Bike Safety and Counting Blessings

Ik zal snel zijn deze week. We waren druk, dus ik ben moe, maar nog enthousiast. Ik hou van zendingswerk!

We found an awesome windmill

Last p-day was great because we actually stayed in our own city and caught up on a lot of stuff, including naps. Some things just need to be done :) We also, finally, bought our helmets! So this was our first fully helmeted week. We each found semi-cute, safe ones for 10 euros, which made me tremendously happy. I also realized that I need to be a big girl and stop complaining/whining about wearing helmets. It's undeniably safer and not a big deal to have to do what every other missionary in the world already does. The funny looks and double takes we've gotten haven't helped my attitude, but then I realized people do that anyway because of the nametags haha. And one potential we saw on the street noticed our helmets and was like, "zijn jullie vaak gevallen?" (have you fallen a lot?) and proceeded to tell us that only children need helmets. No worries haha.

But yeah, we had a great week! An awesome district meeting where we were chastised/counseled to remain humble and thankful even in the face of great success, which is so true. Nothing we have comes from ourselves. Every blessing is a gift from our Heavenly Father, so we need to maintain that proper perspective and remember Him in every miracle!

1st day with helmets. It is physically impossible for sister goodman to look sad. lol

Glorious Belgian cornfields, round 2; helmet style. slightly less romantic!

I had a cool experience on Thursday; all of our appointments basically fell through, so we were just finding and knocking doors all day. Which has its merits, because we talk to a lot of cool people and found some who are interested. Nevertheless, it can get kind of exhausting, as well as discouraging to face hours of rejection (we were accidentally knocking in a neighborhood where Jehovah's Witnesses had just been, apparently, so the people were not super friendly or happy to see us). We went out after dinner for another couple hours and our plans also didn't go through, so same thing. Knocking doors! I love being a missionary and using every moment of every day to share what brings me so much joy, but it does kind of hurt to have it rejected. So I just said a prayer in my heart, "Heavenly Father, please, I am having a hard time. Please let us find someone who will listen to us or let us in to help me get through the rest of the evening. If that isn't thy will, I understand, but please."

We went to the national playing card museum here in Turnhout! It's like two minutes away from our house. this is where vegas gets most of its cards!

Just a few doors later, a really kind, friendly lady opened the door, and listened to us - we talked for about 15 minutes and said a prayer together, and it was so nice. I thought that that was the answer to my prayer, so I thanked Heavenly Father in my heart. We still had more time though so we kept going. Just a little farther down the street was another incredible normal Belgian woman who is religious, loves Christ, and was open to hearing what we had to share. She invited us in and we were there for about half an hour, and she basically shared her testimony of Christ as well. We left feeling buoyed up, hopeful, and grateful. Neither of the ladies we met made a new appointment, but they opened their hearts and doors to us.

Meadow photo shoot

Free water, the first I have seen in Europe. no joke. water fountains are not a thing here.

I just want to share my testimony that Heavenly Father Answers prayers! Even at the end of a long day, He sees His little weak servants and sends us what we need to keep going and strengthen our faith. He leads us to prepared people, not just out of love for us but out of love for them. I am so grateful to be a part of this inspired work!

So yeah. It turned out to be a great week! We actually taught a lot, and the weather was beautiful, which is always nice! I'm living the dream here in Turnhout Belgium! The trash collection system is complicated, the public transportation a little bit jenky, and the vlaams is hard to understand, but it is truly a promised land here. Everyone is Catholic, so they have that existing foundation of faith in Christ, and the houses and countryside are beautiful. I am grateful to serve here!

I love and am praying for all of you at home. I hope you're having a great week, and don't forget to thank God for all your many blessings :)

Love, Sister McKinney Voss

PS: We went to visit and older couple in our branch, and they happened to have a lady there who was a partial caretaker. she sat down to chat with us and asked tons of questions about the church and the Book of Mormon, and we were able to tell her all about it. It was such a cool miracle! Heavenly Father is awesome! He just sends people across our path!