I love you so much and I have to thank you for all of your prayers and your faith! We had a week full of miracles and we met ALL of our goals. That is the first time ever that that has happened! Thank you so much for your e-mails, Mom, Dad, Brooke, and Carli! I also received the Valentine's package...oh my goodness! That was so sweet of you and I could feel the love! I wore the shirt yesterday to chaurch and it is so cute and I can't wait until it gets warm enough to wear the jacket. I keep trying it on every morning just to make sure it is still cute...and it is! The treats were also very tasty, the cards were so uplifting, and the pictures were so much fun to see. I could just look at the pictures all day long! The kids are getting so big! You have all been in my prayers this week and I will keep on praying for each one of you personally because my testimony of the power of prayer has just exploded this week!
Last week I had told you that everything had kind of fallen through as far as appointments go and almost every investigator had dropped us. Well, this week we were blessed with double, if not triple, the blessings and miracles. It would take hours to fill you in on everything so I will just share a few of my personal favorite moments.
On Thursday we had an appointment with William and it was so awesome! When we arrived we followed up with his reading assignment that we had given him with the Book of Mormon and it was amazing to hear him say that he had read and that he had a hard time putting it down to do anything else. He had a lot of questions about Joseph Smith so we watched "The Restoration"video with him. The room was so full of the Spirit, a feeling of calmness, peace, and warm. At the end of the film, we asked him if he would take the time that night to ask God if Joseph Smith was a prophet. He said, "You know, I think that we are sometimes a little ungrateful for what God has given us. He already told me during the video that Joseph Smith was a prophet so why would I ask him again? I know that he was a prophet of God."He then went on to say that he was excited for his baptism and to continue learning and attending the church services. I was very humbled by the experience and I am so excited to set a baptismal date with him this week!
Friday night we had an appointment with Naioka. It was our first appointment with her and in the beginning she was pretty closed. But after we bore testimony I could physically see that her heart started to soften. By the end of the appointment she invited to stay and eat dinner with her and her daughter. We ate pigtail and sauerkraut! It was actually really tasty and she invited us back for a second appointment!
Sunday, we had 2 new investigators in the church! Roda brought her sister and brother in law and we have an appointment with them as well! They really loved hearing about the hope of the plan of salvation and the possibility of being together forever!
In total, we had 3 new investigators at church, we found 3 new investigators, and we gave away 3 copies of the Book of Mormon last week! We have a busy schedule this week with all of our follow up appointments and making contact with potential investigators. Our investigators now are William, Willeke, Dennis, Nylees, Ety, Dustin (he is the one we took dinner to and he is coming to church with us next week!), Naioka, and Mike. Thank you for your prayers in their behalf!
I love you so much and I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father. His greatest manifestation of that love is his son Jesus Christ! They live and this is their kingdom on the earth! I hope that you have a great week and continue to find joy in the journey! You are in my prayers and in my heart!
Love,Zuster Sharp
Monday, March 1, 2010
February 15, 2010: Happy Valentine's Day! I love you!!!
Hello family! Thank you so much for the e-mails, Mom, Dad, Brooke, and Carli! So how was your week? Did you have a great Valentine's Day? I hope you know that I LOVE YOU! We had such an amazing week here in Zwolle! I will tell you a couple of the many miracles that we saw:
Tuesday we went out to do some finding. We really wanted to find some new investigators because our teaching pool is kind of small so we asked a family in the branch, Familie Van Andel, to pray for us between 3:30 and 4:40 on that day that we would be able to find some new investigators. There prayers brought so much power! We talked to a few positive people during that hour but the miracle really came at the end of the hour. We looked at the cell phone as we were biking home and saw that we had missed a call from the Mission Office. We called them back as quickly as possible and we found out that there is a man that met the missionaries in Slovakia. He is getting close to being baptized but will be moving here to Zwolle before that will happen. We will have the blessed opportunity to take over the teaching and he will be able to be baptized here! We couldn't even believe it! We fell on our knees and thanked Heavenly Father for that huge blessing and the power of the prayers from Familie Van Andel!
Tuesday night we had our first appointment with a Nigerian man named William. We met him in the Centrum back in November with the bagpipe finding activity with the elders and we were finally able to make contact. It was probably one of the most spiritual experiences I have had. Sue Haina, Zr. Walle's daughter, came as joint-teach with us and she bore such powerful testimony of the truth of the Book of Mormon. William is such a humble man and he said that he could feel the Lord telling him to meet with us. He committed to read the Book of Mormon and come to church...and he did them both! Familie Spijkerman gave him a ride to church and everything just worked out so smoothly with him. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation in our investigator class and we found out that he has a family that is still in Nigeria. He is working hard to be reunited with them and he found so much joy in learning that families can be together forever. At the end of the class we asked him if he had any questions and he said, Ï have only one. What are the qualifications for being baptized as a member of your church?"We were so excited! He is really sincere and we get to teach him again on Tuesday. KEep him in your prayers!
