Mission Life # 68 Finding the elect

Maandag, 18 juni 2018

What a week... An awesome week! 

Monday we had zone activity and we watched the best two years. So awesome!  

Tuesday we were on our way to district meeting. We were gonna watch the Be one celebration with the whole zone. Sister Didier's tire was a little flat so we pumped it up. Took a while. But then when we were biking again, my chain fell off. We were the ones with the celebration on our flashdrive. Putting my chain on again would take too long. So we walked somewhere and the senior couple and some elders picked us up. 

But the celebration was so awesome!! I can recognize some of the things from Suriname! And it just reminded me of the time I was in the blackgospel choir with school. And when we sang Baba Yetu with the Stake choir. My testimony was strengthened of the priesthood. We need it for our salvation. Someone said that the veil is breaking or is getting thinner. Which means Jesus Christ is coming closer and closer! I know President Nelson is the prophet. He wants us to be ONE!!! "and if ye are not one ye are not mine"  (DC 38:27).

On Thursday morning we went to our appointment but the lady wasn't there. We talked to all the people around there already. At least I thought. 

But sister Didier said 'we should talk to her'. So we tried but it was a lady we already talked to 2 of 3 times before. But she said that she is really happy every time she sees us. So that made me feel good haha. This day was amazing. I've been praying a lot you know,  and  I knew we had to find more people. And we had an hour of power and we went to this apartment building and talked to everyone there. We talked to a guy, Giovanni. We talked about the Restoration and eventually he sat down and really listened. He told us he visited some other churches, but he wants more. He lives with his mom. He was born in Rotterdam, but his mom wanted to move back to Suriname so he went with her to take care of her. I know he is ready to hear the gospel. He also saw us doing service for a random guy who was weeding his garden. I know we did the service so Giovanni could see that we are servants of the Lord. 

I went on exchanges on Friday with sister Woolsey! She is an amazing sister missionary and I learned a lot. We were at the same street as the Jehova Witness at the same time. Fun things. They were nice though. Tried to talk to a lady but she just yelled at us, that we were liars and stuff. When she would finally let us talk we testified of Christ and of God. Told her she's a child of God, but she forgot. It was a cool experience actually. We had some awesome lessons totally guided by the Spirit. In the evening we had a meeting and I had the chance to see some members. I was so happy!! I took a picture with them. I love them so much. They said that I'm welcome to come back haha. Well who knows! We have transfer calls this week! Where will I go for my last transfer?

We got a referral from the other elders in our branch. It's a man from Nigeria. He's awesome! He came to church. Not sure if he liked it or not. Everything was just really new. Invited Radj and the family to be baptized. They said they are already baptized, but the kids really want to! They came to church too! We did some service for our investigator John. It wasn't planned so we did it in our skirts. It was so hot! But then it started poring rain. It felt amazing! Nice and cold. It was cold people I tell you. I didn't know I would be cold ever on my mission, but it did happened!

Sister Didier and Jordan met a really cool guy Marlen on exchanges and we had a lesson with him. He really knows God. The first thing he said was that he wants to be baptized but he doesn't know in which church. So cool. Then he just told us stories, spiritual stories. For an hour. We had to cut him off. Our heads were exploding. So much inspanning to listen. It was really cool though! i learned a lot. He said that because he loves God he wants to change certain things. I know that that is true. God wants us to change. Change for the better is improving. He wants us to become better. I've seen the hand of the Lord in my life this week. 

How have you seen his hand? I know He is there. Never ever forget that. I know He is a living God. He works with us. I'm the clay and He's the potter. I know the gospel will bless your life if you let it bless your life. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Mi lobi yu!

Liefs,

Zuster Spijkerman

Mission LIfe #67 Zone Conference

Maandag 11 juni 2018

President en zuster Egbert, zuster Spijkerman, Zone conferentie juni 2018

This week was amazing!!!! 

It was the last time I saw the Egberts. They are leaving in two weeks. We had zone conference and we talked about the temple. O how I love the temple. I forgot a lot because I haven't been able to go for more than a year. But I love to see the temple. The sisters and 2 elders sang I love to see the temple for the musical number. I played the piano. God really helps me with that because I don't have a lot of time top practice. I learned a lot. I cried a lot. I will miss them so much. They truly have changed my life. 

