Hello Family! 6/29/2009
I just love Mondays when I get to catch-up with how you're all doing... that is everyone except the little family in China. I assume you'd let me know if they died or something, so I just assume they're all doing ok :) But seriously, tell that sister of mine that I would love a teensie update on life in China.
New York sounds like a ton of fun! Your story of getting lost in the metro-maze just made me smile-- it reminded me of Rotterdam :) For a small-city girl, I got to be pretty metro-savvy in Rotterdam. Imagine having to take a bike in and out of the metros with you...Niki, camp sounds like SO MUCH FUN! I am way jealous-- I still miss girls camp. It was like the highlight of my summers. Do you think I could somehow sneak in as an assistant-leader or something next year? That'd be awesome!
Well, I have gotten somewhat settled here in Dordrecht. Actually, the transition was easier than I had expected. As soon as I got out of Rotterdam (that was the hard part :( ) and we started biking through Dordrecht, I received this overwhelming sense of joy and love for the area. I just love it here! Thanks for your prayers-- they worked!
I feel like a lot of my life experiences before my mission have prepared me to serve here. It couldn't be more different than Rotterdam. Dordrecht is a group of like 5 small cities connected by bridges to the central city of Dordt, which is an island in the middle of a bunch of canals. When we go to any of the other areas like Zwijndrecht, or Papendrecht, we have to take our bikes on a little "waterbus" that ferries us over to the other side. It so cool! It is also a very old city, so the streets are all pretty much cobblestone, which is at times kind of intense to bike on depending on how recently it was re-layed. When the roads get too bumpy, they just pull the cobblestone up and smooth the sand. Then they re-lay the same cobblestone down. That works the best because of the really sandy earth here. Anyways, so I just love the city.
As far as the work, it is just a little branch here with and American branch president who served his mission here and then came back to live here and build up the church with his wife, who also served here. It is really cool. Because it is a new area, there are not a lot of standing investigators, so we do a LOT of finding. It is a really "Dutch" area, which makes finding a little more difficult, but when we do find investigators, they are really good ones :)
Well, I'm out of time this week, but I'll write more about the area next week. I love you all tons!!
Love,
Zuster Cherie Gulliver
Monday, June 29, 2009
Goede Dag!
Dearest of families, 6/22/2009
Well, this e-mail bears some bitter-sweet news. I found out this morning that I will be leaving my beloved Rotterdam. After 6 months of serving the people here, it is so hard to think of leaving- I just love these people. A few minutes ago I saw one of our recent converts, Lenneke, and told her I was leaving, and we both got tears in our eyes, so I avoided actually saying goodbye until tonight when I actually have to. I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE!!!
On the upside, inspiration still runs the mission, and I have been called by the Lord to go to Dordrect, a little city down south to serve in a little branch of the church down there with Sister Owen, who is 6 weeks ahead of me in the mission. She is a great missionary, and we will serve as co-seniors. It will be great. I love her as a missionary and as a person. She is really, really loving and kind. A great example to me. I am really excited to serve with her, and also to serve in a small branch. The branch uses the missionaries a lot from what I've heard, so the chance of me receiving a calling in the ward.. and playing piano... are really big. Yikes!
It has been another amazing week. Saturday was an incredible day. We started the day with a bike ride with a bunch of YSA's out to Delft (the home of "delft blue" ceramics). It was so beautiful, and I had a long conversation while we were biking with the inactive son of a woman in our ward. We talked about how we know the church is true and how we overcome the feelings that our testimonies come from our parents as children born under the covenant. It was a great conversation, and I was touched afterward with the gift of tongues- this guy had a really, really strong Rotterdamse accent, and under normal circumstances, I would have not really been able to understand him, but between the gift of tongues and him probably talking a lot slower than normal, I carried on a 30 minute conversation without a problem. It was so cool!
