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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De kerk is waar!

Hallo mijn gezin!

Happy St. Patricks Day! Oh my goodness this week has been too
amazing. I definitely can not do it justice in the short time I have
to write. It has definitely been a trying week in a lot of ways, but
I am coming to learn that we really do become more acquainted with God
during hard times. I am so happy to be able to be here on a mission
and to do hard things for the Lord. I have already seen so many
blessings in my life and I know this is just the beginning. I love
watching the gospel change my life and the lives of others. I'm
loving this opportunity to serve!

So it sounds like a ton of stuff has been going on! CONGRATS JULIA
AND JAKE!!! I got your dearelder last night just before choir and I
started jumping up and down. I am SO happy for you! How exciting to
finally know. Jake told me that he told you to take the name
Peter...haha if you wanted it I wouldn't blame you because it is a
WONDERFUL name. ;) Anyways, that is just a blessing for the both of
you and I know you will be great parents. Did you get the letter I
sent last week? I wasn't sure if I had your address right.

Oh and Uncle Bruce thank you so much for your kind email. It brings
me peace to know that your prayers are with me. I love you!

Mom and Dad I am always so happy to hear your testimonies and the
amazing experiences you are having. I am glad that the temple was so
wonderful! The temple is one of the biggest blessings we have in our
lives. I know that I am so spoiled here to be able to go every week.
I actually did work for someone named Jane and someone named Margaret
last week, it was cool. I'm excited to go again today.

So what to say about this week? So much has been happening. We are
now doing all day Engals fasts. Guess what? It's really hard! Haha
the first one was almost exhausting in a really weird way. They're
extremely helpful though and everyone here says that the quickest way
to learn the language is to speak it. So really I guess every day is
an Engals fast. We speak a lot of Neder-Engals. I love this language
though. The more I learn the more beautiful I think it is. I'm
going to buy a big Dutch hymn book here and send it home so that I can
have one in my home. As pretty as I think it is, it is not easy.
Grammar kills me! Dutch grammar is weird enough and now they've
started teaching us Dutch grammar in Dutch haha which makes things a
little more confusing. We also aren't allowed to use notes anymore
when we teach. Then we really have to rely on the spirit! As always
there are tons of funny words that are easy to mix up. I think I have
found the word that is going to kill me because I mix it up ALL the
time and it is a really bad one to mix up. So the word
"keuzevrijheid" means agency and it sounds almost exactly the same to
the word "kuisevrigheid", the only difference is that the first word
is said with a little longer of an "o". The problem is
"kuisevrijheid" means "free chastity" or "no limits on chastity"! Haha
talk about a terrible thing to mix up! So now when I'm teaching the
plan of salvation I might accidentally tell the investigator Adam and
Eve gave us free chastity! Oh my goodness.

Most of our zone is leaving this week. The Swedish and the Danish
missionaries all leave on Monday. I am so happy for them but I'm
definitely going to miss them! I think it's kinda cool because if I
remember correctly Ryan (Aldste Drake) is coming home next week which
means that these missionaries will be replacing him. They are all
excellent elders so he has nothing to worry about. Also, I don't know
if Pelle sees these, but someone needs to tell him that I am going to
make the Danish elders and sisters creep on him. :)

So last night was devotional and we had one of the most amazing
speakers. Every Tuesday there are all these rumors about an Apostle
coming and they are never true. But last night they were! Elder
Quentin L. Cook came and spoke to us!! I can't even describe how
wonderful it was. The feeling in the room is probably what I remember
more than anything else. It was amazing though to hear an Apostle of
the Lord talk to me as one of the Lord's missionaries. I'll never
forget it. He talked a lot about how pleased the Quorum of the Twelve
and the First Presidency and the Lord are with us and the great work
we are doing. I guess he had a totally different talk planned but
when he started talking he said the spirit prompted him to say
something different. He made a lot of promises to us and he gave us
an amazing blessing at the end. The spirit was tangible I swear!
Haha oh I love the MTC.

