Dear family, :)
That was so cool last week that we were almost on email at the same time! I was so surprised when I saw that. Weird.
I'm glad to hear that everything is going so well. Thank you for the story about the man who got baptized yesterday - that's so cool! I agree 100% that service is a great way to introduce people to the gospel. Bijvoorbeeld, we are currently teaching a lady who investigated the church a while ago but couldn't commit to be baptized. We found her number in the area book though and felt inspired to call her. It turned out that she had moved and actually now lives on our street! So we went to look her up and she wasn't too interested but she is trying to learn English. She speaks Spanish and Dutch and so we've been teaching her English, and as we've been serving her she has been opening up more and letting us teach her. It's a slow process but we are so seeing the benefits. So keep up the good work!
So when is the baby due??? The last I had heard was the 27th... tomorrow! Wow. Talk about craziness. I am so excited! I was thinking about baby Rhett today. His last few days with Heavenly Father. I wonder what that is like. I was thinking about how here in the mission right before missionaries go home they have an zegt maar exit interview with the President. I wonder if it's like that before we are born. Do we have an exit interview with Heavenly Father? What would he tell us? Of course we wouldn’t remember, but I think sometimes maybe what is in our patriarchal blessing is some of what he might have said. Just something I've been thinking about. Julia and Jake I'm praying for you and Rhett all the time. I'm so happy for you!
This is week has been a week full of miracles and blessings. We have been able to see so much success as we are learning more and more to be led by the Spirit. We are teaching all of our people with baptismal dates about twice a week which keeps us really busy. I'm exhausted! But this is the best kind of exhausted ever.
Tuesday night we had a really special lesson with Moni. We taught her about the gospel of Jesus Christ and really focused on how through baptism we can be cleansed from our sins. She loved it. Her eyes started glowing. At the end of the lesson we asked her how she felt and she said, "I feel safe. I finally feel safe." Oh I wish I could describe how beautiful that was. It almost made me cry.
Saturday we had an amazing lesson with Joseph. He's been struggling a bit with reading from the Book of Mormon every day and so this lesson was a miracle. He came and said he'd been reading it like crazy -- couldn't put it down -- and that he knows now that it really is the word of God because it's brought him closer to Jesus Christ. Yeah!!! He came to church yesterday and just could not stop smiling and talking to everyone. He is awesome!
Speaking of yesterday, I don't remember if I told you, but I gave a talk in church. And it went really well! I was so nervous, my goodness. I spoke on sacrifice. I told everyone how you dad always tell me "sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven." I felt the Spirit when I wrote it and the Lord blessed me a lot. I felt so peaceful after. We (Elders Wells and Reltiz, and Zuster Fritz and I) also sang in church yesterday. We sang “Blij Bij Mij Heer” (Abide With Me) and it was beautiful. I love how quickly music brings the spirit. Then last night we traveled to Gent with one of our investigators and attended a musical fireside put on by the ward there. It was powerful! Overall it was a special Sunday.
So funny story of the week... On Tuesday during district meeting my shoe broke! The strap just popped off! Haha I didn't even do anything to it. The bad thing was I couldn't walk in it. So Brother Nuyens, our ward mission leader and the ultimate handy man, was there and I asked him if he could fix it. He said he would run it home really quick and fix it and bring it back. I told him we had an appointment at 1:00 though and he said he'd be back quickly. So we finished our district meeting, but he never came back! And we really needed to get to this appointment. After trying several silly things, like trying on Elder Wells’ shoes (not a good idea), I decided to just go with one shoe. Haha yeah. So I traveled all the way from church 40 minutes to our next appointment with Lillian in one shoe. It may have looked ridiculous but it started a conversation on the bus with a lady and we gave her a Family Proclamation, and we had a wonderful apt with Lillian who thought it was great that I wanted to bond with the earth. It turns out that Brother Nuyens came back just after we left and was amazed that we had left. He took the shoe to 3 different shoe makers till someone could fix it. Haha I love him. It was all together quite hilarious.
I love you all! I can't wait to hear about the baby!! Your prayers are appreciated. Oh and no Dad, I don't print out the emails, too expensive. The Church is true. This is the best thing ever. What more can I say?
