Monday, went to the Van Gogh museum, so let's start there. It was pretty awesome to see all of the famous work of a renowned artist. The museum mainly is all about analyzing how he made each piece, so I kinda wish there would have been more about his life and inspirations and stuff. Anyways, that was the first two floors. Then, we got up to the 3rd and 4th floor which is actually dedicated to some other artist WHO IS A PERV! Ha ha I couldn't stop laughing when us four missionaries (us and the Sisters) walk up the stairs and all of a sudden there's just a naked woman drawn there. Whoops! Back downstairs! So that was the end of that. But it's ridiculous how many depictions of naked women you see all over Europe. Ridiculous. Anyways, the rest of the museum was cool though!
My whole district and my zone leaders are all super fun to be with. I'm building up some really good friendships here and a few of us have begun to make plans for a creative team after the mission =) One of my zone leaders wants to be a screenwriter (some of his ideas really are not bad at all), one of the sisters wants to be a film producer (she's actually very smart about films already and very driven as well), and then there's me hopefully with some talent as a music composer. The point is though, is that I've been wondering about all of these friendships I've been making here on the mission and wondering if there's potential for work opportunities with these guys in the future. That'd be super cool. But I'm still not sure what I want to do after my mission.... We'll find out someday I guess!
Miracles for this week include, but are not limited to:
The other day, we were helping these people move and the sister missionaries told us that they were wondering if we could come over and give their investigator a priesthood blessing. So we gave them our appointment with a new investigator and told them that we'd go to theirs. They go to our appointment, call us, tell us she's not there, so they're gonna come with us to the blessing. We wait a bit for them, pray before we go in, and plan to have a lesson about the Priesthood before we give the blessing. This African couple has been investigating (kinda) the church for several years off and on again. So the lesson begins and the husband keeps just stopping everything and going on little rants, mentioning racism, asking questions, contradicting his own points, etc. So I prayed a little in my head and remembered all of those scriptures about courageously opening your mouth and letting the Lord give you the words you need to say in that very moment (theme of my mission experience I think). So I do and the Lord totally helped guide the rest of the lesson in a way that opened both of them up and got them to think and listen more to what we were saying. Tons of awesome moments with that, totally all led by the Spirit in the way that lesson was taught. But the coolest part was when I felt prompted to show them a picture of our family. So I pulled out my camera and showed them our family picture. Africans LOVE it when they find out that Mom and Dad adopted Chris and Carly. So I just explained that they were my brother and sister and so was that weird looking white kid (hey wasn't he in a movie? No that was Scott... Oh wait). Just kiddin =D but then I told them how we were all sealed together as an eternal family and how we could experience that love and happiness for ever and live with our Heavenly Father. When I asked them a few questions about how they would feel if they could have that too and stuff like that, the Spirit was sooo strong and they loved the rest of what we testified about. Then we gave the blessing and I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to use the Priesthood to do that. I absolutely felt like the Lord was speaking through me and telling her exactly what she needed to hear, but the thing is that it was still my wording and way of speaking. The Lord works through us, using our talents, abilities, attributes, etc. Sometimes I think I used to be confused and think that it was the Lord's exact wording in the way that he would speak it to us, but I understand better now the way that he guides us to help others. Spirit was so amazingly strong that whole lesson and during the blessing. Afterwards, the Sisters said how awesome it was, how impressed they were with us, and how that couple had never opened up near as much as they did that day. Super cool. God knows when his children are ready!
Also, one thing I really admire about Elder Larsen is that he is a killer contacter. He does so good at getting our cards out to tons and tons of people on the streets and starting up conversations with people at tram stops, on the buses, etc. But we balance each other out really well. He's great at starting the conversations and then I come in, make it more relaxed and friendly, ask lots of questions about them, etc. So between the two of us, we are seeing so many awesome experiences and miracles with contacting people!! Last night we were actually walking to the tram stop after our dinner appointment when he started up a conversation with a couple and they were about to keep walking, but then I came in and ka-pow! Conversation lasted for a long time and got them really interested about the Church. English guy, Dutch girl by the way. Woo hoo feeling good =) We both do good at keeping conversations with people, but we definitely help each other out all the time. Then we're at the tram stop, Elder Larsen starts talking to another young couple (this time they're both German) and I come in and chillify the conversation =D Went really well on the tram with them as well, then they get off and RIGHT AFTER another young couple sits down in their place and just starts talking with us! Peruvian girl and Dutch guy. I joked around with them the whole tram ride, had a really good time, and then got them somemormon.org cards. It's awesome!!! Gods just throwing opportunities at us now that we're doing so well as a companionship and working as hard as we can. I love it. Super super cool. I think a lot of these blessings are coming especially from our prayers, obedience, and faith. Amen!
