28 April 2014

Week 46: Koningsdag and Country Line Dancing!

April 28, 2014

Geliefde Familie:

Cool old phone at a member's
(Theo, coolest Bulgarian ever) house
Well, this week was great. We are really seeing success, and I hope it continues. I've come to the conclusion that if you make up your mind to see success, you will. It's amazing that God has prepared people for us in every city. It doesn't matter where I serve, I am here because Heavenly Father saw something in me that would be able to touch somebody's life. I hope I find them. 

SPENCERRRRRR..........I dunno about you but I'm feeling 22. Everything will be all right if you keep me next to you. Love you so much and happy birthday. Make it fun. I can't wait to hang out with you.

Mom, thanks for the quotes from Boyd K Packer's talk. That's one of the few that I haven't gotten to see yet. I really just need to print it off at some point. Everybody says it's amazing.

This week was Koningsdag (King's Day), basically the Dutch Fourth of July, but without fireworks. There's just orange everywhere and it's really busy in the city center. We actually didn't see much of that though...so on this day they set up booths in the centrum and people sell their stuff for really cheap. So it was a mission-wide experiment that we'd do the same and give out copies of the Book of Mormon and other pamphlets. It was a great idea except that ours was set up like...really far away from the center of den Haag. So it wasn't really busy at all. Lucky for us, we were right next to a booth advertising country line dancing...I hope you hear the sarcasm in "lucky for us" haha. But it was cool because some of the members came and we got to go on splits with them. ThereĆ” a lady here that's basically equivalent to grandma in number of missions served, and I went door to door with her. She also gives us Dutch lessons every week (which some of us REALLY need..........UGH)

Lol,  Zr A line dancing

We have a few solid progressing investigators. I'll tell you about Glen first. He was heavily addicted to a lot of hard drugs, and he says that the same day the missionaries contacted him about 3 months ago, he had made plans to kill himself. He's SO positive that the book of Mormon is true. He invited his friend to a lesson and was an EXCELLENT joint teach. He testified that it was true. Every time we come over, he's like, "today was really bad, I just don't feel well right now “and then by the time we leave, he's stopped shaking or feeling bad. He even say, "I know it's because you bring something special to my house." He cooks for us too sometimes. He's from Surinam. He's just awesome. He really needs to stop smoking though. His Baptismal Date is for 24 May. Pray for him to stop smoking!

Ethlyn is next. She's so cool. She's been investigating for a long time, but she's really making progress. Have you seen the "Because of Him" Mormon message? We watched that on Easter, and she said she got her answer during the video. It's really good. YOU GUYS, share Mormon messages with your friends. They're so well done and they are a sure way to feel the Spirit. Especially the little short ones. They're great. Twitter, Facebook, just share them!

I got to go on an exchange with Zr K this week! She's a rock star missionary. She's having a little bit of trouble in her current area. I don't think she loves it. She's been there for three transfers, so I guess she's just a little tired of it. She and I had a lot of fun though. We laughed a lot about the MTC. Good times. She made me think about how I could handle Maastricht with so many challenges--it's because I loved it with my whole heart. I loved the people I didn't even know and I loved my investigators and the ward members. I had to really ask for that love though, which was something I'd forgotten. I was wondering why I wasn't completely in love with Den Haag yet, and I think it's because I need to ask for more love for the people here. 

I've been studying a lot about Gifts of the Spirit. I read my Patriarchal Blessing specifically looking for the Spiritual Gifts. It was cool. So I’ve been asking to somehow be able to develop my gifts. (I've also learned that we can ask what to pray for in our prayers...cool huh? I kind of like this whole share-what-you've-learned-with-your-parents thing).

Basically, companionships are inspired and I hope I serve with Zr A for a long time. And I've told that to President in a little "hint hint" so I hope it works!

Best companionship ever on Koningsdag



There's a new sister coming in this transfer, so our tripanionship should be split up...I hope it is. It's really fun, but so hard with so many people. It's like the mafia coming to someone's door. 

So the Zone Leaders have a car and we got stuck all the way in Rijswijk one night and were going to be SOOO late home, so we called them for a ride, and to say thank you, we made them sugar cookies...almost. We don't actually have an oven, so in our little toaster oven, they didn't exactly turn out. So we panicked. Then got a brilliant idea. Mash them up and mix them with Nutella. Then roll them into balls. Then put sprinkles on top and put them in a cupcake thing. We told them it was a Brazilian delicacy and they said they were delicious. WOO. Best language study 45 minutes ever. 

I really love you people. SKYPE. Can we do it at 2 pm my time? I think that's 6 am for you guys. I can't wait. ALSO I'M GOING TO THE TEMPLE TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!! And then Keukenhof, with all the pretty flowers. So excited. 

Thanks for the love, support, and feedback. It helps a lot. Plus, I'm working on humility, so this is excellent. 

IK HOU VAN JULLIE. Heel erg veel. 

Liefs,

Zr Heilner

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