Nikki's email from today, February 9th!

"so beautiful!"

"baby cow!"

"cow!"

"these posters are all over the place--no clue what it is for, but i love Eliza, so here you go!"

Hallo iedereen!

This week was great. Not necessarily because I feel better (it's pretty much the same right now) or because I can bike (not quite yet) or anything like that, but because this past week I really felt myself become a better servant of the Lord, and He let me see the fruits of that this week as well.

By the way, we are a threesome at the moment--one of the sisters in Den Haag is not doing too well, so her companion is here with me and Sister Faa for a little! It's great!

I mentioned in previous emails how I feel 'rebooted' as a missionary--the time I had not being able to work gave me the chance to step back and really think and pray about the kind of missionary/person the Lord wants me to be/become. And being able to take the steps to become that person has been a really wonderful experience. I feel more sincere while talking with people and teaching them, I feel the Spirit more, I am able to understand people more and love them more as well. 

First of all, I just have to say that Zuster Uljee came to church yesterday!!!! For all three hours. The last time she came to the church building was for the opening day (about a year ago), but the last time she came to church for the sacrament/sunday school/etc was about 5 years ago. There is a new group of four elders in our mission that are traveling around the mission singing in wards/stakes. For a month they work in one stake area, singing in one ward from the stake each week, and then at the end of the month they will be holding a fireside. They sang in our ward yesterday, which was the perfect way to get Zuster Uljee to come. 

We had dinner with Zuster Uljee this past Thursday, and for the spiritual thought, I shared scriptures about our baptismal covenants, and we talked about the sacrament and why it's important. She said 'Well, I'll just say it girls--I know I need to just go to church.' She told us she just needed to find skirts. She asked us to sing for her, so we sang
Abide With Me Tis Even tide, and she teared up--the Spirit was so strong. We then invited her to come and hear the Elders sing, and she said ''Ók girls, we're on!'' 

One of the most powerful moments yesterday at church was sitting next to Zuster Uljee and partaking of the sacrament with her. The sacrament truly is so powerful and necessary, and I am so grateful for it. 

We had a great appointment with Angela this past week about temples. She is really excited to go into the temple one day. We talked with her about how she was feeling about baptism, and she said that the minute she feels ready to be baptized she will text/call us. She is so sweet and is just waiting to feel ready. We're trying to help her to realize how much we need to go off of faith and also how we can recognize answers.

Wouter is doing so great--we had a lesson about scripture study with him this past week, and we set up a personal study plan for him. He set an alarm on his phone everyday to read in the scriptures. He showed us three little calves, one of which is only a couple weeks old--I'll attach a picture of me with the youngest one. 

We also met with Marleny and Rumi this past week, and things are going well with them. It's been cool to see Marleny become more open as she's gotten to know me and my companions more. It's really been a blessing for me to be here for as long as I have, because being able to build real relationships with people makes all the difference. She told me that one or two times a week I can come by and she'll give me a massage to help my head feel better--when I first met her, she was pretty inconsistent and hard to get an appointment with--now she has opened her house to us whenever we need anything, and we're going to start teaching Rumi more frequently.

We taught a Hinu woman named Ilsa this past week for the first time. She's a spunky woman from Suriname, and we had our first lesson with her this past week. It went pretty well, she's very interesting and has had a very hard past. Hopefully we'll be able to meet with her this week.

Rukhsar Ehrari (Sister Ehrari) is doing so well! And Ashil is too. We challenged them to read every day in the Book of Mormon, and I sent them reminders every day--and they did it! Zuster Ehrari has been having a lot of stressful things happen with her job, and she said that reading in the scriptures and praying helped her feel more peaceful. And Ashil is really starting to take the gospel to heart more and trying to become a better person.

We met with Elfride and her kids this past week as well! They are so wonderful, and Elfride is such a wonderful mom. We talked with Samantha about how baptism cleanses us from sin. I told a story about when I got a really cool new white shirt that I loved, and one day I wore my new shirt and played outside, in the creek in our backyard. I got stuck and fell in the mud and got mud all over my new white shirt. But, because we washed it, it was white and clean again. I truly believe and know that through baptism we can be cleansed.

Irene is doing really well, we have become really close over the course of time I've been here. Mos (he comes on joint teach with us for Irene..he is hilarious and very kind and from Iran) invited us, the Elders, Irene and Wouter for dinner on Saturday, and we watched the 20 minute Restoration film with Irene. She showed me pictures and videos of her grandkids from her phone, and we had a really good chat about her beliefs and how she's doing. Mos is a really good cook, and usually he doesn't let me know about the secret ingredients his uses, but this time he let me see how he makes his famous chocolate cake. I'm going to have to try it out one of these days.