Zr. Higham leaves for home this week, and is totally NOT excited. She is such a dedicated missionary, and the thought of leaving her mission behind is a very hard one. It has been really a privilege to work with her and see how dedicated she is to the Lord and learn from her example of complete consecration to the Lord and our calling as missionaries.
Parents- I hope you have an awesome time in New York! Oh, and Niki, have fun at camp. I love you all tons!
Love,
Zuster Cherie Gulliver
My address in Dordrecht starting Wednesday is:
Zuster Gulliver
Regenboog str 111
3328 HT Dordrecht
Well, this e-mail bears some bitter-sweet news. I found out this morning that I will be leaving my beloved Rotterdam. After 6 months of serving the people here, it is so hard to think of leaving- I just love these people. A few minutes ago I saw one of our recent converts, Lenneke, and told her I was leaving, and we both got tears in our eyes, so I avoided actually saying goodbye until tonight when I actually have to. I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE!!!
On the upside, inspiration still runs the mission, and I have been called by the Lord to go to Dordrect, a little city down south to serve in a little branch of the church down there with Sister Owen, who is 6 weeks ahead of me in the mission. She is a great missionary, and we will serve as co-seniors. It will be great. I love her as a missionary and as a person. She is really, really loving and kind. A great example to me. I am really excited to serve with her, and also to serve in a small branch. The branch uses the missionaries a lot from what I've heard, so the chance of me receiving a calling in the ward.. and playing piano... are really big. Yikes!
It has been another amazing week. Saturday was an incredible day. We started the day with a bike ride with a bunch of YSA's out to Delft (the home of "delft blue" ceramics). It was so beautiful, and I had a long conversation while we were biking with the inactive son of a woman in our ward. We talked about how we know the church is true and how we overcome the feelings that our testimonies come from our parents as children born under the covenant. It was a great conversation, and I was touched afterward with the gift of tongues- this guy had a really, really strong Rotterdamse accent, and under normal circumstances, I would have not really been able to understand him, but between the gift of tongues and him probably talking a lot slower than normal, I carried on a 30 minute conversation without a problem. It was so cool!
Zr. Higham leaves for home this week, and is totally NOT excited. She is such a dedicated missionary, and the thought of leaving her mission behind is a very hard one. It has been really a privilege to work with her and see how dedicated she is to the Lord and learn from her example of complete consecration to the Lord and our calling as missionaries.
Parents- I hope you have an awesome time in New York! Oh, and Niki, have fun at camp. I love you all tons!
Love,
Zuster Cherie Gulliver
My address in Dordrecht starting Wednesday is:
Zuster Gulliver
Regenboog str 111
3328 HT Dordrecht
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Hoi!
Dearest of families, 6/15/2009
It was a rough week numbers-wise. We didn't get to teach nearly as many lessons as usual, but that’s because it was an awesome week of great experiences. I have learned SO MUCH this week about the kind of missionary the Lord wants me to be and of my potential as a missionary and a daughter of God. The week started with a "zone p-day" in Utrecht. We all went up to Utrecht as a zone and proselyted for like 3 hours. We were trying new finding techniques. One group surveyed people on the streets to strike up conversations. The people here are kind of closed and our leaders ask us to be as creative as possible to help them put their guard down and talk to us. I was in the survey group and it was fun... until some creepy old Dutch guy in one of the sidewalk cafes kind of fell in love with my American accent. It was creepy, so we gave him a pass-along card and moved on-- hey, if it gets him to look at the website, it’s all good :) The other two groups had a really fun time and saw a lot of success. One group gave tours of the church to people passing by, and taught like 5 lessons in just 2 hours. The other group went to the park and drew the plan of salvation in sidewalk chalk in one of the open pleins (is plein an English word? Hmm, its kind of like a town square thing) and they had a TON of success with people who stopped to ask what the pictures were all about. Very cool. Then we went and played ultimate frisbee for a few hours. It was really inspiring to be with the whole zone and work together. The elders in this zone are amazing elders who are such great examples of talking to everyone they meet. It was great.
