Hallo mijn geliefde familie!

Wow I can't believe I've been here for two weeks now!  It seems like I just got here but at the same time it feels like I have been here forever!  I am still loving it!  Some days are certainly hard but the good moments are far more numerous than the bad.  There is an amazing Spirit in the MTC that is like nothing I have every felt before in my life!  In two weeks I feel like a completely new person, more grounded in my love for the Savior and my testimony of Him and His gospel, and it's only been two weeks!  I can't imagine what will happen after 18 months!  So my colega and I went to the temple today and did sealings.  We actually had a member of the seventy perform them.  His name was Elder Reed and he is from Samoa.  It was really neat to do sealings.  I guess I never realized how fast they go.  As missionaries we are only allowed to participate as the daughters not the wives but that's ok it was still really wonderful!  I love going to the temple!  So you know how I've never really liked the look of the Provo temple?  Well I have to admit the inside is SOOO mooi!!!  The chandeliers all over the temple are some of the most mooi I have ever seen.

So I guess I'll tell you a little about how my week went.  As you know here in the MTC things are pretty much the same every week but my companion and I had quite the crazy week.  Oh but first, our investigator Quincy, agreed to be baptized last Thursday which was our last visit!  I was jumping for joy when we got out of the discussion.  Now Quincy, who is actually Broeder Hulme is one of  our three great teachers which is awesome!  Ok so about my crazy week.  Well my companion had been complaining for a couple of days about her foot hurting her, but she didn't make it sound like a big deal so I didn't make anything of it.  Then on Friday when she said it was really hurting her, I insisted that we take her to a doctor right away.  She's one of those people that hates the doctor and tries to just avoid it until the very last minute.  So the health center at the MTC was closed by that time so we went to instacare in Provo and they told here that she had an inflamed tendon or a stress fracture.  They didn't have a boot in her size so we went to other places to see if they had one and they didn't.  They told us we would have to go to the BYU urgent care in the morning.  We didn't get back until 11 p.m.  half and hour past our bedtime.  I was so tired the next day.  You cannot believe how much 30 mins. makes a difference.  Then Saturday we went to BYU urgent care and got her boot and that took us another 2 hours or so.  Then on Tuesday they called her into the MTC health clinic to check on her and that took 2 and a half hours.  Then they told her the next day to go see a pediatrist.  So yesterday she woke up and said her ear really hurt and she thought her ear drum burst.  So we went to the health clinic here again for another 2 hours, then we went to the pediatrist and he told her she has Vamps disease.  It basically means that her bone that connects to her big toe is higher than her actually toe.  You should ask Brother Marble more about it.  So after we found that out we had to go back to the MTC to get her prescription for her ears and then we left the MTC to go shoe shopping for her.  She found some shoes that work though and she is no longer in pain YAY!!  Anyway it was just a long week and I feel like we missed SOOO much, but she is more important than learning Dutch.  I just hope that she doesn't have any more problems. 

So Happy late Easter!!  Thank you so much for the package and thank you Mom for the letter.  I didn't get it on Easter because they don't send us DearElders on Sundays but I got it the next day and it made me smile =).  I love and missed you all on Easter but it was really great.  We had the presiding Bishop of the Church come and all 3,000 missionaries took the Sacrament at the same time it was so amazing!  Then later that day we had Sheri Dew come speak to us which was also amazing!  Then we watched a Devotional called the Character of Christ.  This devotional changed my life!  It's by David A. Bednar.  I would encourage you to look it up and read it.  In fact I was wondering if you could find it and then send it to me, because I don't have access to google here.  I hope you all had a really good Easter.  Mom told me that you all got some leuk dingens (cool things) from the Easter Bunny! 

So you are all back to school and work now I suppose.  I guess sometimes it's weird to think that life goes on outside of the MTC.  There is no better place than the MTC to be in the world but not of the world.  When we spent all that time outside of the MTC I hated it!  I just wanted to come back and feel the amazing Spirit that is so abundant here.  It literally feels like a big fluffy comforter every where you go.  Lifting you up, making you feel warm and comfortable.

I would like to share some of the spiritual experiences that really stood out to me this week.  The first one is from Tuesday Devotional with Elder Ringwood of the 70.  He said that when we come back from our missions we should not adjust back to real life.  We will have just spent the last 18-24 months becoming closer to Christ and we should not adjust back to the way things used to be.  That rung so true to me!  I can't believe how much I have changed in just two weeks and I never want to go back to the way I was before.  The second one is about humbling.  Last week I thought I had been humbled but every day I realize just how much I cannot do this alone and how much I need the Savior.  Also how much this is NOT about me.  I was so focused for the first week or so on myself and what I needed to learn and what I could and couldn't do.  After watching the Character of Christ I decided to do something everyday.  Every single thing that I do I ask myself why am I doing it and then I answer in my head using as little possesive worden as I can.  From going to lunch, taking a shower, putting on clothes, studying, teaching etc. I do it all so that I can more fully do the Savoir's work.  It has changed how I feel throughout the day.  Those things that I cannot relate back to my work for the Savior, I try not to do or think about as much as possible.  

Ik weet dat mijn Verlooser lieft.  Ik weet dat de kerk van Jezus Christus van de heiligen der laatse dagen is de een waar kerk op de aarde.  I weet dat Jezus Christus is met ons altijd wanneer wij vragen hij.  Ik weet dat mijn familie samen voor  eeuwig kunnen zign.  Ik hou van mijn Hemelse Vader and Ik hou van Jezus Christus.  Ik weet dat Ik van God geroepend.  Ik weet dat de gave van tongen is waar.  Ik hou een zendeling zijn! 

That's a little.  I can speak more than I can write.  Oh also before I go I just want to encourage you to read D&C 50.  I found SO many great scriptures in there!  My favorite verses are 24 and 40.  And then I love D&C 84:88.  Well I hope you all have a wonderful week!  I hope to hear from you soon! 

Alle mijn liefhebben,

Zuster Cassie Mizell