Eli Mail 4/20/15 (Deventer, Netherlands) Letter 37

So, this week I would say nothing too crazy happened, besides getting a new companion and transfers all over again. Things are getting very interesting in the mission, because we have two huge groups of missionaries leaving within the next two  transfers (like over 45 Elders – huge!), and also the mission president change happening at the same time. So, the whole mission is on the tilt of an enormous change, and I get to sit back and watch the whole thing happen. It's exciting and nerve-racking.

I'll start this week’s letter off with our "fiets fiasco." So, this past Thursday Elder Da Silva and I went out and traveled over to Zwolle to pick up his bike that he left there. Upon visiting a few places and a wild search around the station, we discovered that his bike had been stolen. It was quite sad, especially since Elder Da Silva has only a mere six weeks left on his mission! We contacted around the whole afternoon, in search of bike shops with a hopefully very cheap but reasonable bike. That evening we had a dinner appointment with the Bisschop and his family, and our prayers were answered when they loaned us a bike! It was a very lucky break, and it has allowed us to continue doing missionary work as normal.

Elder Da Silva also received three single items in a package recently, and it made me chuckle when I saw the contents. The three items included:  Hersey's chocolate, graham crackers, and marshmallows. Someone had told him about s'mores, and now he finally received his own. The Netherlands doesn't sell graham crackers – how crazy is that? So, we spent a few evenings roasting our s'mores in the toaster oven and enjoying the gooey mess. It was pretty fantastic.

The work has been pretty normal lately. No people really progressing right now – just a nice handful of good potentials and stale investigators. The miracles are happening, though. We just need to hurry and act on them. That's what I've noticed happens a lot with our miracles: they either kind of just disappear or are forgotten about after time, so we need to be diligent and look them up. The sun has been shining on us, literally and figuratively, and people seem to be just generally happier with the sun shining more and more.

I'm loving my mission and also I'm trying to really accept and see a change of heart in myself that is explained in Alma 5. I realized this transfer that if I haven't changed by the end of my mission, then what was the point? I've realized it really is just the little daily decisions and little things we want to change that can make a big difference, and the first requirement is only desire! I will finish with a quote from Christ that repeats in my head every time I have to do something I don't want to do or is uncomfortable, "I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it." Let those words penetrate and repeat in your heart every time you are burdened with stress or are disappointed or discouraged.

Have a great week, faithful readers.

Elder Andrew

Eli Mail 4/13/15 (Deventer, Netherlands) Letter 36

So, General Conference day was crazy. Saturday evening we had a dinner appointment with the young men's president. It was a pretty cool experience; he is into archery and showed us his bows he's been working on making. Super interesting how different kinds of wood have different elasticity and so forth. He had an open fire in the backyard, and we cooked our own meat over the open fire, something you rarely ever see in this country. It reminded me of camping back at home in Wisconsin. The next day we headed over to the Apeldoorn church building and began a day completely filled with conference. Sadly, our antenna was having problems so we had to just resort to playing it off the internet on a smaller screen, but it was no real hassle. There were a number of talks I loved, but sadly I forgot my notes in the apartment, so I can't share my favorite parts.

PHOTO CAPTION: The Hague Netherlands Temple

The next day we headed off to the Elders apartment in Den Haag where we would be spending the evening for our temple conference the next day. I was reunited with my trainer, Elder Claflin, again! We talked about good old days in Belgium, including our crazy huge spider that we fed every night and all sorts of funny stuff. I really enjoyed seeing him, and it could possibly be for the last time during my mission. The next day we headed off early and caught a tram on a very misty morning in Den Haag. I had kind of forgotten the way when we got off the tram, so we were guided by the golden angel Moroni that peeped up over the buildings – a symbolic and literal guide. The temple was a fantastic, being reunited with other missionaries and friends. And, of course, enjoying the peace and comfort of the temple was to die for. Afterwards we traveled as a big pack and enjoyed an afternoon of Domino's pizza at the Zoetemeer chapel. At around 3 o'clock, we got news that our bus had arrived, and we all packed into a big tour bus, around 60 missionaries in all, and headed to Keukenhof, the famous tulip place. It was a pretty neat experience, because it was just flowers after all. But it was astounding – just the shear amount and different kinds of flowers in bloom. They basically just released us, and we broke off into groups and walked around until 6 p.m. Our name tags brought a lot of attention as usual, and we got to meet some church members and even returned Belgium/Netherlands missionaries!

PHOTO CAPTION: Keukenhof ("Kitchen garden") is known as the Garden of Europe and is the world's second largest flower garden.

The work has been doing pretty well here. We've had to do a lot of finding lately due to investigators setting appointments three weeks into the future, little things like that. But I did receive some inspiration – I had the urge that we should avoid our usual route of contacting for a week and just work around the train station and the outskirts of the Centrum. It all paid off when we met a Chinese student walking back to his apartment. The three of us became friends almost immediately, and he told us he was a Christian missionary too (crazy, huh?). We had a very spiritual first lesson with him on Sunday, and he showed us his Chinese Bible and told us about the underground Christianity in China, and how China is more democratic than we think. It was cool, and I'm excited to see what the future holds with this guy.

Last note, we got transfer calls! I'm so sad say that Elder Clukey will be leaving me and going to Belgium. I learned a lot from him. We had a lot of fun together, and our geekiness gave us lots of interesting things to talk about during the transfer. Guess who my new companion is?! Elder Da Silva! And no, not Elder Da Silva from Brussels, but Elder Da Silva from Brazil. My second Portuguese companion – crazy! It's almost like President wants me to learn Portuguese or something, now. Hah!

Thanks for the emails and for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. I feel the support for sure! You guys are in my prayers as well. Have a great week, everyone!

Elder Andrew

BULLET – from 4/13/15 email:

At our temple conference I was sitting in the endowment session when Elder Bourne told me Wisconsin lost in the NCAA Finals. He's the AP in Amsterdam. I spent Christmas and other occassions with him when I was in Zaandam. I always made proud comments about the Packers and stuff, so we always joke about sports stuff and my Wisconsin pride. I had no idea Wisconsin had made it far at all really! Crazy! Final 2 is pretty good, but, oh well.

 More Pictures (goofball ones included)!!!

                    

                       

(super goofball pic here, but I love it....I bet I have a picture of Eli giving a look like this at age 3!)

I spy Eli here getting the Domino's pizza he mentioned :)

Service Project

This was the sisters apartment in Apeldoorn. Lots of mold on the walls and worn out carpet.
Elder Andrew helping with the remodel.

Looking great Elder!

Pictured: Elder Robison, Elder Andrew, Elder Clukey, Elder Bean, Elder Argueta, Sister Huber, Pres. Van der Put and Sister Verdegem.