Gelukkig Nieuwjaar

[We had a wonderful hour long Skype session with Dallin on Christmas morning. He looked great. And so happy! He sends his love to everyone.]

Fam!

 I loved talking to you guys this week! It was so awesome! This was an interesting week cause we had a lot of missionary experiences but we didn't do a lot of contacting. We went to a lot of members houses and we helped a less active guy with his house. I think he is starting to realize what he is missing out on. He is super cool. He served a mission in England so he speaks really good English thank goodness. But we went caroling and had some amazing dinners with members. We got to watch Wreck it Ralph in Dutch which was super cool! haha The families in this ward are amazing!

Dutch is coming along pretty well. its the best language out there besides English :) haha its the grammar that's killing me. I hate English grammar and its not even close to the same... haha

Lately I've been thinking a lot about Alma 5 and the change of heart that Alma has. And I was thinking have I have that kind of change of heart. And further than that do I still have that change of heart. Its super cool if you go into scripture study with a question. Ive just started really doing that and its been awesome. It leads to other questions and if you always keep them in mind you will get them answered. So I was thinking about the change of heart. and how he got it and it was from trust faith and humility. So I started asking myself how can I trust God. Obviously I trust God. But how can I actually do that? Really truly trust God. And to trust someone you have to know them. And it said if you gain a knowledge of God and the Atonement you will know God. and how do we know God? He is God! but I read I think it was in true to the faith the next day and it said to know God you need to pray to Him and that is how you will know him. And now I'm starting a study more on prayer. I really want to make my prayers more than they are. Because I want to know God and actually have a conversation with Him instead of praying at night cause that's what I'm suppose to do. I have that desire to actually do it and now its not a hard to kneel down and talk to my Heavenly Father every night even if I'm dead tired. The scriptures and personal study have given me that "change of heart" and i didn't even notice it until now :) I hope you all have a wonderful week! I have a feeling its going to be a special one here in the Netherlands :)
Love, Elder Bosco

 Elder Claflin (Dallin's companion)

We get to skype in 2 days!!

Hallo everyone,

I don't have much to say since we are talking on Wed! I'm so excited! 

Lincoln told me he was surprising Karen but that is awesome!! [his friend returned from a mission in Chile a few weeks earlier than his mother thought]

We had a good week nothing is really different we have 4 progressing investigators! We got 4 more investigators this week so things are awesome!

 We are spending christmas with the bishop and his family. We cant watch movies anymore and so we are going caroling and stuff.

I hope dad is doing better! [knee surgery to fix a torn meniscus-he's doing good]

I really have nothing to say cause I want to have something to talk about on christmas. 

Elder Claflin is so sick! He is from Colorado and he is a biker and stuff so he does some crazy stuff sometimes but he is a hard worker and awesome!

I can't wait till Wed!

 Love you all!!!

Love Elder Bosco

So he actually is warmer in the Netherlands than we are here in Utah!

Fam,

 Pretty great week this week. On Saturday and Sunday we had a kerstconcert [Christmas Concert] ! Super cool. A ton of non members came and that was the best part! The ward I'm in right now reminds me of our ward! haha With the Choir and all. Some of the same people which makes me smile! There are some very talented people here!

 The mission conference was awesome! President Texiera is a very loving man and knows his stuff like all of those men called of God its incredible! Unfortunately I didn't get to see sister Nelson. She isn't very close to me region wise. Someday though... haha!

 We collected two new investigators this week and are teaching a lot! Its sick! This is the Lords work and its rolling  :)

 Things just are happening. Its crazy some days we just contact and get nothing and then all of the sudden we have another investigator. Its awesome :) We have not started using facebook yet or anything. The contacting we do is in the Centrum or going door to door. and we do a lot of it! haha :)

 Actually it is warm here - only one day was freezing and that is what I was going off of but its super nice! no snow yet :)

 Mom do you know a Heini Repo from Finand? There is an elder here from Finland and we think you and his mom served at the same time. That would be to crazy if you knew here! But way sick!