For choir we sang the most beautiful song. It's called "Behold the
wounds in Jesus' hands." Please look up the lyrics. It might be one
of the most beautiful descriptions of the atonement ever. I was so
happy to be able to sing it in front of an apostle. And the camera
went right in on Z. Pierson and I which was cool. Here are the lyrics
to the last verse. They made me cry while I was singing. "Behold His
wounded hands and feet! Come touch and see and feel the wounds and
marks that you may know his love for you is real. Then as you fall to
worship him and wash his feet in tears, your Savior takes you in his
arms and quiets all your fears." I get goosebumps just typing that.

I really have a strong testimony of the power of the atonement. It is
so real. I love being here at the MTC among so many wonderful people.
The thing is, none of us are perfect but we are all trying out
hardest to bring people to Christ and that is what matters. I feel
honored everyday to be with so many hard working servants of the Lord.
Even when I get discouraged here I know that this is where I want to
be.

A lot is going on tonight. We're teaching Al a really important
lesson on the Book of Mormon. Pray that it goes well! We need him to
gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Anyways, time's up. I love
you! De kerk is waar!

Doi-Z. Holbein

1 Month In!!

Hurray for being in the MTC one month! :) Wow, I can not believe time
has gone by so quickly. Really, it's flying by. It's true what
everyone says about the MTC- days go by like months but weeks go by
like seconds. I love it here, I really do. I am learning so much and
I know this time has definitely been needed.

This past week was an interesting one. It's funny when I look back on
it because a lot of hard/trying things have been going on but my
overall feelings on the week are very positive. It's so true that in
the MTC you have so many ups and downs. I really think I have had
some of my lowest lows or seen people struggling through some of the
hardest things here but at the same time I have seen SO many miracles
and I have felt so happy that words can't even really do anything
justice.

One of the elders (in our branch but not in our district) went home
two days ago. It wasn't for any bad reasons, he just didn't feel he
could handle the stress. It was so hard for everyone, especially his
district, to see him go. I think it really made everyone re-evaluate
why we are here and what our missions mean to us.

Even though things are way hard and I'm frequently pretty stressed, I
know this is where the Lord needs me to be and I have been blessed to
have His help constantly. I have a real testimony that the Lord does
look out for his missionaries. So on a happier note- MY FBI CLEARANCE
CAME!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAHH!!! You have NO idea how happy I was to get
that dearelder. It was right after dinner and I literally ran and
danced down the halls and made all the Swedish and Danish missionaries
come out and celebrate with me. Wow, what an amazing blessing! It
was so great because just that morning I remember thinking how badly I
wanted it to come. Talk about a tender mercy from the Lord. We still
have one elder waiting for his so if everyone could pray for him that
would be great.

I can't believe we leave a month from today. Well, a month and a few
days. Thanks again for all the letters! They make me laugh and are
such a strength to me. Mom thank you for the package! The scarfs are
adorable and I love the headband. You are way to nice to me THANK
YOU. :) I'm glad to hear seminary is going so well. Tell your class
thank you for the card, it made me laugh. I know they will all be
great missionaries. Oh and congrats to Kate and Sam!

William going to prom?! Haha thanks so crazy! Congrats on being such
a good kid. Dad how is work? How are your students? Thank you so
much for the inspirational story about the Chile mission that you sent
me.

Ok so life here is just as good as ever. I have learned so much this
week, I wish I had time to write about all of it. Dutch is getting
harder and harder everyday. It's a good hard though, I love learning
the language and I know I am being so blessed.

We're continuing to teach Al and things are going pretty good. We
finally got him to pray and he feels like he believes the JS story.
It's the Book of Mormon he's having a hard time with. Zuster Pierson
and I are working on a lesson over the BoM to help him better
understand.

Teaching in Dutch is such a humbling thing to do. I really have to
rely completely on the spirit and hope that my studying and preparing
will pay off. Our teachers here are great! With the other Dutch
district gone we have two more teachers who come in and do a lot of
one on one work with us. I think verb conjugations are my biggest
problem. I have been really blessed when it comes to understand the
language though. I can actually understand basically everything said.
I just get frustrated when I can't always respond how I would in
english. I know that will come with time though.

