Eli Mail 9/12/15 (Leiden, Netherlands) Letter 55

Hey, everyone! This is a very unexpected email, but guess where I am? Leiden, Nederland! This is quite a surprise, but I have been actually called as an "Office" elder, meaning for the next six months. Elder Cook, Elder Evans, and I will be in charge of everything concerning legal and financial business for the mission. I have been avoiding talking about the subject at all, because it was only speculation by other missionaries. To fill everyone in on mission mechanics, every six months two new missionaries are called to the office with Elder Evans, who has and will be serving his whole mission here (the reason for that, I am not sure, but it is not too important). Normally, every six-month period there will be two companionships in the mission who become threesomes, which happened to be me. Halfway through the transfer (right now) those companionships will typically receive a call if someone is being called to the office, and that was me this past Sunday morning. The call wasn't anything unexpected for me. As soon as we became "tripanionship" everyone started cracking jokes about me leaving, which ended up being true. Initially, I was pretty taken aback, not sure what to expect, but for the next couple weeks Elder Heinrichs will be training me to take over all the finances for the mission. Big job! And for those wondering, yes, we still do normal missionary work, thankfully. So, there you have it. And because of unexplained reasons, Saturdays are our official "P-days" here.

Wednesday was my last day in Spijkenisse. I was trying hard to make the excuse with investigators that I was leaving and to try to meet with as many people as I could before I left. Some went through and some didn't, but one of the great ones was our appointment with Rebecca. Quick fill in, most of my time proselyting in Spijkenisse was either spent pulling over on my bike to start up a conversation with someone, or on the street – both surprisingly effective (when you learn how to do it in a not-so awkward way). And Rebecca was one of those "golden" investigators found by pulling my bike over. She is incredibly open, Christian, and is always checking for her own understanding when we teach a principle. I have learned so much just from teaching others. One of the most powerful ways you can teach is done by asking inspired questions in such a way as to help them discover for themselves the truth of the principle. And that's what it is like for her: she has a questioning, searching mind, and I always try my best to help her answer her own questions. A sister missionary told me once that when we teach and testify about a principle, we feel the Spirit, so with investigators it is the same. We help them uncover truths and feel them. We were planning to teach the third lesson but ended up spending the whole time answering her questions. It was awesome – you can see the light of Christ working in people. 

Tuesday we went to our typical dinner appointment at 6 p.m. by family Van de Pebbel. They live a little ways out, and we travel there by bus. It was rush hour. Everyone was going home after work, and the bus was packed (almost like a Belgium bus!), so Elder Shelton and Henrichsen stayed up front while I walked to the back to find a place to sit. And just like every bus I get on, of course I fall asleep. I was dozing pretty nicely in and out when I suddenly shaken awake and noticed the bus to be a lot emptier than before. I looked nervously around, and my companions were nowhere in sight. I was alone! I sighed, barely able to believe I had really slept through our stop and rushed to the front to speak with the bus driver. I asked her how far away we were from my stop and she let me out on the side of the road. She pointed in a general direction, giving me instruction on where my bus halte was, and I started running through a city I barely knew, trying to find my companions while simultaneously not being late for the dinner appointment. After a brief jog I turned left, having a somewhat vague remembrance of my surroundings, and I cornered the first row of houses. "Marmoot," read the street sign. I was on the right street! I walked a little further searching for the house and rounding the other corner at the same time were my companions! It was a glorious reunion. Being separated from your companion is never fun. We all exchanged smiles, Henrichsen cracked a joke about me "trying to run away," and we rang on the doorbell at 6:02, not a moment too soon.

The rest of the week has been an adventure in every sense of the word. I had no idea what to expect here, but it's a lot of work and responsibility. But I am loving and just accepting the renewed feeling of every new beginning. "What the heck am I doing?!" Lastly: testimony time. One thing I will forever "treasure up in my heart" as the scriptures so firmly decree, is the Word of God itself. Reading the scriptures used to be me trying to just "start a good habit" or "fulfilling an assignment," none of which are inherently bad, but I enjoy now "getting into the scriptures." With a simple prayer and determined heart, finding and learning truth through the compiled, inspired stories of others can be "enlightening" and really joyous. I love a study that I prepare myself physically and spiritually for, and I just dive in. It's like the rising of the sun. Gradually with time (and a little needed effort), God can communicate with us.

I am excited to get to know the beautiful city of Leiden, and if anyone still has more questions about what I do, I will answer your questions to the best of my ability.

