I have the cutest companion ever. We love studying outside! Hoi!
In just two short days we will have our flight plans for the Netherlands in our hands! I'm going crazy and it's just so exciting. After today, we only have one more p-day here at the MTC, and then the next letter I'll be writing will be from the Netherlands! So crazy.
I am so excited to go to Nederland, but I'm definitely making the most of my time here in the MTC. It's a really special place and I just love all of the lessons I'm learning and the spirit that is everywhere. Our teachers are wonderful. They do a coaching session with each companionship at least once a week where they just give advice and encouragement. It's always really helpful and uplifting. This past week, Broeder Wells shared three scriptures with us that helped me a lot. The first was Psalms 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God". Sometimes I get so worried about a lesson and if someone's not talking every minute, I just start talking and I think I just need to calm down and be more comfortable with silence. I also am learning to just entrust the lesson to the Lord. I could prepare my little heart out, but if I don't have faith that the Lord is the best teacher, my job gets a billion times harder.
In just two short days we will have our flight plans for the Netherlands in our hands! I'm going crazy and it's just so exciting. After today, we only have one more p-day here at the MTC, and then the next letter I'll be writing will be from the Netherlands! So crazy.
I am so excited to go to Nederland, but I'm definitely making the most of my time here in the MTC. It's a really special place and I just love all of the lessons I'm learning and the spirit that is everywhere. Our teachers are wonderful. They do a coaching session with each companionship at least once a week where they just give advice and encouragement. It's always really helpful and uplifting. This past week, Broeder Wells shared three scriptures with us that helped me a lot. The first was Psalms 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God". Sometimes I get so worried about a lesson and if someone's not talking every minute, I just start talking and I think I just need to calm down and be more comfortable with silence. I also am learning to just entrust the lesson to the Lord. I could prepare my little heart out, but if I don't have faith that the Lord is the best teacher, my job gets a billion times harder.
Studying outside is de beste. This is how you study at the MTC. Next he shared Jacob 1:5-6 with us. The prophet Jacob talks about his faith in the Lord as well as his anxiety over the people's salvation. Broeder Wells asked us to think about the balance between "[being] still" and having anxiety over the people. He pointed out something that I found really cool: in the Dutch version of the Book of Mormon, it says "grote verlangen" which means "great desire". I thought that was super cool! If we as missionaries and as members of the church have a great desire to share the truth with others, we will have the Lord on our side.
Broeder Wells then said something that really affected me. He first pointed out that anything that leads us to do good is from God, and went on to say that if our anxiety over the investigators comes from how much we love them, then it is a good anxiety. I just really appreciated that counsel.
Another really good scripture is Jacob 4:6, and the prophet Jacob says that he "[stumbled] because of [his] over-anxiety for [the people]" Even Jacob--a prophet--had anxiety! I love the scriptures, because they seriously have an answer to any question!
The missionaries in our zone headed to Sweden flew out on Monday, so we're now the second oldest district in our zone. (The Surinames leave next Monday) It's just crazy how quickly time passes. I feel like I just got here yesterday. Zuster Bush and I have been assigned to be the Zone Sister Training leaders for the last two weeks of our stay here in the MTC. We are getting 36 missionaries today going to Norway and Sweden! So we're going to be really busy for the next couple of days, making sure they are comfortable and everything. We're lucky though, because our Branch president assigned the other Dutchie Zusters to be District Sister Training leaders. They are going to be such a huge help. I'm just extremely grateful we don't have to worry about interviewing 30 or so sisters each week haha.
Sacrament meeting is really fun here. We all have a schedule with the topics for talks each week. Everyone has to prepare a talk to give, but we don't find out who is speaking until after the sacrament! It's crazy. I haven't been called on yet, and we have fast Sunday next week, so the chances are pretty low that I'll get called on for our last Sunday here.
Sunday's devotional was all about the blessings of keeping a study journal. The speaker, Elder Richard N. Holzapfel, (cool name, right?) told so many cool stories of missionaries that were more aware of how the spirit speaks to them because they keep a study journal. He said that when we keep a study journal, that shows Heavenly Father that we love and treasure the revelation He gives us. "Because we treasure it, he gives us more"
Yesterday was the craziest day ever. On Sunday, we received a notification that we had to pick up some international missionaries that would be arriving early on Tuesday. Our job was to take them to dinner, devotional, devotional review, and back to their temporary residences, but most importantly to just make sure they felt welcomed and loved. We showed up in the room at 4:30 to pick up our sisters, and we had four under our care. Only one of them is in our zone, she's from North Hampton, England, and is serving in Sweden. There was one sister from Trinidad that will be serving in Ogden UT, spanish speaking, and the other two sisters are from the states, but just arrived early for whatever reason. They were all pretty quiet and reserved so it was a little awkward at first, but we did our best to make them feel loved. It was funny because on our instruction sheet, they told us to "Be creative with the time between dinner and the devotional..." What were we going to do for 1 1/2 hours with these sisters? Luckily someone suggested we take them on a walk up to the temple. So that's what we did! They all loved it. It ended up being a really fun night.