President gave us the challenge to talk to 10 more people every week. To the people you would skip. So that same day we talked to 4 people! It was awesome. Including a Nederlander!                                                                                                                                                                        

Sister Egbert came to a lesson with us. She biked with us too! The first time on her mission. We had a wonderful lesson with our investigator John. He felt the Spirit. He just doesn't want to commit to come to church. So annoying. Cried some more, because this was the last time I would see sister Egbert. I love her so much. 

We stopped some more people. I felt prompted to talk to this lady. My companion was een kilometer verder and sister Egbert needed to turn around too ( she wasn't really good at that) but I turned around. The lady acted like we knew her. We thought she was a member, but she was JW. It was nice to talk to her. We also talked to another girl. Stephanie. Her mom recently passed away and she kinda lost herself. She prayed a lot and was getting back on the right track. And then we came. She thanked us. It was so awesome! God truly puts us there where he needs us. 

Saturday morning all of our appointments fell through. We didn't know what to do but we just decided to go contacting. We talked to a cool guy. 

Then I saw someone weeding his garden. I didn't want to ask him, but I knew I had to ask him if he needed help. He was kinda laughing, but we were serious. We weeded the garden in our dress, well my companion was wearing dress slacks. We shared our message while weeding. It was awesome. We helped him for an hour. SO MUCH SWEAT. He wasn't interested... dang it! 

Oh well. He will at least think about it. I took a cold shower. Goodness gracious it was so hot. Then we went to Allicha. She is awesome I love her, but she keeps cancelling and I thought we were loosing her. But I've prayed a lot and I knew everything would work out. And we had an awesome lesson. We felt prompted to bake cookies for her and she loved it. It just shows that we love her. We had a very spiritual lesson. She wants to be baptized but she needs to think more about it. 

We found a lady in our DCA this week and Saturday she told us she was actually a member! Crazy! She is 28 and has 7 kids! Impressive toch? It was kinda gek to be there. The kids are so cute though.

We had a cool experience yesterday too. In our DCA are a lot of interns (stagiares?). So we klopten and a Dutch girl came out. And I'm not going to lie, but I'm kind of scared of Dutch people, because usually they don't believe in God and they don't want to talk to you. But I know God puts me in this place so I can learn not to fear. We fear no man. Because how will I share my testimony in NEderland if I'm scared to do it here? So my goal is to talk to all the Nederlanders. So yesterday we talked to a girl. She was so sweet and nice! She said she's not really religious, but she believes that there is something, but she isn't sure what. She wasn't too interested right now, so we gave her a card and referred her to mormon.org and she seemed interested in that! We testified and the Spirit was there. She admired us. 

Until we meet again (snif) president & sister Egbert

An elder bore his dying testimony at zone conference about letting your light shine. I loved it so much. I know we can help others letting their light shine by letting our own light shine. I shouldn't hide it and I shouldn't be scared to share it. Because it will bless their life. I know the gospel is true. I'm so grateful that I can serve here in Rainville to talk to the Nederlanders and let my light shine, so they can feel that light inside of them light up. God gives us strength to do these things. I know He is a living God. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Love,

Zuster Spijkerman

Mission Life #66 Power of the Spirit and the Book of Mormon

Mandag 4 juni 2018

Hello everyone!

Let's be honest here. I don't really remember what happened this week. I know couple things! So I will share that with you.

Two or three people gave us mangos! So we have a ton of mangos and I don't even like them. I really try, you know. 

We had a really good district meeting about the gathering of Israel. We talked about refugees. That's a sign of the gathering of Israel because in their country they usually don't have religious freedom, so they cannot learn about the restored gospel. But because they left their country they can!!! Mind blowing right!? 

