April 21

Happy Easter everyone! It's still Easter here because they celebrate 2 of every holiday here... Yay!

We had a really good and busy week this week! full of lots of appointments and more than our fair share of miracles. Our investigator F (the one who basically taught us last week) now has a baptismal date. Flip we are so excited! He even has ASKED US for commitments. Who does that? Really cool people that want to learn about the Gospel of Jesus Christ is who. So cool! 

We also went to our Mormon BBQ this week in the middle of a forest! We brought the sister to Leeuwaarden with us because we had been on exchanges the night before and still needed a "joint teach" conveniently the guy who invited us had last minute invited 2 of his friends who happen to live within Leeuwaardens boundaries. One of which was super interested in what we had to say. So not only did they pick up a new investigator. We got to eat a lot of yummy meat in the middle of the woods. By some miracle we also all made it back to our areas in time for our other appointments. 

To be honest I think most of our miracles happened yesterday when an inactive boy in our ward came to church by himself. We have been visiting his mom and him together and started practicing our lessons on them. He is just eating it all right up! His mom doesn't seem too thrilled to come back to church but  like I said.. He came by himself. And you could tell he loved it. He also invited us to his little sisters birthday party later that afternoon which we went to. There was a whole lot of beer and smoking going on, but we were well respected and I think he was looking for a good atmosphere (which we could provide) He even looked to us for our reactions to inappropriate jokes or comments. He is so ready for the gospel it is amazing. 

Other news for the week? Zr. Andersen let me cut her hair. It was a lot of fun. She said she likes it, I think it looks great on her. If you have opinions let me know, I'm not entirely convinced she isn't lying ;) I hope you all have a great week! And remember why we celebrate Easter :) What a blessing!

Liefs, Z packer

P.S. When you live in an old elders apartment, you find things like Pokemon cards.. :)

April 14

This week was... Interesting to say the least! Secretly I want more weeks like this one though...

We have 2 new investigators! Both with very interesting stories! The first is F. He has kept pretty consistent contact with us for the last few weeks, but we haven't ever had an actual lesson. Until Tuesday! He had come to a session of conference and loved it! And we began teaching the first half of the restoration.. Pretty much, he taught us. It was unbelievable to see how prepared this guy is! We are really excited for him because he just wants to do what the Lord wants of him. He has been baptized 2 times already but said if he feels this is Gods true church then he is willing to get baptized again! Cool guy!

The second is a man that lives literally in the middle of no where... We thought he was kidding when he said that he lived in a forest...

He wasn't.

So we took this sketchy bus out to a little itty bitty city called Norg and then we were on our own. No phone service, and no map. So we wandered around till we found a little map of the city. and then walked in the direction of his house.. Where we then came to a legitimate forest. There was a map outside of the forest with all of the homes in there and his was waaaaay out there. But we found it and had a really great lesson! He told us he isn't going to be converted, but wants to keep talking. What I love is that you can tell just how prepared his is. He may say he doesn't need what we have, but I think there will be some part of the gospel that will touch his heart.

Random pictures

Zr. Andersen went to Brussels this week also so we had lots of companion exchange/ travel nonsense going on. I spent Thursday/Friday/Saturday traveling back and forth between Assen and Leuwaarden. It was pretty fun though and I had a great time with Zr. Hoff. Other great news is that we had a TON of less actives in church this week! It was SO cool to see! We are so happy to see them coming back and taking the steps to strengthen their testimonies. I just love it!

I hope you all have a great week! And enjoy the lovely spring! Ik hou van jullie!

Liefs, Z Packer

April 7

General Conference weekend is the best weekend of all eternity. The spirit was so strong, and those talks are no doubt given through inspiration. How blessed we are to have a living prophet on the earth today along with apostles and other leaders who can teach us through inspiration and revelation. I. Love. Conference! We had a few pretty great miracles this week and one included one of our investigators coming to conference! This is the second time I've met the guy, because we haven't actually been able to have a lesson with him yet. He is the one who texts us though and makes appointments or lets us know if he can't come. He came to the Saturday morning (but it was really 6 pm here) session and watched with us. He LOVED it. at least I think that's what laughing with all of the jokes and intently listening means. ;) It was so cool and hopefully our appointment this Tuesday will go through with him.

More randomness

Other miracle? We set a baptismal date with a jovo! (young adult) Way cool. This girl is looking to be baptized in a Christian church (hey! We are Christian!) and was willing to pick a date so we can work with her to learn more and gain a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are pretty excited about it and I look forward to working with her and watching her faith grow!

That's about the most exciting stuff that has happened this week. We painted some walls for a member, went to a 60+ birthday party because the older people love us, and participated in a high tea before watching the sister conference. It was just a really great, spiritual, and blessed week. I couldn't be happier with where I am.
I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Liefs, Z Packer