Dear Family,
First things first -- I'm not being transferred! I get at least one more transfer in A'dam! Wahoo. :) Zuster Kremer and I are staying together and I am so very happy. It was a big surprise, everyone thought I was leaving. Seriously, in church yesterday EVERYONE kept saying goodbye and how sad they were that I would have to go. But hey, prayers are answered and I get another blessed 6 weeks here. I'm excited, the work is really going well, and there is so much potential.
This past week has been incredible! First miracle -- DelRoy, as always. He is totally set for baptism on Friday. We are so so happy for him. He just glows with the Spirit; he really does. The baptism is going to be great; the whole ward is excited. I'm giving a talk on the Holy Ghost and playing my flute. I'll take lots of pictures and I promise -- haha -- to try and send them. I know I've been bad about that.
Other big miracle of the week -- ok this is a cool story. So last week Sunday we did a consecrated hour and met this man named Dibbs. We were able to share a quick message with him and pray before he had to go. We also got his number and were able to set up an appointment for this past Saturday. So on Friday we called him to confirm the appointment and he said that was fine, you know, normal conversation. So I hung up, and then five minutes later he called back. He said that his friend is actually also a Christian and he thinks that he would be interested. So he asks, “Can I give you his number? And can you call him now and set up an appointment and then call me back?” Umm, yes we can do that. So we call his friend, Dillip, and he ends up saying that he would come to the appointment with Dibbs and that he would bring a friend. Yea! we were so excited.
So Saturday we go to the appointment and Dibbs and Dillip are there. We end up having a great first lesson with them. Dibbs actually doesn't know much about God, but he started out the lesson by telling us that when we prayed with him the other day that was the first time he prayed and he really felt something. We got to explain that it was the Spirit. and we had a really powerful lesson. Dillip is already Christian but was so interested in the Book of Mormon and totally believes that it could be the word of God. And... he committed to preparing to be baptized on March 6th!! Dibbs would have as well but he is leaving to go to Spain for a month -- JAMMER. But when he gets back for sure. Yea! so that was awesome.
Then yesterday Dillip came to church and brought 2 of his other friends with him, one of them Manu, who also committed to baptism! And they loved church and just happened to stay for the baptism that was after and loved it too. It was such a miracle day. Really, these people have such a special spirit with them, I love it.
In funny news, I had another epic bike crash. My bike is broken so we've been doing achterop [back riding] the whole week. I peddle and Zuster Kremer jumps. Only this one time, Thursday I think, I wasn't ready for her to jump and ended up flying off the bike and face planting into the sidewalk. It hurt a bit but it was more funny than anything.
I love you all! Thank you for all you do for me and for your prayers. Always remember that I love you. The Church is true, so so so true.
Hurrah for life. :)
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Challenges & Joy
Dear Family!
I officially have no time to write because I took so long reading people's emails and things. THANK YOU EVERYONE. :) I feel your love haha. Really though, that and the testimonies you sent me were the best presents ever.
It has been quite the week! Again, a really really hard week. But still so many miracles, yesterday being the biggest, and when I was writing in my journal last night I really could honestly say that I was completely happy. Exhausted, but totally happy and confident that it's going to be a great week.
My birthday was a lot of fun.... honestly saying... I was sick! BAH. Not fun. I have this new goal to never again be sick while I'm on my mission because it's 100% lame. Long story short, I have a messed up stomach. But the good news is Sister Pankratz is a dear and knows the remedy to everything (if she had lived 200 years ago she would have been burned at the stake for her herb concoctions) and I feel a lot better now. So no freaking out. Favorite quote of the week-Sister Pankratz: "Who needs weed when you have a spice cabinet?" Haha - only in Amsterdam could you say that.
Transfers are next week and I'm really hoping I stay. But I'd also be ok with leaving. Oh who cares, put it in the hands of the Lord and it all works out.
Other things - hmm, birthday - the ward was wonderful. I managed to make it to the ward dinner that night and they all sang and gave me presents and things which wasn't even necessary. I actually got a lot of headbands - haha. I have developed a reputation of always having them.
