Spijkenisse

Hey y'all if you think the weather in Idaho is bipolar during this time of year, feel not alone. Holland is the exact same. Yesterday it poured and was a freaking hurricane outside but we had a car so I can't complain. I actually enjoyed it haha. But hey. These January, February, March, and April showers are going to bring them May flowers.

This week we trekked around the blessed city of Spijkenisse. It’s southwestish of Rotterdam and I am in love with the ward there. Meeting with the members this week and seeing their personalities and go-at-it attitude with member duties and missionary work was fantastic. Spijkenisse has some of the coolest people with the best stories about the Gospel. It was truly inspiring to visit them. There are 2 elders for that ward which is cool to have a ward to yourself (I have only been in the biggest wards in the mission with at least 6 missionaries in each) but still be close to the city of Rotterdam and the benefits of a large area.

Traffic

We met with Micha this last week! We mostly talked about his work and his love for plants and gardens but took it back to his smoking problem and got GREAT news. Even with iffy contact between us and the senior couple Romigs, he will go a day or two without even smoking. He told us about the battle between mind and matter, that he recognizes it as disgusting and thinks of cigarettes as horrid but his body can uncontrollably crave them. He is making great progress with that though and we brainstormed ideas for him to turn away the craving when it comes. He just leaves the house and bikes around Delft or walks around the centrum to get his mind off of the craving. We have had much better contact and relationship with him this week and have appointments set up for the coming weeks. He is a unique case too because smoking is his step of faith to discover if God is real. And as he prays for strength his testimony is growing!

We met with Jones Tuesday too.  Elder Conatti and I struggled to find out what to teach. Our whole companionship study we battled to find what to teach and basically thought of every doctrine. We ended up teaching him repentance and it went very well. We didn’t set a baptismal date however, but that is the plan tomorrow!

We had a fantastic zone training Wednesday about recognizing and heeding to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. And in a week and a half we have TEMPLE CONFERENCE. Man I can’t wait to go to the temple again and receive such rich enlightenment from on high. And this next week we have GENERAL CONFERENCE. So pumped. It also means that it is a sacrament meeting where I won’t be performing so it’s a nice little break.

We had Easter concerts Saturday and Sunday night in Rotterdam and Zoetermeer wherein we sung a 4 part quartet of Come Lord Jesus and it went well. We sang as missionaries in the stake as well as a rendition of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief and I know That My Redeemer Lives.

We also received 6 referrals this week. WHAT. Through an online Facebook campaign so we got some cool potential in Delft right now!

 

Not a super thrilling week by any means but I loved being at the concerts the last 2 nights and seeing people I miss and love from back in the Antwerpen and MTC days. :)

Hope it has been a great Spring break! Go Spartans! :)

Love

Elder Trevan Scott Reese

PS we also went to the beach in Scheveningen last week and the water was ice cubes. It was like 10 degrees. I think that’s like 50 Fahrenheit or something

March 23 - Gods Molen Draait Langzaam Maar Zeker

So BYU is out eh? Well, they never really made it in I guess. Whatever. Sad to say I'm used to being the victim of BYU chokes. Good to hear Boise State lost on a buzzer beater though. Hopefully Utah goes down soon too ;) sweet 16 is pretty good though.

Anyway, sports are NOT the focus. This week we trekked through Rotterdam South with the project and met with several members there. Not as many as we had hoped for but it is understandable with busy schedules. We were able to attend a baptismal service and sing there though which was really awesome and special for everyone there.

But the cool stuff this week has been in DELFT. aka home that doesn’t feel like home. Tuesday we had exchanges with the district leaders and I was with Elder Davis in Delft. We were able to do some great finding because it was soooo beautiful that we only wore white shirts and no jacket and everyone knows us as the Mormons. Ha-ha that’s good and bad sometimes. We found some cool people and were able to look a lot of people up to get contact with later. We also got in contact with Jones again!! Elder Conatti and I taught him our first or second week here and then we could never get contact with him. But Tuesday night we had a lesson about the Atonement that was very spiritual and one of the few things he struggles with. He told us how he has always been self-sufficient and believes people should deal the consequences they have brought upon themselves, in context with sin and suffering. We explained how everyone makes mistakes of course but related it to a mother who gives up her only food or resource for her child and the child throws it in the garbage. Christ has already paid the price for our sins and is willing to take them from us. We must be humble and willing to allow Him to do that. We plan on setting up a baptismal date with him this week. He also randomly read the story of the Brother of Jared and loved it and reported on it so that was super cool to see his intrigue with the Book of Mormon. He is prayed frequently and is gaining a testimony of the Spirit!

