March 18, 2013 - Almere, Nederland

Hey everone!

How are you all doing? I hope everything is going good, school is all good and everything like that? Are you guys eating your green vegetables and drinking you milk? I hope so.

So I'll be honest, I've gained a few pounds, only a few, don't go thinking I'm fat... yet. But besides that this week was awesome! Elder Mower and I decided to just talk to as many people as possible this week, trying to get at least 50 people each day and we have yet to reach that goal, however, we have done our best and the Lord has blessed us! We got around 15 new potential investigators in just a few days, and yesterday a young couple accepted a baptisimal date so that is super cool!! We also had zone conference and that (random break in my letter, we just got transfer calls and Elder Mower and I will be staying in lelystad!) was amazing! I learnd so much and basically got re-energiezed for the work, I'm really excited for this next week! The names of our new investigators are Micco and Stephanie by the way if you wanted to know) And also I gave a lesson in chuch yesterday during sunday school! I was really nervous but after a few minuts of stumbling through my lesson plan, I threw it to the side and just let the spirit work, I bore my testimony and helped guide the lesson (which was on missionary work) but after that point the lesson just kinda went by its self! It was a really cool experience!

So they made an announcment in Zone Conference, now we are allowed to Email not only family but friends and priesthood leaders!, I don't have any friends to write so I won't really worry about that, but do need info on Andy and Josh and if possible their addresses so that I can write them a letter. (Mission office address works fine, that will be less confussing I think.)

So I haven't really thought about what I'm going to share with you. So today, it will just be my testimony, my testimony of the blessings of the gospel. Have you ever sat back and thought of the blessings that this gospel brings? We are blessed with so much! The knowledge, the peace, the joy. What more could we ask for? The knowledge that whatever happens God is watching us and that even the trials of life are designed by him to help us grow and become better, The peace in knowing that life does not end hear and that after that trials we will be blessed with a fullness of joy, and of course the joy... what can I say about the joy? The gospel IS joy! True joy, that will never end but will increase! We are part of a great work and at a great time! We are seeing the promises of the Lord begin to unfold and we may even live to see the Lord return! He is coming, it is the final sprint, now is not the time to give up or to just to relax. Let us prepare the way of the coming of the Lord! Do not be weighed down with sorrow or trial, it is a time to stand taller and show Satan that we are not afraid and that bacause of our Savior, he has now power over us! Sprint to the end!

I love you all! And I am so greatful to have such a great family! Thank you!

Love,

Elder Kevin Suckow

PS Still need more photos of the family (esp. the girls) if you email them to me I am able to print the off

March 11, 2013 - Almere, Nederland

Dear Family,

 

How is everyone doing? Hows school and other stuff like that? How is the weather? Is it starting to warm up yet? It was begging to warm up here but then it got cold again, hopfully it will start to warm up again soon, its a lot easier to work in warmth.

 

So this past week has been fantastic! A little rough at first but then ended super awesome! Elder Mower and I have been working hard trying to know what we can do to help the ward but we couldn't really figure it out but then after going on exchanges with an awesome elder that is going home in two weeks, he helped me come up with some ideas on what we can do to help the ward progress. The biggest one was to just work on our finding and just try and talk to more people so we set up a bit of a goal for us to just talk to as many people as we can and we tried it on saturday, we didn't make our goal but we still talked to a lot of people and we just felt so good! We felt like we had earned our rest at the end of the day! And what made it better is we found a really cool guy from brazil and we are going to meet with him later today!

 

This week has helped me realize what a great work we all are a part of! We are members of the church of God! The joy and peace that comes from that knowledge is amazing! We are his children, personaly known and individualy recognized by our heavenly father. We know that God is over everything, that the joy that we feel is his desire and that the pain and sorrow we feel is also part of his plan so that we can grow and be stronger in order to feel more joy! We know that we can live with our families for eternity! There is just so much happiness in the knowledge that we have, and what makes it even better is that we are alive in this amazing time, God is hastening his work, his is bringing more people unto him in a more urgent way then ever before, and we are a part of it! I have had the thought very often recently, "I am not here to be a normal missionary. To just coast through my mission. I was called to be great!" (D&C 50:26) And I want to let all of you know, that we were not put on this earth at this time into this family to just be normal members of the church. We are not a normal family, circumstances have put us together in an extraordinary way! We are put together to be a great family and to be great mebers of this church! We were called to this time and place in the premortal world, I believe that with all my heart, and if that is true, then according to D&C 50:26 we are ALL called to be great! I leave that with you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, Amen.

