Week 83 - The Jungle and its Inhabitants Will Protect You

I kind of take these things (God’s creations) for granted at times and don´t fully understand or remember how great they are.  I was speaking to a person from Indonesia who has probably the coolest job ever.  They go through the forest in Indonesia and look for illegal activity; mostly tree poachers.  Out of all the things...tree poachers.  This person and their group have been trained to investigate, track and find illegal logging that goes on in the jungles in their home country.  They told me stories and experiences of these things and you could tell...just by talking with him...how much they loved their job and how much he enjoyed and loved God’s creations.  They talked about going into Tiger country and the crazy experiences they had with their group as they had to watch each other’s back....or going to bathe in a creek and just knowing that you´re being watched but can´t see anything...one of their friends was picking food to eat off of a bush and heard something sniffing their butt...the person turned around and saw that it was a tiger who was between 3-5 years....the person fainted and woke up a while after...checking their body to make sure everything was still in contact.  Luckily they were not eaten but the saying goes that, ´´as long as you go to the Jungle with good intentions and don´t destroy a single branch and leave it better than you found it....the Jungle and its inhabitants will protect you.´´  The stories this person had were amazing.  It was cool speaking with this person. You could feel the love they had for their home land, for the jungle, and understanding its importance for the earth and the future. Talk about righteous desires.  It was sad to hear but good to be reminded...how easily motives can change when you allow greed and gain to enter into your motives.  Sure it’s nice to sit comfortable with a living...but we can see that those who have money still experience sadness when you have this person....who doesn´t have millions of euros but loves life because of the proper motivations.  I want to train myself to be able to notice the things that seem small in my eyes that help bring beauty and wonder to the world we live in.  It´s so fascinating but as people, we sometimes get caught up in our tasks and forget to open our eyes to the small but wondrous things. 

Sorry this is one is also short!  This past week was really good.  To think that tomorrow is when the new President arrives! Gosh.  Discipline is something that I´ve been trying to re-teach myself.  Discipline in all my actions and following life and I´m sure it has come in handy as I strive to serve the Lords newly appointed steward of the Belgium Netherlands mission.  This coming week we´ll be making poutine and some friends who are members for Canada day!  It was great because at first, they didn´t believe that we had Canada´s Day on the 1st.  However...they googled it and found it was true so us missionaries are going to make a boss poutine for them!  I´ll send some photos.  Love you guys and I hope you have a good week.

Love, Elder Holt

Week 82 - Everyone should have questions

Hallo!  Shoot!  Sounds like a party this past week.  Weddings, graduations, field trips!  That sounds like it was the opposite of boring.  Congratulations to everyone for their special moments in life!  I´m sure they were all awesome!  Thanks for the photos!  I can´t wait to see more in the future!  Sounds like your ward is doing awesome!  You´re going to have to tell me what you guys are doing! 

Another week flown by in the Land of Tulips.  We had exchanges or splits every day of the week except for Pday and Sunday so it felt like it went by super fast.  It was enjoyable being able to serve with and learn from others who are living here in Nederland. Missionaries, members and people seeking for truths in a general sense.  It´s amazing how everyone is so different.  I´m always amazed at the different insights/perspectives that people receive and share. 

One person asked the question, ´´how can you know if it´s my thoughts or the Holy Ghost?´´.  I feel like that´s a question that we all have.  Heck...sometimes as members for years...we come back to that question. I found that it interesting and not coincidence...how this person came to this question.  It goes to show that those who are diligently, prayerfully and willingly seek and search for truths...the will be lead and they will find.

This person was reading in 1 Nephi when Nephi was commanded to take the life of Laban.  They studied and pondered about the process that Nephi went through until he followed the prompting of the Lord and came to the question... ´´how can you know if it´s my thoughts or the Holy Ghost? ´´.  I don´t ever recall pondering about that part the way this person did.  It was so cool to hear the thoughts and things that they were taught as they pondered about this experience that Nephi went through. It was even cooler when they started sharing experiences of when they recognized God´s direction in their life that came in forms of thoughts, ideas, feelings and etc. 

