MERRY CHRISTMAS

HOLY COW! IT'S CHRISTMAS?!? Where did time go? Seriously. I swear, just yesterday, I was sitting on my couch downstairs playing FIFA with Elder Yocom, not baptizing people with Elder Yocom! This was a really, really fast week. It has been hard leading up to Christmas, knowing that my wonderful family back home is having a lot of Christmas parties, making delicious chocolate via Grandma Covington, and going caroling with the Elkins side, but, I get to be a missionary and wear this special nametag on my chest. :)

On Monday, We had a much needed P-Day. After our PDay activites, we went home, made some phone calls, then went out and found for the rest of the night. On Tuesday, We had 3 appointments planned..... but they all fell through! We decided to go to some area book look ups, and contact. We went and looked up this former investigator named Merideth. We got to her house, rang her bell and she talked through the speaker because it was an apartment with bells outside. We made an appointment with her the following day. On Wednesday, we went to Denny's. He is an inactive member. I think I talked about him last week. We shared a short Christmas message with him, then headed out the door to go to Luma's. She is our investigator who is brazilian. She was born and raised here, but her mom and relatives are all from Sau Paulo. She is 24 years old with a beautiful baby girl. More about her later. After Luma's house, we went to our appointment with Merideth. We got to Merideth's, asked her a few questions and what she used to think about the missionaries. She said "You know, just this past week I have been thinking more about what I can do to improve my life and change it. My mom died a couple of years ago, and I am wondering if I will ever see her again" bam... The spirit took over from there. First lesson, she felt the spirit, and we will meet with her again after Christmas to teach her about "The Plan". She's done. She will be doped so hard. (Doop is baptism in Dutch :) so sick) After this, we went to the ward dinner at the church. Great night. On Thursday, we had a lesson with a referral from Zaandam. He has a girlfriend who lives in Salt Lake City and he was traveling to spend the holidays with her. She is LDS and he wants to learn more. He is a very nice, clean businessman. This lesson fell through cause he had to take his kids to school and arrange things for the trip, but he is very positive and wants to meet with us after his vacation! We then had a lesson with our new investigator Marcel. This is a 53 year old man who lives on his own. I'm pretty sure that his brain is only 13% there. He is hilarious! We poked fun with him at first. You all know me and Elder Yocom. Gosh we were laughing so hard. I was honestly nervous that we wouldnt be able to teach a good first lesson with the spirit because we were laughing too hard, but as soon as we started teaching, the spirit took over. We were serious the whole time and I felt the spirit. When it got to the end of the lesson, I asked Marcel if he would be baptized if he found out it was true. He said No with a confused face on his look. We then said well if the BoM is true, that means Joseph is a prophet and this is the only true church, only true baptism. We asked if he would pray about the BoM and he said yes. Then we said will you be baptized if you find out its true? He was confused and stared off in the distance for 40 seconds I swear and said No. Then we went off again and showed him scriptures in the Bible about baptism. He then decided baptism is important and that he would when he finds out its true. So funny. You all should've seen this mans face this whole time. Gosh I was dying and so was Elder Yocom! On Friday, I went on exchanges to Amsterdam with Elder Sosa. He is from Santiago, Chile but speaks American English because of his mission. So sick. Such a good guy! We had a lesson with a man in our ward who's brain is worce than Marcel's, I swear haha. His name is Leuwe. He has a neighbor who says he has Demons in his body and in his house, so me and Elder Sosa went with Leuwe and gave him a blessing and blessed his home. Very interesting experience. We then did a little contacting and went back to the house to ride with the AP's to the huge Stake Christmas Party. Holy Cow! This was Insane! There were over 1000 people there. 600 members, and 600 non members probably! So cool. Our whole zone was there including President and Sister Robinson. We had one hour of great christmas music, then had a catered dinner. Such a great night. We got home late at about 11:30 haha. Saturday was bad weather. Luckily, we had weekly planning still to do. We went out for a bit and did some contacting later at night, but then went to Amsterdam Central to go finding with all the Elders in our ward in Amsterdam Centrum. I went with Elder Van Komen, and Elder Yocom went with Elder Lewis. These are the AP's. Van Komen is so sick! We had such a good time and found some great potentials! Sunday was just another day.... Went to church, had a great meeting, then at 4:00, we had a baptismal service for LUMA! So cool! We had a baptism! So great. Elder Yocom baptized her, and she asked me to confirm her and give her the big gift next week in sacrament meeting... in dutch! So scared, but so pumped! What a great day. Her mom is so proud of her, and so are we. She will be such a great kingdom builder and hopefully will marry a worth priesthood holder and start a great little mormon dutch family! Things like this remind me why I am here. Such a great Christmas gift.

This week will be full of great opportunities to serve. Tomorrow for Christmas Eve, we are going to Denny's to watch Joy to the World with him, then to a very old members house to give him the Sacrament. He hasn't had the Sacrament in months and months and is so happy that we can do it on Christmas eve, then we will go to Marcels and watch Joy to the World with him too! We have Christmas gifts to give to people who dont have families and who are lonely for Christmas so we will drop them off tomorrow as well. On Christmas, We will wake up, open gifts, make a great delicious breakfest, then get out and serve. We will be at Daniels for Christmas later in the day to skype, eat, and watch een paar van filmjes. This will be fun! So happy that we get to have a Christmas like this. It really helps me remember the true meaning of Christmas. I'm so grateful that I get to celebrate this holiday in this manner, becaue its symbolizes the birth of the man that I represent everyday. I really hope that you all have such a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope you can all find ways to serve others around you. Thanks for all the love you guys send up to me in Holland. Enjoy all that white snow and eggnog! Love you all. Tot volgende keer!

Elder Elkins

 

Skyping Austin was amazing. It was so good to see him and hear him. He is doing so good and he is so happy.

 

Elder Elkins and Elder Yocom

 We all can't believe Austin and his BEST FRIEND are companions!

Another long, but fast, week in the books. 

