Never A Dull Moment

My dear friends and family,

What a wonderful week! Let me tell you all about it! :)

First, we had a fun p-day at Volendam with the district! It's this little very Dutch town up by Amsterdam with fun tourist shops and things like that. The highlights included a delicious chocolate shop, a place where you can take a professional picture in traditional Dutch costumes, and a light drizzle of rain the whole day to complete the Dutch experience. :D

Tuesday was one of the best days on my mission so far! First we had an awesome district meeting, which always makes me happy. But then! We met with Grecia in the evening - to refresh your memory, she's the teenager who ordered a Book of Mormon after watching Meet the Mormons. Our lesson was about the Word of Wisdom, and it was good but nothing special. But then! At the end of the lesson Zr Kimmons shared about how two friends of hers have both joined the church and how she's seen their lives change for the better. Then Grecia just opened up and said she's felt since the first time she was in the church a couple weeks ago that this was the correct church! I was so excited and said, "I want to ask - do you feel prepared now to be baptized?" And she said YES!!! So then I asked, "Do you want to set a date tonight?" And she said yes again!! So then I asked, "You've been taught almost everything you need. Do you want to be baptized in a few weeks?" And she said YES AGAIN!! So we set a date for August 15th and she's so excited and we're so excited and pretty much all I could say after that point was "mooi!" Which means beautiful. :) Zr Kimmons and I could barely contain our excitement the whole bike ride home, and then we spent the next 20 minutes dancing around the apartment to "Call of the Champions" (courtesy of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir). :D Did I mention we were excited?

The rest of the week was also wonderful, but I'm running out of time so let me tell about the weekend, because it was crazy [awesome]! On Saturday there was this incredible windstorm! I heard it got up to about 70 mph! We could hear and see the wind during the day, but luckily we were doing weekly planning so we were inside for most of it. Then we went outside around 3:30 pmto go to an appointment, at which point we saw just how insane the storm was... seeing as how there were two giant trees laying across the road! The wind was blowing our umbrellas inside out, and when we got to the bus stop the electronic billboard said that there were no busses running at the time due to the storm. A lot of the trains were down too! Needless to say we went back inside and called our appointment to let them know we couldn't come. The wind finally calmed down around 5 or 6 in the evening. The next morning on our way to church, we saw more of the damage... there were downed trees everywhere!! They had fallen on roads, fences, bus shelters... an important looking statue in the middle of IJmuiden has lost his head. :) It's kind of sad but also funny because of how crazy it was!

Speaking of crazy, let me tell you about further awesomeness with Grecia! We met with her last night, at which point we taught some more and talked about some things concerning her baptism. One of those is that we need her mother's permission, since she is 16. Well, her mother gives her full support, and then she invited us to stay for dinner after our lesson! And what's more amazing, her mother's family back in Venezuela are all members!! Unfortunately they became inactive before Grecia's mother was baptized, but she still has memories of this church and she described to us what it was like to feel the spirit. She also told us it was amazing that Grecia had found the same church! Yes, it really is. :D

Well, that's definitely all I have time for but I want to testify that joy is the purest feeling on earth, and it only comes through the Gospel of Jesus Christ! When we take those steps, and we help others take those steps to come closer to Him, there is nothing sweeter. And there will be unimaginable joy as we join each other in the kingdom of God. As Helaman 3 so beautifully describes it:  

"Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name.

Yea, thus we see that the gate of heaven is open unto all, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God.

Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—

And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out."

Amen!

-Zuster Jensen :)

So excited for Grecia!
(Also, I love Kirsten's anchor shirt! This theme has been particularly meaningful for me this year! 
It must be something she purchased there, but it made me very happy to see it!--mom) :)

Beautiful IJmuiden!