It has been a while since I have last posted anything from my missionary daughter who is serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ out in the Dutch lands because our connection has not been the best. For some reason her emails have not been getting to me. She said that others have reported the same problem, so now things seem to working so here is her latest letter.
Beautiful photo shared from: http://www.creativejewishmom.com/2011/10/container-gardening-in-holland.html
The past few weeks have been interesting. Because my companion speaks spanish, when she doesn´t know how to say something in English or Dutch, she says the sentence in Spanish to which my brain relates it to what I already know in spanish or translates it into French and then I reply in English but will sometimes have to reply in Dutch because I know the Dutch word and not the English translation. Did that make any sense? If it did then yay, if it didn´t then welcome to my brain for the past few weeks.
Between the two of us there is about 4 (maybe more like 3 1/2) languages going on in our conversations throughout the day. It´s fun but sometimes at the end of the day my brain just hurts. Nothing super outstanding has happened here in Apeldoorn...yet. I say yet because we are working on it. We´re still in the finding process. Long hours of contacting but we get to know each other pretty well.
We know a lot of each others´ life stories and we´re at the point where we make up life stories for each other. And can I just say I´m a lot nicer in the future/past of her life story. She has me married and divorced 3 times with 15 children, but at least (she says...) I will be rich and be able to travel the world. ahaha
We had a zone conference last week which was really amazing. There always comes a time when you need that spiritual boost to carry you through another transfer. One of the more significant things that I took away from the conference is how to start where you are now. Often times we don´t do or work on what we want to because we think that it´s too late for us; that we are too far behind. But as you use the atonement as a DAILY tool in your life to become better than you really can start everyday completely new and change.
Last sunday, one of the elders gave a talk in sacrament meeting about the atonement. And he said that the atonement is there so that we can feel at home in the presence of God. Christ paid the price for you and He doesn´t want you to pay Him back; it´s paid for. He just wants you to come to Him so that He can help you. He said that God doesn´t just set you on earth and say, `okay, there is the path, make your way back to Me.` Christ is there to help you along the way. He will hold your hand and walk with you if you let Him.
I´ve noticed that as I learn how to better apply the atonement in my life, my conviction of where I am and who I am at this time becomes stronger. I am still astonished by how much potential each of us have but most of the time we do reach it because we think it´s all up to us to get there. We are not supposed to do it by ourselves. It´s not possible and it´s not how it´s supposed to be.
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This past week I've been really thinking/ pondering about decisions. But before I go into my email, I wanted to tell you guys this riddle/joke-thing that is very popular in the mission. I personally don't think it's that funny (well, actually it's kind of growing on me)but so many missionaries love it and sometimes their face lights up when they tell it, so I act like I've never heard it before when they want to tell me hehe. It's kind of a running joke so I will spread it out through my email (like you do in a conversation with someone when you are telling the joke). Let me know what you think.
Q: How do you get an elephant in a refrigerator?
A: You open the door, put the elephant in and then close the door.
The reason for the my subject choice this week is because of the sequence of events that happened last weekend. It all started on Saturday. We were on exchanges, so I was with the Sister Training Leader in Apeldoorn and sis. Ramirez was in Leeuwarden. I had this really really busy day planned and after we were about a 30 minute bike ride from our home my bike got a flat tire. A FLAT TIRE. So flat that I ended up having to walk about 45 minutes to our next appointment and then walking it again for about an hour to the bike shop (because it was closer than our house).
Michael (the guy as the bike shop) fixed my tire which had a hole due to the tiniest piece of glass. That annoying little piece of green glass. (a rant on how the small things really mess you up is for another email another time). Long story short, got my bike fixed, was able to make the train to Zwolle and exchange back.
Q: How do you get a giraffe in a refrigerator?
A: You open the door, take the elephant out and put the giraffe in and then close the door.
That was Saturday. On to Sunday. After church we biked to another far away place to look someone up and just after we finished my bike got another flat tire! This time on the back wheel. By the time we were able to get back home I had missed the baptism someone to whom I´d promised I´d be there.The bike shop doesn´t open until Tuesday so I had to wait till then to get it fixed.
So on Monday, we had to rent OV Fiets, just bikes that you can borrow. Just a side note, I strongly dislike back-pedal brakes which are the only types of bikes the OV Fiets have. Anyways, we get the OV Fiets and do our shopping; on the way back home the strap on the bag of groceries broke which made the bag fall. And it fell just as I was about to cross the street to which then I had to use those stupid back-pedal brakes which didn't work so well and nearly led me to getting hit by a car.
At this point, you are probably asking yourself why am I not just taking a bus. Well, in Apeldoorn, buses aren't really thing. Which means that you get to have a lot of great adventures with bikes, such as this. :)
Q: There is a party and everyone is invited. Which animal is not at the party?
A: The giraffe because it's in the refrigerator.
By the time I get home I realize that my companion is nowhere to be found. So, I put the groceries inside and then go back out to go find my companion. All the while, I was just getting really frustrated with what was happening the past 3 days. Once I finally found my companion I asked where she was, and she said she stopped to buy to some candy and she thought that I saw her and would wait.
So just being frustrated with life for awhile I just kept praying to calm down. The scripture of Alma 37:35 kept coming to mind that says, "O, remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God." In my mind, I changed the word "learn" to "decide". Decide to be wise in your youth. Decide in your youth to keep the commandments of God.
As I thought a lot about the impact of deciding I realized the importance of deciding early on which way you are going to go instead of waiting until the circumstance arises. Ik bedoel that you have to decide how and who you are going to be before the opportunity comes when you have to make an important decision.
For example, I decided when I was 9 years old to go on a mission. It became really difficult to make the decision to come on a mission as the time drew closer but I remembered telling 9-year-old self that I was going to go on a mission. So I went. When I was 11 years old, I decided that I was going to do everything in my power to go to college. So I arranged my life in such a way as to help me achieve that goal. I was 12 when I decided I wanted to travel the world.
When I was thinking about all this during my week I realized that all that I have accomplished and became thus far is because of the decisions that I made when I was a child. Now that I've become older I know that I have to start making more important decisions that will impact my future, for example, getting married in the temple. But I can also do that with the smaller things life; like deciding now that I will not react immediately to something that I don't like or agree with without thinking about.
It's a practice; it takes a lot of work, effort, and sacrifice just like those other things that I did in my life. But as I see where I am now and looking back to then where I wanted to be, I can say with all conviction that deciding years before about doing something I will have to face in the future and then working as hard as I can to get there, that it's worth. Becoming something in your life is worth it. Start where you are right now.
Q: So, there is a river full of alligators. How do you get across?
A: Just swim because the alligators are at the party.
I hope you all have a great week. I love you!
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