First Split, Finally Really Doing Work!

Hey All!

I guess its really been another week.  Time flies out here in the mission field, even more so than in the MTC.  I am finally really getting settled, finally being able to take a breath and calm down and realize that if I take this a step at a time, I can do this.  I've had a ton of really cool experiences this week, so I guess I'll get started and see how many of them I can fit into an hour.

No information - but from date stamp of picture, this was taken minutes before it was sent,
so must be outside of wherever they go to send p-day e-mails.

The first thing I'll talk about this week actually includes many experiences that have happened since getting here.  These experiences have to do with the members whom I have met here.  It has amazed me so far the strength I can see from those who are active.  Especially here the in Netherlands, members of the church stick out from those around them.  I think more so here that back home because the world around them is such a different contrast.  One thing that I have been told, and that I have witnessed for myself, is that this country is very worldly.  Legally, it is the most wicked country on earth.  They were the first country to legalize abortion, drugs, prostitution, pornography, and many other things.  That is why it is so amazing to me that these members can be so strong.  It has proven to me in these 2 weeks of being here that light will always overcome darkness.  We are at members houses for dinner nearly every night now. (That answers that question, Mom.)  It is always a relief to walk into a members home and just feel at home, because as I have found, I feel at home when I am feeling the spirit, and it is in these members homes.  We had a cool experience on Sunday with it being Fast and Testimony Meeting.  Many of the members got up and bore their testimonies, but the ones that impressed me the most were those of the young men in the ward.  They were very genuine, precise, and powerful.  They were not basic either, one baring testimony of the temple and of baptisms for the dead.  The future of the church in strong with young men like these, they are truly some of the elect of God's children and they are only yet still just in their youth.

I know I am only beginning to love these people, but I am so glad for the love Heavenly Father has blessed me with as of now.  Now I don't want to leave the wrong impression.  I am finding love for all the people of this country. Even though many of the actions of people here are not so great, most of them here really truly are good people.  They are always willing to help you find your way if you are lost, or help you out in other kind ways.  They have many Christ-like attributes without even knowing it.  They seem like a perfect example to me of a people who would benefit from the truth, they just know not where to find it.  Because of their past, they don't trust of religion, and therefore also God.  There are these cases and also other sad cases such as those whom we talk to of Islamic faith.  There are many of these people who seem interested in our message, but sadly we cannot teach because after doing a quick background check we find that they are from the Middle East and that their families would not be happy if they found out they were learning from us - they might even kill them.  It makes me so sad to think that these people can see light, but will probably not live fully in it in this life.  I hope and pray that these people will have a chance in the next life to receive and accept this gospel and the blessings that come with it.  It's just really sad they can't receive it now.