On Wednesday, before we headed out of our apartment, I had a distinct feeling to call Nanda. I dialed her number and she answered. She started to cry when she heard that it was me because she said that she had had a really hard morning. She said, "I can't believe! You two must have special contact with God because every time I need his help you show up on my door, leave me a note, or call me."I promised her that we were representatives of Jesus Christ, sent here to help the people come unto him and feel of his love. She actually had read in the Book of Mormon that morning and set up a new appointment to meet with us next week. The Lord is really working with her. She is really special and I love her so much! I am so thankful for the quiet promptings of the spirit.
I have so many more miracles I would love to share with you but I am all out of time! I love you so much and you remain in my prayers! Have a great week and remember to find joy in the journey! Love ya!
Love,Zuster Sharp
Tuesday we went out to do some finding. We really wanted to find some new investigators because our teaching pool is kind of small so we asked a family in the branch, Familie Van Andel, to pray for us between 3:30 and 4:40 on that day that we would be able to find some new investigators. There prayers brought so much power! We talked to a few positive people during that hour but the miracle really came at the end of the hour. We looked at the cell phone as we were biking home and saw that we had missed a call from the Mission Office. We called them back as quickly as possible and we found out that there is a man that met the missionaries in Slovakia. He is getting close to being baptized but will be moving here to Zwolle before that will happen. We will have the blessed opportunity to take over the teaching and he will be able to be baptized here! We couldn't even believe it! We fell on our knees and thanked Heavenly Father for that huge blessing and the power of the prayers from Familie Van Andel!
Tuesday night we had our first appointment with a Nigerian man named William. We met him in the Centrum back in November with the bagpipe finding activity with the elders and we were finally able to make contact. It was probably one of the most spiritual experiences I have had. Sue Haina, Zr. Walle's daughter, came as joint-teach with us and she bore such powerful testimony of the truth of the Book of Mormon. William is such a humble man and he said that he could feel the Lord telling him to meet with us. He committed to read the Book of Mormon and come to church...and he did them both! Familie Spijkerman gave him a ride to church and everything just worked out so smoothly with him. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation in our investigator class and we found out that he has a family that is still in Nigeria. He is working hard to be reunited with them and he found so much joy in learning that families can be together forever. At the end of the class we asked him if he had any questions and he said, Ï have only one. What are the qualifications for being baptized as a member of your church?"We were so excited! He is really sincere and we get to teach him again on Tuesday. KEep him in your prayers!
On Wednesday, before we headed out of our apartment, I had a distinct feeling to call Nanda. I dialed her number and she answered. She started to cry when she heard that it was me because she said that she had had a really hard morning. She said, "I can't believe! You two must have special contact with God because every time I need his help you show up on my door, leave me a note, or call me."I promised her that we were representatives of Jesus Christ, sent here to help the people come unto him and feel of his love. She actually had read in the Book of Mormon that morning and set up a new appointment to meet with us next week. The Lord is really working with her. She is really special and I love her so much! I am so thankful for the quiet promptings of the spirit.
I have so many more miracles I would love to share with you but I am all out of time! I love you so much and you remain in my prayers! Have a great week and remember to find joy in the journey! Love ya!
Love,Zuster Sharp
February 8, 2010: Happy Valentine's Day! I love you all!
Hello! How are you doing? Thank you so much for the e-mails, Brooke, Dad, and Mom! I hope that you have had a wonderful week to start of the month of February!
I have had the most amazing week ever! Actually, only one of our appointments with investigators went through, Mike is the only investigator that we still have, and Willeke was the only one who came to church...but we still saw so many miracles and I feel so blessed! Monday night we went to Familie Knarren's for FHE and dinner and they totally had a miraculous change! We had been praying fervently for them that things would start going better for them and that they would feel the love of our Heavenly Father and on Monday, before we arrived at their home, they both had had experiences where they felt His love and now have a renewed desire to recommit themselves to the gospel. When they shared their experiences with us on Monday night, I couldn't help but get a little teared up knowing that Heavenly Father is so loving that he heard our prayers and blessed the Knarrens.
Tuesday, we had District Meeting in Apeldoorn and set a goal to have 3 baptisms within our district by the end of the transfer. We made a list of potential candidates for baptism and we are praying for them. We only have 3 weeks left in the transfer so we are just waiting to see the miracles happen! Tuesday night we went out to Dedemsvaart to eat dinner with Zuster Lubberink, an 80 year old member of our branch. She is such a sweet lady and sure took care of us with hot chocolate, cookies and a delicious dinner! It made me feel like I was at Grandma and Grandpa Buchanan's our Grandma Sharp's for a few minutes...it felt so much like home!
Wednesday we did some finding in the Centrum. We counted the number of people we talked to in our finding hour and our total came to a whopping 53! We then took the train to Hardenberg where we did another hour of finding. On the end of our hour, we met an older man who invited us in to talk to him and his wife. Turns out, he had done some family history research at the church genealogy library that is in Apeldoorn and he had attended one of our church services in Arnhem. The church is truly spreading the earth! He asked us to explain the plan of salvation to him. He accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. He said that he doesn't believe what we believe but that he is interested in finding out more. At the end we said, "When you read the Book of Mormon and find out it is true, you can call us and be baptized!" We all laughed! We then said, "What was your name?" He said, "Mr....I mean, Brother Gerit." I know that he was joking as well but hopefully someday he really will become a member. Zr. Gerrits came and picked us up and we had a wonderful meeting together making plans for what we can do to support the RS. Our big focus is VT and we have some great plans lying ahead. She also asked us if we would be willing to give the lesson this week in RS. It will be on agency from the Gospel Principles book. I am so excited! Wednesday night we had our appointment with Nanda and she had had a total change. She said that she is not interested in joining our church because she can't do it with her family situation. We don't know what happened to make her lose so much interest but it was so sad. She doesn't want us to come back and visit until the end of February. We are keeping her in our prayers!