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
Monday, July 26, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Tender Mercies
Family, family, family. Oh goodness, what to even say? I love you all! I love this gospel! I love my mission.
This has been a very overwhelming week, but in the best kind of way.I feel overwhelmed with the blessings the Lord has been giving to us here in Antwerpen. I feel so close to my Savior and I love it. I know He lives. I know that God is my Heavenly Father and that Jesus Christ is my Savior. Without them I honestly can't do anything, but with them, oh man it's cool. :) I know that Joseph Smith did restore this gospel again in its fullness. How grateful I am for the priesthood! I love the quote you sent Dad.
Thank you all for your letters, emails, and support! I am always so happy to hear how well things are going at home. William, I am so happy you loved EFY. They are doing it here in Belgium in a few weeks and all the youth are so excited. Thank you for your sweet testimony. You are going to be an amazing missionary!
This week was great! The tall ship races last week were incredible! Oh my goodness the ships were so big. I took tons of pictures and I'm going to send them all home soon. I wish it wasn't so expensive to print pictures. Oh well. Anyway, we got to go with the elders in our district as well as the Tibbitts and President and Zuster Brubaker so it was a party! We got to go on one of the ships and people kept thinking that President and Elder Tippets were the captains because they look so official -- haha.
It was weird having P-day on Saturday but worth it. Monday we had interviews in Brussels. I love Brussels, it's a beautiful city. I think it's so crazy though because no one there speaks Dutch. It's only about 45 minutes away, but everyone speaks French. So many languages in such a small country! French sounds hard to me; it makes me grateful I speak Dutch. I can say the name of the Church in French but that's about it. Interviews went so well. I love President Brubaker! He is so inspired and I love getting his advice. We talked a lot about service and ways that we can show our love to the people we work with through service. I'm working on it a lot.
So miracle of all miracles -- we now have 5 wonderful, amazing people who all are going to be getting baptized in October! Five! I can't even believe it sometimes. It's not even the number that matters. They are all just such wonderful individuals and I LOVE LOVE LOVE watching them learn these things, apply them in their lives, and change. I'm watching these people become happier. I love teaching! They get this light in their eyes. They've known all this before. They chose this plan before. How wonderful to help them choose it again. We have Lillian, Joseph, Adella, and now Moni and Mercy. Moni is 34 and a member referral from Grace and Joseph Tunde. She was actually the one who made us that fish! Haha so see, you eat fish -- people get baptized. And for your information, since that appointment I have eaten shrimp and a whole lot of other crazy fish things. But yes, Moni is a doll and SO prepared. We gave her a talk in the conference report to read and she ended up reading the WHOLE THING. We came back to our next appointment and she was quoting stuff from it to us. Yeah! Then we have Mercy. She is 22 and from Ghana. She's very quiet but so sincere in wanting to follow Christ. She came to church yesterday and loved it. She said she felt the Spirit in her heart. She's great. So things are crazy busy here! But the best kind of busy EVER.
We had zone conference on Thursday and honestly it was one of the best ones yet. I have never felt so much peace or love in my heart for the gospel and for the people I serve. This gospel amazes me. I LOVE IT. Oh and other amazing news -- Elder M. Russell Ballard is coming to speak to us in September! I am beyond excited. And... President may want me to play my flute when he comes, so if you could send it that would be great. I think it's in Utah.
Yesterday Zuster Fritz and I taught Relief Society. We gave a lesson on the organization of the priesthood and it was a lot of fun. We got everyone up and moving and a lot of the women said it was a really helpful lesson. I love this ward.
Our funny story of the week was contacting into a man who has written 9 books on the 2012 world ending theory. He was very convinced that everyone in Belgium and the Netherlands is going to die. We told him we were from Utah, and he told us if we got into the mountains we might be safe. But if we didn't want to do that he also said that he and I could get married and he could be Adam and I his Eve. We tried sharing the Book of Mormon with him but he didn't want to talk about that sooo... we left a pass along card. Oh the craziness.
Please tell Sisters Bell and Quick thank you. Can you send me Lisa Bell’s address? Tell everyone I love them. The Church is true, wonderful, amazing and saving. It is everything.
