Hello again everyone! I hope you all had a great week! This was a very interesting one here in the Netherlands! It has been so warm, actually, very abnormally warm. They were saying that this winter was supposed to be the coldest and snowiest in forever, but actually, we broke heat records last week! It got to 60 degrees on the 4th (I think I told you all that) and that was insane! Felt so good. It is starting to get colder and colder every day though. Today was probably in the 40's. Not bad still! We had a very interesting week. Numbers wise, it was very, very average, but productive wise, it was very productive! We worked a lot with the members this week to get them fired up to reach the Ward Amsterdam goal of new members and to help with missionary work. We had a lot of appointments fall through with investigators though so that is always a bummer. I'll give you my week now!

Monday - We went to Ajax Stadium for P-Day! So freaking cool. I remember railing all my friends and Chad, Todd, Darren, everyone in FIFA in that stadium ;) We then did some shopping, found great stuff, but of course I didn't buy it. Very hard for me to make up my mind with all this great clothes and sales. At night, we went and looked up some former investigators and did some contacting. Very good day. 

Tuesday - We had District Meeting in the morning. Great district meeting and I learned a lot. We have a lot of fun because two districts meet in the Amsterdam Ward Building. You get 20+ missionaries in one building, it's a riot. So fun! There are a lot of fun missionaries here in this mission. It is so great. We then went and looked up Revalino to get an appointment with him, he wasnt home though. We weren't able to meet with him either this week because he was too busy with work he said. Bummer. We then went to go look up a Referral, but they weren't home either, but we knocked a door across the street and here comes this guy with long hair and looks like a bum to the door. He saw who we were, then asked a little about our church, then instantly could tell we were Americans so of course he wanted to talk politics. I don't know anything about politics and quite frankly, I don't care. This guy invited us in to talk to us and right off the bat he asks who we would've voted for in the last elections. We didn't say anything because we weren't there to talk about that. Then he remembered that Mitt Romney is mormon and railed on Mitt so hard. I couldn't believe it. He lived in California for a while and just said some of the weirdest things. Very interesting appointment. We eventually brought it around to the religion and tried to comfort him because he's having a hard time. It ended up being good, but we won't return haha. We then had a great dinner with Familie De Nijs. They make the lekkerste food. Then our appointment with Eric after fell through as well. 

Wednesday - TRANSFER DAYS. But we both stayed here so NORMAL DAY! Had our studies, then we went to Denny's. He is an inactive who we work with. It takes 40 minutes on the bus to get to his house. He, of course, wasn't home. We then did some finding for a bit, then went home to change to normal clothes so we could go to Gerphals and Anickas. The weird video game german guy. He is so sick though honestly haha. We helped him sand his walls to paint and then ate dinner with them. He is really a great cook. So good. Then we traveled home cause it was real late by the time we were done. Today, as a mission, we also started our 90 day feast. This is a whole mission wide thing and we are all reading the Book of Mormon as a mission in 90 days. It is all about Christlike Attributes too so we have questions to answer in our journal and it is going to be great. 

Thursday - Studied, then we went to Luma and Annas house. Anna has breast cancer. I cannot remember if I told you all this yet. She wanted us to come over and just comfort her and have a great time. She is so positive about it and so amazing. Luma is great too! She is reading in the BoM and asking a lot of questions. Such a strong member already! We told Anna about hunting in American and she freaked. She honestly didn't know that it was a huge sport. So funny. She railed us about it too. We did a lot of finding and look ups after, then went to familie Zoneveld for dinner. Great day, then had a lesson with Aspacia. She is from Curacou and Surinam. We taught her about the BoM cause we didn't have a lot of time. She loves Jay-Z so much and also other rap so of course we had a great time there. We have another appointment with her this week! 

Friday - Studies, Look ups, then we had a lesson with Marcel. We taught him the word of wisdom cause he smokes one after the other. We had Daniel come with us and this was great. We finally got Marcel to decide to think about baptism and he said he wants to quit smoking if we can help him. WHAT A MIRACLE! We have an appointment with him on Friday to make a Quit Smoking Plan. This will be so great. I'm so pumped! Then we had to go back home to do Weekly/Transfer planning. This always takes a while, but we made some killer plans and have great goals. I'm excited!

Saturday- Studies, then went and did a look up, We then had to find service to do for someone who we don't know. We were challenged by our District Leader to do so. We couldn't find anyone, because everyone doesn't want help or something haha. Then we went to Daniels to make homemade pizza and make him a missionary plan.

