Last email

Hello everyone! Last time emailing as a missionary!

I´m safe and happy and trying to to cry all the time. Leaving the mission is hard! But I know it had to come sometime. We taught an Indian man last night and he wants to be baptized! Miracles are still happening! Amazing what the Spirit can do to a person who is willing to listen to the message of the Gospel.

3 Nephi 5:13

I´ll still be a disciple when I go home and I´ll still declare His word to the people, with or without a nametag. I love Him and am so grateful that He has carried me through these months and days and minutes.

Hymn #270, 219, 223, 224, 284, 100 & 98

Love you all!

Tot ziens:)

Zuster Jessica Faasavalu

See you next week!

The mission… “nothing much” except wonderful! There’s nothing to compare to it.

Weird that I’m almost done!

Yesterday Sister Ramirez, Sister Mo Young, and I had one of the most insane appointments of my whole mission. Our greenies went down to Belgium for legality things, so we were together in Amsterdam! No pictures of our day together, but we did have two appointments.

The first was insane. I was conflicted between being impatient with the man and staying calm and letting him ramble. But, you must understand, he was very passionate, practically shouting, at us about what he knows. He doesn’t believe in faith or believing, you have to have knowledge, and according to him, you cannot receive knowledge from books, from stories, or from people. He said we, the three of us, are only human and we cannot grow or progress in our state of humanity unless we let go of what he calls our ego and allow our inner soul to come out. ahhhhh….. so taxing. This appointment drained me completely. Sister Young gave a wonderful, powerful testimony and he was quiet while she spoke, but then he started up again. Sister Ramirez asked him what he actually thought about believing and he said that belief is not knowledge, that it is for humans, who are trapped in their stupidity. I bore my testimony about the truths that I know and that our purpose in coming was to listen and be listened to, but my oh my…..

Let’s just say we got out of there quick and then found some other people who wanted to listen to us.

The second appointment was a blessing. A sweet, sweet Surinamese sister who has such a beautiful testimony about the Savior and Heavenly Father. What a complete twist from our first appointment. This sister is strong and able and wonderful. She helped me get out of the cloud of impatience with the difficult people 🙂 I realized that, as she testified and told us about her love for people and to respect everyone as God respects them, I needed to respect that man for what he knows. He said many, many rude things to us, but he has his opinions and I have mine.

I know that my testimony is strong, and he cannot take that away from me. Sweet Sister Stelling reminded me of the foundation I’ve been built upon. If I had gone to that appointment as a greenie, I might have ran out and never wanted to have another appointment again. I would’ve had no idea how to respond. I haven’t really changed, but I have been strengthened.

What a great experience that last stretch of my mission!

thank you all for your love and support!!

Tot straks! 😉 hehe

Liefs,

Zr Faa

19 More Days!

Its official. I am old. My dear companions found a white hair while we were knocking doors….its completely white. What the heck? Haha, well, it’s alright. One for now is ok.

Man, I’ve lost track of the weeks! I am losing my time here though, and today while being in a car seeing the wonderful fields of Holland… it hit me.

I love this country. I love the countries I’ve served in. I love the people and I love the cultures and I love the faith. The faith is what makes them shine. Their strength and their stamina in this type of a world is amazing! I love love love love them. I will miss them dearly, but like my dad told me this week..

“Howdy short timer! You still have time for one more door to knock and a baptism, one more copy of the BOM to give it away before you are coming home.”

I still have time! haha, and I’m loving it. The Gospel is one thing that will always stay in my life, even if Holland and Vlaanderen do not. All of these things will stay in my heart, thank goodness! haha… White hair or not, I’m happy to be here for a little longer. 🙂

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

Also, conference! Oh man, it was beautiful. I loved the talks and the music. The music is actually what got me the most. A lot of the words in the hymns are what I needed to be reminded of. Power in music!!! haha:)

And..we found a golden person! Pauli. She is amazing. She was actually baptized 2 years ago, but due to many things, she wrote herself out of the church and was going to other churches. She always came back to ours because it made her feel good, she recognized that as the Spirit and she realized also that deep in her heart, the Spirit was never as strong as it was in our church buildings. She called us and wanted to make an appt right away. She taught us all the lessons and wants to go back to the temple and help more family members! She wants to be rebaptized and she wants to help Jesus help the people around her. She is an angel. What an amazing woman. She moved to another city, sadly, so I will not see her again while I am here, but she’s on her way back to Christ!

