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!

Surprised, we sputtered for a moment....

Ah yes.

By the way, I totally have our address now.  It's:

 

Julianaplein 74

1781 HD Den Helder

Nederland

 

Woop.  So this week was admittedly slow.  We had a lot of contacted with not so many results.  The people we did find, however, seem promising.  We were in a sleepy little village and talked to a man for 20 minutes or so.  At the end, he accepted a Book of Mormon and gave us his address.  Woo!  We have to swing by next week.  He lives on a farm...

Also, while we were contacting, we knocked on a door and a lady opened and exclaimed "Come on in!"  Surprised, we sputtered for a moment before she realized we were obviously not the people she was expecting.  Turns out she was waiting for missionaries from another church.  Still, we shared a good thought and gave a card pointing to General Conference, which she was excited about actually.  You never know.

Katie is still doing awesome.  We met with her twice and she's super on board.  At the end of the lesson, she started telling us how good she feels since she's begun meeting with us, that for the first time, "I feel free!  Like never before in my life, I'm free!"  Aw.  She's a swell person with a big heart.  She'll make it for suresies.

Unfortunately, Joseph took a turn for the worse.  We're not sure exactly what happened, but he left a message on our phone and we talked with him later and he said that he's not ready or willing to take a departing step from what he knows.  He wants to stick with the Bible and so forth.  I've heard this song before.  He still wants to be our friend, however, so I haven't lost hope yet.  I suspect his pastor at his church discovered that he was meeting with us, because he called after he attended his church service and our appointment with him that same evening fell through because he was meeting with his pastor--at the same time. Hmm...  I certainly hope he recognizes the Spirit he felt with us and dwells on that.  I really can't blame him though, Joseph's in a difficult situation right now.  He lost his wife in a car crash not too long ago.  I suppose he just needs some time to ponder.

Things with Payo are pretty much the same.  I made the mistake of asking which soccer team was his favourite--never, ever do that.  You're facing half our meeting conversing about soccer if you do.  Then about horses.  And biking.  And how those two things are related...  Oh well.

We also met with Family Sante, (there's an accent on the e, but I'm too lazy to figure out how to put it there).  They haven't been to church for a while because they have problems with the members.  Sigh.  Apparently, Den Helder's history isn't terribly awesome, but still.  A silly conflict between people shouldn't keep you from worshipping your God.  Deep down, it's a testimony issue I'm sure.  They are super open with meeting with us more, so we'll see what we can too.  Fun couple though.  Interesting sense of humour...

Aaand no, I haven't had any fish yet, which is actually a bit upsetting.  Ik wil graag wat lekker vis eten (I would like some nice fish dinner).  No members have offered fish yet and I haven't quite convinced Elder Giles to go to one of the many fish restaurants dotting the city.  I'll tell you something though, man oh mighty does that fish smell good when your belly is empty.  Diddely.  We had the chance to eat Fish and Chips at a restaurant, but I was adviced not to because last time Elder Giles and Elder Schulte ate at this particular place, Elder Schulte had been spewing.  Spewing chunks.  Throwing up.  Yep.  I'll pass, thanks.

General Conference was great.  We watched it in English. I especially enjoyed President Monson's address Sunday morning and one of Uchtdorf's.  I can't remember which session.  I want to review them again when the Liahona (the Dutch church magazine) comes.

Well, that is everything for this week I suppose.

Tot volgende keer,

Elder Burgess

 

Apparently, amazon.de is cheaper than the regular amazon site as far as shipping goes.  Apparently, they ship out of Zwolle or something.  Thought I'd let you know...

Turns out, it was the bomb

Well, I spent a lot of time emailing other people, including smelly, so I don't have too much to say this week.

I will however, insert a thing about friends here.  I think I've already mentioned this, but I'm learning how important friends are.  Friendship has grown for me.  A friend has more value than it did before.  As I was reflecting over the friends I've made, I read my patriartical blessing.  In it, it mentions that on my mission I will make new friends, and that these friendships will be valuable and long lasting.  Wham.  Apparently, revelation works.  I have seen how that little bit of personal revelation has come true already.  The friendships I have made are precious and valuable to me.  Of all the trinkets I've got, I think the most important are the pictures I've obtained--pictures of my friends.  Cherished people.  Thank you, camera.

This week was an interesting one.  We met with Bernie again, who's this somewhat crazy guy with a mouth that never stops moving.  We didn't teach anything, but we helped him with his computer.  While we were chilling in his house, I saw something move and my eyeballs shot that direction.  Yep, a moment later, sure enough, a mouse went scurrying away.  Needless to say, his house is a mess.

