Called To Serve Him: Week 72 - Keukenhof and the Temple

keukenhof

Howdy!

The weather has turned into spring! We had some days with 20+ degree weather and dang it was nice it was so dang nice! It feels weird seeing the weather now because last year this time was my first transfer in Belgium and it’s kind of surreal seeing it again but being 1 year older. I really don´t know where the time has gone.

It was a super sweet week. We had time to go and look up a lot of the referrals that we´ve got. Unfortunately, we had to travel all over the place because of the referrals and did a lot of travel but it was an eye opener to see how different it is with relationship to the landscapes, the dialects and accents and architecture.

We had a few miracles while looking up these referrals. We met someone who had found peace and comfort in Christ about a year ago. As she was going through a hard time she had the idea to attend a church near her house...and was overwhelmed with feelings that she explained as just knowing He was real through her feelings. She felt assurance and peace and knew that He lived. We had a really fun time teaching her and have started teaching her about how the Book of Mormon can help us all come closer to Christ.

We also met a cow farmer who invited us back to meet his whole family. He was super friendly and gave us a tour of his dairy farm! He had baby calves that were 3 weeks old, chickens and chicken eggs that were hatching into baby chicks and so on. I told him about my relatives who have cows, horses and buffalo and he asked if I could bring photos of the bison next time we go over.

The world is so dang interesting. We have farms at home but here they are just a little different which makes it a whole new world. I´ve seen that it´s been like that with everything here and am so curious about what the world has to offer as a whole.

After our solid day of getting a bunch of missionary work done, we went home, ate a quick small dinner and then went to bed so that we could go to the Temple and not fall asleep. It was so nice to be able to visit the House of my Master. It´s kind of like a booster or a recharging. It was peaceful and went by way to fast. I wish I could go more often and hope that I can keep that desire as I am home. I took the temple for granted and have more of an understanding of what the Temple is and what it means to us as children of God. To think that people don´t have the opportunity to go due to how far it is and how expensive it is to travel and then how inspiring it is to hear the stories of those that save up for so long so that they could go as a family and be sealed as an Eternal Family.

We had a couple hours to spend at Keukenhof. It was pretty nice. It was still a tad early so none of the tulips were fully blossomed but it was still really pretty. There were flowers everywhere and the entire grounds smelt like a freshly cleaned bathroom with a bunch of air fresheners. Just playing. It smelt like a new beginning which was nice because after going to the temple you remember a little more about how Christ gives us a new beginning every time we walk closer towards him. We met a lot of people who were members from America and even a couple from Germany who lived in the UK. The small world keeps getting smaller and smaller. The husband was German but his wife from the US. I asked how they met and I should have guessed it...´´where all the magic happens...´´ and it wasn´t Disneyland. Maybe I should enroll at BYU ; )

After seeing a bunch of old companions and friends that we’ve make from our various districts and zones, we headed out towards Leiden where we picked up mail and orders, then started our journey home. It was long and the GPS likes to take you down the worst way possible to get home. It took a while so we had to stop at McDonalds and fuel up our bodies. They have stroopwafel Mcflurries! Ohmygosh.

It was a really enjoyable and pleasant week. At the petting zoo section at Keukenhof I was videoing a goat walking around everywhere and it started pooping in front of a girl which made everyone laugh...life can be so funny sometimes but it doesn´t always seem that way does it? I´ve been studying the scriptures and thinking about what can be done in order to stay so positive in the times where it seems next to impossible to be or to not be filled with pride if I am sitting in a real comfortable and positive spot. Alma 62 : 49 - 51. ´´..And they did pray unto the Lord their God continually...´´ There are always things to be thankful for. The more that we ponder in prayer and search for those things...the more we invite the spirit of hope and peace into our lives.

I miss you all a ton but I love to look back at the good times and smile knowing that God will always take care of us and that there are more to come. We sometimes look for a better future but don´t know where to find it. I can let you all know, that direction can be found in the scriptures and in prayer and after we receive the direction, we can go out and find our better future as we live our lives according to the direction given in the scriptures and the confirmations through the feelings of peace we receive in prayer.

This week we´ll be heading down to Belgium! I hope that my friends from Belgium will be there! That would be so cool. Elder Ames and I are doing another transfer together and are looking forward to be serving with one another for at least another 6 weeks.

Love you bye!

Elder Holt