Thanksgiving Week

Hey everybody!

So this week has been fun.  It started out with our Zone turkey bowl in Eindhoven, and ended with us getting another new investigator to church!  That was great.  But there are more stories in between so I guess I'll tell those.  We had a lot of lessons fall through this week but one that did go through was all the way up in a town called Raamsdonksveer, a little bit north of Breda.  That lesson went well but the crazy part was that we normally take the bus, which takes about an hour.  But the bus takes a weird route so we thought we would try and bike it.  So we did, and that was a crazy, windy ride!  Very pretty though, we went through a little forest on our way there, I'll have to take some pictures next time.  Had some other good lessons. We're seeing some success with getting referals with some less active members we are working with so I'm happy. I'm going to send some pictures this week so I'll end here.

Love,

Elder Hayden Lott

Enjoying a Bossche Bol in Den Bosh
Ha ha funny thing, I misspelled Bossche Bol last week, and also the pronunciation.
If you were to say Bo-see-bowl that would mean 'angry ball'.
So actually it is pronounced bo-she-bowl.  Ha ha, funny mix up.

I Made Your Green Beans
[Mom note:  This is a yummy recipe from my sister  - fresh green beans with a garlic and basil glaze.]

Bike Thing in Ooserhout

Missing Chocolate Square?

Den Bosh

Miracles and Heartbreak

Hey Everybody!

So this week we saw many miracles, but unfortunately it ended with us getting dropped by one of our most positive investigators in a heartbreaking way. We'll start with the miracles.  First of all, it totally paid off getting tight with one of the less actives we are working with. We got a member referral this week to teach one of his friends and she is pretty positive.  So that was one miracle.  Another would be that one of the people we were about to drop because we were feeling like her interest was just kindness rather than true interest came to church, and thanks to our amazing ward loving her up, she actually has legitimate interest now, lots of questions, and that is a great platform to teach from.  The sad new though would be that on Sunday evening we went by to a super positive investigator's house and she ended up not even letting us in the door.  She and her husband had looked into the church more and from our feeling had gotton into some anti-mormon material.  After all that though she still said she thinks that our church in true and good, but that if she went further she knows that she would want to join and get baptized and that would tear her family apart with her husband being strongly against missionary work.  So she said, thank you for all the love and comfort and things that I've felt.  I'll get in contact with the church if anything looks like it will work out, it will just take time.  We may come to a church service one time so my husband can have one last chance, but.... ahhhhhhhhhh!  I almost cried.  Agency.... is so good. 

What the Church Teaches About Agency

I also got to go on exchanges this week with Elder Prickett.  He has a pretty rough life story but a wonderful, wonderful testimony.  I'm glad I got to work with him.

I love you all so much!

-Elder Hayden Lott

Question of the Week: I was surprised to see how many international companies have company offices in Breda.  Are you aware of any of these, or are other industries more visible to the public in Breda?

Answer: I wasn't aware of international companies here in Breda, although it makes sense.  There are whole sections of the city here that are just giant work buildings that we never really go through.  So yes they are public, but I haven't seen them.

So these are what are called 'Bossy Bolen' (bow-see-bowl-ah) 

Originally from a city called ´s-Hertogenbosch, or Den Bosch.  

But we found these coming back from exchanges on Saturday.  

Basically it is a giant oliebol (oh-lie-bowl) [deep fried pastry] filled with

a heck of a lot of whipped cream and covered in chocolate.  

Needless to say it is a heart attack and a half and really good.

Also, coconut bread is delicious!

Calm in the Storm

Hey Everybody!

Well this week has been another good one as far as the work goes.  Although my heart does go out to those effected by the Paris attacks and by similar things that happen in less well known places around the world.  Even with this going on though, I am continually redirected and drawn to the peace that I find by knowing of and trying to follow my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Maybe it sounds silly or delusional to believe in a man who lived more than two thousand years ago, and to think that I could find peace in this world through his teachings.  But those who would say these things have not experienced what I have. But as we learn in the scriptures: "Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  For every one that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened"  Those who are nay sayers have not sincerly asked, do not seek, and have not knocked to find peace or answers in their lives from Him that died and suffered for us, and they will continue to stay in darkness until they start to seek God and healing through his son Jesus Christ.  They are either unaware, or too prideful to seek him.  They may say that the answers we receive are fake in some way, made up in our minds, purely psychological or in some other way not true. Yet I know that what I have felt is true.  There is a difference, the same as between night and day, between something original and something that is not. Seek God our Heavenly Father, and His Son Jesus Christ and you will find something that does not just patch up or cover up or keep you busy.  But something that truly heals and directs you to good and joy in your life.

A Sure Foundation
 Bishop Dean M. Davies
April 2013 General Conference

We had a good week especially with less actives.  Many of them opening up to us, and lots of them coming to church!  That was great to see.  No new investigators this week but we are seeing progress with the ones we have been working with.

I love you all so much!

-Elder Hayden Lott

Question of the Week:  Do you know if Sinterklaas will come to the smaller areas like Breda, or are the parades only for the bigger cities?

Answer: We spent most of this last Saturday traveling so we didn't see or know of any parades in Breda. I know there have been tons of parties though this weekend for kids and everyone

Sinterklaas with Zwarte Piet (picture from Google)

Adventures in Breda

Hey Everybody!