As well, Payo has taken an interesting turn.  It seems as though he is more interested in learning about the gospel and less in actually following it.  He's got a pretty comfortable life, and he doesn't want to do anything--positive or negative--to change that, again, positively or negatively.  It's somewhat unfortunate, but since he hasn't read in the Book of Mormon, it's certainly understandable.  Goal: read the Book or Mormon with him until he'll do it by himself.  Punt.

On a great note, our friend Katie agreed to a baptismal date this Friday.  We had a good lesson where we simply read the Book of Mormon (inspiration for above) and she was very impressed.  Our goal for her is the 10th of May.  She also likes to talk, making things interesting.

Gack!  Not much time!

So I think last week I mentioned Tim and Solymar.  We had a return appointment this week and from the very moment we made it, I had the feeling that it was going to be the bomb.  Seriously, I was looking forward to it all week long.  Turns out, it was the bomb.  The evening started off with us basically being ourselves.  Expressing and sharing interests and stories and essentially bonding.  After a super duper delicious meal, we sat down and had a fantastic lesson.  The previous week, we had promised to explain the Book of Mormon to Tim.  So we dang diddely did.  He accepted it really well too, mentioning that he's actually personally searching for the truth.  At the end, he even said that he has to read the book and learn more before making any definite decision.  Perfect!  Oh man, it was a perfect appointment.  Elder Giles mentioned it was the best appointment he's had on his mission.  Zo.

Like I mentioned, I'm a bit short of time, so this is about all I can say this week.  Also, it is still really cold and occasionally snows.

tot volgende keer,

Elder Burgess

If you're with the wind, you fly.

Sorry this might be short today.  I had a zillion other people to email.

Ohh....and....also, I hate this keyboard.

So.  Life.  Life is now in Den Helder.  Den Helder is now in life--and the Netherlands.  If you look on a map, the north part of this country looks like a glove.  Den Helder is on the thumb of that glove.  Almost complete opposite ends of the mission.  I caught a train at 8:30 and arrived at about 5--with no lunch in between.  My bags are getting super heavy now.  I tried to send a box home with things I don't need, but the post office wanted to charge 100 Euro.  YEAH RIGHT.

So Den Helder.  It's been open for about 4 weeks and the members are really excited about it.  In their prayers, they thank the Lord that they have missionaries.  It's an older branch, as in it's been here forever and everybody in it is pretty dang old.  There's only one young man...  Like I said, they're pumped and they love feeding us.  The cupboards are a bit bare right now, but that's okay.

Den Helder itself is a sleepy little place.  It's not very big and not very busy--perfect.  Our area is actually pretty small too, including a dozen or so small cities surrounding.  Also, it's cold as cold can be.  There's a super fierce wind right now that tries to rip you off your bike.  With my sleek, slender delicious bike that hasn't happened yet, but you have to keep a look out, otherwise Mr Wind, that stinky old fart, will come out and get you.  If you're with the wind, you fly.  Psh, like you're ever with the wind.

Elder Giles is a cool cat.  Turns out, he's just about nerdy as I am.  We have a lot of the same interests and all the lame humour I've acquired over the years from video games and internet actually makes sense for him.  No way.  He's a super cool guy and an awesome missionary.  He has no fear contacting people.  Compared to him as a greenie, I was a nightmare.  We'll have fun, I can tell.

We've already got some pretty positive people that we're teaching actually.  We have 3 baptismal dates, David, Joseph and Payo.  I've only met two of the three, but they seem like nice, positive people.  We've met several others who I already consider my friends.  Friends have become very important for me on my mission--they value of a friend is greater than gold.  Among those friends are Tim and Solymar, a super cool couple.  She's a less-active member and he's totally open to hearing the gospel.  Their cat is a midget--she has some sort of growth disorder--and is adorable.

Elder Giles is deathly afraid of spiders.  I hate basking sharks, so it evens out.

Our apartment is smack diddely dang right in the middle of Den Helder--a 30 second walk from the station.  That's even closer than Almere apartment.  Elder Mower is our district leader, which is super awesome.  Great, good, fantastic.

Well, what more can be said, than has already been sa-id?

tot volgende keer,

Elder Burgess

 

Evan's apartment
http://maps.google.ca/?utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-ca-bk-gm&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=google%20maps

There was a yelp, a grunt, a rip....

Oh, this week.  I'll tell you one thing: there was a lot of travelling involved.

On Tuesday, it snowed like crazy.  Holy Moses it snowed.  It.  Snowed.

