een streek uitgehaald met iemand‏

"A stripe extracted with somebody"

Or dubble translated

"To play a prank"

So we were inspired by Dad's hilarious prank and decided to play some of our own.  It started simple; I put shampoo on Elder Andrew's toothbrush.  Unfortunately, he noticed.  "why's there green slime on my brush?  Who slimed my toothbrush?"  Dang.  Then, I tried salting it.  He washed it off unknowingly before actually brushing.  Dang.  Then, a stroke of genius.

We took some plastic wrap and with a Q-tip, pushed it into Elder Andrew's thing of toothpaste, making a cavity.  Then, we filled that cavity with hand lotion and put the cap back on.  The joke was nearly ruined when Elder Andrews squeezed the lotion out--part of the plastic went with it!  Luckily, Elder Pimentel--without knowing--helped us out by saying that it was just part of the new tube of toothpaste that had come loose.  Elder Andrews then brushed his teeth with hand lotion!  There was a lot of screaming involved.  Oh man was it funny.  I nearly busted a gut. Or maybe two.

But he got his revenge.

The next morning, while I was in the shower, Elder Andrew's poured Mexican spices all over my towel...  I tried to dry off but got a faceful of Mexican spices instead.  All over my hair too.  I had to shower twice!

We're still thinking of a good way to get him back.

Oh yes, and spiritual matters!  Unfortunately, Joyce was anti-ed.  She talked to her friend, who evidently told her that LDS are evil people or something, weet ik veel (I do not know).  But the Almere Elders have her address and they'll look her up in a few weeks.  Who knows what could happen.

On a better note though, Caraline came to church!  It was super cool.  We had arrange to pick her up on Sunday (she lives near the church), but then when we called her, she said an appointment had come up at 11:00. I was choked that she wouldn't come, but she surprised me by saying she still wanted to attend the first hour.  She even brought her 8-year old daughter along--who reminds me of Julia, but darker-skinned.  Lots of members said hello and she said she wants to come back next week.  Yay!

Sentina Spaans also came to church.  I don't know if I've mentioned her, but she's got a date to be baptized.  She self-referred herself after she had a fallout with her last church and was inspired by a friend who had lived with LDS members in America.  She really enjoyed the service.  She's super positive too.  She almost knows everything already.

There was another one of those don't-judge-a-book-by-its-cover moments again the other day.  At a JoVo activity (YSA - young single adults), Jesse showed up.  Jesse looks like the kind of guy that will knock your lights out if you say something wrong.  Really reminds me of Joey actually--but Dutch.  He's changed his life around, turned away from a lot of terrible things.  Apparently, he has actually punched some people in the face...  Ooo.  Friendly, friendly guy though.  He's not quite ready to accept the gospel, but we're going to do some service with him on Thursday.  I'm sure with time, he'll see the truth.

Overall, it was a great week.  Our investigators are doing very well.  Also the members.  We met with a less-active member and she really opened up to us.  We set some goals and plans with her and she jumped right on board.  We're teaching her mother as well, an adorable 82-year-old British lady with a high voice. 

Things are rolling pretty well in Lelystad.

Also, no package yet.  I'll probably get it when we visit the temple--just around the road!

Thanks for the letters from er'body.  I can't remember if I mentioned it, but I got a package from Sister Smith and primary.  Thanks a zillion!

Tot volgende keer,

Elder Burgess

Almere/Amsterdam District training ~ September 25, 2012

 Elder Andrews and Elder Pimentel (Evan's roommates)

 Elder Burgess, Elder Ellis (Evan's born and raised Austrian buddy), Elder Shoemaker, Elder Hansen holding down the Elder Shoemaker's signature 'thumps up' sign.

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

Lelystad, Netherlands ~ a new area.....again!!

A new area!  Again!  I'm starting to think somethings up.  I'm not really disappointed.  Thinking back, I recall President Burnham's words.  He told me a mission was great for meeting people.  Well, wham, here is  a whole new branch and area to get to know.  I guess it's just my job to go around and explore the mission.