Sunday- Great day. I love church! We had a typicall sunday of finding and look ups. Felt the spirit strong and had a good day. 

This past week was a good one, minus all the fall throughs. I am so grateful for everything I have experienced on my mission to this point. I love it so much and I honestly don't think other missions live up to this standard ;) This next week will be incredible and I have a lot of personal goals and things that I will change about me, to help the people of this mission better. I just need to be the best me, then the Lord can use me at my full potential! I'm so grateful for you all, and I look forward to getting your letters and emails this week! Love you all so much. Have a great week.

Elder Elkins

 

Happy New Year from the Netherlands!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2014! Wow, I didn't think that I would ever say that... haha. Time is going unreal fast. I cannot believe that it is 2014! So crazy. This past week has been another full of Holidays and craziness. Life here in Holland has been insane! It doesn't help that half of the people that liver here are of the Middle Eastern ethnicity ;) grapje. Well, here is my week! 

Monday, we helped ward members pack up their truck to move to Germany, then we shopped and emailed the rest of the day. Tuesday, we had a fun district meeting. We had to be in by 4 oclock on Tuesday afternoon because it is too dangerous to proselyte after 4 on New Years Eve here. Everyone travels to Amsterdam from around the world to celebrate New Years because supposedly it is the craziest in the world with fireworks and everything. This country spend over 75 Million Euros on FireWorks this year. How crazy is that! Let me tell you, IT WAS INSANE! Everyone said that it would be crazy, but it exceeded my expectations. After district meeting, we went and as two combined districts and blitzed Amsterdam... aka we all just paired off and contacted people for two hours. I went with Elder Bishop. He is one of my favorite people on this mission and he is the Zone Leader. Such a great guy! Then we had to be in our apartment by 4 oclock. I have been slacking a bit on my Journal so I got caught up in there, and wrote a few letters during this time. We also ordered a single large pizza for 15 euros. Good thing it was good. We went to bed at 10:30, but I set the alarm for 11:55 so I wouldnt miss the fireworks. Fireworks were going crazy all day and we were lucky we were able to fall asleep. At 12;00, I'm pretty sure Amsterdam blew up. It was honestly one of the most unbelievable things I have ever seen. We watched fireworks from all over and heard huge explosions, then went to bed. On Wednesday, I went on exchanges with Elder Kemp. We had a great day and taught a couple lessons. We taught Marcel, the crazy guy, and that went well. Then we went to Familie Paraguas house. They live in Amsterdam area and they are from the Phillipines. So cool. We did a huge gourmet and it was delicious! Such a fun day. We also were able to get contact with Ibrahim. He is the investigator who moved to france for the Holidays but I felt like we should knock on his door to see if he was home. He was home and he let us come in! He said that he got home a few hours earlier. This was a miracle because we didnt know when he would come home or anything! He committed to coming to church and bringing his 11 year old son. He told us that this church is something he really wants to consider because it is a great environment to raise his son! Very cool. On Thursday, I was finally back with Elder Yocom ;) Seperation Anxiety. We cannot be seperated haha. Today, we went an did some finding, look ups, then we went to Annikas and Gerphals. They are members and are a very fun couple. We ate lekker food, then they made us stay and play a card game with them. I was curious if we were allowed, but the District Leader and Zone Leader were there and they wanted to stay, so whatever.. haha. It is called Munchkins and Monsters or something haha. I felt like the biggest noob because Gerphal is the video game nerd and he is a chubby guy too and he said I would love it so that stung.... Lol :) Fun night, but our appointment with Eric fell through. That was a bummer! I wanted to teach him! On Friday, I went to Brussels, Belgium for my second time to pick up my ID! This was great! I went down in the van with other missionaries and just had a great time. Brussels is a beautiful city. I came back around 5 oclock just in time for the ward new years party. It is a 3 hour drive to Brussels and then 3 hours back so we had a lot of time in the car. It started raining and hailing so hard on the way back! Everyone was pulling over, but alles goed! Very fun :) The ward activity was great. I met two chinese students and talked to them about the church. They are great and love the NBA. I asked both of them who their favorite team was and they said "The Houston Rockets"... You all know why they love them haha. Jeremy Lin. This was a dance party and the ward members were having a lot of fun. Mostly the weird ward members danced, but it really entertained us missionaries! On Saturday, We went to Family Becks house at 10:00 with the other missionaries and the ward mission leader. Family Beck is from Provo and they moved here for at least a year for his work. Gosh they are so sick. He dresses like a straight european and looks a lot like Brooks from the batchelor. They live in an incredible house in downtown Amsterdam. His work paid for it. So sick. They are great people! We just talked about the ward mission plan because Brother Beck wants to help out with it! So great of him. After, Elder Yocom and I still had to do weekly planning because we couldn't on Friday. This was a great session and we made some great goals. This next week will be a successful one! On Sunday, Elder Yocom and I had to teach the Young Mens class. Wow! So fun! We were asked to teach "De taken aan de Heilige Geest"aka the tasks of the holy ghost. We did a little activity with a blindfold first, then we taught straight from scripture then had them all write down experiences with the Holy Ghost on their own papers. This was honestly great. I love teaching it! Hopefully we get to another time! Church was great and there were some powerful testimonies given. None of our investigators showed up which was lame, but we were able to try to meet with them after church. Nobody was home, and same with our look ups! Lame day, but still a missionary day! It was also very, very cold. Which is always good. We had a dinner appointment with Lucky and that was fun. It always is. She really likes me and Elder Yocom. We had a great, busy, weird, but fun week. Elder Yocom is a pleasure to work with. Last night was transfer calls, and we are staying together here in Zaandam for another 6 weeks. So cool. It will be so fun to continue to work with one of my best friends! We have a lot of great plans for this upcoming transfer, and we will baptize a few people! I have had a lot of huge mind switch moments this week which will make me better. A lot of things in my mind really clicked and I'm really figuring everything out. I'm very grateful for the Savior and all the strength that he gives each one of us to do the things that we desire. Without Him, I am absolutely nothing. For P-Day today, we went to the Ajax Amsterdam Stadium, which is where the world famous Ajax team plays, and also the Dutch International Team. This is one of the most popular stadiums in the world! We toured it and were able to see the locker rooms, go on the field, and explore. We got some great photos! We have had a great day. It was also 55 degrees. Holy cow it was unreal. I just rocked a sweater all day and honestly it was beautiful and warm. It is about to get real cold though!

