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