Lelystad itself is a 20 minute commute.  We bought an abonnement (subscription) , which means we pay a lump sum to travel unlimited between the two cities.  Quite a chunk of cash, but goedkoper (cheaper) than paying each time.  The city is relatively flat, building-wise.  There are many skyscrapers and a few canals snaking here and there.  The place is built like a maze though, with areas or wijks (districts) and then street numbers instead of names.  The numbers are in no particular order though--and without maps on our phone, it's sometimes a nightmare to find where we're going.  Seems like a fun place.  Kind of ghetto-y in some places though.  The builder of the town thought it would be a good idea to build lots of cheap housing to build up the city really fast.  All that did was get all the foreigners and poorer people to move in.

The branch itself has a lot of ups and downs.  There are stronger members, but overall, the branch is struggling.  The members aren't as...strong as they could be.  We've got a plan to work with the JoVo's (YSA) of the ward.  The first Thursday we had a Jovo evening where we ate food and played chess and pingpong.  I surprised myself how good I was at pingpong--just as long as I took of my shoes first.

There's an Austrian lady in the ward.  She's off to Austria for the next little while for a treatment for her lime disease, but she'll be back in a couple of weeks--with Almdudler!  Apparently, you can buy it in a grocery store in town--for a bit of a price.  Worth checking out.

The gemeente (Branch)  President is a super cool guy.  He's only 26!  He's got a vision for the branch though, so hopefully we can work some miracles.

The apartment we live in is indeed above McDonald's, as well as a store called H&M.  The front of the building is opposite to our door and we live on the second story, so we pretty much never see either though.  Apparently, our apartment is highly sought after.  You can just barely smell the ocean if the wind is right.  It rains and blows like crazy.  Great gusty storms that swoop in, roar for an hour, then fade away just as fast.  Our apartment is one story, but very spacious and cozy.  We've got a nice speaker system.

Aaand yup, bunking with Elder Andrews again.  His greenie (Elder Pimentel) is super cool.  Very excited about doing missionary work.  He wiggles his tail as he anticipates going out and giving away another Book of Mormon.  Elder Pimentel is from everywhere.  He was born in Oaklahoma, but lived in the Netherlands and Sudan, to name but a few.  Elder Pimentel lived here a few years back, so his

Dutch is better than most greenies already--he actually took Spanish in the MTC.  Hmm...

Elder Shoemaker is a fun guy.  He's got a good smile and I can tell he's a hard worker.  No problems there.

I didn't really get to say goodbye to anybody.  I haven't expected to move the last 3 moves, and this time wasn't much different.  I got a picture with familie Germann and Tauelen, the investigator who came to church regularly.  Sister Tauelen was making good progress.  We hadn't really even taught her much, but the ward swept her right in.  She's practically a regular now.  I wouldn't be surprised if she was baptized sometime in the future...

Also, I got a picture with Simon and Don.  We had a super-cool appointment with them Tuesday.  We sat down with Don and Simon didn't show up, so we began teaching Don the Plan of Salvation.  Just as we finished, Simon showed up and sat down, saying `yo, what are we learning today?"  To our surprise, Don insisted on teaching him what he just learned.  So Don went through the Plan of Salvation, telling him what each drawing meant (we did it on a piece of paper).  He did it perfectly too.  It was beautiful, how he explained it actually.  At one point, he said "Then Simon, yo gonna die.  You are gonna die.  Yo gonna die." He said it almost like a threat.  Simon nodded and said "Oh.  Yeah.  Oh, yeah." It was super funny.  Still, they both got it.  It was super cool--good thing to leave on.

Mom, I've only been here a week and we've had 3 or 4 dinner appointments already.  We went to one family's house and they had dragons everywhere!  4 or 5 dragon statues and a huge dragon painting hanging on the wall! Their kids brought down this huge star Wars lego set as well.  It was awesome.
Buuut yeah.  That's about all, right?  Back to good milk, good roads, and understandable accents.  Woo! 

Love the Nederland.

Oh....Dad and his injuries...  I can't believe you actually still go to the ER anymore.

Well, tot volgende keer,

Elder Burgess

On September 5 and 6, 2012 President Kearen, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy and the 1st Councillor in the European Area Presidency come and toured the mission.  These are some pictures taken of the Rotterdam and Antwerpen Zone Conference.

Elder Pimentel first assignment is Almere - to be trained by Elder B Andrews (from Evan's MTC group).  He is part of a foursome living with Evan.

