Full of the Spirit-May 27,2013

Hey everyone!!
Welcome to the family Emmitt!! That's so exciting, he looks like a
stud!! I can't wait to meet him! This week has been awesome, like
always! I'm just loving it here and loving being a missionary. This
week we met with Sammi a couple times who has a baptism date in June.
Well we found out he has a problem with alcohol and so we have been
focusing on the word of wisdom. Ha but he just is having a hard time
accepting it and doesn't really understand why we have that and stuff
and yesterday during our lesson with him it was getting super
frustrating cuz he wasn't taking us serious and he was just crackin
jokes and being his goofy self and the lesson was just going nowhere.
its soo hard to keep him focused!! And sometimes its hard for me to
stay focused cuz he just cracks me up. Haha but finally my comp was
just like "Sammi let's pray about the word of wisdom right now!" ha he
was soo caught off guard and he didn't want to at all cuz he knew we
were right and he didn't want to be proven wrong in front of us. Haha
it was so funny but we finally got him to do it and we knelt down
together and he prayed and asked to know if what we were telling him
was true. His prayers are so amazing they always bring the spirit so
strong, i love when he prays! But anyway after he was finished no one
moved or said a word for probably a solid 5 minutes and you could just
feel the spirit so strong. And it was a huge miracle that Sammi was
able to stay quiet for that long cuz he just likes to talk haha and
you could just tell that he was really listening and focusing on his
feelings. it was sooo cool! When we all stood up he had tears in his
eyes and just said "I feel guilty" and we just asked him what he felt
and he just said he knew it was true and that he needed to stop. Gah!!
The church is true everyone! It was such a sweet experience! I know
Heavenly Father knows us all individually and he truly does hear and
answer our prayers. We also met with Lachelle and Lomar this week. We
met them before and they are so awesome but just weren't interested
when we talked to them the first time but for some reason we felt like
we needed to go back and visit them. I was soo nervous haha i didn't
know what they were going to do or how they would feel about us coming
back haha but when we got to their apartment a huge thunderstorm
rolled in and it just started downpouring like crazy! We knocked on
their door and Lachelle opened almost immediately and told us to come
right in. Turns out she is very very afraid of thunderstorms and when
she is at home alone she ends up just hiding in a corner all scared
until it is over. Haha she is very funny. But she was so grateful we
were there and it was just incredible timing cuz we were able to be
there with her during the storm and teach her and she said she was
just praying for company when she saw the storm rolling in. Its so
amazing how the Lord works! He loves all of his children so so much!
It amazes me. So we taught her about the restoration and got many of
her questions cleared up and she is so prepared. She already lives
such an amazing life and she's just an incredible person! I am so
excited to see where this gospel will take her, i know she will make
an incredible member of this church sometime soon! The spirit is
always so strong when we teach her and she just told us that when we
come over she feels a very special spirit and she knows what we are
telling her is true and that she just wants to be a part of it! She
told us how amazed she was that we didn't just give up on her the
first time and that we were insistent and came back anyway. There are
a few things we need to work out with her but i'm stoked to teach her
and see where she will go from here! I just know how important it is
to always be in tune with the spirit and i continue to learn the
importance of it the longer i am here! I know that our father in
heaven knows each of us individually. He knows these people in
Virginia ten times better than i ever will and i know that i can bring
them to this gospel if i am worthy and if i'm constantly striving to
have the spirit with me. I know how important prayer is and that
having a prayer in our hearts can really allow us to overcome those
small daily challenges and i have found that it really helps me get
through the hard moments of each day and helps me to bounceback and
have a better attitude and be able to recognize the good in each day.
Cuz really there is so much in each day that we can all embrace and
cherish. I know it's so easy to get down when our day doesnt start off
in the way we would expect and its hard to bounceback and try to not
let that one small thing ruin our whole day. But i've come to
recognize that prayer is so important in every minute of each day to
help us especially during the hard days. We aren't always in
situations where we can kneel down and pray but i know Heavenly Father
hears those prayers in our hearts and he is waiting to hear from us
and waiting to bless us. I know that! I know that Christ knows
everything we each go through, he has been through it all and even so
much worse that the things we go through. He is my best friend that i
turn to when i need to be lifted up cuz he has felt every pain i've
gone through and will go through. He is the most loyal friend i have
and I know he knows me, better than i even know myself and i'm so
grateful for him and that i can turn to him for anything cuz he knows
my every need. I've studied about the Atonement a lot this past week
and the biggest thing i have learned is what Heavenly Father expects
from me not just as a missionary but just always. He expects me and
all of us to just do our best. If we do our best every day and try our
hardest to be obedient to the things he has commanded us then he is
pleased with us. But i know its not always easy to do that and i know
how hard it is to be exactly obedient to those things we are asked to
do, but because of Christ and his atoning sacrifice we can repent and
just keep trying to do our best every day cuz we aren't perfect and we
will mess up but as long as we are doing our best and trying harder to
be a little better then we are doing and becoming what Heavenly Father
would want of us. I know this church is true! I gain a stronger
testimony of it every day. I love being a missionary and i love
teaching and testifying of something that has blessed me so much and
givin me so much comfort and strength my whole life! I love that i
have the opportunity to share this message with the people in Virginia
24/7. There is nothing better!! Hope to hear from ya'll soon! Love and
miss ya'll tons and tons!!! Have a good week ;) XOXO