On Saturday, before our appointment with Ashil and his mom, we looked up a couple of less actives nearby, and I felt that we should knock a couple of other doors nearby one of the less actives' houses. Our second door, a middle aged man opened the door--it was my turn, so I talked with him about why we're here and talked with him about faith--he said he is very religious and quickly invited us in (since there are three of us we were allowed to go in! Hooray!) We had a great lesson with him about the Book of Mormon, faith, God, etc. He is really excited to read in the Book of Mormon and we have a lesson with him this week. I'm so excited about it!

This past week, I read in Acts 5

 1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife,sold a possession,

 2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it,and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

 3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart tolie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of theland?

 4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it wassold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceivedthis thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

This story made me ask myself if sometimes I keep something back from the Lord. Do I hold something back because I'm 'privy to it?' This past week I've really worked on giving everything to the Lord--to really focus on my relationship with Him. As I've done this, I've felt myself becoming a better missionary, servant of the Lord, and person. I still have so far to go, but this past week I've truly learned that when you strive to give Him all that you are and all that you have, He gives us so much more. 

I love you all!

Liefs,

Zuster Thomas

Also, to add to my general email:

Yesterday when I was in church, I realized how at home I feel with the people here. They feel like family. All of them. We all just have such love for eachother, and it's amazing. 

Our bishopric was changed yesterday as well--Broeder Nijenhuis, who was our ward mission leader (he was awesome at his calling) is the new bishop. He helped a ton when we were trying to get an appointment with the doctors here. He is going to be a great bishop.

We need to put away the sword

Nikki's email from last week, February 2nd!

"On the tram!"

"A pretty windmill by the Robinson's home"

Hey Everybody!

Guess what? I'm back in Zoetermeer! It's great to be back.

This past week with the Robinsons was really good though--I've learned a lot from them and we got to know each other really well. They are truly amazing. It was great to go to so many zone trainings and learn from the missionaries from different areas of the mission. I confused a lot of people though, being a sister missionary without a companion (well, Zuster Robinson was my companion). We went to Eindhoven last Sunday, where President and Sister Robinson both spoke--some of the members thought they had finally gotten sister missionaries, so I had to explain my situation to a lot of people--some people thought I was the Robinsons' daughter. We went to Zone trainings in Amsterdam, Den Haag (my zone--I got to see Zuster Faasavalu and Zuster Westland--my Dutch companion--came to the training! It was good to see all the missionaries from my zone), and Eindhoven. The trainings were all on Chapter 10 in Preach My Gospel, which is about teaching skills.

On Friday I came back to Zoetermeer--I'm only allowed to do half days right now, but we can push it out a little farther each day. I'm also not allowed to bike until my head pain is gone, and we're going to try to find a helmet today. It was great to see all of the members yesterday at church--I've really missed all of them. And we had a bunch of investigators come yesterday! Irek, Irene, Zuster Ehrari, Lucie and her daughter--it was wonderful. Wouter got a new suit and tie, and apparently last week he blessed the sacrament! The people here are so amazing--I love them so much.

On Friday/Saturday, we did a lot of contacting/look ups (look ups are when we look up former or potential investigators), and we found a couple of really great potentials. One woman, Ilsa, is a really fun woman from Suriname and she teaches zumba. She invited us to come to a lesson one day and she told us "there are a lot of cute young men there, so you should really come!" it was pretty funny...Anyways, we'll be meeting with her this week. We also met a nice man name Erwin on the tram--he was wearing a bunch of New York Yankee clothing, so we talked about baseball and such, and then we had a great chat about faith--we're really excited about him, we should be meeting with him this week too.

Also, we had a lesson with Medhi, the really cool man we met a couple Sundays ago--it was a great lesson--he is just looking for something in his life to help him feel less lost--it was a really great opportunity yesterday for us to testify to him of the healing power of the Atonement and of God's love for him.

So you're probably curious about the title for this week. Well, I was reading in John the other day about when Christ suffers in the Garden in Gethsemane and soon after, a group of people come to take Christ away. 

10 Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.
11 Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

Peter didn't fully understand all that was going on and the reasons therefore (sorry, I don't know how to properly say that in English)--he just knew that He loved Christ and didn't want these people to take Him away--he wanted to protect Him. But Jesus, knowing that all these things needed to happen, and knowing why they needed to happen, told peter to put up his sword and explained to Peter that this is what God has sent Him to do. He then heals the servant. I think we are all a lot like Peter sometimes, when we face a trial or difficult circumstance. We don't want the change, we don't want this hard thing to happen--but we don't see the reasons for that hard thing--we don't understand. But we need to put up our swords and trust that God knows what He is doing--that the lessons learned and strength received from that trial is worth all the pain and anguish we face in trials. 

