The Edge of Glory

MOM NOTE: There are two separate emails so I putting them both in this post.  Enjoy.


  #1 Coming to you live from the quaint, coastal, isolated, sketchy, resort city of Vlissingen, this is Elder Reese. 

Reasons as to why this week was the most lopsided, extreme-ridden, roller-coaster week of my mission:

-Monday and Tuesday in Delft we are SPRINTING between appointments all day so see people and teach them for the last time before I transfer out. Still sore.

-Wednesday, get to the hotel and meet ELDER BRUNEAU my son from none other than FRUITLAND, IDAHO and get pumped about sports and soccer and Idaho and missionary work

Trading tags and shirts. Last days together

-Say goodbye to 28 elders headed home including some of my best friends I have met here in Belgium and Holland. Terrible range of emotions.

-Arrive in Vlissingen after barricading the public trains with suitcases and a bike, in the meanwhile teaching a Catholic man and atheist woman who argue on the train whilst we testify of restored truth.

-Nothing is happening in Vlissingen and the former elder went home so we have a dirty apartment and nothing but 7 hours of contacting on schedule

Vlissingen

-Take a 6 hour train to Groningen aka cross country trip for the final music performance Saturday night then drive all the way back to Den Haag with the APs and President until 1:30am

-Grab a train Sunday morning to Vlissingen and sprint on the bikes to the church for sacrament meeting at approximately 10:06am wherein the speaker analyses the Old Testament story of Naomi and Ruth in relation to her life and living up to her given name of Naomi Ruth.

So here we stand. 

If Elder Bruneau isn't traumatized by now I will begin to start thinking he isn't human. Ha-ha only kidding. But really, as a first week missionary with problems ranging from jetlag to new cuisine, Elder Bruneau is nothing short of a stud with the heart of a champion. Such an amazing guy. And he graduated in May. 2015. I found a grey hair when I heard that. Unbelievable. I am so grateful for his attitude and perseverance through this crazy couple days. He has seen the country now ha-ha and this week we go to Belgium so he is jumping in head first. 

Elder Bruneau and Elder Reese

We have been able to have a great time together and I love his guts. Half of the time I think he is training me. And his Dutch is phenomenal for a 7 week missionary ha-ha the members love it. It's so fun to be from the same place, have the same work ethic and drive, and love the same things. He is a Nike snob. LOVE IT. We mesh just like a pre-fitted Nike Free Flyknit 4.0. Kid you not, after talking for a while on the train about how we can be diligent since success is promised in the scriptures, our transfer motto is #JustDoIt. Not too shabby, eh?

Yesterday we taught our first lesson together after contacting a man on the street who can only speak broken English, we led us to his home (about a 15 minute walk which was kind of nuts) which is a kind of immigrant facility, we get yelled at from the reception desk and the Dutch officers start interrogating us aka me since neither of the other 2 speak any Dutch but we get the green light after showing ID (Bruneau showed his Idaho driver’s license haha love it) and we went inside to teach him and his Muslim family through his wife who speaks better English and fluent Arabic. They enjoyed the story of the Book of Mormon through the pictures, however, and we are headed over again, through reception and interrogation to drop off an Arabic book for them. Weirdest lesson of my life. Welcome to the field Bruneau, welcome to the field. Ha-ha but really who is genuinely surprised that this kind of thing would happen to me as a begin training a new missionary?

THE MEMBERS HERE. Holy smokes love each and every one to pieces. Den Haag was the biggest unit in the mission and Vlissingen the smallest. 27 members here but most are on vacation right now. And you won't believe it but every evening but one we are given dinner appts. The branch here CHERISHES the Elders. It is so much fun to be with them and work with them. So amazing. Such strength. 

Harbor in Vlissingen

Right now we have been pleading for guidance and more specifically a member referral to get SOMETHING started here. I made a service calendar for members to sign up on in case they or others need our help in service so we can find people to teach. We were given a referral yesterday too!!! Our prayers were answered and we plan on seeing him soon with the member. We are praying this is what gets the ball rolling here :)

Vlissingen and Middelburg are beautiful places and I can't wait to see the success come from such an area with the members that are here. 

Miracles are waiting. I don't know I feel that, but I just do.