I really hope that you all had a great week also. Thank you all so much for the emails and letters that you have sent. It is so great to hear from you all and I hope to continue to hear from you all! I want to share with you guys this scripture with you guys, that I am dedicating to this next transfer. 1 Peter 5:1-4.... "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: 2. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; 3. Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. 4. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."I Love this scripture. I hope you guys can also use it to your advantage and help others around you who you love also come to the restored truths of this wonderful gospel. The gospel is who I am, and it is who we all are. We need to remember our stature with God because he put us in these situations to help other people and build His kingdom. I love you all very much and I hope you all have a great week! 

Elder Elkins

CHRISTMAS WEEK! Holy cow. 1 out of 2. Movin' on :)

I hope that you all had a Merry, Merry Christmas! It is so weird that I was in Holland for this last Christmas and you were all having a normal one in Utah, but I promise that mine was better :) Such a unique way to celebrate Christmas. Visiting members, non members, inactives, contacting, and just helping others is the only way to celebrate a REAL Christmas. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely hard, but the only cure for thinking about home is WORK. I had a great week, and I really hope that you all did too. On Monday, we had a much needed P-Day. We really just chilled around and went to stores. It was nice. Cleaned the apartment, made some plans for the week, and just had a great day. We packed our day on Tuesday full of appointments so that we wouldn't be home sick since it was Christams Eve. Wow, what a day. Woke up, studies, then went to Amsterdam for District Meeting. This was a good one, then we went straight to an appointment with an inactive member who lives alone and was going to have a sad Christmas. We were planning on watching "Joy to the World"with him, but he wasn't home. So lame. Then we went to another inactives. He is 83 years old and cannot come to church. Elder Yocom and I called him and he was so happy that we would be able to come over on Christmas Eve. He asked if we could give him the Sacrament and of course we said yes! Such an amazing experience. We watched "Joy to the World"with him and the spirit was soo strong. After this appointment, we went out and did some contacting and focused it on Christmas. Such a great idea and it really helped us focus on others Christmas's. Such a great day. At night, we went to the ward activity for Christmas Eve. Sung, ate, listened to talks, and had a great time. I really learned this Christmas that you can be homesick, feel left out because I'm here on a mission and you all are normal, and yeah, just feel like that, or I can see that feeling like that wont change anything, but helping others WILL change their Christmas for the better. This is what Elder Yocom and I did. We can pout, but that won't change our Christmas to be better. I'm glad that we both looked at it like that. At night, of course I had to open my pajamas from my parents. So fun :) On Wednesday, we woke up, we were in awe because it was Christmas, then just sat there for a minute, then opened presents from our families! So GREAT! I'm so grateful for my family and for everyone who sent me Christmas letters! Ward Members, Family, Friends, Everyone! Thank You! After this, we went to our investigators, Marcels. We also watched Joy to the World with him. He loved it! He is a lonely 53 year old at home and said that we helped him a lot for his Christmas. He said that he felt the spirit and that he loves Jesus. That was great. We are teaching him the 2nd lesson on Wednesday. Right after this, we went to Daniels house. Daniel is a member here in Amsterdam who invited us over to skype and eat with his family. Skyping was incredible! So amazing to see my amazing family. Something that I will never forget. I will also get 3 