So, just to get it out of the way, transfers have left me and Elder Stanworth here in Breda although every other city in the district is changing one person so we will get some new faces.  Fun stuff.  This week has been an adventure, doing all kinds of different things.  A big miracle from this week would be that one of our new investagators (Wxxx) from a couple weeks ago has really found a place for the gospel in her heart and it has really touched mine.  When we were first on the door a couple weeks ago the first thing she said was "oh boy, you've come to completly the wrong door". But after a short conversation, we had taught her the first lesson and given her a Book of Mormon and she had opened up about herself quite a bit.  When we went back this week all she could say by the end was that when she was on mormon.org or reading the Book of Mormon or talking to us she had a super good warm feeling that she's only had one other time in her life. And that she was embarrassed that she was crying, but it's ok, the spirit does that :)  That was so cool.  Another miracle would be that coming back from exchanges, me and Elder Crowson looked up Axxx, a lady who we had found on exchanges earlier, but then she fell off the face of the earth.  She was home and we were able to share a little bit about the plan of salvation with her, and finally able to get an appointment with her.  They are two of the most positive native Dutch people I've taught on my mission so that's cool. 

Plan of Salvation

Other than that, we also went and served at the Breda food bank this week.  That was really cool; we'll probably be making that a weekly activity now.  There are some cool people there and it feels good to do some physical service.  We also went on an adventure looking up a referral in the middle of nowhere, biking through the Dutch countryside for about an hour to get there, just to have them not be home.  It was pretty though and I'm always up for an adventure.

It's still pretty warm here, it's surprising.  At the most I've only had to put on a sweater and it's only rained a couple times in the last couple weeks.  Sinterclaus is coming up and I'll be here in Breda for that so that's fun. Jxxx- one of our investigators- gave us a packet full of sinterclaus songs to learn along with her little daughter too; that is super fun.  I'm so proud of Jxxx, she has made it now 6 weeks without smoking and it's looking like she'll make her baptismal date in February!  Also, I don't know if I've mentioned it before but a guy me and Elder Groesbeck found down in Brugge is on date for baptism, so that is super cool!

Love,

Elder Lott

Question of the Week: Do you mostly use buses in Breda/Roosendaal?  In some of your old areas it sounded like the metro was more common, but you mention buses more often in this area.

Answer:  Mostly in Breda we ride bikes, except for Elder Stanworth's bike got stolen. So for now we take buses.  In Roosendaal and that area it was a lot of buses and trains because of how far apart everything is.  

Mom note:  I was able to spot Elder Lott in this picture from Elder DeBloois' blog.
This is from the temple conference in October.  Elder Lott is on the sidewalk, in the tan suit, turned toward the camera. I'll take what I can get!

Success

Family Photo - From October Temple Conference
[Elder Lott is using missionary lingo, in which a trainer is the 'Dad', and greenies are 'Sons'.]
Elder Stanworth, Elder Lott and Elder Higham

Hey Everybody!

To start off, our focus on diligence and enthusiasm definitely paid off this week.  We had a ton of success, ended up finding 4 new investigators!  The story of finding all of them was really cool, but I'll share the story of the last one.  We were actually in Roosendaal, we had a couple of lessons there with some time to fill in the middle so we asked the sisters if they had anyone for us to look up.  We finished that and were headed back to the train station when I felt a distinct impression to stop.  So we did, then I felt like we should go into the building on our left and do some bell ups, so we did.  Then I felt like I should do a certain row of bell ups, and on the second one a guy answered, listened for about 10 seconds then let us in.  We ended up teaching him the whole first lesson (the restoration) and he seemed very intrigued.  He even tried to buy our book even though he hardly speaks Dutch (speaks pretty good English though), but we told him we'd get one in his language (Lithuanian) and bring it back for free with another message.  He accepted right away and told us his schedule for the whole next week when we said we weren't sure how fast we could get a copy.  Such a cool experience.

That really was a cool experience but it isn't really all that uncommon at the times when I am truly seeking the spirit and revelation needed for this work.  I am fairly confident that it can be so for all those seek God's will and have the gift of the Holy Ghost, missionary or non-missionary.  It just depends on your desire to serve God and his children.  With the specific case of walking down the street, yes that may just be a prompting missionaries get because of our calling.  But as members of His church, we have all covenanted to stand as witnesses of god at all times and in all places.  People are around us every day, and to the extent we seek for God's help we can be guided to know who we can share the gospel with, who is ready that is in our lives, and in what way.  He will provide us the means to do so if we seek to follow Him.  Just like Elder Bednar says in his Mormon message series, patterns of light, the spirit can guide us constantly. Maybe it won't be clear.  But it will be like a foggy day, where with light ahead we have just enough to take a few steps forward, and after that a few steps more, then a few more.  We might never see the big picture of where we are going, or rarely that is, but as we follow the light we will be led on true and good paths. 

[Mom note: I know that this link has been shared several times over the course of this blog,
but it is clearly one of Elder Lott's favorites, and has also given me much food for thought
as I consider the teachings in the Patterns of Light series.]
Patterns of Light - Spirit of Revelation
Elder David A. Bednar

I love you all! 

-Elder Hayden Lott

Question of the week: Do the Dutch or Belgium people follow the European custom of kissing cheeks when greeting each other, or are handshakes more common?

Answer:  With the kissing of the cheeks I've rarely seen the Dutch do that, but Belgians do it quite often.

We Bake

Chocomel

Outskirts of Breda, in the Fall