We are known to get lost

Taylor's Mom and Dad were happy to see Elder Mower (rt)
 at his Homecoming today!

This week has been a crazy week of weird emotions! so after my email last week we got a call telling us that Elders will NOT be coming back to Dordrecht this transfer... WHAT??? It was super weird, and we aren't sure how we feel about it.. But I guess it's the Lords choice, not ours. Also. They have torn our district apart! So... It is completely new now. We are alittle bit scared to go to district meeting this week, but I'm sure all will be well!

After the Elders left this week we went to their apartment to collect the area book and such so we could follow up with everyone they had talked to... We also discovered what a disaster they left it! Elders... It's ok though, because we are nice sisters and cleaned it up for them. Mostly because we didn't want rotten food all over the place. The ward is super sad that Elders are gone again.

I also forgot to mention last week that we participated in the annual Belgium/Netherlands Turkey bowl! I have been sore all week from it... There is a reason I don't play football.  Ow. Don't worry though, I'm still in one whole piece!

Zr. Packer and Elder Mower

Things are going SUPER well with S! We have made it so we are now meeting with him twice a week, AND He made it to church this week! I am so incredibly excited for him!!! We had an appointment with another joint teach and she was SO great! He even brought his girlfriend to the appointment to listen in. It was SO cool and the spirit was so strong. I have a feeling in time she will be open to it. :) It is really cool to see his faith as well, since he tells us every time we extend a  commitment (such as the word of wisdom) He tells us as long as it brings him closer to God, then why wouldn't he do it? SO great!

We had another day of raking up leaves for a couple in our ward. They were surprised that we finished as quickly as we did! What do you know the sisters can do labor without the elders help ;-) It would have been nice, but at least they know we can hold our own.

Here is where the subject line comes in. We had to go get a legallity card for Zr. Aston and well... Got lost. So we were on trains the whole day. And when we got home found out I have to go get mine as well.. So. Well, that happened.

MEXICAN Food!

Missionary Food

The work is still going pretty good, I just don't know what else to say this week! Oh except we had an appointment with one of our favorite families this week! It was just as hilarious as every time (the one that proposed to me) and they want us back before they go on a trip to Scotland for Christmas! Woohoo! It is so cool to see that just our visits can help. I have so much faith in this family! 

Not sure what this is???

Success with the adoption stuff this week! I have never prayed so hard for something in my life! I am so very excited. Ik houd van jullie!!!

Liefs, Zr Packer

GUESS WHAT!!!!  I GET TO STAY IN DORDRECHT FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!

That's right! Zr. Aston and I get another transfer together in this beautiful city, and we get to be together for the holidays! I am so excited words can't even explain. However, our Elders are getting white washed... Elder Mower is going home this week which is probably the saddest thing in the world, and Elder Rauma is going.. somewhere else. I forget where. So still lots of change, but at least I get to stay!!!

This week has seemed super fast with not a whole lot that actually happened. We discovered how to best help M. She just needs to figure things out for herself! We are going through the commandments with her 2 at a time and we just talk about them till they click for her. It is actually really helpful for me too, because I get a lot of new insights. S is probably my favorite person in the whole world right now. He told us in our last appointment with him that he wants to get baptized!!!! He said after we taught him the plan of salvation he prayed about it and just felt good. He loves church and loves what we teach so he wants it! S testified to her that he knew it was true and he was going to do everything to follow Christ, so that was amazing. I am so excited for him!

P had us over for dinner a few days ago in his new house. It was definitely a man made meal, but it was tasty and a super good time. He is really working to quit drinking and I think we are starting to see some progress with him. He relapsed a few times, but it hasn't been bad. I am really proud of him, I actually kind of feel like a proud mother.

We spent a lot of time helping the members this week as well. An inactive family is moving back to New Zealand so the wife wanted to get rid of anything and everything. Our job was to organize and disperse. Basically, the 4 of us have a lot of new cd's we can't listen to, some movies, and funny clothing. We were pretty excited, and she loved that we helped and had us over for dinner the next day as well. We also helped with the ward dinner that the young womens organization was putting on... you know, our ONE young woman. So we volunteered our services and ended up cooking the entire day and cleaning  afterward. It was pretty fun though and a great time with our ward.

