Mission Life #33 Hola como esta?

Maandag, 16 oktober 2017.

Bon tardi mi amigonan!
This week was a little bit rough. Appointments fell through, not a lot of people wanted to talk to us. But our investigators are doing well!

President Egbert came on Thursday! We went out for lunch and then he came to one appointment with our investigator Mr. E. It was a really good lesson. We went through the first vision with the question in mind 'what can we learn about God'. He said the closing prayer and he said 'Hello God, it's me, E..' So precious.

After that we had a lesson with R. It was a good lesson about the Atonement. At the end we invited him to say the closing prayer. He agreed, but was silent for a while. Then he said 'even denken'. And I don't know why, but that was so spiritual. He took time to talk to God. It was really precious. 

Another spiritual experience was later that day. President called us to ask if we could pick him or the bike he was gonna take from here to Curacao (I was a little bit confused haha sorry). Of course we wanted to do that, but then we realized that we had no key of the car, because after our appointment with Mr. E., president drove our car back (no worries we had our bikes still haha). We called the hermanas a couple times, but they didn't answer. We called the branch president, but he didn't answer either. So we didn't know what to do, because we really wanted to help him out. We decided to say a prayer. And then we called the hermanas again... but they still didn't answer. Then we came up with the idea to call sistter M. (wife of the mission leader).  Then broeder M. said that he could pick him up. We were so relieved! That was truly an answer to our prayer!

Saturday night we had a lesson planned with Mr. R.! But he wasn't there 😑. But his dad was, so we both felt promted to talk to him (his name is also R.). It was amazing! And the recent convert Mr.R. came later and we shared a lesson with him too. It was awesome, because that day was kind of rough.

Today I want to share my testimony about the church, about its organization and programs. We are able to go to the Young Women class every week. Last week there was a mutual activity and sister A. asked us to come, because she wanted to explain the personal progress program. She has never done it before, but we have. We were able to share our testimony of this program. I never realized how much that program prepared me for my mission. I know it is truly inspired. I know that we are here to help the young women too. I'm grateful for their examples. They are amazing! They are an example! 

The gospel is sooo true! The church is super organized. It is perfectly organized! I invite you all to fulfill your calling, because if everyone does that, we can build up the church and help each other become stronger members. 

I love you all!!!!!

Zuster Spijkerman

Mission Life #32 Mi papia Papiamentu (of zo)

Maandag 9 oktober 2017

Hi everyone!
I have 10 minutes I got this. This week was super awesome, full of miracles!

the sun is so bright that it is hard to keep

your eyes open when taken a picture

I spent 3 days with the Spanish speaking sisters, because my companion was in Trinidad for 3 days,  so we worked in their area for the most time. So a lot of lessons were in Spanish and Papiamentu, and that's really hard for me. But I definitely saw God's hand with that last week. I was able to understand quite a bit and I was able to say things (in English) at the right time. We had a lesson with M. , a Youn Woman in the branch, and some relatives who only spoke Spanish. But I bore my  testimony at the end and the sisters told me that it was perfect. So God really helped me to understand enough so I could help them to come closer to Christ, although I don't speak the language. 

And Saturday night, we had an appointment, but the lady didn't show up. It was 7 pm and it was dark and people don't like us when it's dark. So we had no idea what to do. We decided to pray. After the prayer we were quiet and we still didn't know. I saw someone sitting outside of his house, so I was like 'maybe we can talk to him'. So we did. He was awesome! He drove by in his car while we waited in front of the lady's house and he wanted us to contact him, so he sat outside. And he really wanted us to come back so he willingly gave us all his information and he really wanted us to teach him and his mother. It was amazing to see that God truly lead us to those that are prepared. I didn't recognize that it was the Spirit telling me to go and talk to that man, but I truly did afterwards.

Yesterday, we went to the branch counsil. It was 7.30 pm and we had to be at the other sister's appartment for about 8 pm. So we had 30 minutes. We had no idea what to do. I came up with the idea to go to a lady we met during exercising on the soccerfield. We contacted her and we stopped by a couple times and we called her a couple times. But she was never there or she didn't pick up the phone. So we went there and she was home! We talked to her and she told us more about herself. She told us that she has 6 kids! And we've been praying for finding a family a lot! So that was so awesome!!