Well I love you guys and hope everything goes well this week! Thanks for your prayers and updates and everything! Dui
My whole district and my zone leaders are all super fun to be with. I'm building up some really good friendships here and a few of us have begun to make plans for a creative team after the mission =) One of my zone leaders wants to be a screenwriter (some of his ideas really are not bad at all), one of the sisters wants to be a film producer (she's actually very smart about films already and very driven as well), and then there's me hopefully with some talent as a music composer. The point is though, is that I've been wondering about all of these friendships I've been making here on the mission and wondering if there's potential for work opportunities with these guys in the future. That'd be super cool. But I'm still not sure what I want to do after my mission.... We'll find out someday I guess!
Miracles for this week include, but are not limited to:
The other day, we were helping these people move and the sister missionaries told us that they were wondering if we could come over and give their investigator a priesthood blessing. So we gave them our appointment with a new investigator and told them that we'd go to theirs. They go to our appointment, call us, tell us she's not there, so they're gonna come with us to the blessing. We wait a bit for them, pray before we go in, and plan to have a lesson about the Priesthood before we give the blessing. This African couple has been investigating (kinda) the church for several years off and on again. So the lesson begins and the husband keeps just stopping everything and going on little rants, mentioning racism, asking questions, contradicting his own points, etc. So I prayed a little in my head and remembered all of those scriptures about courageously opening your mouth and letting the Lord give you the words you need to say in that very moment (theme of my mission experience I think). So I do and the Lord totally helped guide the rest of the lesson in a way that opened both of them up and got them to think and listen more to what we were saying. Tons of awesome moments with that, totally all led by the Spirit in the way that lesson was taught. But the coolest part was when I felt prompted to show them a picture of our family. So I pulled out my camera and showed them our family picture. Africans LOVE it when they find out that Mom and Dad adopted Chris and Carly. So I just explained that they were my brother and sister and so was that weird looking white kid (hey wasn't he in a movie? No that was Scott... Oh wait). Just kiddin =D but then I told them how we were all sealed together as an eternal family and how we could experience that love and happiness for ever and live with our Heavenly Father. When I asked them a few questions about how they would feel if they could have that too and stuff like that, the Spirit was sooo strong and they loved the rest of what we testified about. Then we gave the blessing and I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to use the Priesthood to do that. I absolutely felt like the Lord was speaking through me and telling her exactly what she needed to hear, but the thing is that it was still my wording and way of speaking. The Lord works through us, using our talents, abilities, attributes, etc. Sometimes I think I used to be confused and think that it was the Lord's exact wording in the way that he would speak it to us, but I understand better now the way that he guides us to help others. Spirit was so amazingly strong that whole lesson and during the blessing. Afterwards, the Sisters said how awesome it was, how impressed they were with us, and how that couple had never opened up near as much as they did that day. Super cool. God knows when his children are ready!
Also, one thing I really admire about Elder Larsen is that he is a killer contacter. He does so good at getting our cards out to tons and tons of people on the streets and starting up conversations with people at tram stops, on the buses, etc. But we balance each other out really well. He's great at starting the conversations and then I come in, make it more relaxed and friendly, ask lots of questions about them, etc. So between the two of us, we are seeing so many awesome experiences and miracles with contacting people!! Last night we were actually walking to the tram stop after our dinner appointment when he started up a conversation with a couple and they were about to keep walking, but then I came in and ka-pow! Conversation lasted for a long time and got them really interested about the Church. English guy, Dutch girl by the way. Woo hoo feeling good =) We both do good at keeping conversations with people, but we definitely help each other out all the time. Then we're at the tram stop, Elder Larsen starts talking to another young couple (this time they're both German) and I come in and chillify the conversation =D Went really well on the tram with them as well, then they get off and RIGHT AFTER another young couple sits down in their place and just starts talking with us! Peruvian girl and Dutch guy. I joked around with them the whole tram ride, had a really good time, and then got them somemormon.org cards. It's awesome!!! Gods just throwing opportunities at us now that we're doing so well as a companionship and working as hard as we can. I love it. Super super cool. I think a lot of these blessings are coming especially from our prayers, obedience, and faith. Amen!
Well I love you guys and hope everything goes well this week! Thanks for your prayers and updates and everything! Dui