You are all in my prayers.

Elder Eli Andrew

Eli Mail 9/7/15 (Spijkenisse, Netherlands) Letter 54

A good description of this week: exchanges. For a number of combined reasons, we ended up having a number of exchanges this week making for constant busyness, a good number of laughs, and the occasional case of sleep deprivation. I loved this week, and it just flew by. Things are starting to cool down here in the Netherlands, and perhaps the chilly autumn months are actually approaching! I had kind of forgotten my desire to slip on a pair of warm, slim, rain-proof gloves that I so dearly love.

Funny things can happen on missions. And we had one of those moments this past Monday. Our recent convert, Edwin, wanted to have us over for dinner, and we gladly agreed. He also talked to us about a movie he had found on the internet, as he has been happily enjoying all sorts of church productions to my surprise. But the film he started describing involved all sorts of weird events, including a plot surrounding Mormon missionaries in Africa and explosives and all sorts of interesting things. I came to the conclusion that we would first have to ask for permission before watching it with him, assuming that it wasn’t "Finding Faith in Christ." So, on Monday evening we scrambled out of the apartment to catch a bus leaving within a few minutes. As almost all of my companions know, I am kind of always "last minute" for things, and we had to pray and walk very quickly in order to catch this crucially important bus. Dutch people hate it when you are late. So, we arrived well, with another member we brought along, and Edwin invited us to sit, so we plopped ourselves down on the couch as usual. After chit-chatting for a while, he asked us again about the movie, and we told him we just didn't get around to figuring it out. To our surprise, he closed the blinds, served dinner on the coffee table, and started rolling the film. I am not sure why this story is worth telling, but I could feel it was Edwin giving us a "thank you" for everything we had helped him with, and for us helping and supporting him as he was so diligently preparing for baptism a few weeks prior. It was a fun evening, not because of the “apostate” watching of a movie, but it made me happy seeing him so joyous about enjoying his new membership in the church.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: I believe “Freetown” is the film Eli is referring to, which follows the faith-filled and courageous story of six LDS missionaries in war-torn Liberia who flee to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to continue their proselytizing.)

 A few weeks ago we were knocking some doors located close to our metro station when we finally struck a little gold with a pretty weak potential investigator that just said to “Come back another time." Well, Wednesday we spent our normal afternoon of doing look ups and just having conversations with people on the streets when I asked Elder Shelton, "Should we look up that weak potential we found?" And as a typical Elder Shelton response, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Why not?" So, we mounted up, all three of us on our silver steeds, and went to the previously mentioned door. And yes, she was home and invited us in! One of the blessings of being in a three-man is you never have to worry about the "three-man rule," because you do have a third man! We entered cautiously into the dark, bare apartment. She told us to sit, and we started talking. To our surprise she was very open, had incredibly accurate ideas about faith despite being from a Muslim background, and had an amazing ability to discern "wordly things from important things" in life. We taught her the first lesson and all had a prayer in our hearts that she was feeling something, and we testified of gospel truth. She listened intently and was very excited about the Book of Mormon. Who would have known! Little miracles like that remind me of the power of the gospel and heart-piercing truth that enters into the sincere heart. One thing I have come to treasure on my mission is the rush of excitement I feel after teaching a powerful lesson, and after that lesson we biked home for a late 3 p.m. lunch, all smiles. 

Friday I got to enjoy an exchange with Elder Fredrico who joined the three-man with Elder Shelton and I for a day. Elder Fredrico is from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and we spent the afternoon doing what he calls "Portuguese finding." Portuguese finding involves walking around apartment complexes, looking at all the names listed we can bell up, and trying the ones that could possibly be a Spanish or Portuguese person. The conversation would go as follows: "Good afternoon, m ‘am, we are missionaries from the Mormon church and we are just talking with people today about faith. I saw your name and wanted to ask you if you speak Portuguese. Yes? Okay, Could I speak Portuguese with you?!" The rest is history and either involves a conversation about how sad Dutch weather is, religion, or that they don't really want to talk. But it was entertaining, I enjoyed it.

Love you guys a lot, thanks for all the support, and don't forget: I love receiving personal emails, so don't be shy!