Splits with Elder Rozandaal

I had the opportunity to go on my first transfer/split this week.  I went with Elder Rozandaal up to Utrecht (Click here for more information on Utrecht).  He is a native Nederlander, so it was way cool to be the only American around for an entire day.  The first thing we did was go to a service project for an elderly blind lady in the ward they are serving.  We had lunch with her, and talked with her for a little while and then started to get to work.  When she was telling us what she wanted us to do, I was wondering if I was understanding her right, I was thinking that she wanted us to cut down a tree in her front yard.  Turns out my Dutch is better than I thought it was because I was right; we ended up cutting down her tree.  She was very grateful, and sent us of with lots of treats, including my first European Fanta, so good! After this, we had a dinner appointment and just contacted the rest of the night.  Haha, yet again I have been told that I have a German accent, this time by Elder Rozandaal.  He ended up asking me if I knew who Arnold Schwarzenegger was. I said yes, so he said that I sound kinda like that with my deep voice, only speaking Dutch instead of English.  That is sweet!  It doesn't help me want to fix my accent now because that kind of accent is awesome.  The next morning we got up and had to skip most of studies to bike out to a teaching appointment.  Before we got there, Elder Rozandaal related to me that man we were going to teach wasn't from the Netherlands but was from Nepal or some country close to there and didn't speak Dutch, but did speak English so I was going to have to take the lead on the lesson.  I thought this was pretty cool, but later it was even cooler because he ended up being a man who I had contacted with a office elder my first day here!  He didn't remember me but I remembered him, and I was sure of it after he said he had talked to some Elders on a train and that's how he came in contact with us.  Anyways that was a blessing and I don't know all the reasons that we keep meeting up, but God is in the matter I know that.  When we contacted him on the train he seemed very open, and upon starting to teach him he seemed also to be so.  But as the lesson went on, I started to get the feeling that he was missing something.  We were asking questions, and he seemed to understand everything we were teaching, but only intellectually.  It eventually came out that he was also a missionary, but for another church.  He had once been Buddhist but was now Christian.  He didn't really want to hear our message, just liked to talk about God and Christ.  He ended up trying to give us some advice.  He told us that we should not be teaching here, but we should be teaching in a third world country.  He told us that the people here are too rich to 'need' God, and that humbler people would listen better.  He then told us that he has a friend that is in India that is a missionary for his church and that he can't get anyone to listen so he gets lots of people to listen to him by holding big meals and people come and he then puts on a movie in the background that shares their beliefs.  He told us that's what we should do.  I'm not going to lie, I was tempted to laugh.  Instead I took the opportunity to bear testimony to Him that we were here because we had been called by a Prophet of God, which was as good as being called by God himself, and that all people, whether they accept it or not, deserve to hear the truth and have an opportunity to accept it.  I also bore testimony that this is the one true church on the earth today, and that it is Christ's restored gospel on the earth today.  After I said this, we sat for awhile while he thought about what I had said.  For the only time during our meeting he looked like he was actually thinking and being touched by what we had said.  We had to go pretty soon after, but I hope that even if it is not soon that the spirit will work with him and eventually get him to the point where he understands that our message has personal significance for him, and for everyone on this earth.  I will probably never see what comes, but hopefully it will be fantastic.

Frites (the Dutch way with mayonnaise, not ketchup)

Stroop Waffel!  (This was something he was most looking forward to trying.)

Well, I have so many more experiences, but my hour is nearly up.  I love you all and have you all in my prayers.  This church and gospel are true, Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, amen.

Love,

Elder Hayden L. Lott

I'm Finally Here!

I am in the Netherlands, doing real work and going real places!  It is so amazing here! Even better than I imagined.  It is so pretty here, everything is so green and diverse, even though it is super small and everything is close to each other.  Our first day here we got picked up by President and Sister Robinson and the APs, had a quick time to get our luggage put away then were swept off to a quick orientation meeting.  Because there was so much to do in only a day until we would get our trainers and head out, we stayed in a hotel next to the airport which was pretty cool.

Elder Lott will serve in Ommoord with Elder Chantry as trainer.

The reason I say that this country is pretty small is that on that first day we ended up taking a train from the Amsterdam airport to Den Haag to sign some paperwork and other things and it only took like 20 minutes.  If you look on a map of the Netherlands they seem like they are a ways away.  Crazy stuff. I don't remember much else from that first day because at that point I had been up for like 3 days straight without sleep and was just about ready to pass out.  I remember the bed was super comfy.

Elder Lott meets Elder Chantry  Click here to see Elder Chantry's blog.

Click here for more pictures from the Mission President's wife. (For pictures of Elder Lott, go to the post: Transfers from the MTC, Monday, September 22, 2014)