I love you all, thank you for your prayers and support. I still have pain, but I'm just grateful I get to go out and work, and I am grateful for the miracles I've seen. I'm so grateful that even though I can't do as much as I normally could, the Lord is blessing us with opportunities to find and teach the people here.

Ik hou van jullie!

Zuster Thomas

"Your sorrow shall be turned into joy" John 16:20

Here it Nikki's letter from this week on January 26th!

"The hospital--yay! This is when I got the MRI"

"The mission home"

"mission home"

"Sofia!"

"At the hospital"

"At "mini holland"--we went there a little while ago--it's a really cool place with tiny replicas of places all over the Netherlands"

"my friends...."

"my friends...."

"real or fake?"

"still mini holland--fake"

"I felt like Will Ferrel in Elf...."

Hello! I'm alive!

Well, I am currently emailing off of Zuster Robinson's computer. After my MRI appointment on Wednesday, Zuster and President Robinson picked us up and took us to our apartment. When we were about to get out of the car, Zuster Robinson said "Pack your bags and I'll get both of you tomorrow morning--Zuster Thomas, you're going to stay with us at the mission home, and Zuster Faasavalu, you're going to Den Haag." We were a little surprised, but we packed up, and arranged things with the elders in Zoetermeer so that they would take care of our investigators while we were gone.

So, since Thursday, I've been here at the beautiful mission home. It's very peaceful and quiet, which has been really good for me. Zuster Faasavalu was told to take the phone, so I've had no updates or communications with our investigators of Zuster Faa--well at least until yesterday when she called to update me. She is doing a great job at taking care of things in Zoetermeer while still being in Den Haag. To be honest, after we hung up, I cried like a baby (I may have cried like a baby later on as well…). I miss the people there so much, and it literally aches to not be with them and not be doing missionary work. I am very blessed to be able to stay here with President and Zuster Robinson and get to know them better and learn from the Spirit that is so present here--but it has been hard--physically, emotionally, mentally, etc. 

Most of the day I spend trying to study, resting when I need to, helping Zuster Robinson or President with things they need help with (cooking, dishes, computer things, etc), Zuster Robinson and I have had some really nice chats and so have President and I. They are an amazing couple--I've really learned a lot from them. We went to Eindhoven yesterday for church because the Robinsons were invited to speak there. I think I confused a lot of people there--many people thought they had gotten sister missionaries--I had to do a lot of explaining. I felt a little bit like when I stayed with Erica and Andrew to help them move--I'm pretty sure everyone was confused when they saw two women, a man, and a little girl. But it was great to meet the people there.

Oh my gosh, I don't know why I didn't put this first. I had a really cool experience this past week! Friday night, the Robinsons invited a man named Diedrik over for dinner (he is on the board for the netherlands lds Facebook page). He brought his girlfriend, Sofia Sosa. We were chatting and I asked where she was from--she said Ecuador. I asked where in Ecuador--she said Quito. I asked if she knew Elder Thomas. Her eyes lit up, and she said yes! She didn't know Josh super well, but she said that her brother did--Andres Sosa (he was the 1st counselor in the Stake Presidency in Laga something..he was also a bishop at some point). It was such a cool experience--we talked all about Ecuador, Josh, Elder Hess (she knew him really well). Apparently her mother always invited the missionaries over. Sofia is amazing--she was inactive for a long time, and she was in the car accident where her father passed away. She said her brother was always trying to get her to come back to church, but once he became bishop, he just focused on loving her. Then he invited her to watch General Conference, where President Monson talked about losing his wife, and it hit her. She came back to church and came to the Netherlands to be an opair.  

Anyways, this week I'll be going to Zone Trainings with President and Zuster Robinson, and hopefully on Wednesday I can go back to Zoetermeer. Today we're going to the office and I'll help with what I can there. I still have a lot of pain, but I'm learning to work with it. Thank you all for your prayers, love and support--I love you all so much.

I've been able to study a lot (well…I'm not able to study as much as I used to yet, but you know what I mean) in the New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Preach My Gospel. I feel like this experience has helped me to deepen my understanding of my purpose as a missionary--I truly have learned so much. Something I learned just today was from John 16--I would encourage you all to read it. Christ is talking to His apostles about how He is going to leave them soon, and how the Holy Ghost will come to them. The chapter has taught me more about Christ and the Holy Ghost's characters as well as trials. In verse 20, it says:

20 "Verily, verily, I saw unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy."

