She felt the Spirit just as a bystander.

It's weird when your do planning for your 3rd week in a new transfer already.  It really, really flies.

So this week was pretty standard I suppose.  Biking a lot, knocking doors, eating food and the occasional miracle to spice things up.

One point of interest is that we FOUND ALMDUDLER (like ginger ale but with an apple base).  No joke.  We swung by a Jumbo supermarket, and found Almdudler in the pop aisle.  I couldn't believe it.  I bought 3 right then and there and we drank them the next day.  I'm disappointed to say they weren't the same...  It's the Dutch kind (as evident because of the Dutch labelling).  I'm not sure what's different ingredient wise, but it's not as sweet or overall as strong as the real thing.  The smell was off too--that was the first tip-off.  Still, the taste is familiar and I'll probably get more in the future.  There's an Austrian member who's going to bring me some back from her vacation.  Mmm.

Elder Shoemaker has a really good talent.  Whenever somebody says hi to us, he wheels around and contacts them.  We had a super cool miracle come of it too.  These two ladies (we later discovered they're Indonesian) were drinking when we contacted them.  One of their first comments was "We want to stop drinking! *sips her beer*  Help us stop drinking!  We don't like it. We want to go on vacation.  *sip*  But we can't because we spend our money on booze. *sip*" Uh, okay.  Obviously tipsy.  Still.  But then, two more ladies showed up, who weren't drunk.  One of them started in English, so I began talking with her.  She opened up to me, telling me that there is something missing from her life that she can't fill.  We told these four ladies that we pay to be here.  Caraline, the one I was talking to was surprised.  "You pay that much?" she exclaimed.  "If you pay that much just to be here, you must be doing the right thing.  Come over and if you can help make my life better, I'll believe everything you say." Whoa.  We have an appointment with her this week--we're hoping she'll bring the rest of her friends too.  How cool it would be to boot all their addictions and change their lives?  Wow.  Supah cool.  Only through God.

The trains have been super stinky this week.  They've been running on weird schedules and we've had to wait at least 20 minutes for almost every one.  Super frustrating.  But yesterday, we were a-chilling waiting for a train and we both felt prompted to talk to lady with her child.  She kinda shuffled away, but Elder Shoemaker jumped up and slam dunked the contact anyway.  We talked with her for the entire train ride and she was willing to accept a Book of Mormon at first, but then she changed her mind for some reason and gave it back.  We helped her get her stroller down at the end of the train ride and tried to help the other people with strollers, looking for another opportunity.  When I turned around, there was a young woman talking to Elder Shoemaker.  Ah what?  She had been watching our conversation the entire time and was very impressed.  She told us right there that she had so much respect for what we did, talking to that lady and being friendly despite how she had turned us down.  We testified and tried to convince her of the importance of what we shared.  This young lady, Joyce said she couldn't do the same and just...applauded us for what we do.  So Elder Shoemaker pretty much stuck out the Book of Mormon that other woman had just rejected and said "Hier is een boek voor jou."  It was kinda funny actually.  We were all kinda surprised.  Still, she took the book with excitement and we managed to get all her information.  She's looking forward to meeting with us.

It was a really cool experience.  She felt the Spirit just as a bystander and felt prompted to talk with us.  Wow.  The Lord is 100% guiding this work.  I wouldn't be surprised if she was baptized in the future.

Oh, and I found a super, super nice bike for €10.  It was leaning against a pole with a big sign.  So I called up the guy and he came out and 3 minutes later, it was mine.  It's this classic racing bike in terrific condition.  At church, 2 separate people remarked how they had seen it, but I snaked it first befor they could get it.  Muahah.  Best deal I've ever seen.  Oh, and Chopper bike is gone.  I left it behind for Fam Germann in Turnhout.  I didn't want it anyway.  Wasn't as nice as I thought.

I gave my first talk this Sunday.  I had done a super cool study on countenances and light and how the two are related.  I learnt that as we are more purified, we become more like Christ--and people can see that in our appearance, in our eyes.  We must let that light shine unto the world, as Jesus directs in Mathew 5.  Christ further says in 3 Nephi 18 that He is that light which we must hold to the world.  I dunno, it was a super enlightening study.  I pretty much shared that with the branch and they seemed to enjoy it.  It was weird because the second speaker's talk went over the same subject--the Light of Christ (which is our conscience).  Both our assignments were given the day before, without a subject.  Coincidence??

Anydoodle, that's all I got for today.

Tot volgende keer,

Elder Burgess