   

Elder Eli Andrew

Eli Mail 8/31/15 (Spijkenisse, Netherlands) Letter 53

Hey, everyone! Here in little, old Spijkenisse we have reached the wonderful beginning and end of another week! Among notable events of the week, the greatest is our leap in transportation. We have graduated from foot travel to now somewhat decent bike travel, although we will be scrubbing our bikes with tooth brushes and Coca-Cola soon, which cleans a chain incredibly well. And for whatever reason, when you go a little while not biking, it always takes a little while getting your muscles all back into the biking groove. So, that's my analysis for y'all; we are still truckin' along.

We have had some great success this past week, including getting in contact with our baptismal date, Drusella. We have had a regular teaching schedule with her, lessons twice a week, and she has been attending church every week, but out of the blue she just disappeared. We received no answer to our phone calls. She missed church a few times, and when we would drop by there was no response to our knocks. Now, if I had to describe Drusella to my audience, that is not at all the sort of vibe you would get from her. She has an incredibly strong faith, always keeps every commitment we give her, and even cooks us a delicious Curaso rice meal we sometimes take home. But for whatever reason, we were just completely in the dark. Now me, being the worry wart that I am, didn't start panicking, but I was getting pretty uneasy by the lack of any sort of contact from her. But during our emailing last week I heard the phone ring in my pocket, and low and behold it was Drusella calling! It was an awesome miracle having her contact us and solidifying the next lesson. At church this week she leaned over and whispered to me, "Are you people getting the baptismal things ready, because it's almost September already." That one made me smile. In conclusion, our islander friend is still steady as a rock.

Wednesday we had the opportunity to have a member of the Quorum of the Seventy visit us, Elder Timothy J. Dikes. It was a great conference. At the beginning he asked for a raise of hands to see how many of the missionaries were “greenies,” and over half the chapel full of missionaries raised their hands. I don't know anyone here anymore! But his message was very much focused on overcoming fears and doing the work – a great message and great encouragement to keep working hard. He told a story when he served in Germany on his mission, about difficulties he faced, and I think it connected and was exactly what our missionary force needs at this point. Although it was not quite the message catered to me, it still applies.

Lots of good things happen daily here, one of them being the wonderful power of the Atonement. It is so cool to be able to see and become change and to watch as it transforms other people. I love how our message is centered on Christ and the simple but endearing fact that we do have second chances, and that no mistake has to be an end. We had a special dinner appointment with a young, recent convert family that lives close by. I loved hearing their story, beginning when they watched the Youtube channel "Shaytards," ordering a Book of Mormon, and getting two teenagers at the door. I also love the gospel principle that you can start from any sort background, like this family, who grew up with nothing but have now found so much more hope and happiness in their lives. I would encourage everyone to renew that feeling of happiness you enjoy from the gospel, because we all have a right to be happy in this life.

Here is a great video you may or may not have seen, and it is a great even after the hundredth view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S3TI4bYerU

Love you guys,

Elder Eli Andrew

These little kids are crazy about us; they call us "Eldertjes."

We watched the lady make this LEKKER, a little dough patty that she rolled out, pressed in a waffle iron then cut in half and then filled with sweet hot syrup in the middle. (Those are probably the wrong order of events, but it was cool! I had never seen one made by hand before!)

The band back together, for the first time in a year.

Eli Mail 8/24/15 (Spijkenisse, Netherlands) Letter 52

Well this has been your typical crazy transfer week in the Belgium/Netherlands mission! What can I say? Getting new companions, lots of traveling, figuring out new schedules, and finally settling in. This transfer day broke a new record for me. I wasn't home until 10:15 p.m.! This week was very successful and fun, especially with two new companions.

Early this week it was the bittersweet last couple of days for Elder Drinkwater. We visited a number of members and said good-bye, and I was just so impressed by how sorrowful he was leaving his first city. For clarification, it is sad having to leave, but his pure love for the members here in Spijkenisse was very special to see. Makes me want to love the people around me even more. Tuesday evening came and went, and as we arrived home we realized we had forgotten to visit the cool part-member family that we work with, Frank den B and Zr. V. Frank is just a normal guy, born here in the Netherlands and super receptive to spiritual things despite not being a member. He's a quieter type, but very personable and funny. Zr. V is a member from Costa Rice and was found a long time ago by knocking on her door. She always jokes, because wherever she goes the Church usually follows one way or another. Late that evening Elder Drinkwater called them and told them he would be leaving the next morning. To my surprise, they promptly replied, “we´re coming,” and they showed up at our door to wish Elder Drinkwater good bye. We had a nice conversation, and it was a nice surprise for Drinkwater´s last day.

