Fire in Assen! Happy New Year!

Happy New Year iedereen! With a new year is that chance to look back and count blessings, and look forward and attempt to imagine all of the incredible possibilities within the coming months! It's sobering to realize that I'll be here on my mission for the entirety of 2015- It's kind of intimidating to confront such a large block of time. However, when I break it down into weeks and months, I'm so excited for everything I'll get to do this year, all the wonderful people I'll meet. And as of today, January 5th 2015, I can say that my mission with be ending in exactly a year, a month and a day. Now it seems like no time at all- February 6, 2016 will be here before I know it!

I'll start off this post with a little review from last week/last year- I forgot to mention that Sister Dobler and I both were asked to speak in church last Sunday. She was asked to prepare five minutes, and I was asked to prepare ten, and I for one was freaking out that I wasn't prepared enough to speak for that long (In Dutch!). However, Sister Dobler spoke for almost fifteen minutes, and I spoke for almost twenty, unbeknownst to us. So I guess we didn't need to worry about it that much. When describing the situation later, Sister Dobler casually said, "We killed it. Half the congregation was translated." I think that was my favorite part of the experience.

Also last week, we went to look up a referral from someone who had ordered a Joy to the World DVD. We found a man who welcomed us, was eager to hear our message, and who has questions about Christ and religion. We are now teaching him- what a blessing! Heavenly Father truly prepares people to hear His word. He leads us to those who are ready!

Now, the top story for this week- prepare yourself everyone. Our apartment building caught on fire!

Our apartment building on fire. This is fun to come home to!

Woohoo! We came home to our building surrounded by firetrucks, police taped off, smoke pouring from an apartment, and we weren't allowed to go in. The apartment where the fire started was on our same floor, but completely on the other side, and they managed to completely contain it to that unit, fortunately, and no one was injured. However, that was a bit scary and exciting! We called a member who took us in and fed us dinner while we waited to be let back in. Nothing in our apartment was damaged or affected in any way. But we had plenty of members and investigators who heard about it who called to make sure we were okay. We felt very loved!

And then came New Year's! We knew it was coming for the entire preceeding week, because fireworks were going off just at random times during the day. Imagine little boys with access to powerful fireworks that they just set off on the street- boom! That was somewhat unsettling, especially since it was basically nonstop the day of New Year's Eve. However, we had a very nice day. We were inside by 4:00, per mission safety rules, and enjoyed eating chocolate and watching movies (for example, Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration). We had Apple beignets, which are delicious and traditional here with New Year's, then were in bed by 10:30 (I had ear plugs in to drown out the noise). A member called us about 5 minutes before New Year's so we could count down and witness the craziness that was an entire city exploding into bright sparks and booms at midnight. We enjoyed it for a few minutes, opened a bottle of Sprite and said cheers, then went back to sleep. Oh, the wild life of missionaries.

Enjoying my mug of Sprite on New Year's Eve. cheers!

Apple Beignets on New Year's. Yum!

Other than that, we've had a good, normal week. Teaching, talking to people, dressing in many, many layers to stay warm. Thank goodness for thermal tights and fuzzy socks!

I had a good time reflecting on the past year and making goals for this one. 2014 was incredible, and I have learned and grown so much. But I think I'm still just barely scratching the surface of my potential. I hope that this year as I strive to walk as Christ walked (see the talk from President Monson this General Conference) and focus on serving others, I'll be able to better find and grow myself. I know that there's so much in store for each of us in this upcoming year! Veel succes, beloved family and friends. 2015 is going to be amazing!

Liefs, Zuster Voss