Had a lesson with Bart again but he was being weird, somewhat like normal, so when we brought up baptism in relation to the Gospel of Jesus Christ we were worried. He wants to be baptized though which is fantastic! He has investigated since 2012 though and has a weak testimony of the Restoration so we have a lot of fortifying to do.

And our MIRACLE: Laura. Wednesday we had some extra time after locking ourselves out of our apartment and fleeing to IKEA for lunch (another story) so I decided to call people that were in the Phone. (Flashback: that is what happened in Antwerpen when Elder Shelton and I accidentally called Mark Johnson instead of Mike Johnson and now Mark is a progressing investigator). Laura was super excited we called and we went by Saturday morning to meet with her. She is from Suriname with a young daughter and met with the missionaries a year ago before taking a long vacation to Suriname. She told me that Monday she uncovered her Book of Mormon while cleaning and needed to decide what to do with it and the lessons she had. Then 2 days later out of the blue she got our phone call and she took it as an answer to her question. (Hence she was so excited). We taught her the second half of the Restoration again and it was incredible how much she remembered and took into her life. She loves missionaries and was legit testified of Gospel principles as we taught. She believes there can only be 1 true church on the Earth. She ate up the priesthood. She told us how her religious neighbor had just lost her 8 year old daughter to cancer and was doubting faith as a whole. Laura TESTIFIED to her neighbor that God knows best (cue Mother Knows Best from the Disney Hit: Tangled) and that Gods molen draait langzaam maar zeker. Which means that God's windmill turns slowly but surely. hahaha I absolutely loved that! So true. She recognizes what she needs to do to receive an answer from God. We also invited her to the Easter concert and our fireside, both of which she "coincidentally “happens to be in Rotterdam for. Theme of the lesson: toefallig bestaat niet aka no such thing as coincidences. So cool we will see her in about a week with a killer joint teach too.

 

Sorry this letter was so long haha I just love Delft and our 3 progressors. And the project :)

Love you all!

Elder Trevan Scott Reese

PS here is a light in Rotterdam that are scattered throughout the city to mark places where bombs hit during the war. Kind of creepy

Molen Around - March 16, 2015

Molen

Another week has come and gone like the rest but this one definitely had some outstanding perks! This week we began with our project in Rotterdam in the North ward by visiting members and encouraging missionary work. The first day we went to a young family that is here from Australia and we taught and sung for them. After a little more small talk we discovered that Sister Lawton was on a mission with her parents when they were the mission president for the Auckland New Zealand mission. Her father served as mission president 3 different times and sounded like a remarkable man. We sang Where Can I Turn For Peace for her earlier and then she told us that he had passed away 2 years ago that very day. She mentioned how it had been a hard morning about that but that she had been healed through our visit. It sounds like their family was incredibly missionary minded and I was so grateful to go by and to share that Spirit of missionary work with them and especially her that morning.

Our Singing Missionaries

Later that day we went with some members to visit another member who had fallen and received ankle surgery in the hospital. She is about 88 and was like a giddy school girl when she saw we had come. I guess the members here have sent pictures and videos of us on facebook and around the Dutch church website so people know who we are. It’s really embarrassing though.  I don’t like it at all haha, but we sang for her and she began crying right away. when we ended she sat up and said she was healed and that she was going home with us hahahah. Old Dutch people are hilarious here :) We stopped by another lady last night that swore she was going inactive because no one had visited her after her vacation to Cape Verde #drama but we went by and pushed through her sass then sang and were able to share a real spiritual experience with her. At the beginning she said she would take a break from church for a few days or maybe months or years then as we left she said "see you at the church tomorrow" for an activity. Women.

1776 

Hahaha Friday we visited a member from the stake presidency in Rotterdam and HE LIVES IN A MOLEN. He works in it too with his wife and they make flour and candy through the windmill so we got to tour it which was a dream come true. He is such a funny guy and we had an awesome time on it. Plus it was built in 1776. #yearofgreatness

Delfshaven

We also went by this cool place called Delfshaven. It is a small port in Rotterdam that is incredibly old and harbored many ships for trade. We went by a beautiful and famous Pilgrim Church on the port and I read the plaque posted on it. The very first pilgrims to ever leave Holland left from those very stones to embark for England then board the Mayflower headed for the New World. I kid you not I wanted to cry the whole time I was there. It was so special. So much so I whipped out my handy dandy flag and took a whole roll of pictures. It was incredible. Those very same Dutch pilgrims MADE it to the New World. They settled on a bank of land along the Hudson River and named in New Amsterdam. After time and the foundation of a land built on freedom, that selfsame land and township now covers the Island of Manhattan and is the very New York City that we know today. Nothing short of phenomenal.

