Letter#14

There's this big bridge I have to cross over almost every day. Its really long, and really tiring. Its a feat I have to cross over everyday. And I was thinking about how its like other feats we have to cross over in life. Sometimes they're harder than others. And sometimes you don't think you can do it, but if you persevere and keep going, you receive the blessings and the joy of going down the hill. Also, The Lord only gives your obstacles he knows you can complete. You can pray for them to go away, but the Lord won't always take them away, but more often will he give you the strength to overcome it. I've noticed, that going over that bridge everyday isn't as hard as it used to be. My muscles are getting stronger. With the strength of the Lord, we can do all things. I testify of this, because I definitely know its true! The Lord works miracles, even if its just miracles within ourselves. Prayer is beautiful and I've never learned to appreciate it more than at this time in my life. I know He listens to us and hears us and understands all that we are going through. In the hard times, he will give us the strength to over come it, just like I'm getting stronger from going over the bridge everyday, We can become more like our Savior and closer to him when we go to him for help.

Ik houdt van Jullie! Zuster Alisa Hill

Letter #13

The new area is good. More land, less city. I mean there's more of what they would call suburbs. And a lot of it is gorgeous! Kinderdijk, a place with all the windmills, and all the Canals and there's bits of farmland with sheep. But I'm more in the real dutch territory. And I'm learning more what and who "dutch" people are. Very different. And they can't seem to let go of their ways. I mean they're good people, just very set in their ways. I'm glad that our dutch ancestry is as far as it is, I mean, they like were some of the 1st settlers in America, the true pioneers, the ones from the Netherlands. I went to Amsterdam today, for P-day, and the buildings are super old, but pretty cool looking. Many of them are from the 1600's or 1700's and they're all super close to each other and are crooked and leaning on each other. Haha. yeah, but Dordrecht is really cool. I like the less city feel a lot, but I miss Den Haag, with all it's diversity of people. There aren't as many people from different countries here in Dordrecht. Love you, Alisa :D

Letter #12

Halo!!

I'm being transferred to a city called Dordrecht. My collega will be staying here and training the new Zuster that is coming in on Wednesday. I know my new collega (col-ley-ha) Her name is Zuster Reber. She's been in Haarlem and is in my District. I went on splits with her the other week. She's way cool. I know Dordrecht is a smaller city. I'll be serving in a branch. I won't have any elders in the city, which I'm sad about, not because I'm boy crazy, its because I get along with them so much better than girls.(Kathy's first thought was, "well she has 6 brothers.") Not flirtatiously either. But I dunno, maybe I'm just more immature than most girls here on their missions. Lol. Along with keeping the rules, I still like to have fun. And the elders here in Den Haag are Great. We will be living in the Attic of the Branch Presidents home. He has a few kids, but I believe they're all grown up except one daughter who's maybe 20 who goes to school. I think she want to go on a mission too. so that's cool. It will definitely be smaller, but I won't have to spend as much money because they provide most the food. Which is Great! Because the reason I didn't send the letter yet is because I don't have any money. Haha! They say most missionaries are super poor their first few transfers because we get reimbursed for travel etc, and We travel a lot. Trains are kinda pricey. So most other missionaries live off the reimbursements they've received too. Yay for Wednesday P-day! lol. So yeah, I have the letter all ready, I will see if I get reimbursements today and try and get it sent off. ulgh. Thanks so much for the info.

I got to go down and do splits in Antwerpe this week. Where they speak Flams. It actually sounds really cool. Its like a soothing Dutch, if dutch can be soothing. Although its much harder to understand. Haha. But I stood there and held my ground having my 1st all me dutch conversation in a tram station with Flams even! haha. yep, pretty exciting! The language is getting better all the time, as long as I'm patient I know it will come. It really takes a while though. The members in the ward tell me I'm improving all the time, most the time I think they're just being nice. Its gonna be sad leaving here, this awesome ward, and going to a branch of like 40 members. But it'll be great! I know it! I'm stoked!. Oh, and zus. Reber and I will be whitewashing the city. That means that neither of us know the city and that we will both be clueless together! haha.

Are you still all having scripture study every night? I'm falling Re-in-Love with them. Everyday actually. This morning I studied what it means to be a disciple of Christ, the coolest thing is that a disciple is a learner. A pupil of their Lord, always striving to learn more. I'm definitely learning lots on my mission! A lot! I also studied the parable of the Great Supper in Luke 14 i think. Its really quite interesting, In Jesus the Christ it helps explain it a lot, and I think it just goes to show how merciful the Lord is. Because he does do all that he can. I dunno, I'd explain more if i had time, but my companion and I had a good conversation about it, relating it to 3 Nephi 9, 10, and 11 where so many times the Lord gathers us like a hen gathered her chicks. and Jacob 5 where The Lord of the Vineyard does all that he can. Yeah, Interesting. you should read it. Well, I need to go. Thank you again so much! I love you all! Miss you!

Ik Houdt van Jullie!

Zuster Alisa :D

Letter #11

Hey!

