Dear Family!
Hello. :) I love you all. In case I don't tell you enough. Zuster Perry and I were talking this morning about families and the importance of the gospel in them, and we both are pretty convinced that we have the best families ever. Thanks for all your hard work in raising me with the gospel! Best thing ever. So many people we meet say, “Oh you know, I don't want to force my children to believe, so I just don't say anything and let them take their pick.” Bahhh -- no people, no. There are too many evil influences in the world, they have to get the good from somewhere. It's so important to start teaching children about Heavenly Father right from the beginning. I have no experience, dat weet ik. But I've just seen it so much here. Kids really are so close to the Spirit. We will approach families all the time and even if the parents say no the kids always look back when they are walking away and say things like, "Mommy, who was that? What did they want? Why don't we talk to them?" I seriously think those kids recognize that we come from the Lord! In any case, I'm so grateful for the wonderful way that you have raised me. I hope to be able to do the same.
So this week... SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED. Oh goodness it was such a week of ups and downs and everywhere in between. I love it. We always end on a high. So first the sad news -- Joeri dropped us! :( We went on Wednesday, and as soon as we walked in I sensed that something was wrong. He said he just doesn't have time right now, and that he needs to get some other things in order first before he'll have time for God. He said he just needs 2 months or so. No Joeri, it's the other way around. It was really heart-breaking because he's made so much progress, and to see him just stop. He said that we could still contact him every week or so, but that he can't have appointments right now. We testified, prayed, and read from Het Boek van Mormon, and I felt peaceful when we left. He'll come back, I totally believe it. Everyone has their time.
That was the big disappointment of the week but the Lord blessed us in so many other ways. Mevrouw Idema is another one of our investigators and she is doing so well! She hasn't committed to baptism yet; she's had a lot of negative experiences in the past, but she's loving everything we're teaching, and she's praying. Even out loud, something she never used to do. We asked her how it made her feel and she said, "warm van binnen" "warm inside.” She is so so sweet and I am really praying for her.
We also went to go visit Ester, that woman with the flowers from last week, and they invited us to come over for dinner to teach them. What kind of people do that? Awesome ones.
Mom, I really am trying to learn a little bit of Portuguese. We have an investigator from Portugal and she taught us how to sing Happy Birthday! Haha cool. Maybe you could email me your testimony and I could give it to her? That would be awesome!
Funny moments -- my bike is dying. It just needs to hold in there! My right brake popped off completely, so I now have to start braking 60 seconds in advance. And going down hills is fun. Also, the Gouda Ward can NOT sing. It's so great. Yesterday we were singing “I Stand All Amazed,” and it was so off it was hilarious. Brother Hoornweg was sitting in front of me and he turned around to show me a tuner while we were singing and it was going every which way. Haha, I love it. Plus for the most part, the Dutch have this tendency to always pick the hymns that no one knows. So that doesn't help. I love this ward, they are incredible.
Thanks for the cards the letters, the prayers, the faith, the emails and everything. Did you know that you can send free letters straight to the apartment from dearelder.com? I never knew that, but Zuster Perry gets them a lot. Haha just so you know. Just kidding, you all are doing great!
Hurrah for life. I'm happy. :)
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
Monday, May 23, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Miracles Everywhere
May 16, 2011
Hey hey hey. :) How is my wonderful family doing?
I finally got a card from Mom earlier this week. I don't know why they've been taking so long, probably just the mail here. You never know. But no worries, I feel your love. Thank you everyone for the pictures! I'm surprised you got mine so quickly. Everyone looks great! William -- YOU LOOK SO OLD. When did that happen? Do you have pictures from prom? I would love to see them. What about John and Britt? I would love to see pictures of them too. I'm glad to know that the weather in Kentucky is doing about the same as here. I don't know what happened to our lovely spring weather, but it is gone! The past few days have been coooold. Luckily they’ve been sunny. Today is raining as well, but it's not too bad. I'd rather have it rain on P-day. Everyone says that it's supposed to get warmer on Wednesday. I'm crossing my fingers.
So it's been a great week! Hard in a lot of ways with finding and things, but overall great! I think I've had more doors slammed in my face this past week than I ever have before. Haha – dang; sometimes finding people is just hard! But still good, no discouragement here. I think it's funny more than anything. Some people freak out so much when they see us on the door and I think, really? Like do we look THAT scary? If I had two beautiful girls come to my door I think I would want to know what they had to say. Haha kidding. But you know what I mean?
Anyway, despite the door slams we are seeing miracles left and right. We have found so many new investigators just out of nowhere! Sometimes I think that's the whole point of going along the doors. Just to show our faith. And it always puts us in the right place at the right time to meet someone who will listen. For example -- we're going along knocking on doors and Zuster Perry and I just started to talk about how much we love flowers and how nice it is to get them. And then, all of a sudden, I see a woman walking down the street carrying a big bunch of flowers! And I thought, she has to be a nice person. So we went and approached her and she accepted us right away! She even knows where the Church is, and she let us walk all the way to her house with her, and told us we could come back to teach her and her husband! Eternal marriage anyone? Yes! Awesome miracle. Oh and the flowers ended up being for her neighbor who just got back from vacation. Nice, huh? :)
Other miracle -- A woman just walked into church yesterday and announced that she has been investigating the Church for 7 years, was in Finland for the last 10 months, but now wants to start meeting again and possibly prepare for baptism! We were like... ummm... okay. Yes. That's possible.
