That suit is for fat people!

Zone P-day

Zone P-day

The title of this email is just a quote from my Ward Mission Leader. He's crazy, and we love him :) 

So much has happened this week, I don't even know where to begin. I guess with Tuesday. We started teaching a family. They are cool (like everyone else we teach haha). We had set up this appointment with them (they were a Facebook campaign referral) to follow up on the DVD, but they forgot about it. They still let us in, and told us that they hadn't been able to watch it because of some problems with the DVD player. We fixed it for them, and then had an awesome short lesson about Jesus Christ. The husband has a lot of questions that all tie into the Plan of Salvation. We set up a return appointment for Thursday to teach them the first lesson, which went awesome! The only catch, they leave to go back to Luxemburg this week (they live in Vianden!*) Hopefully they will come back and we will be able to continue teaching them. If not, we will have to give their info to the missionaries there.

(*Vianden, Luxumberg is a place our family has visited many times. It is beautiful, and it has a restored medieval castle that we have toured many times! Elder Muller knows that is one of my (mom) favorite places!)

Wednesday we had a bunch of cool small miracles. We were looking up more Facebook referrals in dorps (villages) outside our main working area. One of the referrals had no house number, just a street name. That presents a problem. Normally when that happens we have to knock the entire street and hope that we find the person we are looking for. This time I felt prompted that we should walk down the street and just look for the name on one of the nameplates on the door (they do that here, next to the doorbell they put the family name. It can be really handy). We didn't see it, but right as we were walking past a door, it opened up and two women in a pretty deep conversation walked out. I didn't want to interrupt them, but I felt like I should ask them if they knew the person we were looking for. I started to ask a question, and one of the woman just put her hand up and said 'Nee, ik heb net mijn zus begraven, kom terug een andere keer' ("No, I have just buried my sister. Come back another time.") I kind of just kept going and was like 'eigenlijk wij zoeken naar deze familie. kent u toevallig dit gezin?' ("Actually, we are looking for the this family. Do you happen to know this family?") she was like, 'ja, dat ben ik hoor'. (Yes! That is me!) We were able to give her the DVD and bear our testimony to her. Pretty cool huh? We just happen to run into the very person we are looking for.

The second miracle was in a tiny dorp (village) called Spaarndam. Fun fact, that is where the legend of the boy with his thumb in the dijk (dike) comes from. We looked up the person we were trying to contact. They weren't home. So we knocked the small little street that she lived on (keep in mind that this dorp only has like 2 streets) and the first five doors get slammed in our face. Elder Leishman looks at me with that look that's like 'do we really need to knock this whole street? They all hate us'. We decide to keep going. Next door opens up. We give away a Book of Mormon. People are looking for the truth, even in Spaarndam. 

So real quick, cause I'm about out of time, Conference. I really enjoyed President Uchtdorf's talk in the Sunday morning session, also his talk in the Priesthood session. I noticed a lot of focus on family and marriage, I guess they are getting me ready for when I get home haha. Just kidding :) 

When Elder Ballard was talking about family councils, he mentioned roommate councils, well within three minutes, Elder Shaw and I were already discussing how we are going to conduct our apartment councils, we are going to be the best parents our roommates have ever had ;) Watch out everyone, the reign of Mr Wonky and Skinnky Britches will continue! 

Just some quotes from Conference that I really liked before I close:

'The greatest leader is also the greatest follower' 

'Pull out the weeds and water the flowers' 

'tasting vs partaking'

Love you guys! 


Elder M

A link to the city of Spaarndam and the boy and dike

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaarndam

This weekend was April General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. General Conference is held twice a year. In April and in October. For our family, they are the best two weekends of the year. We are able to listen to counsel from leaders of our Church. Conference actually begins the weekend before with the General Women's Broadcast. This year it was held on Saturday, March 26, 2016. On April 2nd and 3rd we had two days filled with wonderful messages of faith, hope and charity.  I would invite all of you to watch this Conference at the following link. You will be sure to be edified by the amazing talks of Jesus Christ and his restored gospel.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng

Here are direct links to the two talks Elder Muller is referring to:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/media/session_4_talk_12/4829486498001?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/media/session_3_talk_6/4828755086001?lang=eng

The boy with his thumb in the dike, Spaardam Nederland

Vrolijk Paasfeest! (Happy Easter!)

Elders Muller and Andrew at Zone Conference - From President Bunnell's mission blog.

Lunch at Zone Conference - picture from President Bunnell's mission blog

Elder Muller at Zone Conference - picture from President Bunnell's mission blog.

Zone Conference - Elder Muller is in the top right, back row, 5th in from the end! He is standing next to a senior missionary couple, and President and Sister Bunnell - This picture is taken from President Bunnell's mission blog

 

Zone Conference - Elder Muller is in the top back row, right hand side - in case you can't see him!! This picture is from President Bunnell's mission blog

Happy Easter, Everyone!

