God loves us

 Nikki's email from March 9th!

"Sister Young and I!"

"belgium! we take trams pretty much everywhere and also walk a lot"

"the church building here!"

"it's just about spring!"

"a church in Antwerpen"

"Antwerpen Central Station"

"transfers!"

"The elders in this picture are Elder Carter and Elder Ames--they were in Zoetermeer with us. Elder Carter just went home this past week."

"At the station in Zoetermeer"

"all my stuff (minus my bike--it was just outside the station)

"my birthday from Zoetermeer!"

"the cake Mos made for my birthday!"

"Mos put up decorations :)"

"the elders and Wouter"

"A pretty church is Den Haag (close to where we had lunch after district meeting)"

Hallo from Belgium!

This week was a great week. I really miss the people in Zoetermeer--Zuster Faa, the members, our investigators--everyone. But I know that the Lord is taking care of them.

Monday night we had family home evening with Familie Rahman van Eeden and it was so fun--one of the little boys made a pictionary game for us to play. They're a great family--the mother, Misha, is the woman who knows Elizabeth Cheney.

We made a lot of calls to let people know I was being transferred (a lot of people asked us to), and it was hard but I really felt loved and happy about the relationships that I've been able to make is Zoetermeer. A lot of people wanted to meet with us before transfers, so we did our best but weren't able to have lessons with everyone. Sister Uljee had us over on Monday--she is so wonderful. 

Tuesday was great! We had a great district meeting then went to lunch with the whole district (a tradition for the last district meeting in the transfer). We met with Angela and she is doing really well--she really wants to know the truth. We also met with Jimmy and Jetti--they will hopefully start coming to church. Mos had us over for dinner and cake (he makes amazing chocolate cake). The Elders, Wouter and another member (Gunter) were there as well. Then we had a lesson with Lucie and her family, which was so good. After that we went to Rens and Veronica's for a quick goodbye and birthday cake (also delcious).

Wednesday was a bit crazy--it was pretty sad to say goodbye to Zuster Faa and everyone else--after lots of traveling, our group of missionaries got to Belgium! It's insane to travel with so much luggage and a bike on trains with other missioanries with all of their stuff as well. But we survived!! The handle pully thing on one of my suitcases broke off... My companion bought me a waffle right after we got in (she said I have to start off with just a plain one and then build up slowly). It was delicious!

The people here are wonderful and we're seeing lots of miracles. We met with a recent member, Agnes, who is from Africa. She has a beautiful testimony and was very kind. Cynthia is a new investigator, and when we met with her she was pretty down--she is in a hard situation right now, but we were able to help bring her comfort through our love and the gospel. She has a sweet eight year old girl who has special needs--she is a sweet girl.

We looked up a referral named Nathalie on Saturday night--it was such a cool experience. She is so open and prepared, and she loves talking about the gospel. She is an amazing mother and wants the best for her family.

Yesterday was a great day--lots of introductions--the members here are awesome. A woman walked in right before sacrament meeting and sat by us, and we found out after sacrament meeting that she has been investigating the church (while she lived in America and Japan) and just moved here last week. She found the church herself and wants to meet with us--her name is Anne and she is so awesome! We had dinner at Familie Shiltz--they have all 6 of us (the zone leaders, two elders and us) over for dinner every Sunday night--so fun.

I love it here in Belgium--it's always hard to transition, and it was especially hard after being in Zoetermeer for so long, but Heavenly Father is helping me every step of the way. He loves us, He's with us, He knows us.

Thank you all so much for your love and support--love you all!

Zuster thomas

Be Not Afraid, Only Believe

Nikki's email from March 2nd, sorry it's so late!

"Lucie and her family! (Rudd, her husband, Thomas, and Rosana)

"Darma (Rens and Victoria's daughter) on the left and Flora"

"Zuster Uljee and Zuster Rol"

"The Panhuyzens! They are hilarious"

"Irek came to church! I called him and told him I would probably be transferred, so he said "Even if I break my leg I will come to church"...and then he put his hand on my shoulder...we had to tell him it was against the rules."

"Peter! He is a recently baptized member--the Elders taught him"

"Elfride and her kids--we had a great lesson with them too! Samantha is actually paying attention now and Elfride comes to church regularly--I'll really miss them!

"Irene! We had a really good lesson with her this past week too. She's wonderful."

"apple pie!"

"This means wet in dutch, but I thought it was funny and it reminded me of Nat"

"Marleny, Rumi and Aysana"

"beautiful day!"

"Jimmy and Jetty!"

"Marleney again"

"Rens, Veronica, and Darma!"