 I love and miss you all! Cant wait to skype :)

Love, Elder Bosco

 

Sinterklass and Zwarte Piet*

Fam!

 It definitely is not 40 degrees here. Its snowed and it isn't freezing cold but its not been 40 degrees that's for sure!

 We had an awesome week! On Monday we went to a jovo (YSA) and we had a sinterklass party with gifts and stuff and it was super fun! The Jovo's here are so sick!

 Then on Wednesday we taught Simon again and he is doing great he told us he will do whatever it takes to get baptized haha so sweet!

 Then Thursday was Sinterklass and we did some planning then we went over to a ladies house who had Sinterklass and Zwarte Piet over. Super cool! then we went over to a members house and spent the night with them! They got us gifts and the Chocolate letters and everything it was so fun! Elder Muse one of our Zone Leaders told me to ask one of the daughters Mogen Wij Zoenen.... He told me it was a board game but zoenen means kiss... So embarrassing but it was so funny everyone went silent and then I asked what it meant and everyone laughed! it was pretty funny.

 Then on Friday, we taught our two new investigators Rueben and Vincent and it was sick! During the lesson Rueben said wow finally a religion that makes some sense! It was awesome! They are super cool guys!

 Friday there was a baptism! One of the ZL's investigators got baptized and that was super cool!

 Sunday we taught another lesson to a German girl. And she is going home for Christmas so we probably won't meet back with her until Jan. But she said she is going to read the Book of Mormon over the break and she was very interested. We testified to her and told her how we came to know it was true and she told us she could see that it makes us happy and that we know. It was super cool!!

 This Tuesday we have a special mission conference and Elder Texiera of the Seventy is coming. That's going to be awesome!

 I think we will be skyping around 4 or 5 I think that is 8 or 9 at home so that will work perfect! I just sent my package home so you should get it in the upcoming week! It sad being away from all of you during Christmas but this is all worth it! I love it here and wouldn't change it for anything! I love you all!

 

Love Elder Bosco

 

 

[* Thanks to Pres. Moore and Wikipedia- I understood what Dallin was talking about.]

 

The Zwarte Piet character is part of the annual feast of St. Nicholas, usually celebrated on the evening of 5 December (Sinterklaasavond, that is, St. Nicholas' Eve) in the Netherlands and on 6 December in Belgium, when sweets and presents are distributed to children.  The tasks of the Zwarte Pieten are mostly to amuse children, and to scatter pepernoten, kruidnoten and strooigoed (special sinterklaas candies) for those who come to meet the saint as he visits stores, schools, and other places.

And my favorite tradition that I hope Dallin has started for us in his package (if not I will find them online...) everyone receives their first initial in the form of dark, milk, or white chocolate!!!

Sinterklass and Zwarte Pieten

 

God listens to all languages

Fam!

  Ok I had one of the most amazing weeks of my mission this week!

 It all started Tuesday and we had an awesome joint teach with brother Alade he is super cool. and Erik is really doing well. he said if he finds out its right he will get baptized but it will take him a while. But still super cool :)

 Then Wednesday I finally got with Elder Claflin and we ended up being 45 minutes late to a dinner appointment (whoops) The family was super chill about it though thank goodness.

 

Here are the real miracles though. We have found three new investigators and have one investigator with a baptismal date! Literally all in three days. it is unbelievable! Simon is his name and he is from China. So he literally knew nothing about God or the gospel and they have taught him a couple times but when Elder Claflin went over there and taught him the Plan of Salvation. He is prepared!!! Obviously he doesn't really get all of it. But he has such a love for Jesus Christ and we taught him about the kingdoms and all he could say was I want to go to the Celestial kingdom and I will get baptized if that's what it takes. Oh man it made me so happy. He speaks no Dutch and pretty good English and Elder Claflin told me the time before they asked them (He has a roommate we teach too but he wasn't there) So they asked him to pray and they said they couldn't in English and so the missionaries said you can in Chinese and they said God doesn't understand Chinese and when the Elders told them that he did they were so happy! Its so great!!

