Hmmmm....

Maandag 11 mei 2015

 

Wingapo!!! :D 

So....Ik denk niet dat ik veel meer te vertellen heb eigenlijk....wow...sad day...! Gosh...I literally don't have anything to tell you.

 

O.o I can share with you what I learned during my studies today though! :D I really like this scripture: 

 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do; 2 Nephi 27:21

This scripture teaches us that a Restoration was NEEDED, because a Church that was exactly like the one that Christ had established when He was on the Earth couldn't be found. And as this scripture says: We need to do things the way Christ did them. There is really no excuse for changing doctrines and ordinances :) I also read the first part of a talk by Elder Perry this morning about the Book of Mormon and I really like this (it's actually a quote from President Benson): “The Book of Mormon was written for us today. God is the author of the book. It is a record of a fallen people, compiled by inspired men for our blessing today. Those people never had the book—it was meant for us. 

But I really like this quote by Elder Perry himself: 'Among the lessons we learn from the Book of Mormon are the cause and effect of war and under what conditions it is justified. It tells of evils and dangers of secret combinations, which are built up to get power and gain over the people. It tells of the reality of Satan and gives an indication of some of the methods he uses. It advises us on the proper use of wealth. It tells us of the plain and precious truths of the gospel and the reality and divinity of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice for all mankind. It informs us of the gathering of the house of Israel in the last days. It tells us of the purpose and principles of missionary work. It warns us against pride, indifference, procrastination, the dangers of false traditions, hypocrisy, and unchastity. Now it is up to us to study the Book of Mormon and learn of its principles and apply them in our lives'.

I know the Book of Mormon teaches us so many valuable lessons, and who would have thought it would even teach us about time management, and finances and ALL the principles of missionary work?! :D It's sooooo cool!!!! :D

 

Oh, and I likes what our zone leaders said during Zone Meeting this Friday: 'Missions are an MTC for life.' 

I Love Y'all sooo much and have a blessed day!!!

Lots and Lots of Love

Sister Spijkerman

hartjes aanval... een manier om mensen te laten weten dat we aan ze denken....

It is well with my souuuhooouuul!!!

Maandag 4 mei 2015

I'll keep it short this week, but this week has been AWESOME!!!!!!!!! :D

GOSH! So, we had these amazing lessons with our investigator about the Plan of Salvation. She told us she prayed about Joseph Smith and that she'd received an answer that he truly was a prophet!!! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA :D Then she told us she knows now why she had to move here: so she could meet us so we could teach her the Gospel and truly help her understand the Gospel, rather than her just accepting whatever we tell her!

 

IT's sooo cool to see the Spirit work with her and testify to her heart that this message is true! :D She wants to get baptized, so now she's on date for MAY 23RD!!!!! :D :D :D BEST DAY EVER!!! :D AAAAAAAH!!! As you can tell, I'm soooo excited!

 

Then we also had a couple of other former investigators tell us that they want to meet with us again, that they have missed us and that they want to find happiness in their lives :D WOOOHOOOOO!!!! :D Isn't that SO great?! :D

 

OH OH OH! Then the new mission president over the Belgium/Netherlands mission lives super close to us and he was Sister Anderson's first high counselor over missionary work on her mission! So he found out through some friends where we lived and he contacted us and took us and Elder Scherf and his companion out for lunch this week! :D He is sooooooo nice! His name is President Bunell!! So I'm so excited to work with him when I come home! He'll be so great! :D So...yeah....that's pretty much it! Life is soooo great! I'm so happy!!! :D 

 

I love y'all lots and God be with you till we meet again! :D

Lots and Lots of Love

Sister Spijkerman <3

O,o,

Maandag 27 april 2015

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!!!

So, this week was like absolutely crazy! Satan is attacking the people we're teaching like CRAZY!!!! And it drives me crazy! 'It's like...leave us alone! Ghehehe, funny story though....

