Happy Saturday everyone- our p-day got moved across the whole mission this week, because Monday is a national holiday- Konings Dag, or King's Day! Everyone will be out on the streets, so we as missionaries in every city will have a booth where we will pass out copies of the Book of Mormon and just talk to as many people as we can. Thus today is our free day, temporarily like the rest of the world :)
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| A little bouquet that I gave away to an old lady |
The work here in Den Haag is going fabulously. Our investigators with baptismal dates are all doing well- I love teaching with members. Ideally, we as missionaries wouldn't even be necessary- members would just teach friends themselves. But I love that we can all work together!
I learned a lot this week- firstly, about counting my blessings! We received a referral from one of our investigators for a family who speaks Spanish. I needed to call them and set up an appointment- I was nervous, but did some role plays, and felt like I could still speak well enough to accomplish the task. Then I called. We started speaking Spanish, and I just felt like I had a huge mental block- I stumbled over the words, kept lapsing into Dutch, and wasn't sure I was communicating effectively. Ultimately he was really nice, did understand me, and I understood him, but it was still an incredibly frustrating experience. I was really discouraged for the rest of the day- I learned Spanish for five years, and now I can barely stutter out an explanation of who we are? I was just a little disappointed. However, after a humbling prayer, Heavenly Father helped me see again from the right perspective. I have learned to speak Dutch better in the past 9 months than I spoke Spanish after five years. I am consistently told that I speak this language well. I still understand spoken and written Spanish- and if I need my Spanish skills again to do the Lord's work, He will bless me with what I need. I'm grateful for Dutch, and learning Spanish first definitely helped me pick up this language faster. being trilingual is still a goal for someday, but right now I'm focusing on the task set before me- preaching the gospel in the Dutch language :) I'm grateful for the privilege to be here!
We had an awesome dinner appointment with familie Jansen this week, and there were two suprise visitors- Elders Kartidirjo and Elkins, who both previously served in Den Haag, coming back to spend a last evening with ward members they loved before their missions end soon. That was fun!
A member here, Ethlyn's bike was locked to a pole in front of our house and the keys got lost, so Brother Scherf cut off the locks and I successfully managed to ghost ride it all the way to her house without crashing. I am now a pro, I would say. and Sister Bradley took pictures of me doing it while on her bike, so she is also a pro.
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| Lock cutting fireworks |
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| Ghost riding extraordinaire photo cred Sis Bradley |
Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and I picked and made a bouquet of little pretty wildflowers. I wanted to give it to someone but wasn't sure who, but as we were walking to our next lesson I saw a sweet old lady and offered them to her- she was like, "For me?" (but in Dutch- "mag ik die hebben?") and happily accepted them, so I hope that made her day! #thebesttwoyearsstatus
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| My sand temple! |
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| Beach Catch up pictures. |
Being a missionary is so wonderful. Sometimes I just feel high on the Holy Ghost, so to speak- blissfully happy, grateful, assured of my purpose and humbly thankful for all the blessings I receive. That's the ideal attitude :) It makes every day wonderful! Speaking of which, Alma 31:34-38 encapsulates the ideal missionary attitude. Every soul is precious, and every affliction can be swallowed up in the joy of the Lord. I know that's true!
Have a great week everybody!
liefs, Zuster McKinney Voss
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