So that is about it! I am SO excited about the girls! I hope everything goes according to plan so they get here on time! I can't believe I am going to have sisters!!!!! Good luck with everything and I am praying for all of you! Have a great week everyone! Ik houd van jullie!

 

Elders Mower and Rauma

Liefs, Zr Packer

NOVEMBER 18

Hello Beautiful people that apparently read my letters every week!

I was approached this week by a member in the ward and informed that their family had found my blog and loved reading it. So, I guess you could say this is a sort of shout out. :)

This week we spent a lot more time with P than usual. I don't know if I mentioned he is working on moving into a new house, but he is. We have been pretty slackish in helping him, but have tried to step it up a bit this week. We went by his new house for an appointment and he has done a  VERY nice job with the place. He has done all of the flooring and painting on his own and furnished it himself. I was very impressed. Our deal is still going strong. He has now gone a week without alcohol and I've gone 2 without buying candy. Ugh. It is totally worth it though. We ran into P on exchange day and he mentioned needing help cleaning out the rest of his old house. So I volunteered ourselves and the Elders to go help. We threw a lot of stuff out, Zr Juchau (Sister training leader) scrubbed down the kitchen counter and I packaged his dishes. Oh, and I found a cupboard full of glasses for different kinds of alcohol...

And destroyed all of them...

I may or may not have had a bit of fun with that one. P allowed me to do it though, so he can't get mad :) We went back a day or so later and biked a whole bunch of stuff over to his new house. Yes, that is how moving works around here. you bike it.

We had the MOST AMAZING appointment with one of our newer investigators S! He is so ready for the gospel I love it! We finished teaching the plan of salvation to him and asked what he thought. He said he felt relieved more than anything about the 3 kingdoms becuase he had been taught hardly anyone can make it into heaven. SO COOL. The spirit was so strong and he said he was excited to come to church...

And guess what?

SOLOMON CAME TO CHURCH!!!!! AND LOOOOOOVED IT!!!!! Oh my goodness I can't even explain how giddy I have been about that.

It just keeps getting better too. He is already doing missionary work! he is trying to get his girlfriend to come listen to us or read in the book of Mormon, and we didn't even know he had a girlfriend! HE IS DOING IT ON HIS OWN! Yeah, basically the church is true.

Pretty much that is the most exciting thing that happened this week. This week just flew on by so I am having a hard time remembering much else. Oh, but Sinter Klaas came into town this weekend! So we watched the parade, and I was pretty impressed with the festivity. The Zwarte Piets come and hand out these candies called kruidnoten and pretty much they are delicious. one filled my hood with them when I wasn't looking. Thank you! So yeah, I have a lot more pictures this week, so enjoy!

I hope you all have a great week! I am glad everything is going well at home, and I wish everyone success! Thanks for the love and support!

Liefs, Zr Packer

I'm getting married!

Everyone, I have an announcement to make.

I will be getting married on January 30, 2014 to Tristin, a 7 year old, who proposed to Zr. Aston and me.

We will be having our honeymoon in the Philippines, and his mom is ok with it.

Lets just say this week has been a riot!

We had appointments with members every day this week! So the week has really just flown on by. We also had a ton of opportunities to do service, which just adds all the more to the greatness of this week! I introduced Zr. Aston and the Elders to the kiltunnel this week, I think I have talked about that before. I thought it would be a good experience for them! They all wanted to take the escalator back... boring. But we had this fantastic appointment with the family that lives out there, and if there are photos of a bunch of missionaries doing monkey faces, that would be why...

We have an older couple in our ward that are pretty stinking wealthy. And they invited us over to do some service and eat dinner with them. This hasn't happened at all since I've been here, so I was nervous. And their gorgeous house doesn't exactly calm your nerves. We got to rake up TONS of leaves in their yard. I don't know where they came from because the trees are still full of them... But it was way fun and totally worth it. After that appointment we had another one with one of our new investigators! His name is S. And pretty much this guy has been prepared. He LOVES anything that talks about Christ and is just eating up the Book of Mormon! Literally. He is already almost done with Jacob. Well, he is probably all the way done at this point.He is such a cool guy, and is really progressing, I have super high hopes for him! If we can find him a ride to church! :)

We got to help one of the pregnant women in our ward with her garden as well this week! Mom, don´t get mad but I actually kind of enjoyed it. I think I like it more when I´m volunteering.

