When I grow up, I'm going to have a ton of.....

Hey, it's Elder Moscon's birthday today! 

Er is er een jarig vandaag, hoera!
Dat kan je wel zien dat is hij (hij hij)!

Hij levend lang, hoera hoera,

Hij levend lang, hoera hoera,

Hij levend lang, hoera hoera,

Hij levend lang, hoera hoera,

LANG ZAL 'IE LEVEN, LANG ZAL 'IE LEVEN, LANG ZAL 'IE LEVEN IN DE GLORIA,

IN DE GLORIA, IN DE GLORIA

hipperiepiep, HOERAH!  hipperiepiep, HOERAH!  hipperiepiep, HOERAH!

And that is the Dutch birthday song.  There is stamping and yelling involved too.

We had a lot of dinner appointments this week--always a plus.  Elder Moscon is thoroughly--and rightly--convinced that the members in our branch are super awesome.  It's amazing how missionary-focused they are.  Brother van Steenbergen is very anxious to let his friend meet with us.  He's been working with her for some time now.  The Branch is gearing up for a missionary week pretty soon.  The goal is to give away 'bigger' things every day--starting with giving away cards, then pamphlets, then a whole Book of Mormon!  We have a few potluck/picnics in the future soon.  Mmm, lekker gezellig (nice and cozy).  We've been working with the members, introducing and helping them with the 3 name challenge, preparing them for mission week.  It's going to be  a blast, I can tell.

We had an appointment with Nathalie and Indra this week.  They went great!  Nathalie asked some perfect questions in our appointment.  We taught her about faith out of Alma 32, stressing about the Holy Ghost and how we can feel his presence in our life.  I testified like crazy about the Book of Mormon and how I got my answer.  Like I said, her questions were spot-on.  She asked me when I got my answer, how often we're supposed to feel the Spirit when we read and what it feels like.  Blam.  She's been reading too.  We've had some contact with her this week and she said she would read.  Helaas (unfortunately), we had an appointment, but our member bailed last-minute.  President Peeters was really upset and made an announcement in priesthood that if the Missionaries ask you to come on joint teach, that should be number one priority.  He's the champ.  It was also unfortunate because Nathalie didn't come to church either.  Whether us missing our appointment and her not coming to church were connected, we're not sure.  Hopefully not.  In any case, she's still progressing very well.

Aaaand with Indra.  We brought Br Arts with us to Joint Teach.  He was great--especially with the children.  He's got a very Dutch way of teaching too--he's a former missionary from Eindhoven.  When Indra posed a suggestion that was...less than correct, he simply hesitated then explained how it really is.  Sometimes you just have to be blunt about things.  If you dance around something like that, it could just get worse.  The children were very attentive, reading along and asking a few questions.  I challenged them all to read the Book of Mormon.  One of them asked, in English, "what's the catch?"  The catch?  You can receive an answer that it's true through the Holy Spirit!  Pretty good deal if you ask me.

Unfortunately, Antony was too busy to meet with us.  It was super frustrating too...  He thinks the missionaries target African people.  He met us as we were walking towards his home, to meet with another investigator of ours who lives in the same neighbourhood.  He made a remark how lots of Ghanaian people lived in the same buildings as he did.  His tone suggested that he thought we were heading there to find those people specifically.  It probably only strengthened the misconception he has.  Guh, so frustrating...  He'll turn around though.

The weather here is beautiful.  It's been fairly sunny actually.  Yesterday was a sizzler.  Weather here is aggravating.  People always say, oh yeah, the summer is over.  At the end of the week it's going to be terrible--rain and thunder and more rain and awful!  Then it never actually happens.  I serious doubt the weather reports are accurate.  Whatever sunlight we can get, heck I'll take it!

Thanks for all your prayers and letters!  Sister Coleman sent me a letter too!  Thanks! 

I loved those sunflowers I got a zillion years ago.  They grew sooo huge!  They got filled with wasps too...  When I grow up, I'm going to have a ton of sunflowers.  Because they're awesome.

Speaking of awesome, you guys rock.

Tot volgende keer,

Elder Burgess

 

By the way, Elder Moscon's family loves him almost as much as you love me.

He's received about 25 letters and 2 packages already.

It might have something to do with his birthday, but...

I'm going to be Dutch and just say it.

I wouldn't feel bad if you decided to send me anything.

It's not a request!  Just letting you know.

Loves!