From mom -- I found these pictures on other blogs. They were taken when he traveled for the temple conference a couple weeks ago.
Transfers have come
and gone and now I am taking over Antwerpen with my new companion Elder
Shelton. It has been real hard because I am now in charge of everything and
making sure he knows investigators situations when I'm still learning them
myself. People in Europe are kind of flouw is what we say which is like flaky
or unreliable.
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| during temple conference |
Not a lot happened
this week that was extraordinary because transfers happened and we have been
scattered everywhere. But yesterday in church Nadia was confirmed and I was in
the circle which was super cool because she asked me to be in it. I already
love the people in this ward now and they are so loving and caring. They are
patient with me and my Dutch which is good because it makes me so much more
confident. I've thought about it a lot and I will improve myself with that
because back home if someone couldn't speak English I would get kind of
irritated when I had no idea what it was like to be in head first and immersed
in nothing but Dutch.
We are planning on
setting another baptismal date this evening with our investigator Gerard who in
my mind is the most ready of all of our investigators. He just has ties to his
church right now that we have to work with. But he gets it. We have our first
baptism on Sunday! Everything has been planned for Eric and his mother
will definitely be there for it. Should go well we are hoping but I'm a little
nervous because I had to plan it with our Ward Mission Leader who I kid you not
speaks no English whatsoever and I have never planned a baptism. Faith. That’s
what it is haha.
Saturday we were
able to get a lot of potential investigators so hopefully that rolls well this
week. We have appointments with Eric for baptismal things, Daniel our other baptismal
date, Gerard who is the bomb, and several other investigators that progress
very slowly but are still there. It's hard for me to teach Daniel because he
speaks Vlaams really strong and I'm trying everything to get him to understand
me and feel the Spirit but it hasn't happened so far. I fasted for that
yesterday so hopefully things get better.
All in all, I am
exhausted haha so tired every day that I melt into the bed and have to use a
crow bar to get out at 6:30 am. It's awesome to be so tired but I am still
new to everything and so my stress level skyrockets with everything. I am
grateful that it is hard though because now I can better appreciate the good
and smooth things. Miracles are still happening though for sure.
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| Where's Waldo (Trevan) |
Saturday was our
miracle this week. We were climbing an escalator out of our subway tram stop
thing in the sketchy area of town called Borgerhout and two girls with a baby
asked if we were the Mormons. We said no and just walked away. Haha just
kidding we told them we were and they asked if they could have a Book of Mormon
(they know what we do) and so we gave them one and they asked for the church
address too. After picking our jaws up from the ground we gave them the card
and they told us they will be coming on Sunday this week and we have their
phone number. She had had her baby just before she could see the church so she
had to wait but know she can get there again. SUPER PUMPED. Her name is Maria
and she looks maybe Middle Eastern. That's the thing here; the Middle Easterns
that aren't Muslims love to listen. We have had 2 Iranians and one came to
church with her kids and the Zuster missionaries because they can't go back to
Iran since they aren't Muslim. They love the church but aren't legal here so
they have to keep moving around. It really showed me how lucky I am again for
being able to be grounded in the Gospel and live somewhere where I can love it
so much. AMERICA IS THE BEST. As if you didn't know.
The potential is there
this week so things should go well. Thank you for the prayers so much. Lastly,
the miracle of my lost wallet. I would compare Antwerpen to the size of
Seattle. That's how big it is. Monday we went shopping at a
secondhand store where everything was only 3 euro and I bought a jacket which
is real nice. We left to go grocery shopping and it was my turn to pay because
of transfers and my wallet wasn't in my bag. I panicked and had a meltdown
in the middle of the store and starting throwing raw meat and people. Slight
Exaggeration. I was freaking out because it had everything in it, 60 euro my
Idaho license, Nederland train card debit cards, insurance cards, everything.
So we got home and had a dinner appointment but I was super stressed about it.
I was praying so much that I would find it and know where to look and it had
the potential to be either at the church from that morning, the secondhand
store, or it was pickpocketed which is really common here. Especially being in
the super crowded secondhand store. We got to the church the next morning and
it still wasn’t there so I was losing hope. We went to lunch after district
meeting then stopped by the secondhand store. Because of the sale everything
was moved and if it had fallen out of my bag or I dropped it there was no hope.
So we asked the lady at the counter as a last resort and she said yes just a
second. I was dying I was hoping so much that it was mine. she showed a black
wallet, just like mine and I said ik ben amerikaans van uit idaho and sure
enough she opened the wallet and there was my podunk Idaho driver’s license and
that cheesy smile mocking me hahahaa oh I was so relieved. That let the week
start off well and I prayed so much thankfulness haha and everything was still
in it. Such a miracle I found it. This place is nuts. Or maybe it’s just me.
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| P-Day |
I’m going to Brussel again Thursday so that’s exciting and with all the new greenies from Wednesday too.
Elder Shelton is from
Plain City, Utah and has been out since January. Same address. Should be that
until at least Dec 10. Then we transfer again. But I could stay again and
be a blijver. Eric will be baptized Sunday! Which is awesome because he
has waited since before I graduated. And Gerard and Daniel should come soon.
All of them are between 16-19 so it’s cool to see guys understanding and
waiting to act on faith so much. Eric is from Ghana, Daniel from Cameroon and
Gerard from Sierra Leone. All Africans and all super cool. They don’t really
want to be in Belgium but it’s were things are best for them. And they don’t
understand why people aren’t faithful here so it’s been neat to show them
things. Mormon messages and videos are huge for them here. It’s neat to show
them things that bring the spirit so strong. Ask people back home to search it
or post something on Facebook because you never know who might need it right
then.
Elder Trevan Scott Reese
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