Easter:) WEEK 95!

Lieve Familie,

             This last weekend has been the most humbling weekend yet in my life. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. It has the power to change ones heart and bring a never ending hope of joy in this life. I am thankful for the chance we have to develop and make choices on our own. To choose to follow the Gospel. To develop Christ-like love and charity. To choose to follow our Savior and His teachings. Grateful for the Book of Mormon and the difference that it has made in my life. I love the truths and undeniable power that comes with it. Happy and grateful for the Priesthood that gives us the privilege to take part of eternal salvation here on earth.  So grateful for modern day Prophets and Apostles who lead and guide us today. Most of all I am grateful for the Savior. 

There is a difference between “knowing that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world” and knowing that He is your personal Savior and Redeemer. I am finally starting to understand that essential gift in my life. That He is my Savior. That He did it for me.

It is becoming more personal every single day of my life. I invite all to change and to come unto Him. 

I am grateful for my mission. Without it, I would not yet know of these things. 

Elder Dale G. Renlund spoke to me yesterday with His powerful talk.

“T´was I, but T`is not I”

  & 

 “God cares more about who we are and what we are becoming than who we once were.”

 -Elder Dale G. Renlund

Love you all. Enjoy to the End.

Love,

   Big Dude

Trust: give it all to Him.. WEEK 94!

Lieve Familie,

           Before you read this email I want to invite you all to go watch the video called ``Because He Lives´´ on the LDS page. You will feel the spirit. 

   Thank you all for the emails, love, support, and care that you show unto me and that I feel from you each and every day. Despite the busy, crazy and-at some moments-stressful week, I have felt the love that Heavenly Father has for me on a daily basis. It has been humbling and so edifying to know and to feel loved. There truly is no other greater feeling that this life can offer. I am grateful to have the Gospel in my life.

  This week has been great. We had a great training and everything turned out to run smoothly. I am very grateful that Heavenly Father helped Elder Torniainen and me. Following the training we spent the rest of the week just getting rained on, biking in the cold, enjoying the mission life, and working hard with the missionaries in their own areas. We were also able to see some great success here in Rotterdam Zuid- we now have 3 baptismal dates and still re-activating some of our beloved friends. Witnessing people come unto Christ motivates me to do likewise- I have along way to go. Miracles happen everyday I was able to witness a lot this last week. 

  A dear friend of mine emailed me and brought something back to remembrance that I read just a couple of days ago with regards to “trust”-

“The Lord loves everyone, but He doesn’t trust everyone”

And also...

“It is a better compliment to be trusted then to be loved”

      I have been very engaged in learning what the Lord thinks about trust and how I can improve my trust in him. I tend to be weak in that aspect, but I am learning lots and striving to become better. General Conference is coming up and it is my plan to trust in all the words that will be spoken unto us. To apply them into my life and show the Lord that I trust in Him. It is also my plan to show the Lord that I am trustworthy and I will strive to do that in all aspects of my life. I desire to feel not only loved from Heavenly Father, but to feel that He can trust me no matter what the sacrifice may be. I believe that building our trust up in the Lord brings many blessing into our lives and I know that it brings more happiness and joy into our lives. “..Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.” (proverbs 16:21)

  He lives peeps and #becauseHElives we may all experience joy in this life and hope for an eternal joy in the life to come. Gospel is true. 

Miss you. Love you. Pray for you everyday. Be safe, have fun, and Enjoy to the End!

Love,

   Big Dude 

Work hard, play hard. WEEK 93!

Lieve Familie,

         Well my time this week is limited and my head is kind of all over the place so please forgive me if my email this week isn't as uplifting as others! 

Hurrr we gooo.

     Thank you all for reminding me of  "the countdown". It is slowly but surely starting to become a reality. Today in the car Elder Torniainen and I were looking at the calendars for the transfer and we figured out that I only have 9 more days of church here in Nederland (9 more Sundays). It freaked me out. Kind of took my breath away. But it’s okay!  I really miss you all and love you so so much.