So since I'm out of time let's just get right down to the miracles - DelRoy! Yay! He is doing so so well. He was honestly really struggling. When I wrote you last week we had actually lost contact with him. He was really having doubts and Satan was just getting in there too much. But then on Wednesday (birthday miracle) HE CALLED US. :) And he said that when the elders had seen him in the park (that's another story) and told him to pray about things again, he did and found an answer in the scriptures about not rejecting the disciples of Christ, and that he didn't want to doubt anymore, wanted to feel the Holy Spirit again, and go through with baptism! MIRACLE. :) :) So he came to his appointment Thursday and we are back on track. Yesterday he came to church and loved it.
We also had Marilyn there; she is an investigator who has had some trouble getting to church. And it was perfect for her! She's been struggling with her teenage daughter and all the talks were about raising youth in the last days. She was taking notes. :) After church she asked for a blessing, and after said that she really wants to get baptized; it's just that last step of faith that is hard for her. We're praying, she's praying, and it's going to work out, I know it. She's had such a change of heart, I love her.
Last night we had an awesome appointment with DelRoy at Jennifer's again for dinner and Unique, who was baptized in December, come and she was an awesome joint teach. We watched part of a talk from President Monson, and when DelRoy heard his voice he said that he knew he was a prophet of God. Ahhh - good feelings.
I am so so so grateful to be a missionary. Honestly, this week has really taught me that missionary work isn't always fun. And I can't say that in the moment I've loved every minute of it. It's hard. But it's all so worth it. The Church is perfect; it has everything we need. No questions left unanswered, no problem that can't be solved. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father.
Thank you all for your examples of faith and diligence! Ik hou van jullie. :)
Met Liefde,
Zuster Holbein
I officially have no time to write because I took so long reading people's emails and things. THANK YOU EVERYONE. :) I feel your love haha. Really though, that and the testimonies you sent me were the best presents ever.
It has been quite the week! Again, a really really hard week. But still so many miracles, yesterday being the biggest, and when I was writing in my journal last night I really could honestly say that I was completely happy. Exhausted, but totally happy and confident that it's going to be a great week.
My birthday was a lot of fun.... honestly saying... I was sick! BAH. Not fun. I have this new goal to never again be sick while I'm on my mission because it's 100% lame. Long story short, I have a messed up stomach. But the good news is Sister Pankratz is a dear and knows the remedy to everything (if she had lived 200 years ago she would have been burned at the stake for her herb concoctions) and I feel a lot better now. So no freaking out. Favorite quote of the week-Sister Pankratz: "Who needs weed when you have a spice cabinet?" Haha - only in Amsterdam could you say that.
Transfers are next week and I'm really hoping I stay. But I'd also be ok with leaving. Oh who cares, put it in the hands of the Lord and it all works out.
Other things - hmm, birthday - the ward was wonderful. I managed to make it to the ward dinner that night and they all sang and gave me presents and things which wasn't even necessary. I actually got a lot of headbands - haha. I have developed a reputation of always having them.
So since I'm out of time let's just get right down to the miracles - DelRoy! Yay! He is doing so so well. He was honestly really struggling. When I wrote you last week we had actually lost contact with him. He was really having doubts and Satan was just getting in there too much. But then on Wednesday (birthday miracle) HE CALLED US. :) And he said that when the elders had seen him in the park (that's another story) and told him to pray about things again, he did and found an answer in the scriptures about not rejecting the disciples of Christ, and that he didn't want to doubt anymore, wanted to feel the Holy Spirit again, and go through with baptism! MIRACLE. :) :) So he came to his appointment Thursday and we are back on track. Yesterday he came to church and loved it.
We also had Marilyn there; she is an investigator who has had some trouble getting to church. And it was perfect for her! She's been struggling with her teenage daughter and all the talks were about raising youth in the last days. She was taking notes. :) After church she asked for a blessing, and after said that she really wants to get baptized; it's just that last step of faith that is hard for her. We're praying, she's praying, and it's going to work out, I know it. She's had such a change of heart, I love her.
Last night we had an awesome appointment with DelRoy at Jennifer's again for dinner and Unique, who was baptized in December, come and she was an awesome joint teach. We watched part of a talk from President Monson, and when DelRoy heard his voice he said that he knew he was a prophet of God. Ahhh - good feelings.
