We´ve had a solid week of Dutch weather! About time : ) We had a nice windy rain storm a couple days ago and the rain has decided to stay! Some tree´s fell down on roads and branches were everywhere. The church grounds was filled with broken branches and leaves. Yesterday, I got to take the suit coat off and help 2 members pull down the big branches that were hanging and just about to fall....you don´t really want that if there´s a bike path right under them. It´s been great being able to meet more members. I´ve noticed that since I´ve been in various places over the country, that I´ve started meeting familie members or people that know people where I served. I´m looking forward to go to the temple in October and getting the chance to see people.
So, I love the Dutch and Belgians. They´ve taught me a ton. I´m always amazed and in awe over their stories or experiences and how converted many of them are to living the Gospel Of Jesus Christ. It´s been a pleasure and a privilege to see how I can become more converted and make the Gospel a natural way of life. My companion and I have been focusing on showing the members how much they mean to us and how much we appreciate them and their words. We´re curious to see how things will play out. Our new mission President and his wife have asked us to focus on serving the members. Service is the next level of showing love and we want everyone to know that we love all they do. I haven´t been the best at this during my mission...I have had ideas but haven´t applied them all but Elder Abankie and I are pushing one another to go the extra mile in expressing gratitude to our family here. I´ll have to let you know how it goes.
It´s nice being back in the Apeldoorn Zone. 2 of my previous cities are in this zone and I had the opportunity to visit one of them this past week. It was so crazy and gave me such a surreal feeling that´s hard to describe. I realized how much this country has come to mean to me and how important it is to keep that growing and to push myself to do all the things that I´ve learned on my mission. It´s weird now being on my mission for so long. My companion and I talked about how it´s now time for us to share what we´ve learned to those we are serving because they haven´t learned it yet. We came to the conclusion that 80% of our mission now is for the missionaries we serve and 20% of it is for us. They may seem kind of confusing but it makes sense to us. Many of the things that we´ve learned through the past couple years, have not been heard by the missionaries who are now in the field. I can imagine that it´s like parents with their children or grandchildren. I´ve been reminded to not expect people to know things, but to expect myself to help them know. I´m pretty dang lucky to be able to serve with so many missionaries. All of the missionaries teach me a lot or even just help me fuel that fire for spreading Gods love and knowledge about Him to the people of this land.
All of us have learned things that are vital to becoming a stronger and better person. We all have experiences and go through experiences that have the capability to mold us to becoming the remarkable persons that we are. It has become apparent, how important it is to share these things with those around us with the intention to build them up. I couldn´t tell you how many times one has said something, that has impacted my life, and they may not ever know it. As long as we are satisfied with sharing thoughts and lessons with others, we will find happiness but if we share things and expect reactions from others...we will find a pool of jealousy and ungratefulness. What a awesome thing we get to do to share the life experiences that have taught us the Gospel lessons. Especially with your Ward family. Be close to those who are strong and together, stay close to those who are trying to become stronger. Every member is a block in the game of Jenga and plays a role and every one is needed in to keep it from falling down.
As we drove home last night, I spotted a little wall that had ´´Canada´´ engraved on it...beside the other wall that said ´´Nederland´´. We turned around and saw that there was also a Canadian Flag with a Nederland Flag with a statue that was celebrating something. The ground of the monument was covered with engraved Maple Leafs. The memorial was for a the Canadians that fought and liberated the area. It really made me miss home but also grew my love for freedom, Canada, Canadians and a lesson on how important of a role that we all have in preserving freedom. Not to mention how blessed we are to have freedom. Those men who fought for freedom may have been scared...but I bet that their love over powered their fear. So can it be with us. Ohyeah...and I got to to spend time speaking with people on a steet called, ´´Canadalaan´´. It was so awesome. There was a person who taught us why it was called Canadalaan and was so stoked to have a Canadian on their door.
Im heading out now. Hope all is well and that you all have a good vacation. I´m trying to find out about Uncle Gerald and Uncle Bobs fathers park that he designed here in Apeldoorn but I haven´t had luck with finding time to look it up. Maybe if you could talk to them and get back to me! I´d love to look it up and even people they know here up here in the Northern Part (Apeldoorn and up) of the country!
Love you bye.
Elder Holt
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