Stapje voor Stapje

My dear family and friends,

Once again, I have very little time to write about an entire week with thoughts on the side. However, I will do my best!

On Tuesday we had the service project again, it's been really wonderful to go over there multiple times and really build a relationship with these people! They appreciate so much even our smallest efforts. :)

On Thursday we had Zone Conference! It was really great - President Dyches (he's the 2nd counselor in the Europe area presidency) came and spoke to us. He was also the mission president of the OPM (Oregon Portland Mission) a few years ago, which is fun because he talked a lot about Oregon. :) According to him, OPM really stands for "Only Perfect Mission." Of course that's not true because the Belgium/Netherlands mission is the only perfect mission, but I decided since I'm from Portland and in the Belgium Netherlands mission that must mean I'm doubly perfect. ;)

In all seriousness though, it was a great conference. He gave us a lot of tips on a variety of subjects, but especially about planning fully to bring productivity and happiness. It's such a good idea to stop every once and a while and see what things you are doing in life are good, but could maybe be done better - what is just a habit and what is actually bringing you better results? Think about it!

To end with a miracle, we saw a huge one this Sunday! Br Beya came to church!!! He is a wonderful less active with lots of faith, but he hasn't been to church in almost 10 years due to health issues and I suspect a bit of fear about coming back. However, we had a wonderful lesson with him on Saturday in which we all testified of Christ and the blessings of complete obedience, as well as how Beya was an example to us of faith (which is very true). Beya was extremely touched and finally took the step to come back! Unfortunately he came late and missed the service, but he was so happy just to be in the church building again a few minutes and he said he will be sure to come next week on time. We are so happy for him!! :D

As you attend church this week, please take a moment to think about what a blessing it is in your life - for many reasons! Then take a second to look around and find someone in church you don't know or haven't seen in a while, and go say hi, get to know them, tell them you're happy to see them there. The members of a ward make a monumental difference in the lives of investigators and less-actives, even with the simplest and smallest gestures of kindness. :)

Have a wonderful week!

-Zuster Jensen

Organ Pictures

The giant beautiful organ :`)

Positivity = Productivity

My dear family and friends,

It's been a good week! We've welcomed elders to Haarlem, and it's been fun giving over some of our investigators to them and introducing them to the area. They're good elders, one is from the MTC group just after ours and the other is a groentje (greenie) fresh from the MTC. :) It's funny, the greenie's Dutch mysteriously has a very German accent, although he's never learned any German. :) It's fun to see how every missionary has their own sort of accent when speaking Dutch, even when we all sound relatively the same speaking English. I wish I knew the science behind that phenomenon. :)

In other news, there's been a cool event going on in Amsterdam which involves IJmuiden, called Sail. Basically, it's this thing that happens every 5 years where these big sailing ships, some of them really old, from all over the world, come and sail down the canal to this big lake in Amsterdam where they stay for a few days. We were busy with missionary work of course, but we took some time to go to the canal during our lunch hour on Wednesday and saw a few ships on their way to Amsterdam. It's a cool tradition!

We had some issues with appointments falling through later in the week, but we have also seen good progression in our investigators! Jennifer has been difficult to get an appointment with, but we talked with her on the phone this week and she said she's been reading in the Book of Mormon every day! She was so excited to tell us about how it's been helping her and giving her a little spiritual boost every day. We're so happy for her! :)

Well I need to get going but as a thought for this week, I want to declare my testimony about the power of positive thinking. It makes such a huge difference!! This is something I've been working on personally for years now, but Zr Kimmons and I have been discussing it lately also. It's difficult already being a missionary for a religious minority in a land where few people believe in God or live their beliefs, and it's been especially difficult with the new level to judgement we feel due to our helmets. However, we began an exercise that has helped it a lot. DO try this at home! ;) Basically each morning and each night we stand in front of a mirror together, we give each other a sincere compliment, and then we look ourselves in the eyes and give ourselves a sincere compliment. It doesn't count if the compliment is qualified by something you don't like about yourself or don't do well - it must be purely positive! If you've been feeling down or discouraged this week, grab your spouse, friend, sister, brother, missionary companion, whoever and try it! It's so important to recognize what we do well as well as what we can improve, and when you are willing to see your talents and strengths and then ask God for help with your weaknesses, you have so much more confidence to approach life and live as God wants you too without worrying about failure or judgement from others. Probeer maar! :)

-Zuster Jensen

A bit of the "Sail" event

Food for thought (seen at an Italian restaurant) ;)

Missionary Pictures!

Amsterdam Zone/district minus the office elders

A Good Kind Of Crazy

My dear family and friends,

It's going to have to be a quick email, but it was a great week! It started off with a fun p-day at the beach, followed the next day by a great district meeting and exchanges in Amsterdam. That evening we were working in an area a bit outside of Amsterdam and then on our way back we ended up having to go through Schiphol. It was so surreal being there, since the last time I was was when I was a little groentje just coming into the land... crazy that that was almost a year ago!

