Everyone (here) keeps asking if my mission is going by fast or slow. My answer now is that it feels like I've been in the Netherlands for a lot longer than 6 weeks, but it's also very weird to think I'm already almost 4 months into my mission of 24 months! I'm going into transfer 2 out of 16 (3 out of 17 if you count the MTC... like a weirdo).... Wow. Okay so I don't have as much to write about this week, but I'll try to come up with some interesting stuff. First off, ya'll already know this, but I've been playing basketball every Tuesday with a bunch of non-members, inactives, and one member, and that's been super fun (although also painful). Then, we also often go out with our district or whole zone on P Days to go play either football, soccer, ultimate frisbee, or all of the above! And that is waaaayyyyy fun!!! Some other fun stuff, is each day, after (or while) planning, we always just tell each other stories or talk about life. My personal favorite is pillow talk each night ha ha =D My companion has a mutual crush with a sister here and it's quite the story. So he loves to keep talking about her. He's super trunky (thinks about home stuff a lot). It's hilarious. And we just talk about girls a lot in general and music too. Really actually my companion just loves to always (and I do mean always) either talk about girls or music. Which is always entertaining =) Sometimes we combine the two and improv songs about girls, funny stuff. But don't worry, we don't let it get too much in the way of missionary work =D ha ha
Okay so we've got some awesome investigators. I GOT MY FIRST INVESTIGATOR IN CHURCH THIS LAST SUNDAY!!!! She's the Phillipinian woman who's a little cuckoo, but yeah it was awesome. So that was a cool experience. OH WAIT! Forgot to tell you guys that the transfer calls came and we are indeed staying here in Hengelo with each other and getting a third companion (as we expected). His name is Elder Nielson. Chances are that I'll probably be with Elder Nielson for one more transfer after that in Hengelo too, but who knows. I kind of hope not, because I really wanna see more of other cities! When I go on splits with people to the other cities or for meetings, it's so cool to see how different each city is. Similar, but all so different. It's awesome. Okay anyways, we pick him up this Wednesday and next week I'll tell you what he's like! Okay so we have one new investigator that apparently used to be a drug dealer =D ha ha, but he's super cool. Gave us some freakin hot tea (a type that we can have, and my favorite kind) and my face kept pinching up so bad everytime that scalding hot liquid even came close to my lips. It was ridiculous. Ummm another investigator we have does not believe in prayer at all because he thinks we're like ants to God and can't understand each other. So that's gonna be difficult to help him receive his answer about the Book of Mormon and the Church... But yeah, there's a few others. It's awesome being able to consistently teach these people! And I feel like I'm getting much better at contacting and teaching. But teaching is a super challenge right now. I'm feeling pretty good with the first lesson, but the vocabulary and way of teaching the second lesson about the Plan of Salvation is tricky. And I'll be teaching the third lesson for my first time this week. And we have it planned to teach it to two investigators this week. So wish me luck.
Anyways I don't know if I've told you all this, but let me have a little moment of pride. A lot of elders and members have been telling me that my Dutch was pretty good when I got here for not being in the Netherlands at all and only studying for 6 weeks. And then people still keep telling me that they're impressed with how well I speak. So I'm trying to take it all with a grain of salt, but I'm pretty happy with how much Heavenly Father has answered my prayers and helped me with the language!!! That was and is always one my top concerns here, because yeah, the Spirit is most important when you're talking with people, but being able to say more words is the only way you can really teach, understand, and connect better with people. So I'm trying to do all that I can to keep my progress with Dutch going because I still struggle a lot when people are talking to me, using tons of words that I don't know. It's a lot easier said than done. But thank goodness for all the help that my companion gives me. He's got great Dutch and a great accent too. Which honestly, not all the missionaries who have been out as long as he has, have that gift. So I'm super grateful for him and his help. But I'm still struggling quite a bit with the language at times and am trying to grow with it every day! Woo hoo for the gift of tongues!
Hmm... what are some other things......... Umm cooking is going well. My companion has taught me some good recipes, but I can't really explain them to you guys and they require packets of stuff that's only in the Netherlands. Umm I've been making some really good friends with the elders here and a few of the sisters. It sounds like I'll be skyping you (family) on Christmas! That'll be cool. Ummm yeah.... Okay this is Elder Johnson, signing out. Love you all and thank you all so very very very very very much for each of your letters. I love it when I get lots of letters! Talk to ya next week!
Okay so we've got some awesome investigators. I GOT MY FIRST INVESTIGATOR IN CHURCH THIS LAST SUNDAY!!!! She's the Phillipinian woman who's a little cuckoo, but yeah it was awesome. So that was a cool experience. OH WAIT! Forgot to tell you guys that the transfer calls came and we are indeed staying here in Hengelo with each other and getting a third companion (as we expected). His name is Elder Nielson. Chances are that I'll probably be with Elder Nielson for one more transfer after that in Hengelo too, but who knows. I kind of hope not, because I really wanna see more of other cities! When I go on splits with people to the other cities or for meetings, it's so cool to see how different each city is. Similar, but all so different. It's awesome. Okay anyways, we pick him up this Wednesday and next week I'll tell you what he's like! Okay so we have one new investigator that apparently used to be a drug dealer =D ha ha, but he's super cool. Gave us some freakin hot tea (a type that we can have, and my favorite kind) and my face kept pinching up so bad everytime that scalding hot liquid even came close to my lips. It was ridiculous. Ummm another investigator we have does not believe in prayer at all because he thinks we're like ants to God and can't understand each other. So that's gonna be difficult to help him receive his answer about the Book of Mormon and the Church... But yeah, there's a few others. It's awesome being able to consistently teach these people! And I feel like I'm getting much better at contacting and teaching. But teaching is a super challenge right now. I'm feeling pretty good with the first lesson, but the vocabulary and way of teaching the second lesson about the Plan of Salvation is tricky. And I'll be teaching the third lesson for my first time this week. And we have it planned to teach it to two investigators this week. So wish me luck.
Anyways I don't know if I've told you all this, but let me have a little moment of pride. A lot of elders and members have been telling me that my Dutch was pretty good when I got here for not being in the Netherlands at all and only studying for 6 weeks. And then people still keep telling me that they're impressed with how well I speak. So I'm trying to take it all with a grain of salt, but I'm pretty happy with how much Heavenly Father has answered my prayers and helped me with the language!!! That was and is always one my top concerns here, because yeah, the Spirit is most important when you're talking with people, but being able to say more words is the only way you can really teach, understand, and connect better with people. So I'm trying to do all that I can to keep my progress with Dutch going because I still struggle a lot when people are talking to me, using tons of words that I don't know. It's a lot easier said than done. But thank goodness for all the help that my companion gives me. He's got great Dutch and a great accent too. Which honestly, not all the missionaries who have been out as long as he has, have that gift. So I'm super grateful for him and his help. But I'm still struggling quite a bit with the language at times and am trying to grow with it every day! Woo hoo for the gift of tongues!
Hmm... what are some other things......... Umm cooking is going well. My companion has taught me some good recipes, but I can't really explain them to you guys and they require packets of stuff that's only in the Netherlands. Umm I've been making some really good friends with the elders here and a few of the sisters. It sounds like I'll be skyping you (family) on Christmas! That'll be cool. Ummm yeah.... Okay this is Elder Johnson, signing out. Love you all and thank you all so very very very very very much for each of your letters. I love it when I get lots of letters! Talk to ya next week!