September 29

Title: Interviews.

So. The weeks are going by really fast and I don't even know what is happening. I guess I'll start with today.

Today was preparation day but we had interviews with President this morning in Den Haag. My companion was talking for like 50 minutes, which means I got to enjoy the company of his wife for those 50 minutes and it was really neat. I told her that I wished I could stay a lot longer on my mission because I feel that there are things that I haven't had time to learn and skills I haven't had time to master and she asked me some really soul searching questions about my desires, about my motivations, and really about my relationship with Christ. She said that we can know, in detail, the sequence and order of the events in Christ's life and in His Atonement. We can know what the Atonement covers and what the enabling aspects are, what the forgiveness and justice and mercy requirements are that it satisfies, and what that means for us and our salvation--but we don't know the full measure of that until we understand that Christ is our friend. It was real cool. Then President's after mission advice for me was to go to the college where the football team has the best win record. Spiritual boost today: acquired.

Since we were in Den Haag, we went to the Haagse Markt, which is apparently the biggest street market in Europe. Cool, eh? Maybe they just say that, but...I believe it. I got some skirts. It was nice.

Also, we had this dinner appointment last night and they made us this Suriname dish called Roti. I don't know how I've made it this long in this country without Roti, but it's a disgrace. It is seriously the best thing ever. And you eat it with your hands. Score.

Well,folks. It's been real. Til next week.

Dag!

xoxo

Zuster Hoff

DREAM BIG ! sept 22

Title: Dream Big

So the song says: dream big, as big as the ocean blue, because when you dream it might come true. 

the other song says: keep on dreaming even if it breaks your heart. 

then of course some songs say things like a dream is a wish your heart makes. 

these are all really good things about dreams. 

I always told everybody that I had two mission dreams. The one was to serve in Belgium. The other was to train. And now that I'm on my very last transfer, it is plain to see that neither of those things are going to happen. And that made me really sad last week because I felt like coming on my mission, I wasn't ablet o make anything of myself. I feel like I have loved my mission but that it has gone way too fast and that I didn't have enough time to do all the things I wanted to do and learn all the things I wanted to learn and develop into the person I need to develop into in this phase of my life. Of course progression continues after the mission, but there are some skills as a missionary that I can only perfect AS a missionary. And it's been a little disheartening, especially after leaving a city I thought I was for sure going to stay in and not having any time to say goodbye. 

But when I got to Zoetermeer I felt so good. It's been a healing process for sure. But it feels like home here. I know that I don't know these people and have never met them but they are all so familiar to me. I feel so at home. the work is going incredibly, the ward is amazing, and let's be honest, it's probably because the temple is in Zoetermeer, but there's just an enchantment in this city. And I know I'm supposed to be here with these people at this time. And I reflected on a time that I was in Assen many transfers ago and I said that I wanted to end my mission in Zoetermeer. And I read back to a diary page in my journal from 7 May 2013 that says "I talked to Zuster Spencer today and she says she feels we're going to be companions in the field. That would be SO cool! We would have SO much fun!" And I just think-- dreams do come true. Maybe they're not the dreams I thought I had. Maybe they aren't the dreams that I thought I had. But they're the dreams God seeth fit to grant me. And I am so incredibly thankful and blessed that I am in a situation where I KNOW that I am where I am supposed to be and with who I am supposed to be because God is the one who called me here Himself. And what a blessing it is that I love it. 

I wrote a song about 2 months ago with a chorus that said "I'll stay where you need me to stay, I remind myself that in Your arms, I'm always safe, yes, I'm okay. I've got your grace and a small taste of your love. And if the storms come, as they may, and they rage, and I fall flat on my face--you're hand I'll take, to get back up and stay. Steadfast I pray."

I love my Savior and the strength He gives me to bloom where I'm planted. 

Love you all!

xoxo

Zuster Hoff

september 15

Title: I Don't Always See Sunflowers

What happened this week? Whitewash. Stolen bike. Elder Ballard. Blessings. Rotterdam Philharmonic. Baptismal date with Eritrea. Mouse proofed house.