I am so so so grateful to be a missionary. Honestly, this week has really taught me that missionary work isn't always fun. And I can't say that in the moment I've loved every minute of it. It's hard. But it's all so worth it. The Church is perfect; it has everything we need. No questions left unanswered, no problem that can't be solved. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father.
Thank you all for your examples of faith and diligence! Ik hou van jullie. :)
Met Liefde,
Zuster Holbein
Monday, January 17, 2011
Blijf maar zwimmen
Hello family :)
Thank you so much for the emails this week! I think that was the most I have ever gotten - haha. But really, I appreciate your love. I have gotten cards from Mom, Dad, and William so far but it doesn't really matter to me when they come. I've been saving them for Wednesday and I'm excited to read your beautiful testimonies. Thank you for your examples of faith.
So this week: the best word to describe it -- WET. Oh my goodness it rained every single day non-stop I think. Yesterday was the first day that we had seen the sun in a while and it was a nice break. We came home every night soaked. Good stuff. My new best friend is my big bright blue poncho. A member here gave it to me and it has been a life saver. I have to admit I look quite ridiculous, especially since it says IKEA across the back, but it keeps me dry. The weather has made finding this week a little difficult though. People have been staying inside, and knocking on doors is not very effective. Honestly, it was a bit of a hard week. That's ok though; that's missionary work, it happens sometimes. And I've learned a lot, something that always happens whenever the work is hard -- trials come to everyone too. Our investigators are all struggling too. We receive no witness until after the trial of our faith, right? DelRoy is doing well with not smoking, but other things have been hard this week. But with prayer everything will work out. The Lord is definitely in control and I'm letting that bring me peace.
As far as miracles go, we have been blessed to meet with a lot of amazing people this week. We were able to contact a referral from Temple Square, a man named Ger. He is amazing! And just a thank you to the sisters on Temple Square, they really did a good job teaching him. When we came he knew a lot about the Church already and had been reading in the Book of Mormon already. He wasn't ready to set a baptismal date but he wants to keep learning and he wants us to come to his Bible study group to teach a lesson. That should be interesting -- definitely pray for the Spirit for that one. We also had one of our French speaking investigators finally come to church yesterday! His name is Christian (appropriate) and he loved it. Unfortunately he is moving back to Africa at the end of this week. But he says he knows where the Church is and wants to keep going.
Personally, I am almost done with the Book of Mormon again. Yay! That's been exciting. I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON. Ok, it sounds lame and cheesy, but it's so true. I love trying to picture the stories. I actually think I've been getting too into it because last night I had this dream that it was this big mortal combat and we were all fighting with swords and things, and yeah... it was intense. Anyway, I'm grateful for the precious principles of the gospel we can learn from studying and reading the Book of Mormon. And, as another side note, I also love the Bible. I came to this light bulb moment this week. So Vili, one of our investigators, speaks Bulgarian and Dutch but Bulgarian is better for her to read in. And unfortunately, they don't have a Bulgarian Bible. So all we can teach out of is the Book of Mormon. That is nice, but I really realized this week -- we need both. TOGETHER they teach the gospel. I mean we tell people that all the time, but it really is true.
Well lievers, I love you all. Happy my birthday on Wednesday. Wednesday is wijketen, a big ward dinner, so we'll be eating there. Should be fun. I'm praying for miracles! Hope you can feel of my love! Blijf maar zwimmen.
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
Thank you so much for the emails this week! I think that was the most I have ever gotten - haha. But really, I appreciate your love. I have gotten cards from Mom, Dad, and William so far but it doesn't really matter to me when they come. I've been saving them for Wednesday and I'm excited to read your beautiful testimonies. Thank you for your examples of faith.
So this week: the best word to describe it -- WET. Oh my goodness it rained every single day non-stop I think. Yesterday was the first day that we had seen the sun in a while and it was a nice break. We came home every night soaked. Good stuff. My new best friend is my big bright blue poncho. A member here gave it to me and it has been a life saver. I have to admit I look quite ridiculous, especially since it says IKEA across the back, but it keeps me dry. The weather has made finding this week a little difficult though. People have been staying inside, and knocking on doors is not very effective. Honestly, it was a bit of a hard week. That's ok though; that's missionary work, it happens sometimes. And I've learned a lot, something that always happens whenever the work is hard -- trials come to everyone too. Our investigators are all struggling too. We receive no witness until after the trial of our faith, right? DelRoy is doing well with not smoking, but other things have been hard this week. But with prayer everything will work out. The Lord is definitely in control and I'm letting that bring me peace.
