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!