Delfshaven

Delfshaven plaque

We were able to work in Delft much more this week so I was happy. We met with Zr Groen who is our inactive member and had dinner with her and her family. It was very productive but very awkward for missionaries as we eat with a wonderful lady who doesn’t want to come back to church and her family who is anti-religion haha. But it went really well and we have a great relationship with the family. Hopefully things grow there and we can help them more.

We taught Bart again. We are taking good steps with him now. We taught about the power of the Holy Ghost because he realized that there was something there when we visited and prayed together. We were able to relate it to Book of Mormon stories and eventually to the the Atonement and Gospel of Jesus Christ. We taught him of the enabling and cleansing power of the Atonement and that He is Always there if we just accept him. We moved that over to the gift of the Holy Ghost and obviously connected it with baptism. It went well and he has been keeping the commitments we give him. We have to shape and reshape lessons with him since he has been investigating for so long but I know that he will come around. It is becoming more and more personal for him which is fantastic.

Group shot

We still only have 2 days to work in Delft so we went searching and taught a normal weeks’ worth of people in 2 days. It went really well but this week we have some really good appointments set up with people we have needed contact with so miracles are there :)

It has been another good week and we are cruisin with our project!

Love Elder Trevan Scott Reese

March 2, 2015

NOTE: I forgot to post March 2nd post before March 9th.  March 9th post is below March 2nd.  I can't figure out how to switch them.

First off MASSIVE SHOUTOUT to the Cougs for TAKING IT TO THEM BULLDOGS IN SPOKANE. THAT’S HOW IT’S DONE. What a win. What a way to head into March. Made my day today. All hope for BYU sports is not lost!

The last few weeks I have said how they were good weeks. Well I lied because THIS WEEK was a good week. Last Monday to start off we decided to look up a young couple who were Christian, prayed right outside the door to be let in AND WE WERE LET IN. Faith people. Faith. We went in and got to know them a little better then, Marieke, the wife, asked us what the difference was between our church and other Christian churches. Oh boy we ate that up. We taught the entire Restoration and it kind of turned into a question and answer session about prophets and the Bible but we taught about the necessity of prophets and importance of the family which she loved because she is pregnant. So basically we got 2 1/2 new investigators on Monday to start the week and they are coming to our fireside in Zoetermeer. #what

Me and Bosco

We had a fantastic Zone Conference Tuesday and I saw a ton of people I love there because Den Haag and Amsterdam Zones combined. President and Zuster Robinson gave awesome presentations then surprised us with an awesome treat. WE GOT TO WATCH MEET THE MORMONS. You don’t understand how big that is. To watch a movie, a good one, an inspiring one, with some of your best friends. I loved it so much I think it is so fantastic what they did there. And I met Dawn in the airport on the way here! She has such an awesome story. They are getting Dutch subtitling soon for distribution here.

I spent the day in Zoetermeer on exchanges Tuesday and we ended up biking to an appointment from the apartment, through old Zoetermeer centrum, right by the temple, along the canal, right by the church, to a members house for a joint teach and then to our appointment. This place is so gorgeous it was a dream riding along that sunny morning.

Wednesday we got a few hours to do look ups which was golden time because we never have time to do that kind of thing. We planned out a precise route to get all these people knocked out and back for the night to eat dinner. We started along and found a bunch of the people home and got good info on them and what we could do to help them. We were finding along the way as well and we stopped one girl with her mom and explained who we were and the Book of Mormon she was so excited and said she would love to read it and for us to come by Wednesday between 6-8. WHAT. That was absolutely nuts haha so cool. She loved that we were Christians sharing the word of God that came through the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Wednesday should be good. Also that night we asked for directions somewhere and met David, a guy about 25 who is atheist but asked who we were so we explained and had a 20 minute conversation about faith, He shared some personal experiences with us that he had never shared with others before and took a Book of Mormon to read and we will stop by again this week. SUPER COOL. The Lord gives us miracles when we work and put in the time to see them.

Morrell, Steenblik, and I

We met with the members in Leiden this week and everything there was good. Friday night we had a taste teaser fireside for the Leiden ward and that went well for the 3 songs we did. We got to go to church in our own ward in Den Haag yesterday which was great and it is the last time we will go there. The elders are going inactive. Hahahah we head to Rotterdam starting Sunday and our concert in Zoetermeer is this Saturday.... ahh

I read SOOOOO much in the Book of Mormon this week haha half of Alma because it is so coooool. The Book of Mormon has such awesome stories and I love it all about Alma, Amulek, and the Sons of Mosiah. Awesome missionaries. I love the converted Lamanites that would rather die than sin and gave their lives into the hands of the wicked Lamanites so they would not have to shed blood and sin. Then the wicked Lamanites had softened hearts and eventually became converted to the Lord through this. More people were converted unto the Lord through the righteous Lamanites giving their lives than the number that perished. And the martyrs went to live with their God in glory for their faith. THE LORD KNOWS HOW IS WORK IS TO BE DONE. He brought more souls unto Him through His servants and through death even. But death is not the end. Then why have we fear?

