Fan Shout Out

Oh Beste Familie & Vrienden, I am just pumping with so much energy right now! I still haven't had breakfast so this is just crazy! I could eat the entire grocery store... which is dangerous to go grocery shopping when you are hungry. You end up getting a lot more than you need! However we have a dinner appointment every night for the next two weeks until I leave! So that is exciting, all we need to buy is fruit and cereal! What we live off of... in case you wanted to know. Also every monday morning we do yoga here at the church. Today the Den Haag Elders came, so there were a total of 8 missionaries doing yoga... hilarious but man kicks your butt. Alright well I am sure you would love to just hear all about those little things that have nothing to do with anything. But we actually saw success this week and just worked our butts off. So last week when we did weekly planning we set some pretty sturdy goals, ones that would really stretch us and push us. Now I am sure this might be things you have all heard before. Things that you hear at least once from every missionary. European missions are hard. Every mission is hard in their own ways. A quote from this week we heard from the Temple President: "For every door you knock in Holland, someone is baptized in Chile." Now I think that is very true. We knock so many doors... All we did this week was knock doors pretty much. And people are ruthless! Tuesday after District Meeting we made our way home and when we stepped off the Tram in Zoetermeer is began to rain. Just a little sprinkle... we set out to work. Biked to an appointment and by the time we got there we were soaked. For those of you who have served here you understand.. Nederlandse Mist. You can see it moving with the wind, it's coming down hard, yet it is as if you don't feel it yourself. You can see your skirt getting darker, feel it heavier. Suddenly turn a corner and now opposite directions and you now go against the wind. Such a fast moment you hardly fall off your bike. You're fighting the wind and your own personal windshield wiper. Pedaling as hard as you can. You arrive at your destination and realize you look like you just got out of a pool. Soaked through every layer of clothing... my boots are soaked and do no good as keeping water away from my feet. Yep... that was our day Tuesday. We worked out in that for almost 3 hours. Appointments did not go through so we went knocking doors. People were ruthless. I don't know why this time knocking doors was so hard for me... needless to say it was hard for the both of us. We kept going but I was just fighting back tears. This was painful... Each door slammed felt like a personal jab to the heart. We decided to get out of this weather and went to our dinner appointment early. As we walked towards our bikes I was overcome with a huge feeling of peace. "There is no greater work that you could be doing right now." The Lord was thanking me for what I was doing, for having the courage to keep going. A special moment in the rain. So we kept working through the week.. just putting our shoulder to the wheel. On Friday night after a dinner appointment we had about an hour and half left before needing to be home. We just started walking. We just turned here and there and came to Emmastraat "Emma Street" and began knocking. About the 5th house a younger woman, in her 20's answered the door. As soon as she opened the door I just had such a good feeling. She was smiling and seemed so happy. We talked to her on the door for about 10 minutes and before we left, asked if we could pray with her. She agreed but welcomed us in! We went in and met her fiance. Talked to them... they are adorable! Just got engaged and moved in together. We prayed with them and they agreed for us to come back. Needless to say we walked out of there on cloud nine. Kept walking, talked to an older woman and helped her cross the street. Kept walking and found more doors to knock. By the end of the night we had taught 4 other given lessons on the door!! We talked, testified and prayed with people on the door. It was an emotional evening, but the joy which I felt was indescribable. But that is not even the beginning. We were at church on Sunday and one by one we had 3 investigators come into church. One of which was a man we found doing doors! It was our Fast and Testimony meeting... goodness gracious it was incredibly powerful. We reached all of our goals this week... it was a very rewarding feeling. Ya know, everyone keeps asking how I am doing. Well let me tell you... I have no idea. I am going home in 2 weeks, but that has not sunk in. I am doing everything I can to leave it all on the field. These are the final minutes of the game. I am focusing on my teammate, giving everything i have so she can play the rest of her game. Now in all honesty this is the happiest I have felt in a long time. The most I have felt like myself. And it is incredible. Yet I am finally feeling confident and comfortable...feeling like a missionary... but in the words of my trainer "It is when you feel comfortable that the Lord throws a curve ball and switches up the game." So in other words, now I finally feel like this and it is time to move forward. End the game a victor and then dust my cleats off and begin the next big game. So I want to thank you for being my fans in the stadium. Thank you for the cheers and encouragement! I love you all so very much. -- Zuster Young