more times to skype before I get home! (gulp) Dinner was great. After Dinner, we went into Daniels man cave and watched "Dispicable me 2"! So fun! President told us we can watch a disney movie if the member invites us to. Of course Daniel invited us to! :) I love that movie! Elder Yocom and I laughed the whole time. It made it a lot easier, because yes, skyping did make me think a lot about home. haha. All is good now :) Thursday, this was 2nd Christmas in the Netherlands. They celebrate Christmas on the 25th and 26th. So weird! We just met as a zone and made 2014 Calendars for the old people in the Haarlem ward. This was great but it took so long! Right after the activity, we went to a members home to eat and celebrate with them. This was very interesting. They arent married, but they are both members. They are in their early 30s probably. Maybe late 20s. The man is a weirdo. He was being like rude to us, so of course, me being me, I talk to him about what he likes to open him up. He loves video games. He railed on my and Yocom cause we like Xbox and Fifa and he told us that we aren't video gamers. I said "Hopefully not"lol. What a great night. We became friends with him though cause we pretended like we knew about his games. So funny. On Friday, We taught Revalino. HOLY COW! So great. He has been taught everything so me and Elder Yocom went in there and railed him about why is isnt coming to church. He told us that its too long so we told him just come for freaking sacrament meeting. He says that he always feels the spirit and that he is smoking a lot less now. I told him we would fast with him on Sunday for an answer and he said thats a great idea. We did a lot of finding the rest of the day and stuff. We were going to go to Lumas and her mom Anas house, but I got a call from Ana at about 5 at night and she told me that she found out that day that she had Breast Cancer. Holy cow. What a sad night that was! We offered a blessing, but her son is being weird  and won't let her have one yet. On Saturday, we went to Permerand and did some look ups and had a great finding day. We found a lot this day and it was the most beautiful weather outside. I feel bad for you all in Utah with snow! Dont worry, this place gets worse in Jan, and Feb. I'm not excited haha. On Sunday, we went to the Church. Elder Yocom and I had to suprise teach the investigators class. We had no idea haha. It went super well though! Revalino came to church finally! I sat next to him in Sacrament Meeting. There was a talk about finding answers through prayer and Revalino loved it. The following talk was about how the wards new goal is 250 new members by 2017. Revalino said "Wow" then looked at me and said "I'm going to be one of them :)"Holy Freaking Cow! My heart pounded and I was sooooo happy. Things like this remind me why I am here! He is so happy, quiting smoking, and wants to change his life. I'm so happy for him. We are going to hopefully baptize him on January 19th! What a great day. We had to do Weekly Planning on Sunday as well so we went home and did that. So awesome. Today, we helped someone move and then shopped now here. It was fun helping them move, even on PDay. This last week was great.

I hope you all had a great week as well. I'm sure you all did! This whole mission thing is going fast. Now over 5 months! Thats pretty crazy! It was a good week, but also a very hard, distracting week. I just need to remember why I am here and that I was called here by God. I was reminded that today. We were in a members cars coming back from service. I looked out over the fields with cows and sheep with canals and blue skies. Then all of the sudden I see a beautiful windmill and I thought "This is the only place for me". Confirmed. I'm so glad to be here. I have learned so much and I'm so grateful for it. It is hard, and I sometimes wonder if I will ever be a normal human again, but that doesnt matter. This is my calling now! I love you all so much, I'm grateful that you love me! Please send me letters! PS: Elder Yocom and I are staying together next transfer :) 

Fijne Week Verder,

Elder Elkins