Miracles and a curse

I'll tell you the curse first, to get rid of the tension.

I'm cursed.  I've averaged a companion per transfer and 2 transfers per city.  And yep, that curse is continuing.  I'm getting the boot up to Lelystad.   I'm going to be companions with Elder Shoemaker, who was also in Elder Moscon's MTC group.  We're bunking with Elder Andrews (my old companion) and his greenie, who cover the neighbouring city.  Ah! I was just getting comfortable too. We've found so many people to teach these last few weeks and wham.  Gone I go.  The way of the dust (as to things pertaining to Turnhout).  Oh well.  At least I got a nice bike out of it--oh and memories too...

And like always, I didn't expect to get transferred, so I took no pictures of members...  Blast.

Ah yes.  Miracles.

So this week, we heard from President Kearon, of the seventy.  We also heard his British accent.  He gave a wonderful presentation on finding and how to improve ourselves in that regard.  He really stressed the power of earnest prayer too.  It was cool because afterwards, I was one of the few people to be interviewed by him.  I told him 2 or 3 things I'd learnt on my mission then split. 

Our Zone Leaders then decided that we were going to have a ZONE WIDE prayer.  So on Friday, in our own apartments, we all knelt at 10:30 and said a prayer, asking the Lord to help us with our goals and success.  Later that day, after what was a regular day, we decided to knock on a door which a friendly old lady had suggested we try.  The guy was friendly, but not terribly interested.  As we talked, the same friendly old lady came home (she's his neighbour).  A few moments later, her husband came home too.  As we were biking away, we had the very strong impression to go back and give her a Book of Mormon.  We knocked on their door and she answered.  We told her we wanted to give her something because she was so kind and we wanted to show some kindness in return.  She was a bit confused, but took it nevertheless.  This is the mysterious part.  Her husband (who she had mentioned is suffering from a sore back) came to the door too, asking what was happening.  He spotted the book and told her repeatedly to give it back, in a grouchy way.  She said something and he spotted the cover and changed right before our eyes.  He let her keep it, then actually turned to us and began asking about our church and whether we had a building nearby.  It's such a difficult thing to describe, but it was as though his heart softened the moment he read the title of the Book of Mormon.  Elder Moscon and I left the door puzzled, but feeling the Spirit strongly.  I only see a small part of the puzzle, but I think we were supposed to be there at that exact moment.  It was a moment of importance for these two people, but I can't explain why.  It just felt like a miracle.

Then later that same day, we met with Simon, who chills at the end of our road.  He brought a friend, Don with him and we shared the Restoration with them--sitting on one of the benches at the end of the road.  We asked them if they would be baptized at the end of the lesson--supposing they knew our message was true--and they both agreed outright.  When we set a goal of October 20, Don commented how far away that was.  Also, when we told them the font was in Antwerpen, they started discussing how they would get there.  It was super cool.  They both seem to want to change their lives for the better--good thing too.  They smoke weed very frequently...  Neat experience though.

Then, we decided to have another zone prayer the next day.  While we were in Herentals, we knocked on a certain door and a guy answered.  He said he was Muslim, but had a bunch of friends, then bode us to follow.  The weird things you do on your mission...  We followed him through this house to meet two guys setting up a barbecue.  We had a cool discussion with them, and the first Muslim guy too, about the Book of Mormon.  Halfway through our talk, the first guy left to get shoes and came back with yet another friend.  Out of nowhere, we taught these four African guys, gave them 2 book of Mormons and made a return appointment.  What?

Oh yeah.  Then earlier this week...  The miracles never stop!  We met a man named Simon Benedict by the bus station.  I think I already told you about him......and that the Sisters in Antwerpen gave us a referral, which was Albert.  We went to the Arendonk AZC (refugee centre) to meet with Albert.  We actually met him on the bus on the way there too.  When we got there, he left quickly to get some food from his apartment, and came back with Simon Benedict.  It was unbelievable.  These two people we met two totally separate ways turned out to be bestest friends.  So that was neat as well.

Then, after church, while we were still in the building, a lady came out of nowhere, holding one of our cards and said she was looking for the church written on the card.  We set up an appointment and she promised to come to church the following Sunday.