First week in Zaandam! Still pretty interesting that Yocom and I are companions. I don't think it will ever feel real. All is good here in this crazy city of Amsterdam though. Last week, on Monday, Elder Yocom and I spend our P-Day in Amsterdam doing a little Christmas shopping. We were downtown and everything is so crazy for Christmas! Such a beautiful time of the year here. It is cold, and crappy weather, but the decorations and everything is so fun! We were walking around and 4 people stopped us and asked if they could buy us something. 4 students from BYU visiting for school. They took us to get fresh stroopwafels. So lekker! So fun to talk with them. That was great. We had a great P-Day. Long and stressful, but great. On Tuesday, we had District Meeting, then went to a Doner place for lunch, then did some finding, taught a 1st lesson to a new investigator Ibrahim. WOW. What an incredible lesson this was. Elder Yocom and I just went in there with the attitude of "we are young, we need the spirit to teach this one" and boy, did the spirit teach that one. What a miracle. This was easily my number one favorite lesson so far on my mission. We both tag teamed so well and bounced off each other, answered his questions, and made a baptismal date with him for Dec. 29th. Ibrahim said he has no doubts, and is excited to pray. So amazing. Gosh. It's days like those that remind me why I'm here and my purpose. We had an incredible dinner appointment with rich members that night. They had us have our own cooker things and they had tons of meat and other stuff that we cook ourselves. So fun. Best dinner yet. Then we did more finding that night. This has to be my favorite day on my mission so far! Wednesday, We had a great lesson with Denny. He is an inactive but has such a strong testimony. It is hard for him to come to church because of mental issues. During our lesson with him, President called us and asked if he could work with us that day. He likes to work with missionaries every Wednesday. I was nervous, but it went well. We taught 2 lessons, and had Ward Dinner night at the Church. This was a fun night. President is great and made us laugh. He is big into hunting, and saw from behind someones house, an Elk mounted on their wall. This is very rare here, of course, so we went and knocked on their door just to look at their Elk. The man said to come back another time because he was busy. We will do that! On Thursday, it was SinterKlaas day here. This is the Sinter Klaas man and the Black Piets who run around and have their tradition. This is the day that they put gifts in kids shoes. So funny. Elder Yocom and I celebrated this by going to Den Haag and picking up our Netherlands ID's. It was the worst weather i've seen here so it was nice to be in a train all day. So windy and wet. We had a dinner appointment that night and it was fun. Friday, We did some looks ups, Taught a lesson and a baptismal date to Revalino, then had weekly planning. After weekly planning, we made dinner then went outside and contacted. This random man on the street asked if we wanted to buy his bike for 10 euros. Of course, we were a bit skeptical because of the price, so I asked him where he got it from and why he's selling it. He said he repairs and sells bike cheap. We got his number and address and went to his house the next day. When we were sitting in his house, his wife came in and asked who we were. We told her that we were volunteers from our church from America. She freaked and showed us her Bible that she ordered from free online, and that she wants to join a church to change her life around. What a miracle. I got into a deep conversation with her and she said that she used to be homeless, she has a stealing problem, and that she is addicted to cocaine. Deep problems. I felt the spirit and bore testimony. We are teaching her on Thursday. This shows me how God's hand is in the work. Elder Yocom and I are a little nervous, because she has hefty problems. She also knows nothing about God or Jesus, so we are starting from scratch. It will be great! What a day. That time at there house was on Saturday, earlier on Saturday, we wen't to Amsterdam and to lunch with the ward mission leader here. It was so great and we went to an awesome pizza place. Then we did some look ups all day and had dinner by ourselves. We did some Christmas things, and of course, we had fun that night. What a great week. Long week, but great. Church on Sunday was cool, and we had 1 investigator there. We need to get more, so we will. We did some more look ups after church, and made some appointments and got in contact with people who we have struggled to in the past. Good day. 

This next week, we have Zone Conference. President Teixera from the First Presidency of the Seventy is going to host it and tour our mission. This will be great. I'm a little nervous, because he has a history of railing missionaries in the past, but I'm excited to learn and become better. I was also asked to read out of the missionary handbook. Two pages of my choice. I'm the only one doing this. I probably should pick the two pages tonight haha. I'm the only missionary doing it.... It will be a great day! This week will be great. Amsterdam is beautiful with Christmas. I wish you all could see it! All is going well here and I love it. It is easily the hardest thing I have ever done, but boy have I seen some cool things and met some amazing people. 

I love reminding myself why I am here to refocus. This week, I did so by reviewing the New Testament in 1st Corinthians when Paul is speaking. He said in chapter 9, versus 16-19, "16: For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! 17: For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. 18: What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. 19: For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more." Such a great read. This goes to us all. Not just me. We all need to preach the gospel and be missionaries. Not necessarily because we are told to or asked to, but because we should want to. Just being out here, I recognize how blessed I have been to live in Utah with a great family and friends. I look here in Amsterdam, and there are messed up situations everywhere you look. People living on the streets, drugs, prostitutes, everything. I'm grateful to be from America, and Utah. People need the gospel. That is why I am here, and Christmas time won't be too hard for me. My family is fine, but families here aren't. I love you all, and I hope you have a great week. :)

Elder Elkins

Another Successful Week!

Wow, what a successful week!

 

This past week has been great! So many great things have been happening out here and the hand of God has really been showing in the missionary work. Everything is getting better and seeming more natural. It has been so great and I'm so grateful for all of the blessings I have received out here. The knowledge that I have gained of myself and the gospel is a huge blessing. I felt like I have already grown a lot and made a huge step in the direction of where I hope to be at the end of my mission and when I am home. Well, this week started off with PDay and family night at the Wekkins on Monday. We had our Investigator Lilliana over there for family night because Zr. Wekking is the lady who helps us teach her in Spanish. This was so fun and a great experience. Tuesday, We had Zone Training. Gosh, I learned so much and I was opened up to so many things that I can do better. I will for sure change some things and make some goals! We went out to eat dinner with Dhana later that night and I had a great tasting salmon at a very fancy restaurant. Wednesday, we taught a lesson to a new investigator and man, does this guy smoke a lot. Holy cow! 3 cigerettes in 45 minutes. Disgusting. He said he has heard about "Brian Young" before so he wanted to learn more. He said he will have the Book of Mormon read in a week so we will meet with him tomorrow hopefully. We then went and did a look up far away with an old investigator. He invited us in and was so pumped to see us. He speaks great english and wanted to speak it so we did. He loves the church and knows a lot about it. He initially started to talk to the missionaries a year ago because he is a Free Mason and heard that Joseph Smith was the highest ranking you can possibly be in Free Masonry. So funny. Gosh I have learned a lot about that idealogy. Very interesting.... Lol. We had a dinner appointment with Bishop that night and his family. They all wish they were american because they see us and love us. I was talking all night about how much I love Justin Beiber and about area 51 and 9/11. It was fun and we had a blast. Thursday, we had a lesson with a very, very cool guy from Fiji. Big old polynesian guy. Soooo amazingly nice. He wants to be baptized and said in Fiji, he lives next to mormons and he remembers the temple. So cool. He has a beutiful family back home! Then we had a lesson with Lilliana, and did some finding. We found 3 new potential investigators which is really great! Friday, we went and taught the plan of salvation to Luis. He is our new favorite investigator from Angola. So cool. He loves praying in Portuguese and loves that my parents both speak it! So cool. We also had to do weekly planning and then went to a ward christmas kickoff fireside. This was great! Saturday, We did some look ups, and went to Esthers. During the day, we were supposed to have a lesson with Dofu. We got to his door, but he opened it and was on his way out. He explained to us that he got a call from his mom and his parents are getting a divorce so he was on his way to his parents home. I wanted to honestly cry. Before he walked away, his lips were quivering and eyes watering. Such a tender moment. I dont know him that well, but he is a big black 24 year old who looks like Ziggy. So cool. Sunday, we had church and it was great. Then we went to dinner at a members and I had to say goodbye. This was hard even though I dont know her that well!