Oh and then today, we're on the train up to Amsterdam (oh yeah, I'm writing from Amsterdam, we had to come and pick up some legal papers), a woman calls us who is a friend of a member and she said, "So I hear you give lessons to people, and that this is the true church of Christ. When can you come?" So we have an appointment with her on Thursday! We're so busy I'm almost afraid to be excited about it (haha) cause then we might lose everything. It's all been great!
Things with Joeri, our baptismal date are also going super well. He loves the gospel! And he's really changing. I love love love LOVE the light that comes into people's faces when they start to learn about the gospel. It totally fills that dark hole in them. Last night we were going around taking cookies to some of our investigators -- daily contact you know -- and we went and took him some. They were double-double chocolate chip and when he saw them he said, "You brought me chocolate pancakes?" Haha it was so funny. They don't even sell chocolate chips here; we had to break up a chocolate bar. I guess it's really an American thing.
Other things are also going really well. We started working with another less-active woman this week. She's actually an American, married to a Dutch man and she's pregnant. The only thing is her water broke... last week. So everything is crazy now. Luckily the ward has been on it helping her. We went to see her last night and she was super happy, and told us she's been praying again! We're planning on starting to teach her and hopefully her husband as soon as the baby comes which could be very very soon.
So yes -- I'm super happy and even when I'm not or things are hard, it's still okay. :) Life goes on, and there is always a little miracle waiting around the corner of some funny moment.
I hope that you all are doing well, and I pray for you all the time! I love you!
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
Hey hey hey. :) How is my wonderful family doing?
I finally got a card from Mom earlier this week. I don't know why they've been taking so long, probably just the mail here. You never know. But no worries, I feel your love. Thank you everyone for the pictures! I'm surprised you got mine so quickly. Everyone looks great! William -- YOU LOOK SO OLD. When did that happen? Do you have pictures from prom? I would love to see them. What about John and Britt? I would love to see pictures of them too. I'm glad to know that the weather in Kentucky is doing about the same as here. I don't know what happened to our lovely spring weather, but it is gone! The past few days have been coooold. Luckily they’ve been sunny. Today is raining as well, but it's not too bad. I'd rather have it rain on P-day. Everyone says that it's supposed to get warmer on Wednesday. I'm crossing my fingers.
So it's been a great week! Hard in a lot of ways with finding and things, but overall great! I think I've had more doors slammed in my face this past week than I ever have before. Haha – dang; sometimes finding people is just hard! But still good, no discouragement here. I think it's funny more than anything. Some people freak out so much when they see us on the door and I think, really? Like do we look THAT scary? If I had two beautiful girls come to my door I think I would want to know what they had to say. Haha kidding. But you know what I mean?
Anyway, despite the door slams we are seeing miracles left and right. We have found so many new investigators just out of nowhere! Sometimes I think that's the whole point of going along the doors. Just to show our faith. And it always puts us in the right place at the right time to meet someone who will listen. For example -- we're going along knocking on doors and Zuster Perry and I just started to talk about how much we love flowers and how nice it is to get them. And then, all of a sudden, I see a woman walking down the street carrying a big bunch of flowers! And I thought, she has to be a nice person. So we went and approached her and she accepted us right away! She even knows where the Church is, and she let us walk all the way to her house with her, and told us we could come back to teach her and her husband! Eternal marriage anyone? Yes! Awesome miracle. Oh and the flowers ended up being for her neighbor who just got back from vacation. Nice, huh? :)
Other miracle -- A woman just walked into church yesterday and announced that she has been investigating the Church for 7 years, was in Finland for the last 10 months, but now wants to start meeting again and possibly prepare for baptism! We were like... ummm... okay. Yes. That's possible.
Oh and then today, we're on the train up to Amsterdam (oh yeah, I'm writing from Amsterdam, we had to come and pick up some legal papers), a woman calls us who is a friend of a member and she said, "So I hear you give lessons to people, and that this is the true church of Christ. When can you come?" So we have an appointment with her on Thursday! We're so busy I'm almost afraid to be excited about it (haha) cause then we might lose everything. It's all been great!
Things with Joeri, our baptismal date are also going super well. He loves the gospel! And he's really changing. I love love love LOVE the light that comes into people's faces when they start to learn about the gospel. It totally fills that dark hole in them. Last night we were going around taking cookies to some of our investigators -- daily contact you know -- and we went and took him some. They were double-double chocolate chip and when he saw them he said, "You brought me chocolate pancakes?" Haha it was so funny. They don't even sell chocolate chips here; we had to break up a chocolate bar. I guess it's really an American thing.
Other things are also going really well. We started working with another less-active woman this week. She's actually an American, married to a Dutch man and she's pregnant. The only thing is her water broke... last week. So everything is crazy now. Luckily the ward has been on it helping her. We went to see her last night and she was super happy, and told us she's been praying again! We're planning on starting to teach her and hopefully her husband as soon as the baby comes which could be very very soon.