Sister Roosendaal



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--
Michele Roosendaal
"Have a GREAT Day"

Macy's Address

Her favorite thing is getting letters in the mail from family and friends! In her words she says, "letters are like gold"
Her address is:
Sister Macy Roosendaal
864 Ashley Court
Charlottesville, VA 22901

J.O.Y- May 20, 2013

Hey ya'll!!
This week has been amazing and time is just flying!! I had an awesome
birthday!! Thanks so much for all the gifts and cards... it made my
whole day! All the missionaries and my companions spoiled me! We went
to buffalo wild wings for lunch one of my fav places and the elders
made me a very unique cake that was surprisingly delicious. Haha they
took a brownie mix and a cake mix and layered it all together! Ha it
looked so nasty but it was amazing and they were frosting it in the
car on their way to lunch. Haha they are way funny it was super nice
of them. It was an awesome mission birthday for sure!! Ha so this week
was filled with little miracles as we were trying to find some people
to teach! We met with Jocelyn who just moved home for the summer and
was actually taught by some missionaries just recently! She had a
baptism date set but didn't follow through with it... she is 19 and
just a doll. and she plays basketball so i just love her. haha but we
met with her to kind of figure out where she is at and how she feels
about baptism and she is sooo ready to be baptized!! it's amazing!!
She still has some questions about things so we will be continuing to
meet with her but i'm just so excited for her cuz she's so ready. This
week we were able to do exchanges with the sister training leaders and
it was so cool. That was probably the best day on my mission so far
just cuz the sister i was with taught me so much and was able to help
build up my confidence and help me to recognize how important it is to
be busy every hour of every day. I got a lot of questions answered and
it was just sweet to watch her and the kind of missionary she is and
how she does it which was an awesome role model for me to follow. We
met with Sammi this week who has a baptism date for June but we've
been worried cuz he has been struggling the past few weeks. It was
amazing during our lesson cuz he is usually so hard to keep focused
and he just brings up the most random things. But we prayed before we
went in that he would be serious with us and be able to stay focused
and that was probably the best lesson we have ever had with him! It
was amazing how focused and serious he was and it really allowed for
the spirit to be there! He told us that he has been praying and that
he really has recognized the blessings that come from it. He told us
just like how amazed he is that his prayers have been answered and how
good it makes him feel when he prays! It was so sweet. During the
lesson as we were talking and addressing some other things he was
concerned about i felt prompted to share with him Bishop Farnes "Got
JOY" which stands for Jesus, Others, Yourself... in that order. When
you strive to do that you will recognize pure joy in your life and its
something that has really helped me so far as i've been on my mission.
ha i'm not really sure why i felt prompted to share that but i did and
the spirit was so strong and i'm not really sure what else i said cuz
the spirit just took over which is the coolest feeling ever but
afterwards the sister training leader told me how perfect that was to
share and that i need to speak up more cuz it was so powerful.
Recognizing and acting on the spirit is so important and i'm really
learning how important it is! Sometimes i get prompted to say things
that i normally wouldn't haha but as i act on those promptings and
allow the spirit to take over it is so powerful and affects not only
the investigator but me as well. The spirit is so real and it's so
important to constantly strive to have it with you so that we can be
led to those who are in need of the gospel or even just in need of
some service or a friend. This week i was also able to go on splits
with one of the spanish speaking sisters to a lesson... that was
obviously in spanish. It was with the cutest little family with the
sweetest little kids. It was so fun! Even though i had no idea what
was being said or going on i could still feel the spirit soo strongly!
I could always tell when the lesson was going somewhere or when the
hermana i was with was testifying cuz it just brought in the spirit so
powerfully! The little kids only spoke spanish too haha and they were
trying to talk to me and tell me stuff and i had nooo clue what they
were saying. I just kept saying "si si si" over and over haha it was
pretty funny. But they came and sat by me and i showed them pictures
that i had in my scriptures like either of my family, jared, the
temple, or jesus and i was teaching them what those things were and
telling them all of your names. and they loved hearing that jared was
in mexico it made them so excited. haha but even though it was such a
huge language barrier it was so sweet so be able to connect with them
as the hermana translated for me, as i played with the kids, and being
able to feel the spirit with them was so awesome. it was a cool
experience! I wish i had time to explain all the little miracles we
had this week but it was so cool to be apart of. We were led to people
who are so prepared and ready to hear the gospel in ways that i never
would have expected. I know that because of our faith and obedience we
were able to experience those little miracles. This week i learned how
important it is to talk to everyone and to not be misled by their
outward appearance. As we talk to people everyday i am really learning
that there are people out there no matter how rough on the outside
they may be... but there are people out there who really are seeking
for truth. People who go through things i never could imagine going
through that are just looking for some hope and happiness and that is
what this gospel does! It brings us hope and happiness and allows us
to draw closer to our father in heaven who loves us sooooo much!! One
other thing i've come to recognize the importance of is building
others up and making people feel like a million bucks. Ha as we strive
to forget ourselves and focus on the talents and awesome qualities
that others have then we will come to feel of that pure joy we are all
on a journey to find everyday. The more you lose yourself, the more
you find yourself! By putting the Lord first and striving to do His
will, building others up and looking for opportunities to serve, then
i know that we will be able to feel of the pure joy our father in
heaven is waiting to bless us with if we do those things. This mission
is not about me... it's about doing all i can to bring others unto
christ with the lord on my side and being worthy to feel of and
recognize the spirit. I know that as i lose myself in this work then i
will find myself. I love being a missionary soo much!! It's the best
thing ever and i know it will eternally bless me if i do all i can to
learn and grow from the experiences i'm having! I love you all so much
and would not be able to do this without all the of support you give
me! Love and miss you all!! XOXO