Well, I found out that next transfer I will be serving in Zaandaam with Elder Yocom. He is my best friend from high school and we came here on the same day. I honestly cannot believe that it is happening, especially so early in the mission and over Christmas. I'm so grateful and I see this as a huge blessing. I will work harder this next transfer than ever before and become better than I expected to be after 3rd transfer. This is going to be so great. It is sad to be leaving my baby city, especially with having the best numbers in the mission. It has been so great, but man, am I excited to serve with Yoc Daddy. This past week, Elder Alston and I were able to teach 8 lessons which is incredible here, and get 4 new investigators. We have 6 baptismal challenges accepted. Elder Alston is staying here and going District Leader. He will also Train again and help another missionary love their mission. I'm grateful for Alston and really appreciate what he has taught me. We have become such close friends and he is someone I will always look up to!

Well, I hope you all have a great week. Please keep those emails coming! Love you all so much.

 

Love,

Elder Elkins

Another Great Week in the Books!

Another Great Week in the Books!

 

Man, time goes fast. I can't believe it is already another P-Day! Time is flying by. It is really weird because I look back and realize that I have already almost been out for 4 months, and that is 4 months that I will never have back! Only 20 more months to be a missionary. These next 20 months will go fast too. Everyone only tells me that it goes faster. This transfer has gone by unbelievably fast. I cannot beleive that next week is transfers! Chances are, I get a new companion. They never keep companions together for more than two transfers. I'm being told that I will either go with a missionary one transfer older than me, my group, or younger. Either way, I'm going to be in a whole new world. This week was a good one for my Dutch. It is still not where I necessarily want it to be, but I was able to suprise myself this week! The investigators are doing well. Dhana is still Dhana. He has been investigating since I was 16, and still doesnt beleive that there is a God. We challenged him to repent of his sins because maybe that is what he is lacking. I asked him how he felt after he prayed for forgiveness, and he said Peace. I told him that feeling was from God, and we can't give ourselves that feelings. We then shared the story of Oliver Cowdery and when he was praying in D&C 6. It says "21: Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I am the same that came unto mine own, and mine own received me not. I am the light which shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not. 22: Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things. 23: Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?" I absolutely love these scriptures. They were perfect for him because it explains that Oliver felt Peace, just as did Dhana. We dont know what more do do with him because now he has the ball, and he needs to decide what he is going to do with it. He goes back to Indonesia on Dec. 7th, so that will be sad, but I know he will be baptized one day. He needs to recognize God in his life. We think that he believes, but that he is just scared. Lillian is going well. She said that she knows that the Church is true, but that she is going to wait to be baptized in December. That is a bummer because I was really looking forward to seeing her baptism. Hopefully I will still be in Enschede next transfer! We taught a few first lessons this week and made 3 baptismal invitations. The work is going well here. We are definitely blessed.

On Tuesday, it was Alstons birthday. We went to Dinner at Esthers, cause it was also her husbands birthday! That was fun. When he dropped us off at the train station after, I looked on the ground and noticed some money rolled up. I opened it up and it was TWO 50 euro bills. About 140$ worth. So cool! We looked around and asked people if it belonged to them and asked a police officer and he told us to keep it. We split it. Such a fun night :) Wendesday, I was on exchanges with Elder Claflin. He came the same day as me so we were just two young missionaries in Enschede all day. We taught a couple lessons, had a great conversation with a man from America and his wife from Holland, and found a stray dog. This dog was so tight! He followed us everywhere and we named him Frisbee. We had to go teach a lesson to Lillian so we had to find a place for Frisbee to go. He was trying to pee and poop but he couldnt so we felt bad for him cause he hadnt eaten in forever. I asked some girls probly 12 years old to babysit my dog while I taught the lesson. They took it to the vet and found the original owner cause of a chip in the dog. So funny! That was a great day. That night, we had a dinner appointment on the border of Holland and Germany. I suprised myself this night at the appointment with my Dutch. I talked to the whole time and shared the spiritual messege. They were really impressed and thats always nice. They were amazed that my parents met in Brazil on their missions haha. I tell most people that when they ask where my parents went on missions :) Pretty funny. Friday we had a great dinner appointment with Familie Jacobs. They are great. Such an incredible home with nice things. We were talking around the dinner table and we remembered that Portugal was playing Sweden in a big soccer game that night, so the husband went to turn on the TV, but it didnt start until late, but we got permission to watch it and everything! Such a jammer. oh well, she had a parikeet and I asked about it and told her me and my best friend at home had birds too. She though that was so tight and we talked about how stupid birds are for 15 minutes haha. I knew I bought Robin for a reason ;) He husband, Br. Jacobs, is the old bishop but is not inactive and drinks. Really sad. We are working with him. Sunday was Ward Conference and I had to translate again. Really hard, once again, but its all getting better. Its just amazing that 3 months ago I knew no Dutch, but now I understand a bit and can speak it a bit! So cool. Just gotta be patient and it will all come. All is going well. We should have a great week this week and its me and Elder Alstons last week as a companionship. He has been great and we have had a lot of fun! Its pretty sad, but Its a good thing that I believe that Transfers are inspired of God. I will be where I need to be and who I need to be with next transfer! On Saturday, we went to a SinterKlaas festivel. So funny. The pictures explain it all. They have Sinterklaas on the 5th of Dec. This is when all the kids put out their shoes and they get gifts in it. This is just as big as Christmas to us. They also celebrate Christmas on the 25th and the 26th. Such a cool month here, but for the missionaries, Dec. is just a month of reflecting and seeing families together haha. There are a lot of problems here because of the Swarte Piet thing. These are the black painted elv things in my pics. They have been tradition for years and years, but not black people are saying its really racist, when in fact, its just traditions. Sad, because of the traditions, but creepy as crap. Well That is all for this week. I hope you all have a great week and I'm excited for this next week. Alles goed in Nederland! I love you all. :)

 

Elder Elkins

Very quick week! Time is flying by!

This week was a very fast one. Not a lot happened though, but it was still fun! On Monday, we just had our normal Pday and went shopping and I didnt buy anything. Tuesday, we had district meeting and this was a great one. We also met with some potential investigators and made some return appointments. Wednesday, We went on splits with the Zone Leaders. I was with Elder Muse, and he is a very cool guy. I learned a lot from him and admire his style. At doors, even if people slam the door in our face, he will ring it again and ask if he can touch their hair, or just tell them that they have great teeth or something. Very funny guy ahha. He makes it fun. Thursday, We had a lesson with Lillian and taught her the word of wisdom. She accepted it perfectly and will be baptized next week! So excited. We also had to spend the night in Deventer at the Zone Leaders house and spend the night with them again so we had to travel that night a little bit. The ZLs are so incredible! Muse is hilarious, and Eastmond is such an incredible and cool missionary. I admire them both! We spent 4 nights with them this week. Its been great. Friday, I went to Brussels to get my legalization. I traveled with Elder Peterson from the MTC to Leiden, and from Leiden, we took the van to Brussels. There were like 8 of us in the van, and we met a bunch of other missionaries in Belgium. I saw and talked to Sister Brophy for the first time on Friday! This was so fun and something that I was looking forward to. She is doing great and it was fun to see her! I also saw and hung out with Elder Hunt and also my MTC comp, Elder Sudweeks. They are all doing so well and I´m so glad that I was able to see them. The Belgian Waffles are incredible as well. Such a gorgeous city and somewhere that I will definitely be back to see after my mission. I also saw Mannican Pis, which is the famous peeing baby statue. So tight. Saturday, we traveled back from deventer because we slept at the ZLs house again. We had a lesson and ate Ollie Bollen for dinner with Esther. She is doing well and really strong. Sunday was church. This was the primary program and it was so cute and fun to see. So great. I had to translate for the first time and that went swell. Dutch is still hard but coming along! It was a great day! Last night, we had a lesson with Dhana and it was the most spiritual lesson I have ever seen. Me and Elder Alston taught in great unity and the spirit led it so much. Some of the things I said I had know idea I was capable of. It wasnt me though! Thats for sure. Sorry this was a boring email, just not much happened. This next week will be great. We have 5 first lessons coming up and hopefully some baptisal dates made. I love it here! I´m glad you are all doing well. Its starting to get freezing here and the Winter is going to be brutal. So will Christmas haha. It gets dark at 4 now too. So weird! Its dark here before you guys even wake up! I hope you all have a great week, and I will make a better email next week. Thanks for all you do! I look forward to your letters!