The next day we woke up, had some more training, and then got our first call letters and trainers.  My first call is the the area called Ommoord.  It is kind of funny that it is called that because Ommoord actually has like 2 percent of our actual area, but oh well.  We are the Elders for Gouda ward.  Just for an easier reference point, we are just outside of Rotterdam.  It is very cool here, there are lots of classic dutch parts of our area and lots on new parts too.  Because we are right outside Rotterdam, we have an even more culturally diverse area than most of the Netherlands. The ward is mostly native Dutch, but there are some German, and Russian, and even Americans thrown in.  We have already contacted people from Suriname, Slovakia, Russia, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Brazil, Bulgaria, and countless others.  It is way sweet, and eye opening.  So I am actually in a trio, my trainer is Elder Chantry (he has been out nearly 2 years, this is his last transfer, he's from Washington state.) My other companion is Elder Johnson, he has been out about a year and is from South Jordan, Utah.  (Click here for Elder Johnson's blog.)  They are both really great and have been fantastic examples to me so far as how we can work hard and also have a ton of fun with it.  It has been really cool having all three of the major spectrums in one companionship. (2 years, 1 year, pretty much nothing).

Train Station

Funny Sign - Rough translation: Kids that jump will be sold to the circus

Sent no information with this one - somewhere in Rotterdam.

This week we have had a series of what my companions have been calling 'greeny miracles'. I think I'll only share one for now.  We were out contacting in the morning, the first morning since I got here, and we were walking around a lake a little ways from our apartment.  We decided to go back for lunch and ended up contacting this lady called P.  She is from Suriname, but has lived here for a while and was just walking home from a long time at work. As we began to give her a card that would direct her to go to mormon.org, we prepared to start just moving on but then she started asking questions.  She wanted us to tell her more about the church, because a friend of hers that was a member of our church had invited her to church fairly recently.  We were very excited and started to tell her some about our church, she ended up asking questions that where nearly perfectly aligned with the first discussion, we ended up walking and teaching her all the way across a huge park, and by then we had already taught her the first discussion.  At this point it was time to part ways so we gave her a Book of Mormon, and she gave us her info.  She said she would read and pray like we had asked her, she also asked if we could come teach her son, because he could use this message. This is a crazy miracle in many ways.  First of all, because what are the chances of running into her in a huge park along some random path, also because she was simply amazing, and apparently people that receptive don't come along very often, let alone in the Netherlands. It has still been too short of a time to see what all will come of this, but we are hoping that this will lead to great things!  To give everybody an idea of how rare this is for our mission, we have been asked to share our story in zone training next week, and we don't even know what all will come of it yet!  It is truly a miracle no matter the outcome though.

Geese/Swans:  We weren't feeding them.  They were just really territorial and came over to run us off...
it worked after they began hissing at us.

My First Bike. I bought for it for 175 euro, but by the way you can't pay here with cards, Mom, you have to
take money out from the ATM so I took out about 200 euro. Also, reason I say first is odds of getting it
stolen on my mission: fairly high.

What to do with only two bikes:  We only have two bikes right now because Elder Chantry has
been a ZL and had a car.....

Sent no information with this one - somewhere in Rotterdam.

Our Studying Desks:  Ha ha, this is the only room I can take a picture of because the rest of the rooms
in our apartment are too small to fit in the range of my camera (can't back up enough).

Sorry for how crazy this email has been, I can't really focus I'm just so excited and happy!

I love you all!

Good luck til next week!

-Elder Hayden L. Lott 

Finally in the Netherlands, First Area is Ommoord!

On Monday, September 15th,  Elder Lott left the Provo MTC and traveled through Detroit on to the Amsterdam airport.  We were waiting for a phone call Monday morning, when Michael (Dad) received a text from the first counselor in our bishopric, Randy Beyer.  We hadn't known that Brother Beyer was traveling that day, and he hadn't realized that Elder Lott was too.  Not only were they both traveling that day, but were even on the same plane to Detroit!  So we were blessed to have a picture from the airport, which was totally unexpected, and a tiny bit of Dutch weather in the morning, which had not been predicted.  The Lord knows how to calm an anxious mother's heart.

Surprised to find out the Brother Beyer was on the same plane to Detroit as our son!

