Mission Life #21 uh

Maandag, 24 juli 2017.

huh 21 weeks already? on Friday I will hit my 5th month mark! It's so crazy. I'm on my mission for almost 6 months, which is 1/3 of my mission! Wauw.

Anyways, fa waka? Ai go bun! All is well in Zion. I'm literally doing so good! Especially since I'm STAYING with SISTER BARKER!!!! Jeeeeeeh i'm soooo happy! I literally love her! We decided we want to have at least 3 baptisms this transfer, wo we're gonna work really hard. 

Sooo update on our lovely investigator: she didn't get baptized. But I learned a pretty good lesson from that. My faith has grown because of this. Also, my prayers are changing, because I'm starting to see that not my will but His will be done. On Friday we had a lesson with her. We believed that she could be baptized, but I honestly lost the faith a little bit. So before we went in the lesson we said a prayer. And right before we entered her house, sister Barker said something like "God will perform a miracle, although it might be something else than we expect."

And a miracle did happen. Not the miracle we wanted (her getting baptized the following day) but another one. We are doing the 21 day challenge (I will send a picture) for her man. And she told us that we really touched his heart. She had a surgery so we stopped by to see how she was. She wasn't home, but we talked to her over the phone and we said a prayer. She told us 2 days later that that really touched him. It showed him that we really care. He even cried! So our prayers have been answered. We know that we needed to have a lot of faith so they got things done. They have their papers, so they can get married in a week or something and then she can get baptized. 

Okay another story. It gives me the chills/creeps thinking about this. On Thursday a guy yelled at us. This happens all the time here in Suriname, so we always ignore it. But this was sooo dramatic that we stopped. It was a potential investigator and he desperately needed us. He told us he wanted to commit suicide, because his girlfriend left him after 8 years and now he has no one. He just feels lonely. He feels like a sinner.

 

So we read the story of Enos, but instead of Enos we said his name. And after that he said he felt so much better! He grabbed my hand (iew) and thanked me. We really wanted to leave because he was really touchy. So we said a prayer and left. But then he kind of hugged us and he gave us 50 SRD. Zucht. We can't take money people. But yeah. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he was really happy with it. It was the most creepiest but also kind of spiritual lesson I had on my mission so far. 

 

Time is almost up, but I want to tell you one last story. I was reading in Amla 26. MY FAVORITE! Wow. Afterwards I felt so happy and motivated to do this work! It's really amazing. I really couldn't stop smiling haha. The story reminded me of my purpose. My goal. It helped me see what success is. Success is so much more than baptizing people. Only inviting someone to come unto Christ is success, because you spread the word. No energy is wasted. 

13 Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.

I know I'm a disciple of Christ. Are you? You are called to be a missionary. Every member a missionary. I know you can be a light to this world. Share your light. Be a light. There are people waiting for you to share this light with them. I love you all! Have a great week whereever you are!

Mi lobi yu!

Lobi,
Zuster Spijkerman

 

Mission Life #20 Ups and downs

Maandag, 17 juli 2017

WAUW 

Okay let's say hi first. Hi!Ai go? Ai go bun! (how are you? I'm good! in taki taki/Sranantongo/Surinamese). So this week was crazy! I don't have a lot of time but I will tell you my spiritual highlight. 

We have this investigator. I think I told you about her. SHE IS AMAZING. So we really felt that she could be baptized on the 22nd of July. And we knew she wasn't married yet, but we just knew it was good for her. So we had a bold baptism lesson. We talked about why she wants to get baptized. Really, she has soo much faith. She told us that she would pray about it. Later that day she texted us and she said that she knew that she needed to get baptized on that day. God confirmed it to her. It was so powerful. I felt the Spirit while reading that text. In fact, zuster Barker and I cried. She accepted to get baptized. But... she needs to get married. But her.. man? boyriend? didn't really want to. It was to fast, too snel. So we fasted. And guess what? Friday she told us he was willing to get married and get everything done! But.... yesterday we got a text from her. He wasn't willing anymore.... But.... today she told us that he wants to get married. So wow. We will get there with some ups and downs!

So I prayed to have more patience... And I thinkwith our investigator's situation is really something that is testing my patience... I also got sick on Saturday. I felt so bad. My stomach had never hurt so much in my entire life. I could not move. I cried because it was so bad. Why am I telling you this? Because I learned something. We have to be patient with ourselves. We have to endure. I also thought of the Savior. He suffered. Soo much. I felt so much pain. I asked got to remove that cup from me, but it didn't happen. Why? I don't know. But it has learned me how to endure. We can handle more than we think, if we think of the Savior. 

I just want to testify that He is my Redeemer. I know He lives. He suffered for us, so we don't have to suffer that much, because we have someone to lean on. He knows exactly how I feel, how you feel. That gives me strength. 

Matthew 11

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meekand lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Why is is yoke easy and His burden light? Because we devide the weight. And in fact, He carries more than you do. I testify as a representative of Jesus Christ that Jesus is the Christ. He can heal you, because He has healed me. I know it. I know it. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Zuster Spijkerman

Mission life # 19 Miracles

Maandag, 10 juli 2017

Dear everyone!

