Week 68: Trials of Faith

September 29, 2014

We were in Schiphol and took a picture by the "I Amsterdam" dingus

Geliefde Familie:

This week was tough, I'm not gonna lie. We saw a lot of miracles in the beginning of the week, but it just was rough. I got flipping sick again! I hate food poisoning! But, it was really cool because we've been learning about how we need to have improved studies and make really tailored lesson plans and once studies started, I was feeling fine. Then we had the lesson that we had planned for. It was so good! It didn't go exactly as planned because we planned on sharing a video that we couldn't get to work on her TV, but we talked about eternal families and being sealed. We asked if she believed she could be sealed to her family forever and she said, "I don't know, but I want that." So that was cool. The Spirit was strong. Then we started biking away and I got feeling so sick. Zr AA was raving the whole bike ride about how cool the lesson was and I was just praying that I wouldn't throw up. Then we got to our next lesson, and miraculously, she couldn't meet. WHAT?! It was okay though because we are getting another appt with her. It was positive. Then we went home and I was siiiiick, but I started feeling better so we could go to our next appt (this was a really busy day). So, basically, the rest of the day was kinda rough, but it worked out because I think we REALLY needed to be at that lesson with M. She's from Ghana and she told me that my Ghanian name would be Katherine Mame Adjoa Heilner. Do you think we can change that on my birth certificate?

My companion sang me Phantom of the Opera this week. All I Ask of You. I loved it. It made me miss Alyssa--she LOVES Phantom.

Zone training was great! I got to see the WML from Den Haag. He bore his testimony there. He's the most Christ like man I've ever met. He is the epitome of "turning outward."

My watch also broke this week. Ugh.

So we had a lesson with some really cool investigators on Friday night.  Anyway, we were teaching the plan of salvation and we were able to answer all of their questions. Long story short, the lesson was intense, but I liked it. It was challenging, but we had a comeback to every one of their issues. I thought we taught with clarity.  But I don’t think we are going to be able to continue to teach them.

After this very rough week, I started reading my patriarchal blessing and praying and then I was reading a talk from Pres Eyring called Trials of Faith. It's a devotional that he gave at Ricks College, and I can't find it right now, but it basically says that we need to be humble. It also says you'll understand that some of those days when you thought things were going badly were a great blessing. You might not have sought them, but if you react to such days by recognizing your dependence on God, you could actually be in a better situation that if things had gone extremely well. I really needed to hear that.

I miss you guys a lot. This is never easy, but it's okay because I didn't sign up for easy. And neither did any of you when you chose to come to earth. I love you all and I am thankful for the love and support.

Spence, CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOUUUUU!

IK HOU VAN JULLIE!

Liefs,

Zr Katherine Heilner

We were challenged to do a bunch of weird things together, one of them was take an upside-down picture