We had some good lessons this week. We took a member with us. He kinda started bible bashing, but our investigator could handle it. He actually liked it. We had another lesson with him later in the week and his friend came and started preaching to us in Sranantongo. He gave us fistbumbs and he said 'amen' all the time. He killed people and he was in jail for a while. He said that you could drink but don't get drunk. It's in the Bible! Well I don't know where kerel. He also fell on his knees and pretended he was praying to show us what he says and stuff. Really interesting. It was pretty funny. The rest of the lesson was good though! Een beetje van m'n apropo or whatever. 

We are teaching an investigator Naresh. He's Hindu and he really wants to learn more. We always invite him to pray about our message and we tell him to listen to what he feels. We promise him that the Holy Ghost will tell him. But he never really understood that. He told us he cannot listen to his heart. We had 2 really good lessons with him. On Saturday we talked about Jesus Christ and the Atonement. He didn't really understand. I tried to listen to the Spirit to answer his questions. I prayed that the Holy Ghost would testify to him and would help him understand. At the end of the lesson he said that he finally understands what we mean. And we weren't sure what he was talking about. Then he said 'yeah the Holy Ghost. I finally get it. I just feel so happy!' The Spirit testified to him. 

Later that night we went to Justin to invite him for church. He understands the Spirit so well. He protects us, warns us etc. I just saw how the man we met in the winkel become this spiritual happy man. It was awesome. The Spirit is so powerful! He bore his testimony yesterday! So cute!  

I know that the Spirit will fill our mouths and will bring the message to the hearts of the investigator. We used a lot of scriptures. I know the Spirit and the Book of Mormon are the greatest tool for conversion. I know this gospel is true. It makes us happy because it is true. I testify of these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Liefs,

Zuster Spijkerman

pics: I put up my hammick and I LOVE IT I actually don't know what pictures I sent haha 

Mission Life #65 15 months!!!!!

Maandag, 21 Mei 2018

Goedemiddag!!

I'm gonna write in Dutch today, because I can't think in English today. Echt erg.

Dus deze week was echt leuk. Ik geniet steeds meer van mijn zending en de mensen die ik ontmoet. We hebben een andere minderactief gevonden! Hij is echt geweldig. We hebben in onze zending iets wat we member information records noemen, van elk lid hebben we hun informatie in ons area book. Zodat we kunnen zien wanneer ze jarig zijn en wanneer ze met ons meekunnen. Het is onze manier om te bedienen. Ook zodat de zendelingen na ons makkelijker de leden kunnen leren kennen. 

We besloten dat ook met hem in te vullen. Hij vertelde over zijn doop. Hij is in 2000 gedoopt. Dus de kerk bestond toen nog niet zolang in Suriname. We spraken ook over God en over hoe hij een God van wonderen is. De laatste tijd deel ik een van mijn ervaringen hoe ik heb gezien dat God een God van wonderen is. Het is mijn broer Jonathan. De dokters zeiden vroeger dat hij nooit zou kunnen lopen en praten. Hij zat in een rolstoel voor een groot deel van zijn jeugd. Maar nu doet hij mee aan hardloopwedstrijden. Hij rent 5 km in 30 minuten (en 8 juni doet hij mee aan de 4 Engelse mijl red.). Ik kan dat niet eens! Dus ik weet dat God een God van wonderen is. Dat bracht echt de Geest. Dus dank je Jo dat je een wonder bent!!! 

Donderdag moesten we even kopietjes maken en bij de copy place kwamen we een vrouw tegen die zuster Campbell en ik hadden gecontacteerd. Ze herinnerde zich ons. Ze had het pamfletje gelezen! Niet geïnteresseerd, maar ze weet onze boodschap tenminste. We nodigden ook A. uit om gedoopt te worden! Ze wil wel, maar ze wilde geen datum accepteren. Ze wil eerst met haar moeder spreken. Daarna hadden we coördinatie met de gemeente zendingsleider in ons nieuwe kerkgebouw. 

Vrijdag hebben we geholpen om alles op z'n plek te zetten. Ik hou echt van mensen dienen. We hadden ook een super goede les met onze familie. Over het Boek van Mormon. Wow ik hou van kinderen  en van het Boek van Mormon. Het was zo leuk om ze te onderwijzen. Ik weet dat het niet mijn woorden waren, maar van de Geest. want ze begrepen het zo goed!

