Week 23 - The Lord Wants us to Become Something

I know right?! Time has flown by!  But I am happy because we're going to the Temple on Wednesday!  So excited to go listen to it in Dutch! 

Yeah.....we gotta do our best to find out what they (the people we are teaching) should know in order to help obtain what they should feel in order to continue conversion, denk ik.  Teaching people and not lessons is sooooo important and awesome!  We met with a really nice lady last week...she has been reading the Book of Mormon every day for a while and is so excited to get working towards a baptism!  She postponed a family gathering a couple days in order to get baptized on the date we suggested to her.....I hope that goes well with the family!  

Slowly but surely I’m starting to find words in the sentences that people speak to me haha. Everyone is so nice when they say how well the language is coming for the time I've been here. We taught a fireside and it went really well!  My part was talking about hope, faith, and works!  After that we ate some desserts and went to bed. 

It’s so cool to hear everyone’s progress at home!  I was just trying to guess where people will be in a couple years and imagining what they will be like!  I got to serve for a day with my MTC companion Elder Strikwerda!  Dang it was awesome!  I remember the first day in the MTC when he showed up late...had a Dutch last name...and was speaking broken Dutch/English and my biggest worrying coming true....that worry being that I had a companion that didn't speak English! haha so happy he did speak English.  It was cool to know where we both were at November 20th to now...we walked around and carried on partial conversations with people!  It’s nice to see what effort, diligence, and time can do for someone as they work towards something!  I couldn't imagine the two of us walking around in Belgium, alone....but we did and we can!  It’s kind of an eye opener, again, that the Lord wants us to become something.  He wants us to reach our potential and he is going to do the best He can to make it happen as long as we put forth, diligently, some effort and seek for His help.  Trials are a true test of faith and I aint going to let doubt or fear stop me. 

  

Love Elder Holt

This week has been an interesting one haha not the easiest but I know that once I ponder, ask in prayer and ponder some more that I'll figure it out!  

Week 22 - It's All Weird

T'jonge jonge jullie waren druik! (Oh wow!) You guys have a lot going on.  Sorry it’s been so hard to email jullie (you)!  We get less than an hour here... totally jammer because with the district and zone being so huge we can’t do a whole lot and I would like to email everyone!  We get half the time that was given in San Diego and then we are asked to do some other online stuff.....haha who would have thought PDAYS would be so stressful? 

Well... understanding people is getting a little better... I can understand the theme of the conversation sometimes and people know what I am saying for the most part.  We've been teaching a lot and have like 30 referrals that we've been asked to contact!! So hard to do in an entire province with a bus pass haha.  It’s really cool because I’m in dezelfde (the same) district as Elder Strikwerda, mijne eerst college (my companion) in the MTC!  We get to go on exchanges tomorrow!  I was working in Leuven on Friday and boy oh boy... I saw the oldest church I have ever seen in real life and I saw the coolest outdoor urinals in the street!  If I had my camera I would have taken a picture for jullie!  They were outside... you could see their heads while they were peeing!  

I don’t know if I told you guys but last week was our fast and testimony meeting! I went up and did my thing... well attempted... and I said that everything was WEIRD instead of the word TRUE... whoops!  It was good though.  The branch here is awesome! I love them soo much!  We've been finding people to teach and keeping busy!  We got told off on Easter by a Catholic lady and a Muslim but we are happy to be doing what we are doing!  The accent here is sooo trippy!  It’s like a French/Dutch accent and it trips me out all the time!  

I wish I had more to say but this week has been pretty normal.  I feel my testimony get stronger whenever someone tries to tear down my faith.....maybe because I just smile and don’t know what they are actually saying but hearing the anger in their voice and seeing the great peace of trying to be like the Savior just helps me realize who it is I am following and trying my best to be like.  Keep your faith strong and smile, its the best!  

Love Elder Holt

Week 21 - Be Good and Follow Your Promptings

Well the conference was sweet! I gotta go over my notes because I don’t remember most of itthere’s so much going with and the language....haha t'jonge jonge It is soooo cool and.....I understand how Elder Calhoon felt when he asked his companion, "Elder...what language is that?" haha they speak so fast and everything sounds like one giant long word!  Not to mention the different dialects! 

Well, this week has been super tiring! In the past 2 days we have walked like 30 kms or something crazy like that! Missed busses, forgetting to look when the buses stop running, trying to figure out where a referral is and taking the absolute longest way possible.....we've done it all!  I remember one point I was saying to myself..."dude....this is sooo frustrating" I later remembered how much the Lord went through for us...in Matthew...the ending chapters...it doesn’t sound like it was much fun and he did this for not only me but everyone who will accept him....I can suck it up and put in some pain of my own to help others to come to know their Saviour. 