We (Mom, Dad, Lilianne and Elliot) were able to speak to Elder Lott, and how very good it was to hear his voice.  His enthusiasm was off the charts.  He was finally on his way to Belgium-Netherlands Mission!  We spent the morning watching his flight move across the United States, towards Detroit Michigan.  While switching planes in Detroit, he was able to make a flurry of last phone calls, speaking to Garrison at Cross Country practice, and again to his Dad who had gone to work for the afternoon.  Elder Lott said the Sister missionaries were able to place a Book of Mormon with a stewardess from the Salt Lake to Detroit flight, who was impressed with this group of 11 young men and young women headed out into the world to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The little ones watched 'The Best Two Years' (again!) while we continued to watch his new flight head to Amsterdam.  They landed a few minutes early, arriving just before midnight our time.

It was good to see the plane arrive in Amsterdam after a long day of watching it progress across the world.

Since Monday, we have been on pins and needles, waiting to hear to hear more.  Today we finally received word and pictures from the Mission President's wife, Sister Robinson, that all the elders and sisters had arrived in safety, that the past two days were spent completing Visa and financial paperwork, conducting interviews and giving instruction. (Good thing they were prepared for a hectic schedule in the MTC!)  And in her words "Your missionary has arrived safely and is now out in the mission field living the life of a missionary. "  

With Brother and Sister Robinson at the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam

  Showing Off New Companion and Area Assignment Letters

Elder Lott is assigned to the Ommoord (Gouda Ward), which looks to be a neighborhood in Rotterdam.  We have located his trainer's family on the internet, and are waiting to have permission to use his name before posting here, but it looks to be great fit.

Oh the joy a form letter and 2 pictures from the mission home have brought our family!
-Anastasia

Bonus Letter from the MTC, September 13, 2014

[Now we know the rest of the story.  Elder Lott getting to talk to and have a picture with Elder Anderson, one of his closest friends, before he was sent off to the other campus was an answer to my prayers.  Just didn't know that it would be answered in exactly this way, but at least he learned a lesson.  - Anastasia]

With Elder Taylor Anderson

Hey all!

So before you freak out, I'm not breaking the rules, they are letting us have half of a p-day today to make sure we get a jump on packing and preparing to leave.  Not a ton has happened since Wednesday, but there are a few stories I will share and just some real last thoughts I guess.

So on Wednesday, as my parents reminded me, Elder (Taylor) Anderson entered the MTC.  Upon hearing this, I made plans to try and host him (picking him up out of his car, getting his bags, and getting him set up with all the stuff he needs.) Our zone was not in charge of hosting this week, but I had decided to give it a go and see if I couldn't just catch Elder Anderson.  When it came time though to try and start finding him, I was feeling a little guilty because we weren't the assigned zone to do hosting.  So when one of the Senior missionaries came up and asked us what we were doing I ended up telling him that I knew it wasn't our day to host, but that I really really wanted to host my friend.  He ended up thanking me for my honesty and took me aside. He gave me a host sticker and told me that if I just picked up my friend I should be fine, also that I shouldn't tell anyone that he had given me a sticker or the go.  Anyways so I hung out for a little while, watching for the Andersons, and eventually they came! So I put on my sticker and started heading down to where they would be dropping off Elder Anderson, when all of the sudden I was stopped by another senior missionary.  He asked me where I thought I was going; I guess he had seen me just barely put on my sticker. I told him I was heading down to pick up my friend, so then he asked me if I had been assigned to be a host today, I told him no.  This senior missionary was not so impressed with my honesty, he ended up telling me in some not so kind terms that I would not be a Host today, and that he was very angry that I would try and be so deceptive, especially as a missionary.  (The whole time I'm thinking in my head, "I'm not being deceptive at all, I told you the truth, and exactly what I'm doing")  Anyways so he took my sticker away. I refused to throw that nice Senior missionary under the bus, which just seemed to make him even more mad, so I just left.  I was feeling pretty down, not having gotten to pick up Elder Anderson, but I was pretty happy because as I had been getting chewed out the Anderson's drove by and yelled and waved, and so at least I had gotten to see them.  I ended up meeting up with Elder Anderson at a later point down the line, and walking him through up until he had to get on the bus to go to west campus, it was such blessing to have seen him! Plus now I have had the opportunity of seeing all my friends who have come in to serve the Lord during my time here moments after they have been dropped off.  After having dropped him off, we all went back to our rooms to change for the temple, and as I started to think about the events, I started to become a little angry at the Senior missionary who had chewed me out. I didn't like this feeling so I decided to pray and ask for help as I entered the temple.  My prayer was of course answered, as I was blessed with not only peace but an understanding of where the man was coming from. Lesson here: pray for help over anything, and go to the temple!

