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