 

Remember the blessings of the Lord, He loves you, I love you and I pray for you all!

 

Love,

Kevin

 

PS Clothes are doing pretty good, nothing to replace yet but I'll keep you posted

 

PSS Pictures are from Utrecht, one is Zuster Top, Ronan, and Me and the other is most of the utrecht young adults (Left to right: Me, Quincy, Diedrik, Mareke, Joachim, Elder Shoemaker)

March 4, 2013 - Almere, Nederland

Dear Family,

 

How is everyone doing? I hope everything is going awesome! This week has been a little crazy so I'll try and remember everything.

 

1st off I'll answer Mom's questions, The centrum is basically the center of town, not literaly but its the busiest and craziest part. Every city has one, and its usualy conected to a train station and is basically just a big shopping center, about 75% of the stores in the city are in the centrum. The other Elders that we live with work in the city that we live, Almere, and so they just stay around here, while Elder Mower and I have to take a 15 to 20 min train ride to Lelystad. Their names are Elder Chantry and Larson. Its really cool having an extra pair of elders because its fun to go to someone in the evening and tell them all about your day. And we also make up weird games to play on Pday.

 

As far as my week went, Elder Mower and I are getting along great! He is the District leader so we go on exchages to the other cities a lot and that's really cool, I worked in Almere with Elder Chantry the other day and will be with another Elder in a city called Den Helder tomorrow. Its really exciting, I had a super awesome experience with Elder Chantry the other day, we were walking around contacting and looking people up and I saw a guy accross the street and thought in my head, maybe we should contact him, and normaly its so easy to say, nah, that's just a thought not a prompting, and he even turned down another street so thats normaly even easier to shrug, And Elder Chantry is newer than I am so I knew I would have to do the talking, but I just said, lets go cantact him, we practically had to chase him down but we talked to him, and he wasn't super interested but for some reason I was bold and really pressured him into taking a book of mormon and a mormon.org card and he did and said he would read it! We probably won't here from him again, but I felt super good about it!

 

Now that I told you the good story, I have to say our baptisimal date investigator dropped us and went back to the Jahovas whitnesses >:P Punks so that was kinda sucky, but the same day we found a really possitive lady and also got a referral for Belgium so that was cool! The work is going great, slow but great, Elder Mower and I are constantly looking for ways to improve and so things will contantly get better!! I can see my language skills getting better too, I just need to work on my confidence, Its hard to work on conffidence and humility at the same time.

 

So my spiritual thought today is going to be on Agency and keeping the commandments. Many of us have heard the example of a sign that says Danger, wirlepool no swimming, well it talks about it in gospel principals. Many people belive the sign is a restriction but as we think about it it is actually a blessing, the We still have the choice and freedom to go do something else and be safe or even to swim in that place but once we are pulled under we have no more freedom. It is the same with the warnings of the prophets and the commandments of God, we have the freedom to choose to follow or ignore, but once we ignore we freely give up our freedom and are forced to suffer the consequences. however if we follow the warnings, then we stay far enough away from the danger in order to keep our freedom and do not have to deal wth the consequences of and evil action. Remeber that the warnings and encouragings of the prophets are there to strengthen us and to keep us safe. not to take away our freedom but to give us more.

 

Stay strong and stay faithful, times may be hard but God is aware of all of us and knows our suffering and trials, we will be blessed for our faithfullness!

I love you all and our Lord and God love you too!

 

Love,

Elder Suckow

February 25, 2013 - Almere, Nederland

Dear Everyone!

 

So this week has been pretty crazy, we had a lot to do and I had to take in a lot in only a little while. I was so used to utrecht and now I I am in a strange city with strange new members and a strange new companion... I think I would freak out, if it werent for one thing... I Love It!! 1st off, Elder Mower is awesome! He's an awesome missionary, and im excited to work with him. He is from American Fork and is a drummer and comes from a family of only 4 kids I think, really small. The city is awesome, Its really small too, its only a Branch of probably 40 or 50 members and about 20 of them are children, which is really weird because Utrecht didn't have any kids so its a bit of a change. To get here we had to take a train, and we rode the wrong train at first so it took us a little while to figure things out.

