Another Try

So since my last email was a little bit of a fail (names will go unmentioned who have told me how much my last update sucked ahaha) I will try again...plus this week was so much more interesting. Also, just a note, my general emails will go down to a bi-weekly email because of the lack of time I usually have to write my general email after responding to other emails that I've received...sorry....

Monday & Tuesday - It was just regular days, we didn't do anything special for P-Day, although Sis. Robbins has been teaching me how to play piano (a life-long dream of mine that I've been dying to do ever since I can remember). She's also teaching me how to better harmonize. We'll be singing a song for the ward next Sunday together AND we'll be harmonizing. At first I was excited and then I just nervous and didn't want to do it anymore but Sis. Robbins said I didn't have a choice - so that's going to be interesting. 

Wednesday & Thursday - We had exchanges but not just any exchange. One of my companions from the MTC, Sis. Hanny, got to come down to Gent and work with me. It was so much fun! One - because we are just completely crazy together, and two - we probably had one of most intense and most memorable adrenaline rushes of my mission/life. Let me begin...

On Wednesdays we have a weekly dinner appointment with one of the members of the branch, Mary (number 1). Our recent convert, Mary (number 2) lives across the canal from Mary 1. We had an appointment with Mary 2 before we had to go to dinner at Mary 1, the elders were with us because Destiny needed to have his baptismal interview. 

There is a drawbridge that connects the two and so obviously we have to cross the bridge to get to Mary 1. Well, on this particular time of crossing the bridge as soon as we step on it, the gate closes behind us and the bell starts to go off. Immediately Elder Frederico yells, "RUN! RUN NOW!" So we just start booking it across the bridge.

A few seconds into it Sis. Hanny yells, "We should go back we're not going to make it." and starts to run back. But the three of us just keep running forward so she turns around and starts to follow us - all the while we're screaming and just yelling with an extreme amount of adrenaline, "Run Run Run - keep going - HURRY - AHHHHH" It was so much fun. 

Luckily we made it just in time, seconds before the bridge went up and we were all just laughing hysterically not really believing what we just did. As we walked to Mary 1, we were telling each other our different tactics/ plans that were going through our head if we had to jump if the bridge went up. That was one of my most memorable experiences thus far. 

Thursday & Friday - Were just regular work days...nothing too exciting, although I got licked by 2-year-old. He caught me off guard and just grabbed my face and licked it. The funny thing is, is that that has happened to me so many times my life that it didn't really phase me too much except for the amount of slobber on the side of my face. 

Saturday & Sunday - We had two of our investigators, Scarlett and Destiny got baptized and confirmed into the church!!!!!! It was so great!!!! Yesterday, Scarlett turned to me in sacrament meeting and says, "now I'm really a part of the church!" and she gave me a high-five. I'm just so proud of them! It's so great to see the change that comes through people when they want to live the gospel. There's a light that comes into their eyes - it's one of my favorite things to see - my favorite part of missionary work. 

Well, that was my week...Oh and happy father's day yesterday!!!! 

Make someone laugh this week. :) Love you all! 

Another great week!

Okay, so I've received a couple of comments/replies regarding my email last week...and because I really don't remember all that I wrote (mainly because my missionary brain has trouble remembering what even happened the day before) I wanted to clarify that I didn't have that hard of a week last week as my last email may have sounded. I realized that my sarcasm/sassiness/humor/whatever other feeling I actually intend to relay doesn't come through as much as I would like in my emails...so yeah...no worries, I'm doing great :) 

Anyways, one funny thing that kept coming up this week (besides the hilariousness of Sis. Robbins and I - we sometimes think we're really funny while acknowledging that people around of us are probably judging us for our stupidity of what we are laughing about). It's funny because being in a little mission bubble a lot more things seem super funny to you whereas in the real world you would just think that they're stupid. That wasn't the funny thing. 

Actually, in thinking about it it might be a little hard to explain and saying it out loud just now didn't sound so funny so I won't mention it now....suspense! 

Sorry, for some reason I am just struggling today to keep my brain going in a cohesive stream of thought. Try not to judge me too hard...lol It's actually becoming more difficult to figure out what to write everyone because missionary life seems so completely normal to me and it's hard to describe/ talk about what's happening because something happens everyday and I unfortunately don't have enough time to explain everything or even a few things. So if you want me to talk about a particular topic I am all ears. Just reply. :) 

But I would say one particular thing that stood out to me what was during Zone Training, where President Robinson (my mission president) was talking to us about accountability and being an agent instead of an object. He was telling us that we needed to take responsibility and own up to our own actions when certain things do not go our way. 

Being an object meant that we justify why certain things happens - in short, we allow ourselves to become victims - allowing outside influences affect our results. 