 

Sometimes it's scary to go contacting cause we both have decent dutch but we were in the same MTC group and its not that good but God knows us! Its so cool. Every time I don't understand something he does and when he doesn't understand I do. How incredible is that?? Its unbelievable. Oh man its so fun!

 I'm loving it here. I feel so blessed to be here! I love being a missionary!!

 I love you all :)

 

Love Elder Bosco

Off to Apeldoorn!

Fam!

 I had a bomb week! Tuesday I went with Elder Romer and Elder Douglas (Such sick Elders) And we taught a lesson in Hoorn and then went to IJmuiden and taught Erik. He is reading the BvM and he read the pamphlet on The Plan of Salvation. He only had Questions about the Kingdoms so that was super good! We are having a lesson Tomorrow about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and He is coming to church a lot. He said he likes the feeling there :) 

 Then we had a lesson with Nathan. And we talked about prayer and how Heavenly Father answers prayers and we asked him to pray and he said he hadn't prayed since he was 15. And he said he had nothing to pray about after a little more talking he prayed and he thanked Heavenly Father for his mom and dad and for his kids and he asked Heavenly Father to be able to see his kids more because the mom has custody of them and he doesn't get to see them to often. It was an awesome experience and I shared Alma 38:5 with him and told him about my ACL and alles. He said he would come to church but he didn't... Next week :) 

 Then I was on splits with Elder Taggart from my group and we went to go try to see Leon and HE WAS HOME! He said he was a little tipsy... But we started talking about the BvM and he had a lot of questions and wondered how a book could help and we testified (It was in English thankfully) and he said he really wants to read it now and he said he would and he thinks the Joseph Smith story is interesting and so we have another appointment Thursday! 

 Jerry was baptized this week! He was an investigator from the sisters but he is super cool! We sang Ik Ben een Kind van God and it went well :) Then on Sunday we got to be in the circle when he received the Holy Ghost and that was awesome!!! then we sang we'll bring the world His truth in Sacrament meeting and that went well also :) I seriously love music so much! It one of the things where I can feel the spirit most! Every time I sing for people I feel it so strong! 

 And here is the big news..... Elder Bean is going to Belgium! and he is with my MTC comp! I'M GOING TO APELDOORN!!! I got transferred and I have mixed emotions about it! I feel like things are going so well and everything was just about to happen. But now I'm going with an Elder from my group Elder Claflin! He is so sick! I'm going to learn Dutch fast now! haha Elder Carter is the new district leader and is training again!! haha so crazy! 

 I love you all and miss you! I love being a missionary! So many highs and lows but the highs are so much greater! The Bishops son who we have been working with wants to go on a mission now and that right there makes all of this worth it :) I love you!

Elder Bosco

somewhere in Belgium

Elders Cook, Bean, Bosco, Alade

Elders Bosco and Bean in Belgium

Andrew will appreciate this picture. He even had two more guitars that he didn't put in the picture. He was the guy we got to pray with us (not Nathan but the other one), and he gave us a referral. We brought him closer to Jesus but he is going to the catholijk church again. 

And now he gets to sing in Dutch!

Fam!
 

 Brussels was super fun! We only went to get our official living license and 7 of us went. Its not on P day its just random. We had this yummy food though. I will send a picture it was super good.

 We had a joint teach this week. And it was so cool! The member is a returned missionary and he connected really well and it went super good! The member always makes fun of my Dutch haha He is probably my favorite in the ward.

 We work with the Haarlem sisters so its us and the sisters in the ward. That's super fun! We have a sister from Nigeria and  one from Arizona.

 Things are going well. Its super frustrating sometimes but everything is going good.

 I cant believe basketball is starting that's so crazy. I miss basketball so much! haha its pretty much unheard of here except for our investigator funny how that works haha!