I'm so excited for this afternoon! We're going to be hosts for the incoming missionaries and hopefully we'll meet some of the new missionaries that will be in our zone! In one of the devotionals this past week, the wife of the speaker told us their experience as mission president of a mission. She talked about how their excitement for new missionaries is like the excitement a new parent feels before a baby comes, and I'm pretty sure that's what I'm feeling about these new elders and sisters that are arriving today. That sounds so silly but it's true! I've never seen them before and I've never met them--I don't even know what they look like--but I already just love them so so so much and I can't wait for them to arrive! I just want them to have the best experience here and I want them all to be happy. Today is going to be so much fun!
The MTC is just the greatest place in the world and I am so grateful for you and all of your support. Thanks for the letters and the love. I really appreciate it.
Zuster Watts
Broeder Wells then said something that really affected me. He first pointed out that anything that leads us to do good is from God, and went on to say that if our anxiety over the investigators comes from how much we love them, then it is a good anxiety. I just really appreciated that counsel.
Another really good scripture is Jacob 4:6, and the prophet Jacob says that he "[stumbled] because of [his] over-anxiety for [the people]" Even Jacob--a prophet--had anxiety! I love the scriptures, because they seriously have an answer to any question!
The missionaries in our zone headed to Sweden flew out on Monday, so we're now the second oldest district in our zone. (The Surinames leave next Monday) It's just crazy how quickly time passes. I feel like I just got here yesterday. Zuster Bush and I have been assigned to be the Zone Sister Training leaders for the last two weeks of our stay here in the MTC. We are getting 36 missionaries today going to Norway and Sweden! So we're going to be really busy for the next couple of days, making sure they are comfortable and everything. We're lucky though, because our Branch president assigned the other Dutchie Zusters to be District Sister Training leaders. They are going to be such a huge help. I'm just extremely grateful we don't have to worry about interviewing 30 or so sisters each week haha.
Sacrament meeting is really fun here. We all have a schedule with the topics for talks each week. Everyone has to prepare a talk to give, but we don't find out who is speaking until after the sacrament! It's crazy. I haven't been called on yet, and we have fast Sunday next week, so the chances are pretty low that I'll get called on for our last Sunday here.
Sunday's devotional was all about the blessings of keeping a study journal. The speaker, Elder Richard N. Holzapfel, (cool name, right?) told so many cool stories of missionaries that were more aware of how the spirit speaks to them because they keep a study journal. He said that when we keep a study journal, that shows Heavenly Father that we love and treasure the revelation He gives us. "Because we treasure it, he gives us more"
Yesterday was the craziest day ever. On Sunday, we received a notification that we had to pick up some international missionaries that would be arriving early on Tuesday. Our job was to take them to dinner, devotional, devotional review, and back to their temporary residences, but most importantly to just make sure they felt welcomed and loved. We showed up in the room at 4:30 to pick up our sisters, and we had four under our care. Only one of them is in our zone, she's from North Hampton, England, and is serving in Sweden. There was one sister from Trinidad that will be serving in Ogden UT, spanish speaking, and the other two sisters are from the states, but just arrived early for whatever reason. They were all pretty quiet and reserved so it was a little awkward at first, but we did our best to make them feel loved. It was funny because on our instruction sheet, they told us to "Be creative with the time between dinner and the devotional..." What were we going to do for 1 1/2 hours with these sisters? Luckily someone suggested we take them on a walk up to the temple. So that's what we did! They all loved it. It ended up being a really fun night.
I'm so excited for this afternoon! We're going to be hosts for the incoming missionaries and hopefully we'll meet some of the new missionaries that will be in our zone! In one of the devotionals this past week, the wife of the speaker told us their experience as mission president of a mission. She talked about how their excitement for new missionaries is like the excitement a new parent feels before a baby comes, and I'm pretty sure that's what I'm feeling about these new elders and sisters that are arriving today. That sounds so silly but it's true! I've never seen them before and I've never met them--I don't even know what they look like--but I already just love them so so so much and I can't wait for them to arrive! I just want them to have the best experience here and I want them all to be happy. Today is going to be so much fun!
The MTC is just the greatest place in the world and I am so grateful for you and all of your support. Thanks for the letters and the love. I really appreciate it.
Zuster Watts
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