Mar 13-19, 2022
SUNDAY
After church we were invited to go to lunch at Henk and Alja Schuur's home along with the VandeWal's. It was so delightful to get to know them a little better. She made some Indonesian food that was delicious!
MONDAY
This afternoon we took a little drive to Belgium.
The VandeWal's had gathered blankets, clothes and other items from the mission storage unit and they needed to get to Belgium by Tuesday for distribution to the refugees from Ukraine. We thought some Elders were planning on taking them, they thought the VandeWal's would do it. In the end, we were caught up with our office things and offered to go. After meeting up with the Zone Leader's there and amazingly getting everything from the van into their small car...
Elder Christiansen and Elder van der Put
....and as we were about to head home, I asked Doug if we could find a place to buy some Belgian Chocolates in Belgium for Norma's birthday tomorrow. He only hesitated for a minute...and then asked me to put in directions. It was close in distance but took a long time to get to the Chocolatier we found on Google. We kept getting deeper and deeper into a sketchy part of the city. And then come to find out there wasn't really a store there after all! We had no desire to look around, the neighborhood looked pretty skanky. So we drove an extra hour and didn't even get the chocolate.
TUESDAY
Norma had told us of little brass plaques all over town in the sidewalks. They have names and dates and Auschwitz engraved on them. Apparently, they are placed in front of the houses where these people lived before they were taken by the Nazi's and sent to Auschwitz.
Elder and Sister Jensen served in the Office from Jan 2021 to Jan 2022. They had just finished training the other office couple when that couple needed to go home and we were assigned to the office. So the Jensen's agreed to stay on and train us. We've felt trained for a while, but tonight was their farewell dinner. Pres and Sister Watson, the VandeWal's, the Jensen's, Elders Blodgett and Ludlow and us all went to dinner at a very nice little restaurant here in Gouda, La Oliva. It was a delicious meal and great company.
WEDNESDAY
We drove to the Leiden chapel today for District Council. We love being with the missionaries in our District. I was asked to give the spiritual thought: (The first part comes right out of Preach My Gospel)
God loves you and all His children. He is anxious to support you in your practical and specific challenges.
You have been promised inspiration to know what to do and have been given the power to do it (see Doctrine and Covenants 43:15–16).
He will help you as you try to recognize and understand the Spirit through diligent scripture study.
He will guide you to people who will receive the message of the Restoration.
He will give you power to deliver the message and to testify of Christ and His gospel.
He will shower His blessings upon you through the gift of the Holy Ghost. He asks that you remain worthy of this gift and that you ask, seek, and knock (see Doctrine and Covenants 4:7; Matthew 7:7–8).
As you learn to receive personal revelation, you will teach with power and authority
So how do we receive personal revelation?
DC 8:2-3 “… I will tell you in your mind [thoughts] and in your heart, [feelings] by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart. [By listening to and following the promptings to act, we can begin to recognize revelation in our own lives. If a thought is good we know it is from God. How do we know if what we think is ‘good’ is actually what the Lord thinks is good? We can ask ourselves if that is what Christ would do. This is an HONEST HEART. “Never suppress a generous thought”
“Susan … was a wonderful seamstress. President [Spencer W.] Kimball lived in [her] ward. One Sunday, Susan noticed that he had a new suit. Her father had recently … brought her some exquisite silk fabric. Susan thought that fabric would make a handsome tie to go with President Kimball’s new suit. So on Monday she made the tie. She wrapped it in tissue paper and walked up the block to President Kimball’s home.
“On her way to the front door, she suddenly stopped and thought, ‘Who am I to make a tie for the prophet? He probably has plenty of them.’ Deciding she had made a mistake, she turned to leave.
“Just then Sister Kimball opened the front door and said, ‘Oh, Susan!’
“Stumbling all over herself, Susan said, ‘I saw President Kimball in his new suit on Sunday. Dad just brought me some silk from New York … and so I made him a tie.’
“Before Susan could continue, Sister Kimball stopped her, took hold of her shoulders, and said: ‘Susan, never suppress a generous thought.’”9
I love that! “Never suppress a generous thought.” Sometimes when I have an impression to do something for someone, I wonder if it was a prompting or just my own thoughts. But I am reminded that “that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.”10
Whether they are direct promptings or just impulses to help, a good deed is never wasted, for “charity never faileth”11—and is never the wrong response.
Michelle Craig, October 2018 General Conference
The meeting was very spirit-filled as Elder Blodgett changed it a little and had us all tell of a disappoint we've had this week. There were some very tender moments as one by one they shared very vulnerable feelings and experiences.
We had some items to deliver to some Elders in near-by Rotterdam so we drove there next. The picture doesn't do it justice, but the architecture is so unique!
Tonight, Elders Blodgett and Ludlow came for their usual Thursday dinner with us. It was a good evening with some of their struggles shared with us and Doug giving them both a priesthood blessing and some wonderful counsel. We love these young men as our own and feel blessed that they feel comfortable enough and trust us enough to share these things with us.
FRIDAY
Another trip to Belgium today. We drove to Gent and picked up a weight bench to deliver to the Elders we were actually scheduled to visit in Sint Niklaas.
Elders Whitney and Kujanpaa loaded the van with the weights they had traded to the Sint Niklaas Elders for ??? and lunch.
We then drove to Sint Niklaas to meet with Elders Grey, Evans and Millward. They have a teaching area that has poor access to public transportation which is also expensive and they have no car. They have come up with a variety of solutions to the problem of getting to their teaching appointments without spending many hours and much money. Doug wanted to get a feel for the area, so we arranged to take them to lunch and talk about the issue. We are so impressed with their willingness to serve, to be creative with solutions to problems and their positive attitude and flexibility. After lunch we drove to only one of the locations where they are currently teaching. It took 35 minutes by car but would take hours for them to take a train, a bus and then their bikes. WE didn't even need to go to the other places. The problem is a real one.
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