Mom, I love you more! And sometimes I really just want to come home after a long day and get a hug from you. I can't really, so I'll just pretend for now. Perhaps we can hang out in our dreams one of these nights.

I get a lot of "hugs" from people I don't really know, but they're not really the same. Actually, I should switch that, they're really not the same. haha. Ulgh, and people kiss here too, like the french. 3 times on the checks. I don't like kisses.. :P lol. I have my letter sent out to you, and hopefully you'll get it sooner than not.

Oh, we had another baptism in our ward on Saturday. Her name is Nancy, she's way cool. The elders found her and taught in like 5 weeks. She really feels at home as she's found the gospel. The other elders have a baptism scheduled for a week from this Saturday. I've become really good friend with her. Her name is Mercy. She's studying Accounting at a college here, and she's from Uganda I believe. She's way cool too.

Oh, I gave a talk yesterday in church. My first talk in Dutch. I don't think I did too bad. Besides having an American accent, I just went up there and read most of it, except for my testimony. :P I spoke about Het Book Van Mormon being a 2nd witness of Christ.

I'm most likely staying here in Den Haag with my comp. But we hear next week about transfers. This will be her last transfer and she's been here since July, but i think she'll stay. I still don't know the area super well.

I was reading in Alma 48 today, about how with the help from the Lord they received knowledge to strengthen their weak places. And were using that tonight at our dinner appt. Talking about strengthening our weak places, and ways we can fortify and build those areas up, because Satan really does know our weak points.

I'm getting much more comfortable talking to Everyone. I still don't know all they say, but That's what I have a companion for. ;P hehe, jk. All of our investigators are kinda just at a standpoint, so we don't have any progressing investigators, Consecrated hours are one of my favorite things. Whats helped is imagining the person with a smile on their face and light in their eyes, dressed in white at the temple. And Sincere smiling. Sometimes I feel like I can't stop smiling, or I smile at the most random things because I'm so happy doing this work. I'll be riding my bike down the street on the way to the train or whatever, and I'll see something random, like a giant cow in a window or a guy boarding up a door, and I just think, "wow, this is awesome. I'm here in Europe, surrounded by all these people to share the delicious fruit with, and I have a name badge with Christ name right next to mine". What could be better? Even though most of them don't want to listen, how awesome it is, when just one out of 100 people does listen? Pretty sweet I tell ya.

I love this work. I Love being worthy of being here. I feel Honored to be called. And I'm gonna continue to try my best through the cold and the wet, the hard and the wind, the laughs and the joys, and most of all the learning, sharing, and the miracles that happen everyday.

Tell anyone, especially David, Patrice, James, Erika, Josh, Amy, Karen, Michael, Jacob, Matthew, Paul, Holly, Erik, and Laura I would LOVE to hear from them as well. Thanks so much for your love and support and the strength I receive from your prayers.
(Zuster) Alisa ;D

Letter #10

This week has been pretty good. Busy. Riding bikes in the wind and rain is awesome. You get wet, sweaty, cold, and hot all at the same time. Haha! All living the dream, and I'm loving it. Although I don't feel very proper when the wind blows up and my skirt flies up. lol. The wind seems to always blow against us, even if we go on the same road in a different direction. haha. But it's a good work-out and is kinda like missionary work itself because on a mission, you always have your struggles, (most the time its between you and yourself and your inadequacies. But it's supposed to be that way so your constantly being humbled or having to humble yourself to be more in tune with the spirit. The was a scripture I read the other day that went perfect with it, I think it was John either 14 or 15 verse 2,3, or 4. haha, that talks about the branch that grows good fruit, the Lord has to "trim"it i don't remember the word, but like test it, make it struggle, so it can grow even more and produce even more and better fruit.

Being on a mission I feel so incredibly blessed. Especially in the aspect of being safe. I've always felt really safe, never felt scared or anything, and I can totally feel that I'm being protected to help in doing his work. Its crazy because I can't really explain it.

I missed Kyra and Makena and Amelia's b-day's. Tell them I say happy late b-day. But today is Amy's B-day. Tell her I say Happy Birthday, I love her, and I'm sending her a letter this week too.

Tell Dad, That I've ridden more miles on my bike than he has this year, and probably eaten more eggs than him too. That's my main meal substance here. Eggs for breakfast, and often times for lunch and or dinner too. Lol.

I love you so much. Don't worry about me because I'm totally being watched over all the time, and the Lord is my strength and my beacon. I love you more. Hear from you again, and I'll send you those letters.

met heel liefde, Alisa

Letter #9

I'm trying to be myself, I just have to get more used to everything I guess. We had 5 or 6 baptisms in our mission this last week, and 2 the week before. It is way Awesome! I'm glad Dad is doing well. I kinda figured he would, I mean really, its dad we're talking about ;) .

