Jan 15-21, 2023
SUNDAY (Portland, OR)
The family is all staying at the Residence Inn so we gathered for the hotel breakfast before everyone started departing for home.
Doug and I went to church at the Wilhoit's stake conference and it was good to see them and thank them once again for their beautiful daughter and the fun celebration.
Emily and AJ have a later flight so we had arranged to take them to the airport. They came to our room to just visit until the time came. Then a knock on the door. Mike and Joanna and kids explained that their flight was not actually at 9:00am but 9:00pm! so they had the day. We enjoyed some time with them and got to know Lilah, David and Annie again. Since Annie was born after we left on our mission, this weekend was our first meeting with her. It took her a minute to warm up...and only if she couldn't see her mom or dad 😁
Doug and Mike took Emily and AJ to the airport, Joanna and I stayed with the kids. We had some salad left from the luncheon yesterday, so we dined on salad and granola bars. Mike and Joana left around 6:00 in order to get to the airport, return their rental car and be ready for their flight at 9:00. However, the flight was delayed...and delayed again. Way too much time in the Portland airport with three busy but tired kids!
MONDAY
Matt and Taylor stopped by this morning before heading back home. It was such a beautiful wedding and celebration. We are so happy for them!
On the way to the airport, we stopped at Chick Fil A to get sandwiches for Elders Zarges, Doxford and Thomas. We think they are crazy for wanting an 18 hour-old sandwich, but are getting them some anyway 😁
The flight home was uneventful. It was certainly not a full flight and we were able to spread out a bit. I was able to sleep a little, but Doug is just too tall and couldn't lay down across the seats. He didn't sleep at all....
TUESDAY
Our flight landed about 10:15, the VandeWal's met us and took us home to unpack. As we got out of the car, a man asked Doug what we were doing and he had a great conversation (all in Dutch) with him about why we are here serving a mission.
We walked to the office and started to catch up. Jet lag got the better of us. By 18:00 we were asleep and didn't wake up until Wednesday at 9:30!!
WEDENESDAY
Since we slept so long, it was a short but productive day at the office. We were on the schedule for the Rotterdam Stake WarmKamer initiative tonight. We had heard there has only been one person come so far. But tonight the missionaries are expecting around 20 people for a newly announced Dutch class.
Turns out, 30 people came to the class! The Sisters were so excited! A sister from the Stake was also there. She teaches Dutch for a living and was very helpful but also complimentary to the Sisters for the class. Next week they will move into the cultural hall because it was so crowded. This is what President Bijkerk is hoping for...the building being open and used so many from the community will come and have a good experience there.
THURSDAY
Tonight we had the Office Elders plus a couple more over for dinner. We love our Thursday night tradition!
FRIDAY
Tonight we had a Mission Zoom Devotional with the guest Taylor Halverson. He is a co-host on the podcast Scripture Central's Come Follow Me. It was very interesting and insightful.
SATURDAY
We spent part of the day re-watching the Zoom meeting from last night and looking at it a little more in-depth. A few highlights:
Our Covenantal Connection to God
20 January 2023
Belgium/Netherlands Mission Devotional with Taylor Halverson
Abrahamic Covenant Mosaic Covenant
Mount Moriah Mount Sinai
Unconditional Covenant Conditional Covenant
God’s obligations and actions Our obligations and actions
Property Show love
Posterity Show faithfulness
Priesthood Show trust
Prosperity Stay within the Covenant
The God of Abraham, Isaac “If ye keep my
and Jacob (refers to the trustworthy commandments, ye shall
God) prosper in the land”
“Prosper” in Hebrew means
to have the Spirit
*God is the covenant maker and keeper *The Ten Commandments
*God shows us loyalty *God’s people are (or should
*The covenant protects our rights be) the covenant makers
and keepers.
*We show loyalty to God
*This covenant protects God’s rights
Matt 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect (covenantally loyal**, via the upgraded Mosaic covenant), even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect (has been covenantally loyal to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and to all of us)
**we can all be covenantally loyal. Even when we make mistakes, we can still ‘show up’ at the sacrament table to show God we are interested in a relationship.
Fundamentally, the Covenant Path is that God wants to be in a relationship with us. He wants our loyalty.
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