hoi hoi mijn geliefde familie en vrinden!

can you believe that i have already been here in this blessed place for a month? unbelievable. only one month left to go. well - let us get down to the nitty gritty.

sounds like thanksgiving was a good time. we also had a good time. they tried to make it as much like our traditonal thanksgiving as possible - turns out, we are not that traditional.

and hallelujah for that. it was pretty crazy. full of kettle corn, politically incorrect skits about pilgrims and native american people and turkeys. i mostly thought that i wish i could be listening to stan freberg. good times. well - i am grateful for all of you. the best part of my thanksgiving was the awesome service project that we participated in. we made 8,000 injury kits for people in south sudan. prettttty sweet.

dus - this week has been insane. as most days are. apparently, when one prays for patience and humility - prayers are answered. by many many opportunities to pracitce these attributes. haha. needless to say - it works.

blast it all. sometimes i feel like i will never quite catch my breath or get a handle on things. and sometimes i just seriously want to take a nap. alas - Heavenly Father is wise and knows me better than i do myself. he allows me to stretch but never to break. He will send me perfectly timed blessings and help JUSTTTT when i think i am about to seriously freak out. He is good. my blessings are many. i am fully grateful for my beautiful and supportive familie and all my awesome friends who encourage and lift me. hallelujah. how blessed i am. so - i am no longer going to promise that "next week i'll plan better and know what to say" haha... probably not! okay - so, this week, we had some successful lessons with our investigators. i learn a lot from these role plays and now i am grateful for them, i don't want to mess up when someones actual happiness and salvation is on the line. niet goed. anyshwayssss - sorry about no pictures again.... i think tomorrow i shall just send my card to you. yes. and you can post the photos that you think are cool. they are all cool but there are a lot. okay - i use a lot of dashes? why? i don't know. i wish you could all hear me speak now. its pretty lame. haha. who knew my english would become so terrible. i am in language limbo. i am starting to grasp nederlands a bit more now though. the syntax is atrocious but things are coming along. i was able to memorize the first vision in nederlands - which really helps. also - turns out, i didn't know too much about relflexive pronouns, infinitive phrases or blahbityblah. blasted universal grammer and my dislike for studying english! i shall change my ways. THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS I DONT KNOWWWWWWW. i knew that already but now i come to that realization ERRRYYday. blessedly - are success is not measured on how much we know about the language or the deep doctrinal questions of the soul, rather, on how well we love others. which includes love for ourselves. Heavenly Father made the most important doctrine extremely simple for a reason. every single soul is of great worth. we are ALL loved. we are ALL important. we ALL have the opportunity to know happiness. and that is enough for me! i am extremely grateful for that knowledge. that is what keeps me going. hmm - i should now say something either funny or interesting. i will try and think of both...oh..hmm....i just had an idea though. throughout the week when/if i think of something AWESOME to share, i shall write it on a sticky note so as to better communicate to you all. ah ha! brilliant. so - every day i am becoming more and more like a 19 year old boy. this may or may not be a good thing. to choose who says the prayer we play a game called "pistols" where on the count of three everyone holds up two pistols (their hands) at two people. the person who counted goes first and if you get shot you get to shoot someone and an arm goes down and so on until both arms are down and if you are shot after that - you lose. or in this case, win because its a blessing to pray. anyway - we play this game a lot. its pretty fun. i like to change my weapon though. my fave is a wand or a pokeball. also a blowgun. good times. well - daylight is burning and i must come to a close. i will end with a poem. just kidding. i just tried to write a poem. and i couldnt think of anything. i will try to write a poem on sunday. its about time! ohhhh and just a thought/request... there is a great thing called "dearelder.com" and it is FREE and it is FAST. if anyone is reading this and has a moment to spare - could you please send me a quick note with your favorite poem or inspirational quote? i think that would be highly beneficial and awesome. if you have time. also - any simple breakdown of grammer and such. or whatevs. just a thought. cool cool. veel liefde! ik moet naar de klaskamer gaan! ik houden van jullie!