Wednesday through Friday we saw some really great people at really great appointments, including Grecia who is back from vacation. We've had to move her date back a couple of weeks because there is a requirement that they come to church 3 times before they are baptized, and she missed a few weeks, but we got some things arranged for her baptism and she is so excited! It is beautiful to see. :)

Saturday the ZLs worked with us which is always a good day, and then Sunday was a mix of good and crazy! We ended up teaching the youth sunday school with literally 0 minutes of warning, but it turned out good, we had an unexpected but really lovely dinner appointment, and other fun stuff! And, the big news of Sunday, transfer calls!! I can't believe they are here again, this transfer has truly flown by! But, Zuster Kimmons and I are both staying in IJmuiden! It will be a little strange, as this will be the first transfer on my mission where my companionship stays the same. We're both very happy about it. :) The one thing constant in life is change, however! They are completely rearranging the zones so we will now be part of Den Haag zone instead of Amsterdam. Also, we're getting elders in Haarlem again! The ward will be super happy about that, and we're excited to have more missionaries close by. :)

Well, as I said it was a quick one but life is good here in the field. I've been especially impacted this week by a talk I read one morning during studies, which I would recommend to you all. It is "O Ye That Embark," by President Eyring from the November 2008 conference (if I remember correctly). He is talking to the priesthood but the principles are very applicable to us all. The talk "Finding Joy in the Journey" by President Monson from the same conference is also wonderful, especially when you read them together. Just remember, we are where we are supposed to be for a reason, and God knows that reason, so it must be a good reason. So take a quick pause in your crazy life, smile, and thank God that He gave you the life He did - and then ask what you can do to make it even better! :)

Have a wonderful week! Mine is sure starting off right - today is the first day of school for kids here, and it's been pouring rain and about 13 degrees Celsius all morning. Good thing I love everything about rain! :D

-Zuster Jensen

P.S. I know I keep including these but my family deserves more shout-outs than I can give, which is part of the craziness of the week! Garrett (sorry, Elder Jensen) has made it safe and sound to join me in Europe and start his own adventures in his corner of the mission field! :)

Tijd Vliegt Op Vleugels Van Bliksem ;)

My dear family and friends,

Wow, time is really just flying by! I can't believe transfer calls are in less than a week again! Also, shout out to my little brother who will be leaving the MTC in about 1 hour to make the long journey to join me in Europe! Only a hop, skip and a country away. :)

Well, this was (as usual) a wonderful week! The weather is finally beautiful and warm again, and we've seen some great success in this area. One example is with Cynthia! She is a 50-something year old woman originally from Surinam. Her sister who lives there and is a member visited a couple of weeks ago, took Cynthia to church with her, gave her a Book of Mormon, and introduced her to us. While at church she was very touched by the testimony of another sister, and when we taught Cynthia the first lesson this week we asked her if she would be baptized as she knew our message was true. Her answer was basically, "Of course I would! I loved what I saw at church this week! I'll pray about this, but of course I will be baptized when I know it's true!" This woman understands what it's all about. :) Oh, and then she surprised us by saying she had prepared lunch for us after our appointment. This lady is awesome. :)

On Tuesday we had interviews with President and Zuster Bunnell. It was good to get to them a bit more personally. They're so different from President and Zuster Robinson! I love and respect both the old and new President and his wife. They will do wonderful things building on the awesome legacy left behind by the Robinsons.

Álso, momentous occasion - our helmets came and we wore them for the first time this morning! So far, only one snide remark from someone. I won't keep a tally or anything, but this is definitely going to change people's perception of us. On the plus side, the helmets we got are super comfy and nice quality! So despite the uncertainty of ordering in German we must have done something right. :)

Well, I'm running out of time as always. However, I love you all! As a closing thought, something I've been thinking about this week - life is hard, but it never has to feel hard. If we just keep the right perspective, an eternal perspective, and have hope in the Atonement of Christ, we will realize that we can overcome anything and it's all given for our good anyway. It's even better when we learn from the Spirit and from the examples of others, both good and bad, so we can spare ourselves so much of the misery that we cause ourselves - then we only have to deal with the trials God sees fit to give us, which we will look back on and just collapse in gratitude that God was willing to give us opportunities to grow in a way He knew, with His help, we could do. Take a moment this week to look at a trial in your life, and think about or even write down all the ways you can think of that this might actually be a blessing, whether now or later. And if you can't think of anything, simply pray. Sometimes we shouldn't pray for the trial to be taken away, but we should pray for strength and help to understand why. And we know God always answers prayers. :)

Love you all!
-Zuster Jensen

Pictures from the Zuster!

Just Do It

My dear friends and family,

It has been a good week, as always! This transfer is just flying by!

The first part of the week was super windy, rainy and cold enough to be wearing boots... which shouldn't have been a problem, except it was almost August. But that's ok, because we had a great district meeting and I had a great exchange in Amsterdam! It's such an inspired piece of missionary work that we get to work with someone else for a day, because there's always much to learn from other people and you can only have so many companions in 1 1/2 years.

An update about the helmet situation: we are supposed to have them by this week, and despite our diligent searching (including in specialized bike shops) they are simply nowhere to be found in the country. Thus, we resorted to Amazon.de and then proceeded to have an adventure trying to find, check for safety certifications on, and pay for helmets in German. Thank goodness for Google Translate! :D

We've also seen some great things this week as far as getting back in touch with people who have been a bit AWOL for a few weeks. This Saturday the zone leaders were working with us again, and we were finally able to have another lesson with Jennifer, who has been in the AWOL camp. Turns out that despite our lack of contact, she has been reading in the Book of Mormon, and she felt like she got an answer directly to her that it is time to overcome her problems with alcohol! This fit perfectly with what we planned on sharing, which was the mormon message "Reclaimed" and Moroni 10:32-33. The message really touched Jennifer, and we testified about the power of Christ's Atonement. One thing Jennifer struggles with is asking for help from God - she prays for others and thanks Him and even prays for Him, but she feels that it's selfish to ask for herself. We also testified that God wants us to come to Him, and that asking Him for help shows that we want to do what He has asked of us. She said she would be willing to try it in her prayers this week! She has a lot to overcome, but she has so much faith and a pure heart. We are so excited to see her taking the little steps to bring herself closer to Christ!

Take some time this week to look up that video and scripture. I testify that they messages contained in them are true! No matter how big or small the mistake, it is necessary and possible to repent - and it all happens through Jesus Christ, who taught us what to do, helps us to do it, and blesses us for doing it. So just do it! :)

Have a great week!
-Zuster Jensen