This blog is for family and friends who wish to following Trevan as he sacrifices his time and talents to go forth and teach the Gospel in the Belgium/Netherlands Mission for the next two years. Follow him as he grows through experience, challenges and triumphs throughout his mission. May our prayers provide him comfort and protection as he serves the people in his mission and may we all be inspired to be missionaries in our own lives.

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Tsunamis of All Sorts - August 3, 2015


Our area is more water than land and if any have taken the time and diligence to read previous emails, you are only beginning to understand the wrath that is Zeeland. This week we had rain again, not too badly, but others forms of overwhelming and frankly ridiculous situations have left myself, as well as anyone else wanting to know, water you waiting for?

Let me just dive in head first.

Monday night we run into our investigator on the way to our appt. who is swiftly biking away to be with his mother so we reschedule on the street for Wednesday where we were able to bring a member along. Before any further details, this lesson can only be accurately described as one attempting to hold back a tsunami with only their two hands, thus contributing to the inspiration of the subject title above. After our member brings up the subject of ISIS during our Gospel lesson in regards to forgiveness, I begin scrambling to pick up any prior principles to tie the lesson back to the Gospel but before we know it (Elder Bruneau is still trying to follow with the language let alone the mayhem) we have plunged into a dimension topic of sorts and how things in the Bible denote certain phenomena and feelings in the which Bruneau begins testifying of love through baptism (random but the greenie and gift of tongues save the day) wherewith our investigator expresses his desire to be baptized when he receives an answer of the truth. Next lesson Bruneau teaches alone because he can get it to work ha-ha

Quick occurrence: same day we visit a sort of investigator and teach the first lesson after which he asks for help fixing the speakers on his computer. So as I work and fix them it becomes time for his Muslim prayer which he performs on an old mattress while we diligently and silently search for a good Mormon message to leave him with. Elder Bruneau is scarred as my greenie.

We contacted a kind Dutch woman who laughed at us with helmets (sigh) who we later talked to and she invited us over for lunch this week with 2 ladies from the branch so that’s exciting and she loves Nederengels so that’s right up Bruneau´s alley.

Other than that we had rain and sun and water and heat. Thursday it poured on our bike ride to Gravenpolder and we had to end up changing clothes midday again so people wouldn’t laugh and mock when they would sea us. See the picture below of our schedule ha-ha I got a little bitter from being wet all day from the Zeeland tsunamis. 

We were in Breda for a time this week to support the sisters and had interviews with President and Sister Bunnell which was great. I love being able to talk to them and Sister Bunnell is an incredible marathon runner so we basically talked Nike our entire interview ha-ha

Schedule
To top it off, yesterday was the most spiritual Sunday of my mission. I have had incredible Sundays being a part of the music group thing but yesterday was incredible. For so long I visited units and got shallow relationships with so many incredible people, but being able to fully invest in the 27 active members here is a blessing I will never forget. I could write an email just about them. AHHHH I love them so much ha-ha soooo freaking funny so solid of testimonies so willing to help and all they want is the branch to GROW. They are as great as we bring investigators to church and love to have us over. Testimony meeting was spectacular, nobody can believe how good Bureau’s Dutch is already and apparently my testimony went well also but I don’t really remember what I said. Spirit swept me away like a tsunami. 

I had a cool moment (well not just one but one of the many) where I took a step back and looked at what we are doing and working with here. When we got here we had little to nothing, 1 eternal investigator and the member relations were somewhat stagnant. Looking at our plans an area book now, we have 4 progressing investigators, a full list of top 10 people to work with, members who LOVE to be with us and will make you cry laughing with families being a major focus and drive for the branch and area. Our 3 highest guys right now were found by us on the first weekend when we had nothing and went finding all day every day. It’s easy to get discouraged and that was how elder bruneau started his mission was only finding, but we see the rewards. Looking at it now, where things were, are, and will go is super neat. We have been able to build this city in a space of 3 and a half weeks. With crazy experiences haha but we have built it through the blessing, direction, and help of the Lord. It was cool to look back on. As a whitewashing, district leader with a greenie in the middle of nowhere, I was able to do this with divine help. And only through that divine help did it work this way. The hardest of times become the best of times.
 
Whaat?
Vlissingen is so much fun. I am not lying either when I say that when I think about the members and investigators here and what they mean to me I almost cry. It will be excruciating to leave later. But luckily we don’t have to think about that for a while :) I think multiple times a day how excited I will be for my own parents to come and meet these people and see this place later on.

Logan will have just an awesome farewell. he will love Europe. He will be such a great missionary as well. 

Good news as well: I got a new camera so these nutso weeks also have visual aids.

I had an incredible prayer answered this week about the reason that we receive blessings.
We receive blessings to provide support and protection through our personal or family trials.
But why else?
Why does the Lord bless us in His own time, little by little or prosperously?
Think on your baptismal covenant. You committed to stand as a witness.
As we experience blessings we must testify of receiving, enjoying, and benefitting from them. Are we not all witnesses of Christ? 
Are we not all expected to testify of His resurrection?

There is more than one side to the reception of the Lord´s mercies.
Keep that in mind.

Love
Elder Trevan Scott Reese


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