Dang, miracles flew out of nowhere this week.  The windows of heaven are open!  Prayer--it works.  Especially when your entire zone is united in it.

Well, sorry for writing so much.  So much happened!

Thanks for your support--and see you in Lelystad!

Tot volgende keer,

Elder Burgess

Stadhuisplein 13a
1315 HV Almere-stad
Nederland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lelystad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almere

Another week gone!

Sooo because of various shenanigans I am writing very late this evening. 

Aaaand also because of said shenanigans and lateness, I didn't have much time to read many of your letters.

I'm going to print them off and read them latah, sorry.

Ah, another week gone and past...and gone.  It's so strange.  Elder Moscon said to me yesterday "Oh man, we're getting our transfer call on Sunday."  Wham.  Hit me like a ton of bricks.  This transfer flew by.  Craziness.

OH, thank you so much for the T-shirt by the way!  It might be my new favourite ever.  It is PERFECT.  Typewriter?  Crows?  AH!  I'm trying to get a typewriter, but I can't find anywhere to get one.  It would speed up my letter-writing by ten-fold! 

Yes, this week.  We had an appointment with Tina and Prince this week.  (Tina was formerly Asamoah, until we discovered her real name).  It was a good lesson--they made us African food afterwards.  This delicious fried rice with finely-diced vegetables and chicken.  There was a homemade spicy sauce  - daarbij that bit back if you put too much in your mouth.  I guess I shouldn't complain considering where Chris and Travis are serving...  I thoroughly enjoyed it that evening, but not the following morning.  I now know what Brother Kane was saying about Montezuma revenge.  Gosh.  It was super miserable.  I'll spare you the details.

We ate out for lunch every day this week.  What were we thinking?  We had some donars, kebabs and a Bicky Burger, which is super Belgian.  It's this mystery-meat, mystery-sauce, mystery-cooked-onion burger.  It's an artery-clogger for suresies, but sure tastes good.  Also, I'm convinced Belgian fries are the best in the world.  Met Joppie sauce daarop ook.  Mmm, lekker (Joppie sauce with them also - uhmm, tasty).

We met with Rosario this week.  He had come to church last Sunday.  We retaught the Restoration.  He really is a cool guy--searching for an answer.  We had lost contact because he had a big project with his house that sucked away a lot of his time, but we are jump-starting his investigation once again.

There was a huge family-picnic-day in Herentals on Saturday.  It was a Stake-wide thing, so many members from Eindhoven were there.  It was cool to see them again.  We got to also meet some of the investigators in our district.  Did we tell you about Paul?  We found him during exchanges, but unfortunately, he lives just outside our area.  He came to the picnic day and I got to hear a bit more of his background.  The story goes, he was living in Liberia when things started heating up, so he decided to flee.  Him and a bunch of other refugees were on a boat sailing to Europe when a mighty tempest stirred.  The ship started sinking as it was tossed between the waves and the Muslim people on board began praying.  The boat started sinking more!  Paul quickly advised everyone to pray to Jesus, then started doing so himself.  The boat came up a bit.  The rest of the people soon followed along and the boat came entirely up and it arrived more or less safely to its destination.  Paul committed himself to Jesus thereon afterwards.  Then we found him!  He hasn't been baptised yet either.  I'm jealous that Leuven gets to teach him instead of us, but nevertheless thankful that I was there when we found him.

Soooo we went to Leuven today.  We wanted to go bowling to celebrate Elder Goethals birthday, but both bowling allies in town were closed.  So we wandered through a huge market that happened to be all over the city.  We missed our bus--which is why we're writing emails late--and decided to wander some more while we waited.  As we were turning to head back, one of the women in the stalls stopped to talk to us.  Long story short, she told us she was looking for our church, but couldn't find it in Belgian.  We gladly exchanged info and passed her along to the Sisters in Antwerpen, where she lives.  Had we caught the original bus, we wouldn't have found her.  God works in mysterious ways.

Also, I chatted with used-video game seller, and mentioned that I owned a particular game.  He said that had I had it right then and there, he would have bought it straight-up for 150 Euros.  I didn't pay near that much.  He was a super cool guy.  He told us all about himself, how he had been a homeless guy and how he had worked his way out of poverty.  Very interesting.  Despite one of the first things he mentioned to us (after he realized we were missionaries, he said he couldn't be saved), I gave him a card as a token of our friendship.  You never know right?  Bewp, seed planted.

