Belgium Netherlands Mission

Hoi! 
This week has been INSANE. I can't believe it's already Monday! One week ago we were getting on the bus to go to the airport and now I'm here in Nederland. Life is crazy. 
The flight was awesome and we talked to a lot of people. At the SLC airport we made sure to get our last Cafe Rio meal. I savored that burrito, I'm telling you.

When we arrived in Schiphol (the airport), we met our mission president and his wife, as well as the APs and office elders. We stayed in a hotel that was right by the airport, and it was super nice. The shower head was basically on the ceiling, and I'm sure that Caden and Boston would have appreciated it. Everyone is so tall here, so they make things to accommodate taller people. We had some good training and went to Rijswijk to take our visa pictures and we did some contacting on the train. They let us take a nap, and then we came down for dinner and to open our assignment envelopes. I'm serving in Amsterdam with Zuster Frandsen and Zuster Djoukeng. 

Being in a trio is really fun so far! Zr Djoukeng only has 3 weeks left on her mission! She is from Washington DC and is studying journalism at BYU. Zr Frandsen has two transfers left, so I'll be "killing" her in December. (That means I'm her companion when she leaves haha) She's from Arizona and is studying elementary ed at BYU. So maybe I'll see them both when I get back! They are both so sweet and so good at Dutch! I love it here.

Amsterdam is a little bit crazy.... But it's GORGEOUS

My first night with my new companions, we went to a nice member's house and had dinner with them. The wife is from Bountiful and

the husband is from Nederland, so the entire night was in English, which was a comfort to me :) Half of the people we are teaching are in English, because they're not native to Nederland. Amsterdam is so diverse and I just love it. On Thursday, we taught a lot of lessons, but the most memorable was with Victor. He is from Africa, and is living here now. He's so humble and has so much faith in God. We taught him the Restoration, and asked him to be baptized, and he said he would! The spirit was just so strong during that lesson. 
We talk to so many people here and all of the different perspectives are so different and so interesting. I always have to smile when people talk about how they don't like all the rules in our church, or that they don't think that they need to come to a church, because people just want an easy god who will pat them on the head.

We got my first bike on Friday! Hopefully it's my only bike, but you never know who is going to decide to steal a bike today, weet je? I got a solid lock for it though. It's a cute thin black bike, and I got a little bell for only 2 euro at one of the markets that's close by. I love my bike. 

Funny story that happened last Saturday. So we met our investigator, Alice, at Amsterdam Centraal (the train station) and went to a park to talk and to teach her the Restoration, but there were four of us and only three bikes. The solution is "achter-oping" That's kindof not a real word, but it is in missionary-lingo. Basically one person is the one riding the bike and the  other person just hangs on to the back and sits on this little thing that is over the back wheel. It's illegal in most states in America, but here in Nederland, they're so organized, and it's so flat that it's really safe. So Zuster Frandsen had Alice on the back of her bike. After the lesson, we were supposed to go to a member's house for dinner, and it was a 20 minute bike ride to get there. We were biking along and on our way to Lucky's, when Zr D and I realized that we didn't have Zr F or Alice anymore! haha it was so sad! Zr F had my bike because it's better for achter-oping, and I had hers with her fiets tas (bike bag. it hangs over the back wheel, google it :) which had both her bag as well as Alice's bag. So they had no phone, no way to contact us. Zr D and I backtracked and tried to find them but we just couldn't find them anywhere. We called the APs and the District leaders and the Mission President, and they told us to go to the dinner appointment. 
The elders found them at Amsterdam Central and waited with them while we hurried to get back. It was so funny and so ridiculous, but that's just how crazy fiets traffic is on a Saturday evening in the center of Amsterdam I guess. So funny.

The ward here is pretty small, but so awesome! The language situation is hilarious: there are a lot of english speakers, so in every meeting, they have to have people translating dutch to english and english to dutch and it's just crazy. In Sacrament meeting, one of the APs sits in a booth and translates for the english speakers, and they have headphones for everyone. I hope that makes sense, but I feel like I'm just crazy haha
Everyone's so nice to me and are so encouraging about the language. They have the missionaries that are new to the area bear their testimonies, and after the meeting, I had people come up to me and tell me that they were impressed with my dutch. I could tell they were just being really nice, but it was sweet. 
The members take good care of us here, so don't worry Mom :)

My observations about Nederland so far:
1. The bread and the cheese and the chocolate are divine
2.The train system and the whole traffic system is so so so well organized! There are bike lanes and lights for the bikers. It's awesome
3. People dress so well! They can tell we're Americans by the way we dress. Which is a bit offensive, but it's just really funny.
4. The meat here is freaky......
5. Amsterdam at night is gorgeous! The canals everywhere, the lights, it's a dream.

I love you all so much

doei
zr watts

Liefde Familie en Vrienden,

Sorry for using the annoying term of Hump Day, but that's the only thing I can think of to categorize HITTING OUR HALFWAY MARK IN THE MTC. What is life? I can't believe how quickly this is going by. I love the MTC and it's so sad that we only have three weeks left!
The Danes left this week, early Monday morning, and we miss them SO much! They were our "Gandalf" to guide us through the MTC. (Our sister training leaders were two of the Danish sisters. We love them so much) But we're getting new Danes today! 7 sisters and 2 elders! I'm so excited to meet them. Our favorite thing to do on P day is to watch people get dropped off. Our window in our res hall faces the drop off zone and we just people watch out the window and watch all of the adorable families. It's the best.

