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!
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!
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