        This week was just interesting..haha I can’t even put it into words! Not going to lie.. It was stressful at times. I feel like we are just constantly busy- whether it be the new calling in the ward, serving the missionaries in our zone, or working with our investigators and friends to bring them the Gospel- our schedule just always seems to be full. Sometimes it is hard to just keep your mind clear and not get stressed out. It can be very overwhelming. But I definitely try to see it more as a blessing and privilege, which it is, to be able to serve so many people. It is also a blessing to be with Torniainen- working with a friend makes things that much easier and more fun!  #countyourmanyblessings

This upcoming week should be just as crazy... 

       On Wednesday we have our big 4-hour training for the zone. We have been doing lots of planning for that and just getting things ready. With the new calling we get to work closely with the members of the ward and the bishopric. This week we have to start putting together a home teaching list with them to help the ward grow- should be fun! At the same time we are still doing our best to see and have success in our own area.  As you can see I’m not joking when I say it’s just been busy busy busy!

   Soo yeaa... life is a bit crazy right now, but it is also so so so enjoyable! My testimony is growing and I know that we are anxiously engaged in a good cause. My studies the past week have all been about showing the Lord your trust and the things I am learning from it have been blessing my everyday life. Trust is greater than faith. Trust is more than hope. Trust is knowing that everything will be okay no matter what because the Lord is in charge. Let us all continue to build our trust in the Lord and serve others while doing so! It brings so much joy into life. 

I love you all. Gospel is true. Heavenly Father loves us. Pray is so important. Enjoy to the End!

Love,

    Big Dude

Show the Lord that you trust Him..WEEK 92!!

Lieve Familie,

       Before I tell you all about this crazzy week, I want you all to know that my love for you is powerful. I am so thankful for the continuous support, love, and encouragement I receive weekly. I appreciate it a lot, more than you know. So thank you! 

               Where to even begin.. Well I got another new companion this weeek! SURPRISE. After some long hard working, and memorable days we got a call from President Thursday morning. He told us two things.. #1 To go buy McFlurrys and #2 that Elder Ames is getting emergency transferred to Eindhoven and that the transfer would take place the following day at our Mission Leader Council meeting at the mission home. So we spent that night packing him up and the next day after the meeting it was ``tot ziens´´ Elder Ames and hello to my new comp Elder Torniainen! Crazzy huh? But it’s been great. Elder Torniainen and I already knew each other because we have served around one another before so we are already great friends! He is from Finland and is truly a bro. Love him already! We should have a great time this transfer. 

               Now the reason for the transfer was because Elder Torniainen was going to get a calling in our ward. The stake presidency here had arranged for the whole thing. We just didn’t know what type of calling he would receive. So Sunday came around and he got called as the new Elders Quorum President and following that I was then called as his first counselor! So following church we had meetings with the Bishop and also members from the Stake to start working on things and figuring things out. Looks like we are just going to be super crazzzy busy and a little more stressed out for the next couple of weeks! Looking forward to it:)  

   With that being said.. The week was great. We taught lots of lessons and several times throughout the week I felt like an instrument in the hands of the Lord, whether it was giving blessings, serving others, teaching others, etc. It was a good spiritual week. 

  In a week or so we will be giving our big training for the transfer and the theme that we have chosen is this simple line: Show the Lord that you trust him. I believe that it is truly inspired because I have been applying it into every aspect in my life and I already feel much closer to Him than before. Putting our trust in the Lord is one thing, but truly showing him that we trust him is another. It involves action and doing. Sacrificing things such as; time, energy, strength, sleep, etc. to truly show him that you trust in Him and that his promises will one day be fulfilled. It is one thing to say that you trust in someone, but it means even more to truly show that someone, the trust you have in them.

 I know that as we work on showing the Lord that we trust in him through obeying the commandments and putting him as priority #1 in our daily (not just weekly or monthly) lives, we will be constantly blessed with loving peace, joyful comfort, and an unending hope with no disappointments. I hope that I will one day be able to say the same as Nephi once said -  

“O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh....” (2 Nephi 4:34)

But for now I echo his words of -

 “Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen.” (2 Nephi 4:35)

Fam and friends.. I love my mission. I love the gospel. And I love you! Have a great week. Be safe. Say your prayers. Work on your trust. And ENJOY to the END!

Love,

    Big Dude

Pics: Elder Ames and I (companions for one week)!

        Elder Torniainen and I (new comps)!

        The view from our apartment at night with the Erasmusbrug in Rotterdam!