As if that wasn't great enough, we had our final interviews with Pres. Woodland (he's going home in a few weeks) and I had a great conversation with him. He gave me lots of great advice and I am totally inspired to do better.
On top of zone p-day and interviews, we also had sister exchanges, so I got to spend a day in Den Haag (the Hague) serving with Zr. Kabenda, who's leaving next week for home, and Zr Bennett! It was fun to spend some time with her. She is like a sister and we just have too much fun together.
I have learned so much this week from all of the super-exciting things we got to do. Our baptism is still scheduled this Saturday, and I've never seen a more prepared investigator. He understands so well the restoration, priesthood, and pretty much everything. He has so much faith, I can't believe it. He is just so sensitive to the spirit and humble to accept what he is learning and change his life to better be in line with what the Lord would want. He will be my 5th baptism since coming out here, and I am so excited to see him receive the Holy Ghost and become cleansed through baptism. Saturday will be a very sweet day indeed! It is also Zr. Highams last Saturday on her mission, and it is so cool that she gets to spend it at a baptism.
Well, the work just keeps getting better and better. The only bad thing is that the longer I’m here, the more I love this work and the more I don't want to leave-- yet time just keeps going by faster and faster. It reminds me of how important it is to not waste a minute of time here. The time is short!
I love you all!! I miss you, and appreciate your support and love so much. Stay safe and pray every day!
Love,
Zuster Cherie Gullvier
P.S. Ik hou van jullie!
It was a rough week numbers-wise. We didn't get to teach nearly as many lessons as usual, but that’s because it was an awesome week of great experiences. I have learned SO MUCH this week about the kind of missionary the Lord wants me to be and of my potential as a missionary and a daughter of God. The week started with a "zone p-day" in Utrecht. We all went up to Utrecht as a zone and proselyted for like 3 hours. We were trying new finding techniques. One group surveyed people on the streets to strike up conversations. The people here are kind of closed and our leaders ask us to be as creative as possible to help them put their guard down and talk to us. I was in the survey group and it was fun... until some creepy old Dutch guy in one of the sidewalk cafes kind of fell in love with my American accent. It was creepy, so we gave him a pass-along card and moved on-- hey, if it gets him to look at the website, it’s all good :) The other two groups had a really fun time and saw a lot of success. One group gave tours of the church to people passing by, and taught like 5 lessons in just 2 hours. The other group went to the park and drew the plan of salvation in sidewalk chalk in one of the open pleins (is plein an English word? Hmm, its kind of like a town square thing) and they had a TON of success with people who stopped to ask what the pictures were all about. Very cool. Then we went and played ultimate frisbee for a few hours. It was really inspiring to be with the whole zone and work together. The elders in this zone are amazing elders who are such great examples of talking to everyone they meet. It was great.
As if that wasn't great enough, we had our final interviews with Pres. Woodland (he's going home in a few weeks) and I had a great conversation with him. He gave me lots of great advice and I am totally inspired to do better.
On top of zone p-day and interviews, we also had sister exchanges, so I got to spend a day in Den Haag (the Hague) serving with Zr. Kabenda, who's leaving next week for home, and Zr Bennett! It was fun to spend some time with her. She is like a sister and we just have too much fun together.
I have learned so much this week from all of the super-exciting things we got to do. Our baptism is still scheduled this Saturday, and I've never seen a more prepared investigator. He understands so well the restoration, priesthood, and pretty much everything. He has so much faith, I can't believe it. He is just so sensitive to the spirit and humble to accept what he is learning and change his life to better be in line with what the Lord would want. He will be my 5th baptism since coming out here, and I am so excited to see him receive the Holy Ghost and become cleansed through baptism. Saturday will be a very sweet day indeed! It is also Zr. Highams last Saturday on her mission, and it is so cool that she gets to spend it at a baptism.