Sister Roosendaal

p.s. i'll send pics next week!



NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended
recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information.
Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is
prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the
sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.




--
Michele Roosendaal
"Have a GREAT Day"

May 13, 2013- Growing, Learning, Living, and Loving It

ey ya'll!!
It was so awesome being able to talk to everyone yesterday!!! That was
the best birthday present I could ever ask for!! I have the best
family in the whole world...no doubt about it!! It was so good
seeing/talking to you all! My day was made! Love you all so much! So
this week has been pretty dead as far as lessons go... but i've
learned a ton!! We found Jennifer tracting a week or so ago and we met
with her last week and taught her the restoration! The spirit was so
strong it made my companions and i tear up a little bit. Haha she
really opened up to us and ahhh.... She is sooo amazing! Oh my heck.
She is so prepared I just can't wait to meet with her again! She was
so grateful we were there to talk to her, she just loves the Lord and
really sees his hand in her life. She has such great faith she's so
amazing! I am so so excited to keep working with her. Last week we met
with all of our investigators who are leaving for the summer for the
last time.. which is kinda bittersweet. It was kind of hard to meet
with them cuz they knew and we knew that they were leaving so it just
didn't seem like any of us were getting anywhere. But we got really
organized and figured lots of things out and i just feel like we have
a clean slate in this area to work with now! We have a lot of finding
to do but it's going to be awesome. i cant wait to see who the Lord
puts in our path! We have lots of work to do!! I'm stoked. This week I
learned a lot. One of the things i learned most was the importance of
setting goals! I've never been a huge goal setter... in fact its
something i have always dreaded cuz it never feels good when you don't
reach that goal that you have set. haha but i really focused on it
this week and i set some goals and will be every week from now on and
it's just incredible the difference it has already made! It's really
caused me to stretch and get out of my bubble a little bit! It also
helps me stay more focused! Ive really been thinking a lot lately
about the kind of missionary i want to be and i know that the only way
i will get there is by setting goals and continually striving to try a
little harder to be a little better each day! I know that if i
continue to do this that i will reach my full potential as a
missionary... and i know that if we all strive to set some goals no
matter how big or how small that we can all reach our full potential
and become that person that the Lord wants us to become. BE co ME. Be
yourself and strive to become your BEST self. I know that 18 months
seems like it is so long but in reality it is such a short time. I
need to do all i can to make the most of this time and to make the
most of it by working hard every day! Your happiest when you work the
hardest (thanks ryker your the best) So Ashley (less-active) that i
talked about last week has really been keeping in contact with us and
came to FHE last week! She's so awesome. It's crazy how far people can
wander off the path... but what i've really learned is that it is so
important to just love people for how they are and to see them for who
they can become. I'm so excited to work with Ashley and to continue to
get to know her and just be her friend. She really just needs some
support right now and my companions and i are so excited to give that
to her and help her any way we can. One thing i've noticed as i've