I'm glad I followed that idea! And it really wasn't my idea. It was God putting that idea inside of my head through the Holy Ghost. Sometimes it's hard to recognize the Spirit, but if it's a good thing, just do it! That's what we did and it turned out pretty great!

I love everyone of you! Keep working hard in school, on your mission or at work! God will help you! Maybe it's a hard thing to do, but read the story about Mormon in the Book of Mormon . Mormon was 16 and he lead an army, he was the only one who turned to God. I learned a lot about Mormon lately, because that's where I am in the Book of Mormon. Pretty great

I know God hears and answers all of my and your prayers. I am so grateful that He uses me as an instrument to accomplish His work and glory. I know that He love His children. And I am so thankful for that knowledge. I am a child of God and that makes me so happy! The gospel is so so so true! I am so blessed. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Love,

Zuster Spijkerman

I will sent pictures next week!!!

Mission life #31 Divine Design

Maandag 2 Oktober 2017

Wingapo!

Since leaders of the church quote Disney movies in Conferences I can quote them in my letters. I loved to the talk about 'look beyond what you see'. Am I the only one who hears Rafiki's voice in my head? Probably... Anyway. We should really look beyond what we see, because that's what the Savior did. 

So this week was amazing. Too many good things but I don't have time to write a lot about it. But I don't feel so tired anymore because we go to bed like 10 minutes earlier and I pray for help and it's like God sees my effort. So He answered my prayer. So I feel so good. Especially after GC. 

But I want to share my spiritual highlights really quick.

We have this investigator and we planned to drop him after we taught him the restoration (we have 1 lesson before that #keylessons #trinidadportofspainmission). So we taught him the first part of the restoration but stopped before Joseph Smith's story. It was a great lessons! And we invited him to General Conference. And he came Saturday!!! It was awesome! He was even wearing really fancy nice clothes. 

And president Uchtdorf talked a lot about God, our Heavenly Father. And that was perfect for him, because he doesn't have a clear idea of who God is. He took notes, so I know that General Conference is for EVERYONE. Not only members! For the whole wide world. So watch it everyone. It's good. Good advises. 

Another really spiritual experience was with a family. We went there Monday night. And after dinner we talked about the First Vision and spiritual experiences they had and we had sharing that on our missions. And the Spirit was so strong. I had a warm feeling. I know Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son. I feel the Spirit again now I share my experience. I know the gospel is true! Yesterday morning we went contacting and we talked to a lady. Her heart was hardened and she said she was busy. Then we asked her if we could help her, but she said no. Then she asked how long we were here. So we said 3 weeks. And we just started talking to her about her family and stuff. We got to know her a little bit. And while we were talking her heart got softened, because she told us that we could stop by if we were in the neighborhood. I don't even remember what we talked about, but eventually I asked her if we could give her a card of Jesus and she said 'of course!'. so we wrote our phonenumber down so she can call us if she needs help. And then I just wanted to have a contact and I asked for her phonenumber. At first something told me she would not be willing to give her number, but that was not God's voice. Because then I had a strong desire and feeling that I should just ask her. And so she gave us her number and told us to call her. That change in like 5 minutes comes because of the message of the restored gospel. It must be true. I know it is! I love the gospel! It's our way to Heavenly Father. 

Also our hour of power is just awesome. Thursday night we biked to our contacting area. And I knew that most of the time there was a man on our way there, but we never talked to him. So we biked and I prayed that he would be there. And he was! But there was someone with him. I started to hesitate and I wanted to keep biking. But God just answered my prayer, how could I not talk to him?! So we talked to them both. And it was really interesting. We got their information. We'll see where it goes. 

Then we got into our contacting area and we were at this resort and a guy yelled at us. So we went their and we talked about God and how we can believe in Him if we can't see Him. we talked about His plan for us. We got their information too! It was amazing!

So miracles are happening, because according to Donald L. Hallstrom a miracle is a beneficial event brought about by divine power that is not understood by men. I don't always understand, but I know that He is my Father. I trust Him. And I know He trusts me to help His children here understand who He is. How great is my calling?? I love it people. It is pretty here! The weather is uhm hot. Well it was almost cold here last week (29 celcius?). 

Mi stima bo!

Love,
Zuster Spijkerman

my bike fell AUW 

The puppies ate the resto pamphlets, that's why we took the picture but you can't see it haha.