Ik wil nog een andere geestelijke ervaring delen die ik zaterdag had. Ik heb dit ook met mijn zendingspresident gedeeld dus here you go: 

I want to share a personal one I had on Saturday. I woke up and I was so tired and I honestly didn't know if I would be able to go through the day. So I prayed and prayed. I study about Christ every Saturday and I also prepared for an Atonement lesson. I read a poem that's called 'He's been there before'. It's about an elder who is just having a hard time. He is thinking of going home. Then in his dream Jesus appears to him and tells him that he went through the same things. Then at the end Jesus says something like "but there is a difference between me and you. I finished my mission, so you can do that too." I want to finish my mission and I realized that I have to focus more on Christ. And I did! I remembered Him all day and I didn't feel tired anymore!

I know He has been where we have been. Mosiah 3:7 says "Hij zal verzoekingen ondergaan, en lichamelijke pijn, honger, dorst en vermoeidheid". He has felt the tiredness I felt. I know the Atonement is real. It eases my burdens. Christ has changed my life. I know He lives. I know He knows how to help us. He gives us strength. 

Ook wil ik iets delen dat ik met mijn vader deelde.

Gisteren in evangeliebeginselen klas werden we opgedeeld in groepjes en wij zaten met een recent convert van de elders. Ze is van Guyana en ze is zo sterk! Ze kreeg te horen net voor haar doop dat ze uit haar huis gezet zou worden. Haar hele familie is hindoe. Ze woonde in het huis van haar vader en haar vader would kick her out. Ze is 2 weken geleden gedoopt. Afgelopen dinsdag was haar laatste dag en ze had nog geen huis kunnen vinden. Ze ging naar haar zus en lag in een hangmat omdat ze de hele nacht niet had kunnen slapen. Voordat ze ging slapen zei ze een gebed. Ze zei dat ze haar zorgen in Gods handen had gelegd. Toen ze sliep hoorde ze een stem. Iets zei haar om op te staan. Ze was zo moe, dus ze wilde niet opstaan. Toen nog eens en nog eens. Ze stond op. Haar broer was gekomen met een fiets. Ze leende de fiets en ging op weg. Toen kwam ze ergens bij een huis of appartement en zo vond ze haar huis. 

Ik kreeg tranen in mijn ogen. Gewoon om te zien hoeveel geloof zij heeft. Haar zus vroeg haar waarom ze haar heeft laten dopen als het alleen maar moeilijkheden brengt. Maar ze heeft zo'n sterk getuigenis. Echt geweldig. Ik vond het zo geweldig om te horen hoe de Heilige Geest met haar werkt. Dus ik weet dat we vreugde en rust kunnen ervaren door onze problemen in Zijn handen te leggen. Hij heeft controle. 

Ik weet dat wij gesterkt kunnen worden door te bidden. God zal ons helpen door zijn zoon Jezus Christus. Ik getuig dat Jezus Christus de Verlosser van de Wereld is. Hij is het licht. Follow Him and find new life! Ik hou van jullie en ik wil mijn getuigenis met jullie achterlaten in de naam van Jezus Christus amen.

Liefs,
Zuster Spijkerman

ps. We hebben met een jongen uit Nederland gesproken. hij leek op Borkán haha. Super aardig. Hij vroeg waar ik vandaan kwam omdat ik een gek accent heb. Na ons gesprek vroeg mijn collega if I used to sound like that. I said yes and she started laughing and said really? Dus ja be prepared mijn Nederlands is geen echt Nederlands meer haha.... 

oh en we zagen een vogelspin en ik heb een eendenei gegeten

    

Mission LIfe # 64 Serve with your soul

Maandag, 21 mei 2018

Hallootjes!

This was such a good week!! so I had a goal last transfer to serve someone every day. And I still kinda want to do that. People here DON'T accept help. So stupid. Maybe they think we think they can't do it. But Tuesday there was a lady racking her yard or what ever. And we stopped. I kinda just grabbed the thing and said 'Mag ik dat voor u doen?' And she was just kinda laughing. I sucked at it so I handed the thing over to sister Didier. I started talking to her. She is Moslem, but not really echt. I felt SO good. I love serving the people here. It really helped her to open up more.