been out here is that you never know what people are going through.
There are people who go through some really tough trials, struggles,
or temptations that are just a huge struggle and honestly if i wasnt a
missionary i wouldnt be able to recognize this as easily because we
work with some people who have some huge struggles but put on such a
good face in public. It's so crazy what people have to go through in
this life and i'm just learning so much of how important it is to not
judge and to just love the person no matter what! But the amazing
thing about this gospel is that anyone can come back! There is no sin
that is too great... through the atonement we can all be cleansed and
healed from our sins. Christ came and suffered for YOU and for ME. For
ALL of us! Imagine that you went out and did something for someone...
the nicest thing you can think of and got no thanks or appreciation in
return. That would probably feel pretty crappy... Now imagine how it
must make Christ feel when we don't appreciate or use the atonement at
its fullest. I can't even imagine how it must make him feel when he
sees us... the people that he bled and died for rejecting him and not
appreciating all that he has done. I can't even imagine... and that's
why i'm here. I'm here to help people recognize and see the power of
the atonement. I'm here so that they can return to live with our
father in heaven again, cuz we were all once with him. We were all so
excited to come to this earth and we all had that desire before we
came to come and show our faith in him! This gospel is so amazing and
i'm so grateful everyday that i have the opportunity to teach it to
the people of virginia 24/7. We will find more investigators this week
and i can't wait to share those experiences with ya'll! So a
missionary that lived in our apt before us had this life-sized statue
of Dobby (from harry potter) weird right? Well he sits and stares at
me every morning that i study.... it drives me nutty. Haha but lately
my comps and i have been sticking him in random places in our apt to
freak out our roommates and so we came home one day and there was
dobby... in our closet.. dressed up in all of our clothes. Ohh... the
things we have to do to entertain ourselves! Haha so I thought ya'll
would enjoy to see a picture of that. And as you could see from our
face time yesterday i'm still just my crazy old self. But i'm growing
spiritually, learning, and loving every minute!
Here's the quote of the week "The question often arises in the minds
of young men who find themselves in the mission field, "what shall i
say?' and another follows closely upon it, "how shall i say it?" ...
while no specific rule may be given, experience has taught that the
simplest way is the best. having learned the principles of the gospel,
through a prayerful spirit and by careful study, these should be
presented to men in humility. in the simplest forms of speech, without
presumption or arrogance and in the spirit of the mission of christ...
the spirit must first be with the missionary, if he shall succeed in
awakening its response in his hearers; and this is true whether the
words be spoken in conversation, face to face, or in public
gatherings... by earnestness and simplicity the missionary will not
only establish himself in the truth, but his testimony will convince
others. he will also learn to stand for himself with god as his
helper; he will touch the hearts of the people and will have the
pleasure of seeing them come to an understanding of his message. the
spirit of the tgospel will shine forth from his sould and others will
partake of his light and rejoice therein." -joseph f smith.
XOXO

Sista Roosendaal

the last pic is all the girls in my zone including one of my old mtc comps!