Of course, the snow backed up the entire train system as well.  Almost every single train had at least a 20 minute delay.  We went and visited super buff Chris that day, catching a train that was an entire hour later. We also caught the bus in the swirling winter white gales and missed our stop, putting us ankle-deep in the drifts.  We wikkety-walked half of the way back to Chris's before we decided to call him to say we were going to be late.  He wasn't even home.  I can honestly say there are only a handful of times I've almost lost it on my mission, and that was one of them.  There was a bit of scolding involved, including "We travelled 2 and a half hours to get here and you're not even home?!"  It all worked out though.  I called him later and he wasn't upset.  Still, I apologized and we made it home safely in the end. 

Oh yeah, Monday we went to the middle of nowhere.  The bus was all messed up so we couldn't even get to the person we were trying to look up.  Also, getting to Van Kerckhovens' to teach Eva is about an hour and a half journey.  My goodness.  Can you believe that?  Buuut Eva is doing awesome.  She read what we asked her and even highlighted a scripture in Alma 32 about faith.  Super cool.  We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she had some questions about reincarnation, but otherwise accepted it.  She's getting wet (baptised).

We met with family Setta as well.  Ivan has done his best to read every day in the Book of Mormon.  Holy Moses, can you believe that?  They are so awesome.  He's at the part where Nephi builds a boat and such.  Love family Setta!  We taught them about the Word of Wisdom and they accepted most of it--except that Mama Setta's papa is a Coffee farmer.  Say what?  They have farmers for that?  Yeah, her daddy grows and grinds his own coffee.  She asked if that then made it okay to drink.  My answer was simply, "God told us to avoid all coffee.  Pray about it and ask."  What more can you say?  Still, Fam Setta is awesome. 

We didn't meet with Fam Rodriguez, but they are doing great as well.  Mama R has begun reading in the Book of Mormon and the youngest reads often in her kinderboek.  We have an appointment this week....

EXCEPT I'M GETTING TRANSFERRED.

Wham.  Yep.  I'm getting shot clear up to Den Helder, which I know nothing about.  Apparently, this is the second transfer it's been open.  I'm going to be finishing the training of...Elder Giles.  Anydoodle, I'm very, very chapped that I have to leave Leuven of course.  All these fantastic families and individuals, but I've accepted long ago to go where the Lord wants me to.  I'm just upset I didn't get any pictures of my best friends.  I'll ask dear ol' Rozendaal to take some and mail them to me.

Aha, Elder Rozendaal...

We were late for an appointment and our bikes were parked elsewhere, so we decided to take the backup bike.   Now, this so called backup had a broken bagagedrager (a rack on the back of all Dutch bikes, above the rear wheel), so we thought it would be a good idea to achterop, or for Elder R to ride the rack.  We started going, but before long, I hit a big dip in the road.  There was a yelp, a grunt, a rip and Elder Rozendaal stumbled off.  Ha, when I turned to look at him, he had an expression of shock and terror.  The rack on the back had broken clean in half, taking the seat of his pants with it...  Yes, the butt of his pants was ripped clean open.  He snatched his butt and he waddled home to quickly change.  I couldn't stop laughing.  It was his favourite suit, but hot dang was it funny.  You could fly a plane through the hole in his pants, man oh mighty.  I gave him some money to compensate, so we're even at least.

We tried looking up the person with border collies, but she wasn't home.  We also, unfortunately, had no appointment with Willy.  And no, I didn't buy the 3-wheeled bike. Bummer.  We also had an appointment with Miko and his daughter.  She was a lot more involved than last time.  We're not 100% sure now if he actually knows the book of Mormon is true, but he did say a prayer of sorts yesterday which is great progress.

Some while ago, Elder Rozendaal spotted a dragon ball z poster on a window and we knocked their door.  The young man who opened was friendly enough, but no appointment at first.  We've since gone over and they've let us in.  We went over again this week and there were 7 whole people there.  When we walked in they were watching the goriest TV show ever.  Some guy smashed in another guy's face with his shield as we watched.  Anyway, they quickly flipped that off and we had a pow-wow with these guys.  They're super awesome.  They love it when we come over.  They all huddle around on their couches and throw all sorts of questions at us, listening intently and pondering about it.  They asked at one point what they guidelines were for media.  I told them we avoid porn in every form.  They then all looked at the giant poster of naked ladies on the opposite wall.  Aha, that was a weird moment.  It's a total guy house...  There's more than one of those posters, I'll tell you that.  We have to really look them in the eyes when we teach...or else.  Super cool people though.

Well, that's a long email.  I want to send a giant box home before I get transferred.  It's a whole bunch of stuff I don't need on my mission.  Letters, a Koran and other such things. Sorry, it's not a gift for you guys, just...gotta make room to pack.