A couple weeks ago we found this creeper boy, but we decided to talk to him. His name is N. We've had a couple lessons with him now and he is AWESOME. He told us that he wants to change. He wants to quit smoking. He wants to be like his dad. Having a family and stuff. So cute. (Okay he's 21 just saying so maybe not cute. Tender?). We committed him to pray for the power to resist temptation. We promised him that he would smoke less. And he told us he only smoked 1 cigarette instead of 6!!! WOWWW God is groot! Don't you just love God?

I want to share a spiritual experience we had with A., the 15 year old girl. We followed up on Moroni 10:3-5. She was so excited to tell us what she learned. She loved the verses. we asked her how she felt. She said 'it's like the Holy Ghost came over me'. The spirit was so strong during that lessons. She smiled. She is feeling it big time. I love seeing her testimony grow. That just makes everything worth it you know. God really leads us to the people that need us. We found a girl that looked sad. She let us come back twice already. She is not the elect, but she definitely needed our help at that time. 

My faith and gratitude for my Heavenly Father grew. I know he really hears me. A couple times this week it was pouring. And that makes missionary work a lot harder. So I prayed that the rain would stop so that we could have lessons. Usually people cancel when it is raining. So the rain didn't stop when we biked to our appointment. But when we got to our appointment it stopped. We were sitting outside, so I was so grateful. Heavenly Father is merciful. Also yesterday when it rained before church I asked if it could stop. We stepped outside and the rain stopped.

I had a spiritual experience in sacrement meeting yesterday. We had no investigators and a lot of members weren't there. So I was kinda sad. But one of the returning members came! So I was happy. And there were good talks. Someone talked about diepgaand leren. Learning with your whole soul. She said that you have to learn and study with your heart might mind and strength. So serving with your soul means serving with your whole heart might mind and strength. 3 minutes before 2nd hour of church we were asked to give the lesson. UNPREPARED. It was horrible. We taught gospel principles and the classroom was full of people. They all asked questions about the priesthood. Then an investigator walked up and stood next to us and started taking over the lesson. AWKWARD. I felt so stupid. But I just testified. I hope the people could feel the Spirit. I'm not sure if I did. It was really hot in there.

I know this gospel is true. I know Heavenly Father hears my prayers. I love Him so much. David Archuleta wrote a song "My little prayer'. It says: Heavenly Father, I am grateful, for your eternal blessings. I am learning to be patient and that you are really there. Sometimes I am afraid. That's when I am lacking faith. But I'm beginning to understand. That for me you have a plan." I feel like that all the time. I know He is there. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Liefs,
zuster Spijkerman

Ps: SISTER BARKER IS GONE. I'm gonna miss her so so much. 

Mission LIfe #63 Families can be Together Forever

Maandag 14 Mei 2018

Oehoeh hi everybody!!

This week was kinda weird, because our apartment is falling apart. Our garage door is broken and their is a leak because it's raining so much, the gate doesn't work sometimes. Yup Helemaal keduuk. But besides that it was an amazing week. Pretty much had spiritual experiences everyday. 

Monday night a man let us in and we had a lesson with him. This never happens. 

Tuesday we decided to draw the plan of Salvation with chalk and talk to people about it. It was so much fun! 

On Wednesday we were at this weird place. Looks like a village with tons of kids. We tried to have a lesson but it was so crazy. But they sang for us!! And then we sang for them 'I am a Child of God'. All of the sudden everyone was quiet and everyone in the village was astonished. Not because our voices are amazing (I mean we sound pretty good) but because they felt the Spirit. 

Then this weekend was just amazing!!! Biked through a lot of water (maybe like up till your knees) and we taught the family again. Have I actually told you about them already? Okay. So they remind me of the VonTrapp family from the Sound of Music. They are so so cute. 