So some random facts-We can now officially shake hands in the MTC! I
guess the flu season is over. Shaking hands is weird haha and I think
some of the elders like it a little too much...haha but it's good to
know that people aren't getting as sick. I actually am sick right
now. Nothing to worry about though, just a cold and cough. It's
really not too bad and I'm taking medicine so I should be better soon.
I feel better each day.

This past week has been a big week for learning spiritual things. The
spirit has been teaching me so much lately-things that I know are just
for me. I am loving learning how the spirit speaks to me and the
blessings and revelation that come into my life as I strive to listen
to what the Lord would have me do. My testimony of the truthfulness
of this gospel grows every day. It's crazy!

Just this past Sunday I had a really powerful experience that taught
me the importance of bearing testimony. Sunday was fast Sunday and I
was so happy to be able to go to sacrament meeting and to bear my
testimony in English and to hear the testimonies of others. There was
an overwhelming powerful spirit in our sacrament meeting. As I was
sitting there I thought, "Wow, this is so great. I love this feeling.
It's addiciting. I wish I could bear my testimony in English more
often." And then it was like the Spirit seriously punched me in the
face. I heard in my head "No. You must keep learning to bear your
testimony in Dutch. That is the most important thing you should work
on translating." Wow. What truth there is in that statement. Ever
since then I have been working so hard to translate my testimony to
Dutch and I have felt a lot of power come into my life as I bear it
throughout the day.

I just wanted to let you all know that there is real power in bearing
your testimony. Your testimony will become more real to you as you
bear it and you can bless the lives of those around you by telling
them what you know to be true. Last night Bruce C Haven came and
spoke to us about testimonies. He said there are 3 parts to a
testimony 1) reason 2) spiritual evidence and 3) experience. I can
promise you that it really does require all three things. I think
before coming into the MTC I realied on the first 2 points too heavily
and I am now learning that experiences are SO important.

Ok so I took too long writing this email and time is up. I want to
put my testimony in Dutch but there isn't time! JAMMER. Ok well know
that I know this church is true. Everything about it is true. The
atonement is real and powerful. Bear your testimony frequently.
Study the scriptures with an open heart and the Lord will reveal
things to you. The Lord does not call perfect people, but he does
perfect those he calls. I feel this everyday.

I LOVE YOU ALL. :) Doi- Zuster Holbein

Love from the MTC

Hallo mijn geliefde gezin. :)

This week has been one of my happiest weeks here at the MTC! It has
been filled with so many tender mercies from the Lord. I have been
blessed in so many ways and I am so grateful for the wonderful
experiences I am having. Thanks to everyone for all the letters and
dearelders. John and Brittney- I am SO sorry I forgot to mention you
last week! Yes, I have been getting your dearelders and they always
make me smile. I am happy to hear things are going so well. I was
actually bragging about you John to one of our elders the other day.
Oh and I met an elder who was in your district. Well, he's a teacher
now. I can't remember his name but he said that you should know him.
He's from Denmark, blond hair? Haha sorry I'll try and remember his
name next week. Thanks to everyone else. I got a lot of random
letters from people I this week and they all made me so happy! I am
going to try really hard to write everyone back.

Oh my goodness where to begin? This week has been the week of
language. I guess I'll start with last Thursday. Thursday morning
was a bit discouraging because we had to start preparing to teach the
full first lesson in Nederlands, something we have not done before.
It was SO hard to try and translate everything we wanted to say. We
are definitely having to learn how to simplify everything. It got a
little frustrating, but as always, great things started happening. We
played a way fun game in class to help us learn more words. It was
like Taboo but in Dutch. That was so helpful and a lot of fun because
it was different from normal studying. Then in the afternoon, Elder
Seamen, Frahm, Hawkley and Sister Pierson and I had an amazing
language study session. I don't think I can even really explain why
it was so great. I think it was because we all were helping each
other and just laughing over stupid words and figuring out how to say
things that would help us teach the lesson. Seriously, I don't think
I have ever had that much fun studying before. We're trying to do
that more often now just because it helped us all so much. I love my
district. A lot. :)