 

Be safe! Love you and thank you for the prayers and constant support!

love,

Zr Faa

Count your Blessings

Well well well, Week 3 of Amsterdam! Its been a wonderful week.

Easter was quiet and peaceful. We ate dinner with a wonderful family from North Carolina who reminded me so much of Sister Morgan Young because of their accents! It was great.

Lots of appointments fell through, but we knocked a lot of doors and belled at a lot of apartments. Gotta love these days!

Not much of an update, sorry for that. We´re still the same, the three of us having a lot of laughs and talks and enjoying the mission life. It´s getting warmer here and we love it!

The scripture I´ve had in my head this week is Alma 26:2. Can we count our blessings? In Dutch, the word tel means to count. So, when Ammon is asking about our blessings, can ye tell? Yes, spelling is off, but I think its a cool question for me. haha.

Count your blessings every one, even if you take one minute every day, just name them off. You´ll think of more as you count more of them:)

Love you all! I´m still safe and happy and trying to remember the sunshine! 🙂

liefs, Zr Faa

Safe in Amsterdam

Don´t worry everyone–we are alright, good, and safe. The Netherlands has more security than usual out and about, and people are not opening their doors for anyone (especially not religious volunteers), but other than that, things have been pretty quiet. Our missionaries in Belgium are safe.

This world is crazy. Those few that do talk to us about our faith and their faith believe in good things to come–that´s what we should focus on; the good. There is good in the end, and there is good now. We can enjoy and laugh now, and then gather up the laughs for later. Thanks to Jesus Christ we can have good now, we had it yesterday, and we can have it tomorrow.

Amsterdam is great. Lots of people. Lots of scared people who are sad and frightened because they don´t have hope. I hope to bring a few more people some hope with the next couple weeks I have. It´s been strange, getting used to saying that I only have a few more weeks. My mission-life is ticking away! But, life goes on:) I´ll be ok. I am ok. I´ve got my companions and we all laugh so much we´re getting some pretty good abs! Just kidding. We´re eating a lot of the good sweets of europe while laughing, so it cancels it out. Haha!

Thanks for the prayers and thoughts and support! I love you!

Love, Zuster Faasavalu

tired companions, you can see Jess in the window

Amsterdam!

Amsterdam is HUGE. I had forgotten the feel of large cities!! My goodness, it´s sooooooooo big! Wow. Very different from Gouda, Breda, Zoetermeer–so different.

My pday has changed for a few weeks to Saturdays. It´s still a little weird for me, but oh well. I´ll be ok. Change is good;) at least I still have a pday!

We become a trio today!! Sister Pond is coming later this afternoon and then we will be a threesome! Exciting stuff. Sister Ramirez is so funny. We´ve laughed a lot together. She makes really good food, can be really sassy, and is a great teacher. She is learning both English and Dutch on her mission! Her first language is Spanish and I´ve been learning a couple words here and there:) fun fun!

Amsterdam is booming with people. Potential investigators, investigators, a baptism for the elders on Sunday, so so so so many people outside… it´s cool. We taught a lady named Claudia a few days ago about the Restoration of the Gospel. It was a little difficult to teach her because she wanted to tell us so many things about her church and her beliefs. She doesn´t pray to God, but believes that He existed. She believes that He and Jesus Christ are gone, so we do not need to pray to Them. She believes in a man she calls Father, who lived (he died) in South Korea, and also his wife, Mother, who is still living and is leading her churches in South Korea. It was all very confusing to me, but that´s ok because…..

I am very glad I have a foundation in the Gospel and that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and knows me. I am grateful for His Son, Jesus Christ. He performed the Atonement and submitted all His will to His Father. He was obedient to the end and for eternity. He is my Savior and my Redeemer. I can pray to the Father through Him and He will answer. They have both given me so much comfort through the Spirit. Man! It´s such a blessing to understand this concept: we have a Father in Heaven who is anxiously waiting our return home; we have a Savior and Redeemer who has saved us from dying in our sins and being forever miserable; and we have a way back home, through Jesus Christ, if we will follow Him and His works. Its up to us.

