Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Hello guys!!

Okay, so this week has been pretty sad. I had to say good bye to Clement on Wednesday which was really sad. Yes, I cried, but that´s not news, I always cry. Anyways, I really miss him, he was a great companion and a great friend. He was a really great guy and very trustworthy. But, it´s alright coz I get Elder Shaw. Elder Shaw is from Austin, Texas and has way too many interests for me to write down but he´s great and we´ve had a great time since he got here. 

This Christmas doesn´t feel too Christmassy but I´m sure as I continue to devote myself to the Lord, that it´ll still be a great Christmas!!
 
Anyways, so a couple of stories from this week: 

Firstly on Tuesday me and Clement stayed up till like 1am to pack his stuff but also to make sure the house was clean for when Shaw would arrive. That was probably the most tiring night ever. There was so much to pack plus in the process of packing the house looked a mess so we had a lot to clean up. But we got it done and when we went to bed the apartment looked great. Then on Wednesday me and Elder Shaw had a really long trip back home because we had to haul all of his stuff through the train and I´ve never had to do that because I´ve always had a car while on my mission. I was sooooo sad to see the car leave. It was soooo nice to have a car plus I´ve never not had a car which means I have to adjust to working in Den Bosch without it. But it´s worked out pretty great. 

So on Friday we had a lesson with our investigator Timo. Timo is sooooooo awesome. He´s 20 years old and me and Clement taught him for the last two transfers and he´s now had all the lessons and is getting baptised in January. But we´ve now decided to give him refresher lessons so we started with the Restoration. And it was so awesome because we would talk about one of the points and he would bear testimony. Then at he end of the lesson he said he was thinking about going on a mission which was AWESOME!!!!!!! He is like the perfect investigator and I can´t wait to see him progress!!!

Then a cool thing happened in another lesson. The investigator wouldn´t commit to reading from the BoM unless a sister missionary asked him to do it. So we pull out our phone and call a sister that we both know and she just commits him right then and there and it was such a funny experience. 



Okay, that's it for this week!
loves 
Elder Serra

Some Photos from the Christmas Zone Conference from last week:


Antwepen and Eindhoven Zones - Elder Serra right in the middle


Elders Brunner, Stanworth and Harry 



Monday, December 14, 2015

Hey Guys!!

First of all, I want you guys to know that I miss you like crazy!!!!!!!!! It's almost been 4 months but it feels like yesterday I entered the mission field.

Ok, to answer your questions mum:

1.Yes, we still have p.day next Monday so I´ll email you and get all the details.
2. The family I'm spending Christmas with are the Stomps and I´ll get all the information I need on Thursday because that's when we have a dinner appointment.
3.Yes I loved the presents you got me. Can't wait for the ones on Christmas dAY!!!!
4. Conference was awesome!!!!!

Okay, so A BREAKDOWN OF LAST WEEK!!!ii

On wednesday we worked pretty hard trying to get a lot of work done and contact as many people as possible since it was going to be Elder Clements last full working week. Then we drove down to Antwerpen so we could sleep at the apartment of the Elders there so we would be close enough to the chapel the next day. The Zone Conference was awesome!!!!!

I just loved being there with so many missionaries and seeing so many of my old friends, it was great. There we got taught a whole bunch of stuff that isn't really relevant for you guys so we'll skip over that. Then it was time for the leaving missionaries to say their departing testimonies. So Elder Clement went up and just bore testimony about what it was he learned while on a mission and it was great because these were all things that he'd taught me so I understood them and I feel better about what it is that I know because of him and how it will help me with Den Bosch. 

On Friday we went to the last singing elders concert and it was so awesome. The Singing Elders are beast!! They just sang awesome and made everyone feel the Spirit. Then after the concert we had to speak to people because that's the point of the concert, for missionaries to speak to member and investigators. That's when I met the people in the photo. They're from the Portuguese branch here in the Netherlands which is funny because I'm probably going to end up serving there (hopefully). 

Then on Sunday was Clement´s last Sunday in the ward. It wasn't too emotional but I'm sure they're going to miss him quite a lot. Also, a new missionary returned to Den Bosch after serving in South Africa so he was pretty cool. 

Then we finally got the transfer calls after the whole day. My new companion is Elder Shaw and he´s actually one of the singing elders and he´s pretty cool so it'll be great to have him as my companion. I don't actually know a lot else about him but I'm sure he´s great. 

Okay, I think that's it for this week. 