Thursday, Therrence, Petra, and Ramon dropped us but we found 3 inactive members that want to meet with us and another woman that we will be sharing a video about Christ with this week. Friday I went on exchanges in Groningen and was blessed to work with Zuster Gulliver! I really learned so much from her! Saturday, Zr. Wieland was sick so I spent a lot of the day making phone calls. Sunday was wonderful, as usual! We had a great testimony meeting and it pumped me up to start another great week!
I love you all and I hope that you are doing well! You are in my prayers! This church is true and it is what brings all of the joy and happiness in my life. I am so thankful to be able to share it with others. Being a member of the church is never a burden, but always a blessing! Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and love us! They love you so very much and are so happy with the wonderful things you are doing! Have a great week and know that I am thinking about you!Love,Laur
I have had the most amazing week ever! Actually, only one of our appointments with investigators went through, Mike is the only investigator that we still have, and Willeke was the only one who came to church...but we still saw so many miracles and I feel so blessed! Monday night we went to Familie Knarren's for FHE and dinner and they totally had a miraculous change! We had been praying fervently for them that things would start going better for them and that they would feel the love of our Heavenly Father and on Monday, before we arrived at their home, they both had had experiences where they felt His love and now have a renewed desire to recommit themselves to the gospel. When they shared their experiences with us on Monday night, I couldn't help but get a little teared up knowing that Heavenly Father is so loving that he heard our prayers and blessed the Knarrens.
Tuesday, we had District Meeting in Apeldoorn and set a goal to have 3 baptisms within our district by the end of the transfer. We made a list of potential candidates for baptism and we are praying for them. We only have 3 weeks left in the transfer so we are just waiting to see the miracles happen! Tuesday night we went out to Dedemsvaart to eat dinner with Zuster Lubberink, an 80 year old member of our branch. She is such a sweet lady and sure took care of us with hot chocolate, cookies and a delicious dinner! It made me feel like I was at Grandma and Grandpa Buchanan's our Grandma Sharp's for a few minutes...it felt so much like home!
Wednesday we did some finding in the Centrum. We counted the number of people we talked to in our finding hour and our total came to a whopping 53! We then took the train to Hardenberg where we did another hour of finding. On the end of our hour, we met an older man who invited us in to talk to him and his wife. Turns out, he had done some family history research at the church genealogy library that is in Apeldoorn and he had attended one of our church services in Arnhem. The church is truly spreading the earth! He asked us to explain the plan of salvation to him. He accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. He said that he doesn't believe what we believe but that he is interested in finding out more. At the end we said, "When you read the Book of Mormon and find out it is true, you can call us and be baptized!" We all laughed! We then said, "What was your name?" He said, "Mr....I mean, Brother Gerit." I know that he was joking as well but hopefully someday he really will become a member. Zr. Gerrits came and picked us up and we had a wonderful meeting together making plans for what we can do to support the RS. Our big focus is VT and we have some great plans lying ahead. She also asked us if we would be willing to give the lesson this week in RS. It will be on agency from the Gospel Principles book. I am so excited! Wednesday night we had our appointment with Nanda and she had had a total change. She said that she is not interested in joining our church because she can't do it with her family situation. We don't know what happened to make her lose so much interest but it was so sad. She doesn't want us to come back and visit until the end of February. We are keeping her in our prayers!
Thursday, Therrence, Petra, and Ramon dropped us but we found 3 inactive members that want to meet with us and another woman that we will be sharing a video about Christ with this week. Friday I went on exchanges in Groningen and was blessed to work with Zuster Gulliver! I really learned so much from her! Saturday, Zr. Wieland was sick so I spent a lot of the day making phone calls. Sunday was wonderful, as usual! We had a great testimony meeting and it pumped me up to start another great week!
I love you all and I hope that you are doing well! You are in my prayers! This church is true and it is what brings all of the joy and happiness in my life. I am so thankful to be able to share it with others. Being a member of the church is never a burden, but always a blessing! Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and love us! They love you so very much and are so happy with the wonderful things you are doing! Have a great week and know that I am thinking about you!Love,Laur
February 1, 2010: The week of miracles!
Happy February! Can you believe that we are already one month down for this year...time is flying by! Thank you so much for your e-mails, Mom, Dad, Brooke, and Derek! I am so excited that Becca is going to Virginia! Be sure to congratulate her for me!
It has been another wintry white week here in Zwolle. This is the first time that the Netherlands has had this much snow in 15+ years so I am thankful I get to be a part of it! Sadly, I took Zuster Wieland out this week while we were biking. We were on our way home from an appointment and it had ïjsselled (it rains but the ground is so cold that it immediatly turns to ice when it hits) so the paths were really slick! We were biking along and my bike just went right out from under me and right in front of Zuster Wieland. I don't know how we land so softly and gracefully every time but after sitting on the ground mangled in our bikes for a few minutes, and laughing really hard, we were back up and on our way again! Oh, the joys of being on a bike...or better yet, Zuster Sharp on a bike!
