Heartbreak yet again...

So,this Wednesday is transfers again and Sister Hanson is going to Gouda! It was really disappointing...we wanted another transfer together. It was such a great transfer together! I´m really going to miss her! 

This was a pretty regular week. Just working hard as usual, trying to find people who we can teach, and really people who just want to talk to us. One guy set up an appointment with us. I had to teach him by myself because he only spoke French. I was so stressed and scared, one because my French skill has decreased tremendously and two, because Gospel French is so much more difficult than conversational French. 

I was praying the whole lesson to be able to have the right words to speak to this man who is nearly blind and deaf. It was really cool because despite my limited amount of vocabulary and skill in being able to teach in French, you could still feel the spirit. Sometimes it´s really hard to tune into the spirit when your fear of your lack of ability is in the way. I was focusing as hard as I have ever done in a lesson to be able to listen to the spirit to guide my words and be able to hear what I needed to say.

It was really cool experience. And my French was in no way perfect but I was able to get my point across. I´ve learned that gift of tongues doesn´t necessarily mean you will be able to speak the language perfectly or even fluently but it will carry your message into the hearts of the people. I´m learning that more and more. Because it doesn´t matter as much as to what I say but as to what they feel. All you can do is try to bring the spirit as best you can. 

Yesterday was a farewell to a guy who´s going on his mission to England. The talks were so great. The third speaker was my favorite because he talked about how Christ will always make up the difference as long as you let Him help you. Whether you can only give 20 percent or 5 percent He will make up the rest. Kom toch aan. We all want to get back to Heavenly Father, Christ´s path is the same as ours, He can help us if only we come to Him. 

I´ve never had a bigger testimony of that than on mission. There are some days where my best is literally 2 percent and as much as I try I can´t go further than that and I´ve seen God just step in. I love it when He does that. Most of the things we worry about never happen. So why do we stress so much? I think it´s a side effect from being human. I´ve been studying in the New Testament and I was in 2 Corinthians or Gelations and Paul was telling them that we needed to put off the natural man and become a new creature. 

That refining process is quite difficult and sometimes langzaam and painful but I´m also learning how to truly appreciate it. I know that in every difficult incident or circumstance in your life, if you really look hard you can find a blessing that came out of it; whether it´s a change of your character or a new skill. You can always see God´s hand in your life if you truly and sincerely look for it. 

A few funny things that happened this week because I end this email. I ate herring for the first time (a whole one with onions) it was so disgusting! I didn´t like it at all! I don´t even know why it´s a thing among missionaries. The second was sis. Hansen borrowed my label maker and put a label on my name tag to which I never noticed. (and Sis. Hansen completely forgot that she did something to my name-tag)  When we went to a lunch appointment I was asked to give the prayer and it went something like this: "Will you say the prayer, sis. ...poop? It says `poop`" After a few seconds of confusion we all started laughing so hard, Bro. and Sis. Kabel were laughing so hard that they were crying. 

Well, that´s all for now folks! Love you all! Have a great week :)

Over half-way

I would say the biggest thing that happened last week was the insane torrential downpour of water that occurred last Monday. It was like the sky had a broken water pipe or something. Also, I´m pretty convinced that one of 
God´s favorite words is "irony". I can recount many times in life where I´ve just been slapped in the face by God with irony. For example, last Monday. 

I ended my emailing time last week with an email to my step-dad, telling him how much I loved being on my mission, even being soaking wet working out in the rain. Literally a few minutes of getting ready to leave the rain started to get about 50 times stronger.  Within about 3-5 minutes of biking (I checked my watch - not more than 5 mins.) we were so incredibly soaked all the way through; so wet that my boots were getting filled with water while bicycling that I had to occasionally lift my leg up to let the water out. We still had about 20 minutes until we reached home. 

But a realization that I came to as we were biking home and occasionally screaming in the rain (because why not?) was that I wasn´t paying attention to the time it took to get home or the distance. I wasn´t thinking over and over again how much I wished I wasn´t wet and focusing on my end goal. I was simply praying the whole way home; telling Heavenly Father that if he needed us to come back out in the rain and work for the rest of the hours of the day that I would do it and that I wounldn´t complain about it. 

I wouldn't count the hours until I was able to be done with it, dreaming away the time that I had to work. I 

wouldn't care about the destination but would simply enjoy the crazy journey that is this life. And as I was telling this to sis. Hansen, she said she had the same realization that we both wouldn´t care about the outside influences but would focus and enjoy what we had to experience now. 

Eventually my mission will come to an end. I will have to go home and start a new chapter of fun and silly adventures. But I´ve learned not be concentrated on the end of what´s happening now, regardless of it being easy or difficult. I will enjoy every chapter of my life, looking for the significant that is hidden between the lines. I love going through hard things - rather I love looking back and seeing what I´ve become after experiencing them. We have a lot of fun telling the story of coming home and have to squeeze as much water out of our boots and clothes before we stepped inside. 

And despite the rain and being soaking wet from head to toe (I can now say that I´ve never been more soaked on my mission) or the fact that we look like complete nerds when we wear our helmets and people, when they see us, immediately start pointing and laugh at us uncontrollably; I love it. I love enjoying the small moments and difficult things in order to grow. 

One last thing before I end, I just want to say that it was really really hard to buy a helmet. And not just because most biking stores didn´t have it (they looked at us and laughed when we asked for one). It was one part of the obedience thing that I had trouble with. But after talking with another missionary, we decided to put a sticker in the inside of the helmet that says, "Trial of my faith - Game on". 

I´m very appreciative of those trials of my faith, whether it´s going out in the rain or wearing helmets because it also helps me check where I am in my testimony and standing of faith. 

I love you guys! Have a beautiful week!