 

We had an appointment with a less-active sister and she had a friend over. I'm pretty sure her friend was tipsy (to say the least), because she was going through some really hard times. You could just feel the tension in the room. We say an opening prayer and we're trying to read Mosiah 3 with them. The friend wanted to read it, because she wanted to talk so it would make her feel better. ok... She starts reading and then the two of them started talking about something and within a second they starting fighting and arguing with each other! O.o so we're like...what the ginger ale... O.O so sister Anderson tries to bring it back to reading Mosiah 3, and after reading like 8 verses, the LA is like: ok, I can't handle more for today. so she closed the book. (and in the meantime they had already argued again). So we're trying to leave with the Spirit, so we wanted to say a prayer, and her friend started praying like this: Dear Heavenly Father....(silence)....I'm not sure how to put this into words....(and she has like this whiny voice...) and then our LA started yelling at her and said: If you don't know what you're saying, stop praying!!! Sister Anderson, you pray! Then sister Anderson had to pray. It was soooo awkward, weird, uncomfortable, and at the same time it was pretty funny...

Then we also had a really cool moment this week! We dropped off a meet the mormons dvd for a nonmember and as we're walking back to our car this guy walks by and we started talking to him. So we kind of did our thing and at first he wasn't very interested in talking to us. But as we talked more, he started asking questions. Like who God is? The purpose of life? We started talking about the plan of salvation and at the end he said he had to go, but that he'd love to meet with us another time to talk more! It was AWESOME!!! We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon :D 

We also had lunch with Sister Hoole last week and that was AMAZING! It was so great to meet her! :D

 

Oh, we had our fireside with Kenneth Cope yesterday! We were just thinking of ways to get non-members to come to something and to get members more excited about missionary work. So I asked Kenneth Cope  if he could come do a fireside in our stake! We had it yesterday and the whole chapel was filled! :D It was soooo great! Even some non-members came! :D Woohoo! 

He talked a lot about our potential and divinity as children of our Heavenly Father. It was so beautiful and I felt so uplifted! So I want to testify to you that I know that we have a Father and Brother who love us and who KNOW us perfectly! When life gets dark and dreary, don't forget to pray. The Lord wants to use us as an instrument in His hands right NOW, broken, torn, scattered. 

I am so grateful for the Atonement and for Christ's grace! 

Lots and Lots of Love

Sister Spijkerman <3






Here we go :D

Maandag 20 april 2015

Heeeeeey everyone!!! :D

 So, first things first! My new companion is Sister Anderson! :D She is from Miami Florida and we actually go home together... :) Crazy huh?!

 

So they're white washing the area in a couple of weeks, which is kinda sad, because we worked so hard in this area to get things going and finally little by little we see the fruits of our labors. But hey, we can't argue with the Lord's will :)

 

We've had an INCREDIBLE week! One of our investigators called us and said she wants to get baptized! So I taught her very briefly the first 3 lessons in 30 minutes over the phone. Then on Saturday we taught her the restoration and as for now she is still struggling with Joseph Smith. She is reading the Book of Mormon, praying and she came to Church yesterday! We know she will receive a testimony soon :D I just absolutely LOVE her! I just feel like I had to be here for her :)

 

Sister Anderson and I get along super great! It feels like we've been companions forever :) Well, actually, we've served around each other quite a bit, so maybe that's why :) We had a great week full of tracting, street contacting, teaching and it's just been great. We had some pretty hilarious and cool experiences while tracting. There where a lot of college students living in the apartments, so must of them where either drunk or high, so it was quite interesting.

 

My favorite story is the following! We knock on this door, this guy answers the door and is kinda staring at us and says: Hi... And we were like: HIIII!!! :D We are the sister missionaries and we are here to share a message with you about Christ that will bless your life so much! He kept staring at us and said: I would LOVE to talk about that! But...I am going to close the door now. And then he closed the door. And we still tried to testify and give him a Book of Mormon, but it was too late :( It was pretty funny though. we're like: what just happened O.o

 

But then we also had a pretty cool experience :D This girl answered the door and welcomed us in to warm up .She immediately said she wasn't Mormon and that she doesn't want to be one, but that we were welcome to come in and have some water. We went inside and we talked for like 45 minutes about what we do as missionaries and why we do it :) She said she was looking for truth in her life, but she wasn't ready to meet with us quite yet. We invited her to watch Meet the Mormons so we're going to buy her a copy today so she can watch it and feel the Spirit :) It was an amazing experience! We all felt super uplifted and she said we were just beaming because we were so convinced of what we believed in :)

I love y'all!!!