I know it's a day late, but thankfully here in the Netherlands, they have two of every holiday! 2e Kerst, 2e Pasen, 2e Pinksterdag. Why party only one day when you could party 2? :) (2nd Christmas, 2nd Easter, and 2nd Pentecost Day)

Well I don't know about the rest of you, but I had an awesome week. It was just really good. We had a lot of cool miracles, and unexpected teaching opportunities. That always makes a missionary happy :) 

So to start off, I had a great exchange with Elder Mostoller here in Haarlem. He's a newer guy, but he's off to a great start. He is a really good missionary. We had a dinner appointment with an 83 year woman, who (without us knowing) also invited her two less active daughters over. It was a great appointment ;)

Wednesday Elder Leishman and I looked up referrals the whole day. 

I think I mentioned it before, but our mission is doing a Facebook referral campaign with "The Lamb of God" movie. People order it (for free) and then we go visit them to follow up. Well we got about 20 of these referrals. On Wednesday, we biked out to a place called Zandvoort to look some of them up. We were able to set up an appointment for this week with one, and on the way to the other another referral... we found it....the hidden treasure of the Netherlands. Hills. Actual hills. :)

Friday was also pretty cool. We were looking up more referrals in IJmuiden (way north of Haarlem), and one of them, whom we had already tried a bunch of times to contact (this was do or die) was finally home, let us in, we taught a lesson and now we have a new investigator! Pretty cool! 

Last miracle of the week was yesterday, Sunday. There were a bunch of nonmembers in our Sacrament meeting. Most left right after the meeting was over, but a couple stayed. One girl, from the Philippines, had come with a friend. Her friend walked up to me after Sacrament, and was like "This is my friend. Teach her." So we did :) we had an awesome first lesson with her about the Restoration. It is so cool when stuff like that happens. 

Yesterday we also had the Easter concert. (Elder Muller performed with the Stake Choir in performing the Lamb of God. He also had a solo part!) I don't have much time, and I wish I could say more. I would like to share this song with all of you.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY9YSg__IvU

I want to testify to all of you that Jesus Christ is risen. He lives, and because He lives, we also may live, if we follow Him. I love my Savior, and I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had on my mission to grow closer to Him, and to help others do the same. It truly is a marvelous work and a wonder.  Although we may not know everything now, and perhaps our faith might be weak, I know that someday, sometime, we will understand. 

I love all of you, 

Remember Him.

Elder Muller

Here is a link to another song from The Lamb of God. You can find other links to more of the music. It is beautiful. This is what the choir performed for the Easter concert. The song in this link has the lyric in that Elder Muller referred to last week: (From the Apostle Peter) "If I would leave thee, where will I go?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtYcQmf4ffY&list=PLEVK55xNpj5SwS1CImoCdy0UpiBCPOqRs&index=6

Oh Oh Den Haag

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Dear Parents of the wonderful Belgium/ Netherlands Missionaries,

By now, you have surely heard about the explosions in the Brussels airport and metro.  All of our missionaries are safe.  Those that are serving in and near Brussels are being confined to their apartments, and all Belgian missionaries are being instructed to stay away from all public transportation and other forms of public gatherings.  We appreciate your prayers on behalf all of our missionaries.  We will keep you advised as new developments occur. 

Thank you,

President Bunnell

This was the email sent out by the Mission President

=================================

Monday, March 21, 2016

Hello everyone, 

I'm still here in the Netherlands. Surprise surprise. 

I had a really good/busy week. I don't have a whole lot of time, so here are the highlights.

Tuesday was pretty awesome. We had a lesson in IJmuiden, so we were working up there for a bit. We looked up a couple referrals/potentials we had, but nobody let us in. We had about 15 min before we needed to catch our bus, but we decided to go the extra mile and look up one more person before we went back to Haarlem. Well we passed the test, she was home, she let us in, we had a short lesson and set up a return appointment to teach the Restoration this Friday. :) 

A link to see IJmuiden, Nederland:

https://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Netherlands/Provincie_Noord_Holland/IJmuiden-460320/TravelGuide-IJmuiden.html

Thursday we had Zone Training. It was really quite good actually. We talked about Preach My Gospel,  Chapter 1, Our Purpose as Missionaries. It was a great pump up session. 

For those interested, this is what Elder Muller is referring to:

https://www.lds.org/manual/preach-my-gospel-a-guide-to-missionary-service/what-is-my-purpose-as-a-missionary?lang=eng

Friday we were on exchanges with the Zone Leaders in Den Haag. I was with Elder Clukey, and we had a really great day, two awesome lessons, and a lot of knocking.

Saturday we helped a family in our ward move.

