Monday, January 4, 2016

28/12/2015
Hi guys!!

Okay,  the answers to some questions:

Yes, I loved the gifts and they´re hanging all over the apartment!!! I especially loved the ties!!!! I´ll send a little something about them home later.
Yeah, the ward sent me a whole bunch of letters that I just loved reading and if you could tell them that I loved them that would be awesome!!!.

I loved just seeing everyone on Christmas day and just talking, it was extremely fun and a nice boost.

Timo´s lesson on Sunday was great!!!! He´s such a beast and he just ended up bearing testimony again. Can´t wait for that kid to go on a mission!!!!!

So, this week:

So this last week has been pretty difficult. It actually started pretty well with a lesson with a member who´s struggling with his testimony. So you know, he wanted it to be about motivation and we went in and tried to teach how to use the things that he wanted to motivate him and I think that it really helped him. It was such a great lesson and we could feel the spirit so strongly. 

Then on Tuesday we had our first exchange of the transfer. I stayed in Den Bosch with Elder Wilson and it was a great exchange. It was sorta sucky that the two lessons I had set up fell through but we ended up having a great time contacting that day and we found a lot of potentials. It was great to talk to Elder Wilson about the city and everything that´s going on. I think it was the first ever exchange where I felt that it was for a purpose and not just for fun. All of the exchanges I went on when I was Elder Clement´s companion where for him to help the other missionaries get better. But since I had him the rest of the time, I just received that help a lot more often. However, with Elder Wilson, I was really able to analyse myself and how I can better help others in Den Bosch.
 
On Wednesday, I spent the day on Splits with Elder Crowder and it was great. It was so fun plus we had a great chat about leadership and things you need to do as a leader to help others and it helped me realize that I have a pretty great District Leader. On Christmas Eve we spent some time contacting and looking people up. It wasn't the most exciting day... We then went to a part member family and had a great dinner with them.



On Christmas day we spent some time contacting and looking up members that were alone and giving them a bit of a spiritual boost which made me feel great. We then skyped our families!!!! So I was pretty exciting to skype my family since it´s been a while. It was so great to talk to them and share spiritual experiences as well as funny ones. After we hanged up, it was a nice feeling to have talked to them but also I feel ready to continue working. I was worried that after I spoke to them, that I wouldn't feel up to working or that I´d get trunkie but I felt so great because I had gotten to do something great and fun but I also knew what I was here to do. 

The last thing this week is that I had a bit of an epiphany on Sunday. I was thinking to myself, why is it that this is so much harder than I thought. I've always felt great working and I don´t feel like giving up at all but sometimes I look at what I´m doing and what needs to be done, whether it´s for Den Bosch or for investigators or for members, and I think, Why am I finding it so hard? And I realized that before my mission I had never been in an environment that required me to become better at almost all times. I continually try to improve myself everyday but that´s pretty hard. Not only am I not perfect but I´m also not relatively old by mission standards. However, I still try and I find myself looking at the person I was and thinking that I have changed a lot. I am by far a better person than I was and its great to see that in myself. However, it´s also a humbling and sorta exciting experience to understand that I still have a long time where in can better myself more.

And it's pretty much this week!!

Here's some photos, courtesy and comments of my companion, Elder Shaw:

This is the new companion! Ain´t he a looker! I love this kid! (Elder Shaw's words)


This is Elder Serra jokingly trying to find an uncomfortable position to sleep in.

This is Elder Serra genuinely just tuckered out.

Ain´t he a cutie. I take a lot of pictures of him. He´s very photogenic. (Elder Shaw's words)

Cookies Elder Shaw made. We were on a train to Eindhoven.

Apparently Elder Shaw loves to take pictures with cats!!!!

This last one has a bit of a story. WE locked ourselves out of our apartment. We spent an hour and a little bit more removing the door from it´s hinges with the help of Rudy, our building handyman. After forever we finally got back inside. Yeah, we´ll do better at remembering our keys after that ordeal. Yep. Elder Serra's not happy!!!



Okay, I love you guys!!!!!!!!!

Loves, Elder Serra

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