I'll share with you my three highlights of this past week! On Wednesday we were knocking doors and met a young man (maybe 17 years old) named Dustin. After talking with him for a few minutes we found out that he lost his mother only 3 weeks ago and him and his brother were the only ones left in his family. They were really busy with all of the legal stuff, especially trying to work it out so that they could keep their house. We were able to share with him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. The next day Zuster Wieland and I were talking and we decided that we wanted to make dinner for him and his brother and take it to them on Saturday. We got everything ready Saturday afternoon and took it to the door. Luckily he was home and we were able to give it to him and it was one of those most sweet and tender mercies to have a moment to really be the Lord's hands on the earth for just a few minutes. I think that Dustin was very touched and felt the love of God at that time. I hope that we can make contact with him again soon!
On Friday night we had another appointment with Nanda! It was the most amazing appointment that I have had in my whole mission! We watched "The Restoration"video with her and she thought it was so miraculous. The spirit was there and Zuster Wieland and I were able to bear really powerful testimony. Nanda shared with us some of her experiences in her life that let her know that God has a specific plan for her and she feels like maybe the church will become a big part of that. She was excited to pray that night and ask God if Joseph Smith was a prophet...I am anxious to see what she felt when she prayed. She was not able to come to church because she already had plans for Sunday but we have an appointment with her on Wednesday night and Zuster Gerrits, the RS president, will be our joint teach. Zuster Gerrits has an amazing conversion story and I know that her testimony will really help Nanda!
Zuster Wieland and I were asked to give the combined lesson for priesthood and RS on Friday night so we hurry and put something together for church yesterday. Willeke was at church but we were nervous that no other investigators would show up. After we started the lesson you would never believe who walked in...Ilse! That was her first time at church and we were definitely not expecting that! Then a member, Bro Ajubi, walked in with another couple and their baby! We had 5 investigators in church yesterday! The couple, Terrence and Petra, set up an appointment to meet with us this Thurday and we can hardly wait! They are really searching for the truth and we are excited to see the miracles that will happen!
We also had great appointments with Mike, Salwa, and Anita. We are expecting to have an appointment with Dalia and Raymond this week so we are anxiouis to see how they go.
I love you so much and thank you for your prayers. I know that the Lord, Jesus Christ lives and that he loves us SO much! I keep you in my prayers and am so thankful for your support and love! HAve a great week!
LoveZuster Sharp
It has been another wintry white week here in Zwolle. This is the first time that the Netherlands has had this much snow in 15+ years so I am thankful I get to be a part of it! Sadly, I took Zuster Wieland out this week while we were biking. We were on our way home from an appointment and it had ïjsselled (it rains but the ground is so cold that it immediatly turns to ice when it hits) so the paths were really slick! We were biking along and my bike just went right out from under me and right in front of Zuster Wieland. I don't know how we land so softly and gracefully every time but after sitting on the ground mangled in our bikes for a few minutes, and laughing really hard, we were back up and on our way again! Oh, the joys of being on a bike...or better yet, Zuster Sharp on a bike!
I'll share with you my three highlights of this past week! On Wednesday we were knocking doors and met a young man (maybe 17 years old) named Dustin. After talking with him for a few minutes we found out that he lost his mother only 3 weeks ago and him and his brother were the only ones left in his family. They were really busy with all of the legal stuff, especially trying to work it out so that they could keep their house. We were able to share with him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. The next day Zuster Wieland and I were talking and we decided that we wanted to make dinner for him and his brother and take it to them on Saturday. We got everything ready Saturday afternoon and took it to the door. Luckily he was home and we were able to give it to him and it was one of those most sweet and tender mercies to have a moment to really be the Lord's hands on the earth for just a few minutes. I think that Dustin was very touched and felt the love of God at that time. I hope that we can make contact with him again soon!
On Friday night we had another appointment with Nanda! It was the most amazing appointment that I have had in my whole mission! We watched "The Restoration"video with her and she thought it was so miraculous. The spirit was there and Zuster Wieland and I were able to bear really powerful testimony. Nanda shared with us some of her experiences in her life that let her know that God has a specific plan for her and she feels like maybe the church will become a big part of that. She was excited to pray that night and ask God if Joseph Smith was a prophet...I am anxious to see what she felt when she prayed. She was not able to come to church because she already had plans for Sunday but we have an appointment with her on Wednesday night and Zuster Gerrits, the RS president, will be our joint teach. Zuster Gerrits has an amazing conversion story and I know that her testimony will really help Nanda!
Zuster Wieland and I were asked to give the combined lesson for priesthood and RS on Friday night so we hurry and put something together for church yesterday. Willeke was at church but we were nervous that no other investigators would show up. After we started the lesson you would never believe who walked in...Ilse! That was her first time at church and we were definitely not expecting that! Then a member, Bro Ajubi, walked in with another couple and their baby! We had 5 investigators in church yesterday! The couple, Terrence and Petra, set up an appointment to meet with us this Thurday and we can hardly wait! They are really searching for the truth and we are excited to see the miracles that will happen!
