospel brings light into my life. As I have felt of my Father in Heaven and Savior's love for me, the gospel has become more and more important to me, it has become who I am. As I have felt joy and appreciation for all of these blessings, I feel like I can no longer contain all of this love- I have to share it with others. It would be selfish of me not to. The world needs this gospel. And there are people waiting and ready to accept it! At night when I pray, I love thinking and praying for the people in Belgium and The Netherlands that I will meet. I want them to know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love them. I want them to know of the blessing and happiness that are found in this gospel. I love them. I don't even know them yet, but I do.

I know that this church is true. It's a simple statement, but I mean it. In the hardest of times in our lives we frequently become desperate for answers. I can promise with a testimony that has come from real experiences in my life, that the answer is always found in the gospel. In times of doubt, when you are looking for peace, when you want to be happy, when you feel weak, when you need to make a decision, when you begin to doubt, when you want courage, when life just seems hard, the Gospel of Jesus Christ has the answers that you need. The Gospel is REAL. Everything that we need in life can be found in the principles and ordinances of the gospel. I know that our Savior lives. This past month I have had the privilege of serving in Primary. There is a new song that the children have been learning that has touched my heart. It talks of times when Christ was with the children. I love the message of the first verse- "A long time ago in a beautiful place, children were gathered round Jesus. He blessed and taught as they felt of his love, each saw the tears on his face. The love that he felt for his little ones, I know he feels for me. I did not touch him or sit on his knee, yet Jesus is REAL to me." I know that just as the children sing- Jesus is real to me. As members of this church, we worship a Savior who has promised us happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come if we will do our part. I am so grateful for such a wonderful promise and for such a joyful gospel to live for.

What an amazing thing to share with the world.

Temple

There is a temple in my mission! The Hague Netherlands Temple.

I think it is absolutely beautiful. The temple is located in Zoetermeer, which translates to Sweet Lake in English. So, while Utah has the Salt Lake Temple, the Netherlands has the "Sweet Lake Temple." :)

President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the temple on September 8, 2002. In it he prayed for the missionaries who will serve there. I feel honored and blessed to be a part of this work.

"Bless those who have been called to teach the gospel to this nation that they may be led by Thy Holy Spirit to those who will accept their message. May there be a great flowering of Thy work in this nation and in all of the lands of Europe. These people are Thy sons and daughters. These are Thy children. We pray that Thou wilt stretch Thine encircling arm to embrace them with the truths of Thine eternal gospel. May strong leaders rise up in ever increasing numbers that Thy cause and kingdom may grow and fill the measure for which Thou hast restored it."