So yes -- I'm super happy and even when I'm not or things are hard, it's still okay. :) Life goes on, and there is always a little miracle waiting around the corner of some funny moment.
I hope that you all are doing well, and I pray for you all the time! I love you!
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
Monday, May 9, 2011
Thanks For Being So Great
Hello lievers. :)
Long time, no talk. Haha, really it was SO good to talk to you all yesterday. It's funny because now I think, wait but we just talked about everything, what do I email about? Which is actually probably ok because we have an appointment in a bit so we don't have much time to email. It was lovely to hear your voices! Give Brittney my love; I missed being able to talk to her.
It's great to know that you all are doing well -- so much is happening it seems! Thank you for your good examples and faith in the Gospel. Zuster Perry and I taught Sunday School in church yesterday and we taught the talk "Vertrouw op God, ga dan heen en doen" from President Eyring, "Trust in God, then go and do" in English (I think). We talked a lot about how it takes such faith to trust in God because so often we can't understand where He is taking us, or why we need to suffer the things we do. I have such a strong testimony that everything that we experience here in this life has a purpose. I know that's true with all my heart. This life is a molding process. But it always produces the best results -- the best us. Talking to William in Amsterdam on the phone after his baptism the other night just proved that to me. It's amazing to see the changes that the atonement can bring into someone's life. It's all so real!
Well family, I love you all. Ik hou van jou -- remember? :) Keep on keeping on.
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
Long time, no talk. Haha, really it was SO good to talk to you all yesterday. It's funny because now I think, wait but we just talked about everything, what do I email about? Which is actually probably ok because we have an appointment in a bit so we don't have much time to email. It was lovely to hear your voices! Give Brittney my love; I missed being able to talk to her.
It's great to know that you all are doing well -- so much is happening it seems! Thank you for your good examples and faith in the Gospel. Zuster Perry and I taught Sunday School in church yesterday and we taught the talk "Vertrouw op God, ga dan heen en doen" from President Eyring, "Trust in God, then go and do" in English (I think). We talked a lot about how it takes such faith to trust in God because so often we can't understand where He is taking us, or why we need to suffer the things we do. I have such a strong testimony that everything that we experience here in this life has a purpose. I know that's true with all my heart. This life is a molding process. But it always produces the best results -- the best us. Talking to William in Amsterdam on the phone after his baptism the other night just proved that to me. It's amazing to see the changes that the atonement can bring into someone's life. It's all so real!
Well family, I love you all. Ik hou van jou -- remember? :) Keep on keeping on.
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
Monday, May 2, 2011
Groeten van Gouda!!
Dear Family!
Thank you for your prayers and love and support and just being so wonderful. I hope I let you all know enough just how much I love you. The longer I am here the more I realize how blessed I am.
Soo... I'm in Gouda! And I love it! Seriously, I was really worried about the transition, and while it is SO SO different here, I love it already. I have met some amazing people, and we've already seen so many blessings. There is a lot of work to be done here but Zuster Perry and I are up for the challenge. And no, she is not related to the PERRY Perry, but she does have an uncle named Tom. Zuster Perry is an absolute doll, just like I thought. She's 23, from Utah, but has lived in Southern California for the past few years. She's got so much love for the work and the people here and she speaks great Dutch! We've already had a lot of fun together.
So Gouda... it's tiny! Like really, really. It takes us about 10 minutes to fiets from appointment to appointment and we live in an apartment right across the street from the church. It probably takes us a total of 30 seconds, not kidding, to get there. We are blessed. We have a big area, and our ward boundaries are actually the largest of any ward in Western Europe. We do most of our finding here in Gouda because that's where the church building is, but we travel down to Rotterdam and the surrounding areas a lot to visit members, less actives, things like that.
The ward is amazing here! It's still a pretty international ward and there are several Belgian families here. It makes me so happy to hear Vlaams again! Last night we went to a music fireside and a big group from Antwerpen came up and it was great to talk to them all. It was weird though, I had to switch my brain to be able to understand them -- I had forgotten how different Vlaams and Nederlands were! Anyways, the ward. We have the best bishop! I haven't even been here that long but he's already been on joint-teach with us several times and had us over for dinner. Apparently we eat with him and his family every Tuesday -- that's incredible! I've loved all the bishops that I have had, but this is unheard of here. I am so so so grateful. There are so many loving members here. Everyone seems to have the attitude of "we want to be your family while you're here!" Love it.
Yesterday was such a great day at church. Zuster Perry and I were asked to teach Sharing Time and it was so much fun. We helped them memorize the 6th Article of Faith, and then we talked about the apostasy and restoration by doing a cool activity. They loved it, and one of the little boys got up during sacrament meeting and bore his testimony about how grateful he was to have sister missionaries to help him learn.
It's cool being the only missionaries in the ward too. I've always served in a city with elders and senior couples and all that. I thought I would miss it, and I do a bit, but it's cool to just be here by ourselves. Us and Gouda. And the Spirit and all that of course. :)
Zuster Perry plays piano, and so yesterday we did this beautiful arrangement of "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" in sacrament meeting and it went really well. The ward is small but very sweet. Investigator-wise things are going well but we do have a lot of work to do. Most of our investigators are referrals/part member family members. Almost all of our finding is done going along the doors because there isn't really a lot of opstraat stuff. Which has been good for me cause I've spent most of my mission just on the streets talking with people.