We made a deal with P this week... As of yesterday if he doesn't buy any more alcohol, we can´t buy any more sweets... If that isn't motivation I don´t know what is. Because he knows how much we love our European candy!

One of our less actives had us over for dinner this week. Her son is the one who LOVES us. Literally. I´m fine for the first couple minutes like when he sits by me and rubs my arm (it´s pretty Jason like) but when he sits up straight and puckers up his lips is when it´s gone a little too far. Talk about awkward missionary mode in full force. Super funny family though, I have never laughed harder than when I´m at their house.

I had one cool miracle I wanted to share from yesterday! On Saturday we saw this lady pushing a cart of stuff through the bike tunnel. It was pretty awkwardly piled and well, just plain weird. We didn't really think much of it though. Yesterday we saw the same lady pushing and even larger cart! With a giant dresser on it. So we stopped to help her. She was hesitant at first but then let us help her. This woman is moving to a new house on the other side of the city. And has been moving all of her stuff BY HERSELF ALL WEEK!!! No one will help her so she was just doing it. Are you kidding me?? It was so good that we stopped to help, and she was SO grateful. She told us just to put the dresser in the shed and she would take it up later. Oh you know to the TOP FLOOR where she lives. So we took it up for her. It was a good feeling and she was so sweet, she invited us back any time and we will be going back to help her get settled. This, this is why I am here. I love it :)

Ik houd van jullie! Have a wonderful week!

 

Liefs, Zr Packer

Also, sometimes the elders have us fix their pants and we can´t help but try them on...

I got to go to one the most beautiful places in the entire world this week! It is called the Temple!!!!

We had temple conference this week which means 3 zones went to the temple Wednesday morning, and who knows how many others went Tuesday evening. It was SO amazing! What is even cooler? The session is in Dutch, and we understood it all. And the spirit is CRAZY strong. I'm here to tell you right now, there is nothing more true than this church. We had a conference after which really means we have a few talks from the mission leaders, and then all the missionaries bond forever. And we eat pizza. That was a good plus. I actually was sitting by an elder while we were eating, and finished his pizza for him when he realized he had gotten too much.. (awkward..) And then didn't realize till the next day he was my new zone leader. This is going to be a great transfer.

We had quite a few random things happen this week. Like our lesson with P, we made him teach us the word of widsom... hahaha we think we are hilarious. Well, so does he. There is a picture attached and he had edited the word of wisdom to fit his standards... Lets just say I had to really think to make sure I was hearing the right thing when he started reading out of the pamphlet. Funny man, needs to just stop drinking already. He finally got the new keys to his house though, and we went with the elders to bless it! That was a super cool experience, and he also let them give him a blessing for a "new beginning" which is a HUGE deal for P who doesn't trust men.  So it was pretty amazing.

We have been doing tons and tons of contacting, because well, we need people to teach, and the Elders are getting referrals... We find lots of pretty positive people, but it all depends on their agency. We also may or may not have found the red light district in Dordrecht.. We will be avoiding that area from now on. I guess that lady wasn't kidding when she said to stay out of the neighborhood after dark. (Don't worry, we are perfectly safe and sound).

We got invited to a bridal shower this week! Random? kind of. One of the jovos.. (single adults) is getting married this next month and the ZHV (relief society...) had a bridal shower for her. That was way cool that they thought to invite us, and it was really nice to be able to go and have some time just with the members. Go team sister!

Zr. Aston's first experience with Fufu

Good news, the ward is doing amazing with the Elders now! We had uh.. ward council this week and it was probably the best one I have seen yet. The ward is finally catching the vision on missionary work. And I am positive we are about to see some wonders. It is really nice to work with the Elders. We also all get invited to dinner appointments together which is fun for these tiny dutch houses. Here are some pictures of Zr. Astons and Elder Raumas first encounter with Fufu. I can honestly say I think the Elders are here for more than one reason. Families are coming together more than I've seen in a while. It's way cool.