We've had a few miracles this week; a lot of contacting miracles....we went to a city to meet with an older man who lives in an old folks home.  After our visit we had an hour to wait for our next bus - busses like to leave and arrive earlier than they say - we had no idea what to do. We weren’t contacting well and things felt off.  We said a prayer and asked where we could use the Lord’s time best and asked for guidance.  We were prompted to go in a direction and did.  The first knock it was a no go - nobody was home.  The second knock, a man came to the door and we ended up teaching him the restoration.  Another miracle happened sooo fast - it was like an impulsive action - just reached out and buzzed a guy’s name.....he came out and we are meeting with him soon!  It’s crazy but I’ve found a lot of my initial thoughts have actually been promptings, like elder Bednar said to the question,"how do you know if its guidance from the holy ghost or your thoughts?"  He said just be a good boy or girl and quit worrying about it!  Haha, don’t second guess just do it.  I’m doing my best to figure it out and recognize the promptings.  I can sit here and say that we do get help and that help comes with our obedience and diligence;  it comes with prayer and faith.  So much fun! 

Even though I don’t understand everything that people are saying yet, I was prompted to advise a man to read Alma 34.  I was second guessing because there is a lot in that chapter.  I didn’t know if he had a background in religion or stuff like that.  The member of the church I was with saw me flipping through pages and saw Alma 32; he said; "Alma 32?" I decided to change my mind and said yeah; he said, ”no, no, no, haha that’s not for him”.  Later after the contact we went over the conversation......apparently Alma 34 would have been really good.....the man studied to be a priest but didn’t feel like it was right so he stopped. 

BE GOOD AND FOLLOW YOUR PROMPTINGS!  LOVE YOU ALL,

ELDER HOLT

On exchanges and found this really nice stream thing

       

Say hello to the streets of Belgium!

More Genk

A lot of the graffiti here is soooo trippy!

Week 20: Be Happy With What You Can Do

There might be more spelling mistakes than usual...I guess the buttons on the keyboard arent worldwide....I have to use the shift key for periods, the M,A, W and some other letters are in different places and I have half the time in emailing! 

Yeah....mijn eerst staad is Genk which is a reqlly pretty, old fashioned European city.  We cover all of Limberg and do a ton of walking, busing and even trains! I'm pretty sure I was at the train stqtion that Elder Calhoon was picked up at....it looked soooooo familiar. I think I got lucky with the trainer I got.  He works hard, he is q good example of how to serve out here and he is always pushing me to do my best qnd not get down when I can't understand the people or can't pronounce words right.  We have been super busy this week...pretty sure I'm going to be a leg model when I am done my mission...they are getting a sweet workout! Things are soo different here...it trips me out every time i am not in my  bed...the toilets are different, there is a toilet room with only a toilet and a tiny sink and then a shower/tub room..the kitchen reminds me of Ikea and the city....I will send pictures next week....I've been weak on taking pictures.  I ate a warm waffle and a kip brooje...soo good.  We taught a lot of lessons and are looking to finding more people to teach.  My MTC companion is in the same district so its going to be cool to see how much 3 months of being surrounded by Dutch can help you learn.  ohyea...people here speqk Flaams so it is even harder to understand them...their dialect is off the chain!

I've been doing my best trying to calm myself down, relax qnd enjoy the journey without thinking how great it's going to be when I can speqk the language better.  It's been super hard to not get discouraged when you can't do what you want but I've seen progress and my trainer, Elder Robbins, gave some super good advice;  "Be happy with what you can do".  That's helped a ton.  As I refocus and see the joy in doing what I am able to accomplish..everything just kind of falls into place. I've been implementing that in all of the aspects of life and as I work towards becoming the man Heavenly Father is molding me to be.  When I distract myself and progress by focusing on the end...I'm going to miss the things that mqke up the "race".  How great is it that we get to spend time here on this earth in order to become like our Father in Heaven.  How great the journey will be as we focus on what we have accomplished and what we can do NOW as we work towards this.  In I think every circumstance...there is always a middle in between the beginning and end...that middle is the progression and in order to progress we gotta put focus on the middle part to be successful qt the end.  I can't wait to speak with you all again.  Tot Volgend Week, Love you and be hqppy with what we have accomplished and can do.  Enjoy and have the hope that we will reach our potential.     Elder Holt

Week 19: Finally in...Belgium

Elder Holt arrived safely in the Netherlands on April 1 and was assigned to serve with Elder Robbins in Genk Belgium.

The new arrivals with President and Sister Robinson

Gotta have a windmill picture in Amsterdam

Opening the first assignment

Elder Holt and his new trainer, Elder Robbins