 I will get the packages tomorrow at zone training. I'm super excited :) haha

 I wouldn't trade this for anything. Its hard and no one wants to listen but its the truth and it definitely is good news.

 This week we are letter bombing!!! We put letters in people mail slots and then the next week we go see if they are interested! And we are doing it with the members which is going to be super cool! and next Sunday we are singing in church! and at a baptism on Saturday. The sisters have an investigator getting baptized :):) and yesterday a boy got baptized and their family is so sick! I love them!! So cool!

 I love you all and hope all is well!

Love Elder Bosco

Elders Frisbee and Lind in Antwerpen (this picture courtesy of Sister Kim Nelson-our nieghbor from across the street. She arrived in the mission a few months before Dallin but they haven't seen each other yet.)

South Park and Imagine Dragons....

Fam!

 This was a great week! And I get to go to Brussels this week! With Elder Bean :) haha First on Tuesday we had an appointment with the 6'9" guy and it went super well out of nowhere he says I don't think I can give up my coffee. We never asked him to give up his coffee... yet :) But then he said yeah maybe you guys will be able to convert me haha. He plays basketball so I love him and he played at old Dominion and for the dutch national team but he won't show me any pics.. but we go see him on Tuesday again!

Then Wednesday we were going to a dinner appointment with a newly married couple they are super cool. And they live in a flat so you have to bell up and they let you in but a random guy let us in and got in the elevator with us and he started asking us why we were dressed so nice so we told him we were Mormons and he goes oh like South Park.. Always South park.  But he said oh cool come to 557 sometime. Self Referral :) haha super cool.

Then we had stake conference and President Oddens threw down telling the member they need to work better with us and it was super cool :) Then Elder Burton who leaves in 3 weeks gave a talk about him and his brother. his brother is two years older but they got there calls at the same time and he really wanted to go somewhere with his bro cause then if they were comps there is just something special about that (Wes) haha :) but his bro went to Guatemala and they were going to help a family move and they got into a car crash and his brother died the next day.. Talk about not a dry eye in the place. I don't even know what to say. But that it was one of the most powerful experiences hearing him testify. I don't have a doubt in my mind that we can live with our families forever and my testimony was strengthened. Super cool.

Then on the Sunday session of stake conference Imagine Dragons came to it. haha They had some thing in Amsterdam [they were performing at the MTV European Music Awards in Amsterdam and starting their European tour]I didn't get to meet them cause they left earlier but I saw the Drummer and I thought he was an investigator because he wasn't in the normal suit and tie haha But that's pretty cool :)

Then we went and visited another Former investigator and he let us in and he is catholic but he sometimes feels the BvM [Book of Mormon]is right too and he basically answered his own questions but he said he hadn't prayed in years because he was mad at God for letting his mother die without him there and we testified of prayer and halfway through a cigarette (I hate that smell so much) he put it out and started praying and he said he felt relieved and we made a return appointment with him. HE PRAYED WITH US after not praying for years :):):) Such a powerful thing! So Cool!!

We take a ferry across a river to get to one of our cities and there was a man on a bromer [moped]that was right next to us and so when we got across he zoomed ahead of course and when we got to the top of the hill we saw his crashed bromer and he was like 10 to 20 yards away someone had hit him and left and like 5 people stopped to help and called the cops He was responsive and could move his legs and arms I think he broke his collar bone but he was lucky. His bromer was smashed. We were 5 feet away from him on the ferry. Crazy...

I love you guys so much!! Thanks for your prayers you are always in mine!

Love Elder Bosco :)

One door opens...another slams shut...

Fam!

 

 We had some more lessons this week! No more baptismal dates but we are working on it! We had dinner at a members house yesterday and on the elevator to get to their apartment a guy started talking to us and we told him what we did and he said Mormons like from South Park? That's the only way people know us here but we said yeah and then he said oh come by my flat sometime and gave us his house number so that was a super cool miracle :) 

 not much happened this week. People don't even want to talk to us here. They avoid us all the time and its so annoying. And we literally got a door slammed in our face. All I said was my companion and I are volunteers WHACK door slammed. Not just  a no and close the door which is normal but a literal slam. I felt bad for the lady...