Another one with Elder Taylor Anderson before he boarded a bus to the West Campus.

We had in field training all day yesterday.  We learned how to work with members and how to contact, although apparently contacting is completely different in Europe so we're going to have to completely re-learn that. Oh well, I also received inspiration during this time that I might share in a later email.

All my Dutch Books

Plus one I forgot......

So elated to be heading out to the Netherlands and Belgium on Monday! The next time you hear from me I will be there!

Love, 

Elder Hayden L. Lott

ps Just by the way on a sad thought, Elder Cook did not get his visa.  He will be serving in the Reno, Nevada mission until he gets his visa.  He seems to have been comforted though and is not taking it as hard anymore.  He will do great anywhere he serves, but he will make it to the Netherlands, I know it!

I have gotton all the packages you have sent once again, Mom.  I got a haircut the second week I was here, and now on this last week before we head out, thanks for keeping up on me though. I sent you back all the things you sent to me to send back, just so you know.

Final MTC Email, Wednesday September 10, 2014

Departing from the MTC

Hey all!

Well, we are finally here. I have never learned to love somewhere so much and yet been sooo ready to leave.  We finally got our travel plans this last Friday!  We will be departing Monday morning, off to the Netherlands and Belgium, and off on the adventure of our lives.  With this being my last P-day here at the MTC though, I think I'll take a little time in this letter to give my take on many things MTC.

Dutch Weather! Downpour on Tuesday

Waterfall on the stairs

Before I get started, I would like for everyone to know beforehand that I really truly have loved this experience at the MTC.  It has given me such a great opportunity to grow spiritually, to learn this Dutch language, and to gain a greater sight and appreciation for this work we are spreading, and for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

With that being said though, there are some secular things that I think I'll comment on.

As for how good the food has been, it has tasted pretty good.  But I'll be honest; it does weird things to your body.  We do get 50 minutes of gym time every day, but I'll be honest; it isn't enough.  I'm not sure if its because I'm used to having so much or what, but I can tell that not exercising a lot has taken its toll on me the last couple weeks.  I have had trouble paying attention sometimes because of my overflow of energy, but it's crazy that the Lord would even help me with that.  In the fact that when I pray and do really try my best, He seems to calm me, or at least give me the opportunity to walk a million strides back and forth across the classroom while studying Dutch ;) (haha I'm pretty sure I've driven some of the other elders nuts with my pacing and muttering in Dutch)  In hindsight, maybe it was even a blessing I got sick while I was here so that my excess of energy could be toned down. I don't know, maybe I'm trying to throw a curve-ball with that one, but I do know for a fact that the Lord is in every fold of our lives, and that he knows us personally and loves us all so much even with our imperfections.

Ghosts ;)  Elder Dolphin had packed all his clothes (He left for Suriname on Monday.) Anyways, he had packed all his clothes and didn't have anything to wear so he wore his bed sheet, we felt kinda bad for him and we thought it was cool so we joined him. :)

