Week 15: From Not So Dope To Doop!

First if you don't know doop means baptism in dutch. It is pronounced the same as dope. This week started off not so dope though. ER and I got the worst haircuts ever last week. Like so so so bad I can't even describe it. I took photos but they don’t show it. It was so bad that every time I looked at ER or myself in the mirror I couldn't stop laughing. I was crying from laughter the whole day and my stomach hurt. I felt so bad laughing at ER but I couldn't stop! We are almost bald and he used those hair thinning scissors which made us look like we got electrocuted and our hair started to fall out or like someone switched our shampoo for hair removal stuff. You can see our scalps and our hair isn't even it is all different lengths. It also looks like tufts of hair are falling out! Anyway the week ended doop because we had a baptism! His name is Stanley and he is from Ghana. He is the first baptism in Brugge for a long time, the last time was 5 years ago. So that was awesome!

Ya I do notice that I understand people more and more, it is really nice to be able to see the progression. Oh wow well I am glad Kennedy is alright now! I got an email from Aunt Karen with photos which was nice, I'll try to write her back today. No way!!! Gospel Doctrine class! I am so happy for you! I wish I could do it with you, I feel so much more confident in my teaching skills. You will do great, and if you have any questions ask me and I'll try my best to help you! Oh and something you have got to have with the nasi is peanut sauce! It is so so good. Anyway let me know how that turns out.

The following is a bunch of random things…

Something funny that happened on the train this week was we were sitting down and a bunch of teenage girls were near us singing to a little speaker they had. I turn to ER and say "French singing is so weird!" then ER turns to me and says “that’s Dutch" so I mean I guess I haven't come thaaat far in the language but we both thought that was really funny. I mentioned we had a little fire last week. So ya that was fun, we were making a pizza in the microwave because we don't have a stupid oven like all the other apartments. We left the pizza and come back and the whole inside of the microwave was on fire! ER told me to grab the fire dingus [extinguisher] then he took it and I was so excited because he was just about to spray it when the fire put itself out. I have never seen a fire dingus in use before so I was disappointed but it was good that we didn't have a big fire!

A little while ago I bought a soccer ball and we go play soccer at a near by field in the mornings. I run around the field a bunch and then ER teaches me a little. He is great at soccer and used to play at a pretty high level. We have a lot of fun in the mornings now! Another thing I went a whole day without wearing a shirt and tie a little while ago. That's the first day since I left from home! I don't mind wearing missionary clothes though. We cooked nasi for a family this week. The wife was hit by a car and she can't cook so we did for a night. The husband is doing a lot of work. They were really thankful for us and thought it was crazy that the elders were cooking for them! I think they took photos and put them on Facebook. Yesterday in sacrament meeting there was a mum and her 2 children visiting from America and the mum served here 25 years ago. She got up and bore her testimony in dutch for everyone. It was really cool.

Scripture Alma Chapter 36 is all great but Verse 3 is what I like (trust in God!)
Word is snor, which I like because it sounds really funny and it means moustache which is awesome. It is pronounced snoar.

Questions from home:
1.  How is the work going?  Are you teaching anyone on a regular basis? Did Stanley get baptized?
2.  How is the weather?  Does it rain everyday?  Is it warming up?
3.  What can I send you? (I haven’t mailed your parcel yet, I’m still trying to track down journal filler pages.  Were you able to see what brand of planner you have?)
4.  How is Elder Richards doing with the little time he has left?  Is he someone you will be friends with after the mission?  Would you like to go to BYU (it is a great place, haha)?
5.  Did you ever get to give the guy you met playing street basketball a Book of Mormon in his language?

1. Yup Stanley is baptized now! Work is going alright. We don't have any other super positive investigators but we are working on that. There is a video referral program going on right now so we are getting a ton of referrals.  So we will be running around checking those out all week. I can't remember if I said this last week but there is a new video released by the church for Easter. It is short, like 2 mins and it is about peace. It is really good! We share it with a lot of people.
2. Weather has been so flippin hot! Yesterday was insane. Not one day of rain in a while actually. I am disappointed. I haven't worn a coat or anything for over a week straight. I NEED to buy short sleeve shirts soon.
3. Oh I thought of something but now I forgot. I'll make a list of a few things during the week. And yes I took a few photos of my journal for you.
4. He’s doing fine.Ya I’d like to be. It’ll be a while till I'm back though. Ya he loves BYU.
5. Funny story we went back the next week with a Greek BOM but he wasn't there. So we walked around a bit and then there was this dad and 2 kids there playing. We approached him and asked what language is best for him to speak with us in. Turns out it was Greek so we shared the BOM we had with him and he said we could talk more sometime. So that was awesome.

Anyway that's all,

love ya bye (thats how we end all phone calls with other missionaries here in the mission)

Elder Fernhout

The District