A few weeks ago, as we went tracting, I think I told you about our consecrated hours, where in planning the night before, we pray about where we should go, for guidance. And then we look at the map, and wait til we find somewhere we feel is right. Sometimes we both feel a place, and sometimes one is blank while the other knows. We felt particularly good about the one street, not too far from the Winkel Centrum, (a place near the center of the city with a lot of stores.) And so we went there. We knocked on all the doors, with no success except some lady gave us a bag of dutch chocolate wafer things. It was a very quiet street, kinda run down. As we were knocking on the last few doors, a lady with her 2 girls walks by, and of course we talk with her. She seems kinda interested and we gave her a Joy to the world DVD, and got her address. Well, we went and visited her yesterday, and it was Amazing! Now, I don't know exactly whats going to happen, but We both feel really really good about her. We had just stopped by unexpected, she invited us in, and spoke to us for a few minutes, and then got a phone call she had to take. She's from the Dominican Republic and speaks Spanish. It was a short phone call, but after words she sat down again, totally opened up and told us her story about how she used to live in Rotterdam, and she had breast cancer, got one of them removed, and she keeps getting bad phone calls from people from that city, I don't know exactly, I couldn't make everything out, but she started crying and saying that's why she wanted to meet with us, because she wants to find peace. Because as of late a lot of things have been really hard with the phone calls, and cancer, and her ex husband. That she just needs peace in her life and that she wanted us to come over and teach her more about the Bible and help her to find peace because she feels good when we're over. We shared a scripture about peace and how Christ is always there and comforts us if we come unto him. And she was so excited. She wants us to come over twice a week, and she is the sweetest lady. Her name is "So" She has 2 daughters around ages 10 and 13ish who seem to already love us, and its just super exciting. Because I know that He has gone before us, and prepared the way! He knows the hearts of every single one of His children and helped us be inspired to go to that street at that time. I'm way excited to start teaching her! :) This work is so Awesome!! Dit werk is echt Luek!

Oh, I have to tell you about New years. So I think the people here are insane! I totally love them, but they are super crazy about fireworks. So it started the day before New Years Eve, and that's when it started sounding like WWII. Serious, like bombs were dropping everywhere. Super loud. New Years Eve, after 6 I thought it was crazy then. But I went to bed at 10:30 as usual, it was hard because it was so loud. But midnight, ChungaJonge!!! I felt like it was the end of the world!! No one could possible sleep through it! I dunno how they would. But it was super crazy! It sounded like people were banging pots and pans in our kitchen, like there was a fire climbing up our apartment, like the whole world was falling off the face of the planet! Wow, I've never ever experienced anything like it.

One more thing. One of the elders heard I always have root beer floats for New Years Eve. He and his comp. scheduled an hour to go down to the American store in central Den Haag to get me root beer (they don't have rootbeer here) and so I got to have root beer floats for New Years! Wasn't that super nice?! :D

I Love you so much! Tell everyone I say hi.

Letter #8

Yesterday was 2nd Christmas day- Tweede Kerst. There's another baptism here in Den Haag. (also known in english as The Hague) On Tuesday. Her name is "B", she's way cool. She and I are pretty tight. The other elders were teaching her, but she likes me better ;) There is one sister that we're working with named "S" (dutch only) she's had a baptismal date before, but wasn't ready, we're continuing to teach her. She's had all the lessons, but we're just focusing on her needs now. We're going to teach her about faith and about having a personal relationship with her Savior Jesus Christ, and then invite her again to baptism. There's another progressing investigator named "Si", he's from Ghana. He's been taught about half the lessons. he's younger, and he likes to drink wine at night, and coffee, so he's having to figure that out. It would help so much, if they both let they're desire work in them, and nourish it, because then they could just know! We have a few other investigators, but they're not exactly progressing right now. Hopefully can work with them more, I haven't met most of them yet. And then we got about 1 potential investigator a day last week during consecrated hours. (times when we pray specifically about a place we should go, ask for guidance, look at a map, and go where we feel inspired and knock or find. It's pretty awesome. We just gotta call and set up appointments with most of them that we haven't already.

I find it hard to be myself here on my mission. Not super hard, but kinda of hard. Because I love talking to strangers, but when go up to them, say what I can, and then they respond w/words I don't know, I don't know how to respond other than bearing my testimony. Lol. I dunno, maybe that's all they need to hear, and feel, but it does make me more shy. It was kinda funny, one time when we knocked on a door, this man answers and we tell him we were here, apparently he starts talking about how he hates religion and Jesus Christ and why, and at first he was kinda of angry looking, but the whole time i had not a clue what he was saying, so I was just sitting there smiling. he kept looking back at me while he was talking to my companion who understood. And he started to loosen up and not look angry or grumpy, because I was just standing there smiling brightly at him, i thought he was saying good things bc he said Jesus Christ, etc. He gave me a genuine smile before he opened the door. My companion looked a bit confused after wards, and I asked her what he said. Lol...It was kinda funny. Maybe its a blessing that don't know what everyone is saying yet. Haha.

Well I think I'll print out some pictures today, and try to send some mail out. I really hope to hear from you soon. I love you all! Have a Fantastic new year i guess. I'd like pictures as well. But there are a few things i need that I'll write in my email next week. But that includes pictures. Ik houdt van Jullie! Tell anyone and everyone that i would love to hear from them!

Met veel Liefde, Alisa :D