"Wouter and Suzanna1"

Well, I am going to Antwerpen, Beligum as a Sister Training Leader (I will be over the sisters in the Antwerpen Zone, going on a lot of exchanges, doing trainings and going to a lot of meetings...it'll be great!). I will be companions with Zuster Young, who came here at the same time as Zuster Faasavalu--they are actually really good friends from the MTC. I am excited to serve and love the people in Belgium! I will be sad to leave these people though, but the Lord is really helping me feel ok with leaving Zoetermeer.

This past week has been so great--everything that happened really helped me feel at peace when I found out about transfers. We had a great lessons with Wouter this past week about obedience--he is just amazing, I am so grateful to know him. We had a special moment when we talked about it possibly being my last time at his house. I told him how grateful I am to know him and to have been able to see him change. Suzanna--who has helped SO much by coming on joint teach and befriending Wouter. She has come with us to Wouter's since Zuster Westland was my companion. Anyways, it was a very special lesson, and we all were pretty emotional. Wouter said ''I will miss my favorite cow!'' Hopefully I can get permission to email him. I have a lot of email addresses from people here, so it'll be nice to be able to keep in contact with people from here.

Jimmy and Jetty made us Roti this past week and it was delicious--they are so great, we had a good talk with them about their religious background--they are really funny, always making sure that we have enough food. Their son was there too and will hopefully come to church soon.

Zuster Uljee is so great, she came to church yesterday! She loves coming to church and the members here love her so much. We had a great lesson with her this past week about the Atonement and the joy that comes through the gospel.

Zuster Van der Scheer made us apple pie this past friday since we knew I was probably going to be leaving. She is so wonderful--I will miss her a lot.

We had a couple of great lessons with Marleny and Rumi (she is a less active and her son is an investigator) and we set a baptismal date with Rumi for 5 June. Marleny is wonderful, and Rumi has a really good heart. We found them a ride to church as well, so hopefully they will come this Sunday. Marleny has a little 4 year old girl named Aysana, and she is ADORABLE. I will miss them.

Lucie is wonderful--her and Rosana will be baptized in the near future--I will miss them so much!

I am so grateful for the people here and the experiences I have had in Zoetermeer. The people here will always be in my heart. Earlier this week I was pretty nervous and a little broken hearted about leaving Zoetermeer, but yesterday everything seemed to come together. I feel at peace with what I've done here, and I am grateful for that. The Lord has helped me to not be afraid, but believing.

I love you all! Thanks for all the birthday wishes and letters and presents!

Zuster Thomas

Also we had Zone Conference and watched meet the mormons! It was AMAZING!

It's all Him, not us

Nikki's email from this past week, February 23rd!

"While I was in Amsterdam I saw the Olympic stadium from 1928!"

"Angela!!"

"We saw an albino pigeon"

Hallo iedereen!

Well, this past week was great--still having pain and such, but we're doing our best and seeing miracles!

We had a great lesson with Angela this past week about faith. She always says that she wants to be totally sure about her decision before she is baptized--we talked with her about what faith is, and how much we need to rely on it. It was a beautiful lesson and we could really feel the Spirit there. I've been studying the New Testament since I got to the Netherlands, and it's really helped me in lessons like these to share stories about faith and healing.

We've really seen a lot of miracles while traveling to appointments. I LOVE talking with people on trams or while we're walking somewhere. We met this young man named Dylan the other day, and he was very open and wants to learn more--we've been meeting a lot of people that are very open, which is a miracle. We've also had a ton of opportunities to serve people while travelling, which has been wonderful. Also, we have a music concert on the 7th of March, and that has been a really great way to invite people to church. I think I will be transferred before the concert, but I will find out this Sunday. Anyways, people are great, and I love loving them.

On Thursday I went on exchanges and worked in Amsterdam with Zuster Adams (she was in my BYU ward)! It was so great--we had a great day of work and catching up. Things in Zoetermeer went really well that day--Lucie is doing really well, I am really anxious to meet with her again because I wasn't there for this past week's meeting.

We had a lesson with George this past week, and he pretty much said he wants to stick to his own church. We had a great discussion about faith and personal revelation. The Spirit was strong as we shared our testimonies with him. We told him about the music concert, and he said he probably wouldn't come. About twenty minutes after the lesson, he called and said ''Actually, could you give me the information for the concert?'' I know he felt the Spirit during that lesson.

On Friday we watched Finding Faith in Christ with Irene, and it was really cool. She has such beautiful faith, and when she said the prayer before we left, both me and Zuster Faasavalu could just feel her testimony. She is so wonderful and we're excited to meet with her again.

On Saturday, during lunch, Zuster Faasavalu and I had a really wonderful talk about Christ, His love for us, etc. The Spirit was really with us, and I said ''Ok, Zuster Faa. We have the spirit with us, and I feel like we need to look up this person.'' We went and she wasn't home, but I knew that we were supposed to be in that area. So we went around in the neighborhood and knocked doors for a little bit. The very last door we knocked was the person we were supposed to find. He has never been religious, but he has a desire to know. We're going back to meet with him this week. Also his mom is a witch. Fun twist.