We also had great appointments with Mike, Salwa, and Anita. We are expecting to have an appointment with Dalia and Raymond this week so we are anxiouis to see how they go.
I love you so much and thank you for your prayers. I know that the Lord, Jesus Christ lives and that he loves us SO much! I keep you in my prayers and am so thankful for your support and love! HAve a great week!
LoveZuster Sharp
January 25, 2010: I'm experiencing the joy of missionary work!
Hello Family! Tell Becca that I am so excited that she is going on a mission and I can't even wait to hear where she is going to go!!! I will be writing to her soon, and all of the rest of you too! Thanks so much for the e-mails last week, they were great!
I can't even begin to express the joy that I am experiencing from doing this work! I feel like I have finally committed myself to serving with all of my "heart, might, mind, and strength"and it is just so amazing! When I first got here in the Netherlands I considered lunch and dinner times to take a break and relax for myself but now all I want to do is hurry and eat something quick and easy so that I can get right back to work. This is such an amazing and special time in my life to be able to dedicate every minute to serving the Lord and I want to make the most of it!
I can't even believe how many miracles we have seen this week! We found two new investigators, Ramon and Dalia, and we had a whopping total of 17 lessons! We also had two investigators at church yesterday, Willeke and Nanda, and we have a very busy week starting tomorrow! Zwolle is really beginning to explode and I am seeing little glimpses of what he has in store for this city.
I want to share with you how we ended up finding Ramon and Dalia because they are just such amazing stories. Ramon is a 60 year old man that we met the day that our district did the bagpipe finding in the centrum in Zwolle. We gave him a Book of Mormon then, that was in November, but we struggled to make contact with him after that. We finally got an appointment set up for this past Thursday and we found a ward member to go with us to visit him. He had already read quite a bit of the Book of Mormon and was so interested in finding the truth. He said that he had been searching for the truth for all of his life but has never been able to find a church that can answer all of his questions. We told him we could! He said that he wants to find a church where there is a leader called of God who he can follow...WOW! We were able to share with him a little bit about Joseph Smith and we gave him a big reading assignment. We are meeting with him again this Wednesday!
On Saturday we decided to go and visit Mike because he had surgery on Friday but we thought that we would just have to say "hello"on the door because he lives alone and we didn't have another woman to come on joi'nt-teach with us. Turns out, his 23 year old daughter, Dalia, was there so we were able to go in! Mike said, "You two actually came at just the right time because me and my daughter were just having a discussion about the purpose of life and I told her she should maybe talk to you." He had already given her the pamphlet to read about the Plan of Salvation and she really found a lot of answers to her questions in there but we sat and cleared up more of her questions for 45 minutes! She was finding so much peace and comfort in the answers that we were giving her that she made an appointment with us to be able to teach her and her dad together! SO COOL! We will teach them on Thursday as well!
The Lord is so merciful and willing to help us if we ask for it! I am so thankful for the many miracles I see everyday! Thank you so much for your prayers and love and everything you do to support me! I love you so much and I hope you have a great week!Love,Zuster Sharp
I can't even begin to express the joy that I am experiencing from doing this work! I feel like I have finally committed myself to serving with all of my "heart, might, mind, and strength"and it is just so amazing! When I first got here in the Netherlands I considered lunch and dinner times to take a break and relax for myself but now all I want to do is hurry and eat something quick and easy so that I can get right back to work. This is such an amazing and special time in my life to be able to dedicate every minute to serving the Lord and I want to make the most of it!
I can't even believe how many miracles we have seen this week! We found two new investigators, Ramon and Dalia, and we had a whopping total of 17 lessons! We also had two investigators at church yesterday, Willeke and Nanda, and we have a very busy week starting tomorrow! Zwolle is really beginning to explode and I am seeing little glimpses of what he has in store for this city.
I want to share with you how we ended up finding Ramon and Dalia because they are just such amazing stories. Ramon is a 60 year old man that we met the day that our district did the bagpipe finding in the centrum in Zwolle. We gave him a Book of Mormon then, that was in November, but we struggled to make contact with him after that. We finally got an appointment set up for this past Thursday and we found a ward member to go with us to visit him. He had already read quite a bit of the Book of Mormon and was so interested in finding the truth. He said that he had been searching for the truth for all of his life but has never been able to find a church that can answer all of his questions. We told him we could! He said that he wants to find a church where there is a leader called of God who he can follow...WOW! We were able to share with him a little bit about Joseph Smith and we gave him a big reading assignment. We are meeting with him again this Wednesday!
On Saturday we decided to go and visit Mike because he had surgery on Friday but we thought that we would just have to say "hello"on the door because he lives alone and we didn't have another woman to come on joi'nt-teach with us. Turns out, his 23 year old daughter, Dalia, was there so we were able to go in! Mike said, "You two actually came at just the right time because me and my daughter were just having a discussion about the purpose of life and I told her she should maybe talk to you." He had already given her the pamphlet to read about the Plan of Salvation and she really found a lot of answers to her questions in there but we sat and cleared up more of her questions for 45 minutes! She was finding so much peace and comfort in the answers that we were giving her that she made an appointment with us to be able to teach her and her dad together! SO COOL! We will teach them on Thursday as well!