It is my feeling that for nearly all the Elders here, all of the attitudes and end results can be summed up into two categories of varying extremes.  There are those who use their time here as an opportunity to build up spiritual knowledge and strength, and of their language, and cement their commitment to become dedicated servants of the Lord.  And of course there are those who are simply here as to what seems to be a trial of their faith, and sadly for some I think who lose their sight of why we all truly came out here, and who start to treat this experience here as more of a college life, and something that simply must be gone through and not gained from.  I am firmly convinced that 99.9% of the Missionaries who come out are out here because really, truly, deeply they love the Lord and desire to help him and our fellow brothers and sisters receive this Gospel,  and give back a little for the blessings we have received from it. Of course all of us will slip in losing sight of why we are truly out here sometimes. We are mortal, and will all eventually make mistakes. I myself have slipped in making sure I always keep my vision clear as to why I am here. But I would challenge everyone, not only who are on or going on missions, but really everyone to make a dedicated effort to continuously remember why we are here in this life, and where our end goal is. 

Ha ha, in case you can't tell, we had a devotional last night and both the speaker and his wife talked about how we must always have our end goals in sight in order to have direction.  When we do so it makes nearly all choices that vary from hard to seemingly unimportant, seem both important and easy to make.

Holding the Light of the Gospel

Holding the Light of the Gospel 2 (must be a MTC thing)

Once again, I have loved this MTC experience, and have gained so much from it!  But I know that there are people in Belgium and the Netherlands waiting to hear the gospel, and I am so excited to be one of the Lord's servants with the opportunity to share and help them receive it!

Het is mijn getuigen dat dit kerk is de evangelie van Jezus Christus herstelt op de aarde vandag. Ik weet dat het is zijn plan voor uns te volgen hij en na dit leven, te leven met hij en hemelse Vader en onze families.  Ik weet dat door Jezus Christus dit mogelijk is.  Ik weet dat als wij zijn gehoorzamen, God geeft ons zegeningen.  Ik houd van de mensen van Belgie en Nederland, en ik verlangt dat zij kunnen ontvangen het evangelie om zegeningen en eeuwig leven te ontvangen.  Ik wil dat alle mensen heb dit ook. Dit ik will achterlaten in de naam van Jezus Christus, amen.

Love all you you!

-Elder Hayden L. Lott

ps Yes again Mom, I have received all the packages that you have sent, and Dad I think it would be ok if you sent the phone.  Other missionaries have had some similar things sent to them so it should be good, then after I will just send it back to you.  I don't really need anything else other than maybe some more Crest toothpaste if it is really hard to come by in the Netherlands.  I already know that once I get there I am going to want to get some European clothes, so yeah, I'm not gonna want anything else I guess.  Haha I'm sorry, I have to expound on that... we met two missionaries who are going to other missions who are from the Netherlands.  They have super nice clothes!  It's made me way excited to buy some clothes there. I'm glad I packed semi-light so I can get some clothes there. Love ya'll 

[parent note: He wasn't able to get any pictures of Elder Taylor Anderson yet.  But we received a message from Elder Anderson's mother that Elder Lott was the first missionary they saw as they made the MTC drop off this morning; he was directing traffic as they entered the MTC drive. Tender mercies all around.  Can't wait to hear if they were able to find each other later in the day.] 

With Elder Watson and Elder Miller

With Elder Ahlstrom

Letter from the MTC, Wednesday September 3, 2014

email from the MTC
It's Been a Month?!

Hey all!

Quick comment before I start to try and cram this weeks experiences into one email; This week has been the only week of my life that I have been sick for the whole week (head cold and a sore throat), and yet gone to bed with a smile on my face every night.  This work is truly the work of the Lord.  Even though I know I haven't been as happy as if I was healthy, I do know that it is such an uplifting thought to know that I am on the Lords errand, and that He has given so much to me, so I know I need to give my all back to Him.