Well, the work just keeps getting better and better. The only bad thing is that the longer I’m here, the more I love this work and the more I don't want to leave-- yet time just keeps going by faster and faster. It reminds me of how important it is to not waste a minute of time here. The time is short!
I love you all!! I miss you, and appreciate your support and love so much. Stay safe and pray every day!
Love,
Zuster Cherie Gullvier
P.S. Ik hou van jullie!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Goede dag!
Hello familie!
I can't believe Niki's graduating from junior high! That is soooo not allowed. Man, time flies WAY too fast. I had my 7-month mark a few days ago. That means that my mission is officially reduced to only 11 months :(. It makes me want to work even harder and become the missionary the Lord wants me to be even faster-- time is running out!!!
It was a great week. It was kind of a rough week at times. One of the things I have learned on my mission is that Satan will do everything he can to distract us from doing and learning about good things. He will make us really busy, and try to convince us that we don't have time to do the important things. So often he will try to play with our investigators priorities and convince them to spend their time doing other things than meeting with us and learning more about the gospel. Luckily, the purest of the pure in heart recognize that and just make time.
We have the most amazing baptism set up for the 20th of this month. Prins (I think I told you about him) is being baptized as soon as possible because he knows that the church is true and is TOTALLY converted. I've never seen anyone so antsy to be baptized! It is such a blessing. We also are teaching a woman right now who is the European champion karate-person. She just won some competition and now is champ from Europe. You should look her up. Her name is Hendrike (Hendrika?). Oh yah, and she's praying about being baptized on July 25th. YES!
As for me, I'm doing great. The Lord has blessed me with some very neat spiritual experiences this week that have taught me so much about myself and our purpose here on earth. Oh yah- Zr. Higham's foot isn't actually broken. She had x-rays and it is just bruised really badly. She's in some pain, but fully functional as a missionary. It really was a blessing. It is such an awesome opportunity to serve with her. I am just so blessed.
Well family, I love you all a ton! Mom and Dad, your trip to NY sounds like so much fun! I'll have to go check out New York sometime when I get home. I bet it’s nothing like Rotterdam :)
Have a great week and don't forget to pray!!!
Love, Zuster Cherie Gulliver
I can't believe Niki's graduating from junior high! That is soooo not allowed. Man, time flies WAY too fast. I had my 7-month mark a few days ago. That means that my mission is officially reduced to only 11 months :(. It makes me want to work even harder and become the missionary the Lord wants me to be even faster-- time is running out!!!
It was a great week. It was kind of a rough week at times. One of the things I have learned on my mission is that Satan will do everything he can to distract us from doing and learning about good things. He will make us really busy, and try to convince us that we don't have time to do the important things. So often he will try to play with our investigators priorities and convince them to spend their time doing other things than meeting with us and learning more about the gospel. Luckily, the purest of the pure in heart recognize that and just make time.
We have the most amazing baptism set up for the 20th of this month. Prins (I think I told you about him) is being baptized as soon as possible because he knows that the church is true and is TOTALLY converted. I've never seen anyone so antsy to be baptized! It is such a blessing. We also are teaching a woman right now who is the European champion karate-person. She just won some competition and now is champ from Europe. You should look her up. Her name is Hendrike (Hendrika?). Oh yah, and she's praying about being baptized on July 25th. YES!
As for me, I'm doing great. The Lord has blessed me with some very neat spiritual experiences this week that have taught me so much about myself and our purpose here on earth. Oh yah- Zr. Higham's foot isn't actually broken. She had x-rays and it is just bruised really badly. She's in some pain, but fully functional as a missionary. It really was a blessing. It is such an awesome opportunity to serve with her. I am just so blessed.
Well family, I love you all a ton! Mom and Dad, your trip to NY sounds like so much fun! I'll have to go check out New York sometime when I get home. I bet it’s nothing like Rotterdam :)
Have a great week and don't forget to pray!!!