  The language is getting better I am starting to understand. I get the point of the conversations most of the time but sometimes I'm completely lost. The hardest part is talking and finding the words that you want to say but its coming. Ive never prayed so hard for anything more than for the gift of tongues! 

 Its getting colder here. really windy. No halloween unfortunately they have weird holidays haha. but super cool. I'm not getting sick or anything though. 

  Anyway I love you guys!!

Love Elder Bosco

Too windy to ride, but not to teach!

Fam!

  What an amazing Week!!!

 First we got to go to the Temple. What a beautiful place. It was amazing! It was super cool to do it in Dutch too :) What a blessing that we have Temples all around us in Utah!!

Second we taught 4 lessons this week and Three on Saturday haha. Only one of them in a new investigator but still cool. Two were in English too. which is always nice. One was a Jehovah Witness but he was a cool guy. But our new investigator is GOLDEN! He basically told us what we believed when we asked him what he believed. He smokes but he wants to stop and he hasn't been going to church but says maybe us meeting is God telling him something. His name is Fillip. We didn't have a chance to teach Leon this week cause he was busy with work but we have been keeping in contact with him and he still wants us to go teach him so that's super cool :)

Third, today is a windy day!! haha they predicted up to 160kmph winds which is about 100mph haha it was so funny we tried to ride our bikes to the grocery store and turned around cause it was too bad haha it was so fun! trees are falling down and I saw a car window broken from a tree and its just getting worse but I don't feel scared like I'm a missionary I have nothing to fear but fear itself :) haha

  

I've really been working on faith and studying that and charity and I already see a difference in the work. We have already found the same potential investigators in one week than we did last transfer and I think its because I have faith in my Heavenly Father. Not that I didn't before but I could see it dwindling and I was not going to let that happen. The scriptures are amazing :)

  I know this is the true church. To Joop a friend that we taught even though he says he isn't interested all I said to him was Ik weet dat dat boek waar is. and I felt power in those 7 words and nothing he said could make me feel otherwise. It was super cool :)

I love you all and hope all is well!

Love Elder Bosco

A Great Week!

Family!

 What a great week I had! So Wednesday we taught Leon!!!!! I'm not sure he was all there cause he was smoking weed but I think he was :) We taught him in English and Dutch. (Nederengels) So it was kinda confusing. But we challenged him to baptism if he finds out its right and he said yes :) So now we need to teach him prayer cause we asked him to pray right then and all he said is "God is this real" we will teach him though he even said after that he didn't have an oprecht hart [sincere heart]. So we will keep working! he said he could believe the Joseph Smith story though so thats a good start :) 

Then we taught another first lesson to another guy. He contacted us about three weeks ago and he has been to Utah and stayed with an LDS family. He doesn't really believe there is a God but still cool to teach people. And the 6'9" guy that came last week to church came again this week!!! (He played basketball at Old Dominion) We are going over sometime to teach him more also! We have a lot of potential investigators that are so close! The work is moving forward!!

  I gave a talk yesterday in church also. And I was less nervous for this talk than my farewell talk! haha Still I was pretty nervous and I'm pretty sure I never looked up from my paper and read so fast but it got the job done! haha It was super fun :) And a lady came up to me after and said I was a hero so that made me feel pretty good :)

But the worst thing happened to me on Saturday... We were going to catch a bus to get our bikes but I forgot my ov chipkart (bus pass) So I ran back to the apartment and found it then I walked outside and looked down and had dog poop all over my shoe and then I looked and it was on my pants!!! HOW????? Then I realized that I probably stepped in it when I ran back to our house and I was skipping stairs to go faster and Dutch stairs are literally straight up and down so my shoe rubbed against my pants and it was just a mess and I was super upset and I was thinking why? This is the Third time I have stepped in dog poop. Then I realized it was satan trying to upset me so I shook it off and we got two more potential investigators that day :) Sucks to be satan. I probably shouldn't say that as a missionary but seriously I kinda feel bad for the guy. He has no future. poor guy. I hope he is reading this right now. :)