The apostles didn't fully understand what was going on at the time--they were sad that Christ would be leaving them--when we face trials, we often feel sorrow, pain, despair, etc..and we don't fully understand what is going on (a big reason why we we feel sadness in my opinion). However, our sorrow will be turned into joy when we realize the blessings and purposes of the trial that we faced, just as the apostles did. When they saw the resurrected Savior, when they understood why He had to leave them. So as we face trials, we are to look for understanding, to look for the purposes and blessings that are attached to the trial. There is a lesson to be learned in each situation we are placed in. There are experiences we will have, people we will meet, and lessons we will learn--and these things are only possible for us to experience as we face trials.

Ik ben dankbaar voor de beproevingen in mijn leven. Ik heb veel van hen geleerd. De Heer kent mij persoonlijk, en ik ben zeer dankbaar daarvoor.

Liefs,

Zuster Thomas

I may never be fully satisfied with what I do, but I can be fully satisfied with what the Lord does through me

Nikki's email from today, January 19th!

"Pictures--it is so foggy this morning! We took some pictures--so beautiful"

Hey everybody!

So, transfer calls were last night and Zuster Faasavalu and I are both staying in Zoetermeer (hooray!).

And, for a health update...this past week turned out a little different than expected. Tuesday we got the ok to go to district meeting in Den Haag, and afterwards we had a really good lesson with Angela about Christ, His example, and baptism. She told me that I didn't look very good at all (I'm kind of tired of people telling me that) and that I needed to go and rest. I really wasn't feeling very good at all, so we called Sister Robinson and she sent the zone leaders to take us to the emergency room. They wouldn't see us though, because here in the Netherlands they will only take you in the ER if you just got hit by a car or are on your deathbed. So we talked with Sister Robinson and our ward mission leader and got an appointment with a doctor the next day--he sent me to a neurologist and I got a CT scan--everything there looked normal. I'll get an MRI and have an appointment with the neurologist. I'm getting better slowly but surely. I still have head pain and eye pain--anyways, thank you for the prayers!

So, we were allowed to do one thing a day last week, so we didn't get to do a ton, but what we were able to do was really great! We had some great appointments and I had one of the coolest contacts of my whole mission this past week. We were walking home from the tram stop and we stopped this Muslim man named Medhi. At first he wasn't very interested, but after talking with him a little bit more, he talked about how hard his life has been--I was about to bare testimony to him of our Savior's love for him, and that Christ knows him and his pains and experiences. He began to cry, and we gave him a Book of Mormon and our card. He gave us his information and we will be meeting with him later this week. it was a really powerful experience.

The members, as usual, have been so kind and good. Yesterday at church people kept coming up to us to make sure we're ok, that we have enough food, etc. And Wouter gave his first talk in Sacrament meeting yesterday!! It was so great--he told his story of how the sister missionaries found him and how he gained his testimony. So beautiful.

Sorry the subject title is so long this week, but it's one of the many lessons I've learned recently. In the very beginning of my mission especially, I struggled with feeling inadequate--I still do. While I was on bedrest, I had a lot of time to pray and to ponder about what I believe, about my mission so far, etc...and that thought came to mind. I don't think I will ever be fully satisfied with myself or what I do while I'm here on earth--there is always something to improve and some mistake that can be found, because I'm not perfect. But Christ is. And as His missionary, He can work through me, and I can be fully satisfied with what He is able to do through me. Even though I didn't teach Wouter perfectly, the Lord was able to touch his heart and bring Wouter closer to Him. That's how it is with all the people we work with. And it's true for all of you as well--He can work through you--we are His hands here.

Another thought I wanted to share quick is from the end of Luke 23 and the beginning of Luke 24. I've been studying Obedience this past week, and I've also been reading a little bit from the New Testament each day ever since I got to the Netherlands. The past couple of days my obedience studies and new testament studies have overlapped. At the very end of Luke 23, it talks about how the women came to the tomb where Christ was and prepared spices and ointments for him. Then, they kept His commandments by resting and keeping the sabbath day holy. Then, the next day, very early in the morning, they went right back to Him and used the spices and ointments they had prepared. To me, this shows how tightly connected obedience is with love. these women showed their utmost respect and love for Christ by preparing spices and ointments, but also by keeping His commandments. We can show our utmost respect and love for Him by obeying all of His commandments--no, we won't be perfect--but our effort to obey Him is a really beautiful way to show our love for Him. I don't know if that makes sense to you all, but it struck me.

Anyways, I love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers, support and love.

