So I forgot to mention last week, but it is transfers week this week. Thank diddely, Elder Giles and I will be staying together here in Den Helder. I'm glad. I like Elder Giles and I like this area.
As well, the Netherlands is getting a King today. It's pretty much the biggest event that can happen in the Netherlands. Literally. Queen Beatrix got tired of being queen I suppose, so she's giving it over to her dear old son, Willem. I have never seen more orange or more crappy king-pun-advertisements in my life. Seriously, the Dutch are super uncreative when it comes to advertisements. Literally every add I now see says something like, "A ____ fit for a king."
So that's also why I'm email today as well. Everything is shut down today for the Crowning Ceremony and we can't go to Amsterdam for our regular district meeting. We had it yesterday instead. Dus, ja.
Well, I have a lot to say in a little bit of time.
First of all, David got baptized! Woooooooo!!! It was a very good service. Both Elder Giles and I had to get in the font with Papa Dee to help lift David out of the water. That is the first time I've been in a baptismal font on my mission. It was warm. Over twenty or so of David's family members were there too, because they were having a family reunion or something. After the service, David received the Gift of the Holy Ghost as well as being confirmed. When Br Hall asked how he felt, David replied, "I feel good. God and Jesus would be happy with me. I'm following the path that they want, and they'd be proud." My heart melted.
That Sunday was overall amazing. We had so many people in church. We've had the craziest last two weeks and finally everything came together for all our effort. We had 3 investigators in church and over 7 inactive members. Tim and Solymar came as well as Katie. A member came up to us afterwards and commented on how well we were working--that the church service was full of new and old people and that there had been a special sphere during the service. I'm so thankful to the Lord.
We were planning on going over to Zr Boutee, an non-member with an inactive daughter who smokes like a chimney. We've been working with her fairly closely for the last week or so and decided now was the time to help her quit. But along the way, we had our doubts. As we sat down and began to talk, Elder Giles whipped open D&C 89 and I grabbed the Word of Wisdom pamphlet. Simultaneously, we knew this is what she needed. I began right away, saying our purpose as missionaries was to help people repent. Zr. Boutee waved her cigarette. "I know," she said, "I gotta quit this." Wham. It was a super powerful lesson and she's on board to quitting. We'll be working really close with her.
So some while ago, Elder Giles had the impression to share a scripture with Zr Nunez, who is also inactive. Since then, she has come to church for 3 Sundays in a row. When we went over earlier this week, she commented on how many people had come by her home to try and help her reactivate. Now, she said, she has the desire to come back. She said she feels no obligation to us (I'm fine with that), but that the Lord wants her back. ...Whoa. She told her mother through Skype all these things, and that she had gotten a blessing from the Elders. Her mother wept in joy. I'm overwhelmed. God is good. Is there any doubt?
The Salazars are also coming back. Also, Elder Giles bought a bright red McDonald's bike from them. Aha, the thing is downright awesome.
We dumped those kikkervisjes (tadpoles) in a river somewhere. Gone.
Unfortunately, no Jelly beans this week...
Tim and Solymar are still awesome. Tim feels like this is the right path he has to follow and asked what he needs to do to be baptized. We laid it out on the table right there too. We even showed him the baptismal questions. We've felt a little guilty because we spend a lot of time there when we visit. Apparently, Tim felt guilty about it too and commented that he doesn't waste our time. After explaining that this is the reason we're on a mission, we made a mutual agreement to keep our visits down to an hour in the future. Wow. It's amazing to see how the Lord blesses us. We had actually had the same concern for a while, but weren't sure how to deal with it. Now it's dealt with. Wham.
I've seen the Lord's hand a lot in the last week. We've both worked our tails off, but I can't claim any of the success that we've seen. It belongs to Him. We do our best, the Lord does the Rest. I think He's done even more than that...
Well, off to have adventures!
Tot volgende keer,
Elder Burgess
**
I talked with the Lyons and they said they knew the Salmons! Crazy small Mormon world. The Lyons are super cool. I love them a lot.
No comments:
Post a Comment