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| Den Haag district |
I'm getting transferred to Breda! Breda sits down on the Netherland's border with belguim. I'm excited to see what things are like down there. The work has been gradually picking up during this transfer so Elder Davison and Elder Parr (who's replacing me) should have a great next transfer. I will be my new companion Elder Packard's second companion. He'll be starting his third transfer with me. He slept over for temple conference so I kind of met him. He's tall too!
Den Haag has been really cool! I really hope I'll get the chance to come back through, there are so many great people here and I'm grateful I had the chance to work here.
We had a fantastic lesson this week with a man from Ghana who is here studying hard in order to be able to better contribute to his society when he comes home on the "first flight home after graduation". He was very attentive, open, sincere, and kind. He calls himself a "staunch catholic". He understood the first lesson well, hopefully enough to see how reading the book of mormon is how he can come to know if this is in fact Christ's church. Very few people that I have met have been able to grasp even a portion of the implications of the first lesson. I do believe that to the extent that the missionaries teaching the lesson have developed the skills that we learn from Preach my Gospel that they can really have a huge impact on helping the investigator understand the magnitude of the implications of the first lesson. Some of these skills are simplicity, asking inspired questions, listening, using the scriptures, discerning and taking into account the knowledge and needs of the investigator, and extending commitments. Teaching and communicating are really challenging things to do effectively, especially when it comes to teaching the gospel.
The spirit is the source that one can learn gospel truth from, but we missionaries must be skilled at knowing how to invite and exort individuals to exercize their faith and open themselves to learn from the spirit. I'm learning so many valuable lessons here. Anyways, the man from Ghana intends to read the book of mormon in his limited free time! We testified to him that if he reads with an open, sincere heart that he will come to know that the book of mormon is a true testament of Jesus Christ.
Another miracle, a recent convert that we visit weekly told her house nurse about the plan of salvation and the nurse came to church! Somehow we didn't get to meet her because she left early and we were informed too late that she was there, but we have an appointment at the recent convert's house
We met with a whole lot of awesome people this week! Our weeks are so packed with priceless learning opportunities. Most of the time I don't notice a lot of personal growth, but I know that what I am doing is of great worth. I know that what we see is only a small, quite insignificant portion of what is actually happening. If problems don't seem to go away, that just shows that the Lord knows that you can keep fighting. He is always in control, and the most important thing to remember is that everything will be for our good. We just have to trust him. We can do anything with Him.
We have so many experiences here that are far from ordinary! This week we visited with an eternigator, a less-active young woman and her non-member mother, a lady who is about to come to church for the first time, a sweet member lady who just finished going through a divorce who has had so many trials, and had an awesome dinner appointment with a tight member family and their cousins and relatives (there are a some really big family trees here in the church that mix together a lot! Lots of people are related to each other through marriages). It has really been a special week.
I'm heading out tomorrow because Wednesday is King's Day which is the biggest holiday/festival of the year, so that'll be fun. It's a big deal apparently.
Love, Elder Knaupp
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