Yep. So The transfer call came yesterday. The transfer call that said we'd be being white washed. Let's get that out of the way right now. My comp is leaving to go home. I am going to Zoetermeer. And my new companion is going to be ZUSTER SPENCER--we've prophesied of our eventual companionship since the MTC, and sure enough, our last transfer, it has come to pass! We're both pretty stoked. 

My bike got stolen. So I'll be moving to my fifth city and my fifth bike. Luckily one of the sisters going home is real happy to give me her bike. I love her. 

Elder Ballard came. It was incredible. I learned so much from him. Like what? You have no time to be anything but great. Teach the message and importance of the Restoration. Make people FEEL your testimony. Make sure they know how to PRAY. Man, that man is an apostle of God, I'll tell you what. And I got to shake his hand! I was the very last one. Best for last, right? :) 

I got a blessing! My first blessing on my mission. I know that the priesthood is real, it helped so much! I usually don't ask for blessings but I did and it was so good! God wants to help us and he is just waiting until we are willing to humble ourselves enough to acknowledge that we cant help ourselves as much as He can. It was wonderful. The priesthood holder said afterwards Ï don't always see sunflowers when I give blessings." It was funny in context. But also cool. 

A couple in our ward are from Russia and they are world famous violin players and they LOVE us so the husband is first chair in the Rotterdam Philharmonic and so they got us tickets AND permission from President to go! It was insane. I ached for my bass again. 

The Eritrean family dad wants to get baptized! They all have hearts of gold. We did an activity with them with footsteps and had them follow the footsteps to the picture of Jesus and on the footsteps were the steps of the gospel--the little girl did it first and when she got to Jesus, she kissed the photo. It was PRECIOUS. I am going to miss them hardcore. 

Aaand we also mouse proofed our house. all our food is in containers and we don't know what is where. So it'll be an adventure for these new sisters coming in. 

I love you friends! Have a great week! 

xoxo

Zuster Hoff

September 8

Title: Nothing is Veilig!

Nothing is safe!

Well I don't have that much time this week to tell all the things I wanna tell but GUESS WHAT. We went stealth ninja style to catch some mice and using the trashcantilted on it's side, we did catch a mouse. We thought we heard her so we lifted it up normally and peeked in and you know what we found? Sure enough,  a mouse. AND THEN ALSO HER FIVE BABIES THAT SHE JSUT HAD. So we took out the trash (yeah, companion's idea, I don't know what I would've done differently but now they're out of the house at least...) and cleaned the whole kitched because nothing is veilig, and after we cleaned everything the mice could have touched...we sat on the couch for a few minutes and then we saw it....another mouse came out onto the counter. And then there was one under the fridge. THERE IS A MOUSE ARMY. SO we stayed up trying to catch the others, but with no luck. These mice are like super trained or something. I remembered that once I caught a mouse using duct tape so we put that all over and the mice avoided that, too! So it seems like this mouse in the house saga is to be continued...and until then, NOTHING IS VEILIG! 

In other news, we set a baptismal date with Curicao! He's the coolest! We also brought the elders to give Our Eritrean family blessings. It is so sweet because even though they don't really understand english or dutch, they are so sensitive to the spirit. They speak the language of the spirit, and that is the most important. We've also been doing some really cool things like going to cheese farms and windmills and other fun places before my comp goes home. It's been a party. Today we're going to that place where i's like Holland in miniature. It's called Maduradam or something. It's gonna be really cool.

We also had this really cool miracle this week where we were knocking doors like all dat and this lady belled us in without knowing who we were and then when she heard that we were missionaries she invited us right on in and we taught her the restoration and she said 6 weeks ago she left her church and has been looking for a new one and wants to come to our church and has been asking God and that we were sent from him. She said she'd come to church and it was a really cool miracle! then she called two days later ad dropped us. 

Such is the life. 