Keep it classy.

Elder Trevan Scott Reese

#2  Where do I even start with this week ha-ha?

So crazy. such a flip of events, so much going on and so much to get going on.

Vlissingen has struggled for a while and the fact that the 2 elders that just went home from here left it this way says something about how it needs a revibe. 

Monday and Tuesday were great and I got to say goodbye to some beloved people up in Delft and Den Haag. I love that place so much. 

New Address:)

Then Wednesday we were in the airport with all the new and dying missionaries. Soooo crazy. I said goodbye to Elder Bosco, Elkins and Claflin which was crazy and I love them all so much. Elder Bruneau is my greenie from FRUITLAND! Super cool. He is a champ too. Ready to work super hard and not afraid to make mistakes which is perfect for a missionary attitude as a greenie. We have a good time together, it is just hard to only contact all day since there have been no progress or much work here at all. I will get it going though. We will see it come.

Even though there is so much riding on my shoulders right now, I don't feel stress. I feel a sort of longing or anticipation like you would at the beginning of a race or at the kickoff of a football game. As if something big and grand is about to happen. It makes me excited, just gotta make sure I take it the right way and don’t fumble.

The closest missionaries to us now are an hour away. Sooo different from delft when we saw others every day and 14 of us were within 15 kilometers. I miss it. I really do.

Our concert in Groningen went great, again, and the people were very very touched. There were accounts of reactivation (!!!) and there were many in attendance. Weird that it is over but now I will just dive in 100% to Vlissingen and our area. The members are gems. So amazing. They have already stolen my heart here.

We are praying hard for referrals and for success. It will come. It is just a matter of what are we supposed to learn in this time that we are stretched so thin. 

Warm Stroopwafels with Elder Bruneau

The temple looks awesome! Super excited for that when I get home.

By the way, I have known this for quite some time now but keep forgetting to mention it. So don’t kill me. The church has cut off a week of our mission so now we return home around the 13th of July which is exactly a year from right now. Transfers ended up on Christmas Eve or Christmas day and flying missionaries at those times is not ideal, so the MTC and church have shaved a week off of our missions this year. So I have 1 more year until I am back now.

Weird

Thank you for the prayers. They are needed and greatly appreciated!!

Love you all so very very much.

Love Trev

'MURICLES DANKZIJ 'MURICA

First off, no greater shout out or mention can be made at this time than to that of the Women's USA National Soccer Team for not only defeating but LEVELING the Japanese in the finals yesterday. What a wonderful weekend for our country. I hear about the out-of-this-world hat trick from Carli Lloyd 16' in and the midfield goal that leaves one saying ''there is no way there is NOW WAY'' as the ball soars a one way ticket to the back of the net. American soccer is on the rise and has made mention that it is here. Makes me so happy. :) :)

Also huge news came in last night in the form of transfer calls! Only my 2nd transfer ever and quite a large one at that. The Lord has called me to serve in the city of VLISSINGEN! I am whitewashing in (again ha-ha) with a new greenie so I am training! And while we are at it I am also the district leader!! Hahaha! Talk about a shift in workload! I am really excited though. Trust me, I would tell you if I wasn't. Honestly I am most excited to get back to having a home base and ward, even though the last 6 months have been some of the most miraculous of my life. Change is good. I'm glad that after 19 years I am starting to believe that ha-ha

Vlissingen has the only missionaries in the whole province of Zeeland. So we got our own province now ha-ha in one of the most beautiful areas of the country! History fact, New Zealand was actually named and discovered by Old Dutch explorers who named it after the Original Zeeland here in Holland! Who knows how similar they are but it is huge water bodies and beaches and green land on the deltas and river mouths. I can't wait. But there is one train in and one train out so travel will be fun ha-ha especially with all of our stuff on Wednesday :) but Elder Morrell, Elder Hirsch, and Zuster Robbins are all training too so we will see one another at the airport Wednesday where I hope we can say goodbye to leaving elders as well. Morrell, Hirsch, and I are the 3 district leaders in the Eindhoven zone all training as well so that’s fun :)

Beach volleyball last week was SO COOL. We watched 5 games with a few members and hopefully I can get pictures soon because they were taken on a members Phone. The US destroyed Switzerland but I don’t know who won the finals last night. It was a beautiful day as well which is rare in this dang country ha-ha

I haven’t met President Bunnell this week but I will for sure on Saturday in Groningen for our last concert. I have heard they are fantastic and I believe it 100%.