We had another great lesson with Frank.  We used silence really well; let him think about things.  He really opened up too--told us about how he had a dream where he was meeting with missionaries before.  He's not sure whether that was an answer or not, but we directed him to a few chapters that we think will help.  He wants an answer and he believes, he just needs to act now.  It's really up to him.

Good week indeed.

Also, I found a new bike.  I'll send a picture. I found it at the station.  It's been spraypainted over and the rear tire was pretty much shredded.  It was probably stolen and then abandoned.  It's pretty old too, actually.  I'm not sure what to do with it yet, but for now it's super fun. I haven't actually ridden it yet either...

le gasp!  I now know what my bike's name is:  Peppi.

Well, k, bye

Tot volgende keer, Elder Burgess

Joppiesaus recipe

Servings: 4

• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1//2 - 1 tablespoon ketchup
• 1/3 onion, finely chopped
• 2/3 teaspoon curry powder
• a pinch of paprika
• salt , pepper

Missionary life seems to be themed

You'll go a few weeks of one particular thing happening over and over during a 2 week period.  For example, in Eindhoven when people thought I was Turkish.  For particular occurrences, I feel like it must be God telling you to learn something, but it's hard to know exactly what.  Lately, the theme has been appointments falling through.  We're super excited to meet new people, but it seems when we get around to trying to teach them, they're simply not available.  It's always some force beyond our control too.  I won't bore you with the details, but we were supposed to have a zillion appointments this week.  Not many of them actually went through.  I suppose this is missionary life.  I remember back home how many appointments went through when I went on joint teach with the Elders.  I will say, however, it makes the day worth it when you do get to teach and when it turns out great.  But enough of that.

We had a Zone conference this week.  We went all the way to Leiden.  It was super cool being back in my Greenie city, taking the same bus we took every Sunday...  I picked a sticker to commemorate the occasion.  President gave a great (though somewhat abstract) training.  He used mountains as an analogy, saying that our relationships with others, ourselves and with God should have mountain-like qualities.  Like being sure, strong and true.  It took a while to get the picture he was painting, but once you did, it was actually pretty interesting.  We all got rocks too.  They are from Utah--which probably has more meaning to a Utah person than me.  Dad would probably like my rock.  He likes rocks, right?  Oh maybe Angus...

So Tauelen, the Portuguese girl, came to church last Sunday.  I decided to call and invite her to a dinner appointment we had with our Portugese members.  She couldn't make it, but she invited herself once again to church.  It was funny, because we also called Rosario, a former investigator who also speaks Portuguese.  Investigators class was really interesting.  Tauelen requested that we speak as much English as possible to help her learn it, Rosario speaks fluent Dutch, and we had our Portuguese members there as well.  It was a great smish-smash of all 3 languages, with scattered translation here and there.  Adventurous.  Our ward is having a picnic day on Saturday and Tauelen really wants to come.  Teaching her directly didn't seem to work out before, but it appears as though teaching her indirectly is working far better.

We met with Frank and Beatrice again (the previously mentioned eternal investigators).  He had read in the Book of Mormon again, which was great, because truth be told, we hadn't prepared much of a lesson.  He had more questions, which we gladly answered.  We concluded by reading another chapter from the Book.  I'm really hoping all this sparks a deep interest in the Book of Mormon; he asked quite a few questions that would be better answered by the book itself.  I hope he realizes this too.

We had a zone P-day today.  We bussed down (I hate buses) to Antwerpen and met most of our zone to play sports.  The things you gave me were a huge hit.  We played foetbal for a bit, then it pretty much turned into people throwing my frisbee, foxtail and whistling football around.  It was a fun time.

Also, the weather has taken a drastic change.  Elder Moscon and I took shelter under a 1 by 2 foot overhang while the sky poured it guts out.  It's still slightly sunny, but it looks as though the summer is well on its way out.

Simon and his buddies (his "crew") are pretty much our best friends now.  They chill and smoke weed all day, and wave when we go by.  We had an appointment with him at four, but when we began talking he said, "yeah, we'll meet at four, no worries."  "Simon, it is four..."  "Aaaaaaaah..."  Hmm...  We'll see.  They're all friendly enough though.  We change our route often now though, just in case.  I doubt any of them actually know which house is ours.  You can't see it from where they hang.