I´ll choose Them:) that´s the safest way. It might not be the easiest, but its the the safest and most worth while thing I can ever do. That I know:)

thank you for prayers and support and belief in me. I need them all.

love, Zr Faasavalu

Last Transfer!

TRANSFER VERDICT……

Haha, yes that is correct: I’m expecting a greenie! She won’t come in until next week, but yep! I’ll be co-training my last transfer with Sister Ramirez in…… AMSTERDAM! What a dream. My last 7 weeks in the capital of the Netherlands. Wow. I still can’t believe it’s real. My mind says that I’m still really young on the mission and am the one to follow; but now I’m the one to lead and it’s strange. ah! oh well: the Lord believes I can do this, so I can and I will!

Other things………..

This Saturday we were able to attend the temple with a reactivated member in our ward, Fred. He is such a great, happy, jolly guy. He was so enthusiastic as he went through the temple session. What a beautiful day. The day was like spring and oh boy, wow. The Spirit! I am always amazed when I feel the Spirit stronger and stronger; it’s a beautiful, peaceful, calming feeling. I told the Lord that day that for my last transfer, I would do anything to show Him that I am willing and that I am ready for what He has planned. What a beautiful day!

Fred

Oh man. Saying goodbye to Gouda is hard! I didn’t think I was so attached until I was sitting in church yesterday and realized that I might not see a lot of these people again while I’m here. I cried a bit, and took a bunch of pictures with the members. These people are so unique. As are a lot of the other wards, but there’s something unique about these characters in Gouda; they are all so different and I love it. I love them. They have eternally blessed my life, as has Zoetermeer, The Hague, Breda, and Antwerpen. And now I’m going to Amsterdam and I’ll make new friends! oh boy.

Anya and Noah

1 Nephi 9:6–read it. It’s beautiful. It’s become the scripture of my soul. I firmly believe it is true. The Lord knoweth all things from the beginning.

Lucilene

Have a wonderful week! Next time I write I will have 6 weeks left! wow. Time FLIES–so prepare and enjoy it.

Love, Zr Faa

Ben’s Baptism and Rapunzel’s tower

Well, from (1) finding Rapunzel’s tower to (2) being really sick and seeing snow to (3) witnessing a baptism, this week was great! hahaha

(1) We went to Woerden, a village outside of Gouda, and while knocking we found Rapunzel’s tower. She wasn’t home. Probably was somewhere with Eugene. No one around the tower was home actually. That was sad. But it was a beautiful sunny day.

(2) I was having a lot of stomach pain and needed to go to the doctors office. After the appt, which went well, I’m on medication and I’ll be back to normal (which is something I haven’t ever been!) in a few weeks, we saw snow! It was crazy! I was surprised at how much I missed snow. It didn’t stick and it only snowed for about 10 minutes, but hey, it was beautiful.

(3) Sunday was a beautiful day. I was feeling less sick and was able to be coherent during the services. Sam was baptized! He wouldn’t take a good smiling photo, so all I have is this one of him, which is still good. He is such a good one. His mom gave the talk on baptism and told him how proud she is of him. The musical number, a violin duet, was wonderful, mainly because I dropped out (stopped playing the piano) and just listened to them. Haha! They weren’t expecting that, but they kept going and it was a wonderful, spiritual moment for everyone.

This week was amazing. I am still healing and thank goodness today I get to rest a little bit. The rest of the week is go go go and I’ll need to be ready to do what I can and that will be my best.

Thank you for your prayers. They have been felt this week. I am so blessed. My goodness! I can’t believe the blessings. I cannot count them and when I do, I start to cry. Thank you thank you thank you thank you from my heart!

“We can be strong–together”  -anon.

liefs,

Zuster Jessica Faasavalu

It’s Winter in Gouda!

Hi family and friends! I’m doing well. Healthwise and everything else-wise. haha! I’m pressing forward with a smile on my face and a song in my heart!

Well well well, we’ve rolled in the doubles this week.

