Moroni 10:32-34 - "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot. And now I bid unto all, farewell. I soon go to rest in the paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead. Amen."


Geliefde broeders en zusters,

This was a good week full of doing not too much. Due to all of the holidays a lot of people were out of town visiting family or just too busy too meet with us... it's okay. We understand. We still had a good week and the dynamic trio of Elder Enger, Elder Gemmell, and Elder Wright tore it up on New Years Eve, staying inside from 16:00 for the rest of the night. It was required though so don't worry. We made the best of it and made some goals, read some scriptures, somehow pulled off making homemade friets, and watched some fireworks. It was a good night. I actually did read scriptures though! I was able to finish the Book of Mormon. Our mission had a challenge to read the Book of Mormon starting 13 October and ending 31 December and I did it. Nice huh? Yeah I was surprised that I was able to pull it off because I was behind forty pages at one point. The long bus rides to Almere Haven are good for something though. It felt really good to finish the Book of Mormon and I do feel very positive and that my testimony grew after reading it all in such a short time. The fireworks were cool though. Unfortunately it was a little foggy and my camera died so I didn't get too many solid New Years pictures, but I do love how the Dutch celebrate the year change. We'll be finding fire work remains on the streets for the next few months. They were going from sometime in the afternoon to sometime past 10:30. Can't say how late.

We did have a pretty darn good lesson with Gracia, Giorgio, and Ashley this week. Reminder: Gracia is the mother, Giorgio the 18-year-old son, and Ashley the 24-year-old daughter. We got there and Ashley was cooking food for us. It was a very good pasta dish and she had some nice salad on the side. We didn't even bring up the Book of Mormon, Gracia did. She said it is hard to read and so because of that and that it was our first time meeting with Ashley we decided to read through Alma 32 with them and talk about reading the scriptures and about faith. They all participated and seemed to understand it all pretty well. Giorgio is a funny kid. He was talking about girls a lot with us and we were able to bond with him a little bit. His friend showed up at the end and we asked them what they were going to do that night and he said, "yeah we're just going to go walk around and look at girls"... we laughed and he was like, "no seriously that is probably exactly what we're going to do." Haha he's a good kid. We have some great investigators though and I am thankful for the opportunity that I have to serve in Almere with two great missionaries. I love the area and the members and definitely feel that God has blessed me with some great circumstances for this transfer. 

I was able to share my testimony of the restored gospel with an investigator this week and it felt really good to do that so I'll just share it quickly in this letter too. I do know that Jesus Christ lives and that His gospel is restored on the earth today. He restored it about 200 years ago through a young man named Joseph Smith. He was just a normal, ordinary boy, but I am thankful for the sacrifices he made and the faith that he exercised in restoring the gospel. I am thankful for all of the sacrifices that prophets and members have made since then for what they believe. The Book of Mormon is pure evidence of all that we believe and I know that it is true. Reading it and applying what it teaches has changed my life and helps me to become a better person. I love sharing this message with everybody here in the Netherlands and I'm thankful for the support of my family and friends back home. I'm excited to keep sharing this in 2017. 


Happy New Year! 

Elder Wright



Pics - New Years in Almere, missionaries through the eyes of a trash can








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