As far as miracles go, we have been blessed to meet with a lot of amazing people this week. We were able to contact a referral from Temple Square, a man named Ger. He is amazing! And just a thank you to the sisters on Temple Square, they really did a good job teaching him. When we came he knew a lot about the Church already and had been reading in the Book of Mormon already. He wasn't ready to set a baptismal date but he wants to keep learning and he wants us to come to his Bible study group to teach a lesson. That should be interesting -- definitely pray for the Spirit for that one. We also had one of our French speaking investigators finally come to church yesterday! His name is Christian (appropriate) and he loved it. Unfortunately he is moving back to Africa at the end of this week. But he says he knows where the Church is and wants to keep going.
Personally, I am almost done with the Book of Mormon again. Yay! That's been exciting. I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON. Ok, it sounds lame and cheesy, but it's so true. I love trying to picture the stories. I actually think I've been getting too into it because last night I had this dream that it was this big mortal combat and we were all fighting with swords and things, and yeah... it was intense. Anyway, I'm grateful for the precious principles of the gospel we can learn from studying and reading the Book of Mormon. And, as another side note, I also love the Bible. I came to this light bulb moment this week. So Vili, one of our investigators, speaks Bulgarian and Dutch but Bulgarian is better for her to read in. And unfortunately, they don't have a Bulgarian Bible. So all we can teach out of is the Book of Mormon. That is nice, but I really realized this week -- we need both. TOGETHER they teach the gospel. I mean we tell people that all the time, but it really is true.
Well lievers, I love you all. Happy my birthday on Wednesday. Wednesday is wijketen, a big ward dinner, so we'll be eating there. Should be fun. I'm praying for miracles! Hope you can feel of my love! Blijf maar zwimmen.
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Amazing
Dear Family!
I am so happy. :) It has been such an amazing week. Heavenly Father has been hearing our prayers and we are seeing miracles. I love it! The weather even warmed up a little, but of course it is supposed to snow again soon. The weather here is so bipolar. I haven't gotten the coat yet, but I am looking forward to it and I am so so grateful. I got a card from you today Mom with the picture of Rhett. My goodness he is cute! I can't believe you have a baby Julia. I hope everything with school and a new semester and work and everything is going well. I am excited to get your testimonies, they are always a strength to me.
So this week. Where to even begin? How about with Delroy because he is just amazing. We've been using the teaching calendar with him, the most inspired thing President has ever encouraged us to use and we had 3 regular appointments in a week with him. It's amazing the progression he has made with his testimony just in the last week.
On Tuesday we taught him the law of chastity, always a fun one, but he totally accepted it and agreed. And then Thursday we taught the word of wisdom. That was the one I was worried about because, yeah, he smokes. Or should I say smokED. :) We had the lesson at Jennifer Linkers' house, an amazing member who also had word of wisdom problems before she was baptized. We planned to have lunch and then teach the lesson. So Delroy comes and the first thing he says to me when we comes in is, "Trouwens, het Boek van Mormon is waar." Translation, "By the way, the Book of Mormon is true." Haha - yesss!! Awesome start to an appointment, I'd say. He already knew it was true but the more he reads, the more confirmation he gets because he says that he feels like he reads HIS life in the stories of the other people. He really likes Alma the Younger and Ammon. I told him that's because someday he is going to be a missionary too.
So we sit down for lunch and then right out of the blue Jennifer just goes off asking him all these intense questions like "Do you do drugs? Have you ever? Do you drink?" Zuster Kremer and I were thinking - ahhh, not the intro we wanted. He's never had problems with any of that stuff though, just smoking. And when we explained the word of wisdom he totally accepted it because it came from Joseph Smith and if the Book of Mormon is true then Joseph was a prophet and well, you all know what that means. :) So that was incredible. And when we saw him again on Saturday he said he has already stopped. It's hard but he's praying, we're all praying, and he's doing it! We had a baptism on Saturday of one of the elders investigators and he came and loved it. He's so prepared it's amazing. With his prayers and our prayers and the Lord's help things are going to keep going great.