Yesterday was great--we had dinner with Zuster Rol--she is an artist, and I was looking around her house and noticed a new painting. I complimented her on it and she was SO excited--and when I told her I paint too she was like a little girl who had just won a pony or something. She said ''Oh Zuster Thomas!!!'' and just gave me a hug. Her son came and brought a friend that isn't a member, and we taught him about the Restoration with the Elders--it was really cool!

Also, today on the way to church (we're here playing games with other missionaries in our district and a member who likes to hang out with the missionaries) we saw a pony. We see ponies and horses along the street near the church a lot, but THIS time I got a picture.

One thing I've really learned on my mission is that none of us can or should take any credit at all for what is accomplished on a mission. I really felt that for the first time with Wouter--I cannot take any credit for anything that has or will happened to him. That was all the Lord. Heavenly Father has simply blessed me with the opportunity to love, help, encourage and learn from him. I learned that again with Ashil, and with everyone that I've come to know here. There was a missionary I was talking with the other day that went on about how many things they had accomplished on their mission, and it drove me a little crazy. I just wanted to say (and I pretty much did, in a loving way) that this is all the Lord's work, we are just His tools, His hands. I love being able to feel and be guided by the Spirit. That is when I know that I am a true missionary and servant of the Lord--when I am lead by Him.

I love you all!

VEEL liefs,

Zuster Thomas

True believers offer sacrifices to the Lord

Nikki's email from February 16th!

"Delft!"

"Delft!"

"delft!"

"delft!"

"beautiful"

"De Zuster--we found this in Delft!"

"We also went to the tallest building in Den Haag for lunch with our district last p-day!"

"from the top!

Hey everybody!

This past week was wonderful--I just love these people so much, and every time I meet with anyone here, my love for them grows and I feel my gratitude increase for the opportunity I have to be a missionary here.

Last P-day, we went to Delft! It was fun to go back there again; it is a really pretty old city. We climbed up the tower in an old church (we did that last time too) and I got a couple of Delft blauw things (a teacup and a cute little windmill thing--I will probably send those home soon). We got Zuster Faa and Zuster Huber (the sister from Den Haag that was with us for a little bit) to eat harring--brought back some not so delicious memories.

We had a really wonderful lesson with Lucie this past week. It was just her and her daughter this time, so it was a lot easier to have a more focused lesson. We brought a glass jar, sugar, and three random objects. I told Rosanna, her daughter, to put the sugar in and then try to fit the three objects in--it didn't work. Then we took everything out, put the three objects in first, and then the sugar, and it all fit. We talked about putting the more important things first in our life--a.k.a. the gospel. They made their own goals on how they could put the gospel first in their life--the spirit was there in that lesson and we had a really great discussion on baptism as well. It's Lucie's birthday tomorrow! And Zuster Van der Scheer's!

Jimmy and Jetti had us over for dinner this past week and we had a great lesson with them afterwards. We talked about the Atonement--something I have been studying lately, and it was a really great discussion. Their son, Joey, has been listening more and more to our lessons, and he asks a lot of questions. In this past appointment, he even helped explain something to his dad. Hopefully they will get to church really soon--we've been working hard on getting them to come. They are so sweet--they always feed us--I feel like they're my Surinamese grandparents :)

We worked in Den Haag a little as well this week, since no Sister missionaries were there--I loved getting to know the investigators and members there a little better.

We had our first lesson with George! It was really great. He is so enthusiastic about life and faith--we're looking forward to our next lesson with him.

This past Saturday during our studies, I had the distinct impression to call Irene, and when I did, she told me that she was really ill. The Zone leaders were coming to work with us for a little bit that day, so we asked her if she wanted a blessing--she said yes, so we came over. We had a really wonderful spiritual experience with her. We talked about the priesthood, about healing and faith. The blessing the Elders gave her was really beautiful. She said that she felt better after the blessing as well.

The musical group of Elders were in Zoetermeer the past few days meeting with the members in our ward--and on Saturday we went with them to Zuster Uljee's. She looks so much happier and brighter--she told us that she was buoyed up after coming to church and that she will keep coming. It was a great appointment.

We went and worked at Wouter's again this past week! President even came. It was pretty fun--Dad would have loved it.

Now, about the title for the week. Like I said earlier, I have been studying the Atonement a little this past week, and in the Bible dictionary it talks about how true believers offered sacrifices to the Lord. As we sacrifice something we may want now for what God wants for us, we become true believers--we strengthen our faith in Him and receive blessings. And His plan for us is always better than our own.

I love all of you and I love being a missionary!

Liefs,
Zuster Thomas