Friday was our first lesson completely in Nederlands!!! I can
honestly say it was one of the most terrifying things ever. My legs
were shaking like crazy! We taught it to our progressing
investigator, Al. Sister Pierson and I prayed so hard that we would
have the spirit with us and that our tongues would be loosed so that
we could get our message across. So we went in there and before I
knew it 30 minutes had gone by! And guess what? We actually did it!
I owe everything completely to the Spirit because I know a lot of the
things I said I had not planned on saying. It was a real testimony to
me that if we do all we can to prepare the Lord really will step in
and help carry the message into the heart of the investigator. My
understanding is way better than my ability to speak. During the
lesson I could for the most part understand everything that Al said.
A lot of that, if not all of it, was probably because of the Spirit
though. Oh goodness, it was such a good experience. I felt on cloud
9 after. Literally, it was amazing. Still terrifying though. We got
him and his family to commit to come to church this Sunday though,
which is very exciting! We're teaching him again this Friday too.

Saturday we had our first English fast! English fast is exactly what
it sounds like, you can't speak any English. It wasn't an all day
fast, we only did it from 1:00-6:00. It felt really long though and
it was very hard. Haha it helped me realize how much I can't say and
how much I still need to learn. That's a good thing though. I think
that was the most quiet I have ever been my whole time here. ;)
Sunday was an amazing day as always. Sundays and Tuesdays are the
best in my opinion. The older Dutch district left on Monday so Sunday
was their last day. We went up to the temple and all took pictures
with the Netherlands flag and then had fun just taking a bunch of
random pictures. I'm sending some home today. The other Dutchies
have been such great examples to our district and I'm so happy to have
gotten to meet all of them. It was way sad to see Sister Reber and
Garvin leave, but it's not too sad because we'll definitely get to see
each other again. Monday morning we got up at 5:45 to walk them all
to the travel office. It was a bittersweet goodbye, but they were all
so excited it was hard to be sad. The "battle cry" for our zone is
"Give them Heaven!" haha instead of "Give them...well...you know." So
we all shouted that as they left. Sister Garvin has actually been
temporarily reassigned because her Visa didn't come. She's going to
SLC south for a bit while she waits. She's a great example of having
faith in the Lord though because she didn't seem upset at all. I
really really hope my FBI clearance comes soon! Even though I know if
it doesn't everything will still work out great.

Monday afternoon we had a great experience in the TRC. We taught the
Plan of Salvation to this really old couple. They are famous for being
one of the hardest couples to teach actually because they ask crazy
deep questions that no real investigator would probably ask. Anyways,
the husband speaks Nederlands and so we did all the intro and stuff in
that but then the lesson was just in English. It was such a powerful
lesson! We were both really nervous going into it because we hadn't
really planned too much. Once again though the Lord completely
blessed us and put the words right into our mouths. When we talked
about the Atonement the spirit literally rushed in the room. I could
feel it! It was amazing. We both bore our testimonies and committed
them to baptism! Haha I really really wished they were real
investigators! All I know is I LOVE teaching this gospel. Especially
the Plan of Salvation. It is such a happy thing to talk about.

Time is almost up so just some other random things. We have 4 new
sisters moving into our room today. They're not Dutch sisters though,
we actually don't know anything about them. Should be fun though, I'm
excited to meet them. There are a lot of funny dutch words that sound
really similar but mean the different things. It is VERY important
that you get them right. Haha some examples: just like the best two
years says "maagd" means virgin and "macht" means power. When you say
them they sound just about the same! Or "vergezellen" which means
accompany and "vergeselen" which means to whip. Haha so you can
either say "The Spirit will accompany you" or "The Spirit will whip
you." Hahahahaha.

Anyways, everything really is going to well. I don;t think my emails
do justice to how happy I am. I love being a missionary. I love
seeing the Senior couples! I can't wait to serve another mission with
my husband. Haha hopefully more than one. Scriptures on my mind
lately: D&C 24:12, 2 Tim 2:3, Nephi 17:50-51. That's the kind of
missionary I want to be. The church is true! The power of the
atonement is so real and the Spirit is the most important thing for us
to have in our lives. I love this gospel and the person that it makes
me. I know that the Lord has so much more planned for me than I even
realize. Sorry for having to cut short. I love you all! Doi! :)

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.