We met Dirk in the market.  He's crazy.  Too crazy to sum up in a paragraph.  He had needle-wounds on his arm.  And was drunk.  He's crazy.

I am thoroughly convinced drugs are a direct offspring of the devil.  They absolutely destroy you, in almost every sense of the word.  They melt your mind, corrupt your spirit and taint your body.  They are utterly evil.  Their effects are permanent too.  It's like putting a giant scar across your brain.

Stay as far away from them as possible.

Elder Moscon's bike died this week.  Her head fell off.  It was too old to salvage, so we brought her out back with a rifle and finished off her misery.  Now her corpse rots in front of our house.  Poor Lenaya.  On the bright side, Bro Germann happened to have a new steed for him.  He's willing to sell it cheap too--the price of 2 bags of barley.

Well, bye.

Tot volgende keer,

Elder Burgess

Zone conference

post script

How's Elly doing in the Book of Mormon?  Is she reading the right book yet?  I realized today how much I don't tell people about my book.  It doesn't come up that often anymore.  Almost always somebody else tells somebody else about it.  I should change that...

It was hot-diggety this week

                                  Elder Burgess, Elder Moscon serving in Turnhout

It was hot-diggety this week.  I mean that in more than one way too.

And holy man, those were huge emails.  My eyeballs are sore from all that reading.  Time to give my fingers an equal workout.

Ah yes, hot diggety.  I meant hot diggety as in this week was both hot and diggety.

I could imagine that if Mom were here, she'd have to remark every half hour about how hot it is.  With the humidity so high as well, you could cook an egg in the crook of your back.  It's been so hot.  Luckily, the bottom floor of our house is usually pretty friss (fresh), so we've migrated 80% of our in-house time to downstairs.  We've also developed a pattern of walking only in the shadows.  Belgium people are usually very generous about offering you something to drink--especially in such weather--so we've been well-hydrated.

As far as diggety, we had one heck of a miracle week.  Tuesday, we took a trip up to Eindhoven, to pick up my verblijfsverguning (residence permit legality papers), so that was quite fun.  We got to see Harry and eat lunch with the Eindhoven Elders.  Stickers were picked, strawberries taught and faces melted on hot hot buses.  Fun fun.  That evening, on a whim, we decided to visit somebody named Asamoah, a Ghanaian lady we quickly contacted a week or so before.  When we arrived, the man of the house let us right in and we had a super cool conversation about God.  The man, Prince, is super intellectual--he knows his stuff.  He pretty much told us what the purpose of our life on this Earth was and even gave us a thought-provoking reason why he thinks African people have it rougher than European people.  I can't say it is the reason, but definitely makes sense.  According to him, whether they realize it or not, European people follow God's commandments because they are built directly in the law.  Or at least in part.  Crime rate is much higher in Africa, so though they have great faith, they don't follow the law more generally.  Very interesting to think about.  It's quite fascinating how many people we've come across lately with the same concern: why does God allow bad things to happen.  For me, I think it's simply a part of this life.  We live in an imperfect world because of the Fall--with sickness, corruption and disease.  That's just a natural part of living on this world.  Anyway, him and Asamoah are super cool.  We look forwards to meeting them in the future.

BUT then that evening, we were heading home.  It was a bit late, but when somebody called out to us, we were willing to stop and listen to him.  A younger guy, perhaps...25 or so stopped us.  He remarked how he always saw us (missionaries) in Alkmaar, always biking, biking biking.  "Where are you going all the time?" he asked.  It was an all-around funny contact.  He was slightly drunk, which made it stranger...  At one point, he stopped mid-sentence and simply said "dude", then straightened Elder Moscon's stubborn, crooked handlebars.  Then, at one point, he spotted an ice cream truck (they're EVERYWHERE here) and hurled his ice cream across the street.  We still have absolutely no idea why he did that.  He had pretty much the entire thing left over but he chucked the thing anyway.  Splat.  "Oh, don't worry, those are kind neighbours."  Umm...okay.  Turns out though, he's a super cool guy.  We met him the next day, not drunk, and he's very interested in what we have to say.  We taught him the plan of Salvation and he drank it in.  When we offered him a Book of Mormon, he wanted to pay for it!  He said he'd read it in just a week, but...I'm a bit doubtful.  We saw him in the Supermark today and set up an appointment for tomorrow.  His name is Jaap and his girlfriend's Jip.  Funny names for a couple.  It says Jip and Jaap on their mailbox.