Besides that we had a lot of other special appointments this week. We went to visit a woman named Aleyda. She's from Columbia and only speaks Spanish. Luckily Zuster Kremer does too and I am honestly trying to learn a little. We went to visit her because she is going through a really hard time right now. Her son was kidnapped in Columbia and has been missing for 2 months now. They've hired private investigators and everything, but no one can find him. It's so so sad. We went and she cried and cried. She hasn't lost her faith though. I really wished that I could've actually talked to her without Zuster Kremer, but I think it actually meant more to her and I just sat and held her hand and cried with her. It was a powerful appointment and it really taught me the importance of listening. Anyway, if you could pray for her son that would be great.
On a different note here is the funny moment of the week. Yesterday we went on splits with the members to do finding. I went with Lucky who is from Thailand and just hilarious. Crazy things always happen with her. So we're finding and we meet this middle aged couple and had a really good lesson with them over prayer and our relationship with God. At the end of the talk Lucky asks if we can pray with them. They say yes, and so I asked if there is anything in their lives that we can pray for. They said health; Lucky turns to the woman (who is kind of bigger) and touches her stomach and asks if she's pregnant! Guess what? SHE'S NOT. Haha, AWKWARD. Thank heavens they still let us pray with them but let's just say they weren't interested in hearing more. Oh goodness it was funny. We couldn't stop laughing after. Oh well, they felt the Spirit, I know they did. :)
Sounds like the ward is doing great. I got a letter from the stake presidency this week. It was a Christmas one but was at the office so it took a while to come. Send everyone my love. Haha, I say that all the time, don't I? Well it's true. I love you all, I love my Saviour, I love everything haha. :)
Liefs,
Zuster Holbein
I am so happy. :) It has been such an amazing week. Heavenly Father has been hearing our prayers and we are seeing miracles. I love it! The weather even warmed up a little, but of course it is supposed to snow again soon. The weather here is so bipolar. I haven't gotten the coat yet, but I am looking forward to it and I am so so grateful. I got a card from you today Mom with the picture of Rhett. My goodness he is cute! I can't believe you have a baby Julia. I hope everything with school and a new semester and work and everything is going well. I am excited to get your testimonies, they are always a strength to me.
So this week. Where to even begin? How about with Delroy because he is just amazing. We've been using the teaching calendar with him, the most inspired thing President has ever encouraged us to use and we had 3 regular appointments in a week with him. It's amazing the progression he has made with his testimony just in the last week.
On Tuesday we taught him the law of chastity, always a fun one, but he totally accepted it and agreed. And then Thursday we taught the word of wisdom. That was the one I was worried about because, yeah, he smokes. Or should I say smokED. :) We had the lesson at Jennifer Linkers' house, an amazing member who also had word of wisdom problems before she was baptized. We planned to have lunch and then teach the lesson. So Delroy comes and the first thing he says to me when we comes in is, "Trouwens, het Boek van Mormon is waar." Translation, "By the way, the Book of Mormon is true." Haha - yesss!! Awesome start to an appointment, I'd say. He already knew it was true but the more he reads, the more confirmation he gets because he says that he feels like he reads HIS life in the stories of the other people. He really likes Alma the Younger and Ammon. I told him that's because someday he is going to be a missionary too.
So we sit down for lunch and then right out of the blue Jennifer just goes off asking him all these intense questions like "Do you do drugs? Have you ever? Do you drink?" Zuster Kremer and I were thinking - ahhh, not the intro we wanted. He's never had problems with any of that stuff though, just smoking. And when we explained the word of wisdom he totally accepted it because it came from Joseph Smith and if the Book of Mormon is true then Joseph was a prophet and well, you all know what that means. :) So that was incredible. And when we saw him again on Saturday he said he has already stopped. It's hard but he's praying, we're all praying, and he's doing it! We had a baptism on Saturday of one of the elders investigators and he came and loved it. He's so prepared it's amazing. With his prayers and our prayers and the Lord's help things are going to keep going great.
