Haring, Hunnebeds and General Conference

What a week! Beloved family and friends, I testify to you that a mission week is at least three times longer than a week in normal life, but in the most awesome ways possible.

My Bike and I

First of all, I tried my first haring last P-day. It is a traditional missionary initiation food here in Nederland... It is a dead, raw, slimy, oily, headless, pickled fish covered with raw onions. Did I make it sounds appetizing enough? You lower it into your mouth and just... eat it. My initial reaction was disgust. Many hilarious pictures were taken of my face contorted in distraught disgust- enjoy! Sister Woodbury is CRAZY and she actually likes it, so she ate it with me... Honestly, it wasn't terrible, it was basically like sushi in texture. The taste was also not the worst thing I've ever had, and the raw onions went well with the raw fish (especially if one was attempting to get the world record for worst breath!). I ate a total of four bites. I believe I deserve to be congratulated. I doubt I'll be doing it again!

The Herring (haring)

Missionary initiation or tasty treat? Here goes...

The money shot! Initial reaction.

Maybe if we do it together?

Nope, it's still gross...

Gelato afterward makes it all better! 

This week was great. I've been working on being more bold and less timid about talking to people. We're missionaries, that's what we do! There is no person on Earth who couldn't use more peace, happiness or direction in their lives, and that's the message that we bring, which reassures me when I don't want to approach someone. Anyway, we've had some great conversations with people this week too. even those who aren't interested are willing to talk to us, and I love that. Dutch people are very direct, but also very kind. Getting to know them is a privilege!

I forgot to mention last week that we had zone training, my very first. It was great to meet the other missionareis in this area, and the theme was great- we discussed becoming master teachers through study, planning, teaching and evaluating- great tips were shared and I've noticed that I've become better at teaching by the Spirit with investigators this week.

This week I went on my first exchange- to Groningen! I worked with Sister Elting for a day in Groningen, and it was way cool. It's a significantly bigger city than Assen! I think one of the reasons I feel so comfortable in Assen is because the size reminds me of home in Frederick. Groningen is bigger, busier, and very old. I saw some huge, beautiful church buildings and lovely parks with swans casually swimming in ponds... It was a great experience. Assen is also very old, but most of its growth is post-WWII so it has fewer giant marvelous cathedrals and such.

General Conference! Oh my goodness. It's so exciting to hear twice a year from prophets, seers, and revelators! We traveled to the Groningen church building and watched both the Saturday and Sunday "morning" sessions live- at 6:00 at night! I loved it though. (Fortunately, we were able to watch it in English). Through Conference I received personal revelation on behalf of myself, as well as ideas for how to better help those we teach. It was fantastic. Also, During Elder Christofferson's talk I was prompted to study the relationship between justice and mercy, which I did the next day. It was a fascinating study session, and I think I understand so much better now the essential nature of both justice and mercy. Justice is the order upon which the universe is built, and I'm grateful not to live in chaos... While mercy provides a way, through justice, for us to be restored to Celestial glory, which we couldn't do on our own. We absolutely must accept our Savior Jesus Christ for mercy to have claim upon us. Basically, it was really enlightening!

Hunnebeds: you've all heard of Stonehenge in England, I assume. Well, it turns out that Drenthe province here in Nederland is littered with other giant megalithic tombs just like it! They are thousands of years old, and it's equally mystifying how such relatively primitive people managed to move such giant boulders. The boulders, by the way, are from Swedish mountains, brought here by glaciers millions of years ago... Anyway, it's way cool. So Sister Woodbury and I went and explored some nearby ones today. You're allowed to climb on and around them, so it was really fun, and excellently relaxing P-day activity.

Hunnebeds.

Me on top of megalithic tombs!

Hunnebed Selfie.

Welcome to the Hunnebeds!

Holding up giant rocks.

Overall, this was a wonderful week! Being a missionary is a great responsibility, but also a great blessing. I love being here!

Tot volgende week!
-Zuster Voss