The Lord is so merciful and willing to help us if we ask for it! I am so thankful for the many miracles I see everyday! Thank you so much for your prayers and love and everything you do to support me! I love you so much and I hope you have a great week!Love,Zuster Sharp
January 18, 2010: I'm staying Zwolle for five transfers, maybe more.
Can you believe it!? I just got off of the phone with my district leader and he informed me that I will be staying in Zwolle for atleast two more transfers...WAHOO! I have received, once again, such a calm feeling, a confirmation that this is where I am supposed to be and that this is where the Lord wants me. I feel so blessed because I just love this city and the people here so much and I am thankful that I have another 3 months to serve here. What makes it even better is that I had the best week of my mission this last week and there are miracles taking place like never before! Thank you so much for all of your prayers in my behalf, they are such a blessing!
Thanks for the e-mails this week! Brooke, the pictures of Lincoln and Carter are so adorable! I can't believe how big they are getting. Little Carter is such a chunker! I do have the cutest nephews and nieces in the whole world!
Well, I have so much that I want to tell you so I better just get started! On Monday night our plans fell through but I had the idea (definitely a prompting through the Spirit...they usually come in the form of ideas that feel really good) to go and visit Familie Knarren. Luckily they were home and we ended up coming at just the right time because they are really struggling. They have only been members for 3 years and they are going through a rocky period right now, feeling all alone and not very close knit with family members because of their choice to be baptized. We had a lesson planned to share with them but we ended up just sitting and being listening ears. It was such a blessing that we were able to be there at that time to help them. She actually called this morning and let me know that she just had a miscarriage so that just makes it a little more difficult. Luckily she realizes that the gospel is what gives us faith and hope during hard times.
Tuesday we did some finding and had a feeling to stop by the Branch President's house to visit his wife whose back has been out for 3 weeks. We asked her if there was anything that we could do for her to help her and she actually had us cut out quilt squares so that she can make a baby blanket for the YW president in our branch. It was so much fun to be able to do something crafty and to feel like, once again, that we were in the right place at the right time. Tuesday night we had our dinner with Mike at Familie Van Basten's and it couldn't have gone better! He had kept his B of M reading commitment and was anxious to learn more-he had a lot of questions! Turns out that Zr. Van Basten's husband, who is a non-member, started testifying with us that Joseph Smith is a true prophet! It was so cool to see the Spirit touching him and Mike at the same time!
On Wednesday we had Zone Conference in Amsterdam and it was the most amazing answer to prayer ever! President adressed all of my concerns and it was really a time of personal revelation and inspiration. He really focused on remaining optimisitic and relying on the Savior...it was so great! It was also really fun to see all of the other missionaries...especially my old MTC group.
Thursday morning I went on exchanges in Groningen with Zuster Ekstrom and I really learned so many new things and had such a wonderful experience there. We got to teach a YW, Joanne, there, and she committed to being baptized! IT was so great and such a blessing to be a part of that and to know that that is what I am aiming for in my work here.
Friday and Saturday we did a lot of finding and we actually found 3 new investigators! On Friday we had an appointment with a woman named Anita who is very Catholic. We felt like we really needed to be bold and invite her to be baptized. We were both freaked out but we shared a scripture and extended the invitation and she said, "You know, I have been thinking a lot lately about being re-baptized. You do that in your church?" Our jaws dropped and we explained things to her. It was amazing! She committed to pray about being baptized and we are meeting with her next week!
Saturday we spent most of the day in the Centrum and then felt like we needed to go and visit an inactive member, Sairah. She really has a struggle with smoking and wants to stop but doesn't know how. She is only 22 and has a 5 year old son. We walked in just at the right time! She was really low and luckily we were able to spend some time playing with her son and helping to clean up and make dinner. We didn't know if our time was well spent but she ended up coming to church yesterday for the first time in 5 months and we think that it was in response to showing her love and that we really care about her.
We had church on Sunday!!! It was so wonderful to be back in the church building and see all of the branch members. Willeke came again and she was really happy. Last night we went and taught a lady, Salwa, and she committed to read the Book of Mormon and meet with us again!
We will have appointments with Mike, Ilse, Nanda, Anita, Salwa, and Willeke this week, along with a few other new investigators! Zwolle is just exploding!
I am so happy and I am experiencing the joy of missionary work! I love you so much and miss you! I keep you in my prayers.
Love,Laur
Thanks for the e-mails this week! Brooke, the pictures of Lincoln and Carter are so adorable! I can't believe how big they are getting. Little Carter is such a chunker! I do have the cutest nephews and nieces in the whole world!
Well, I have so much that I want to tell you so I better just get started! On Monday night our plans fell through but I had the idea (definitely a prompting through the Spirit...they usually come in the form of ideas that feel really good) to go and visit Familie Knarren. Luckily they were home and we ended up coming at just the right time because they are really struggling. They have only been members for 3 years and they are going through a rocky period right now, feeling all alone and not very close knit with family members because of their choice to be baptized. We had a lesson planned to share with them but we ended up just sitting and being listening ears. It was such a blessing that we were able to be there at that time to help them. She actually called this morning and let me know that she just had a miscarriage so that just makes it a little more difficult. Luckily she realizes that the gospel is what gives us faith and hope during hard times.