Elder Elkins

I must admit, this is a better haircut than I've ever done on him ;)

He cut his own hair!!

What a fast week! So many cool experiences this week. I really tried to focus on having better, more meaningful personal studies and laungage studies. I finished the New Testament this week, and will restart the Book of Mormon and read it side by side with my Dutch copy! This has helped me a lot! I challenged myself with the language too. Gotta step outside that comfort zone, because quite franky, I'm not here to sit in a comfort zone. I'm in Europe for heavens sake haha. Well, Monday night was great. We met with our investigator, Dhana, and he took us to eat at a very expensive restaurant and it was great. He just told us that he wants us to know that he has a sincere investigation, but he thinks we are being too hard on him. He goes back to indonesia in December, and he has been investigating for a year and a half, so me and Elder Alston have been pushing him. Hopefully he decides to be baptized, but we cant push him anymore. He is looking for his answer that Its true, and hes worried about what his family will think and all of his friends. On Tueday, I was on Exchanges here in Enschede with my District Leader. I was in charge for the day. So fun! We had a lesson with Lilian on Tithing and she accepted that like a champ. She will be baptized on Nov. 23rd! That will be great. I'm so excited! That night was a miracle night! We finally got contact with a man from Angola who has lost contact with the missionaries since he moved here, and we made an appointment! I had to talk to him all in Dutch cause my companion didnt know him haha. Neither did I though! It was a miracle that we finally got contact with him and he was really excited. After this, we went to the bus stop to see when the bus came. We had 15 minutes and I didnt want to just sit there and wait, so I said "Lets go knock those doors over there". I felt the spirit tell me to do so! So amazing. On the Second door we knocked, an Asian guy in his 20s answers and he is so tight. We start speaking Dutch and he recognizes our American accents and freaks out about how sick it is that we are from America. He is really intersted in our message and accepted a BoM. He said to come back in three weeks and tell him more because he has finals and no time for the next three weeks. Just when he was about to shut the door, a black guy in his 20s comes downstairs and says "i heard your message from upstairs, and I have time all week. What is this about?" He was so pumped and we made an appointment with him for Saturday. The appointment went great and he accepted a baptismal challenge. He is a huge soccer player and lives in a college dorm house. All three college students are reading the book of mormon. What a miracle! That is why we knocked those doors. Such an amazing experience. On Wednesday, we taught two ladys of the Orthodox religion. They are from Syria and I think they really just wanted to bash with us. They couldnt accept the fact about the Godhead and a Prophet. We will see if they turn into anything more. We found a lot that night, then went to Esthers and taught her and watched mormon messages. Thursday, we did a lot of look ups and went to dinner with a great dutch family here. They are so funny! I will send pictures next week. Friday, we taught lillian again. We taught her prophets and obedience. She loves the idea of a prophet and told us that she is excited to be baptized. Its fun being in there during spanish lessons. Especially since we rely so much on our Joint Teach. We went to dinner at a recently baptized members home that night and ate great surinam food. Her husband isnt a member, but is trying to quit smoking so hes taking small steps! Right outside their house, there was a cop chase and the guy being chased ran over someone and killed them! So interesting. Mom, dont freak out, I'm OK :) We were supposed to have a lesson with a new investigator that night, but he wasnt home so that sucked. Saturday is the day we taught the black guy, that went super well! Then we found all day, made burgers for dinner, and had weekly planning at night. Fun night. Sunday was great too, its always fun to hear them bear their testimonies in church. I love being here. The Dutch kids are so cute!

The weather here is getting unreal cold. I'm scared for the winter! All the older missionaries just have terrible stories about it. It will be fun though and definitely differnt. I can't wait to have fun experiences and be able to email them home! It is unreal how fast time goes. I'm already halfway through my second transfer. Time goes fast. I think that I will get transferred at the end of this one. Or I will stay. Either way, I wont be with my companion I dont think. I hope that I have a good companion for Christmas. Maybe Yocom :) That would be a treat.

I was reading in the New Testament this week and found a few really amazing scriptures. I found a scripture that provided great comfort to me, and I'm sure it can help you all too.

1 Peter 2:20 - For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God."

I just thought I would share this with you all. I found it and it has helped me a lot. We need to be patient in our struggles. Thats the key, thats something that I have been working on my whole mission. You all who know me well know that I'm not a very patient person. I'm really going to try to work on that and be better. I know God is here with me. I can't deny that. The miracles that I have seen are unbelievable.

Thanks for all of your emails. Continue to email me! I love you all and pray for you all the time. Have a great week!