And another big difference -- EVERYONE HERE BELIEVES. I was so used to A'dam where NO ONE believes and people curse God. I tell people here I served in A'dam and they say, “Oh yeah, the Sodom and Gomorrah of Nederland.” It's true -- haha. Anyway, almost everyone here goes to church. Everything is closed on Sunday. It's totally the tiny, little Dutch town where people sit outside telling kids the stories from the Bible. On the one hand it's awesome, and on the other it presents some problems. I've never met so many people who are so concerned for my soul. Haha -- we've met a couple of very intense people who swear we have been deceived and told us to go fast and pray about the salvation of our souls. We told them we do and we will. It's funny. There are so many open people though. It's time to be bold! Everyone already goes to a church so we frequently ask people why they think there are so many churches and then go straight to the restoration; it's great!!
I really am loving it here so far and I feel confident that we are going to see miracles. We fasted yesterday as a companionship for them. Once again, it's time to call down the angels!
I love you all. Thanks for everything.
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
P.S. "Survivor" by Destiny's Child is playing in the cafe. I thought that was funny and applicable.
Thank you for your prayers and love and support and just being so wonderful. I hope I let you all know enough just how much I love you. The longer I am here the more I realize how blessed I am.
Soo... I'm in Gouda! And I love it! Seriously, I was really worried about the transition, and while it is SO SO different here, I love it already. I have met some amazing people, and we've already seen so many blessings. There is a lot of work to be done here but Zuster Perry and I are up for the challenge. And no, she is not related to the PERRY Perry, but she does have an uncle named Tom. Zuster Perry is an absolute doll, just like I thought. She's 23, from Utah, but has lived in Southern California for the past few years. She's got so much love for the work and the people here and she speaks great Dutch! We've already had a lot of fun together.
So Gouda... it's tiny! Like really, really. It takes us about 10 minutes to fiets from appointment to appointment and we live in an apartment right across the street from the church. It probably takes us a total of 30 seconds, not kidding, to get there. We are blessed. We have a big area, and our ward boundaries are actually the largest of any ward in Western Europe. We do most of our finding here in Gouda because that's where the church building is, but we travel down to Rotterdam and the surrounding areas a lot to visit members, less actives, things like that.
The ward is amazing here! It's still a pretty international ward and there are several Belgian families here. It makes me so happy to hear Vlaams again! Last night we went to a music fireside and a big group from Antwerpen came up and it was great to talk to them all. It was weird though, I had to switch my brain to be able to understand them -- I had forgotten how different Vlaams and Nederlands were! Anyways, the ward. We have the best bishop! I haven't even been here that long but he's already been on joint-teach with us several times and had us over for dinner. Apparently we eat with him and his family every Tuesday -- that's incredible! I've loved all the bishops that I have had, but this is unheard of here. I am so so so grateful. There are so many loving members here. Everyone seems to have the attitude of "we want to be your family while you're here!" Love it.
Yesterday was such a great day at church. Zuster Perry and I were asked to teach Sharing Time and it was so much fun. We helped them memorize the 6th Article of Faith, and then we talked about the apostasy and restoration by doing a cool activity. They loved it, and one of the little boys got up during sacrament meeting and bore his testimony about how grateful he was to have sister missionaries to help him learn.
It's cool being the only missionaries in the ward too. I've always served in a city with elders and senior couples and all that. I thought I would miss it, and I do a bit, but it's cool to just be here by ourselves. Us and Gouda. And the Spirit and all that of course. :)
Zuster Perry plays piano, and so yesterday we did this beautiful arrangement of "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" in sacrament meeting and it went really well. The ward is small but very sweet. Investigator-wise things are going well but we do have a lot of work to do. Most of our investigators are referrals/part member family members. Almost all of our finding is done going along the doors because there isn't really a lot of opstraat stuff. Which has been good for me cause I've spent most of my mission just on the streets talking with people.
And another big difference -- EVERYONE HERE BELIEVES. I was so used to A'dam where NO ONE believes and people curse God. I tell people here I served in A'dam and they say, “Oh yeah, the Sodom and Gomorrah of Nederland.” It's true -- haha. Anyway, almost everyone here goes to church. Everything is closed on Sunday. It's totally the tiny, little Dutch town where people sit outside telling kids the stories from the Bible. On the one hand it's awesome, and on the other it presents some problems. I've never met so many people who are so concerned for my soul. Haha -- we've met a couple of very intense people who swear we have been deceived and told us to go fast and pray about the salvation of our souls. We told them we do and we will. It's funny. There are so many open people though. It's time to be bold! Everyone already goes to a church so we frequently ask people why they think there are so many churches and then go straight to the restoration; it's great!!
I really am loving it here so far and I feel confident that we are going to see miracles. We fasted yesterday as a companionship for them. Once again, it's time to call down the angels!
I love you all. Thanks for everything.
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
P.S. "Survivor" by Destiny's Child is playing in the cafe. I thought that was funny and applicable.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Easter, Spring & News
Hello Family!