And it's WONDERFUL. I wouldn't trade it for anythin--and I ask the Lord everynight ....FOR JUST ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE! 

That's today! 

I love you all!

Zuster Hoff

September 1

Title: A Mouse in the House

I know what you're probably thinking--"wow, Zuster Hoff has decided to do a Dr. Seuss style blog post" and you would be wrong. 

Of course the other possibility is that you were thinking "Oh, no. There's a mouse in Zuster Hoff and Zuster Mizell's apartment." And on that note, you would be right. Not only do we have a mouse, but we have the smartest mouse ever. You would think, "hey let's get a trap and put peanut butter on it. Mice like peanut butter." And then when it doesn't eat the peanut butter, you'd be like "well maybe he likes cheese better." And then when that doesn't work and you figure, "Oh, he's a Dutch mouse, he must like stroopwafels" and you try to catch him with a stroopwafel, HE STILL WONT JUST FALL FOR IT. 

So then you give in to mouse poison. But then, I came out to get a drink of water in the middle of the night and there he was. Running across the counter--out of sight. Indicating that he is still alive. And it turns out that nothing is going to kill this mouse. He is invicible. So we have decided to replace his name, Mickey, and call him Albert. 

And on that note, I don't really know a good segway (is that how you spell that word?) into talking about other things this week, but I guess I could say that sometimes, we are the mouse that the world is trying to catch, and often times we have to outsmart the traps, and the poison that comes our way. And sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's hard but it's always possible. My companion always says that there are three things in life that are sure-- 1. taxes 2. death and 3. the Atonement. And with the Atonement we can overcome all obstacles, (even the first two. haha just kidding about the taxes I have no idea how to overcome that one.) 

This week in missionary work was good. We found lost sheep (many who didn't wanna come back to the fold :( ) and we had some great lessons with Eritrea! They are the cutest. They couldn't come to church this week but they wanted to--they had family visiting. But our other investigator from Curicao came! He was even an HOUR early. That's what's up.

Yep yep yep, we're just rollin on a river...or..canal...but rollin on a canal doesn't have the same flow. 

wow...that opened the door for a lot more puns that I am NOT GOING TO MAKE. 

Okay. Love you all!

xoxo

ZusterHoff 

Auguat 25

Title: "Wij zijn ook Thank You."

The title literally translated means "we are also 'thank you'" You may be thinking--that is not correct verb use there. You would be right. But when the cutest little Eritrean family tells you that they are also thank you, you do not do anything but smile and possibly cry because of how unbelievably cute they are. 

This week, we met with them three times. The third one was at church because they came to church! And they liked it! IT WAS SO GOOD. They said they felt so good and it felt so good to have them there. 

The first time we met with them they showed us pictures of their 9 yeear old son in the hospital. They said that the first time we met them, it was the day that he got out of the hospital and that when we talked to them for the first time, they knew that we had a message for them from God. They said that in their country, there were no people that would teach them about understanding scripture and that they were so happy that we could help them. Then he asked a heartbreaking question of why the Book of Mormon wasn't translated in Trigrenia. 

The next appointment we apologized that the Book of Mormon wasn't in their first language, but he said it didn't matter. That it was in Amharic and that was good enough. and that if it wasn't in Amharic, they'd learn it in Dutch or in English, but no matter what, they were learning it. 

Every time before we leave we thank them for being the sweetest people in the world and letting us in their home to teach them and being so willing to learn, but when they say it back--when they look into our eyes and say "wij zijn ook thank you" we know that as much as we are thankful for them, they are even more thankful for us. I've only ever felt that few times in my mission--but it's beautiful to see that what we are offering people is a way to eternal life. Eternal joy. And eternal families. And it's something that they could never really repay us for. And because they recognize this-- because they are some of the few that realize how important this is-- I am also thank you.

xoxo

Zuster Hoff

August 18

Title: Out of Africa

Is that the title of the book? I don't remember. But I wasn't trying to play off of a book title, I've just had some really special experiences with Africans this week.