 Man I miss you guys so much and think about you all the time!! I love you more than you will ever know though! Its cool how I have been able to see through the eyes of the Savior a couple of times. I forgot to write this a couple weeks ago but on Oct 3rd I realized that it had been a year since I tore my ACL (no one knows what that is here) but I was thinking about the two ways life could have gone. Either it happened or it didn't and the happy of sad. If that even makes sense. Yeah it was super sad that it happened. But if I had the choice on Oct 2 2012 to choose. I would do it all over again because of the things I learned and the love I felt and the time I got to spend with my family that I may not have gotten if it didn't happen. I'm am very thankful that I tore my ACL. It sounds crazy but Its definitely one of the best things that has ever happened to me :) I love you guys!!

Love Elder Bosco

We get to go to the Temple tomorrow too!! Super Excited!!

  What a week! First we had an appointment for Wednesday and when we went to his house no one was there. Super upsetting! So we called him and no one answered. So we went home to eat some lunch and Elder Carter said the prayer. He asked to come in contact with Leon. Five seconds after the prayer Leon called us and told us he forgot so we rescheduled for next Wed. Super cool! Then we had a guest service and two people that we invited came!! so sweet!!! one of them is 6'9"! So that was super cool! We are starting to get some good potential investigators! Im really excited about this next week!

  I went on exchanges with Elder Douglas. I weighed myself and I weighed 88kg and just 4 weeks before I was on exchanges with Elder Van Komen and weighed 93kg. That is 11 pounds. hahaha how crazy is that?? We will see if that keeps up I was just thinking I was losing muscle and getting fat but I have already done that the past year with my knee! haha I can't believe it!

  Yesterday was super cold and rainy. You can't escape it. its nuts. So much rain and then so much wind. But its amazing :) I am staying warm don't worry.

  The mission is so hard but so rewarding. In priesthood I was asked to recite the 1st vision in

Dutch obviously. I love doing it :) It is so powerful I love saying the first vision. Every time I hear it I get goosebumps! Its so cool. Everyone should memorize the First Vision!!!! It is so powerful!!

  I love you all and am so happy for all your support! I love this work!

Love Elder Bosco

Hallo,
It was also cool to hear Gifford speak!! and I think I had the same tie as Dallin Oaks :)

Conference is amazing as a missionary! Can we have it every week?? Elder Hollands talk was super amazing I almost started crying. I was thinking about Kathi and so much joy came over me and I was thinking of everyone else and how much more joy they have that got to spend time with her and remember it! Conference watching is weird in other parts of the world. We watch one session Saturday then the priesthood on Sunday morning the Saturday night on Sunday morning and the Sunday morning Sunday night. We don't even get to watch the Sunday night! :( But conference is amazing :)

  So that kid that talked to us two sundays ago had us over for dinner. He ran into the sisters and said yeah I talked to the guys and I wanted to call them but I was busy! MIRACLE! he has lived in utah cause he coaches soccer for like 5 weeks and he stayed with a member family and so we are going to start teaching him I think. I know you all want to hear experiences from us teaching but I haven't taught anyone yet so I dont have any experiences... But we are teaching a guy on Wednesday his name is Leon and he was super excited when we talked to him so I'm way excited for Wednesday! We had lunch with Joop and he made us kibbling and it was way good! The only gross thing is I think some of his beard ended up in my food hahaha so gross! but he said he isn't interested in the church but he loves us. He calls us his jonges haha. one day he will accept :)

"Manneken Pis"

  I got to go to Brussels this week! for legality stuff and that was super fun! We got to see "Manneken Pis"[mother's note- I had to look this up, it is a famous statue/landmark in Belgium. And, no, he didn't have the right name on it- I corrected it] or whatever the peeing baby thing is hahaha! Everyone speaks French there so I understood nothing. I got some awesome pictures so hopefully it works sending them! 

