I don´t know how many of you watch the news
still, but back in the states our ice storms here up north made global
attention. In the cities of Groningen, Leeuwarden, and Assen, schools and
stores and even missionary activities had to be suspended because of the ice
storm. People were ice skating in the streets and canals and ponds. It´s like a
Dutch snow day. But really the ice wasn´t that bad, no snow, no wind. To be
honest, it´s a little wimpy over here and trains will shut down if a snowflake
hits the track. Even most Dutch people think it´s pathetic haha. So I think the
street and canal skating is what made the headlines.
We set some steep goals last weekend with
every intention of meeting them. And we sure did for most of them. When I first
got to Apeldoorn, member relations were suffering and missionary work in that
regard was real low. It´s a night and day difference from then to today. The
ward and missionaries are suUUuper solid and it makes everything so fun, so
effective, so spiritual, and soooo nice. We were able to teach a good amount of
lessons, most with members present, and get people friendships and progression
that weren´t before.
This week we met with Maria another 3 times.
Here we go... We met with her Tuesday to go help her pick up carpet for her
hall and she answered, and had totally forgot. So we go inside, she is a little
frazzled, but we teach a quick lesson on the apostasy, invite her to read and
put her on her way. The next evening we went by again to watch the Restoration
movie. Turns out she had no working DVD player. Rebound with a Book of Mormon
story lesson. Saturday another city had a baptismal service and we invited her
to come. 45 minutes into the service there comes a bundle of blankets with 2
legs into the chapel, sits down, and slowly reveals itself as little ole Maria,
not even tall enough for her feet to touch the ground hahaha classic. She was
bummed she was too late BUT I told her we could watch the Restoration movie
before she left. So we set that up and President Bunnell noticed. He asked if
he could join in, so him and Zuster Bunnell became our joint teaches for our
lesson. Keep in mind that Maria doesn´t speak a lick of English and still loves
to tell off story after story. BUT she watched the movie, like it a lot, got a
solid understanding of Joseph Smith now AND told no crazy story. It was really
cool. I will never ever forget Maria.
The mission is changing a lot, we found out at
leadership council this last week, and in short, our areas are becoming
laboratories for other missionaries to come see, observe, and learn from so
they can make their own areas excel. The pressure is on.
We have ANOTHER zone training this week.... So
we are planning for those 4 hours again when we get time to. But busy is good.
I´ll finish with a gem of a story. Last week
with Oma and Opa Kloosterboer. We ran out of hagelslag aka chocolate sprinkles
for our sandwiches (yeah its a Dutch thing). So Oma Kloosterboer wrote it on
her grocery list to get more. I saw her grocery list on the way out and wrote
underneath it to buy a present for Elder Reese haha. SOOO yesterday we went
over for lunch and I asked how the week went, if they got new hagelslag, blah
blah blah. They were pretty nonchalant about it until Oma Kloosterboer broke
out laughing and brought in a wrapped up gift with Holland wrapping paper and
Holland glass klompen on it. Opa Kloosterboer thought it was hilarious that I
had wrote it on there and they called me a smeercase haha which is like a
clever son of a gun (?) In short, I got myself a free box of chocolate
hagelslag from Oma and Opa Kloosterboer. They even taped the former grocery
list to it haha I love them so much.
I love you all, have a great week.
How are you standing shoulder-to-shoulder with
Christ today?
Elder Trevan Scott Reese
It's been a short week and next week will be a
lot longer, so I will keep it short. Tomorrow night we get transfer calls, so
the next time you hear from me I could very well be in a new city, area, and/or
country. Nice eh?