Elder Rauma and Elder Mower

So that's about it. We had an epic p-day today. We went to Rotterdam for a zone day/ Elder Mathis's birthday.  This church is true, and I know it with all my heart! Doesn't matter what everyone else says, and it doesn't matter that I'm only 20 years old. I know for myself and that is what's important. Ik houd van jullie. and Have a wonderful week!

 

Liefs. Zr Packer

6 Months!

Transfer Week!!!! It has been probably the craziest week I've had in a long time! And I do have to say, I don´t think I've laughed as hard as I have this last week in a very very long time. Needless to say, it´s going to be a good transfer.

Zusters Elting and Packer

Zr. Aston is my companion! I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out seeing as we have known each other for years, but never really hung out. I can honestly say I think she is one of the funniest people I know. I am so incredibly blessed to have her here as my companion. We haven´t really had anything exciting happen this week since we have spent most of it just finding. We gave most of our investigators over to the Elders, so we are taking a step back and starting from square 1 again. These people just react so funny to us, it kills me. We had one lady open the door while we were doing bell ups to tell us she wasn't interested, and then proceeded to tell us we need to go outside and close the door before we ring any more bells.. Well no duh.. We aren't sure if she heard or not but as we were walking out Zr. Aston just exclaims `What are we, Animals?!` I lost it. It´s going to be hard finding people if I can´t keep it together for longer than ten minutes.

I don't think they're starving.

The Elders are SO wonderful! Elder Mower is training Elder Rauma. When Elder Rauma introduced himself I heard it wrong, so I've been calling him Elder Ramen all week... He doesn't really appreciate that, but it´s the only name I remember. He is a fresh out of the water greenie. He FREQUENTLY... asks if I know were we are or where we are going. On our way to a members house he just yells, "Sisters! Are you sure this is still in our area??" It will be good though. All of the sudden we have appointments with Members though! Just because Elders are here.. 

We had an appointment with an inactive this week who is really hard to get in contact with. She told us she is ready to come back to the church for her 2 sons, which is SO cool! Her whole family are members, and she has just had a few rough patches in her life that made her want to go inactive. What is so cool is that she totally knows it´s true! And We are pretty sure she doesn't want to do it JUST for her kids, we are positive she wants it back in her life herself. So cool. Also, her children are NUTS. I cried laughing for a good 20 minutes because they were all over the place being little terrorizers. She said if she doesn't get them to church they might turn out to be thiefs... One of them also proposed to us... I´m very excited for our next appointment. She is a funny lady! That´s about it! Just lots of contacting and me trying to introduce these 3 new missionaries to the beautiful land of Dordrecht! The work is slow, but I think we are going to see some amazing things this transfer.

Ik houd van jullie!

Liefs, Zr Packer

What's a mission if you aren't having a little fun!

2 for 1 blog posts

The Vikings are Taking Over Dordrecht!

Guess what! another transfer has come and gone... You know what that means? Well a few things.

1. I´m staying here in Dordrecht

2. Zr. Elting is going away.

3. My new companion is going to be Zr. A

4. Dordrecht is getting Elders (It´s about time...)

5. Elder M and his greenie will be said elders.

WE ARE ALL FROM PG!!!!! Yes, the vikings are definitely going to tear apart Dordrecht. The Dutch should probably be afraid, oh wait, they already are. :)

This week has been full of all sorts of fun things like transfer calls and our phone breaking day off! It´s fall in full effect here, so it´s a whole lot of hurricane like storms and cold... I´m not a fan of wet skirts just fyi. 

Tuesday was a wonderful day. Why? well because we got an answer to our prayers. One day a couple weeks back Zr. Elting felt prompted to play basketball with this group of kids, and we didn't because she wasn't sure if it was really a prompting, or just her wanting to play. A few weeks later we passed another group, and Both of us felt like we needed to play.. And ignored it because once again, weren't sure if it was real or not... We flipped around after a few minutes to go play and literally approached as they were leaving the court. We were SO upset! Well.. We have repented and said a few prayers. We were early to our appointment with P Tuesday, so Zr. Elting said a prayer to herself telling Heavenly Father that if someone was there we would play. Low and behold as we rounded the corner there was a boy playing by himself! So she yells to me we are playing!!!` I knew immediately what she meant, and we went over to play. His name was D, 17 years old, doesn't normally play basketball, but happened to have a free day and decided to go play... by himself.. ANSWER! So we played with him for a bit, talked about why we are here and such, because people are amazed with 2 American 20 year old girls who can speak Dutch. It´s great. And then K came walking by! He is the roommate of one of our kind of investigators, hard core muslim, but LOVES talking to us, so he joined us. I think we got some good respect points that day.