Lots and Lots of Love

Sister Spijkerman <3

Sister Kreiberg, sister Spijkerman and 2 adorable children with their mom

TRANSFERS! (AGAIN O.o)

Maandag, 13 April 2015

*tromgeroffel*

Well, I'm going to die in Hillside Stake! woohoo!!! :D Sister Kreiberg is leaving me though, so I will have one more companion :) I'm excited to find out who it is! :) 

Hm....this week was actually a really good week! We had some good lessons and interactions with people! :) I was on exchanges twice and I had a great uplifting time! The sisters here are just so great! :D

 

Thursday we had a lesson with one of our investigators and it was at a part member family's house! One of our ward missionaries came as well. We talked about the Plan of Salvation. Then during the lesson our investigator told us how when he met us. He had actually had a hard day that day, but he felt something when we met each other that it made him happy and it made his day feel better! :D We told him it was the Spirit and that he needed to keep looking for that! :) But also, that day when we met him, as we were talking to him I didn't feel quite like he was sincere or not, so I wasn't sure how everything was going to turn out. But then he told us this during the lesson!

 

It taught me a big lesson that we really never know what seed we're planting! Even when we think we haven't done anything or that the person isn't interested, they still could have been touched by the Spirit! :) So, never give up! Never doubt!

 

 'Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not' is what the Savior invited us to do :)

 

This week I was reading in Alma, and I loooove this scripture in Alma 36:24-25

 

forgot to take pictures last week, sorry

Yeah, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that i might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

Yea, and now behold, O, my son, the Lord doth give me exceedingly great joy in the fruit of my labors;

 

Isn't that like the best Scripture EVER?! :D

 

I love yáll so much! :D Have a great and blessed week!

Lots and lots of Love,
Sister Spijkerman

General Conference: A Missionary Holiday

Maandag 6 April 2015

HAPPY EASTER!!!! :D

So, this week was pretty awesome obviously, seeing General conference! :D

I went on exchanges again as usual, this time with Sister Gilmore from upstate New York :)  I absolutely love her and we definitely had a great time together :) Due to exchanges I haven't met our new investigators that we found this week yet...Anyways, 

GENERAL CONFERENCE! 

We attended General Conference downtown at the Conference Center for the Saturday morning session and that was AWESOME! Guess who I ran into?! :D ELDER MUNTINGA! He is serving in the Ogden mission so I didn't expect him to be there, but he was sitting in the same section as we were, so that was super awesome! :D Man, all the sessions  were just sooo amazing! I LOVED Elder Pearson's talk! (Staying by the tree). It's probably because I know him, since he was in my last area :3 He is AMAZING! He is a wonderful spirit about him when you talk to him. He would always go through the congregation after Church to talk to all the members, and hug them. Put a hand on their shoulders... He is one of the most Christ-like people I've ever met :) Anyways...IT WAS AMAZING!

 Oh, and I got a headset and I listened to the session in Dutch, so I could hear pappa speak! :D It was soooo coooool!!! :D And it really helped me understand President Packer's talk too, hahaha  *sigh* I just don't have the words today to describe this weekend!

We watched the Saturday afternoon session at the Drysdale's and they made poffertjes :3 I loved the talk about music :D And I loved the one about that it doesn't matter what calling we hold! It was really amazing, because just the night before the zone leaders and I had talked about how some of the sisters feel like they're bad missionaries because they have never trained before or because they have never been a Sister Training Leader. Other sisters just really want to have the title...