So I explained about the Eritrian family (who speaks Tegrinia) and the other man from the Congo who stopped us outside the library last week, right? Cool. Well, the plot thickens.

That sounds like it's bad. But it's actually so so good! Well. Maybe. 

It has been a super good week. Things with the Eritrian family are going SPLENDIDLY. They were going to come to church but didn't have enough money and didn't tell us until it was too late to find a ride (20 minutes before sacrament meeting.) So sad. But they are just the cutest! They want to learn so bad! We went over to help them move and asked what we could do to help and they said "just teach us. we just want to learn" and the next appointment we watched the Joseph Smith film and they wanted to keep it so they could watch it again. They are so good. Oh, my heart.

then we met with the man from outside the library. We will call him Congo, beacuse I'm feeling quite uncreative. We met with him and even had this member come with who is just fantastic and it was so good, and he wants to get baptized, but he was told that he could not get baptized if he was planning to break commandments.  The thing is, he is apparently the president of this organization that wants to kill the president of the Congo. He was at one point years ago a judge and he had some sort of power struggle with the President and apparently the President wants him dead too and anyway. It was kindof an interesting situation--he's a really smart, friendly guy--the stake president was a fellowshipper way back when and said that he's harmless, but...yeah. So he had all of his books out that he had recieved when he was taught years ago by the other missionaries, so I had coincidentally read in the Doctrine and Convenants 98 that morning about forgiveness, and luckily I can read French, so I opened up to it in his triple and told him to read it. He loved it. He even got up to get a pen so that he could mark it. We told him about God making it possible for us to keep His commandments. And even though he didn't speak much Dutch or English, it was a pretty powerful lesson.

I love the principles of the gospel--especially the principle of forgiveness. Forgiving is freeing. Being forgiven is freeing. What a great hope it is to know that we can be forgiven and that as we forgive others and see them for who they are, they can become who they "ought to be."

brb becoming who I ought to be

xoxo

Zuster Hoff

Singing in the Rain July 28

Title: Singing in the Rain

So we had zone training last week and that was the first time that I have honestly not received any mail whatsoever from anyone. No letters. I remembered an elder at the beginning of my mission who only had a few transfers left and he hadn't gotten any mail that conference and he assured me that there comes a point that we all enter into the forgotten phase where we've been out too long and nobody wants to keep contact anymore, and I believed it would come, but I hoped it wouldn't. But now I have gotten there. And it's sad to be in the forgotten phase. (Plus, I'm pretty sure none of my companions will ever be there...they're all way too cool.) 

But anyway, this last week was Pioneer Day! And of course I had to call everybody in my district and give them some pioneer trivia--such as how long ago was Salt Lake City declared as "the place"? [1847] What was Brigham Young ill with when entering into the valley? [Mountain Fever] What did the pioneer children do as they walked and walked and walked and walked? [Sing. According to the primary song, right?] 

So I think of these pioneer children and families--not only possibly forgotten for long term because they weren't coming "home" after a year and a half, but also unable to recieve mail, and they sang. They suffered a lot of hard things and yet they still found joy in their journey. They had purpose. They had cause. I was especialls touched while reading "Our Heritage" and seeing the testimony of one of those men in the Martin Handcart Company.

“I was in that company and my wife was in it. . . . We suffered

beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure

and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company

utter a word of criticism? . . . [We] came through with the absolute

knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our

extremities.

“I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary

from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead

of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill

slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give

up, for I cannot pull the load through it. . . . I have gone on to that

sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have

looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my

eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there.

“Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither

then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become

acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was

privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company.”

I am privileged to be in the Belgium/Netherlands mission being a modern day pioneer but way way more fortunate.

Last night it rained like CRAZY and it was my first thunderstorm to experience in this country and it was BEAUTIFUL. I loved it! But this morning we were trapped inside for a while as our door stoop became a beach for the sea of the fallen rain. And it was beautiful.

xoxo

ZusterHoff