Love, Zuster Cherie Gulliver
Monday, June 1, 2009
Zout Drop
Hello all! Zuster Gulliver here.
Well, it was an amazingly blessed week here in Rotterdam North. We had a baptism Saturday!! Anilda and her daughter Miene were baptized and confirmed this weekend, and it was an awesome service! The spirit was very strong and it was so neat to be involved in the service and know that I had helped them progress to that point. I got to hold the towels for them as they came out of the water. Having the gift of the Holy Ghost is just going to change their lives and help them deal with the problems they face. It was so awesome!
Other exciting news from this week includes my comp (Zr. Higham) breaking her foot (we think) by dropping a huge bike lock on it. She is finally going for x-rays this week, so we'll see what happens. Until then, she just sits "achter op" on Zr. Wielands bike (sitting on the bike rack behind Zr. Wieland side-saddle style). She is such a hard worker and has just been living with the pain in order to avoid slowing down the work, but our district leader finally sat her down today and told her that if she damages her foot more by continuing to walk on it, the Lord will hold her accountable for not taking care of herself. That won her over, so we're off to the hospital in the next couple of days. Its about time- we've been trying to convince her to get it looked at for the whole week. Her dedication is definitely a great example for me, and I am loving working with her. She leaves for home in just a few weeks, and is one of the most dedicated, focused missionaries ever.
The work here is going great. Our numbers of investigators has dropped a little bit, leaving us with a handful (actually, more like 8) of really, really dedicated, progressing investigators. One man, Prins, walks one hour and 45 minutes every Sunday to get to church because he can't afford the transportation. Now that is dedication. He is preparing for baptism on the 20th of this month. So awesome!
Thanks for the scriptures mom; I'll share them with my comps this week during studies. Well, I love you all, A LOT!!!! I hope you are enjoying spring time in California. Don't forget to write me and let me know about what you're up to-- even the simplest things are a lot of fun to hear about.
Ik hou van jullie!
Love, Zuster Cherie Gulliver
Well, it was an amazingly blessed week here in Rotterdam North. We had a baptism Saturday!! Anilda and her daughter Miene were baptized and confirmed this weekend, and it was an awesome service! The spirit was very strong and it was so neat to be involved in the service and know that I had helped them progress to that point. I got to hold the towels for them as they came out of the water. Having the gift of the Holy Ghost is just going to change their lives and help them deal with the problems they face. It was so awesome!
Other exciting news from this week includes my comp (Zr. Higham) breaking her foot (we think) by dropping a huge bike lock on it. She is finally going for x-rays this week, so we'll see what happens. Until then, she just sits "achter op" on Zr. Wielands bike (sitting on the bike rack behind Zr. Wieland side-saddle style). She is such a hard worker and has just been living with the pain in order to avoid slowing down the work, but our district leader finally sat her down today and told her that if she damages her foot more by continuing to walk on it, the Lord will hold her accountable for not taking care of herself. That won her over, so we're off to the hospital in the next couple of days. Its about time- we've been trying to convince her to get it looked at for the whole week. Her dedication is definitely a great example for me, and I am loving working with her. She leaves for home in just a few weeks, and is one of the most dedicated, focused missionaries ever.
The work here is going great. Our numbers of investigators has dropped a little bit, leaving us with a handful (actually, more like 8) of really, really dedicated, progressing investigators. One man, Prins, walks one hour and 45 minutes every Sunday to get to church because he can't afford the transportation. Now that is dedication. He is preparing for baptism on the 20th of this month. So awesome!
Thanks for the scriptures mom; I'll share them with my comps this week during studies. Well, I love you all, A LOT!!!! I hope you are enjoying spring time in California. Don't forget to write me and let me know about what you're up to-- even the simplest things are a lot of fun to hear about.
Ik hou van jullie!
Love, Zuster Cherie Gulliver
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