I tried to explain to them that it's not about the title, but that we can serve and influence others for good without the title of a trainer or sister training leader.We were just really concerned about this and then BOOM: A general authority gives a talk on that subject! :D

 

Sunday morning we went to one of our WMLs for Easter breakfast and a little Easter hunt, and they had made us little Easter baskets with Deseret book stuff :3 Soooo sweeet!!! Then we watched General Conference at their house :D It was awesome! In the afternoon we went to another WMLs house :) After our wonderful dinner with the Brushes we went to a recent convert's house and we watched Finding Faith in Christ with her :) 

It was definitely one of the BEST Easters EVER!
 

I have loved reading about Easter in the scriptures and it filled my soul with so much gratitude for my Savior and for all the pain He went through for me personally. I wish it could have been me who suffered, but I never would have been able to pay the price for my own sins. I loved the talk on Grace too by the way. Grace is an amazing concept :) I'm grateful for His grace and for the strength He gives me every day :)

I love y'all and wish y'all the best!!! Keep praying for me :)

Lots and Lots of Love

Sister Spijkerman <3

Higher Ground

Maandag 30 maart 2015

Goodmorning/evening my beloved family!

Wow, it's been quite a week!

 

We went to the Jordan River temple on Tuesday morning and it was AMAZING! I miss the temple so so much...In the Celestial Room a brother explained to me some of the symbolism in the temple. He said it took him a long time to discover some of it, but he told me he comes to the temple EVERY day! :D Lucky him! I learned a lot from him :)

 

Wednesday I went on exchanges with Sister Case, and that was absolutely awesome! We walked a lot, laughed a lot, talked to a lot of people, and had some crazy funny experiences!

 

For example we started talking to this guy on the street. So we shook his hand and he kind of kept walking, and I kept asking him questions, asked if he'd met with missionaries before, etc. He said he had, and when I asked him what his experience was he said he couldn't remember (O.o) and that he was in a hurry to get to his appointment. So we kept walking and started tracting a certain street and then we saw the same guy coming out of his house ten minutes later....hahahahahha XD Yup, he was definitely in a hurry to get to an appointment! Busted, haahahha! It was pretty funny.... :)

 

Gosh, missionary work is just the best. Yesterday I realized that for the most part the joy of missionary work comes from sharing the Gospel. Not the results that come from it! That night we didn't have a dinner appointment, so we had three different kinds of cereal for dinner :) It was awesome!

 

Thursday we had Zone Conference!!! :D I had to give a training with Sister Crotts on the Miscellaneous use for Mobile Devices, which is like the biggest joke EVER, because I don't even know how to use an Ipad myself... But it went surprisingly well, since we had an open discussion with all the missionaries on what we could do on our mobile devices to do effective missionary work.

 

Sister Eberhardt gave an amazing training about staying active after our missions. I loved one of the things she said: 'Do not get life in your way!!!' Always put visiting teaching etc first before homework and other stuff. It was amazing! On Friday we had a mission devotional and Elder Allen of the missionary department and the Utah area president came to speak to us and he spoke a lot about repentance and the Atonement. He gave us 8 questions to ponder:

1. What gifts/treasures have I given to the Savior?

2. Do all of my sins have a cloak?
3. What are my temptations?
4. What have you forsaken?
5. In what ways do I forsake Him and flee?
6. What are my spiritual gifts and how am I seeking after them?
7. If the Savior were to come to you and would ask you 'Lovest thou me more than these?', what would your 'these' be?
8. What kind of a disciple am I?

This week I'm going to ponder and work on these questions and I would invite all of you to do the same :) It was a great spiritual moment! What I loved the most about that evening was being united and gathered as a mission and being one in heart, mind, spirit and purpose. Before the devotional we took a mission picture outside and we sang our mission song "Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy". It still gives me chills thinking about it :) 

Saturday we got locked out of our car, because the keys feel out of Sister Kreiberg's bag, so they were still in the car when we locked it...hahahahha. missionary life... Went to the Conference Center with a recent convert. The Women's Conference was absoutely wonderful! My favorite talk was from sister Oscarson! :) 

Wow, that was a long email... :D And I got tons of pictures too! :D

I love y'all so much!!!

Lots and Lots of Love
Sister Spijkerman