Elder Serra with an Elder (don't know who) and Carolina Serrano from Rotterdam at the Singing Elders Concert 


Elder Clement and a few of his buddies at the Singing Elders Concert!!!


Elder Clement and his two sons!!!!! Me and Elder Byers... I'm the better looking one of course eheh!!!


Oh, and I saw Elder Johnson at the Singing Elders Concert so that was great!!!!

Love you all so much!!!!!!
Elder Serra


On the 7th of December, Elder Serra Wrote:



Okay, to answer your questions mum:

Yes, I have a family that is giving us Christmas Dinner and is letting us skype but I don't know what time we'll skype because I don't know when my new companion will be able to do it since I don't know if he´s American or not.
I'll get the Christmas package on Thursday when we have Christmas Conference.



So I have a few pictures to send but what´s cool is that they´re from the last 2 P-days that I´ve had!!

The First P-day!!!
So we had to go to Den Haag (The Hague) on Wednesday to pick up my identity card from the Portuguese Embassy and we thought we´d have a nice day out in Den Haag. Then a member called and let us know we could have a tour of the Twede Kamer which is a political building or something. So we call President to find out if we can go and he told us that we could and to invite other missionaries which was great. So we invited the Assistants. So Elder Bonner is a... Marine which means that he is hardcore looking and was evaluating the security of the building and talking about how the guards should do better in keeping watch of the place. But he´s also pretty funny so hat was great. Then Elder Hirsch is the New Assistant and I don't actually know that much but he seemed pretty cool while we were with him. Anyways, the tour was pretty cool plus there were a whole bunch of cool places to see in the building. (Pictures to follow).
So then we leave and drive to Leiden so they can have a copy of my identity card in the office. So while we're in the office, Elder Clement goes crazy and reverts back to an Office Elder and just takes calls and has a blast. 
After all that we drove back home and thought a lesson to a guy called Sebastian and it was actually really sad to teach him because unlike most people we teach he wasn't even willing to try to read the Book of Mormon to know if it was true. He just sort of didn't really want to do anything hat required him to get a testimony. However, it made me happy to realise that all of the things which I was trying to get him to know about were things that I myself knew were true and that I had found out for myself were true. 

Then on Thursday and Friday we had exchanges which were extremely fun. While on exchanges I realised that there´s a lot that I rely on Elder Clements for and that if I want to become a capable missionary I have to try to become not only self reliable but better at doing the things that missionaries need to do. The last few days especially have helped me realise that in your mission you will always be trying to improve, no matter whether you've been out for 3 months or 23 months. It doesn't matter. What matters is that you continually use the Atonement as well as the resources give you by the Church to become a better missionary and a better Disciple of Christ.

The Second P-Day!!
So yesterday we went down to Maastricht or rather to Valkenburg which is a small town in the South of the Netherlands which is a pretty old part of Europe. So we went with our whole District to explore. There were caves with loads of Christmas Stuff in it which was great because it was the last cool thing Elder Clement would get to do on his PDay since his last would be spent cleaning our whole apartment because that´s what you have to do before the end of a transfer. We then went to explore the ruins of the oldest castle in the Netherlands....or something like that.... And it was great, got some great pictures of everything in there. 

Anyways, I think that´s it this week.
I love you guys soooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!

Love 
Elder Serra

No pictures so far...I'll post them as soon as I get them!  


So, on the 2nd of Dec, Elder Serra wrote (we can call it a microscopic email, if you know what I mean...)

Hey Fam-Fam!!

Wow, this last week and a half have been busy. The biggest event (I guess you can call it that) is that we had Thanksgiving last Thursday and it was great. We first spent the day with a whole bunch of kids in a high school somewhere because the school asked us to go teach the kids about the Church! WHAT!!! Crazy right? So we got there and they were all cooking thanksgiving dinner. So we helped them out with that and we spend the day with them having some fun. We then ate dinner with them but that meant we had no time so they asked us to come back in January to give a full lesson about the church which should be great fun. Sadly, couldn't take pictures :( 

Next thing is we found some Geese in our city so that's fun. 

Oh, I've also been  making a few videos of things happening around here so that we can have a fun time so you'll see those in a second.... 

I guess that's it. Watch the videos and you'll see what I mean!!!!!


Love Elder Serra


A few moments later, Elder Serra sent another email:

Arghhhhhhh

It won´t let me send videos!!!!!! I´ll figure something out next week I promise!!! You can still have the Geese photos!!! :)