Being an agent meant that despite outside influences we do not let it determine our personal choices. Just because people can be mean to us or the work seems really hard at times does not mean we are allowed to slack off and make excuses as to why we are making particular choices. 

Sorry again, I feel like this email is less than sub-par but I will try to figure something really great to write about next week! Love you all! 

A very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister BELLA whose birthday is today!!!! 

And a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my other (soul) sister KHAMISSA (negra) whose birthday is this friday!!!! Ik hou van jullie!!!! 

oh and ps. I love Mylissa Buysse 

#us

Hello hello! 

So, to answer your unspoken question of what is the purpose of the title of the email I will tell you. That is the hashtag of our new companionship. It's only been a week and I'm pretty sure we've laughed EVER SINGLE day together for most of the day.

The #us is a new subject under our "wonders and grapjes" that we do at the end of each day. Our companionship unity is a little bit too ridiculous, we say the most random-est of things at the exact time and in the exact same way. It's funny because as we both start to say the same thing, our faces changes and we say, "So help me!" and then just laugh about it. 

It's been so much fun, we also have gotten into some pretty interesting adventures. Last week the Burgermeester, Hilda (yes, we're on a first name basis), of De Pinte gave a ride in her car to one of our appointments because we got lost. Then on Friday we stumbled upon a youth group of a church that gets together every now and then and sing Christian rock songs and pray together. We kind of got stuck there for about an hour but it was really fun to sing and dance with everyone. 

Gent is just so much fun! We're just always getting into something. 

But on a more personal note, the theme of this week for me has been, "Ponder the path of thy feet." I've been doing just that lately. I've been thinking a lot about how easy it is to compare oneself to another. Our brain just naturally does it and it only ever really is destructive.

There are moments when sometimes I just think, "Ugh, they're so much better than me, smarter, funnier, of wat dan ook.." And then you go into "why did this have to be that way" etc. It's easy to want to say, "why couldn't I have just been better?"

A few days I ago, I was reading in the New Testament, in John and I came across this verse (John 10:10) which said, "I (Christ) am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly." And in teaching our investigators, I always tell them that each person has his/her one specific path back to God and we have to do the work to figure it out. 

Advice much needed for myself. It's all to easy to compare your life or path to another. But a quote that I like to keep in mind is - The grass is never greener on the other side. It's green where you water it. - My own personal progression is mine and I have to own it. And it's not there to measure against another's. Comparisons and jealousies are simply just small and effective distractions. 

I know personally that I fall into that distraction all too often and all too easily. Yet another thing to work on. Sometimes this refining process gets a bit tiring or annoying but I am grateful for. I do want to go through and eventually end my mission being something/ someone so much better than I was. I guess that's why I'm also grateful for our lifetimes - for it is a lifetime pursuit of changing and becoming better. 

I love you all! Laugh till you fall on the ground this week :) 

A New Transfer

Hello Iedereen! 

So for the past few weeks in my daily scripture study I've been reading in the New Testament - one of my favorites. And the common theme that keeps popping up is how to emulate the Savior's example in my life. I believe that we won't know or recognize Christ unless we have allowed Him to become a part of us. As we've been teaching our investigators I've been really trying to personalize all the things that I teach them and so something that I've been trying to integrate into my life is change. 

This gospel is our benefit; to help us change - to become something new and something better than we could become by ourselves. I've noticed my little internal rebellions of not wanting to change because it seems like it requires too much effort at times when I really have no desire to do so. 

So, I've been learning how to take change one day at a time. I want to be different and I want to be better despite the anxiety of the unknown. I was reading in John 3 (I think it was chapter 3) where John the Baptist says, "He (Christ) must increase, and I (John) must decrease." As I was talking about this with Sis. Robbins, I came to a realization that I needed to do the same. I needed to learn how to put aside my selfishness and jealousies or wat dan ook and emulate the attributes of Christ within myself. 

I want to be able to say that I've tried my best in this life; that I've constantly and consistently searched for knowledge and truth instead of justifying why I didn't change or did not want to become better. I think that's why scripture study is so important - it doesn't give of the excuse of saying, "oh, i didn't know" or "no one taught me". We have seek out truth for everyone as their personal path to God; the path is already there but it's our personal responsibility (I almost wrote verantwoordelijkheid) to find that path and stay on it. That whole journey takes a life time - that's the whole reason why we are here. 

As for other things in my life - this transfers, even though it's only been about 5 days has been so much fun! Sis. Robbins and I laugh from the time we get up to pass our bed time at 10:30. With the new missionaries in our area now it's such a different vibe but we all have so much fun together already so I'm really excited for this transfer! 

A shout out to my mom! Today is her birthday and I LOVE HER SO MUCH! 

Love you all! Have a great week!