 

  I dont have any crazy stories.. Actually this lady in our ward will not give out refferals but she prays that when its the Lords time the missionaries will find who she is praying for. And we did a blitz in haarlem so everyone in our district contacted in haarlem. and one of the guys that two elders got an appointment for was a guy that she has been praying for for years. Even she said it was a miracle and if its a miracle to sister jansen then it is a miracle!! haha she is an intense lady.

  Everything is good! I hope everyone is doing well

 

Love Elder Bosco

He's not a man of many words... but there are some pictures!

Ijmuiden

Making a Street Board

ready to teach!

A common occurrence

verstekeling

practicing

Hallo everyone,

 What a week! We had zone conference and that was so cool! One of the AP's, Elder Burton, is so amazing. His brother died on his mission from a car crash. Like a couple months ago. So sad. He was talking to us and testifying and to me he was glowing. It was so cool. and so powerful. He leaves in about two or three transfers. I don't want him too cause he is so cool!

  We don't have any investigators but the tides are turning I can feel it! My dutch is getting better! I have to give a talk on Oct 20th! I'm freaking out. If you know of any good talks about testimonies send them to me! We also gave a lesson yesterday about missionary work and it was super awesome! We also made a street board to set up and give away Book of Mormons. I'll let you know how that goes.
We don't have a ton of time to email so my letter is short this week! sorry! I love you all!

Love Elder Bosco

short but sweet

{Mothers note: Thank you to Elder Carter's family in Colorado Springs- they gave me the information about dropbox as a way to send/receive pictures and videos. They have kindly given us access to Elders Carters pictures of Ijmuiden. They are located under pics and videos on the bar at the top of the blog. Hopefully, Elder Carter can also train Dallin in this so we can start getting our own :). But it's fun to see what their apartment looks like (he's living my dream with an apartment fully furnished in Ikea!) and also see short glimpses of them "in action". Just click on pics and videos. }

Hallo Everyone!

  What a week. First the week was not so good I had a dream about home and the whole day I could not get you out of my head. We had a dinner appointment with the Bishop. His son has faith in everything but questions the church. Its kinda strange. But Elder carter told him to pray about a mission and then Sister Wood was like pray right now. And he did and the Spirit was so strong! It was super cool. Who knows if he will actually go he is 22 but it was super cool. 

  Then we go the rest of the week and nothing really happens then Sunday we go look up some less active members and this guy goes out of his way and starts talking to us and said he has heard about us and that he was in Utah for a while and that we could come by sometime and of course we forgot to ask for his address but we gave him our number and so hopefully he calls! We contacted this Philipino man (or however you spell it) and he accepted an English Book of Mormon. No one carries English ones except for me so that was super cool! We knocked on doors and this guy answered and he invited us in and we talked for a while and he says spiritual stuff is interesting but he only has faith in kindness so we will be visiting him later! then we had a bomb dinner appointment with the Gieskes and they speak English. Thank Goodness!! haha

  Dad do you know the Romigs? he played at Utah State but they are big cougar fans and they are a senior couple here and I thought you might know?

  Happy Birthday to Amber this coming Sunday! I love you :)

We don't have much time to email today! love you all!

Love Elder Bosco 

Living in "The Best Two Years"

Hallo!

  One again another hard working week! We do not have any investigators yet but we have a couple of potentials. We have been getting to know the members real well. And contacting a lot. Tell pres Moore to email me because I'm sure there are a lot of the same members which would be really cool!