We came there and because of the rain they had some problems with the water. We helped them to get the water weg. And then we had a beautiful lesson. The kids are so obedient! And they can concentrate!! Wow it's amazing. At the end the boy, asked about baptism. So cute. We invited them last time to pray as a family. Every single day. They did and they saw a huge difference. 

This time we invited them to come to church. The dad and the 4 kids came!!!! Sunday was literally so amazing. The family was there and someone was baptized Saturday, so she received the Holy Ghost. I cried because the blessing was so beautiful. We sang the song count your blessings. And I was so grateful. My heart was full of gratitude towards my Father in heaven and Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. 

There is so much love in this branch. There is unity. And this branch has a baptism every month because of it. I'm staying here for another transfer and I'm so glad. I want to end my mission here. I set a goal of baptizing 5 people before I go home. And I know it's possible, because we are teaching the family now. I'm so happy to be here on a mission. I felt so much gratitude when I skyped my family. I've never felt the Spirit that strong during skype before. I love my family. It's alsmost like I forgot how much I actually love them. I know that their prayers are answered every day, because I know they pray for me and I'm feeling so good. I'm happy. I'm doing the Lord's work and I'm enjoying it. That's what my mom told me to do my last 2 transfers. Enjoy! It's not just endure to the end. we have to enjoy to the end. 

I know I can be with my family forever and that thought brings me joy and happiness and comfort. I'm so grateful for the many sacrifices they make. I know they are blessed. I love you all! Good luck with everything you do. And with everything you do. Enjoy!

Lobi,

Zuster Spijkerman

Ps I have a lot of pictures but this computer is lame. Next week goed?

MissionLife #62 Spiritual blast

Maandag 7 mei 2018

Goedemiddag!

 This week was amazing!! Wednesday wow.. Justin bought a hammick (hangmat) for me. So we picked that up and then we asked him if he would pray for us so we could find people that are prepared by God. And then there was this man. He was kinda like a creeper, but Justin just treated him with so much love. The man told us that he wanted to change his life. Justin asked if he is using drugs and he said yes. Justin testified that he has probably used more drugs in his life than whole of Suriname + half of Amsterdam. ' But look at me. I'm old, and I'm happy'. He testified that the man could change that we (the angels) could help him with that. It was such an amazing spiritual experience. Without Justin we would've tried to get away from that man, but because of him we stayed and we shared our testimonies of Christ. 

We were on exchanges Friday. Zr Woolsey was here. It was a hard day. I felt prompted to stop by a less active in the morning. He was home and we had a beautiful lesson. It started pouring rain when we were there, but when we left it was nice and sunny. We contacted for a little bit. Found 1 man that was interested. Then in the afternoon we tried formers... No one. Then we contacted... No one. Then I saw a lady. She was getting into her car but she was just standing there. I wanted to talk to her. SHE WAS AMAZING. She gave us manja's (mango's). She said that we could come back Tuesday. Then later we met Josta. She let us in right away and we had a lesson with her. She felt the Spirit and invited us back. 

My testimony of the importance of members grew. Thursday we had an appointment with a young woman, A. We asked Amisha to come. She came, but A. wasn't there. She told us to call her again when we need her. So Saturday morning we went to A. again. We asked Amisha to come. We were at A. and she wasn't there. Amisha called to ask if the appointment was still good. We told her she wasn't there. Right when we hung up A. walked out and asked if we could come back in 30 minutes. So we called Allicha and she said she would come. We had a really spiritual lesson. We left and Amisha stayed to talk to her more. Then we called A. that night to ask if she could come to church and her mom said that she could come if we picked her up. We asked if it would be okay if someone else picked her up, but she didn't want that. Then we asked if it would be okay if it would be okay if Amisha would pick her up with her family. She agreed. The next day A.came to church and the AbdoelHamid family was a great support. All the elders though t A.was Amisha's friend. Zr. AbdoelHamid explained everything and just fellowshipped her and Amisha too. It was so great 

to see how all these things worked out. I know it was God. Church was a great happy experience.

I know this church is true. I know God loves me. He is there every step of the way. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

I love you all!!

Lobi,

Zuster Spijkerman