Everyone has questions or maybe I should say everyone should have questions.  After all, we´re here to learn.  It´s going to be hard to learn or to know truths if we don´t have questions.  However, with our questions and our abilities and gift to have the freedom to have questions....we need to be responsible and find the answers to our questions. It´s a two way thing.  You have questions and you want answers....go out and find them.  I feel like a lot of people, myself included, will sit around and wait for answers and expect them to magically pop up.  Sometimes I´ll even forget about a question and move onto something else...luckily God the Father will help remind me that my answer has been given when He gives me one.

It is a truth when we read ´´Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you.´´  These are promises divine and these are promises for all that are pure in their intentions and willing to find the answers....not in their way...but in Gods way...who is the Master teacher. 

There have been many people that I´ve met while serving on my mission.  Some have questions and want answers but don´t put in the effort in trying to find the answers.  Some have no questions at all and put themselves in a place where their progression will be at a stand-still. Others look for answers...but look in the wrong ways and follow the voices of others they find on the internet vs the source of all truth; God our Eternal Father.  Few humble themselves enough and change what they are doing and do things in the Lords way to show that they truly want answers and are willing to try to get to know Him. But those few are the ones that I have witnessed are the ones that find peace, happiness and a knowledge and experience to know that God exists and to find the truths that we all think about.  

Love you and take care.  I´m making it a goal to take more photos so I can send more home!  Love you guys,

Elder Holt

Week 81 - Progressing in Marvelous Ways

Goedemorgen!

This past week felt so jam packed so I hope that I´ll be able to remember the good stuff.

1st thing I remember was going to Antwerpen where we heard from President and Zuster Robinson for the last time and then had zone training.  2 weeks ago was President and Zuster Robinson´s last MLC, which was weird to think about it, and this past week was the last time that they would be addressing the missionaries over the pulpit.  It was an honour to have been able to hear from people who had devoted such time and energy to help fulfill the tasks that Lord has given them, but from people who have focused so much love and energy to try and help us become stronger and better people as well.  We were informed that the Netherlands mission has been progressing in marvelous ways and were shown the amount of increase, through graphs, in order to show how it´s been progressing.  We´ve had solid and faithful leadership that has helped us apply skills in order to progressively increase in our amount of lessons, finding people and helping people work towards baptism.  Most importantly, we´ve had a lot of help that´s helped us find who we are and how we can work closer with the Lord.  They will be flying out in a few weeks, which is sad, but I am looking forward to having the experience and opportunity to learn from our new Mission President and his wife.  It´s going to be sick!

We had the zone training, like was mentioned earlier.  It was weird because we had it in Antwerpen and not in Eindhoven but it ran just great.  We focused on all learning how to work more effectively with members, how we can serve the members better, how to prepare for Sunday in order to be accountable/responsible to the members, helping people face the Temple and understand the path to Eternal Glory and how we can apply the area plan more in our work.  I love preparing for these things because it helps push me to study, in depth, certain topics, but it´s always relieving when it´s over!  We had the senior couple and some members really pull out for the Antwerpen and Eindhoven zones!  They cooked for about 60 people and to make it even better...they cooked sloppie joes!  gosh.  I´m trying to figure out ways to let them know how much we appreciated it and how much it meant to us that they helped out...I hope to be able to express our gratitude for them like they do to us.

We have found some new people....but can just never catch them home or their spouse isn´t really on board!  I don´t know what it is...but there are days where things like that including the times when people say no...just get me wanting to work even harder. It makes me sad, but it doesn´t seem to get me down and helps push me to push a little more to find those people that have been accepting Gods influence in their life.  

We went out and worked with the Zuster missionaries to Maastricht and had the opportunity to find 2 people in like 30 minutes who were curious and wanted to learn more about the Book of Mormon and to understand how it can bring people closer to Christ and bring them a stronger spirituality. There are people out there...they just need to be found and the more people we reach out to...the more likely we are to find those who are following God’s influence. 

