Hoi jullie!
So my investigator
Robert and I had some good discussions, especially when we got onto the topic
of the Plan of Salvation and the role Christ plays in the plan (which explains
why he is more than simply a nice man.. he is literally our Savior), and he
liked discussing the questions of the soul, and was pretty intrigued at my
surety that I know where I come from, why I am here, and where I am going. He
committed to come to church Sunday, and continued to ask during his daily
meditation sessions whether God was there and really was his Father and knew
him (his form of praying), so I was kinda disappointed when Robert came to
class on Friday dressed as a teacher, with a Broeder Robinson nametag on... but
I really like Broeder Robinson as a teacher (he only speaks to us in
nederlands, yay), and he stressed how even though we were role playing, the
Spirit we felt was not fake, and those discussions really helped him, Broeder
Robinson, as a person (and teaching Robert definitely helped my testimony and
me as a missionary, too). Tonight I get to teach Broeder Mohrman role playing
as his past onderzoeker (investigator) Tom, a 60 yr old Dutchman who volunteers
on the high council of the Reformed Nederlands Church which he goes to, and was
in the area book for a potential investigator. I really like teaching (especially
in Dutch), and it helps me at least as much as it helps the person I am trying
to help, which is awesome.
On Thursday, we were
planning for a scenario teaching Jens, a 26-yr-old raised atheist who is
curious about other Churches, and I had one of those awesome moments where the Book of Mormon literally applied to a
question I had in my life. I was pondering how to teach Jens and how to
approach his relationship with God, and was reading in Alma 18 about how Ammon approaches King
Lamoni, and basically modeled my conversation after them.. Jen, Do you believe
in God? .. I know not what you mean...Jen, Do you believe in a great spirit or
greater force of nature that controls and created the heavens and the Earth?..
etc. I could really picture Ammon and Lamoni as real people having the same real
questions and conversations as people today, and I love moments like that
because of course if I am so sure that Ammon was a real person, then of course
Joseph Smith was a real prophet, and this is really Christ’s Church restored on
the Earth, etc.
Broeder Klippel and
Broeder Mohrman have also been stressing not making the classic missionary
discussion mistakes of portraying the theme of "we have the truth and you
don’t" by reminding us to focus on the main principle of the Restoration
that we know the nature of God and that He still speaks to us today.. answers
to questions that nearly everyone has in some form. I like the scripture in
Luke 9 verse 50 when Jesus says, " Forbid him not, for he that is not
against us is for us," and I would have to say one of the biggest lessons
I am learning from teaching, especially Robert, is that we have a lot more in
common with our investigators than we think, and they have so many truths to
offer and to bring to the table.
Yesterday
was my first regular Sunday, and our Branch desperately needed a pianist, so I
volunteered.. provided I could choose one of the 25 hymns I could play, of
course. For our Sunday night devotional, BYU men’s chorus came, and they were
so good.. I teared up during the songs about brotherhood.. "He Ain’t
Heavy, He’s My Brother," "You Raise Me Up," and "Lean on
Me" thinking about the great brothers (siblings) I have. It was especially
cool because the husband of the newly wed couple who I caught I ride with to
NorCal last Thanksgiving was killing it as their pianist and I got to talk to
him after, and Larry from my BYU ward was one of the two speakers who shared
his conversion story, and saw me and waved at me as he left. Yesterday also
marked the second Sunday in a row of watching on film an awesome past MTC
devotional given by Bednar... I really liked his stress on how we as
missionaries have to earn the trust of the ward members to give us referrals by
being focused, spiritual, and brief while at their houses, because we have work
to do... I know we as a family talk about how we appreciate those focused
missionaries who realize that while on the Lord’s time, there are more
important things to do than play guitar/ cards and eat three helpings of
dessert for hours at ward members' houses... so I’ll be doing my best to
internalize that for the next 18 months.
Something funny is
that the Elders in our zone looooove to recite page 33 in the missionary
handbook ("do not be alone with, flirt with, or associate in any other
inappropriate way with anyone of the opposite sex...") in creepy voices
whenever an Elder and Sister seem to be smiling or joking around for too long,
whether they know them or not...they're really cool and like our brothers.
Sister Hartley and I have a lot in common- both did a semester and a half at
BYU, both love running together during gym, same sense of humor... and it's fun
to have Sister Johnson, a fellow-Dutch learner, to SYL (speak your language- or
should I say 'sprek uw taal') with.
Also, here"s my testimony in
Dutch, I bet you"ll understand more than you think you would!
"Ik
weet dat God onze hemelse vader is. Hij heeft een lichaam van vlees en
bendeeren, hij houdt van ons, en wij zijn zij kenderen. Ik weet dat Jesus
Christus onze Verlosser ist. Ik weet dat wij op de aarde zijn, zodat wij onz
waardig bewijzen kunnen, om terug te God te keren. Ik weet dat deze Kerk het
hergestellde evangelie is. I weet, dat wij met God door bidden communicieren
kunnen, en antwoorden krijgen kunnen, indiends wij luisteren. Ik zegge deze
dingen in de name Jesus Christus, Amen."
I love you guys! Thanks
so much for the Easter card, I love it, and all the stuff in the mail.. it´s
all decorating my room! My comps all got a kick out of the jokes, and stay
tuned for some new pen pals thanks to that!
Dad, Rachel, Josh, I
bet “Lamb of God” was amazing, sad I missed it! Madi, I gave up my first P/day
nap time last week and wrote you a super long letter but I think you´ll have to
wait until you get home to get it because I don´t trust the Russian mail, ya
know! But that is so exciting that you are working on your papers! Ahh! Isaac,
have fun in Kyiev... omigosh, I have a bunch of Bubba´s friends from there and
from Lviv...so if you see any giant pink shrimp costumes, they´re cool people
that you should hit up and talk to haha. Mom, what´s your new book club book?
Thanks for keeping up my blog, some college friends said they love it.. and
Torri loves her "Toreo" nickname so much haha.
Remember: when you help
someone else up a mountain, you're helping yourself up, too. Also something
Bednar stressed: when you come home (what, it ain't time to think about coming
home yet, I just got here haha) return to your families, but never leave the
mission field. Happy Easter, He is risen!
Love,
Zuster Riley (:
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