Elder Elkins

What an interesting week! First off, Monday was great. Another awesome p-day. We got things done early in the day so we were able to just take it easy and shop and clean until we had to leave to go to Amsterdam. We spent the night in Amsterdam on Monday night because we had to be in Leiden for the temple early Tuesday morning. It was awesome because the Amsterdam Elders are Elder Taylor, and Elder Van Komen, these are the AP's and theyre so sick, then Elder Sosa and Elder Bean. Sosa is a streetfighter/rapper from chile, and bean is a best friend from the MTC. This was so fun! Elder Alston is really close to the AP's so we were both pumped. On Tuesday, we went to the Temple. This was an incredible experience. It was so nice to be back in that beautiful building. I was there with my best friend from high school, Elder Yocom, so that made it even better. The session was in Dutch, so that made it interesting. I was able to get what it was saying just based off of context and I've been to the temple a lot so I know whats going on. I learned so much at the temple, and had a very spiritual experience. I'm so grateful for it. After the temple, we had Zone Conference and ate 1000 euro worth of dominos pizza. Me and Elder Yocom, bean, bosco, and others sat at the table and it was like the MTC. It was so great. We learned a lot as well. That night, we traveled back to Enschede. On Wednesday, we taught Lillian the second lesson. Our joint teach, who speaks spanish, is Zr. Wekking. She is from Mexico and married a Dutch man here. She speaks good dutch, but fluent spanish obviously so she is great to have with us. She literally taught the whole lesson, while we bore testimony in dutch haha. She served a mission in Mexico so she knows what to say and she said a month ago, she had a dream that she was teaching someone but didnt have a companion and she thought it was strange. Now she knows what her dream was about. A miracle. Lillian, after, told us how she saw the missionaries in Dominican Republic but never talked to them, but now she knows the reason she came to Nederland, and that was to meet the missionaries and get baptized. She is incredible. I'm so grateful for this experience. That night, I went home, read some letters, and cut my own hair! I was nervous cause my sister usually did it at home and made it look incredible, but I'm a noob but did what her husband Shawn did, and cut my own hair. I'm looking ongeloofelijk. Really, I did good. It was easy. On Thursday, we did some look ups and made awesome appointments. We have some very positive lessons for this week. We will be busy and hopefully make a few baptismal challenges. Our investigator Dhana, from Indonesia, said he wants to take us to dinner tonight and tell us something. We are pretty nervous. We have been pretty bold with him because he is beating around the bush quite a bit and hes been investigating for a year and a half and isnt going anywhere. He has a date for Nov. 9th, and we told him he needs to tell us his decision by Saturday. We are nervous. I love him to death. On Friday, We taught Lillian the third lesson. Zr. Wekking, again taught it. She loves it and totally understands everything. Tomorrow, I will be on exchanges with the District Leader and we are going to teach her Tithing and Prophets. This will be great! I will have to take charge. Dutch, here I come. On Saturday, we went to Dhanas and gave him the ultimatum. We watches some Elder Holland talks, and went bold and to the point. I just sat back cause I knew the spirit was there and I knew it hit him like a train. Towards the end of the lesson, I bore testimony. I can honestly say that I have never felt that spirit like that in my entire life. I'm so grateful to be a missionary. I hope Dhana felt it, cause It wasnt me talking or even bearing testimony, it was the Spirit. I'm excited to see where he goes now. We are still working with esther, Saturday night, we taught her Service from lesson 5. She is nervous about a calling, but willing. Thats great. We did service for a ward member on Saturday and it was awesome. He is an old dutch man with his wife. He served in WWII. It's interesting to hear his point of view of it. Hes a great man. His wife just overcame Breast Cancer, and isnt a member but now sees God in her life so we'll see if she goes anywhere. I'm so grateful to be a missionary. I'm so grateful for the scriptures. I am about to finish the New Testament, and learning about Christ and His life has really strengthened my testimony of Him. I know He is in missionary work. I see it, I feel it. I'm grateful for it. I'm so grateful for you all. Thanks for the letters. I love getting them! Have a great week, I'll write ya next week! This should be an awesome and eventful week. Love you all. 

Elder Elkins

FIRST BAPTISM!

What a great week!

This week was amazing! Monday through Wednesday, we prepared Esther for her baptism! On Wednesday, we had to go to Zwolle for interviews with the mission president. This was so great. President Robinson and Sister Robinson are so amazing. We had great talks and President just told me he is really proud of me and that he can tell that out of the group of 30 missionaries who came in, I was one of the most impressive! Of course it's not me at all. I didn't do anything to have this success! God prepared Esther and just used me as a tool in his hands. That was really great to hear! They are so great. Also, out investigator Lillian. I found her a few weeks back on the street on exchanges with the Zone Leader. I talked to her and realized that she only knew a tiny bit of dutch, and less english. She only speak Spanish! So sick. We took a member from our ward with us who is from mexico, to our lesson with Lillian. They became really good friends. We taught her through translating! The member had to translate what we were saying in Dutch, to Spanish. Lillian felt the spirit and said she would pray to know if it was true. On Sunday, during gospel principles, we had to teach Lillian a lesson because she came to church! We didnt know spanish, so we just put in a move '"The Restoration"" and made it in spanish. After the movie, Lillian said she Absolutely knows that Joseph was a prophet, and doesnt know how people could deny it. Then she asked if she could be baptized, and we said "How about November 16th?". She happily agreed and wants her 12 year old son to be baptized as well! That is so amazing! Such a great experience that we will be having this next transfer.

After Esthers baptismal interview on Wednesday, She asked me to baptize her! That was crazy because we thought that Elder Alston was going to. This was such a great experience for me. I was so happy. A little nervous, just because I have no muscle and shes a little bigger... but all went well! I'm so grateful for how blessed I have been this first transfer. I will work on Dutch this next transfer. I was blessed with the Gift of Tounges, but I think that was mis-interpreted. I think by gift of tounges, I was blessed with liking all of the food here.... Thats not good. I CAN NOT GO BACK TO THE OLD ELKINS. :) Anyway, what a great week. We did some look ups from old investigators and made some appointments. One guy that we looked up, answered the door in his boxers and eating a banana and asked if we could come back next week. That was interesting. We also got a referral! That will be great. Her name is Linda and I honestly got emotional when I heard her name. I miss my Grandma!!! She is with me though. I hope that goes well with her.

Transfer calls were last night. I thought that I was going to leave Enschede and go with a missionary who is also going on their second transfer, but they decided to wait one more transfer before putting us all together. Me and Elder Alston are staying for one more! Hengelo Elders got white washed though, so two new elder will take over Hengelo. Hengelo is giving us all of their Investigators that they had in Enschede, so now it will be back to normal. They have a lot of good Investigators too. This will be a great, great transfer. They had a baptismal date for Nov. 2nd with an investigator named Dhona. He is from Indonesida, and absolutely so sick. He has been investigating for over a year, and just needs someone to be bold with him. Weve got that. He loves us too! I'm really excited to work with him and the other potentials that we have. We have a man from jamaica that we found this week. He said back in Jamaica, he met with the missionaries for a year and was really really excited to see us. He freaked out because he didnt think missionaries were in Europe. He will be baptized too! I'm so excited. The lord has prepared people and I see that first hand. Esther was a prime example of that. She was singing songs about how god is good all day and was freaking out when she could take the sacrament after being baptized! It was really cool to see.

Well today and tomorrow, we will move into our new Enschede apartment. It is really nice! I will be there for at least the next 6 weeks, so if you want to send me letters, send them to this address!:)

Hofstraat 25

7511 HD Enschede

Netherlands

Please send me letters as well! I love hearing from you all. I hope you all had a great week. This week was amazing, and this next one will be even better probably! Its getting really really cold here though! I hope Utah is treating you all well. I miss it! I love you all. God is good. The Church is True.

Dooiiiiiii,

- Elder Elkins

Its amazing how fast time goes here! People always say that the mission goes really fast, but its also really hard at first. Don't get me wrong, it's been hard, but not too bad! I really enjoy and love it. The mission has really treated me well. It's definitely pretty hard concidering that we are opening Enschede, but things are starting to take shape. Of course, I dont know any other different mission style other than opening, because it's all ive done, but it has been different than what I thought it would be! We are always trying to figure out the best ways to do things, and we find ourselves always figuring out what to do! Thanks to the spirit. Conference was great, especially to help us. The members hear needed to hear that they need to step it up. We need their help! They needed something to fire them up, and I hope that this does the trick. 

