Wednesday, September 25, 2013



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


 
     

No comments:

Post a Comment