Elder Hayden Lott: Mother's Day

[We enjoyed a wonderful Mother's Day video call early Sunday morning. It was such a blessing to hear Elder Lott bear testimony of the gospel and offer a prayer in Dutch. He spoke Dutch so much more fluently and confidently than he had at Christmas. He used Dutch or sometimes even Flemish/French words and phrases without realizing it during our conversation. Although he misses Leuven, Belgium terribly, he is loving his companions and the ward members in Almere, who he said are the most missionary focused of any area he has served in to date. -Anastasia]

FaceTime call with Elder Lott
He bought some clippers and has been cutting his own hair because
hair cuts in the Netherlands are extremely expensive, he said.

Hey all!

Just a heads up this email will probably be shorter just because I did talk to my family yesterday, and I sent quite a few pictures to catch up but oh well. I guess I will talk about the AZC this week. The AZC is a refugee camp that is situated here in Almere. All kinds of people stay there, but it is mostly people who have escaped war torn countries and those who are fleeing suppressive situations. Most come from Africa or the Middle East. It is great for missionary work because the people living there are very humble, and aren't allowed to work while they are waiting to see if they get their residency permits or not, so they have lots of time and almost all are willing to hear our message. The only downsides are that we can't come and openly proselyte, we can only go in if we are visiting someone specific on invitation who we met outside the AZC. And the other downside is that because these people have so many worrying and difficult things on their minds it is difficult to help them keep commitments and find peace and joy through Christ and his gospel and the hope that it brings for more than the moments that we are there. I just want to cry sometimes, and shout out to everyone there especially that this life is but a small moment it the spectrum of eternity and if they are able to make it through these trials and follow Christ, all their losses and hardships will be made up in the end. It is so hard though to help raise that vision though, and so we do what we can, hopefully slowly along the way helping them to come unto Christ step by step.

It has also been really interesting this last week being in the three man. When we go tracting (knocking doors) it is awkward to have 3 people on a door. So I have found myself going solo, just me and the Lord for much of the time, while the other two go together. That has been a great growing experience, and I have had some cool conversations that might not have happened had I not been 'alone'. Apparently speaking with one person isn't as hard as two for people and they will at least hear me out; we've gotten some good potential investigators this way. It's sad though because I know the power that going out 2 by 2 has and that it has been the way that has been set by the Lord to do missionary work. Still a good growing opportunity though. I can say that I know for myself Jesus Christ is the son of God, our savior and redeemer, the only way by which we can obtain salvation. That it is through living His gospel, His one and only true and restored gospel, we can be most happy in this life and into the eternities. That gospel is found here, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, along with the proper priesthood authority of God to run his church, that can be directly traced back to him. I love the Lord and His work, and for the person he is helping me and all those who come unto Him become. I leave these things, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love you all!

-Elder Lott

Question of the Week: Almere is surrounded by water. Do people travel often by boat, or is that only in the canals in older areas of the Netherlands?

Answer: Yeah we are surrounded by water, in two ways. For one we are on a big island, and two there are dykes and canals everywhere. I wouldn't say it is a common mode of transportation here but it's definitely not unheard of, and we see plenty of people out on kayaks and paddle boards and such.