Also, we met a young guy named Simon.  He's the son of another investigator, who has been telling us to meet with his son for some time now.  He's lost his faith for...similar reasons as Antony, but is open to hear what we have to say.  We're naturally excited to meet with him too.

Ah!  Another miracle.  Sometimes, things just seem to fall through.  That's...not the miraculous part.  I'm getting to it.  Buuut we had pretty much more than half of our appointments fall through this week.  At the end of such an appointment-falling-thorough day, we had no clue what to do.  So, we got down on our knees and humbly asked for guidance.  Then, acting on nothing more than faith, we went for a stroll.  After a stinky contact, somebody stopped us a bow shot away from our house.  Him and his crew hang around the entrance to our street everyday, so we seem him a lot.  This time, he stopped us and asked us what we're doing all the time anyway.  We told him and he was excited and totally wants to meet with us.  He said next time we run into him, to bring several Books of Mormon to give to his zillion crew-buddies.  Whoa.  Hallelujah!

So after that cool contact, we decided to roam some more.  Eventually, we found ourselves in front of Tauelen's house, a Portuguese investigator who pretty much dropped us a few weeks ago.  Almost casually, I commented that she lived there.  We stared at the door for a while until Elder Moscon suggested we see what's up.  After a brief discussion with her, she told us she wanted to come to church the next day.  Whoa.  She came too.  We picked her up and brought her along.  It was super unfortunate because the Van den Berg's and Germann's weren't there that day--two super awesome Portuguese-speaking families, but at least Lolas was (who speaks at least 8 languages fluently).  She really enjoyed it too, remarking how it was different, but interesting.  She wants to come again in the future, and asked us if the youth ever do activities together (she's 18).

Then, later that selfsame Sunday, we had a great appointment with an eternal-investigator family.  This time though, he had actually read in the Book of Mormon.  Wow!  We had a Q&A lesson and the Spirit was strong.  We're going to keep really good contact so that he continues to read.  I feel inspired to keep better contact with people, to spoor hen ann om in het boek van Momon te lezen (to track them in the Book of Mormon reading).

Then we went to a member's for dinner.  There were a grand total of 7 little children there.  Ack!  The members had their friends there and even gave away a Book to them!  They were ecstatic about it too.

Dang, so much to say.  Also, the Stake President gave us a training on encouraging the members to give away Books of Mormon's to their friends this week.  Therefore, I challenge you, oh parents and avid readers, to give away a Book of Mormon by the end of September.  Email me right away about your adventures.

Well, sorry for making your eyeballs sore as well.  This week was super great, it's not my fault.

Love you all so much!

Thanks for your letters, especially you, Preston.  I'll write back as soon as I can.

Tot volgende keer,

Elder Burgess

 

I forgot a few things.

Dad, after 20 long years, you still expect me to brush my hair?  Psh, I don't think you really know me.

On one hand, we have a dome scratcher at home, this fun little device with little wire arms tipped with plastic bubbles.  You rub in on your dome and it feels fantastic.  You can get the benefit of dome-exhilaration without actually having to brush!  Loop-hole.

We lost contact with Natalie for several days.  We were beginning to worry, but we picked up an appointment with her for tomorrow.  It's a difficult time to meet, so it's going to be tough to get a Joint teach.  Still, we're optimistic.

Also, there's a festival down the road from our house called Kermis.  There are rides and stands and food and games of skill and games of chance and loud music surrounding the large church.  Unfortunately, we can't participate in all the shenanigans.  It's been going for a solid 3 weeks now.  Pretty much around 3 or 4, it gets super busy and loud.

Also, I found a dozen or so coins on the street.  We were excited that they might be of value, but it turns out you use them to buy cigarettes.  Urk.  Also, I found about 20 car wash coins.  I'm secretly hoping they'll fit into the Kermis coin slots...

I had a dream about Braden.  I worry and pray for him.

BYE