Of course, last week was a great week! We were really pumped to watch general conference all week. On Friday, we went to Esthers house to teach her tithing. This is like the last thing we need to teach her. We were really worried about this topic, because she's told us before how all the churches in africa only want your money. We taught her very carefully, and she accepted it really well! She told us that she doesnt work, but asked how she can donate anyway and that caught us completely off guard! We taught her fasting, and offered to fast with her on Sunday for the exam that she is taking on Thursday. This exam decides whether or not she can get a passport or something so it's been stressing her out! She was really excited to fast. On Saturday, we went to her house and she made food for us, we watched the Saturday morning session of conference live at about 6pm, then started our fast for Sunday. This was an incredible experience. It is so different watching conference here, but I felt as if I was at home. The spirit was so strong in her house during conference. It felt so close to home, the only difference was that I had a 51 year old black lady sitting on my right, and a 56 year old dutch man on my left. I guess thats pretty different then home haha. It will be exciting this week! Her baptism is at 3 on Saturday :)

On Sunday, we woke up and went straight to Apeldoorn, about an hour away from Hengelo. We watched the Priesthood session at the Stake Conference. This was in Dutch, so naturally, I didnt get anything out of it except for Home Teaching is important.. haha. I will have to rewatch it soon in English. After this, we watched the Saturday Afternoon Session, and this was great. Then later we watched the Sunday Morning session live at 6pm. It was so weird knowing that you all at home were watching the same thing as me, but it was morning for you, and dark for me! We didnt get home until about midnight last night because there was construction on the rail lines, so we had a mess getting home with busses and different trains. General Conference was unreal though. I loved it. 

This week, we are moving into our new apartment in Enschede! It is probably the nicest apartment in the mission. We are really lucky! It's right in the middle of the city in the centrum by all of the cool stores. Its really fun. That will be nice. Transfers are already next week though, so hopefully me and Elder Alston stay together for another transfer in Enschede. Anything can happedn though! I will find out next Sunday! 

This has been a great week, and I have learned a lot. I love street contacting people and knocking doors as well. It's really hard with my limited dutch, and my astounding akwardness, but it seems to go alright :) Elder Alston helps me a lot. I'm really loving my mission so far! 

My spiritual topic of the week is on Gifford Nelson's talk. Of Course. Go Cougs... jk. but really! He gave a great talk. I want you guys to take his advice and 

 1. Pray to bring someone closer to the gospel everyday.

 2. Pray for missionaries in your area and their investigators by name, everday.

 3. Invite a friend to an activity in or out of your house.

The topic for conference had a lot to do with member missionaries. It really is true. The Lord is hastening His work, and I see this first hand. We NEED you. We need the members. It is so important. You can justify and say "Well, we live in Utah, it will all be taken care of" But I dont know if you know this, but Utah is the highest baptizing mission in the world. There are always people to teach. Go ahead, try this. Be a missonary. Especially my cousins. Jake Lamb, Seth Lamb, Jaxson Miller, Bailey Miller, Andrew Lewis, Preston Lewis, and Parker, my brother. I promise you guys that if you do this, and strive to be missionaries NOW, God will bless you and make you a better missionary when your on your mission. I guarantee this. I know you all have friends who aren't members. Don't be afraid to bear your testimony. Use your English one while you have it :) I challenge you :) 

I love you all, and I'm really excited to hear from you guys! Have a great week. Be better today than you were yesterday :) 

Elder Elkins

Another week down!!

Another week down in the best country in the world :)

This has been a great one! Missionary work has treated me well. It is absolutely nothing like I imagined before my mission. It is actually way fun and different everyday. I'm so grateful to be in this country. It really honestly is the best mission in the world. Especially when we look around and also realize that we have the best mission president and missionaries as well ;) 

I'll stop making you jealous and move on. My bad. 

 

This week has been great! Missionary work is starting to seem more natural. We are putting a lot of time and effort in the non active members in the ward so we spend a lot of time with them. They are so amazing and we have one non active, Melvin, who is starting to come back. He likes us a lot and we went over to his house and helped him move couches, I shared a message about prayer and how we recieve answers, and the next day he came to church. We are going to visit him every week. His wife makes us great african food as well. My favorite food here so far is probably stroopwaffels, because their cheap and just amazing, or I love the african food that people make. Some of it is disgusting like the fish from african with all the bones and stuff in it, but the rice is killer. Also, I really like cheese and they eat cheese and bread here with ever meal. I'll start taking pictures of stuff and send them home. The food is great. I think I have gained like 3 pounds just these past 2 months. Expect the old Austin to return faster than normal ;) Especially in the winter. Everyone says in the winter here, everyone gets fat. Everyone. I will probably just look better at the end of the winter. I'm not a follower. I'll be the leader ;) 

 

We have had some pretty cool experiences here. I have seen miracles and I love it. Esther, our baptism, is a miracle. Me and Elder Alston went to teach her on Friday. We have been teaaching Esther really fast and she seems to accept everything, so me and Elder Alston were both worried with what she really understood. Fridays lesson we just went in and asked questions about what she knew. We asked about Prophets and she nailed that question, then the Priesthood. She said "Yeah, like in the Catholic Church, they have the priests and stuff. Thats the Priesthood." We were like... haha no. Now she understands though :) Then we got into a good discussion. She is so prepared and so happy. We told her next time we were going to talk about some things like the commandments and she said "Like the ten commandments?" we said yeah and she said "Yeah, I follow them and I quit smoking 3 years ago and dont drink either". Wow, this was cool. Before we even brought up the Word of Wisdom, which was one of our worries, she ways shes totally cool with it. She is so funny. She called us after we left and said "I really really like wearing earrings, necklaces, and rings. Am I allowed to wear those in your church, because I can give them up if not." We just laughed and said of course you can! Then she hung up and called again in five more minutes and said "What about perfume? I really love perfume." We said of course once again! It's amazing how prepared she was. She said she doesnt know why she quit smoking 3 years ago, but now she does. She is funny and has the typical african culture. She always tells us how fat she is and how she needs to walk an hour a day to lose weight. Her dr. told her haha. She said when she walks, she sings a song that goes like this "I'm going to follow jesus, and nobody can stop me". and repeats, and reapeats. She is crazy, but sooo amazing. She says that since her two sons are still in Nigeria, we are her two sons now. She cooked us great food on Saturday. She is getting baptized on the 12th, and that will be sooo amazing. I am so blessed. This work is so up to God. We are nothing without him. This is His work. We are just tools. I'm grateful for a companion who can teach me that as well. 

 

We had zone conference on Thursday and that was great. It was in Rotterdam so it was really cool to see that city as well. The spirit was so strong in zone conference and I learned a lot. The work in Europe is exploding, and its only getting better. We are in a "Dry Fly" mission, not a "Chumming" mission. My dad will get that :) It's really amazing. I love this country! 