Tuesday we did some finding and had a feeling to stop by the Branch President's house to visit his wife whose back has been out for 3 weeks. We asked her if there was anything that we could do for her to help her and she actually had us cut out quilt squares so that she can make a baby blanket for the YW president in our branch. It was so much fun to be able to do something crafty and to feel like, once again, that we were in the right place at the right time. Tuesday night we had our dinner with Mike at Familie Van Basten's and it couldn't have gone better! He had kept his B of M reading commitment and was anxious to learn more-he had a lot of questions! Turns out that Zr. Van Basten's husband, who is a non-member, started testifying with us that Joseph Smith is a true prophet! It was so cool to see the Spirit touching him and Mike at the same time!
On Wednesday we had Zone Conference in Amsterdam and it was the most amazing answer to prayer ever! President adressed all of my concerns and it was really a time of personal revelation and inspiration. He really focused on remaining optimisitic and relying on the Savior...it was so great! It was also really fun to see all of the other missionaries...especially my old MTC group.
Thursday morning I went on exchanges in Groningen with Zuster Ekstrom and I really learned so many new things and had such a wonderful experience there. We got to teach a YW, Joanne, there, and she committed to being baptized! IT was so great and such a blessing to be a part of that and to know that that is what I am aiming for in my work here.
Friday and Saturday we did a lot of finding and we actually found 3 new investigators! On Friday we had an appointment with a woman named Anita who is very Catholic. We felt like we really needed to be bold and invite her to be baptized. We were both freaked out but we shared a scripture and extended the invitation and she said, "You know, I have been thinking a lot lately about being re-baptized. You do that in your church?" Our jaws dropped and we explained things to her. It was amazing! She committed to pray about being baptized and we are meeting with her next week!
Saturday we spent most of the day in the Centrum and then felt like we needed to go and visit an inactive member, Sairah. She really has a struggle with smoking and wants to stop but doesn't know how. She is only 22 and has a 5 year old son. We walked in just at the right time! She was really low and luckily we were able to spend some time playing with her son and helping to clean up and make dinner. We didn't know if our time was well spent but she ended up coming to church yesterday for the first time in 5 months and we think that it was in response to showing her love and that we really care about her.
We had church on Sunday!!! It was so wonderful to be back in the church building and see all of the branch members. Willeke came again and she was really happy. Last night we went and taught a lady, Salwa, and she committed to read the Book of Mormon and meet with us again!
We will have appointments with Mike, Ilse, Nanda, Anita, Salwa, and Willeke this week, along with a few other new investigators! Zwolle is just exploding!
I am so happy and I am experiencing the joy of missionary work! I love you so much and miss you! I keep you in my prayers.
Love,Laur
January 11, 2010:So Good to Hear From You
HELLO! I can't believe that this week is my 6th month mark. Time is just flying by and I don't think that it is going to slow down a bit! This is also the last week of my 3rd transfer...it just seems like yesterday that I was telling you how excited I was to be staying in Zwolle! I am still hoping that I stay here another transfer-I just love this place so much and I feel a special attachment to the people here. But I know that I will have that wherever I go and that the Lord has a specific plan for me. By next Monday I should know what is going down so I will keep you posted!
I was so glad to hear that your New Year's Party was a success and that you had a wonderful birthday, Mom! What a blessing it was to hear that Grandpa is doing well again after another scary episode. We are sooo blessed and I just can't thank Heavenly Father enough! I keep you all in my prayers all of the time and I can still feel the immense power of your prayers! I wasn't feeling to great on Wednesday and I ended up sleeping through the morning but luckily by the time we normally would go out I had enough energy to make it out the door. I was nervous that I was getting an ear infection but I loaded up on the vitamin C and tried to stay really bundled up! The ear warmers, scarves, socks, and gloves really helped!
The work is starting to pick up again and we are seeing so many miracles and so much success! Sadly, Kevin is having a lot of legality issues and might have to leave the country in 20 days so he has been really stressed. We were able to meet with him for about 20 minutes on Wednesday morning and we still call him or text him everyday. I find comfort in knowing that he has such a desire to be baptized and to have a testimony that he will search the church out wherever he goes. We had a lesson with Mike last Monday and we shared with him the Tree of Life. He loved it! He was able to apply the vision to his life and he really felt the Spirit. The member who came with us as our joint-teach invited us and him to come to dinner at her house so we will be able to teach him there. That will be tomorrow night and I am so excited to see how it goes! We had a lesson with Willeke on Wednesday and she is making progress, bit by bit. She was planning on coming to church yesterday but church was cancelled again because of the snow! I just have to tell you, I was so excited for church and I wanted it to go through so bad that I even ironed all my clothes on Saturday and packed a lunch. Sunday morning when I heard our cell phone ring at 8:30 I did 'not want to answer because I knew I wasn't going to like the news! Oh well! 'Hopefull we'll have it next week! We have an appointment with Ilse and Nanda this week! We have lost almost all contact with Mehrdad. I think that he is having legality issues as well but hopefully it will pick back up! We met a new lady, Salwa, on the train to Kampen and she was so excited to receive a Book of Mormon! We have an appointment with her on Sunday!