It´s comforting to know that the Gospel will never leave the earth again and that the Prophets of old rejoiced in this last restoration of the fullness of the Gospel and even though our numbers may be few,  1 Nephi 14 : 12 ´´And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few..´´ but that we have a source of strength and power to help us overcome all objections to that which come against our morals, beliefs and teachings of Gods messengers, the prophets.  1 Nephi 14 : 14 ´´...and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory...´´

People notice our differences.  They can feel and sense ´´a light´´ is what is often said to my companions and myself.  We live in a great time.  We have so much available to us in order to help us find happiness in the things that are easily seen as not happy.  We have words of comfort, hope and understanding in the scriptures, we have Temples that help us receive answers and guidance to our questions and concerns...a place where we will can receive eternal promises...we have friends and family to help support us....gosh...come to think about it we have...we have way more than I know.  We all have so much that is offered to us that will help us find the joy we are looking for...but do we understand how they help us and what they can do to help us?  The best way to find out...is by experiencing them.  It´s sometimes hard to push yourself to get to the point of experiencing our experiment of faith...but in the end...we need to reach out and ask for help to get us there and then we will know...because we have experienced...how these things help us.  

Congratulations to Brynn and Bo on their wedding day!  Shoot...That´s so freakin cool!  I miss you all and a lot of happiness and peace comes to me as I rejoice in the success that you all enjoy.  Keep it strong and enjoy the simple things in life.  Love you guys.

Elder Holt

Week 80 - The Power of Everyday Set-backs

This beginning of the transfer has been fun.  My companion, Elder Steenblik, and I both got bikes so we can bike around the city of Eindhoven and get to speak to more people.  We also enjoy being able to be out and about IN the city.  It´s not the same driving around the city in a car.  You don´t get to experience the city like you do when you adventure into it without a window or a metal frame blocking your freedom and view.  It´s so nice. Yesterday we were biking around as we looked people up.  For some reason I was biking like a maniac and going really fast.  When we came across a guy walking in a park, I rolled on over to him and tried striking up a conversation with him.  I was so out of breath that he started to laugh.  I then realized that I needed to pace myself more.  I guess I got too excited to be biking around a bunch of people again I just wanted to go fast!  I´m happy too because that means that I can start getting into better shape!  We met a family from Canada this past week!  We´re going to be going back this week.  They didn´t really know why we were at their door....there kids were still eating dinner and it was bedtime in 10 minutes so we offered to come back another day and I would bring photos of Home and they agreed. I haven´t worked with Canadians in a long time...so it will be interesting to see what ´´we´´ believe in.  We being Canadians. 

As my companion and I prepared for the coming transfer, our main focus turned into helping missionaries get the members involved in their missionary work. Now, if we rewind about 16 months back...I was sitting in San Diego - love and miss that place -  there, we heard from a man, Clayton Christenson.  He wrote a book, ´´The Power of Everyday Missionaries´´ and this book was released...I think just before I got to San Diego or while I was there.  Anyways...he came and spoke to the mission as a whole.  That was my first Mission Conference.   It was awesome.  He spoke to us about an experience he had when he was a newly-wed.  He used this experience to help teach us what role missionaries play in missionary work for wards.  Dang it was good but I guess you might be wondering why I´m babbling on about this.  It´s because the Lord sees things with the perspective that we don´t have.

I remember getting my re-assignment papers to San Diego.  I was set back, disappointed and sad.  But worked things out with myself through a lot of thinking and pondering, that eventually helped me to leave for San Diego with a positive perspective.  I learned a lot of things, met some incredible people, and loved every single minute of my time there.  The reason I brought up the previous paragraph about Clayton Christenson is that the things that he had helped bring to my attention are what I felt would be good to share with the missionaries here and If I didn´t go to San Diego I would have never been able to share the things he taught there, to the missionaries here. 