We get the keys to our new apartment in Enschede today. We dont know yet when we 

are moving there. It can be any time really! I will let you all know when I get my address there. I think me and Elder Alston will both stay one more transfer here. I really hope so! At least one more. The Ward is still doing great. They feed us almost every night! Thats a huge thing in this stake. 6 months ago, Elder Holland came and spoke to our stake and told them they need to be better mormons and feed the Elders.... They took that seriously I guess haha. Tonight, we have a dinner appointment with a great family. The mom cooks great, the daughter is cool, and the Dad speaks Twents. This is a dialect of Dutch here in Hengelo area. Its absolutely impossible to understand him. I just shake my head yes and dont know what I agree too. Oh well. I'm not hear to stress about language, I'm hear to be a missionary :) We have had great experiences and I'm sure they will keep coming. Yesterday in church, President and Sister Robinson came and spoke to our ward. It was the fifth sunday, so they came. It was really cool to hear from them. They are amazing people. I'm so grateful to have them guide us missionaries for the next two years. I'm glad that I wont have to have a change in the Presidency while I'm here. They go home the same transfer I will! Thats so cool. I'm not looking forward to going home though. You guys all have to witness another bad BYU team, Utah getting lucky, and other stuff going on. Have fun :) I'll sit back here next summer and watch either Belgium or Netherlands win the World Cup. Especially since both are ranked in the top ten :) I'm so excited. 

Missionary work is going hard over here. We're doing good, and we as missionaries feel all of your prayers! Help the missionaries at home! It's impossible without the members. 

Thanks for everything! I miss you all. Have a great week. I pray for you all, and I can feel your prayers! I'm excited for another quick, but eventfull week. Ik hou van jullie!

Elder Elkins

Another Week! Holy cow. It goes so fast here! I can't believe it has already  been a week. Everyone said it starts going fast, and it already has! I guess the statement ' Time flies when you're having fun! ' really is a true statement. I'm so grateful to be here. The Netherlands is so gorgeous, and is so amazing. 

Enschede has been really fun for me and Elder Alston. It is a student city, and really modern, so its nice. The ward is incredible. The people in the ward are so fun and I feel like they could make a funny movie about it. They feed us so much and that is really nice. The kids here are so cute and typicall dutch kids haha. Our Church is really small, and has about 50 active members. We are really working with the members because thats the most important part of missionary work. The MEMBERS! Dat is jullie!!! jullie zouden de zendelingen moeten helpen! I'm so grateful for having a fun ward and how much they feed us. I will get fat, so expect the old Austin to return home in two years :) Chubbbbby. It's well worth it. Watch out girls ;) 

Our investigator Esther has been really fun. We have taught the first 3 lessons to her and she really loves it. We will continue to teach her this week. Her and her husband came to church yesterday. We plan on teaching her Prophets/Obedience and Word of Wisdom this week. She loves drinking coffee and tea so we will see how she takes it! Its the spirit that speaks so it will work out! She wants me and my companion over on Saturday so she can make us a ton of African food. They love making african food for missionaries here. I'm excited but nervous! I hope she continues to progress.

We have another investigator that me and a zone leader found on exchanges. Her name is Lillian and she is from Dominacan Republic. She only speaks spanish, so its been hard to talk to her. We are going to have a lesson with her this week with a lady in our ward who speaks Spanish. That will be really nice! I'm realizing that Dutch isnt that important... haha. Jk it is, but Esther speaks English, and Lillian is Spanish.. haha. It's going to be fun teaching them! 

We have been having a hard time doing real real missionary work. We always find ourselves having to do things that we didnt plan to do. Its great because we know that what were doing is what the Lord wants because we are being blessed for it. I'm really grateful for that. We have had some very amazing experiences, and I love it. I can't wait for more!

We went to a members house on Saturday. His name is Melvin. He is from SierreLeon Africa, and so is his wife. He came here 6 years ago, and almost died on his ship. He got baptized a year later and now is a member. His wife isnt a member so we will work on her. He is an incredible guy, and sooo musically talented. He reminds me of Alex Boye. His dream is to save money, move to Utah, and join the MoTab. He wants it so bad. He is so jealous that I live in Utah. If I'm successful when I'm older, I will fly him to Utah :) His wife fed us african food and it was amazing. Rice with meat. She is going to make more for us later. We watched his wedding video and it was so funny haha. 

Elder Alston and I have a great time. We have decided to focus on gaining a christlike attribute this transfer. We both felt inspired with Hope. It has helped us so much. We decided to make it a ward goal to study and have hope because they need it here. We have found a lot of joy in doing this. So much, that we have dance parties to church music. It's a great time. You are all really missing out. We move into our new apartment on Oct. 1 hopefully. It will be nice, but I love our mensen vier apartment. We have a lot of fun. I will send home pictures! 

I look forward to getting your emails this week. Thanks for everything you have all done. You guys are incredible. I feel so blessed to be here, and I know this is where I need to be! I challenge you all to have hope in all you do :) It's amazing what we are capable of doing as long as we hope, because hope is just faith and action combined. Thats really all it is. We surprise ourselves if we do this. So do it! Ik hoop dat jullie een goede week hebben! Ik hou van jullie, en ik heb jullie gemist! I'm excited to tell you about my next week! :)

Elder Elkins

 

     

Another week!

First full week in Nederland! I still can't believe that I am here. It is so different! At first, I felt like I never really left America, but everyday I am reminded of differences between here, and America. The language is usually the easiest reminder... haha. Dutch is very hard, but it will come! I can't let it be a stress, because I'm not here to learn this language. I just need to remember that :)

I have had a great experience being here. Me and my companion, Elder Alston, are opening a city called Enschede. Just over 5 km outside of Germany. We have been to Germany for service so that is really fun! Since we are opening, we had no investigators when we started. All we do is find, look up, and what we are really trying to do is gain a really good relationship with the members. Missionary work is impossible without members and I didn't realize that until I got out here. Help out the missionaries :) Anyway, we still dont have investigators really, because It has just been a crazy week. A lot has happened that has kept us from only working. We have had to do a lot of office work and traveling around. We train everywhere so that is really fun. We find quite a bit of success as we street contact. There are so many religions here it is insane. I think the biggest religion is Islam, then Muslim, Catholic, Baptist, Atheist. There are sooo many different people here too. People flow into Netherlands to live and work. I cant believe the different cultures here. It is amazing! Everyone is so different, and we get different reactions every time we talk about the church. It's definitely a hard mission, but I have learned so much already! 

A mission is so much different than what I thought it would be. It is better than I thought! I didn't realize the background part of it. Members play such a role in it, and the missionary unity is amazing. I love all the missionaries I have met so far. 