Everything is kind of falling apart with our investigators, because we are just the sweet nice sisters.... So we are handing most of them over to the Elders. I´m very excited to see how this all goes. We found B on the street one day and he told us he doesn't feel anything when he reads the Book of Mormon... :( And that we can still talk to him about Jesus Christ, but he doesn't feel good about the book anymore.. HOW?! So we went by a few days later to explain why we wouldn't be coming around much anymore and when he answered the door we were entirely shocked! His whole face was swollen, and red, and bruised. He got in this crazy bike accident.. And it was REALLY bad... It´s hard to break up with someone when they are already hurt... We are going to take him a treat and tell him to read more sincerely in the Book of Mormon...

We had a baking contest with our District, and made carrot cake! It was a hit, and the Elders informed us later that they really only agreed to it because that meant the sisters would be making treats, both sets of elders made practically the same thing. It was hilarious! I think most of our District is staying, but I guess we will find out by next week then won't we?!

We did service with Zr. H again this week, and got a picture with her, because she is hilarious. She wanted to know our first names in case we leave, and could not for her life figure out Zr. Eltings, she is convinced it is Chantry. When she prayed it was difficult not to giggle. She is a sweet lady.

M has crazy questions, I don´t know why anyone would want to think so deeply on anything, it just hurts your head. We had a discussion about the Godhead to help her understand the roles, and the fact that God has a body... He is not a blob that is just in all of us... That is weird. I think we really got her thinking when we got to the Holy Ghost, but I guess we will see in time.

Stake conference was also this week, and good news, the Stake president is on team missionary! He was going to town on how important member missionary work is! I felt so pumped after listening to him, and I hope that the members felt it too! This work is truly inspired! That´s about all I can think of for this week. I´m reading right now about Alma and Amulek. Those men know how to testify! And wonderful examples of diligence! I´d encourage you all to read it!

 Ik houd van jullie!!!

Liefs,Zr Packer

Guys! General Conference is probably my most favorite thing in the entire wide world!!! I can't even explain how grateful and blessed I feel that WE all have the opportunity to hear the words of our loving Heavenly Father through his faithful servants. I got to watch all of the sessions except Sunday afternoon because, well, we were sleeping. That's a weird thought isn't it? The spirit you can feel when the prophet and apostles and other general authorities speak is truly amazing. I'd have to say though, that my favorites were from President Monson. At the Relief Society broadcast, and Sunday morning. I bawled like a baby.

This week was pretty good as well. I was just so excited for conference I can hardly remember anything else! We made tortillas on Monday and served tacos to our district on Tuesday. Needless to say, we are the favorite cooks in the district. That's what macaroni and tacos will do for ya! :D 

Also, a lot of people are planning on being sick for the next 2 weeks. What a strange plan right? We got in contact with a few of our investigators this week and they said they were sick or feeling sick and probably won't be better for 2 more weeks. Silly people think we are going to forget them! Oh no no, we will be back in 2 weeks no problem. Wednesday we had our random service project with F and the man in the gross house.... That was pure madness. She goes crazy when she is cleaning, and his house definitely needed it, you could see some progress when we left (after 2 hours because that was our limit), but it still wasn't completely done. F was RAGING when we said we needed to go. She just started yelling and I don't know if it was in Dutch or Russian, but she was not happy with us. Hey lady, it's not even your house, he was very understanding that we needed to go, and accepted a book of Mormon. He also invited us back another time. So all in all we were successful. We saw F today and she approached us to apologize for flipping. Glad to see we haven't been dropped :)

We also got to do some service with one of our less active members! She needed her windows and curtains cleaned (because Nederland is ALL about clean windows) and so we had to take her curtains down and clean everything up. This lady has the biggest collection of random statues and things I've ever seen sitting on her windowsill.  And It was my job to put them back.. I asked if she wanted it a specific way and she told me just to make it look good.. So I would go to set something down and hear "NO NO NO! That can't go there! The clown has to have is arm around the gnome and they have to face out the window because they are friends!" I'm pretty sure that's what she said anyway, because her Dutch is nearly impossible to follow. She likes our company and that is what counts I guess.