Happy Easter! I hope that you all are having a wonderful time together in Utah. Zuster Fritz is here this week with her mother and she told me yesterday at church that it's still been a bit snowing out there. Crazy! We are finally enjoying the warm weather here. This week has been absolutely glorious.
I have so much news! I'm being transferred! I'm going to... Gouda!! Now first things first, do not pronounce it the way we say the cheese. Pretend like you are saying "cow-da" but instead of saying the "c" make the guttural "g" sound. That's the name of the place. It's a small city in the southern part of Nederland, actually in what they call the "Bible-belt" of the Netherlands. Our area is big though and we work a lot in Rotterdam. I'll be working with Zuster Perry! That makes me super happy. She came into the mission when I left Antwerpen and I already know her pretty well. She's a dear; we're going to tear it up down there! I leave Wednesday, but of course a part of my heart will stay here in A’dam. I'm actually really sad to leave, but I know that there are people in Gouda waiting for me. So my new address is:
Crabethdstraat 5
2801 AL Gouda
Nederland.
Mail is lovely as always. :)
So other news -- William's baptism is actually postponed. It'll be on May 7th now. There were a few complications, but it is all working out and his baptism will still go through! :) I'll be able to come back for it as well which makes me really happy.
This week has honestly probably been one of the hardest, most emotional, yet best weeks of my mission. I cannot explain the lessons I have learned or the peace I have received, but I can say that I know that Christ really did suffer for all the pain and all the experiences we have. He knows us personally. I love that.
The sun is shining and the work of God goes forth! We were able to go to the temple this past week! Ahhhh I LOVE THE TEMPLE. I kind of never want to leave when I go in. It was such a beautiful day and it was great to be gathered with all the missionaries. After the temple we all got to go to Keukenhof. Oh my goodness I don't think I have ever taken so many pictures. And they really can't do it justice. It was a lovely day. I would say I will send some home, but you know how bad I am at that... I'll try! :)
We have been blessed this week to do a lot of really good finding. Amsterdam has come alive with this weather! Everyone is out -- in a boat, in a bike, walking (my goodness those silly tourists -- I think just last night I almost ran about 10 people over. They just walk right in the bike paths! Crazy people.)
Other funny moments of the week. We got contacted by some Jehovah's Witnesses. That was interesting. We actually had a really good talk with them and we switched pamphlets. They were very nice people and I admire their zeal for doing missionary work. And it was interesting to be on the other side of the door for a change.
Yesterday we had a beautiful Easter service at the church. I love this ward. You asked to tell a little more about it (haha), so before I leave it I guess I could explain. It's a very diverse ward. We really have a little bit of everything. There are the Dutch, Surinamese, Africans, Spanish speakers, American families -- really everything. We try and work a lot through referrals and we have a lot of members who are great with that. We are also incredibly blessed with Br Zonneveld our amazing ward mission leader. Sundays we have Relief Society first, it's in Dutch and then I do the translation to English, or the other way around when someone who speaks English gives the lesson. Then we have Sunday School, given by Br Zonneveld, then Sacrament meeting which is also in Dutch and either Elder Garret or I will translate. It's been a great ward.
And Zuster Kremer quickly, SHE IS AMAZING. I am going to miss her with all my heart. She's only been a member of the church for 3 years, but she has a burning testimony. She's Hungarian but was born in Belgium in the French speaking part, but was raised in Hungary, Belgium, and other places. She studies business and language and speaks Hungarian, French, Spanish, English, and now Dutch fluently. She's been teaching me but I must say it's hard! I can pray in Hungarian and Spanish (my Spanish is better), and say a lot of random things in other languages. She is a dear, she’s been a blessing to work with.
Well lieverds, I love you all! I'll be in Gouda next time we email. Pray for the adjustment; you know me, I don't always like change. It's going to be great though -- I'm excited for the next adventure! Hurrah for Israel!
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
Happy Easter! I hope that you all are having a wonderful time together in Utah. Zuster Fritz is here this week with her mother and she told me yesterday at church that it's still been a bit snowing out there. Crazy! We are finally enjoying the warm weather here. This week has been absolutely glorious.
I have so much news! I'm being transferred! I'm going to... Gouda!! Now first things first, do not pronounce it the way we say the cheese. Pretend like you are saying "cow-da" but instead of saying the "c" make the guttural "g" sound. That's the name of the place. It's a small city in the southern part of Nederland, actually in what they call the "Bible-belt" of the Netherlands. Our area is big though and we work a lot in Rotterdam. I'll be working with Zuster Perry! That makes me super happy. She came into the mission when I left Antwerpen and I already know her pretty well. She's a dear; we're going to tear it up down there! I leave Wednesday, but of course a part of my heart will stay here in A’dam. I'm actually really sad to leave, but I know that there are people in Gouda waiting for me. So my new address is:
Crabethdstraat 5
2801 AL Gouda
Nederland.
Mail is lovely as always. :)
So other news -- William's baptism is actually postponed. It'll be on May 7th now. There were a few complications, but it is all working out and his baptism will still go through! :) I'll be able to come back for it as well which makes me really happy.
