The biggest advantage in the Antwerpen zone is
that you become a family. We are the only zone in Belgium and have recently
been cut off even more from the Netherlands with limited international phone
use. What's nice is that everyone down here is tight with each other and loves
each other. It truly is a mission inside of the mission.
This week we had a zone pday playing district
on district ultimate frisbee with a volleyball and eating Belgian pannekoeken a
wonderful member made for us. The Brussels district won, and we all got fat on
sweet Belgian chocolate pancakes. That's what you get when you put 30 Americans
together for a day off in Europe.
Then we had zone training Tuesday. This one
was the one that we spent the least amount of time planning for and setting up.
And I think it might have been the smoothest. Blessings. I wrote my 20min
presentation the morning of about confidence and love and it went well. I hope
I could share some mission wisdom with the young bucks. Then we had a
masterpiece haha I learned this awesome song on the piano a few weeks back and
one time, Elder Hill came in and started yelling motivational pick-me-ups while
I played. It was glorious. So to cap off zone training I had him come up, and
while I played he gave one of the most incredible motivational speeches I have
ever heard. Actually, I never heard it. The acoustics from the piano were quite
poor. But we had missionaries crying and super pumped and ready to attack the
Belgians with the Gospel. Purpose served? I hope so. Never ever be afraid to
use your talents to further others' progression in the Gospel.
We had to close the senior couple's apartment
this last week after their transfer, and they have a piano in their apartment.
So for a bit of studies I dinked around on it and discovered that I can
actually play the song I used in zone training without looking. So I put a
blindfold on and played most of it fine, the rest coming with practice. SOOooo
the newest addition to my mission bucket list is to make it to a major train
station with a piano, put a blindfold on and play the intense, beautiful song
without sight and place a whiteboard nearby with something along the lines of
'if man can perform without earthly sight, imagine the view with eyes opened by
Jesus Christ.mormon.org' or something like that. We will see if it happens but it's an
idea haha
Also, we ate a member's house this last week
who travelled to Japan way back when and changed my view on Japanese
bathhouses. Let's just say I really want to get to one. Hour body massage, 2
hour nap with mineral bath or something and being fed fruit the whole time and
bunch of other things haha his story was so funny. Add it to the bucket list.
Teaching is going well right now, it's still
progression that we are working on with people. Our strongest people now,
Anita, Jean, Christel, and Alex and beginning to keep more commitments, except
that of coming to church. That's the hardest stumbling block in Europe. Church
here is like a shadow on life and people don't go anymore, so getting them to
go to a new one is hard. We pray for it all the time though.
What I like about Europe is that you really
have to strive to be friends with people to help them receive the Gospel. So
what is neat is that people make slow progress at the start, but as you
fellowship and learn about them and never back down from your purpose, they are
interested in you, your message and the Spirit they feel. And you make a ton of
friends with a ton of selfie taking. I'm probably all over the internet by now
haha
The work keeps going so do we.
Loves
Elder Trevan Scott Reese
No comments:
Post a Comment