Say Cheeeeese!

Hallo, iedereen!

This week has been a pretty normal week. We went out to find the elect in the cold, heavy rain. We've been able to find a pretty good amount of people with potential. We've been making significant progress with our investigator pool: not only by strengthening the ones that were already there, but also by adding new people. I feel like Ootsu is picking up some speed!

One thing that I really liked last week was the training we received at Zone Training Meeting. We got to learn about the "Full Purpose Missionaries": we should assume full responsibility for carrying out our purpose. I really liked how it focused on closely working together with the members and not going our own separate ways to establish the church. Strengthening bonds with members and making them feel needed was something they stressed a lot. Everyone has their own unique talents and gifts that can be used to help and serve others. This inspired me to not only find out how I can have the members in our ward play an even more significant role in the conversion of others through their talents, but also to find out how I myself can use my talents to lift up those around me and bring them unto Christ. After all, didn't Jesus command us to use our talents? (Matthew 25:14-30)

Finally, I want to share an experience. Last week, I came across Alma 37:36-37. When reading these verses, I realized how important it is to have the Lord with you always. If whatever we do is in the Lord and if we counsel with Him in all of our doings, our desires will resonate with our Christ's and we will be guided, like vessels under His command. I feel like the reason why we have been more successful last week is because we relied on the Lord more than we did before. We reached out for His guidance through prayer and our efforts were blessed. Not only out loud, but also in our hearts we prayed. So many wonderful things happened, and I was amazed. In the end, all I did was do my best and let the Holy Spirit guide. We just need to have faith and rely on Him, and "the gate of heaven will be open unto all" (Helaman 3:27-28).

Dankjewel for reading my short update, vrienden! Tot de volgende keer!

~聖徒長老, Elder Santos

P.S.: I got Dutch cheese from a friend!!