2nd week in Apeldoorn

I've almost been in Apeldoorn for two whole weeks and it wasn't as hard of an adjustment as I thought it would be coming from Gent, a place that I loved so much; that is mainly due to my new companion, Sis. Hansen. We get along SUPER well. We fall on the floor laughing at each other nearly everyday. It's so much fun to have a companion that has the same kind of humor as you because it just makes those long days of contacting go by that much quicker. She is also fake-dramatic in the same way I am so we play off of each other really well. People think we're really funny together. I'm convinced that my mission and life just keeps getting better and better in ways that I've never expected or even hoped for.

Last Friday, we had zone conference where we met our new Mission President and his wife. They are so sweet and kind and we're both really excited to have them here. One change that is happening in the mission is HELMETS - it's terrible. And it's because two missionaries got hospitalized from accidents on their bikes. Ugh, even the members don't want us to get them. But nonetheless, obedience brings blessings...even if we have to look like dorks doing it. We're buying them today and Sis. Hansen and I decided that we're going to get hot pink helmets...because why not? Go big or go home. And we figured if we're going to get made fun of then we might as well get a laugh out of it ourselves.

On another note, something that I've been thinking about is our eternal progression and growth. Sis. Hansen and I came to the conclusion that it's really really hard to grow because sometimes it's painful but we both agreed that it's absolutely necessary. A few weeks ago, as I was still pondering about this subject, Sis. Fleming sent me this email that said,

You know what I love? The thought of eternal growth. I’m always the happiest when I know I’m progressing. Other faiths they believe we die, go to heaven and live in peace forever more but just like summer break is boring after a couple weeks I feel like I would get suuuuper bored just chillin for eternity! Instead we have the opportunity to keep learning, growing, and progressing through the eternities, increasing our family and experiencing joy. Now that’s what I’m talking about!!!

I was thinking about this because I read this awesome talk by Uchtdorf. He told missionaries to always think of themselves as being in the middle of their missions because then we don’t slow down or limit ourselves by thinking we’re too “green” in the land. He said ultimately no matter where we are in life we’re always in the middle. It’s like on a map- it might appear that there’s a point A and a point B but when you zoom out it’s really just a small section of a much bigger map. So is it with eternity. We have a day here and a year there but really it’s just the middle of eternity. Forever is made up of many nows.

And I was thinking how grateful I am for the ability to progress; that the only moment when I stand still is when my make the choice to stop progressing and growing. It's our choice and no one elses. To be stagnant is something that I never want to become because it's so incredibly boring! Staying as you are or who you were is boring! As I am yet again out of time I want to leave you all with the challenge to find out something that you feel stagnant in or something within yourself that you feel or know that you should change and then do it - no matter what it takes. Change. I promise you, you will never regret wanting to improve and change for the better every single day.

Love you all! Have a great week!

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! 

Transfers!! Bitter-sweet - as always

So, good news and bad news - I get to stay in Gent (yay because I love this city so much and the people - I feel like I've been so blessed to serve in the most two amazing cities on my mission). The bad news is that Sis. Fleming is getting transferred to Dordrecht. Our dynamic duo is getting split up but I know she'll do great there. 

This weekend has just been a great one. On Saturday we had the baptism of Antoinette! It was so great. After it happened she came to me and said, with a huge smile on her face, "I feel like a new being!" And Jonas, the guy baptized her thanked us and with tear-filled eyes said, "Thank you so much sisters for giving me the opportunity! The spirit is just so strong as you say the first line." He's only 17 years old and it was really cool to see that happen. 

She arrived 5 mins. before it was supposed to start - so that was a little stressful. But she told us that she was late because she was over at her friends/ family's house, asking them if they could come to her baptism. None of them did. And regardless of that, she came with huge smile and excitement about taking this next step in her life. We are so proud of her and even without any support she's been so strong in making this decision. 

Yesterday, Antoinette got confirmed into the Church and she was just glowing and gave me endless hugs, telling me how happy she was and grateful she was that we taught her. She has incredible spiritual strength and she has strengthened my testimony of the power of this gospel. 

All of yesterday just seemed like a perfect day. We had the singing elders in sacrament meeting (I was told they you can see their performance on youtube or something - just type in singing elders belgium/ netherlands mission and they should pop up). They had everyone crying as they sang "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" to the melody of "Homeward Bound." (one of my favorite songs) It was one of those moments where it makes you truly and sincerely appreciate being on a mission. Making the decision of going on a mission was quite hard but I'm so glad I did it. 