This week has honestly probably been one of the hardest, most emotional, yet best weeks of my mission. I cannot explain the lessons I have learned or the peace I have received, but I can say that I know that Christ really did suffer for all the pain and all the experiences we have. He knows us personally. I love that.
The sun is shining and the work of God goes forth! We were able to go to the temple this past week! Ahhhh I LOVE THE TEMPLE. I kind of never want to leave when I go in. It was such a beautiful day and it was great to be gathered with all the missionaries. After the temple we all got to go to Keukenhof. Oh my goodness I don't think I have ever taken so many pictures. And they really can't do it justice. It was a lovely day. I would say I will send some home, but you know how bad I am at that... I'll try! :)
We have been blessed this week to do a lot of really good finding. Amsterdam has come alive with this weather! Everyone is out -- in a boat, in a bike, walking (my goodness those silly tourists -- I think just last night I almost ran about 10 people over. They just walk right in the bike paths! Crazy people.)
Other funny moments of the week. We got contacted by some Jehovah's Witnesses. That was interesting. We actually had a really good talk with them and we switched pamphlets. They were very nice people and I admire their zeal for doing missionary work. And it was interesting to be on the other side of the door for a change.
Yesterday we had a beautiful Easter service at the church. I love this ward. You asked to tell a little more about it (haha), so before I leave it I guess I could explain. It's a very diverse ward. We really have a little bit of everything. There are the Dutch, Surinamese, Africans, Spanish speakers, American families -- really everything. We try and work a lot through referrals and we have a lot of members who are great with that. We are also incredibly blessed with Br Zonneveld our amazing ward mission leader. Sundays we have Relief Society first, it's in Dutch and then I do the translation to English, or the other way around when someone who speaks English gives the lesson. Then we have Sunday School, given by Br Zonneveld, then Sacrament meeting which is also in Dutch and either Elder Garret or I will translate. It's been a great ward.
And Zuster Kremer quickly, SHE IS AMAZING. I am going to miss her with all my heart. She's only been a member of the church for 3 years, but she has a burning testimony. She's Hungarian but was born in Belgium in the French speaking part, but was raised in Hungary, Belgium, and other places. She studies business and language and speaks Hungarian, French, Spanish, English, and now Dutch fluently. She's been teaching me but I must say it's hard! I can pray in Hungarian and Spanish (my Spanish is better), and say a lot of random things in other languages. She is a dear, she’s been a blessing to work with.
Well lieverds, I love you all! I'll be in Gouda next time we email. Pray for the adjustment; you know me, I don't always like change. It's going to be great though -- I'm excited for the next adventure! Hurrah for Israel!
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
Monday, April 18, 2011
Happy Easter
Dear Family!
It's been such a great week and again I only have about 10 minutes to write because we are so busy! I’m glad that everything is going well at home. Congrats John and Brittney on graduating! That's super exciting. Jake too. It'll be weird next fall without you all there. William, when are you heading out? And dang, so many people are getting married, that's crazy. Give everyone my love.
This past week has been great! So many exciting things going on. This past weekend were the Donny Osmond firesides which ended up being such a success. We had 3 different ones, one in Rotterdam, one in Haarlem, and one in Utrecht. We went to the one in Harrlem with our investigators and then we had to go the one in Utrecht to help out. It was crazy, about 300+ people came to each one, and we got a ton of referrals! We gave everyone a card who came in and then asked them to fill out their name and address and then to circle 1-10 how interested they would be to learn more about the gospel. Brother Osmond gave an incredible talk, basically a first lesson, and talked about how the gospel has blessed his life. And then at the end we passed out copies of the Book of Mormon with his signature in it. It was an incredible idea and we'll be getting all the referrals from President on Wednesday. I think we're going to see a lot of success! It was fun too. Mom, I kept thinking of you the whole time.
Other exciting things -- William is getting baptized on Saturday! We're so happy for him! He's made so much progress, it's going to be beautiful. Zuster Fritz is even coming back to visit and I'm so excited to see her. Elder Klippel and I are going to be doing some kind of musical number and the whole ward is coming. It's going to be beautiful. A great Easter weekend.
A lot of our other investigators are struggling a bit at the time, it seems everyone's hang up is authority. You know they read the Book of Mormon and the come to church and they think it's all lovely, but ... “I’ve already been baptized.” We've explained the authority thing over and over and over but something’s not clicking. If any of you have some new ideas, we would love to hear them!
This time next week I'll know where I'm being transferred to. I'm so sad to have to leave A'dam! Bahh... I don't like thinking about it. Though everywhere is wonderful and I know the Lord will send me where I am needed. I have a strong testimony of that.
I got to give a talk in church yesterday on the atonement. It was a very last minute thing. One of the members, Roland, was supposed to give it but he called me the night before and said, "Hey Zuster Holbein you're always asking if there is anything you can do for me and I finally thought of it... I'm sick, can you give a talk for me tomorrow?" Despite not having too much time to plan I was really grateful to do it. The atonement is one of my favorite things to talk about. I'm so grateful for the healing power available to us. I've felt it in my own life keer op keer. :)
Other exciting things -- we're going to the temple on Wednesday!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) And then to Keukenhof after, the big tulip field place. Spring is in bloom here, and this place is beautiful.
