Becoming Christelijk

The start of this past week was so cold, we were wearing winter coats, yet halfway through it got so warm and sunny that we were wearing short sleeves and I got a couple of hilariously bad sunburns- like you can see exactly the lines where my sleeves covered my shoulders, and the neckline, for example. I need to get back into the habit of daily sunscreen! #palepeopleprobs #Nederlandweather

Love Fam Prosman!

On Monday we played beach volleyball with an awesome member, Dave Muntinga on indoor sand courts (because it was raining). It was so fun!!! I have never been super good at volleyball but I learned and improved a lot, and it is a blast to dive into the sand to try to save a ball! And this week the World Championship Beach Volleyball preliminaries are being held right here in Den Haag. So that's pretty cool! Then today we played tennis with a bunch of other missionaries (sadly, though, tennis courts aren't free here like they are in America. But for that matter, bathrooms and water aren't free, so why expect free tennis courts?).

Sand Volleyball. So fun!

I love the opportunity to play sports with other missionaries/members. But missionary life isn't all fun and games! Just for a few hours on p-day :)

Tennis on a clay court

We did see some cool miracles this week! The guy we met last week by giving him a card while he was riding his bike, who called out to us from his balcony is really cool- we had a chance to drop by and officially introduce ourselves, and he is interested in a book of Mormon, so we will be bringing one by in the next couple days. Yay for prepared people!

Every week is a combination of finding and teaching. before my mission, for some reason, I thought knocking on doors was ridiculous- but I have had so many cool conversations with different individuals, both interested and uninterested- sometimes the knock on the door is the answer to a prayer! And if not, it's only a thirty second disturbance for someone who isn't prepared or ready to hear it. many people are searching for something more, but don't know where to find it. If we aren't teaching, we are doing our best to find those people who are searching, and it can be incredibly rewarding.

We make smoothies all the time because Br Scherf gives us fruit sometimes :)

Romig selfies are the best!

On Saturday there was a church open house in Zoetermeer! Any interested visitors were welcome to come in. I personally gave a couple of tours with a member, answering questions, and it was also really cool to respond to people's curiosity and show them a beautiful church building! It was a great missionary activity- the coolest moment was a recent convert member who brought his friend to tour the building and who is interested in meeting with us again, at least just as a friendly visit.

A really fun FHE activity with the jovos (jongevolwassenen, aka young adults) where we played kickball!

My spiritual thought today comes from a cool Dutch language fact. The word (Christelijk) for "Christ-like"is the same as the word for "Christian." I love that. If we identify ourselves as Christian, shouldn't that also mean that we strive to be and become like Christ, acquire His attributes, and serve others as He does? Let's let Christian mean Christlike too!

I love you all! have a great week! Love, Sister Voss

PS from the blog editor: I thought it might be appropriate to include a small snippet from Sister Hopkin this week:

We sang a special musical number to say good bye to President and ZR Robinson because it was their last sacrament meeting. Zr Voss and I arranged a mash up of "I'll go where you want me to go" and "God be with you till we meet again" and Elder Lee help blend everything together with his great piano skills. It really brought the spirit and it made Zr Robinson cry so I'd count that as a success haha - Zuster Hopkin

I would like to express my personal gratitude to the Robinson's for their excellent service in behalf of the people of Belgium/Netherlands and to our precious missionaries. What an awesome job they have done in guiding and directing the work in this part of the Lord's vineyard. Their impact is far reaching  and will certainly be a strength to those who had the privilege of working shoulder to shoulder with them. - Brother V

Last pic with the Robinsons getting photo bombed by our Stake Pres