Devotional is my favorite thing here. I think I'll miss that a lot when I'm in the Netherlands. The devotional on Sunday was given by Elder Stephen B Allen, and he was the perfect balance of funny and spiritual. He talked about how Satan and his followers know exactly what to do to push my buttons, and they will try to do those things that can make me discouraged or tempted. But he shared a really really wonderful scripture: Alma 26: 27-30. It just talks about how the sons of mosiah dealt with the disappointments and discouragements of being a missionary and how Heavenly Father comforted them. 
Another thing Elder Allen mentioned that just really comforted me was that I need to turn my loved ones over to the Lord. I can't spend my mission worrying about the health and well being of my loved ones, and I just need to trust that you are all in Heavenly Father's care. I'll never get the chance to be a missionary again. For the next 18 months I need to give 100 percent of my energy, mind, talents, and worries to the people in the Netherlands that need to come unto Christ. I love you and I do worry about you all, but I know and trust that you will be cared for while I'm gone.
In verse 30 of Alma 26, they say that the reason they were willing to go through such difficult trials (being spit upon, cast out, mocked, etc) was that they knew ho important it is to save souls. There are Children of God that desperately NEED the gospel--whether they know it or not. And that's why I'm willing to go through this difficult experience. It's bigger than me or you. It's all for a higher purpose. And it's just so so so wonderful and humbling to be part of this work.

Tuesday Devotional was equally as wonderful. We got to sing in the choir "Jesus, Once of Humble Birth", which is always a wonderful experience. Our choir director pointed out the words of the song are written in a two-part message. The first sentence is about the trials that Christ suffered in His earthly life, and the second sentence always tells of the glory that He is in now. It is so wonderful to consider the meaning behind the words. We're truly able to feel the spirit in the MTC choir. It's a special experience.
The speaker last night was Elder James B. Martino of the seventy. He kindof looks like Grandaddy, although not anywhere near as handsome. It was just such a comfort to look at the speaker and think of my wonderful Grandaddy and how much I love him, and then of course that turned my thoughts to all of my grandparents and how much I love each of them. I have the best family in the world! I love you all so much!
He talked about making goals and the missionary purpose. (page one of PMG if you don't know that. we memorized it in dutch!) It was so good! He talked about how we were called in the premortal life to serve missions and we are fulfilling a glorious purpose. In Luke 17:3,5-10 , the apostles ask Jesus how they can let their faith grow. The APOSTLES that walked with Jesus didn't think they had enough faith! Anyway, Elder Martino talked about how Jesus pointed out that in order for them to gain more faith, they needed to do a little extra. We need to push ourselves and challenge ourselves and do more than our best, and then we will see and increase in our faith. 
"It is fear of sacrifice that stops us from doing things, not the actual sacrifice itself." See yourself with all of the potential Heavenly Father views you with! Such an amazing perspective shift. I love to read my patriarchal blessing so I can know more about the way He sees me.
He also mentioned about how we need to measure ourselves against ourselves! The Lord factors in "Degree of Difficulty". The language might come easier to some people, and might be harder for some people, but it doesn't matter if someone's doing better than you, because Heavenly Father knows what is most difficult for each of us and he judges us by our efforts, not by what we do. We will be judged by who we become, not what we have done.

Last week on P day I started to feel a little itch in my throat, (the Danes all had a cold going around and I guess I caught it), and the next morning I woke up with the most horrible cold I've ever had. I felt terrible and I was just not in the best mood. We went to class that morning and I was just so tired and sick and feeling sorry for myself, when one of my favorite teachers, Zuster Juchau, came over and just asked me if she could fill up my water bottle. That simple act of service made me realize that I needed to change my attitude. I realized how selfish my attitude was! Yes, being sick is not fun by any means, but that doesn't mean I have to make everything else a mope-y experience. I made a decision to be happy. I decided to make it the best day ever and to just smile. I was sitting in the hallway waiting for my companion while she was in the bathroom and I just thought, "You know what? Being miserable is not fun! I'm not happy, but I'm going to just smile until I am happy!" so for the next hour I just smiled. Even though my throat hurt and my nose was dripping, I smiled. I just smiled and smiled and by the end of the day it had become the best, most fun day I've had so far at the MTC. I really really believe that Zuster Juchau was an angel sent by my Heavenly Father so I could realize that I needed to stop sitting in a pity puddle. I really truly know that if we just have a good attitude, that everything will be so much better.
Another gem from Tuesday devo, "if it is to be, it is up to me" He said that in relation to companionships that are difficult, but I think it applies to a lot more as well. We ALWAYS have control over our relationships and over our own personal happiness. It is up to ME to make that difference.
I'm still a little bit sick, but I'm so happy. This past week was amazing, because I CHOSE to be happy. And that's the most important thing. There's a scripture in D&C that says "They are agents unto themselves" I apply that to every situation I possibly can. We can't blame our attitude on our situations. We have to take accountability for the way we react to situations. It's so much better to look up and be positive than to be negative.

quick funny story: In our lesson on Saturday, Zuster Bush gave the wrong scripture to our investigator to read and he was SO confused. hahaha so great when things like that happen.

Love you all so so very much!
Zuster Watts