I hope you all enjoy being together this next week. Know that I love and pray for you!
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
It's been such a great week and again I only have about 10 minutes to write because we are so busy! I’m glad that everything is going well at home. Congrats John and Brittney on graduating! That's super exciting. Jake too. It'll be weird next fall without you all there. William, when are you heading out? And dang, so many people are getting married, that's crazy. Give everyone my love.
This past week has been great! So many exciting things going on. This past weekend were the Donny Osmond firesides which ended up being such a success. We had 3 different ones, one in Rotterdam, one in Haarlem, and one in Utrecht. We went to the one in Harrlem with our investigators and then we had to go the one in Utrecht to help out. It was crazy, about 300+ people came to each one, and we got a ton of referrals! We gave everyone a card who came in and then asked them to fill out their name and address and then to circle 1-10 how interested they would be to learn more about the gospel. Brother Osmond gave an incredible talk, basically a first lesson, and talked about how the gospel has blessed his life. And then at the end we passed out copies of the Book of Mormon with his signature in it. It was an incredible idea and we'll be getting all the referrals from President on Wednesday. I think we're going to see a lot of success! It was fun too. Mom, I kept thinking of you the whole time.
Other exciting things -- William is getting baptized on Saturday! We're so happy for him! He's made so much progress, it's going to be beautiful. Zuster Fritz is even coming back to visit and I'm so excited to see her. Elder Klippel and I are going to be doing some kind of musical number and the whole ward is coming. It's going to be beautiful. A great Easter weekend.
A lot of our other investigators are struggling a bit at the time, it seems everyone's hang up is authority. You know they read the Book of Mormon and the come to church and they think it's all lovely, but ... “I’ve already been baptized.” We've explained the authority thing over and over and over but something’s not clicking. If any of you have some new ideas, we would love to hear them!
This time next week I'll know where I'm being transferred to. I'm so sad to have to leave A'dam! Bahh... I don't like thinking about it. Though everywhere is wonderful and I know the Lord will send me where I am needed. I have a strong testimony of that.
I got to give a talk in church yesterday on the atonement. It was a very last minute thing. One of the members, Roland, was supposed to give it but he called me the night before and said, "Hey Zuster Holbein you're always asking if there is anything you can do for me and I finally thought of it... I'm sick, can you give a talk for me tomorrow?" Despite not having too much time to plan I was really grateful to do it. The atonement is one of my favorite things to talk about. I'm so grateful for the healing power available to us. I've felt it in my own life keer op keer. :)
Other exciting things -- we're going to the temple on Wednesday!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) And then to Keukenhof after, the big tulip field place. Spring is in bloom here, and this place is beautiful.
I hope you all enjoy being together this next week. Know that I love and pray for you!
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Conference & More
Dear Family,
Hey hey hey. :) Happy April -- finally warm weather! This week has been warmer! We've had a few cold days and today seems a little bi-polar, but for the most part it has been beautiful. The weather was perfect for conference! It was funny, last night when we were watching the Sunday morning session I saw snow in Utah! Haha it made me a lot more grateful for the weather here. We haven't seen snow in a while (fingers crossed).
And yes, I did see Sister Bradford and I told everyone -- hey I know her! And she always smells really nice. Haha, funny but true, I always remember her perfume. Oh and congrats to President Hymas! I jumped when I heard them say that, and I turned to Zuster Kremer and said, "My stake president is Robert W. Hymas... I wonder if that's him!!" I love the Hymas family, please send them my love.
Anyway, it's been a glorious week! Conference was amazing. I'm looking forward to the talks going online or to getting a conference issue so that I can read the Sunday afternoon session. We got to see both Saturday sessions and then the Sunday morning one. So many inspired talks were given. A few of our investigators were able to come, but a lot couldn't. Satan seemed to be going crazy pulling at these people this past week. Zuster Kremer and I took notes on each talk though as if we were listening as our investigators and we're going to go to their homes and listen to them with them as soon as they go online.
I loved being able to watch conference here in Amsterdam. I remember last conference I was also here, but it was at the beginning of my time, and I didn't know as many people, and I remember missing Antwerpen a lot. But this time I really felt so at home. I love it here in Amsterdam. I love the ward, I love the investigators, I love my companion. I love how no matter where in the world we are from, we have the gospel that can unite us.
Oh, other random exciting news -- Zuster Kremer taught me/is in the process of teaching me how to pray in Hungarian! I can say a very simple, short prayer. Let's just say I am SO happy I didn't have to learn Hungarian. I think I would've cried in the MTC... haha more than I already did with Dutch.
We were blessed with many miracles this week. The story or theme of the past little while with everyone has seemed to be "why is life so hard?" That's why I was so grateful for many of the conference talks, especially the one by that one Seventy... I can't remember his name. It's been great though because it's really given me the chance to look at my own life and how I react to adversity. I have been studying lately the difference between "acting” and "reacting." I think in life it is so much easier to "react" to everything that goes on around us. When the weather isn't good, or when people slam doors, or try to hit you with a bike chain (true story this past week), or when investigators don't progress, or when you're tired. It's so easy to think, dang it, that stinks, now I can't be happy. But no, happiness is a choice. Just like faith. We get to choose every day how we are going to feel. And why not choose to be happy? Not only does it make your life so much better, but also the lives of those around you. Everyone likes to be around a happy person. It really does make all the difference. I've been trying a lot harder this past week to make the conscious effort to just be happy, no matter what. It's been making a big difference and it's cool to be able to testify to people that it works.
