Last week

It is official.... I am going home. It is so weird to think that I won't be spending every day in the nice and warm Hawaii anymore.

This was a wonderful last transfer, wherein sister Tailleur and I were able to do our best and work hard!

Some random things to mention:
- I have strengthened my testimony on the importance of "How to begin teaching". Sometimes male investigators are only interested in our company and not the message we share. Stating our purpose and why we are here really helps :)
- You start feeling old when 10 year old kids start calling us aunty... reality check -_-
- for many people here Netherlands is still Neverland. Just roll with it.
- we finally have smartphones on the mission, and thus are being able to hasten the missionary work in this mission through social media and all that kind of stuff, and I am not able to participate in it because I am going home... I guess I'll always be an old-school missionary. That's ok..

The last few weeks I really came to appreciate a child's prayers. We taught a lot of kids this transfer who have the age of accountability and are ready to make further covenants with Heavenly Father. Their prayers are so honest and to the point. Mostly I get the tendency to say a lot of the same things without any thought to it. Listening to how a child prays really helps me to think about my own prayers and how to make them more meaningful. It makes me understand king Benjamin's (one of my favourite Book of Mormon character) invitation in Mosiah 3:19 even better.

Another thing that I wanted to mention: as some of you might have heard and/or read, there was a threat announcement in Hawaii wherein we had to find shelter. Half an hour later it appeared to be a false warning and everything was ok. But during sacrament meeting we had some really good talks that made all of us reflect on how prepared we are. One of the people that talked mentioned how the situation could be compared to the parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25. This could be applied to both our physical preparedness (do we have our 72 hour kit, do we know where to go in case of a natural disaster etc.), but more importantly our spiritual preparedness. As very well stated in Alma 32:32. We have to make every second count. We need to have our oil of conversion with us as the speaker very well stated.

I don't have much more to say anymore. I will miss being a fulltime missionary and I will miss the people here. At the same time I am also super excited to return home. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to serve a mission. The church is true ^_^

Aloha.