   Ok so this Tuesday and Thursday I thought I was going to die. Its about a 30 km round trip to Hillegom, and we biked it twice this week and one time it was in the pouring rain! We had a dinner appointment with the sisters at a members house and we started biking and it poured. It was super fun :) haha. The Family (Ruiters) just got married and the wife had two children previously and they are the cutest little kids. When little kids speak dutch it honestly is the cutest thing ever! The little girl shes like 4 or 5 I think said the closing prayer and I almost started crying! I love it :) haha Super awesome family though :)

   I also got to go on Exchanges with the Zone leaders and I got to go with Elder Van Komen. Super awesome missionary. He went to West jordan and played honkball in college at a Texas school. But he asked me what my favorite part of the gospel was and I thought for a second and said that I get to live with my family forever. And I almost started crying again and I honestly felt like I felt a little like how the Savior loves us. It probably wasn't even a fraction of how he loves us but I miss you guys so much but thats why I'm here is because I love you so much. I can barely write this without tearing up.. haha :)

   Anyways, I'm understanding a lot more and speaking a lot better. I gave the first lesson to a guy with ems with elder Van Komen. Really Scary!!!! haha :)

   Also 3 people in the ward were in "The Best Two Years"!! haha how cool is that??? I cant wait to watch it again :) We also met a guy from the area book and he has a half son that goes to Wayne high school in Utah so he is kinda interested!

   I love you all and hope all is well!

Love Elder Bosco

Ales Wel in the Netherlands

Hallo everyone!

  My legs hurt really bad, my butt hurts even worse,  I'm super tired and I couldn't be happier! I love it here so much! :)

  First off I would like to tell my dad that I sat by an older lady on the plane and she gave me her food! Ann Rosenthal. She is from the UK (not kentucky) she has a son in Detroit. Our plane was full also no extra seats. But we talked and she was so cool!

  My first area is IJmuiden! So cool! Me and my comp get to open it. There haven't been elders here in like 10 years! Our area is Haarlem also! So cool! The only bad part is that we have 0 investigators... Bummer... But we have a couple of potential investigators that we have found. Job and Roxanne. Job is an old man and his wife just died and he loves us haha we went over to see him on Saturday and he invited us in and we just talked with him. and he gave us a drink and it was an energy drink and it wasn't that good but I drank it cause he is awesome! He plays the Dutch version of Candy crush! haha so funny!! he is such a chill and cool guy. He loves music so when we go see him tomorrow we are going to show him some motab and sick church music! The other one is Roxanne. We found her knocking doors (since we opened we don't really have options of how to find people so we have knocked on about 300 doors maybe a little more and have passed out 4 copies of the Book of Mormon. But in my first two full days we contacted 102 people. We are challenged to contact 3 to 4 people an hour. We contacted 102 in 8 hours.. Talk about tired... It is so fun though! We get rejected so much and I just feel bad for the other people because they are missing out on the most amazing book ever!) But Roxanne was so cool. She was telling us a story and she was like last night I couldn't sleep so I started watching Oprah and she was talking about having the faith of a mustard seed and then today you guys showed up! How cool is that?? She hasn't called us back but she has kids and asked what we did with kids at church and we mentioned primary and she seemed pretty interested so we will go see her this week! 

  My trainer is the youngest one in the field! and we are opening a new city so crazy! He was a cheerleader at Colorado University and a Tumbler for the Denver Broncos! He does so many crazy things! This one lady wouldn't accept a mormon.org card and he was like if I do a back flip will you? and she didn't answer so he did one and she took a card! He has so much energy even when we get rejected like 20 times in a row! I love it! The Church members are awesome! Church was crazy cause I understand a little not that much so I really have no idea what the heck is going on!

   We are in the same area as Sister Wood and Sister Frandsen. Way cool sisters! Seriously sister missionaries know whats up and they help a ton! 

   I love this work and I love my Heavenly Father. He blesses me everyday! 

  Alles Wel!

  Elder Bosco

Train Station in the movie "The Best Two Years" (filmed in Haarlem)

My new home...

Tiny sink in our apartment no one uses it cause we have two other sinks.

but our apartment is super nice!

Elder Carter

Biggest dog in person the pic doesn't do justice

This is our lunch most days

Temporary bike but it can fold up

haaring at our ward mission leaders house. its not bad but its not good