I arrived in Rotterdam Centraal at 10 a.m. and started the long wait for my two new companions, Elder Henrichson and Elder Shelton. Elder Shelton was training, so I knew it would take a little while before they would actually leave Leiden because of legality stuff with the 25 new missionaries. So, I spent the whole morning/afternoon sitting on a bench and helping missionaries with their luggage occasionally. A wrench was thrown in the day when someone jumped in front a train between Rotterdam Centraal and Den Haag, so all trains were at a still stand for over an hour trying to get things back in order. It is of course a very sad thing to hear, but it was very eventful because it just made things even more exciting and crazy trying to get people to their new cities and so forth. But eventually, after an evening with the Schiedam Elders because the wait was so long, my new companions arrived around 9 p.m.! So, there you have it: my craziest transfer day yet.

The rest of the week was pretty normal. It has been really fun doing “firsts” with Elder Henrichson. For example: his first street contact, first door, first dinner appointment … the list could go on. We have been doing a lot of walking, because we don´t all have functioning bikes yet. So, I have really enjoyed swarming people on the streets in our, as Elder Shelton calls it, “tripanionship of destiny.” I am excited for this transfer. We work pretty well together and talk about all sorts of interesting world events.

At our routine dinner appointment on Thursday with the Pieplenbosch family I shared a Spiritual message that turned out to be very spiritual and applicable to them. In my studies I am busy reading the Book of Mormon now, in Dutch. It´s so awesome reading it in a different language. Different scriptures stick out for me when reading it in Dutch. But I shared with them the first two verses of 2 Nephi chapter 2. In these verses Lehi is addressing his son Jacob who was born in the wilderness. What was very cool is in verse 2, which paraphrased Lehi addressing his son, by saying that despite being born into such harsh conditions, having such a rough life, it will be for your well being and will strengthen your relationship with God. After talking and explaining the two verses we opened it for a discussion.  We asked for similar experiences where, despite hard conditions or because of difficult circumstances, they were able to draw closer to the Lord. And one of the family members said something that I have been thinking about a lot this week. He said, as translated, “We should be creators of our own circumstances, not creations of our circumstances.” So, my hope for everyone this week is that we can be agents and be 100% responsible for the results we get in life and, through that, draw closer to the Lord. It can be very tempting to push the blame on someone else, blaming our outside circumstances, looking outward when we should really be looking inward. I love this principle. It is scattered throughout 2 Nephi 2 –  being our own agents instead of being objects or "creations of our own circumstances." That's one of the great blessings of the gospel: we not only become fully responsible for our own actions but we have the difficult but incredibly rewarding responsibility to do the will of Christ also.

You are all in my thoughts and prayers daily.

Elder Eli Andrew

Eli Mail 8/17/15 (Spijkenisse, Netherlands) Letter 51

Hey everyone! Elder Drinkwater and I just completed one of my craziest weeks yet on my mission with all the stuff we had going on. Everything held out for us and planned lessons went pretty smoothly and according to plan. So, that was a really cool blessing.

On Tuesday I got to go on a long awaited exchange with Elder Shaw, an Elder from my MTC group. It was really fun to be reunited and have a day to work together. We taught a few lessons that day, including one to an old lady Dutch lady that somehow let us in on a bell-up a few weeks back. She has actually read from the Book of Mormon and just loves the paintings in the inside cover. We had a very funny moment in the lesson when we were going over the testimony of Joseph Smith. She turned to pictures in the front and pointed her finger at the painting of Joseph Smith. She then proceeded to tell us how handsome she thought he was, and Elder Shaw and just exchanged glances, not really sure what to say. She then looked up at both of us and said, "Well, I can say that, I am an lady, but you guys can't because your boys." The simplicity of her statement was quite hilarious, and I couldn't argue with that.