Last night at dinner we shared a spiritual thought with the Geens, about going on the path of life and going in the way the spirit prompts you. We did this object-thing where you have someone stand still and the you try to lightly push them but they don't move because they are standing still. Then you have them walk and you push them and they go in a different direction. It is the same with God. 

He can only lead you in the right direction if you are already moving and making the effort to go somewhere. If you stand in one place, saying, "Okay God, tell me where to go or what to do." Then when you get promptings you are so focus on standing still and you won't move. It's not until we take the action that He'll lead us. 

Again, I'm sorry to cut it short. I am being called to go take pictures with us for the last time. I love you all! Hope you have a great week! 

Good Morning

It's about 6:15am right now...the earliest I've ever gone to email because our wake up time is 6:30.  So forgive me in the rest of the email if my thoughts are not as cohesive as I would like them to be...we are going to Flanders Fields today for our p-day. We'll be walking through trenches and having a tour of the museum. So I'm excited! Well...excited as much as my 6:am self can be. :)

I feel kind of bad because I'm not able to write all the things I would like to tell everyone. And I've realized that I've never really spoken about all the things that we do on P-days. For example, we went to a concentration camp a few weeks ago - it was rather solemn and I wouldn't really know what else to say. It's not like you can say - we had a great time - at one of those things. We (sis. Fleming and I) decided one p-day we just wanted to chill out and so we bought some sushi and fruit and had a picnic in the park.

I've been pondering what to say all week. For the most part we've just been working really hard to find people who want to talk / meet with us. So far in my time in Gent it has been pretty easy to set up appointments and have them go through but it seems this last week and a half or so, no one, and I mean no one, wants to meet with us. Nearly all of our appointments except one or two fell through. Often times during the week we just look at each other and say - What is going on!? 

But it's still really good oddly enough. We are still having a lot of fun. And since we have less lessons and more time finding we have a lot more time to talk to each other about various topics ranging from questions about life to questions of why Sis. Fleming threw ANOTHER snail at my face. Most of our conversations leads back to us discussing what's going to happen next Wednesday when transfers come and we're not together anymore. She's been in Gent for 6 months so she's bound to leave.

It's kind of funny because she always brings up, at least once a day, the question of what I am like outside of being a missionary. She keeps telling me, "I wonder what you'll be like after a mission - like what you're like in regular clothes and if you're still funny or crazy..." I respond that I think I'll be the same but then I'll start to question myself of what I will be like in a year. 

So many things can happen and it's weird to think about what I would be like in a year after a mission because just feels like a compacted mini-life. For example in life you have these roller coasters of emotions in different periods of your life. On your mission you have those roller coasters weekly, sometimes daily. Where you feel, by the end of the transfer, that you are really different. You really only change in little ways but when you look back it seems like a lot.

I would say one of my favorite things so far on a mission is seeing other people change and grow. We had a lesson with one of our investigators that's going to get baptized on Saturday and as she was saying the closing prayer she said, so excitedly, "Thank you for my baptism." and she did this sort of squeal. It was so cute. I love seeing the gospel work in people. It brings out this light within them and you can see it through the happiness in their eyes; it's really amazing. 

I really love being on a mission. I want everyone to know that. It's really really hard at times but so worth the sacrifice. Yesterday a member took us with her family to go have a picnic at a kasteel (castle - but it was more like a mansion). As we were just sitting in the sun on grass I was just thinking about what an amazing experience it was just to be here; to meet new people and have all these different kinds of experiences - experiences you would only really get by being a mission. 

We were talking about the sequences of events in our lives and Sacha (one of our wonderful members) was telling us that she had always wanted to go on a mission but when the time came to it she didn't want to until she prayed about it and went on her mission to Scotland where she ended up meeting her husband and then coming to Belgium. She's from the Ukraine. 

It was weird because I had asked where did she think she would've been had she not got on a mission. She would most likely not moved to Belgium and then we might have not met... It's weird to think of things like that but fun sometimes - to trace the web of your life. Sometimes I like thinking about things like that because it makes you appreciate all the people that matter most to you and it gives you caution or direction on where to step next in your life. 

I love adventure! I love having adventures - meeting new people, going through crazy experiences and such. Life is a lot of fun when you think about - well, if you make it fun. I've been learning how to make even the bad and difficult times fun (it makes them go a lot faster). Anyways, my time is up. 

Hope everyone has a great week! Love ya!