I´ve come to see that these ´´set-backs´´ aren´t set-backs.  In fact…they’re the total opposite and they´re going to turn out how we make them to be.  In due time...we will remember things learned, things experienced and be able to use them in the future for the benefit of those around us.  The thing that we need to do is find, within ourselves, what makes these ´´set-backs´´ a blessing in order to be content with the task at hand.

Taking a minute, relaxing and pondering has really helped me to find the contentment that I need to find the feelings of peace, comfort and happiness I am looking for in ´´set-backs´´.  Pondering can be a powerful thing and I feel a step that can be easily skipped between living and praying.  As we ponder on situations, we will be taught from on high.  Have trust in the thoughts you receive and remember that all good things come from God. 

Glad to hear that Brynn and Bo will be on schedule and that there´s a Bishop G-Unit in town.  So happy for everyone at home.  Miss you guys and don´t take this in a bad way...but I am looking forward to be spending my summer with my fellow Dutchies.  

We´ll hang out next summer.

Love,

Elder Holt

Week 79 - All is Well and All Will Be Well

Transfers are done and the new one begins today!  I got my new companion, Elder Steenblik.  He´s a funny, tall dude.  I don´t know what it is, but most of my companions are pretty dang tall.  Elder Steenblik is from Salt Lake and has a talent with working with people. I´m excited to have the chance to serve with him for a minimum of 6 weeks!

This week was really fast...to be honest with you...I don´t remember too much.  We have a completely new 4 man.  It´s going to be a blast.  We used the end of the week getting ready for the coming transfer.  We planned for a lot of things that will be coming up. ex. Zone vision, zone training, DLC, exchanges and etc.  The good thing is that it´s all done and we´re ready to go.

We have a busy couple weeks coming up.  By the end of transfer, our new mission president will be here and President and Zuster Robinson will be celebrating Canada Day.  All of my past companions with the exception of 2 will be home and I think a new senior couple will be coming in as our beloved senior couple from up north will be heading back home.  Everything is changing and it´s weird to think about.

I guess that´s how life goes.  Things come and things go as time moves on.  Things change as the days progress...the important thing to keep in mind is how will this affect us? 

Throughout life we all experience, ´´change´´.  At first glance, some ´´changes´´ are easily seen as positive...and others are easily seen as negative.  Some, enjoyable, some a little tougher to find the joy.  In the end...we all get to choose how we are going to go about ´´change.´´ 

There are a lot of different scenarios of change but all can boil down to...how we accept the change.  Will we accept it grudgingly, or will we accept what the Lord has given us with the goal to find the joy and get rid of the hard feelings that we may feel?  I am a firm believer that there can be joy found in all things.  The more I learn of the teachings that are given to the prophets by God to teach us...I find that it is easier to find the joy in all situations.  But what about the innocent people killed in wars or natural disasters, or the children that become a casualty to an inhumane circumstance.  I feel like that is the thought of many if not almost everyone. 

I remember speaking to a lady who didn't believe that God was who people purposed Him to be because of the bad things that happen to innocent children throughout the world. The joy that comes with getting to know God and the joy that comes from understanding wasn't there.  She did not know the part of God’s plan that has been given to mankind through the words of the prophets in the scriptures.  Luckily, I had read and found answers to this concern.  It was found and God helped me to understand that all is and shall be well for those who we worry about due to crappy events that happen to them in their life.  So is it with all situations we see, hear about or experience.  There are several different layers of difficulties that we have to sift through to find the good in what may seem to be the bad...some are harder to sift through...but if we spend the time...we'll find it.

I've experienced that changes can be made easier as we strive to go through them in the way the Lord would have us.  After all, he knows you better than anyone you know.  Even yourself.  Accept the changes with the knowledge that all is well and all will be well.  You'll notice and feel this as you seek for the Lord’s counsel in prayer and thought.  The more of yourself that you invest in trying to find your answers, peace, comfort, love and etc....the more you will be enlightened with the truths of what it is you are seeking for.  

Love you all and I hope you have a good week!

Elder Holt