Besides that we had a lot of other special appointments this week. We went to visit a woman named Aleyda. She's from Columbia and only speaks Spanish. Luckily Zuster Kremer does too and I am honestly trying to learn a little. We went to visit her because she is going through a really hard time right now. Her son was kidnapped in Columbia and has been missing for 2 months now. They've hired private investigators and everything, but no one can find him. It's so so sad. We went and she cried and cried. She hasn't lost her faith though. I really wished that I could've actually talked to her without Zuster Kremer, but I think it actually meant more to her and I just sat and held her hand and cried with her. It was a powerful appointment and it really taught me the importance of listening. Anyway, if you could pray for her son that would be great.
On a different note here is the funny moment of the week. Yesterday we went on splits with the members to do finding. I went with Lucky who is from Thailand and just hilarious. Crazy things always happen with her. So we're finding and we meet this middle aged couple and had a really good lesson with them over prayer and our relationship with God. At the end of the talk Lucky asks if we can pray with them. They say yes, and so I asked if there is anything in their lives that we can pray for. They said health; Lucky turns to the woman (who is kind of bigger) and touches her stomach and asks if she's pregnant! Guess what? SHE'S NOT. Haha, AWKWARD. Thank heavens they still let us pray with them but let's just say they weren't interested in hearing more. Oh goodness it was funny. We couldn't stop laughing after. Oh well, they felt the Spirit, I know they did. :)
Sounds like the ward is doing great. I got a letter from the stake presidency this week. It was a Christmas one but was at the office so it took a while to come. Send everyone my love. Haha, I say that all the time, don't I? Well it's true. I love you all, I love my Saviour, I love everything haha. :)
Liefs,
Zuster Holbein
Monday, January 3, 2011
Gelukkig 2011!!
Dear Family! You all are so wonderful. Seriously, I hope you know and can feel of my love and appreciation for you. Thank you so much for all you do to support and help me.
I hope you all are doing well. It's been a great week! Super busy, and super crazy with New Years. Oh hey – Happy 2011! Gelukkig Nieuwejaar! It's going to be a great year. Zuster Kremer and I met a woman about a month or so ago who said that 2011 was going to be the year of the saints. I believe her. :)
Good news -- we finally helped Delroy, one of our investigators, set a baptismal date!! He will be getting baptized February 4th (on his birthday). I told you about him on the phone, but just a recap. We met him in Oosterpark on a freezing day. We had a really long talk with him though and gave him a Book of Mormon which he was very excited to take. He's from Suriname but has lived in Amsterdam most of his life. Ever since that day he was been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy and loves it. He's one of the best examples to me of prayer. A lot of things that we have told him about the gospel have been new to him and kind of hard for him to accept, but we always challenge him to pray about it and he always does and he ALWAYS gets an answer and acts on it. He knows God will give him answers, and every time he prays he asks God to lead and guide him. To me that's the most important thing. God really does answer the sincere heart. Eerlijke bedoeling is what we call it in Dutch - real intent. I'm so excited for him! Please pray that he will be able to stay strong. He came to church for the first time finally yesterday and loved it. It was testimony meeting and everyone bore testimony of the restoration and it was POWERFUL. I love the ward here in Amsterdam.
What did you all do for New Year’s? IT WAS SO CRAZY HERE. Honestly, I did not sleep that night. This place was a war zone. The whole day was crazy. People kept setting off bombs the whole day and you couldn't see anywhere it was so full of smoke. We were riding our bikes down this one street and these little boys started throwing bombs all around us! Haha - it was intense. They kept exploding all over. Don't worry though, the Lord protected us and we didn't get hit. We had to be in by 4:00 but we had a good night planning, setting goals, cleaning, and then watching the Testaments (the Pancratzs let us borrow their mini DVD player.) I couldn't think of a better way to bring in the new year.
I am very happy to say that every day of 2010, with the exception of 41 days, I was on my mission. It was really cool New Year’s Eve to be writing in my journal and to think, hey, as I look back on this last year I can honestly say that I know that I have been doing exactly what Heavenly Father wants me to do and I have done my very best. What an awesome feeling. How many people can honestly say that? I am so grateful for the opportunity my mission gives me to become the best person I can be, someone who really gives her all to the Lord and who knows what she can accomplish with the Lord’s help. I feel a lot of peace when I think about this next year, and I feel a lot of excitement.
