So ya, the big news this week is the baptism of S. That happened Saturday and the days before included a lot of preparation and work on our part. Earlier in the week, Monday actually, we had a great lesson and got a new investigator. His name is G. He said he'd read in the BoM and pray about it which is all we ask! So that should be good. He is really cool and understood all of what we taught. All 3 of us elders taught the lesson together and had good switches and everything. It went well. On Tuesday we had district meeting. Our district is massive with 14 missionaries. I love it though because it's always fun to have a big district. There were also a bunch of people I knew from previous places, 2 other sisters and some of the elders. There are a ton of greeny elders I haven’t met yet in our district, including one who was trained by Elder Nielsen (a friend from Lethbridge), still have not seen that guy.
That day after district meeting we headed home because the meeting was in Den Haag. Back home we went to the church and made the program for the baptism. I used the one Elder Richards and I made for our baptism in Brugge forever ago. This one looks really nice, I made some improvements, haha. We had it all set and planned out but then people started dropping out like our witnesses and speakers! So it got really stressful trying to arrange everything. The next day was the day that Elder Balthar came in from Brazil. He speaks decent English, actually, and he has been on his mission for a year now but had to visa wait this whole time. His dutch is surprisingly good for having gone to the MTC a really long time ago. What is really cool is that when I was in the MTC we Skyped a few of the elders in Brazil and spoke Dutch with them. It turns out that Elder Balthar is one of the 3 elders I spoke with like 9 months ago! So cool. He went into his little email book and he had my email written down that I gave him way back then. So that was cool I thought. He is really funny and makes the 4 man really fun. He and Elder Occon speak so much Portuguese with each other I feel like I am now serving in Brazil. Also, I have begun to learn a bit of Portuguese, haha. I can make small sentences.
The day that EO went to Leiden we stayed back and had 4 appointments so we had a busy day. The first was a lesson on the Gospel of Christ and went pretty good I'd say. Halfway through 2 JW women knocked on the door which I thought was really funny cause they had no idea that there were 2 LDS missionaries in there teaching a lesson, haha. Also after they left we heard some yelling and she ran out there to see what was going on and just left us in her house… she came back 10 mins later and said a bunch of 8 to 9 year olds got into a fight. Apparently, it was 10 against 1… crazy, I think she said he is all right though. At the end of the lesson we invited her to baptism and she said that she is going to have to think about it because there are so many religions around her and she doesn't know which one to join. So we told her to pray and to read and she’ll get her answer.
Then we went to an appointment with J. and his 3 kids, they are the most positive investigators we have. The dad, J., is on date to be baptized soon and we are just working with the kids now. I respect that the father isn’t forcing his kids into baptism just because he is going to be baptized but he is giving them the choice. We had a good lesson and we read out of the BoM form 2 Nephi 31. After we read the chapter the youngest son pulled out his children's version of the BoM and related the story of Nephi and the plates and he told us that he liked how Nephi was so obedient. He is 9 but is soooo smart and it blew Elder Ballard’s and my mind actually. He really gets what we teach and makes his own connections. At the end of the lesson his daughter said a prayer in which she asked God if the elders will bring candy next time, haha.
The next day Elder Ballard and I were on the street walking and this group of old people called us over to talk so we did and while I was talking with the group this lady came to Elder Ballard and asked some random questions including can you heal me. Apparently she had back pain and wanted healing. So Elder Ballard told her about blessings and long story short he ended up giving her one right there in the centrum, ahha, cool though. She said she felt the spirit after! I contacted a few people I saw wearing Canada flags on their shirts and on their hats. It makes it fun for me to ask them about Canada but they usually have no connection.
So one day before the baptism we went to the church to learn how to fill the font and the first thing the guy tells us is that the building is booked for tomorrow at 2:00, which is the exact time of the baptism… so we had a stress moment and had to move it an hour earlier and call everybody. Luckily it didn't cause too many problems. The next day was the baptism day and it went really well and everything went smoothly which made for a beautiful service. S. really enjoyed it and told us he feels good feelings and a good energy. He is so humble and loving and even brought the refreshments for after the baptism. He also stayed until everybody left and helped clean everything up, what a guy.
That night though we had 3 appointments and the possibility of 4 new investigators but all 3 appointments fell though. The next day, which was yesterday, Sunday, we had an appointment with this Polish person and there were 4 people home and we made a return appointment so we got 4 new investigators which is crazy! I taught a really good first lesson and one of the guys promised to read and pray about the BoM, so that was super sick.
Questions:
1. Tell me about your companion and the new elder from Brazil.
2. Tell me about your appointments this week and investigators? Are you focusing on finding or teaching or both?
3. How is the ward and how was church on Sunday?
4. How is the weather? It is supposed to snow here on Wednesday and then the rest of the week so it is going to get cold! Do you know if you will get snow in Zoetermeer at all?
5. What is the best thing that happened this week? The worst?
1. Elder Ballard is from Utah, well, born in Kansas but mostly lived in Utah and he is a basketball player, pretty good too. He has picked up on the Dutch super well and has by far the best Dutch I have ever heard after 2 transfers. Amazing, and it’s because he studies and tries hard. He has good motivation to work and is always stopping people to talk with them. He is fun to have here. For some reason a lot of the things he says and the way he says them remind me of Maddie and Jackie, haha, kinda has the same personality, you know fun and happy! The elder from Brazil is funny and is a convert, both parents are not members but he has a strong testimony you can tell, cool guy.
2. J. is super dope, him and his kids are my fav investigators. We are doing a lot of both I’d say, for example on the walk to one of our appointments EB and I stopped a bunch of people and talked to them and got 2 potential investigators, so just both all the time. We have found a loooooot of potential investigators, haha. Also given out a ton of BoMs.
3. Great. They are pushing the ward members to do better at feeding us and we saw the difference. Our little calendar for dinner appointments is a lot fuller than before. I like the ward here a lot and EB and I have already made friends with the members. Church was fun, there was also a baptism from the other ward. J. was there with his kids to be able to see it so that was great.
4. Rainy haha, and windy. Probably no snow and if so then not for a month or so I’d say, but I’m not sure. We don't really get the weather ever…
5. Best was the lesson with the Polish people last night. EB and I were pumped after that. The worst was being called brainwashed by this crazy guy at the tram stop. He was really crazy and just kept yelling at us. All good though.
hou doe
elder fernhout
No comments:
Post a Comment