We got a big week this week. Lots of practice.

Love

Elder Trevan Scott Reese

GAMEDAY - March 9, 2015

I have had quite a number of crazy stressful weekends in my life and this last one just added to the stack. I don’t even know where to begin.

Saturday we had our first performance ever in Dutch. But first off, we had a member in Alkmaar translating the English script to Dutch and then Friday morning she texted saying she felt a prompting to start the translating process all over again. Soooo she started over and got the finished script to us Friday evening with our performance the next day. We ran through it and it took about 4 hours the first time through. But we practiced til late and Saturday all day as well to be ready for that night.

Brother Lister's son with our Singing Missionaries

Just to explain it a little better, it is about 90 minute performance and I kid you not the piano is played the whole entire time except for the song that I jump down and sing with them. So from the moment the first note is played for 90 minutes I am jumping back and forth between pages and changing keys, tempos and everything for all 12 songs we have and each of the stories.

So Saturday night we performed after so many prayers that I had to be able to perform well and give the Spirit to people who hadn't really felt it before. It was such a weird combo of nerves and comfort I can’t really describe it. Then we just did it and performed and everything worked out great. It was so hard to focus and concentrate like that for 90 minutes.  I feel like I was taking the ACT again haha. It was incredibly spiritual though and it sounds like almost everyone in the audience at one point was crying. (I can’t see anything from the piano and can’t afford to cry because then I can’t read and I ruin everything haha) Afterward we had all the missionaries with us from the areas and we all stayed in the chapel to talk with the members and their families and friends about what they had felt and we were able to receive quite a few referrals. And that is our goal. To receive referrals and give the Spirit to people and give members a way to do missionary work. Super cool. We have heard stories of the stake president’s friend coming and crying the entire time, investigators dropping a baptismal date then receiving a priesthood blessing and picking it back up, and my personal favorite, our story of Zuster Groen.   We had 169 people come to our fireside Saturday and for Holland that is unbelievable. Bishops and counselor to President Robinson were speechless :) English we had about 167 too so it was incredible. Hopefully word of mouth spreads too.

About a month ago we had dinner with Zuster Groen and her nonmember family and she came to the performance Saturday! It was awesome to see her again and after the performance she was crying for days. She is completely inactive and hasn’t been to church since she was 18 but a member. Zuster Jansen who works in the temple, knew her, came over and testified to Zr Groen like a flamethrower hahah.  Zr Groen lost her father a while back who was actually a regional representative of the church and our portion about death in our program hit her so hard as we taught the plan of salvation. Zr Jansen killed it testifying and they both had a great rest of the night. We will have dinner again with Zr Groen this Wednesday with her family which is sick.

Sunday we did the same performance but in English for the American ward and there were just as many people there as the Dutch one! a lot of people came back to see it again which was cool and so many people here speak English it was easy for them. President and Zuster Robinson were there last night with all the missionaries again and it went really well again. I was crazy nervous again because the Dutch and English scripts were different in length so the pages with the music next to it were all different and realigned so I had to flip pages while playing and hit certain things at certain parts haha it is crazy stressful

Sunset in Leiden

It was really successful and President loved it with all the potential behind. We haven’t heard a negative comment or anything from it. We had a primary girl sings child’s prayer with us and her anti grandparents came just to see her sing and they had a good time. Super cool.

Yesterday morning we actually performed in Rotterdam too to start next month’s trip so that is already kicking too.

It was a neat experience and I am so glad that I was able to do it and strengthen my testimony of the Lord's Hand in this work. Seriously I could not learn the piano songs or transitions or anything without the Spirit. I took a second this week to just imagine what life would be like without the Spirit. I literally shuddered at the thought of not having my Constant Companion Always alongside me. Always there to turn to in times of need and stress. I am so grateful for the chance I have to give that to others too.

It was a good weekend but to be honest I am just glad that it is over haha now we can focus on our areas so we can work in Delft more and do actual missionary work again.

It was really neat to run into Waldo this last week at a dinner appointment. Really crazy small world haha he even knew that Uncle Jason had his finger cut off hahahaha

Well this next week won’t be so boring because we won’t have to practice haha

Love you all thank you for all your prayers they mean sooo much

Elder Trevan Scott Reese