 

As for the apartment, I actually live in Almere, a city about a 15 min train ride from Lelystad, and we live with the Elders that work in Almere so its pretty fun. We live right in the middle of the cetrum right above the mcdonalds, but don't worry we don't eat there. the address is:

 

Stadhuisplein 13A

1315 HV Almere-Stad

Nederland

 

Ok so I think is now time for my spiritual thought, I have been going through the gospel principals from the begining again because i needed to change the way I was studying and something that has really stuck out to me lately is knowing who we were before we came to this life. We were generals, leaders in the army of God. Joseph Smith said that anyone who proclaims the Gospel was ordained to do that in the grand councels of heaven. We may not remember who we were, but God does He knows who we can become more then we do, but there is someone else that knows our potential. Satan was there, he saw us and fought with us, we helped God fight against him, and he still rememebrs who we are and he also knows our potential, but were God desires us to reach our potential, Satan wants to drag us down. God pushes us to go higher, Satan convinces us to sink lower. When we reach our potential then Satan loses, he fails. We were all placed here on this earth at this time, into this fantastic family, because God knows that this is the place we need to be to reach our full potential, but when we choose to slack off than Satan is going to move in and try and do some damage. My point in this thought is, do we realize who we are, and do we know who we are becomeing? God knows our potential, trust him and let him change you to the exalted glorious being that he plans for you to be.

 

I love you all, and I testify that the Lord loves you too, He loves our family, we were not put together to just be a family, we were put together to be an eternal family! In the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, Amen.

 

I hope and pray that you're love for the work that we are all involved in has grown and continues to grow because it has for me. I love this gospel and I know that it is true, Stay strong and always Faithful, for the Lord is over all! I love you guys!

 

Love, Elder Suckow

 

PS, I need some pictures! I have at least one of all the boys but none of the girls. So If you send me a package or anything a whole bunch of pictures would be nice!

February 18, 2013 - Lelystad, Nederland

Hey Family,

 

I'm sure you guys had a crazy week, I hope everything went smoothly and awesome. Things are starting to warm up here, I think the snow is officially gone, but we'll probably get a rain storm tomorrow so we'll see what happens.

 

So that you know, I did indeed get transfered!! I will now be working in Lelystad, Its a small city north of Utrecht. And my companion's name is Elder Mauwer, I'm not sure if that's the right spelling so if its wrong I'll tell you next week. I don't know who he is but I'm sure he is a great missionary! And I can't wait to see what I can learn from him.

 

So I don't know if I have ever told you guys about Quincy, but Quincy is one of my most favorite people in the world, he is a young man about 18 years old and he was baptized a little over a year ago and he is awesome! His testimony is super strong, and he has been trying to go on a mission ever sinse they changed the ages, hoewever he has had some problems that he has been trying to figure out and get resolved. So we've been working with him and trying to give him support and yesterday he talked with the Bishop and was told he can turn his papers in!! WWWoooooo!!!!! We're all super excited but he was the most excited, his face was glowing with joy!! He will be turning in his papers in the next few weeks and then be getting his call!! I wish I could be here for that, but I won't. But is ok because all that matters is him!!! His desire is so strong, he is going to make a great missionary.

 

So as for a spiritual thought, i'll just do the paragraph for the ward thingy.

 

I read Luke 10:27 and instantly thought about the parable that comes right after it. A beautiful example of the love of others. But why is love of God and love of others the greatest commandments? Because every other law and commandment is based upon these two commandments. The 10 commandments are pretty obveouse, Don't Kill, Don't steal. But how about the Law of sacrifice or of consecration? When we have masstered the greatest commandments, then the others just fall into place, we don't steal, not because its a commandment but because we love God and the person we would be stealing from. Luke 10:27 shares the key to finding happieness, Love. I have seen that on my mission many times, love God, and love others. And as we love others we also show our love for God. I promise this is true and I give you my testimony that God loves everyone, we need to love them also. In de naam van Jezus Christus, Amen.

 

I love you all and hope you all are happy and safe.

 

Love Elder Suckow

 

PS I'll get you my new address next week.

Oh yeah I forgot! Thank you so much for the package! I loved it! I wasn't sure the Sponge Bob candy was eatable but thank you! Thank you for the drawing Brenna!!