The first of the experiences I would like to relate is one I had last Thursday.  We were assigned to teach in TRC.  Which is pretty much teaching a member who speaks your language a family home evening lesson.  It is really fun now that we are picking up on the language, because most of the people who come in are grandpas and grandmas because they are the ones with the time. They just will go off on tangents the whole time, telling stories about their childhood and about their grandkids.  It is really funny, because even though our vocab is mostly religious based at this point, we can still understand nearly everything they are saying! Although because of the lack of vocab our answers have been pretty funny sometimes... haha, oh well.  During this last week we taught a lady who had come here from the Netherlands for school and ended up just staying the rest of her life up to this point.  She was really great and very talkative, and at the end of our lesson she asked where each of us were from.  When I said I was from Utah and have lived here my whole life she seemed a little surprised because as she told me I apparently have a German accent when I speak Dutch.   We had a good laugh about that and I told her that it must be the two years of German I took in High School finding it's way to my mouth. Crazy right? I wonder if this will be helpful or beneficial when I get to the Netherlands. Because as our teachers have told us, the reason missionaries and people in general don't wear helmets while riding bikes in Belgium and the Netherlands is because people associate helmets with Nazi Germany, and all the soldiers who caused so much pain to those two countries during the Second World War.  Apparently if people see you wearing a helmet there, they will throw rocks at you and push you into the canals, not because you are a missionary but because of your helmet and the memories it brings.  I hope that will help put you to ease mom ;) 

My next thought is short and it comes from a devotional we had on Sunday. I can't remember the speaker but he talked about the importance of keeping a study/inspiration journal, and returning to it and studying it for patterns, because it will help you pick out and understand how the Lord specifically talks to you.  His talk went great with that of Sister Hills (Branch Presidents Wife) during sacrament meeting.  She also talked about receiving inspiration, and gave us some advice that she had found in a conference talk by Elder Scott I believe, and it is that we should keep a journal and a pen next to where we sleep at night.  This is because many times, when we are asleep and in the still of the night, it is one of the only times when our spirit and mind are clear and calm enough to receive inspiration.  By doing this we also show that Lord that we the inspiration he gives us and are ready to receive it.

My last thought this week is that I would very strongly recommend for all who read this to watch the Mormon message entitled "The Hope of God's Light". We watched it our first week here and if has been truly mind blowing the ability it has given us to think about our message from that of an investigator.  It has also given me such a better understanding of why sometimes our answers from God are not given right away.  I connected this message with some scriptures I found in personal study at the beginning of the week, and Elder Cook and I have been sharing it with our investigators trying to help their understanding of how the spirit teaches. The scriptures are 1st Corinthians 3:1-2 and they say:  "And I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able." I would also connect this as to one reason why Christ would talk in parables, he knew that if he just told people they would gain nothing, but it they were ready to receive they would put the effort into understanding the parable, and would be ready not only to learn from the words and story, but from the spirit.

Ik weet dat dit waar is.  Ik weet dat dit is het evangelie van Jezus Christus.  Ik weet dat dit evangelie is herstellt te de aarde door de profeet Joseph Smith.  Ik weet dat God willt antword onze gebeden, en dat hij echt.  Ik weet dat door zijn zonde, Jezus Christus, wij kunnen met onze families leven naar dit leven.  Wij kunnen leven in zijn teganwordighijd.  Ik weet dat om een antword te ontvangen, wij moeten heb geloof. I weet personlijk, dat de Heilige Geest geebt ons de geft von tallen, troost, en inspiratie. Ik houd von de mensen van de Nederland en Belgie, en ik houd van Jullie.  Dit ik sagt in de naam van Jezus Christus, amen.

Love,

Elder Hayden L. Lott

Hey another quick thought, we get travel plans on Friday!

With the Suriname (South American country) Dutchies

With the Icelandic Missionaries

With Elder Jordan Miller!

Pictures from MTC District

Sharing some pictures that Elder Lott is in.  

These were snagged from Elder Reese, who is Elder Lott's first District Leader in the MTC.

MTC District, Wednesday 8/20/14

Elder Reese's selfie, with Elder Cook, Elder Hirsch, Elder Lott and Elder Morrell in the back ground.

Saying goodbye to departing Elders

MTC Zone, Wednesday 8/27/14

Belgium-Netherlands Elders mugging for the camera

This was described a Choo-Choo Train, made from ladders off the bunk beds.