I think B is avoiding us, or we are just really bad at finding him... S says he will come to things and never does, so that's annoying. But P came to conference and even though he got up every 10 minutes because he can't sit for long, I think it was a REALLY good experience for him, and the other missionaries were SO good to him. He is still trying to stop drinking, and is progressing!

While we were in Rotterdam for conference we decided to go outside and find some people for the Elders in Rotterdam, we had a pretty fun experience. We found a man that actually lives in our area, and we can't exactly speak with him... But he gave us his address and told us to bring the Book of Mormon in Arabic to him! This will be fun! We also got stopped by a group outside a bar because one of the men recognized us as missionaries. He loves the Mormons! knows all about us too! And wanted a picture with us and introduced us to his friends and we talked about what we do, so that was fun! He also wrote us a license to preach about Jesus in Nederland. So I guess you could say we are legit. That's about it for this week! I encourage you all if you haven't to watch conference! It is amazing and I am so grateful for it! Ik houd van jullie!

 

Liefs, Zr Packer

Land of Deception

This place can be so decieving. Somedays it looks horribly cold outside so we bundle up like crazy, then within an hour of being outside we are dying of heat. More often it looks like a BEAUTIFUL day outside, but no. It is colder than ice cold. Deception I tell you!

This week was a fun week! We had Zone Conference! Which is probably my favorite thing in the entire world. It is amazing the friendships I have already made in my short time out here, I love everyone who was there! And of course the spiritual enlightenment that comes with such inspired teachers. Sometimes you just need that extra dose of spirit to get re-motivated to do the work!

We had an appointment with a member who lives pretty far out in our area (actually that was every appointment this week), but this one in particular lives in a place where you have to take a tunnel to get there. It is named the "Kiltunnel" I'm not even lying. It makes you feel like you are going to die. And it is SO much fun! The video is too big to send, so everyone will just have to wait to see that, but I did attach a picture of the sign right before you enter. Basically, you get going so fast down hill that you can't pedal anymore.. But then you have to get back uphill. And that is killer on your legs. The appointment was so worth it though! We are gaining more trust from the members I think! And it is wonderful! Oh- should probably mention we got Zr. Eltings bike fixed. Luckily. There is no way we would have done that together. But we used a rented bike for that day... Anyway.

We had exchanges the day before Zone Conference, so that was exciting. I got to work in Gouda again, which is a beautiful city. And I got to eat delicious Finnish food at a members house. Hoorah! 

However, while I was there, Zr Elting was here in Dordrecht with our investigators...S Smoked.  3 of them.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! YOU GO 33 DAYS NO SMOKING AND JUST BLOW IT AWAY?!

Yeah, he said it was because he was mad at Nederland, like that is a valid reason. I was super annoyed when I heard that... So... We have to wait at least another month now, and hopefully we can help him see that it is between him and the Lord. We aren't going to visit him as often, because at this point we are just babying him. 

P seems to be doing alright. He bought a super expensive bike, which I think is super ridiculous. But he is happy for now, and really working on stopping drinking. He wanted to come with us to the Zorg to visit the Older women who can't come to church... That was interesting to say the least, but he behaved. Luckily Zr. A is a fiery woman and was in a good mood, so she handled it well.

M is our main progresser right now! She takes our challenges seriously! She has a lot of really deep questions, and we are just doing our best to direct her to the Book of Mormon for her answers. She likes meeting with us, and I think if she can learn to trust the book.  Then she will be able to progress in her faith! woohoo!

B is doing ok, I think we are having to backtrack a bit with him, but he is still a great friend and Always willing to serve us.  

Here are just a few pictures of the things we have seen this week, and a little taste of home, we found construction :) Oh, and Mexican food. 
Leifs,
Zr. Packer