This whole week we have had a huge focus on E, whose baptismal date was for yesterday. His story is pretty incredible, too, and I have a bit of personal tie into it also. For readers while I was in Zaandam, you may remember me talking about P and J. Long story short, we helped P receive the Priesthood, which he used to baptize his wife J. And this reactivation of P and the eventual baptism of his brother S got their father and mother coming to church again. And during this process, P (senior) starting talking about the church with one of his co-workers. That got his friend interested, who we have now been teaching for the last couple of months. So, it's incredible to have seen the chain of events because of a simple, single act, a missionary doing a less-active look-up. So, yeah, teaching E has been a real treat. He has lived his whole life up until now as anti-religious – completely against it. But as time went on, talking about it with his co-worker Mormon friend, his heart was softened, and his interest became peaked. He ordered a Book of Mormon online and the missionaries followed up. Since then, he has been actively seeking and feeling the promptings of the Spirit in his life. His change has been indescribably remarkable, and having a front row seat at the greatest miracle of all, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, has also changed me. During one of our last lessons before the baptism he said in his prayer he was thankful that although he has gone about his whole life with "his eyes closed" he was thankful now for the insight and enlightenment and real happiness he has begun to feel. His sincerity and desire are really what the scriptures describe as the "penitent of heart." He had a hard time getting off smoking, and he is surrounded in a work environment where everyone smokes and drinks coffee constantly, but he is becoming a shining light to everyone around him. He is a real example to me, and I am so blessed to have been able to take part of such a cool experience. His baptism was so cool; the whole ward basically hugged him afterwards.

There is so much more to tell about but so little time. I suppose you will all just have to read it in my journal after my mission or something. In closing, transfer calls rolled around again. Elder Drinkwater will now have a fun ride down to my “greenie” city, Genk, and I will be now put in a trio here in Spijkenisse with Elder Shelton and a greenie. It will be interesting for sure; knocking doors and talking to people with three will definitely overwhelm Dutch people, so I am pumped for that. Our apartment is pretty tiny, too, so accommodating will be a unique challenge. But, I have no other feeling than enthusiasm.

The work is rolling on, love and miss you guys a lot.

Elder Eli Andrew

Eli Mail 8/10/15 (Spijkenisse, Netherlands) Letter 50

Hey, everyone! So much has happened these past couple weeks I am not sure where I want to start! And the fact that it is August already? Nuts. But things are humming right along for us here in the little dream city of Spjikenisse, and Elder Drinkwater and I are rocking it.

To start, I would like to talk about Spijkenisse in general. I like comparing it to a doll house. Everything is just "cutely" close together, and there are lots of "dolls" just wandering around the doll houses, minding their own business. Most church members live in a biking radius of 10 minutes; it's ridiculous! Not to mention we have our own stand-alone church building, which is quite impressive for a city like this. Size means nothing though. I have served in pretty small cities my whole mission – it's my specialty. These past two weeks have been pretty busy, with a number of people cycling through our teaching pool and lots of member visits, including two really cool people we have with baptismal dates! (Very exciting!)

This past Thursday we had a very interesting morning. A week or so prior to Thursday Elder Drinkwater and I went to a place called "Nieuw-Beijerland" to do some proselytizing. It is a little town located on the edge of my street maps, and we were hungry to do some exploring. We mounted our bikes and left Spijkenisse into the open, flat fields of the Netherlands. Upon our approach to the town I noticed a fairly large river that split the land in two, making this town more exclusive. But to my surprise there was no bridge across the river! Instead, there was a large ferry that floated about 20 meters from one side of the river to the other, carrying cars and bikers across one trip at a time. I was a little stunned, but we patiently waited for the ferry to make its way back over to us, and we boarded. As soon as we got on, a toll lady came up and asked us each for 80 cents. I was baffled! I had to pay for the trip, too? Just to get across the river? Long story short, the town residents want to keep themselves separate from Spijkenisse, so they refuse to have a bridge build. Apparently it keeps crime rates low, too. Weird. We finally crossed and took a look around the town, talking to people the whole way along. At one point I stopped a larger, bearded man with a death metal t-shirt on before he took his cart in to go shopping. Upon further inspection, this man was actually quite open and had even received lessons from the J-dubs in the past. He said that he investigates everything, and with that we happily testified and introduced the Book of Mormon to him. After a half-hour conversation he gladly shared his address and phone number, although he stated he rarely picks up because he never hears phone calls or his door bell ringing. We shook hands and parted ways. One morning last week at around 10:30am during studies I felt like calling him. We had had his number for a while but still hadn't given him a try, and I wasn't all too eager to cross a ferry anyway. But I acted on it and dialed his number, and to my surprise he answered! He was still very positive, and we made an appointment for this past Thursday. We proceeded to teach him a few points of the Restoration that morning, and we got into the "nitty gritty" things about what faith is, how do we grow it, and why do we need it. He is your typical 30-year-old-geek-living-alone-and-loving-it type guy, but he loves listening. And although he is very scientific and a brainiac, he wanted to have the faith and belief he saw in us, and that was cool. He also has three albino, female pet rats, with long nasty tails and red eyes. Elder Drinkwater kept exclaiming, "So cute!" in Dutch while I just shivered and folded my arms, making sure they didn't touch me.