We still live in Hengelo, and train to Enschede everyday. On October 0st, we move into our own apartment in Enschede. That will be nice. Me and Elder Alston have had great experiences so far. I love people staring at me because of our clothes and our nametags. I looove it. Everyone knows we are American and thats funny too. They tell us how Europe is so much better and I just nod my head knowing that they have no idea. I love this place though. The food is good. They eat  a lot of Indonesian food and have this Turkish food called a Doner. It is literally heaven. It is a toasted flat breat with lamb meat in it and you can put lettuce, tomatoe, anything else in it, and this special sauce. So good. I hope I dont get too fat haha. Also, Vla is a dessert here. It is a more liquidy version of a pudding and it is so amazing and cheap. Stroopwaffels are the devil. They are too good. My comp buys so many of them in the apartment and all we eat them so fast. America would love them I guarantee it. Members feed us quite often. They are so nice here too. They all know I can't speak dutch, so they encourage me and all of the other greenies here. So funny :) Its fun to see all of the older missionaries who are really good at the language. One day, that will be me :) 

We have been praying for a miracle, a good experience lately. This week, we got a call from Elders in Den Haag, which is on the other side of the country below Amsterdam. It was a referral from them to us about a lady who really really wanted the church. We called her up and she was freaking out and way excited. We finally went to her house yesterday and taught the first lesson. Her name is Esther and she is from Nigeria and speak English, her husband is from here and speak Dutch. The lesson was amazing and she was really excited. We challenged her to be baptized on October 12th, and she accepted! Her husband is really accepting of it, so we will see what he does with it! She is really cool, and I look forward to getting to know her. God really blesses people. We did absolutely nothing except for work hard, and God gave us this opportunity to teach. He did all of the work. It is so amazing what He does for His children. Esther has family that live here too, and it was her brother who told her about the church and gave us the referral. The African culture is so amazing here. When I was saying the opening prayer, she was praising halleluja hahaha. Like I said, so many cultures. I look forward to other great experiences. The kids here are so cute. They all speak different lanugages and they are such stereotypical dutch kids with cute faces haha. I love it! The people here are really amazing.

I love this church, and I'm grateful to be a missionary. Especailly here. I'm so blessed to have been raised in this church with a great family. I realize that very easily by being out here. This is the true church, and God knows all of our situations. He is so amazing, and we are absolutely nothing without Him. 

I love you all, and look foward to hearing from you. Have a great week!

Elder Elkins

First week in the mission field!

Here's his first email in the Netherlands folks!

First week in the Netherlands! It is so crazy that I am on the other side of the world, with so many different people. My trainer is Elder Alston and he is from South Jordan. He has only been here for 6 months and served all of his past 6 months in Belgium speaking Flemmish. So we are both really learning Dutch. Dutch is crazy. It is so hard to open your mouth and speak it! We got called to Enschede which borders Germany. This is a student city so there are a lot of Chinese and African people. I have ran into people from like 8 different religions. It is amazing how many different people live here. We are opening this area so we dont have any investigators yet. We are contacting people a lot and trying to find investigators. The members here are really great. We have had a bunch of dinner appointments and have a few set for this week! On Saturday, we went to a members house in Germany to do service. This is such an amazing family and they have 4 kids under the age of 12. So cute to hear them speak and try to have conversations with them. I'm excited for more experiences these next 22 months. I can't wait to speak Dutch and just get good at it. I love you all, and will write letters when I can! 

Have a great week. 

Elder Elkins

Welcome to the Netherlands!

Austin finally made it to the Netherlands! Can you believe it? We can't. Time is flying. Sorta :/

Monday morning, Elder Elkins called from the airport and it was so good to hear from him. He is so happy! He was there with all his friends, and lucky him, got to sit with them on the airplane! While we were talking to him, he was telling us about a lady at the airport that was sweet enough to buy all the missionaries a Jamba Juice! He loves being a missionary.

He told us about his hair cut experience in the MTC because he misses his sister (me) cutting his hair. The guy was so grumpy and cut it so short that when he went to class after, he teacher stood and saluted him when he walked in. We all laughed way hard. They called him General Elkins because of his haircut. My husband of course laughed because he remembers that man cutting missionaries hair in the MTC.

The last night in the MTC, all the buddies got together and had a giant sleepover in Austins room and I'm sure that's something he will never forget, especially because he's out in the mission field now, probably far away from his buddies.

He is so happy and having so much fun and we are so excited to hear from him and follow him on his next journey!

(and I don't know if all of you know this, but my husbands aunt and uncle are the mission presidents)

Last week in the MTC!

Can you believe Austin is already going to the Netherlands?! It's crazy. I feel like we just dropped him off. He is seriously having the time of his life!

This past week has been great. It was probably my favorite week I have had here in the MTC! The language has been getting so much better and I know and have faith that it will continue to get better! We got our Flight Plans on Friday, and we were all so excited! There are 28 of us missionaries going to Nederland and we all got on the same flight together! Monday the second of September, we fly out at 11:05 am, then have a layover in Detroit at 4:30, then fly out again at 6:10, and fly straight to Amsterdam. It is real now! I am so excited, but very anxious :) 

It has been so nice having friends here at the MTC. I hosted a friend from my ward last Wednesday and was able to introduce him to the MTC. That was a fun experience. Me and my best friend, Elder Yocom, has a sleepover in my room last night along with 4 other Elders. It was way fun. I'm going to miss the MTC. I know the real mission field is where I will have the most fun though. 

I have had a lot of study time here. It is so nice to read my scriptures and dive into them. We taught a bunch of lessons in Dutch this week and they all went well. Yesterday, Me, Elder Bean, and Elder Bosco skyped with a kid in Belgium, named Phillip. He is 19 years old and will go on a mission soon. It was so fun! We just spoke Dutch to him for like 20 minutes. 

Time here has gone so fast! There have been tough times, and great times, but they are all good times. All of my teachers here are so great. They all just love to have fun and think of creative ways to teach us. My zone is literally the best. We all get along and love being around each other. I'm pretty bummed that I cant watch Utah lose this week and BYU win ;) but I'm sure I will hear all about it :)

One scripture that I have found this week that stuck out to me is : St. Luke 10:19-20. I love his scripture because It is for Missionaries. So great. It is so comforting to read scriptures like that. 

I love all you guys, and I am so grateful for your influence and example in my life. Have a great week! Next time I write, I might be in Nederland :)

Ik hou van jullie!

Elder Elkins

 

 

Austin and his companion

 

Elder Elkins & Elder Yocom

Austin and his buddy Gage 

 

 

One Month Down!

I can't believe Austin has been gone for a month already! Time goes by so fast. He's doing so good, and would love your letters. His address is on the right side, under Address-haha. Missionaries love words of encouragement! You all know that :)

So here's his weekly email!

One Month Down! Time goes so fast here! I can't believe that I leave in less than two weeks. I get my travel plans this Thursday or Friday, and then I will know when, and where I am flying on my way to the Netherlands! Dutch is hard! I can't believe that I will have to only speak that when I get there. I've got some learnin' to do. 

Last week was a good one. Richard G. Scott spoke to us for our Tuesday Night Devotional at the Marriot Center. It was amazing. He spoke on prayer and faith. He said some amazing things that we missionaries needed to hear. The spirit was so strong, and he is such an amazing apostle. For our Sunday Night Devotional at the MTC, Vai Sikahema spoke. He shared a mission story that was unreal and how he enjoyed his mission more than any other experience in his life, even more than the National Championship, and the Miracle Bowl. He is a great guy. He loves BYU so much and it was nice to hear some of his real life stories. 

I'm excited to leave in two weeks, but nervous as well. I cant believe that I'm a missionary now and that I wear this nametag on my chest every day. Its so amazing. I love all of the letters everyone sends me. They help me so much. Thank you everyone. 

I hope you're all doing good. Keep me updated on what you are all doing! Pray for me :)

Ik hou van jullie!

Elder Elkins