Things with members are going really well. News is going around the Branch that I love to organize so Tieneke had us come over on Saturday and we helped her clean out her computer room...I loved it! We had a lot of member lessons this week and we are just trying to get the members pumped about the new year! Everyone has set goals to do missionary work and they are already feeling the spirit of it.
It is really cold here...my hand warmers even froze because it was so cold! The people on the news recommend only being out for 2 hours because longer than that could cause frostbite...kind of crazy! My bike is all repaired now and it was really a blessing! It only cost 25 euros and it took only 4 hours. Sadly, my zipper on one of my boots broke last night so I will be buying some new ones today! Lots to laugh about!
We had a funny experience on Saturday! I had the feeling to call one of the members in the branch and she told me that they had to put their dog to sleep and she was really sad. I told Zr. Wieland about it and then she told the Branch president when we saw him Saturday afternoon. All of a sudden it hit me that maybe I didn't understand her correctly and maybe her dog was just sick. I started to go into a panic, knowing that the Branch president would call them to give his condolences and would if the dog was still alive! I felt bad but I kind of had a prayer in my heart that the dog was dead! Zr. Wieland, on the other hand, was hoping that the dog was still alive so she could have a good laugh if it was a mistake with the language. We decided to take them a card to see if the dog was dead or alive...and luckily I had understood it correctly! I would have never lived that one down in the branch!
Well, I have to go but know that I love you so much! This last week I really learned a lot about faith-your quote really touched me, Mom! All of your letters mean so much to me...I can just feel your love through them! Have a great week!
Love,Laur
I was so glad to hear that your New Year's Party was a success and that you had a wonderful birthday, Mom! What a blessing it was to hear that Grandpa is doing well again after another scary episode. We are sooo blessed and I just can't thank Heavenly Father enough! I keep you all in my prayers all of the time and I can still feel the immense power of your prayers! I wasn't feeling to great on Wednesday and I ended up sleeping through the morning but luckily by the time we normally would go out I had enough energy to make it out the door. I was nervous that I was getting an ear infection but I loaded up on the vitamin C and tried to stay really bundled up! The ear warmers, scarves, socks, and gloves really helped!
The work is starting to pick up again and we are seeing so many miracles and so much success! Sadly, Kevin is having a lot of legality issues and might have to leave the country in 20 days so he has been really stressed. We were able to meet with him for about 20 minutes on Wednesday morning and we still call him or text him everyday. I find comfort in knowing that he has such a desire to be baptized and to have a testimony that he will search the church out wherever he goes. We had a lesson with Mike last Monday and we shared with him the Tree of Life. He loved it! He was able to apply the vision to his life and he really felt the Spirit. The member who came with us as our joint-teach invited us and him to come to dinner at her house so we will be able to teach him there. That will be tomorrow night and I am so excited to see how it goes! We had a lesson with Willeke on Wednesday and she is making progress, bit by bit. She was planning on coming to church yesterday but church was cancelled again because of the snow! I just have to tell you, I was so excited for church and I wanted it to go through so bad that I even ironed all my clothes on Saturday and packed a lunch. Sunday morning when I heard our cell phone ring at 8:30 I did 'not want to answer because I knew I wasn't going to like the news! Oh well! 'Hopefull we'll have it next week! We have an appointment with Ilse and Nanda this week! We have lost almost all contact with Mehrdad. I think that he is having legality issues as well but hopefully it will pick back up! We met a new lady, Salwa, on the train to Kampen and she was so excited to receive a Book of Mormon! We have an appointment with her on Sunday!
Things with members are going really well. News is going around the Branch that I love to organize so Tieneke had us come over on Saturday and we helped her clean out her computer room...I loved it! We had a lot of member lessons this week and we are just trying to get the members pumped about the new year! Everyone has set goals to do missionary work and they are already feeling the spirit of it.
It is really cold here...my hand warmers even froze because it was so cold! The people on the news recommend only being out for 2 hours because longer than that could cause frostbite...kind of crazy! My bike is all repaired now and it was really a blessing! It only cost 25 euros and it took only 4 hours. Sadly, my zipper on one of my boots broke last night so I will be buying some new ones today! Lots to laugh about!
We had a funny experience on Saturday! I had the feeling to call one of the members in the branch and she told me that they had to put their dog to sleep and she was really sad. I told Zr. Wieland about it and then she told the Branch president when we saw him Saturday afternoon. All of a sudden it hit me that maybe I didn't understand her correctly and maybe her dog was just sick. I started to go into a panic, knowing that the Branch president would call them to give his condolences and would if the dog was still alive! I felt bad but I kind of had a prayer in my heart that the dog was dead! Zr. Wieland, on the other hand, was hoping that the dog was still alive so she could have a good laugh if it was a mistake with the language. We decided to take them a card to see if the dog was dead or alive...and luckily I had understood it correctly! I would have never lived that one down in the branch!
Well, I have to go but know that I love you so much! This last week I really learned a lot about faith-your quote really touched me, Mom! All of your letters mean so much to me...I can just feel your love through them! Have a great week!
Love,Laur
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