May 6, 2013- Drops of Awesomeness

hey ya'll!
Another wonderful week has flown by here in Virginia! I'm loving it
here and having the time of my life! The work is pretty slow right now
because so many of the YSA's are moving home for the summer or there
are some moving back here for the summer so there is a lot of
transition happening right now! But i'm still loving it and we have
been working on finding people to teach and kind of wrapping up some
lessons with those who are moving! We have an investigator named sammi
who is from kenya. he is so awesome haha he makes me laugh. he has had
a pretty hard life... he was abducted and abused as a child and he has
gone through many other things. he actually has a baptism date for
june but is kind of starting to have some doubts and has stopped
praying and coming to church so we have a lot of work to do with him
still! He is so awesome though and so fun to be around. he is kind of
hard to keep focused on a certain thing.... for example in the middle
of a lesson the other day he looks at me and goes "you know what? i
googled you the other day and saw your blog!" haha and then he just
kept telling me all these things he found out about me and oh man....
he's hilarious. haha so we were teaching this kid named Daniel this
week and it was our last lesson with him cuz he is moving but during
the lesson i was prompted to share an experience with him that i had
and as soon as i opened my mouth... it wasn't even me talking anymore.
the spirit completely took over... i couldn't even tell you what i
said! but it was so powerful and felt soo good! I know that it was
what the Lord wanted and needed him to hear and even though he is
moving i hope and pray that he will remember the things we taught him
and that it will touch his life. Me and my companions are reading the
bom this month with a recent convert named wesley. this guy is the
person that gives me hope for success in this area. it is very hard to
believe that he is a convert. he is so awesome and always striving to
increase his testimony and do all he can to serve the church. i know
that wesley was prepared by the lord for when those missionaries found
him and i know that the lord is preparing other YSA's for my comps and
i to come in contact with and help! i don't even know what wesley was
like before he got baptized but i know he has changed a ton and its so
amazing to see what the gospel has done to his life! Anyway it has
been such an awesome experience reading and studying the book of
mormon. as i've been reading i've been looking for ways of how i can
become a better missionary and its incredible how well the bom can
relate to our lives and help us with whatever we need. one of my
favorite things i read about this week and learned a lot from was when
nephi and his brothers are on the ship and his brothers start being
wicked again and the compass stops working and they lose their way.
Well i just think it is so important that we always strive to have our
spiritual compass working! It is important to be in tune and worthy to
have the spirit if not then that compass will turn off and we will
lose our direction just as nephi and his brothers. I'm doing all i can
to constantly have that compass on me so that i can be directed to
those who are seeking the truth. On Friday we had a zone meeting in
waynesboro about 45 minutes away with the prettiest drive ever! I
seriously can't get over how gorgeous it is here... whenever we are
driving i just stare out the window in awe at how pretty it is here.!
I love it so so much!! I'm so happy here!! Anyway it was so awesome to
get to know my zone and find out who is in it and turns out one of my
old comps is in my zone and two other elders from my mtc district! It
was so awesome to see them and catch up! we spent the day in
waynesboro contacting less actives and we went to a million houses it
felt like and either no one was home or they had moved... it was
getting kinda frustrating as you can imagine... haha but we came to
our last house and got in contact with a less active named ashley.
this girl you could tell was so happy we were there and it just seemed
like she really needed a friend and some hope in this life! it was so
awesome to talk to her and to just let her know that we are here for
her and would love to see her at church. it's hard to teach her
lessons and remain in close contact with her since we live 45 minutes
away but i just have to say that it was so worth all those
unsuccessful houses we came upon to find that one girl that needed
some boosting up! i'm so grateful for the many unsuccessful door
approaches we had that day cuz it made me realize how important it is
to not get caught up in the unsuccessful moments but instead the
successful ones that make it all worth it! oh and ashley is coming to
fhe tonight and i'm way excited :) so there is a blog post out there
called "drops of awesome" that my companion shared with me this week
that helped me in so many ways. it helps focus on the good things in
the day... many times it is hard to recognize the good in every day
especially when it seems like everything is going wrong. but i know
that there are little things we all do throughout each day that can be
counted as "drops of awesome" and eventually our buckets will be full
of those little awesome things that we did throughout each day! pay
attention to and recognize those little things throughout each day
that just made you awesome. it's something i've really been working
on. being a little greenie out here in the mission field can be
intimidating and hard but i know if i recognize the little things i do
each day that were either simple or that i had to have some courage to
get out of my comfort zone to do that i will grow and have my bucket
of awesomeness filled! Haha. So each week i pick a quote to kind of
live by for that week and to help me throughout each week and i will
try and share what i pick with ya'll so here it is " no eternal
learning can take place without that quickening of the spirit from
heaven. so, we must face our tasks the way moses faced the promised
land. knowing he could not succeed any other way, moses said to
jehovah 'if thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence."
-Jeffrey R. Holland. i love that quote and invite you all to face your
fears with courage just as moses did or anyone in the bom did. I have
such a strong testimony of the bom and i know that its true. i know
that we can gain so much comfort and strength from it that will help
with whatever we may be going through in our lives. i love this gospel
so much and i love being a missionary! Thanks for all the support...
i've got the best support system out there and i'm so thankful for you
all! Have an amazing week! LOVE YOU ALL. XOXO

Sister Roosendaal

Jackson.... what happened to your hand? You cut it or something?! Tell
me the story! Sounds pretty intense spending the night in the afton
hospital... haha
I just want all the girls to know how proud i am of you all for doing
so well at all your dance competitions! I wish i was there to cheer
you all on! Keep working hard i'm so proud of you!