2 1/2 Weeks Till Take Off

Good morning Family! Happy P-Day. :)

I just wanted to start by thanking everyone so much for all of the
letters and dearelders. I really feel everyone's love and support so
strongly and that helps me out a lot. I'm sorry if I don't always
have time to respond to everything or everyone. I only have 30
minutes and then it kicks me off so I try to write as much as fast as
I can. Anyways, thank you thank you thank you.

John and Brittney I sent you a letter last week but I wasn't sure on
your address. Did you end up getting it? When are you coming back
from DC?

Julia and Jake I got the pictures of the baby! I was way excited and
accidentally told some people that they were pictures of MY baby haha.
I'm so happy for you though. Let me know when you start thinking up
names and things.

Mom and Dad thank you for all the scriptures and inspirational
thoughts, they mean a lot to me. Please do send pics of William in
HSM2. I'm glad to hear it went so well! If they have a recording you
should buy it so I can see it when I get back.

Things here are as great as ever. I can't believe that we leave in 2
1/2 weeks! Sometimes it feels like I've been here forever and then
other times it seems to go by so fast. I've really learned a lot in
the MTC though and I will miss it. But I think I am more excited to
actually get to Belgium. :) Anyways, there is still so much to get
done before we leave so I can't start thinking about that just yet.
Most exciting news of the day is that we have 11 new Dutch
missionaries coming in today! 3 sisters and 8 elders. That will make
a total of 21 dutch missionaries here in the MTC. Basically we are
taking over. We're all really excited for them and it will be fun to
have another district to work with. Haha and to have the upper hand
for once. I'm especially happy that there are sisters.

It's been a great week! Last Wednesday night we taught Al our lesson
over the Book of Mormon and it went so well. I have such a strong
testimony of the Book of Mormon and it's truthfulness and the power it
has to bring others to Christ. Thank you to everyone who prayed for
us. I know it's not a "real" investigator, but we take it really
seriously and I definitely learn a lot from doing it. The spirit was
very strong and he started to tear up at the end. And we committed to
coming to church on Sunday which is wonderful. After we taught our
teacher gave us a lesson over the tender mercies of the Lord and we
all talked about the ways we have seen God's hand in our lives since
we have been here at the MTC. It is amazing how much I feel God's
hand directing and guiding me. I can not even begin to count the
number of prayers that have been answered, almost immediately, and the
comfort I have received, or the help with Dutch in teaching or bearing
testimony.

The language is getting so much better! I LOVE DUTCH. I am no where
near perfect or fluent or anything like that but I am finally starting
to feel like I can express myself the way that I want to. I have been
trying hard to bear my testimony all the time and to make language
study time really effective. English fasts are a lot of fun. We had
a really successful one last Friday. It's cool to be able to joke
around and talk with each other. I can't wait to actually get to the
Netherlands because I know that will help my language a lot. On
Friday I was asked to say the opening prayer in a large group meeting
and they asked me to say it in Dutch. Now all our elders keep teasing
me because I guess I'm starting to be able to speak just as fast in
Dutch as I did in English. Haha I think that was just because I was
nervous. Right now our elders are working on memorizing the sacrament
prayers in Dutch and since I don't really have any need to do that I
am working on memorizing "I Need Thee Every Hour." Since I have been
here that has become one of my favorite hymns because I am learning
more and more that I really do need him every hour! The song is
beautiful in Dutch though, you should look in up and listen to it.
We've been working on contacting a lot and since the weather has been
nice we've been going outside a lot to do it. Contacting is probably
the scariest thing for me just because you have such a short amount of
time to get the to feel the spirit and want to listen to your message.
I really need to keep practicing!

Random side note -- On Thursday I think it was I got a letter from
Cayden Hoyt! Haha it totally took me by surprise! What a sweet boy
he is. He drew a picture of the Book of Mormon and Christ and wished
me luck on my mission. I'm going to write him back today and maybe he
can bring it to church to show the whole class. It was really a
blessing teaching them. They all have such strong testimonies for
being so young! Haha we have a good Primary.

On Saturday night we watched a talk that Elder Holland gave some years
ago to missionaries in the MTC. I guess it's a pretty famous talk
because they show it to everyone. It was really powerful! He talked
about how his mission meant EVERYTHING to him and how it has blessed
his life everyday since. He talked about how this isn't our time and
that we need to realize that it's not OUR mission, it's the Lord's
mission, we are just instruments in his hands. It was really good for
me to hear that. I feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity
to serve a mission. A mission isn't a sacrifice, it's an offering to
the Lord. I have been trying so hard to be diligent and to make sure
that I use all of my time effectively. I want to be able to look back
and have no regrets.

2 random funny stories of the week. In the TRC on Monday we were
teaching a younger guy the first lesson. At the beginning when we
were getting to know him I swear he said that he had just started
dating a girl. So Z. Pierson and I are all "Oh yeah, that's so
great! We're so happy for you!" then later on in the lesson when were
were talking about the atonement he said that one of the things he
struggles with is feeling alone since his girlfriend just DUMPED him.
I guess he had been trying to say that at the beginning of the lesson
but we had misunderstood him! Haha talk about embarrassing! Anyways,
we wanted a return appointment so I don't think we messed up too bad.
Other story- the word for surprise in Dutch is "Versassing!" the other
night we were all surprising our teacher but one elder instead of
shouting that shouted "Verlossing!" which means "redemption". Haha
we could not stop laughing. Maybe you had to be there but trust me it
was great.

Anyways, time's up. I love you all. Thank you for being who you are
and for the ways that you've blessed my life. I am so grateful for
the family I was raised in and the people who I have met. I have
learned so much from all of you.

It's about to kick me off!!

Doi- Z. Holbein
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