This week was really really good. It had some downs but also ups and we had a bunch of cool miracles. Early in the week we had the ZLs come over and do an exchange with the other 2 elders. One of them, Elder Waters from Idaho is really good at the guitar and I had him teach me a few things. The other one is Elder Packard from Arizona, he dies soon [translation, he goes home soon]. He's cool too. So that was fun. Although we burned through all our food for the week really fast, haha. This week has been really good with dinner appointments though so we did fine.
For my bday we all went to the farm to help Wouter. We usually go every Saturday but this week we couldn't and went early. I didn't mind going to the farm on my bday cause it is really fun. We got to shave the cows this time too. That was super fun. Their backsides and tails get really gross and we just shaved those right down. Funny story, Elder Ballard was shaving the tail of one and it pooped all over him. Streaming cow poo just shot out, it was so funny. He really didn't think so but we all did. He cleaned it off and was okay. After we had gone home and cleaned up we went to lunch and got kapsalon, one of my favourite foods. It’s Turkish. I also opened my presents. Thank you, Mum! I am currently wearing my Canada shirt now, haha. Also, the towel is a good idea. E. Ballard has the same one, different colour. I wore the tie to interviews, haha, goes good with my suit. But other than that for my bday we had a dinner appointment that was good. They felt bad they didn’t know it was my bday but they fed us good food! E. Ballard bought me a loempia which you should look up, I loooove them, they sell them at little stands all over the place. It is pretty much just a spring roll, but better. He also got me a guitar pick! Because Elder Occon and I share a bday I went and got him a capo for his guitar. I inspired him to get a guitar haha, E. Ballard too. So I got E. Occon a capo and he really loved it. It was a good day!
Some other lame things and miracles that happened this week. We tried to stop by this lady investigator we have, because she is single we were going to pass her off to the sisters but she wasn't home. Later that day though we saw her at a tram stop and were able to make an appointment and also give her invites to the baptism and the primary program for next week. So that was cool that we randomly saw her. We went by later in the week and had a really good 2nd appointment with her and she is reading and all is good. Then she called and said she can’t go to the baptism cause she is sick. We called her right before the baptism to check to see if she was feeling better then she dropped us and said she doesn't want to die Christian… ugh she was so cool. When we saw her that one time she even said that she misses us ahah. She is so cool. So we are going to stop by just one more time and see where she is at and if she still doesn't want to then we will leave her alone. We also went to our appointment with these Polish people we met. We already had one appointment with 4 of them. So we went back this week for our 2nd one and the main guy came to the door and told us that he doesn't want to go any further. But he did say he is moving to Poland and will look us up there so I guess we have a referral for the Polish elders??? He did say that his sister who we had given a Polish BoM to would probably like to talk and to come by the next day. So we were sad that he and the other 2 dropped us but excited for the sister. We talked to her the next day and she was like “I haven’t read that much in the book, I am only half way through” so we were like ah that’s okay. She said she will be done in a week and to come back then. We emphasized the importance of prayer and not just reading, looking forward to going back.
Okay, just 2 more miracles. We had some time before a dinner appointment so we went to this building where there were like 20 potentials we just had to go and follow up. We tried to find it with the printed off directions that we had but it didn't work out, so we were like lets just go back and work by our dinner appointment. On the way back to the tram stop we came across the exact building we were looking for. Really weird… so E. Ballard was like we gotta do some of them now, there is some one here for us. We were ringing the bells and getting nothing positive so we were like, okay, we will do one more then we need to go. We rung her up and she let us up to her door. At first she was not having it, then we told her about families and happiness and the BoM and she opened up. She asked which church we were and she read our tags and as she was reading I saw it in her eyes that she knew we were representatives of Christ. That touched her and made the difference. So we gave her a Dutch copy of the BoM and then told her we have a Turkish version, cause she is Turkish, and she told us to bring that by later. So we were lit after that, haha. It was our last door miracle and it was funny cause it was 6th floor last door. So cool. We went back just yesterday and had a great appointment with her and her husband and they also have 4 kids. Pretty young but still! The husband loved having a Turkish version cause his Dutch isn't so good. They are just so nice! Really cool new investigators.
Okay and the coolest miracle as the last. We were once again on our way to a dinner appointment and we were walking and we were cold and it was dark and rainy and we just wanted to get there. But we had about 20 extra minutes and were stopping people on our way there. I stopped this one lady and asked if I could do a quick survey. I asked the first Q which was "what does happiness mean for you?" She answered saying probably the same as you, your relationship with God. So she started talking about her religion which isn't a specific religion but she believes strongly in angels. After I had asked her some q's about her I thought it would be a good idea to talk about Joseph Smith and the First Vision. So I did and she thought it was really cool and we gave her a BoM and told her a bit about it. She said she had a q and asked about the big beautiful white building. We told her it was a temple and she wondered about the guy on top of it, the golden one. We told her that he was an angel and that he actually showed JS where the plates were and that he wrote in them as well. It all just connected so well. We told her that it was translated out of old Egyptian and she thought that was cool too, ahha. Then she told us that God has a plan for us here on earth and that we all have 2 angles with us all the time helping us. She said that sometimes they appear as other people. She said that we were those people and that God had a plan for her and that we were sent and that it wasn’t coincidence that we met her. She said that she knew God wanted her to learn something from us. I was so happy and amazed. We talked a little more, then she said that an angel just whispered to her that everything we told her was true and right. I was just amazed, haha. Easily one of the coolest miracles I have had yet. She had the BoM in her hands and asked if she could really have the BoM and we said ya of course. She treated it like something really special. So ya.
Questions:
1. What did you do for your birthday? Did you celebrate with the other missionaries since it was Elder Occon’s birthday as well?
2. How did the teaching go this week?
3. When are the next transfers?
4. Did you go on exchanges or travel anywhere this week?
5. What was the worst thing that happened this week?
6. What was the best thing that happened this week?
7. How are you all getting along in the apartment?
8. Is there a missionary skill that you are working on personally?
9. Are you having good experiences with the ward members?
10. How was church on Sunday?
1. already answered
2. uh, great
3. soon, transfer calls are on Saturday! I expect to stay with E. Ballard though. I will be surprised if I am transfered out.
4. nope.
5. getting dropped...
6. all the freaking miracles!
7. good, you really see how people were raised when you live in a 4 man, who cleans their dishes and who does what and cleans and stuff like that.
8. teaching! I really want to be a good teacher. Such a good life skill too.
9. definitely. we have a lot of dinners.
10. good. although I was up at 4 am that morning and it is a long story. I think I’ll tell it next week cause this email is already really long, haha. Remind me to do that.
That was my week.
hou doe
elder fernhout
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| Elevator selfies |
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| A piece of home |
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| View from the apartment |
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| Sheep by the Church in Zoetermeer |
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