Elder Austin 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