This past week I also had a great exchange with Elder Childs. It's fun being in Rotterdam, and the zone leaders apartment has a fantastic view of Rotterdam and the famous Rotterdam bridge (look up a picture, it's cool!). And ironically enough, the apartment is also a five-minute walk away from an enormous Muslim mosque. But Elder Childs and I had a great time walking around together proselytizing and finishing off the night by surveying the city and its people with binoculars from the fifth story apartment. Quite entertaining.

Rotterdam Bridge (from the internet)

The work is going great here in Spijkenisse. We are teaching this awesome member referral named Edwin. I forget if I have mentioned him before, but he is your typical, middle aged Dutchman with a very sensitive spot for the gospel. He is crazy about Elvis, too, and the walls of his house are just covered in Elvis memorabilia. His baptismal date is this Sunday, so hopefully we can get things in order for him, finishing off the last few lessons and so forth. He is such a cool miracle, and more will be on him in the coming weeks.

The summer is rolling on here in the Netherlands, and I am learning a lot out here and really enjoying stretching myself physically, mentally, and spiritually. I love you guys and enjoy reading your personal letters.

Love,

Elder Eli Andrew

Beware Netherlands cliché.

With Kenny at his baptism. Eli returned to Deventer for it and was a speaker.

Flaunting a lekker Belgium waffle.

Apeldoorn

Eli Mail 7/27/15 (Spijkenisse, Netherlands) Letter 49

Hey everyone! We now come to the conclusion of week two here in Spijkenisse. A lot happened this week, including very "wisselend" weather again, ranging from the mild "partly cloudy with occasional sun" to "is it really raining again?" weather patterns. It is quite funny; the Dutch people are never used to the weather and always love sharing their opinion about it. I like it, on the contrary, but like the Dutch I also seem to have a comment always at the ready.

On P-day, after the normal weekly, chores we took the metro and played soccer with our zone. The field is located near the church building in Rotterdam North, and because it is in the middle of the city it has a tall metal fence all the way around it with netting above, so that it is impossible to lose the ball. We had a number of 10-year-old kids play with us, who were really good (as European children are), and we just enjoyed a few hours of solid soccer with a light mist that cooled us off. Some of the Sisters in our zone played college soccer, so it was pretty dang intense.

Afterwards – exhausted, winded, and hungry – we all treated ourselves to a "kapsolon." Located on almost every street corner in the Netherlands you can find  "doner shops," which are basically a little stands where Turkish people who speak broken Dutch slice and sell meat off of a open rotisserie. In short, a kapsolon is basically a box of hot doner meat heaped upon an assortment of fresh veggies and topped with a number of spicy sauces. The meal doesn't feel too rewarding after a few hours of digestion, and you will usually have the after effects, which I call, "doner regret" or "doner burps," etc. But initial consumption is overwhelmingly tasty, and the aroma of a steamy box of goodness will overpower your senses. Well played, Turkish immigrants.

As for the work, we had a lot of great progress this week, including the mind bogglingly number of six investigators in church! It was incredible! I have also seen a lot of progress in a single woman we are teaching named Drucella. She has grandchildren back in the island nations of Aruba and other lands I don't know how to spell, and she is simply an honest seeker of truth. We teach her twice a week, Tuesdays and Saturdays, and her steady progress in the gospel really inspires me. As we have focused this transfer on Chapter 11 of Preach My Gospel, I have learned a lot about the importance of helping people keep and make commitments. And I have had the great opportunity to really apply that principle to Drucella. She always reads and is willing to pray and makes the time to go to church, which has lead to just her overall increase of happiness in her life. I have noticed her smiling more and just how much more joyful it is to be around the past few weeks, all because of her ability to follow through with things. I believe Satan tempts and leads us astray in more ways than we actually think, with feelings of laziness, boredom, or just lack of desire being his powerful tools. But as individuals with our own personal ability to choose, I have seen the rich blessings of overcoming the ease of laziness and just falling into bad habits or routines, and it has blessed my life as a missionary.

So, my prayer for all of us this week is that we can all find something to overcome. Something to personally work on. Because when we do we feel that refining power that the Savior can give us, and we feel those joyous feelings of the gospel described in 1 Nephi chapter 8 about the "tree of life."

Love,

Elder Eli Andrew