Liefs,

Zuster Thomas

The grass is green and the doors are purple

Nikki's email from today, January 12!

Hallo!

Well, I'm alive and I actually got to go outside today! To be honest it feels kind of strange, and I'm already pretty wiped out--but it's exciting! My concussion has turned out to be a lot more severe than we initially thought, but I'm getting better and we get to go out and work this week! I probably won't be able to do a full day's work right at first, but we'll do our best to do as much as we can. Zuster Faasavalu is an angel--she is so kind and caring, and the members and our investigators are amazing--I love them all so much. We've received so many phone calls and meals from people--including our investigators--and the elders in Zoetermeer helped us a lot--getting groceries, going to our lessons for us, etc.

Oh, funny story--apparently I freaked my companion out this past week when I would tell her the same stories over and over again--yay concussions---don't worry though, I don't do that anymore. We've had some funny moments together though--I mix up my words a lot and just say funny things sometimes and don't realize it until Zuster Faa points it out...we've gotten to know each other really well and tried to make the most of our time together. I've had to just lie down and rest a ton this week, but when I've been able to, we've had some great talks...I just love her a ton.

I forgot to tell you about last Sunday at church--we were only able to go to sacrament meeting, but before it started I was talking to Zuster Ehrari, and she told me that she had been up until 2 AM that morning, but that it was worth it to come to church. She said that before she started coming, she had a lot of hate in her heart--she looked at the world and saw hate, and she was very unhappy. When she came to church, she felt relaxed, and she said that as she has been coming to church each Sunday, she has felt more love in her heart and found more room in her heart to love others. She is so sweet and is hoping to be ready to be baptized in the near future. She is so kind--when she heard about my accident, she called and said "If you need anything at all, I'll do it, anything. I'm just like a friend for you, ok? So just let me know" So many others have said similar things--I love these people here so much, they fill my heart with so much joy and love.

The subject title is a quote from a couple weeks ago actually, but I wanted to share it. There was a day after my accident (before we got doctor's orders to stay in) when we were both feeling kinda down, so we decided we would make it a happy and good day and that we would pick out the good things--and when we went out the door to go out and work, I said "Look! The grass is green!" (it's crazy...it's January and the grass is super green!) and Zuster Faa said "And those doors are purple!"--for some reason that got our day started off on a really good note, it probably sounds kinda funny, but it really did, and we had a really happy and great day of work. We saw miracles that day--while we were biking we saw a less active that we had been trying to get ahold of--we set an appointment with her too! And we stopped by another less active that day and had a mini lesson with her. We had some other great lessons/contact with investigators/recent converts that day too. So anyways, Zuster Faa and I say "the grass is still green" and "the doors are still purple'' to eachother a lot to help lift eachother up and to help remind us to look for the good.

I am so grateful to be a missionary. Even though I haven't really been able to do missionary work these past couple of weeks, I still love these people and this work. I love the Lord and I love the opportunity I have to serve him here amongst all of these amazing people that I love so much.

Liefs,
Zuster Thomas

Pictures: (I need to catch up...)

There was a double rainbow on Christmas!

Our Church building! This was on Christmas--can you believe it?

It's about love

Nikki's email from January 5!

Hallo!

Well, this week has been an adventure--we had to stay in for a lot of the week because of my concussion, but we did get out to meet with some people--unfortunately it was still too much for me. We've kept President and Sister Robinson updated, and the doctor said that we need to treat it as a serious concussion and that I need to stay in until Sunday. It's hard and painful, but we're still seeing miracles. Even just this morning, as we were waiting for the tram and one of our investigators was there--we got to chat with her while we waited and on the tram.

Now onto the happy parts of the week--Ashil was baptized! He had a big smile on his face the whole time, especially when he was baptized. I asked him how he felt right after, and he thought for a minute, smiled and said "blij." I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and I didn't pass out, so that was good. He received the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday--so special. He has such a good heart.

Well, sorry that my week wasn't too exciting--this coming week will be full of my laying and trying to get un-concussed. The Sister missionaries in Den Haag are coming one day this week so that Sister Faa and one of them can go out and work and the other will stay with me. The members are taking good care of us.

One thing I learned this week is that it's really all about love. I love these people, I love this work and I love my Heavenly Father. Even though I have a lot of weaknesses an make a lot of mistakes--even though I'm imperfect, love makes it enough. Jesus Christ makes it all enough. And I am so grateful for that.

I love you all and pray for you every day. I'll do my best to heal quickly and take care of myself. I received a priesthood blessing last week, and in the blessing I was promised that Heavenly Father would take over until I could again be an instrument in His hands.

Liefs,

Zuster Thomas