Double BAPTISMS! (no pics because I was playing the piano and when your fingers are on the keys they can’t be holding a camera, dang it!)

Romy and Emmelyn were baptized this week. Romy is from Gouda, but has lived in Arizona for a few months. There she met with the missionaries and was taught and then her mother here in Gouda said, “Well, if you’re going to be baptized, do it when you need to renew your visa and then we can be there, too.” so….. Saturday, Romy was baptized! She is 18. She’ll be living in AZ for another two months, and then she’ll come back to Gouda. Her mother is very interested in being baptized as well, but because of some family complications, won’t be meeting with us yet. Maybe when Romy returns she’ll have the courage to meet with us more often. 🙂

Emmelyn is 8 years old and looks like a princess. Her parents invited us for dinner the last few months and we’d give the spiritual thoughts with Emmelyn’s baptism in mind. She is such a sweetheart! She sang a solo, “I belong to the church of Jesus Christ”—darling! I accompanied the world-known Vesna Gruppman, wife of the famous Igor Gruppman (look them up on Google), on the violin and I was soo nervous, but the Lord took my hands and made something beautiful out of our music. I love the hymns and I’m so blessed to have witnessed these two wonderful young women be baptized!

Double LET-INs!

 

This never happens, ok, maybe not never, but I’ve never had it happen to me until Saturday. After the baptism of Romy, we went to dinner with a member, Lucilene, and after dinner had an hour and  a half to work. It was rainy and really really super cold. We were miserable, but we wanted to work. So, we walked around and found some houses and some apartment buildings. We went the houses and the FIRST HOUSE we went to let us in! We taught them about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and why our Church is different from the others. They were three young adults who seemed very interested. In the end, they said they’d look at the website and read a little in the book, and if they had any other interest, they’d call us. But they were so nice and gave us water and let us sit INSIDE for a about 30 minutes!

The second was a very very very Muslim family. They are very religious and very admirable. They have 6 daughters and one son. They gave us herbal tea and some cookies. Oh wow. They didn’t really listen to our side of belief, but they let us know a lot about their religion. It was really beautiful to see such active believing people. They were so kind and welcoming. We won’t be going back to them, either, but it was a great experience to be around them and to listen to their sincere faith.

WONDERFUL WEEK, all in all. I’m still so tired and weak, but the Lord is my strength and my song. I love Him and I love His work. I love these people and I love watching them accept Christ in their lives.

Sam has chosen to be baptized on 28 February! Soon! I love him and his mom. We are excited for him and this step he’s taking.

Took a walk through the wilderness in Rotterdam:) it was really cold, but really pretty. The winds are so strong here.

THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO FOR ME!

Jess gave Zuster Nyakoh a heart attack for her 9 month mark

Zr Faa

So Much Work to Do!

This week has been long. Really long. Really crazy, but also really good!

Sam!!!!!!! He chose March 5, 2016 to be baptized! That is the last Saturday of this transfer, so if I leave Gouda and go somewhere else for my last transfer, then I will be able to see him be baptized. He is such a good kid. I played the piano for the primary yesterday and he said the closing prayer! He is amazing. His mom, Wendy, is also doing really well. She got really sick, but now is better. They teach each other and are such a good support for the other. Today is Sam’s 9th birthday! Happy Birthday bud! He’s so good.

Claudia. She was a miracle. We were knocking doors and she let us right in! We had a short lesson with her about the Restoration and she said, “When can you come over again?” she wants to learn more! We have a lesson with her on Wednesday🙂 She has two little kids and two older children and one grandchild. She has seen a lot of sadness and evil in her life and is ready to show God that she believes and wants to be happy. We are excited to teach her.

I know that my time is shortly ending here in the Netherlands, but I am still in love with these people. I’m so tired. My body is giving out, but with prayers and faith, I get up. I stay up, until about 9:30pm, and then I just collapse. I love this work. It’s been painful, but also beautiful and I’ve seen so much JOY! It’s wonderful. It’s hard. But, hey, that’s life, right?

I am grateful for GRACE, and the power that we can receive through Christ, our Savior.

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengthenth me” (emphasis added)

Thank you for your constant prayers and love and support and belief in me. I need it.

Love you!

Zr Faasavalu