Monday, January 26, 2015

Continual Growth

Hey all!

So it has been a really great week.  Stressful with Elder Denny being on the way out, taking over an area again, and picking up a new companion but still great.  Elder Besendorfer is really great, I can tell we are going to see a lot of success together and get along pretty well.  He is a spiritual giant, he is very in tune, has a massive scriptural recall, and is just a great guy.  He is also the first companion I've gotten to go running with me every morning so that is another bonus!

Elder Besendorfer (picture from the Belgium Netherlands Mission blog)
Monday and Tuesday we were able to get quite a bit of work in, and have Elder Denny say goodbye to people on really short notice.  Wednesday was transfers, so I spent the day in Antwerpen in between dropping off Elder Denny and picking up Elder Besendorfer.  Antwerpen is really cool and it is always fun to be there.  I walked around the city with some other elders waiting for their new companions, saw a lot of cool things, had some really cool talks with people, and had some cool food from restaurants and off the street.  One of which is a cool candy called nosen.  I'm not sure if that is how it's spelled, but oh well. They were super sweet and tasted something like bubble gum and cough drop syrup mixed.  So that was cool.  [Guessing he means neus, a cone shaped Belgian candy]

We have had some really spiritual lessons this week, and saw a ton of success as far as straight up numbers go.  We saw some miracles in contacting people this week, with one guy actually setting up an appointment with us! He was a super chill Indian guy (this time not a priest) ;), who was interested in learning about christianity.  Cool stuff!

I also had a classic experience this week.  Remember how in my last area I'm pretty sure I got high from being in a room full of pot smoke when me and Elder Endicott were on exchanges in Utrecht teaching a guy? (By the way I've been told that guy now has a baptisimal date and is turning his life around!)  Well, this week we were teaching a lesson to a less active, and he offered us chocolates.  So I took one, and ate it.  It tasted really bad and burned my mouth/throat as I chewed and swallowed it.  So I looked at the box, and sure enough it was filled with vodka. They were chocolate shots.  Great... a couple of minutes later I felt all warm and tingly and disconnected from my body, and just kind of in a dreamy hazy state.  Riding my bike home was fun!  Just kidding... we ended up walking because Elder Besendorfer's peddle fell off, that was probably a blessing in disguise.  Wow, so I guess I've now kind of been drunk on my mission. Not good, not good at all.  I'm grateful that we have a perfect judge for our lives in Jesus Christ at times like these.

I love this gospel and the opportunity I have to share it with others and have a front row seat to witness the light that is brought into their lives by finding our Savior Jesus Christ, feeling of the spirit, and through His enabiling power changing their lives for the better.  Receiving that hope, comfort, and warmth that He brings.

Love you all!

-Elder Hayden L. Lott

Question of the Week:  Do you have open canals through the city like your pictures from Ommoord/Rotterdam, or in Belgium are they only in coastal cities like Brugge?

Answer:  There are open canals everywhere that I have been in Belgium except for Antwerpen. The difference is that I think here they just accept them and build around them, so they are very plain.  Which is still very cool, very European.  But in the Netherlands they would care for them more, put more landscaping around it so that it would look pretty and not just be there.

[No pictures this week from Elder Lott, but the Mission blog was updated this week with some pictures from the November Zone Conferences.]

Rotterdam Zone, November 2014
Elder Lott is front row, 5th in from the right in the grey suit


Front Pew - Elder Bonner on the left, and Elder Lundberg on the right
Middle Pew - Elder Lovin on the left, and Elder Lott on the right
Back Pew - Elder ?? on the left, and Elder Cooper on the right


Temple Conference in November, 2014
Elder Lott and Elder Lundberg

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