See you in another city.

Tot volgende keer,

Elder Burgess

Evan's new address:

Julianaplein 74

1781HD Den Helder

Nederland

Den Helder

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

**So the church made an official announcement that missionaries can now contact everybody via email (except women inside our area).  That means, officially, I can send and receive emails from friends now too! 

Rotterdam and Antwerpen Zones met on March 15, 2013 at Antwerpen Chapel for Zone Conference.

    Elder Pimentel and Elder Burgess

Elder Giles ~ opening his assignment.  He is going to Den Helder, Netherlands with Evan. This city has just been opened up again for Missionary work.  The branch has been without their own missionaries for 6 years.  

We're sitting fast in a rut

I'm not sure exactly what happened this week, but we're sitting fast in a rut.  Out of the 7 or so people we meet with weekly, we didn't meet with a single one of them.  Willy, Setta, Rodriguez and so forth.  We tried to swing by Miko, but he had to go to work.  Fair enough, so we set an appointment the next day at the same time.  When we swung by, his entire door bell system was ripped from the wall.  Literally.  There was just a big ol' hole with wires poking out.  His phone was off too so we waited around until somebody came out.  He was just as surprised as we were to discover the bell system were gone. He couldn't let us in either.  I can understand.  Later it was suggested to us that we should have left a letter in the mailbox.  Derp, why didn't we think of that?  Bishop's wife also suggested to throw rocks at their window--because that's what the Elders had done when she was investigating.  We had actually considered that, but his window is above a busy bus stop, and I'm pretty sure people wouldn't be happy with rocks crashing on their domes.

Willy is doing very well.  As far as we know, he's giving up smoking.  He's very touchy on the matter.  He got upset when I asked because when you mention it, he starts thinking about it and desiring it.  He was actually pretty steamed.  Note to self: don't ask about smoking.  I'm curious how I'm going to find out now...

OH.  So here's something equally exciting and frustrating.  Arg!  So Branch President Van Kerckhoven (who has a fantastic Flemish accent) has had a friend coming to church since around November sometime.  We finally met with her this week.  She's their babysitter from China who staying here for a year.  I can't remember her real name, but her 'Dutch' name is Eva--like Even, but...Dutch.  She's super positive and we even set a Baptismal date with her in the first lesson!  She mentioned that when she prays, she feels great, and that's how she's learnt God exists.  We told her that if she feels the same way when she reads the Book of Mormon, this means it's true.  She said, "Oh, that makes sense."  Wham. Anydoodle, she's great.  We went all the diddely dang way to Genk on Sunday, super excited that we were going to see her in church--because she attends almost weekly.  But she wasn't there!  We asked the Van Kerckhovens and they said she had stayed up partying or something and was too tired to get up.  Okay, that's annoying.  But here's the really frustrating part.  We called our young men's leader that same day to ask if anybody was visiting church back in Leuven.  He said no, then asked how Shen was doing (or some similar name).  I said I did not know a 'Shen', then suggested Eva.  "Oh," he said, "is that her English/Dutch name?"  Yes...  Wait...what?  "Yeah, she was too tired to go to church because she was hanging out with me last night."  ...What?!  Turns out he's totally dating her or something.  Arg!  Oh well.  He had a lot of positive things to say about her.  He even said that if we manage to meet with her twice a week, she'll totally make her baptism.  Cool!

The other person we met with was Chris.  Chris is buff.  Really buff.  Man oh mighty, I'm worried I'll say something wrong then POW, lights out.  He also knows the Bible inside and out and isn't afraid to preach to us.  He's open and willing to "Read.  Yes, read the word of God," so we'll see what happens.  He also accepted a 'soft' baptismal invitation--even after mentioning he's already been baptized.  When most people, after you've invited them, say that they've been baptized already, you have to go into a huge discussion explaining the priesthood again.  He just kind of shrugged with a smile, "If that's what God wants, then okay.  I would do it."  Neat.

We also met a very positive potential investigator, with two beautiful border collies.  She was pretty interested, so we're swinging by next week.  Fingers crossed!

Otherwise, lots of doors knocked, lots of "nee, "hoor"s and so forth. 

We found a 3-wheeled bike for sale as well.  The people selling it had bought it for their brother, but his cancer took a turn for the worse and he couldn't use it anymore.  Unfortunately, they wanted 200 Euro for it.  Unfortunately, Elder Rozendaal suggested a Book of Mormon instead.  Unfortunately, it turned out they hate Mormons and they slammed the door before I could barter.  Dangit.  Almost had a big-boy trike.  Maybe next time.

