I followed him with our new friend in tow

Okay, to answer some questions...

Our apartment is smack diddely right in the middle of Den Helder Centrum.  It's literally a 30 second walk from the train station.  We're the youngest in the apartment complex by about 40 years...  Our house is somewhat like Almere apartment.  It's more wide and open and with lots of shelf space for all our things.  Super cozy.  Decent for a Nerf Gun fight.

I'm dying to eat some fish and chips.  Man oh mighty.  Elder Giles doesn't really get why--because we're in a fishing town of course!--but unfortunately, we haven't got around to it yet.  There's one right across from our house I'm really excited to try. I can't remember if I said it already, but last time Elder Shulte ate at a fish and chips place, he was spewing chunks.

Whups.

Things are starting to warm up now too.  I noticed the wind has changed direction so it seems to be blowing the warmer air towards us from inland.  It's nice.  It was even drizzling rain a bit the other day, but it was mildly warm.  It's almost time to lose that coat. Woo!

Things are going better with us this week.  We've come in contact with quite a few very positive people.  David's family is now totally on board for him getting baptizied and we set a solid date for that to happen. Two weeks from now, on April 28th, we'll be seeing a baptism.  That's also the same day Tim and Solymar are planning on coming to church.  Wham.  Should be exciting.

AREN'T YOU EXCITED? I am.

Katie is still as awesome as ever.  Her husband came home this week and will be staying a while.  Apparently, he's totally against religion, so we would normally be happy to give them a wide berth while he's here but we discovered a rule in the hand guide that says we need permission from a spouse before they can be baptized.  Gulp.  So now we have to go talk to him.  It's okay though, we told Katie before we found this out that we were going to pray for her husband, that his heart will be softened.  After discovering the startling discovery, we decided to have a fast, just to make sure.  Our goal and prayer is that Mr. Katie will actually be interested and want to pursue it for himself.  If that won't work out, hopefully he will at least give permission and not hold her back.  Fingers crossed!

We weren't able to meet with Pajo or Joseph Helaas.

Buuut we did have this cool miracle the other day.  Okay, keep your mind open for this, because this might sound strange...  At a glance...

We were trickety tracting the other day when a five year old boy started talking to us.  He was super funny and super adorable.  Children are a golden opportunity, so I kept talking with him while Elder Giles simply strolled away!  He wasn't sure where the conversation was going to lead, so he decided to do some work while I chatted with little Diego.  Unsure at first, I followed him with our new friend in tow.  When he realized what we were doing, Diego asked if he could hold our Boek van Mormon for us while we knocked doors.  Aha, what a funny kid.  So we did. We totally knocked a few doors with Diego standing there with a book as big as his smile.  Eventually, I decided it would be a good idea to talk with his family before we wandered any further so we skipped over to his door and talked with his mother for a while.  "Are you going with these gentlemen to preach about Jesus?" "Yeah." Aha.

So with Mother's permission, we tried a few doors more with Diego as our official helper boy.  He even led us over to his friends' houses and we had some great conversations there.  I'm telling you, if every companionship had a little helper boy with them, so much more work could get done.  How can you say no to a little helper boy?

Aaaanydoodle, his mom fetched him eventually and we gave a book to them. "We're going to read this book together, won't we, Diego?" "Yeah!"

We went by later and we have an appointment this week to teach them the Restoration.  Woo!  Children are truly alive in Christ.

We had a super cool contact wherein we spoke with three people for about an hour yesterday. We spoke about all those super heavy matters, like why we have to die and where we go and why there's bad in the world.  Zozo.  They were all super impressed and we walked away with two less book of Mormons in our bags and two more addresses to visit later.  Dang.

Tim and Solymar are the bomb too.  Holy Moses.  Would it be possible to ask for another one of those kilogram-sized bag of Jellybeans?  Solymar is just about obsessed with sweets as Mia is.  Actually, those two would be great friends with Jeremia.  They should somehow get in contact.  That would be fun.  Tim read in the Book of Mormon and is just drinking in everything that we're teaching.  Like a sponge.  Shwoop!  We're super excited for them.  Ultra awesome couple.

We're working a lot with members lately.  A while ago, Elder Giles was impressed with a scripture to share with Family Pena.  We went over there and it was a bit hectic at first, but then we read in 3 Nephi 18, when Jesus institutes the sacrament.  After reading a bit, we all kind of paused and the inactive sister said, "This scripture is beautiful.  I think I have to read this book, right from the beginning.  All the way through.  And I'm coming to church this Sunday." Uh...is that allowed?  I MEAN, yes!  Please do!  Wow, the right scripture at the right moment.  God is Good!

She did come to church too.  The first time in years.  Another member who is unable to come often (but 100% active) is now bestest friends with Zuster Pena.  Amen.

Well, that's all for this week.  Off to the Temple tomorrow.  

Away!

Tot volgende keer,

Elder Burgess

 

**thanks for the shirts by the way.  Elder Giles was super stoked.  He says that you are the greatest.  Ever.  Still haven't gotten my Easter package.  Might get it today or tomorrow.

Bye!