Fall is here, winter is coming

Dear Family and Friends, 

Dear everyone, (including the mothers of other missionaries in my mission, the APs and the general public)...This week I was soaked Monday-Wednesday. It was magical and I wouldn't change it for the world:)  Also, fall is here!  It smells like autumn all around.

Missionaries in all their roof top posing glory

This week we did service in Haarlem and helped clean an old people's sport field; needless to say, it was a grand ol' time...get it grand ol? :)  Haha  But seriously, Mom, you wouldn't even recognize me with all the gardening I do happily and willingly.

We went on exchanges on Tuesday and Sister Jones and I got caught in quite the downpour on the way over to gemeenteraad; we also got stranded at the Alkmaar train station for an hour afterward, so we took it upon ourselves to get the second cup of hot chocolate of the day (like I said, fall is here and winter is coming).  The stores already have Sint Niklaas stuff out...(St. Nikolaustag in Germany).

2nd cup of cocoa, anyone?

We also had some very cool  miracles finding potentials and teaching first lessons to people and sharing the Restorations with them. We have truly wonderful members in Alkmaar and Hoorn and their desire to help missionary work move forward.  I also worked in Amsterdam for the day while Zuster Hanny was at MLC and got to meet a wonderful old Surinamese lady.

Oh!  One of our investigators, they're from Syria, and they have a brother, who's apparently single and very evidently old, but he's looking for an American wife and lucky us, we were asked if one of us would like to be the one. Unfortunately, we declined but we told him we'd keep our eyes out for someone for him.

Even Sister Misisonaries serving the Lord
in the Netherlands feel confused occasionally..

Mostly, they feel the joy of serving their Heavenly Father
by representing his Son, Jesus Christ

Elder Oaks said, "The Final Judgement is not just an evaluation sum total of good and evil acts - what we have done; it is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thought-what we have become."  There is no point in doing anything if we don't let it change us; if our heart and our very natures and not changing as a result of our thoughts and actions, then it is all for naught.  The purpose of this life for man to prepare to meet God and in order to do so, we must put off the natural man.

"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."

I've this scripture hundreds upon hundreds of times, but this week, I came to realize that this is what our purpose is-Christ commanded us to be perfect and the only way to do that is to put off the natural man, to control and overcome our inclination to do wrong until it comes foreign to our Christlike attributes that we study in Preach my Gospel; Christ is the perfect example of submission to His Father's will. The only way that we can put off the natural man is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

I also learned this week about the difference between salvation and exaltation. We will all be saved, resurrected, immortal; what's left to be decided, according to our agency is who we will be. Brad Wilcox, in his "His Grace is Sufficient" talk, mentions the necessity of us obeying the commandments and doing our part, not because it is necessary for salvation, bur for our exaltation.

These are kind of random, non-congruent thoughts, but hopefully y'all "snap wat ik bedoel"(know what I mean).  
The Gospel promises progression and good things to come: Christ lovingly endured the cross for us, because He was investing something us.

Tot volgende week!
liefs, Zuster Dobler