Yeah. this week wasn't the best.  It's a good thing next week will be better!

Okay, bye.

tot volgende keer,

Elder Burgess

THANKS FOR THE SHIRTS BY THE WAY.  Holy man, so dang awesome.

Somewhat dazed and excited

Aw, all your kinds words make me warm in my tummy.

And no, that's not a Dutch phrase.

Blam-diddly we had a good week.  We taught so many people this week.  Wow.  Busy, busy.  We missed hanging out with some of our usuals, namely Willy, Rodriguez and Setta, but we still had contact at least.  I think the biggest miracle came from Miko.

I'm too excited, I have to tell it now.

So when I first got here with dear o' Elder Mower, we went to Miko's house.  Elder Jones had been teaching him and claimed that he "understood it", despite his very little Dutch--he's Slovakian, by the way.  Elder Mowmow and I were less convinced.  When we got there, he was home, but wouldn't let us in for some unclear reason.  And that was that, we never went there again.  Fast forward until last week and we see Miko and his nephew have come to church for the first time,... 10 minutes before it ended.  Somewhat dazed and excited, we set an appointment and Miko went on his merry way.

The selfsame Tuesday, we had a smashing District meeting where our esteemed District leader set a way-high goal of 20 baptisms by the end of March.  You have to keep in mind that last month, between 4 companionships, we had 5 baptisms.  Stymied (did I use that right?) but super stoked, Elder Rozendaal and I caught the vision and invited 2 of our friends to baptisms, both with...undesirable results.  So we were thinking, heck-diddely, what's happening?  Why aren't people accepting this?  We've been asked to do this and we are!  Why isn't it working.

I think I've learned a lot about Diligence this week.

Then out of the blue, we went over to Miko's on Saturday.  I had a feeling this was going to be a huge lesson.  For literally 10 or 15 minutes, we scrambled trying to think of something to say.  Eventually, we asked.  "Miko, what do you think of God?"

"I believe."  This is all in Dutch, by the way.  Super, super simple.

"Okay.  And the Book of Mormon?  Do you think it's good?"

"Yeah."

Holding breath. "Do you believe it's true?"

"Yes."

Oh my goodness.  "If the Book is true, that means our church is true.  Do you believe this is the true Church?"

Breathless now.

"Yes."

WOOOO!

We're not sure exactly how or when or WHAT, but Miko got his witness that the Book of Mormon is true.  He wants to get baptised on April 28.  Did I mention he has a family of 7.  He has five children, from 16 to 4.  What a huge miracle.  Totally out of nowhere too.  I'm still in shock, really.

Our friend Louise came to church as well!  She really enjoyed it.  It was super awesome to have her there.  She told us earlier in our appointment that she really wants to know if this is the truth.  Wow.  Honest investigators looking for the right way. Gotta love them.

We did swing by family Setta by the way.  We spoke with Ivan and one of his sisters and basically chatted more than taught about the Prophet.  At the end, they were super stoked and both promised to try to read every day in the Book of Mormon.  He's already at 1 Nephi 16 and loves it.  Holy Moses, can one heart contain so much joy?

We met with two young boys earlier too.  They asked us straight-up at the beginning of the lesson what they had to do to be baptized.  We were a bit stunned and it took us a while to give them an answer.  Their situation is difficult because they go to their Papa's every weekend, and thus can't come to church.  Hmm, time to pray for a solution.

We have about a zillion bikes to fix today.  My racing bike got a bit ol' hole in the tire. Somebody stabbed it a few weeks ago and I didn't patch it well enough the first time.  Grr, so annoying.  Ahh, Elder Rozendaal crashed too.  The bar connecting his handlebars and frame literally snapped while he was riding.  I nearly ran over his arm.  He bruised his arm and back, but nothing serious.  He's practically better already.

Heh-hey.  We met with Andre the Russian drummer as well.  We had a pow-wow by a river downtown with his buddy.  Elder R taught buddy and I taught Andre.  It was one of the most spiritual lessons ever for me.  I taught him very simple gospel truths; God, Jesus, prayer and our Eternal potential.  Super cool.  Unfortunately, Andre the drummer is off on vacation for 2 months.  Chances of me seeing him again...

Well.  Busy week, not enough time to write it all.

Thanks for your letters!  And...socks?

Tot volgende keer,

Elder Burgess

 

**HAPPY DANG BIRTHDAY J

**Wow you got that for a very, very good price actually.  Elder Rozendaal says thanks a zillion times.  He is absolutely ecstatic about it.  Hugest smile ever.  Thanks!