Helllo

Hoi errrrribody! 

Who likes the smell of weed? NOT ME... Comin' to you live from Amsterdam (my new city for the next week and a half)

So, I know that this is not my week to write an email to everyone but I just thought that I would let in on the latest update. We got emergency transferred this week. It´s a long story and I won´t go into it...1) because I'm tired of talking about it and 2) I don't really like telling the story. (You can ask me about it after my mission if you want to hear the whole thing). 

But long story short, we were threatened by someone in IJmuiden so we'll be in Amsterdam until next transfer. Everything is okay, we're safe and the situation got taken care of. But I just wanted to say one thing - the beginning of this week was really really hard. We met quite a number of people who tried to throw as much anti-material as they could at us but I was grateful for it because it gave me the opportunity to say this: 

I DON'T CARE. I don't care about what anyone says about the leaders of the Church or about Joseph Smith and the things that happened in the 1800's. Don't care. I don't care about the opinions of the people who left the church and have ALL the negative things to say about it. They are just people and their opinions will not go much further than that. I don't care about the mistakes people made or anything that people accuse our church of. I simply and whole-heatedly do not care. And you want to know why? 

Because my testimony is not based upon the people of our church. It is not based upon anything EXCEPT my relationship with Christ and The Book of Mormon. I am not on mission to force people to believe what I believe or to do anything else. I am here to just invite people to read it and find out for themselves if it is true or not. That is it. And we definitely do not go around attacking other religions the way we are attacked. 

I believe that Heavenly Father has a plan for us. I believe that Christ is able to help us go through this sometimes very difficult life - because let's face it, it's eventually hard for everyone. No one is exempt from pain or turmoil. I believe that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by the power of God. There was no way that he was deranged. Have you met or spoken with a deranged person? Nothing they say or write (for that matter) is coherent.  I love this gospel and all that is has done for me in this life. It has made me into the person I am today. And no, we are not brain-washed. We have the ability to choose and make fully thought-out decisions for ourselves. 

And that's all that I wanted to say this week. I was told that bearing your testimony makes you feel better, especially when you're going through crap. I testify that that is true. This gospel has brought light into my life. I love with it will all of my heart, and it's not because someone told me to. I'm not afraid that if I don't follow it that I'll go to hell or something. I love it because I am fully conscious of my ability to choose to love it and choose to follow the counsel that it gives. 

I hope that everyone has a great week this week! I love you! 

Just Thinking,,,,

image shared from http://bibliocolors.blogspot.com/2012/11/gotes-de-pluja-i-color-gotas-de-lluvia.html

Hey everyone!  

So this week wasn't too crazy or anything. Although I felt like we met some of the meanest people in Nederland. One woman told us that all Americans are brain-washed and another gave us the middle finger and then said that we were stupid for believing that God exists. Sooooooo, yeah, Hanny and I have had to learn a lot of patience this week

The weather was just ALL rain but we survived. I'd say the highlight of the week was when we (sis. hanny and I) got to go to the temple. The mission has this new rule now where we can go 4 times in a year instead of 2. So it was really great that we got to go together.

It was incredible, exacty what I needed. Also, a couple there was getting sealed as asked if we could be a part of it. It was really cool, I've never seen a sealing before. It was really beautiful because the sealer said that this room was the most important room in the entire temple.

Just a few minutes before it started an elder was talking to me about how the interviews when with our mission president and he said that his 10, 15, 25 year goals were all about his future wife. He told me that since he was 16 years old he began studying and then gained a testimony that the most important thing that you could do in this life is be sealed in the temple and raise your children up in the Lord, "that's the only thing that will bring meaning to our lives in the end," he said.

That was something I've haven't thought too much about. But it made a huge impact on me, I can't really explain how or why at the moment.

For the past few weeks or so, I've been reading the in November 2015 Liahona, General conference because I didn't get to watch them in October and it was just amazing. Every talk had something that I needed in it. So I read the one, ( I can't remember by whom it was or what the name of the talk was) that talked about "ponderizing" the scriptures.

So I decided to do it and the scripture that came to mind was in 1 Timothy 6:7 - "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can bring nothing out." I've been thinking about it all week, "ponderizing," you might say, and the conclusion that I came to was  that that was absolutely true.

And the only thing that you can take with you out of this world is the type of person you became during your life on earth. Which got me thinking about who I was when I come in contact with situations that I do not like or even with people of whom I am not so fond. To know and believe that I am a kind person and truly changed is to see what I am like under stressful situations.

How will I react when someone is yelling at me and I don't think that I am in the wrong? That, come to think of it, was actually put into practice this week. I've learned that when people are attacking me after I've just asked of question of if I could just talk to them, to pray. oh, how I've learned to have prayer as my immediate reaction when faced with difficult circumstances. I pray to know how to respond, I pray to see how Heavenly Father sees this person, I pray to be able to have the strength to go through it and still make the choice to be happy for the rest of my day.

That is really really really really hard. And I also have a testimony that as you try to become better, (better in terms of your character and habits) 9 times out of 10 things feel like it's getting worse. But that's okay, that means you're doing something right. The right path is always uphill...as I've been told.

Love you guys! Hope you have a great week :)