Time is Short...

It's alarming how little time there is left now. What happened to the time at the beginning of my mission when I saw 18 months stretching out into eternity ahead of me? As excited as I am to be reunited with family and friends at home, I have loved and cherished this unique time on a mission. I have learned so much about myself and the Gospel, and have found lifelong friends and adopted family here in Belgium and the Netherlands. I am eager to serve them with everything I've got for the next couple of weeks, while I still can!

The elders borrowed our bikes but forgot our helmets, so we had to ride without them until we could retrieve them. So we took a picture... It felt so weird not to have them!

We had a great week. President Bunnell has been encouraging us to set and strive for inspired goals over the past few weeks. I love the purposeful, planned approach to missionary work- there is a good, better, and best way to go about things, and being efficient and then working hard is a great way to feel fulfilled!

We had a lesson with the miracle man we found in the ice and rain last week, and he loved the first lesson. When we gave him a Book of Mormon, he was almost shocked that we were offering him something so valuable, and made sure that we both had our own copies at home before he was willing to accept it. I've never had that happen before... And he was eager to read it. Wonderful!

Cows are important to Friesland. Don't worry, no idol worship. 

Funny article. (Headline translated is "Beautiful Assassin")

We also had zone training this week. It was weird to be the "dying" missionary- Elder Frederico and the Romigs and I all had to bear our last testimonies, which was somewhat intimidating. How do you sum up in a few minutes 18 months worth of experiences? But it's amazing how the Spirit guides, and I think we all said some things that surprised us. For me, as I was talking, one of the things I said was Ï know Heavenly Father is proud of the work I've done here." I wouldn't have thought to say that, but I do feel that it's true, and I'm grateful for that confirmation! Further, the zone training was an excellent and inspired evening of instruction from our great zone leaders and sister training leaders. I'm determined to apply what they shared with us. It's never too late to improve!

Zone Training Friends

We also went on exchanges with the Apeldoorn sisters, and I was with Sister Twiggs. It was an adventure getting around, but we saw miracles and had a good time!

Another miracle this week was when we went to visit a girl who had ordered a DVD from the church about a month ago. In general, the policy is to contact these referrals as soon as possible. However, she lives in a dorp about an hour away from Leeuwarden in the middle of nowhere, so it took some time for us just to figure out how to get there. When we finally did last week, we were surprised to discover that the DVD, which is normally delivered through the mail, had never come! So we returned this week, and found her waiting and eager to receive us. In the meantime, she had done tons of online research about the church and had a positive impresseion. We watched the DVD with her, and she asked tons of questions that led to us teaching her the complete message of the Restoration. I wasn't sure if she would really be interested in anything more, but it felt right, so at the end of the lesson I still extended to her the invitation to be baptized. She enthusiastically affirmed that if she received an answer, she absolutely would. She knows there is something out there but wasn't sure what, so it was a joy to testify to her that God is our loving Heavenly Father, and that she could communicate with Him through prayer. We are excited to continue working with her!

We were both born in Texas! Sister Kimmons shows her Texan pride by proudly hanging the flag in every apartment.

Further... Life is fantastic. Even when it doesn't aways go how we plan, I know that through Christ we can continue to feel peace. John 14:27- the peace He offers us is entirely different than what the world offers. I have felt that peace even in turbulent times, and I know it's accessible to all of us.

Have a wonderful week! Ik hou van jullie.

Liefs,

Zuster McKinney Voss