Delft is southeast of
Den Haag and just Northwest of Rotterdam so I am right in the middle of South
Holland and I am SO EXCITED. Delft tis famous for its Delft blue china, its
windmills and tulips in the spring. If I stay more than 1 transfer I will be in
Holland in the spring with the flowers and the windmills. Talk about a dream
come true. There are really beautiful churches in Delft and it is an awesome
combo of old and charming and new and modern. AH I am so excited.
Antwerpen has the
second biggest ward in the mission with about 120 active members. I thought
with my odds that I would be moving to a quaint branch after being in a major
city. Well Delft is in the Den Haag ward which is THE biggest ward in the
mission. People just love me.
I am really excited to
start new and see Holland and see another city. My comp is Elder Conatti and he
is from Brazil! He is here Portuguese speaking and is coming to Delft from
Rotterdam so we are whitewashing in! Gonna be crazy and probably hard so good
thing this is the Lord's work.
In our district we
have 8 Den Haag missionaries, a senior couple, elders, sisters, zone
leaders, the Delft elders (us) and zoetermeer elders and sisters which is where
the temple is. I will live real close to the temple; it’s just one city over. I
remember going to Zoetermeer for temple conference and thinking how beautiful
it was and how I wanted to serve there. I AM GOING THERE. Right next to the
temple in Delft. Legit Delft is one of the coveted cities in the mission. You
can probably taste my excitement through the computer screen. Elder Bernier who
is my district leader now is the new Den Haag zone leader so we are taking the
train up together and will be working again together which is sooooo cool. Our
exchanges here in Antwerpen wrought some of the coolest miracles I have seen.
Unfortunately, we had
another rough week here in Antwerpen. I hate flaky people. Here we call them
flauw if they are flaky and literally translated that means flavorless. I don’t
even care. If people aren’t gonna stick to their appointments, gosh dang they
are flavorless. BUT we did have some cool stuff. We met with Fredrick for the
first time since before Christmas and he is sick with a bladder infection. He
is a Suriname man with no filter whatsoever so we basically had a 7th grade
health lesson in Dutch about the urinary system. Urine for a real treat when
that happens. But we gave him a blessing after our lesson on tithing and he
prayed at the end and asked Heavenly Father to heal him through his faith on
priesthood power. Super cool. He told us nothing is holding him back from
baptism except his health right now and he has quit all coffee drinking!
I had fufu again this
week which was that African food where you eat soup and potato dough and
chicken with your hands. That was a thrill.
And we got a cool new
investigator this week named Agatha. Great story. We met with Ruby for the
first time and she was busy doing this lady Flora's hair. (she was stitching
hair onto her head because that is how Africans do hair) and we taught the
whole restoration to them both haha and Flora wanted us to go see her sister a
few houses down and give her Jesus. And that is Agatha. Simply imagine going to
your hair appointment, being taught by 2 Americans while getting hair stitched
on your head and then being asked to be baptized. Welcome to Europe haha so we
went and met with Agatha this week and she is head over heels for us
missionaries and the fact that we try to save the world through Jesus and peace
and not terror and war. So we took it and ran. We taught her the restoration
and she said her husband just stopped being a Muslim and wants to be Christian
but doesn’t know exactly how.
Gold. We are teaching
them now and she has never been baptized which is very uncommon here because
everyone in Belgium is baptized Catholic as a baby. We tried to set a date
for Feb 15th and that turns out to be her birthday hahahaha so we are
working towards that now. I love the Spirit and this work so much because
things like this just happens and it is no coincidence.
I set up an
appointment this week in Spanish so that was bueno.
Mark is doing well
still but unfortunately he forgot about our appointment this week so we didn’t
get to teach him #lame.
Church on
Sunday was great. I knew it was most likely my last Sunday in Antwerpen
and I was sitting between Eric and Gerald. I just started to think about how
blessed I am to have brought the Gospel to these two guys who now taste of the
Spirit and enjoy the blessings that come from baptism. Seeing them partake of the
sacrament and letting Christ lead them is a joy that is incomparable. We sang
Komt, Heiligen komt to close which is come come ye saints in dutch and I was
very sentimental for me. Thinking about the early saints and everything they
went through. EVERYTHING they did to be saved from persecution. They were
testaments of steadfastness. They knew without a doubt of the truth and were
willing to die for it.
And if we die before
our journey is through, happy day all is well.
That line will forever
be written on my heart. We are to seal our testimony with all that we have. And
we have an eternal perspective that stems from the truth. To me, there is no
reason to fear with that.
I cannot describe how
excited I am to see Holland but it is really painful to leave. Today I am
saying goodbye to Gerald and Eric and members in the ward that I love soooooo
much. It is definitely difficult but nothing is ever meant to be easy.
I love the emails from
people getting mission calls and leaving out to the MTC. It is such an
inspiration and delight to know I have friends throughout the world teaching
the word of God to those who thirst for it most. I delight in being a member of
the chosen generation. I see it in every missionary and friend I come in
contact with.
It's a shame I am
leaving the terror infested country of Belgium because I really wanted to
convert some of those terrorists. They are only about 30 minutes away you know.
Antwerpen is full of paratroopers and Belgium SWAT team which is basically
equivalent to a standard US police officer. #europedoesitbest
Have a fantastic week
and delight in the word of the Lord!
Love
Elder Trevan Scott
Reese
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