This week was amazing! I don't know where to start so I'll probably be all over the place haha. 

We've seen miracles. Contacting is really tough. People choose to not listen or to ignore us. But we had a lot of spiritual lessons. We felt prompted to visit our investigator, German, but he wasn't home. But his wife was! And we taught her and it was amazing. The Spirit led us there that day. So KWATTA is amazing. The members are doing great, our investigators are progressing and we can still find those that are willing to listen. 

I can see a change happening here in Tammenga. On Friday we had a branch council and we made a mission plan. TRULY INSPIRED. We decided to work on one thing at the time. So now we want to focus on home teaching and visiting teaching. And what role we play and stuff. We saw that if that would change that would help a lot. It was an answer to our prayers, because we've been praying about how we can help this branch grow. So the one brother that took the lead in the meeting said that this is the time for Tammenga. And I can really feel it. We are working very hard. And we've seen the fruits thereof. We had 7 member present lessons. And really, members make the difference, they just don't realize that. 

I was reading in Alma 8 today and verses 9-10 reminded me of us (zuster Barker and I).

9 Now Satan had gotten great hold upon the hearts of the people of the city of Ammonihah; therefore they would not hearken unto the words of Alma.
10 Nevertheless Alma labored much in the spirit, wrestling with God in mighty prayer, that he would pour out his Spirit upon the people who were in the city; that he would also grant that he might baptize them unto repentance.

Although members won't always listen to what we say, they won't do what we commit them to do, we pray and we labor much in the spirit. And He really answered our prayers. Friday night we went on our knees and we asked God how many of His children we could baptize and how many less actives we could bring back. I got the answer 1 baptized and 2 less actives, zuster Barker 2 baptized and 1 less active. So we know that we're gonna have at least 1 baptized and we're gonna bring 1 less active back. So we have faith and we pray really hard. And sunday! Wow, one of the less actives came to church since ... eternity. So that was amazing. We decided that if she didn't come to church we would drop her. but she did! I was so happy. God answers our prayers. I know He does. I know He is a God of miracles. 

We fasted and prayed that the members would read in their Book of Mormon. And broeder Z. is reading, zuster Z., J.(a less active), and zuster D. A lot! Answers to all of our spiritual labor. I love being a missionary, because we can truly see miracles happen. 

Thursday was Zone conference! so after our 30 minute bike ride we arrived. It was really good. It was about how we can improve are teaching skills. It was really good. I learned a lot. That night we had a lesson and I tried applying some of the things I learned. Wow that lesson was really spiritThis week was kind a hard too. I was sooooo tired all the time. Especially yesterday. My goodness. It's like Satan's trying to get to us so we can't work hard and we can't baptize that one this transfer. I know we can! God can do anything! The transfer may be over in 2 weeks, I know we can do it. I need to have faith, that's what president told me in interviews last Saturday.

 

I know this is the true gospel. I know God listens to me, to us. I know that I'm where I'm meant to be. It might be hard, but that's when I learn and grow. I know I'm a representative of Jesus Christ. That's not nothing, but I know I am and I know I have to act like one. I know that my Redeemer lives. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Zuster Spijkerman

Ps: I saw a snake and that freaked me out!

 

 

Mission life # 18 4 Month mark

Maandag, 3 juli 2017

I've been on my mission for over 4 months now. Crazy. Still loving it. How are you all doing? On your mission or just with your life??

Okay this is gonna be short.

 

I am learning how to recognize spiritual promptings. Sometimes I realize it was a spiritual prompting after like 2 days. So I'm working on it. But last week a lot of our appointments fell through. On Tuesday we both felt prompted to look up a potential. She was home and we had a really spiritual lesson.

On Wednesday we were biking down a street and a girl stops us and asks for a pamphlet. Really cool. WE had a lesson with her yesterday. She is adorable. 

Oh some of you might know Jurien Graanoogst? I saw her husband on Thursday in the church. It was crazy. But awesome. 

On Friday we found a couple contacts after saying a prayer in my heart. NO ONE WAS HOME. but then after my silent prayer we found people. God really answers my prayers. 

YESTERDAY WAS AWESOME. We fasted and I saw a huge difference. So many miracles. One of them was that one of our investigators accepted the invitation to get baptized. He probably will get baptized on the 22nd of this month. Fingers crossed that he's married to his wife, or the girl he's living with. So yesterday was really spiritual.

Wow okay I'm running out of time. I know God hears our prayers. The prayers we say out loud, our personal prayers, but also our silent prayers in our hearts. He hears you, He answers. Just wait. Be patient. He will answer, because he loves you.

We are gonna sing a song for Zone conference. Gethsemane, children hymn book. It is an amazing song. The lyrics are really powerful. 

 

I love you all. Christ loves you all. Mi lobi yu! Oh and the pictures will show you a little bit of my life her in Suriname. With the pretty skies. I love it. Okay bye!

Zuster Spijkerman