I have set some awesome goals that I’m really excited to work on. For the month of January I am working on Faith. I figured that was a good way to start the year. I was reading a talk by President Monson today and I love this quote from him. He says, “The future is as bright as your faith.“ And that really got me thinking. That means that I can have the brightest future I want. It’s all up to me and my faith. Faith is totally the happy attribute. It’s optimism and trust. It’s like when you wake up with this exciting feeling in your stomach, just excited to see what the day would bring. That’s the same feeling faith gives us. We’re excited as missionaries to get up, it’s that excitement like oh, oh I wonder what miracles we’ll see today. I love it!
Well, I'm out of time cause it took me so long to read your emails and think about it. Know that I am happy and doing well and just loving life. Send everyone my love. Do all you can this year to share the gospel. Now is the time. Let's call down the miracles!
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
I hope you all are doing well. It's been a great week! Super busy, and super crazy with New Years. Oh hey – Happy 2011! Gelukkig Nieuwejaar! It's going to be a great year. Zuster Kremer and I met a woman about a month or so ago who said that 2011 was going to be the year of the saints. I believe her. :)
Good news -- we finally helped Delroy, one of our investigators, set a baptismal date!! He will be getting baptized February 4th (on his birthday). I told you about him on the phone, but just a recap. We met him in Oosterpark on a freezing day. We had a really long talk with him though and gave him a Book of Mormon which he was very excited to take. He's from Suriname but has lived in Amsterdam most of his life. Ever since that day he was been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy and loves it. He's one of the best examples to me of prayer. A lot of things that we have told him about the gospel have been new to him and kind of hard for him to accept, but we always challenge him to pray about it and he always does and he ALWAYS gets an answer and acts on it. He knows God will give him answers, and every time he prays he asks God to lead and guide him. To me that's the most important thing. God really does answer the sincere heart. Eerlijke bedoeling is what we call it in Dutch - real intent. I'm so excited for him! Please pray that he will be able to stay strong. He came to church for the first time finally yesterday and loved it. It was testimony meeting and everyone bore testimony of the restoration and it was POWERFUL. I love the ward here in Amsterdam.
What did you all do for New Year’s? IT WAS SO CRAZY HERE. Honestly, I did not sleep that night. This place was a war zone. The whole day was crazy. People kept setting off bombs the whole day and you couldn't see anywhere it was so full of smoke. We were riding our bikes down this one street and these little boys started throwing bombs all around us! Haha - it was intense. They kept exploding all over. Don't worry though, the Lord protected us and we didn't get hit. We had to be in by 4:00 but we had a good night planning, setting goals, cleaning, and then watching the Testaments (the Pancratzs let us borrow their mini DVD player.) I couldn't think of a better way to bring in the new year.
I am very happy to say that every day of 2010, with the exception of 41 days, I was on my mission. It was really cool New Year’s Eve to be writing in my journal and to think, hey, as I look back on this last year I can honestly say that I know that I have been doing exactly what Heavenly Father wants me to do and I have done my very best. What an awesome feeling. How many people can honestly say that? I am so grateful for the opportunity my mission gives me to become the best person I can be, someone who really gives her all to the Lord and who knows what she can accomplish with the Lord’s help. I feel a lot of peace when I think about this next year, and I feel a lot of excitement.
I have set some awesome goals that I’m really excited to work on. For the month of January I am working on Faith. I figured that was a good way to start the year. I was reading a talk by President Monson today and I love this quote from him. He says, “The future is as bright as your faith.“ And that really got me thinking. That means that I can have the brightest future I want. It’s all up to me and my faith. Faith is totally the happy attribute. It’s optimism and trust. It’s like when you wake up with this exciting feeling in your stomach, just excited to see what the day would bring. That’s the same feeling faith gives us. We’re excited as missionaries to get up, it’s that excitement like oh, oh I wonder what miracles we’ll see today. I love it!
Well, I'm out of time cause it took me so long to read your emails and think about it. Know that I am happy and doing well and just loving life. Send everyone my love. Do all you can this year to share the gospel. Now is the time. Let's call down the miracles!
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
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