Yesterday we had church of course, and then we went to Amsterdam to attend a baptismal service. First time in Amsterdam on the mission! Kind of weird ha ha. 

We also had choir practice for the Easter concert next week. Can I just say that music is incredible? Every time I listen to the music, or we practice I find a new line that just touches me. I love it. The line from this week is from Peter (the Apostle)... "If I would leave thee, where would I go?" Food for thought :)

Love you guys, sorry for the short email!

Elder Muller

Elder Muller sent the following silly video about Den Haag! He said we should enjoy it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptGJ8wzeGDE

No pictures this week:(

't is een beetje winderig toch?

Last District Meeting - lots of good-byes

Hallo schatjes!

I'm in Haarlem! My luggage is fine if any of you were wondering. (Elder Muller was pranked! A helpful member moved most of his luggage and bike for him the night before he transferred to Haarlem.  They took it by car from Delft to his new place in Haarlem. This made it easier for Elder Muller since he didn't have to drag it all by himself on the train. To make sure the Haarlem Elders did not go through it, this helpful member tied Elder Muller's luggage zippers together with wire, and then wrapped plastic wrap all around the luggage and the bike!)

This has been a really long/crazy/fast/good/emotional/sad/all the feels week. I was able to say goodbye to everyone in Den Haag, which was pretty hard, but thankfully I will see them all again. :)

Transfer day was the hardest. I went through Leiden (where the mission office is) so I was able to see almost everyone going home. A lot of really great friends. Elders Bishesar, Thom, Henderson, I love you guys. I will miss all of you a ton!

Sisters:

Doxey

Kimmons

Lemich

Maughan

Mashburn

Hansen

Fleming

Manning

Jensen

Johansson

Cowles

Twiggs

I LOVE ALL OF YOU GUYS SO MUCH! I am so grateful that I was able to serve these past 18 months with all of you. I have learned and grown from you so much this past year and a half. You really are the best sisters this mission has ever seen. I look up to you all so much. You really have no idea how much I'm going to miss each and every single one of you. You have changed so many lives here, you will never be forgotten. I could not have asked for better friends to come to this mission with. I can't wait to party with all of you in a couple months :)

The rest of the week we just were busy. We went non stop. It feels really good. :) This area has a lot of really good potential, so I'm excited to be able to work here.Something that I have been thinking about recently is Easter. It's coming up soon, and so I wanted to share with you some thoughts that I've had. 

First off, if you haven't seen the new Easter video, go watch it -> easter.mormon.org 

The words that I have written on the front of my planner this transfer are "Ours is the victory" 

In a world where calamity, doubt, fear, pain, persecution, and hopelessness reign, we can be the victors, through the Lord Jesus Christ. We are the victors. The battle is already won, He overcame all of these things through His atoning sacrifice. If we give ourselves over to Him, we become victors with Him. No one else can offer us that.

Acts 4:12
  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Romans 8:16-18
¹⁶ The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

¹⁷ And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

¹⁸ For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

As we do our best to follow the example of Jesus Christ by developing Christlike attributes, we become joint heirs with him. My invitation for you this week is to watch this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0YNVqEYlkU and think about one or two Christlike attributes that you can improve on this Easter season. We did this a couple transfers ago as a mission, and I know that it can work for you all as well. 

I love you guys. I hope you have a great week. Stay strong! 

Oh, the title is a quote from my new comp, Elder Leishman. We were walking down the street and he said that and I lost it. It means something in Dutch, but I'll let you figure it out. :) (Ok, so I'm 99.9% certain I know what this title means, but I really don't know if I want to translate it for the blog!!  You all just might have to let this one go....no pun intended!)

Elder Muller

More farewell pictures from Delft. Again, for privacy sake, I have not listed the names of people except for missionaries!

Last District Picture! I wish I could list all the names, but I don't know everyone! I will do my best. Starting with the Sisters - Jones, Maughan, ?? and Manning. I only recognize four Elders! Starting from Left to Right-Elders Foltz (peaking out from the back!) , Isaksen, Clukey and Muller! I'm sorry to those I cannot identify!! Elder Muller didn't include the names!!

More good-byes with Sisters Manning and Maughan who are going home.

Sister Maughan, Elders Clukey, Isaksen and Muller

Elder Muller's son, Elder Foltz

Mustache fun! Elder Foltz and Elder Muller

Mustaches are cool!

Having fun with last pictures as companions! 

Sisters Kimmons and Doxey saying good-bye!

Sisters Fleming and Manning saying good-bye

Good-byes with Sisters Jensen, Lemish and Mashburn. With Elder da Silva in the background! Elder Muller and Elder da Silva were in the MTC together! Elder da Silva is one of the new AP's! (Assistant to President Bunnell)

Sisters Twigg and Maughan

Elder Prosman and Elder Muller!