Dear family and friends,

D&C 78:18 - "And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours."

The New Year has brought a lot of new changes in Zwolle. New investigators, new and lower temperatures, new goals, and the need for new bikes... It was an eventful week.

On Tuesday Elder Knaupp and I had the opportunity to participate in an "MTC Activity" set up by Joelle, one of the youth in our ward. It was very well done and actually worked out very well. Youth from all over this part of the Netherlands came and learned more about missionary work, got to hear from President and Sister Bunnell, and even got to go out and talk to people on the street, just like real missionaries do. I was a little skeptical about that part of it but it turned out really well! The kids loved it and were able to give us two people to look up this next week who are interested in reading the Book of Mormon! Super cool. We were able to get in contact with the wife/girlfriend of one of those people already and we set an appointment up with them this week. It's a cool miracle and a great example of member missionary work.

On Wednesday we went on exchanges with Emmen. I stayed here in Zwolle with Elder Dearden while Elder Knaupp went to Emmen with Elder Perry. Elder Dearden is a great missionary and super easy to get along with. He's from Utah. Not too many missionaries from there right? Haha joking... Anyway we managed to get our bikes stolen after having a super sick appointment with our investigator Etty. So that was kind of lame but pretty funny at the same time. Walking is good too I guess.

Thursday aka New Years Eve was sick. We went to Familie De Jonge for lunch. They live in the nearby city of Kampen. Broeder De Jonge walked around the city with us for a bit and we were able to witness what the Dutch call a melkbus(?). I'm not completely sure what they are but basically it's a big metal milk can and they put some explosives/fireworks in it, lay it on it's side, sit on it, and light it up. It makes one of the loudest noises I've ever heard. Broeder De Jonge told us that he visited America one time and experienced our firework shows during the 4th of July. They're "sissy" fireworks compared to the Dutch ones. I have to agree... Sorry America. New Years Eve was amazing. We had to stay inside from 4pm on for safety reasons I guess but we were able to see fireworks going off all along the horizon out our window. So cool. The pictures I'm including don't do it justice. It was so crazy. I'll have to make it back here for New Years eventually and join in the festivities a little bit more.

Saturday was super cool. We had an amazing appointment with Ilkay. Elder Reese and Elder Hosea came from Appeldorn to do splits with us and ended up just joining us for the appointment. We were able to talk with Ilkay about the Plan of Salvation and invite her to be baptized if she comes to know if our message is true. She accepted the invitation and she is super excited to serve in the church and make a covenant with her Heavenly Father. It was super cool. 

It was a great week and I'm looking forward to a great new year. One whole year as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ. 2016 will be great and I hope everybody has some great New Year's Resolutions... such as reading the Book of Mormon! Do it. It will change your life. 

Shout out to my amazing sister Alexis, and brother-in-law Gian. Their son Kainoa joined our big happy family on the 31st so that's sick. Can't wait to meet him... in 2017... Good thing families are forever! Also the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and I am loving sharing this knowledge that I have with the people of the Netherlands! Love you all and have a great week!

Dooi!

Elder Wright



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