Met Liefde,
Zuster Holbein
(July 19, 2010)
This has been a very overwhelming week, but in the best kind of way.I feel overwhelmed with the blessings the Lord has been giving to us here in Antwerpen. I feel so close to my Savior and I love it. I know He lives. I know that God is my Heavenly Father and that Jesus Christ is my Savior. Without them I honestly can't do anything, but with them, oh man it's cool. :) I know that Joseph Smith did restore this gospel again in its fullness. How grateful I am for the priesthood! I love the quote you sent Dad.
Thank you all for your letters, emails, and support! I am always so happy to hear how well things are going at home. William, I am so happy you loved EFY. They are doing it here in Belgium in a few weeks and all the youth are so excited. Thank you for your sweet testimony. You are going to be an amazing missionary!
This week was great! The tall ship races last week were incredible! Oh my goodness the ships were so big. I took tons of pictures and I'm going to send them all home soon. I wish it wasn't so expensive to print pictures. Oh well. Anyway, we got to go with the elders in our district as well as the Tibbitts and President and Zuster Brubaker so it was a party! We got to go on one of the ships and people kept thinking that President and Elder Tippets were the captains because they look so official -- haha.
It was weird having P-day on Saturday but worth it. Monday we had interviews in Brussels. I love Brussels, it's a beautiful city. I think it's so crazy though because no one there speaks Dutch. It's only about 45 minutes away, but everyone speaks French. So many languages in such a small country! French sounds hard to me; it makes me grateful I speak Dutch. I can say the name of the Church in French but that's about it. Interviews went so well. I love President Brubaker! He is so inspired and I love getting his advice. We talked a lot about service and ways that we can show our love to the people we work with through service. I'm working on it a lot.
So miracle of all miracles -- we now have 5 wonderful, amazing people who all are going to be getting baptized in October! Five! I can't even believe it sometimes. It's not even the number that matters. They are all just such wonderful individuals and I LOVE LOVE LOVE watching them learn these things, apply them in their lives, and change. I'm watching these people become happier. I love teaching! They get this light in their eyes. They've known all this before. They chose this plan before. How wonderful to help them choose it again. We have Lillian, Joseph, Adella, and now Moni and Mercy. Moni is 34 and a member referral from Grace and Joseph Tunde. She was actually the one who made us that fish! Haha so see, you eat fish -- people get baptized. And for your information, since that appointment I have eaten shrimp and a whole lot of other crazy fish things. But yes, Moni is a doll and SO prepared. We gave her a talk in the conference report to read and she ended up reading the WHOLE THING. We came back to our next appointment and she was quoting stuff from it to us. Yeah! Then we have Mercy. She is 22 and from Ghana. She's very quiet but so sincere in wanting to follow Christ. She came to church yesterday and loved it. She said she felt the Spirit in her heart. She's great. So things are crazy busy here! But the best kind of busy EVER.
We had zone conference on Thursday and honestly it was one of the best ones yet. I have never felt so much peace or love in my heart for the gospel and for the people I serve. This gospel amazes me. I LOVE IT. Oh and other amazing news -- Elder M. Russell Ballard is coming to speak to us in September! I am beyond excited. And... President may want me to play my flute when he comes, so if you could send it that would be great. I think it's in Utah.
Yesterday Zuster Fritz and I taught Relief Society. We gave a lesson on the organization of the priesthood and it was a lot of fun. We got everyone up and moving and a lot of the women said it was a really helpful lesson. I love this ward.
Our funny story of the week was contacting into a man who has written 9 books on the 2012 world ending theory. He was very convinced that everyone in Belgium and the Netherlands is going to die. We told him we were from Utah, and he told us if we got into the mountains we might be safe. But if we didn't want to do that he also said that he and I could get married and he could be Adam and I his Eve. We tried sharing the Book of Mormon with him but he didn't want to talk about that sooo... we left a pass along card. Oh the craziness.
Please tell Sisters Bell and Quick thank you. Can you send me Lisa Bell’s address? Tell everyone I love them. The Church is true, wonderful, amazing and saving. It is everything.
Met Liefde,
Zuster Holbein
(July 19, 2010)
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