WHAT A GOOD WEEK! -- OCTOBER 20

MTC Buddies

I told you last week that we had huge travel plans this week and they didnt disappoint. But before that we had exchanges on Tuesday and I was with Elder Bourne in our part of Antwerpen so it was really my chance to make our companionship shine. I've been here for a month but I have always been blessed with a good sense of direction so we got all around Antwerpen with my navigation ok. And that day we ended up contacting a referral, teaching 3 lessons and seeing a less active! 2 more lessons and that would have been the mission average for one week all into one day! We taught I guy named Marcel on his doorstep and he speaks hard core Vlaams but he is Belgian and is like 70 something years old. We taught him about faith and prayer because he said that ws hard for him having seen the vietnam war and having served in it. we were able to talk with him really well and he got it, saying he had been reading in the Book of Mormon even though it was hard. The promised to pray with faith that we taught about and he said he will use it too with learning French. He is over 70 and is learning French. haha love it. im able to relate with him with me learning Nederlands and although he speaks english he speaks vlaams with us so i can learn. i love him. he even remembered i lived in idaho. so sick. We taught the piano collector guy again which always takes forever because he loves to speak about his wife in india and selling pianos to get money to fly there. i have been piano for 14 years and eve i cant handle it. too much. hahah but then we taught another investigator who is from italy and is in a wheelchair with a physical disability. we taught about prayer and faith again because he was having a hard time with it being personal and not recited like the catholics believe. we taught well and i bore testimony strongly about how prayer is a connection with God and how I can have conversations with him and be lead by the Head of all life. He told me he loved all of it and he felt my kracht or strength behind it all and i had no idea what i was really saying in dutch. it was way cool though and we were able to identify that as the Spirit for him. and the pit bull didnt kill us that time either which was convenient. 

Belgian Fries

We are planning on meeting with them this week and teaching about the plan of salvation with emphasis on different things. I think Elder Bourne had a good day too with us being able to get so much done with me as only a greenie. 

Belgian Waffles, OH YUM!

Wednesday we trekked up to the temple and did our session in Dutch. There is another new movie! crazy because now i have seen the two newest ones and none of the others. it was obviously all in dutch, everything, but i understood around 60% which i LOVED. such a gorgeous temple even though it is tiny. we had temple conference afterward in Zoetermeer and its the most gorgeous city ever. that day it was so nice outside and we were in the chapel learning and meeting with missionaries from all over the mission. so gorgeous it was one of those times where a picture would have ruined it. so i just enjoyed it. i love nederland its so much cleaner that belgium. but belgium is so solid and old. good contrast haha

We went to Brussel on Thursday! such a neat place it was gorgeous too. we had real life Belgian waffles and they were straight from the celestial kingdom. oh boy never had anything so good. and we had belgian fries which is where french fries actually began! soooo good. I was with all of the missionaries from the MTC which was so cool because i have missed them all and they are all doing SOOO good in their areas. I was companions with Elder Morrell too which was SWEET because we are best friends and im convincing him not to walk on for football at the U and come to the Y. its an obvious choice right? so pretty thats what the pictures are

Waffles from the celestial kingdom

We also had a miracle Saturday. we taught those two girls 3 weeks ago where Elder Peterson said it was the best lesson of his mission but we lost contact. we thought they may have run into anti material because they like to look things up. but SATURDAY we were in the centrum on the nicest day ever so basically it was like Vegas strip packed everywhere, about to head down to the tram and i told elder peterson to wait. i saw a girl that looked like marinata, one of the girls, so we went over to talk to her. we yelled marinata across the centrum and she turned and IT WAS HER! such a miracle we have been praying to find them for weeks. she came over to us and was so happy to see us saying her phone had broke and she lost our number. we had no address so we switched numbers again and she was so happy saying her other friend Gifty asked just the day before when they could meet with us again! AHHH soo cool! so we will meet with them this week too! things are turning around!

Elder Morrell and I in the Brussel centrum

We had stake conference these last two days so we went to Brussel AGAIN haha but Elder Morrell got to sleep over with us that night which was a party. He lives in Tilburg which is in Nederland so it was easier with travel time to stay over. There is no air conditioning here so the stake center was baking hot haha and the stake here is the Antwerpen stake and its actually real big. its neat to see how many diligent members really live here.

We have been everywhere this week haha trains are our lifeblood and they are so neat to ride. we fly through belgium and holland on trains passing by castles and tulip fields constantly. really neat. and the food is pretty good too haha

only a week til transfers which is nuts but it should be a good one! investigators are coming back to life. which is also helpful haha baptisms for the living, not the dead. ok im done now.

Have a great week! Thanks for all your love and support!

Elder Trevan Scott Reese