February 11, 2013 - Utrecht, Nederland

Hello family!

How are you all doing on this fine, yet cold day? (I think its colder
with you guys) Its around C0 degrees right now so thats i think F32
degrees? So its a little different.

Everything has been great! The work is super hard right now, cold and
a lot of moving around and trying to help non members and stuff like
that. So far we arent seeing much success but this is probably my last
week in Utrecht so I want to leave saying I did my best. Transfer
calls are this coming Sunday and transfers are the wednesday after
that so its coming soon. Mail takes about 5 days to get back and forth
so I should get the mail Mom, thanks :) (is a smiley face bad to do as
a missionary? I'm not sure)

So as far as investigators go we basically decided to start over. None
of our investigators were really going further so we unoficially
dropped them and are basically doing a week of finding. Its going to
be crazy!

So things have been going well, Elder Shoemaker and I are getting
along pretty well, there are a couple of things that he does that bugs
me like he leaves the fridge door open all the time, but besides that
he is an awesome missionary and I am learining a lot from him. By the
way Em, if his cousin is Maddy (I think that's her name) tell her hi
for me, but he has a few cousins that go to Bingham so it might be a
different one.

As for the language, its coming a long slowly but surely. I know that
I am getting better but sometimes I don't really see it happening and
that's when it gets hard.

So as for my spiritual thought this week, I have made a great
disscovery this past week, sadly it took me this long to figure it
out. But I have always thought the way to learn about Christ is to
read his teachings and everything, But how much can you learn from
just staring at a book!? As amazing as The Bibel and Book of Mormon
are, they're only books! Words on a page, and they can only give you
so much knowledge. However God expects us to become more, constantly,
to grow and become better. How do we grow from just reading a book? I
have discovered that the true knowledge and understanding comes from
the application of the words from those books. As we allow the things
we read to change our lives, then do we truly gain knowledge and we
can truly understand our Savior. What makes the Book of Mormon so
powerful? Its ability to give people the desire to change their lives.
I know the power of those books and I know that it comes from God, but
if we have a spiritual feeling and we don't change because of it then
is it worth anything? The spirit turns us towards God and guides us,
but if we don't take a step forward then we are just standing still,
even if we are looking directly at the entrance of the kingdom of God,
Its our choice to make the step and enter.

I love this gospel, In a week and a half I will have been out for six
months and I am realixing how short my time is, how short all of our
time is. I pray that all of you will make the steps that are needed to
move in the direction of God. I love you all, I miss you and pray for
you. Stay strong, and let the spirit guide you.

Love Kevin

February 4, 2013 - Utrecht, Nederland

Dear Family!

 

So this week was a little wacko and I'll tell you why in a minute but 1st....

 

WWOOOOOOO!!!!!! GO JESSIE!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!!!!! and CONGRATS LIZ!!!!!

 

Ok now that that's out of the way....

 

By the way did you notice that you will be in the same mission as Ammon? That could be interesting.

 

So back to how my week was crazy, I 1st had to go to Belgium to finalise my legality stuff and that took the entire day and was kinda a pain in the butt, but it wasn't too bad.

 

2nd, I had a really cool experience, Elder Shoemaker and I were teaching an inactive couple and we both had the impression that we needed to teach them about temples, and I had a really strong feeling that that was right, I was way powerful, but right as I was going to bring it up, Debby had to leave and we knew we needed to teach them together so we waited and have been planning a really good lesson on temples. And to add to it, everytime I think of temples since then I get the strong urge to go to the temple, I want to go so badly right now but we only go once a year in april so at least its coming up. I can't wait!!

 

As for my spiritual thought, this week was supposed to be on the atonement but because we had so much stuff going on I hardly had a normal day of study and the atonement isn't something I want to rush through so I'm doing it again this week. However, last night I was able to watch the Testiments, and at the very end I was bawling of course but ever since I've come on my mission its been so much stronger. I want you guys to know that I know that Christ lives and he knows all of us personaly. I want to live my life in a way that when I leave this life He will be waiting for me to hug me and say "You did great, Kevin! Welcome home!"

 

I love you all, I love our Savior and I know that he loves us and is mindful of us. Stay safe and stay strong.

 

Love,

Kevin