My other big personal miracle happened this past Tuesday. In preparation for a lesson with someone on the restoration, I was studying, well yeah, the restoration. I was reading the Joseph Smith story and scriptures about the apostasy, and all of a sudden in hit me, really big, and really strong... IT'S ALL TRUE. Like really, really. The restoration happened! Joseph Smith DID see God and Jesus Christ and they DID call him as a prophet to restore the true, full gospel of Jesus Christ back on the earth. Incredible! I've known it my whole life but it just hit me at once. My insides felt like they were going to burst and I felt so warm! I couldn't hold it in and I turned to Zuster Kremer and said, “It’s true!!!" Haha poor dear, probably thought I was crazy. But it really hit me, and I started to cry and I just felt so full. I know it's true. The Holy Spirit confirmed it to me in such a powerful way, I'll never forget it. It was wonderful.
I love being a missionary with all my heart. I frequently tell Zuster Kremer I hope my mission loves me as much as I love it.
Thank you all for everything! I love love love love you all and pray for you all the time. :)
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
Hey hey hey. :) Happy April -- finally warm weather! This week has been warmer! We've had a few cold days and today seems a little bi-polar, but for the most part it has been beautiful. The weather was perfect for conference! It was funny, last night when we were watching the Sunday morning session I saw snow in Utah! Haha it made me a lot more grateful for the weather here. We haven't seen snow in a while (fingers crossed).
And yes, I did see Sister Bradford and I told everyone -- hey I know her! And she always smells really nice. Haha, funny but true, I always remember her perfume. Oh and congrats to President Hymas! I jumped when I heard them say that, and I turned to Zuster Kremer and said, "My stake president is Robert W. Hymas... I wonder if that's him!!" I love the Hymas family, please send them my love.
Anyway, it's been a glorious week! Conference was amazing. I'm looking forward to the talks going online or to getting a conference issue so that I can read the Sunday afternoon session. We got to see both Saturday sessions and then the Sunday morning one. So many inspired talks were given. A few of our investigators were able to come, but a lot couldn't. Satan seemed to be going crazy pulling at these people this past week. Zuster Kremer and I took notes on each talk though as if we were listening as our investigators and we're going to go to their homes and listen to them with them as soon as they go online.
I loved being able to watch conference here in Amsterdam. I remember last conference I was also here, but it was at the beginning of my time, and I didn't know as many people, and I remember missing Antwerpen a lot. But this time I really felt so at home. I love it here in Amsterdam. I love the ward, I love the investigators, I love my companion. I love how no matter where in the world we are from, we have the gospel that can unite us.
Oh, other random exciting news -- Zuster Kremer taught me/is in the process of teaching me how to pray in Hungarian! I can say a very simple, short prayer. Let's just say I am SO happy I didn't have to learn Hungarian. I think I would've cried in the MTC... haha more than I already did with Dutch.
We were blessed with many miracles this week. The story or theme of the past little while with everyone has seemed to be "why is life so hard?" That's why I was so grateful for many of the conference talks, especially the one by that one Seventy... I can't remember his name. It's been great though because it's really given me the chance to look at my own life and how I react to adversity. I have been studying lately the difference between "acting” and "reacting." I think in life it is so much easier to "react" to everything that goes on around us. When the weather isn't good, or when people slam doors, or try to hit you with a bike chain (true story this past week), or when investigators don't progress, or when you're tired. It's so easy to think, dang it, that stinks, now I can't be happy. But no, happiness is a choice. Just like faith. We get to choose every day how we are going to feel. And why not choose to be happy? Not only does it make your life so much better, but also the lives of those around you. Everyone likes to be around a happy person. It really does make all the difference. I've been trying a lot harder this past week to make the conscious effort to just be happy, no matter what. It's been making a big difference and it's cool to be able to testify to people that it works.
My other big personal miracle happened this past Tuesday. In preparation for a lesson with someone on the restoration, I was studying, well yeah, the restoration. I was reading the Joseph Smith story and scriptures about the apostasy, and all of a sudden in hit me, really big, and really strong... IT'S ALL TRUE. Like really, really. The restoration happened! Joseph Smith DID see God and Jesus Christ and they DID call him as a prophet to restore the true, full gospel of Jesus Christ back on the earth. Incredible! I've known it my whole life but it just hit me at once. My insides felt like they were going to burst and I felt so warm! I couldn't hold it in and I turned to Zuster Kremer and said, “It’s true!!!" Haha poor dear, probably thought I was crazy. But it really hit me, and I started to cry and I just felt so full. I know it's true. The Holy Spirit confirmed it to me in such a powerful way, I'll never forget it. It was wonderful.
I love being a missionary with all my heart. I frequently tell Zuster Kremer I hope my mission loves me as much as I love it.
Thank you all for everything! I love love love love you all and pray for you all the time. :)
Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