We also found a great number of new investigators this week, one named Femi who had an accident with a train and had a bad hip injury where he couldn’t walk for a long time. Turns out it was a very similar injury to mine from running sophomore year and he told us that a missionary had talked to him a couple weeks ago and then us again this week. He said that he hadn’t ever had one stop him then 2 in one month meant that God needed him to hear something. Then combined with my personal and parallel experience with my hip, I was able to testify that the Spirit led us to him and he accepted the invitation to be baptized! Really cool story this week.

Saturday night we had a great barbecue for the 4th and the family we ate with was fantastic with kids everywhere ha-ha.

We also went on a quick run that morning with an American flag and we had a grand ole time with that grand ole flag.

Love you all have a fantastic week!

Elder Trevan Scott Reese

"God Bless America"

Livin' on the Flipside - June 29, 2015

This email is dedicated to the fact that everything, and I mean everything, in this week and the next few are flipping everything upside down in life right now.

Heard about the Supreme Court. We were at the mission home last night because Elder Conatti is staying in the project (surprise!) and Sister Robinson and I talked about it for a while and they leave on Tuesday for back home. Super crazy I love them both so much. It will be good to meet the new president and get moving but I will miss the Robinsons so much.

This week we worked in Leeuwarden where they speak the crazy language Fries ha-ha but what was really cool is that as I introduced myself to people there many recognized the name Reese and asked if I had family that came here 25 years ago. I can't remember seeing anything about an elder Dave Reese that now lives in California but maybe he is? Also a lady and her husband served a temple mission in Switzerland with the temple president being President Reese. I got some research to do ha-ha

We had some cool miracles in Delft, the wonderful beautiful city that it is, and got 2 new investigators, one of which is from Curacao and we have the potential to teach his whole family! Teaching families, especially here, is very rare so I hope and pray that things go well and tomorrow. We teach his family the plan of salvation. !!!!

We have also had the chance to find several people who want to investigate and look them up and get positive results so it is super cool to see the work succeeding like this.

We met awesome people this week and I adore what the members endure and go through here to be stalwart saints. Raising a family in the Gospel here is extremely difficult and so when you meet families where the kids are active and testimonies burn, you can’t help but want to run outside and jump like a giddy schoolgirl and hug everybody and sing the Spirit of God.

I know this because the sudden urge has come more than once.

We are still working in northeast of the Netherlands and next week I will let you all know where I will be transferred to! Headed out of the project after 6 months!

Forgot my camera today... but if you have been watching ESPN lately you have probably seen that the FIVB world beach volleyball championships are going on and soooo today since they are hosted in the Netherlands we have a day pass to go watch games including AMERICA TODAY. I am super pumped. And it is nice weather which is a miracle. Really.

I will keep you posted. Hopefully the women in the world cup take down Germany #praying

We win today in beach volleyball and we have the best week ever topped off by the best holiday of them all.

TAKE THE TIME this week to appreciate your country. Regardless of where things could be going, you live in a land that is founded on freedom and liberty that is defended on every line.

God Bless America

Love

Elder Trevan Scott Reese

Anything But Groaning in Groningen

First off, my sincere apologies for last week and the mad rush it was to email home with a 3 minute time bomb flashing at your face at an Internet cafe where you have no more change to add time and spell check wants to change everything you want to say in Turkish. Golly I hope the email was comprehendible.

 

Last Monday we decided then and there that the week would be a great week and that nothing out there would stop us from having a great week. Such a mentality has power to give you according to your desires. This week was a testimony to that.

We were able to recontact investigators that had dropped us and taught a few lessons, and the biggest one of them being JONES. Hallelujah. He had been traveling the last few weeks but we found him home and he expressed his desire to still be baptized so we took our ward mission leader Bro. Scherf on joint teach and taught about faith and repentance from the 3rd lesson. Bro Scherf testified of his experience of repentance before baptism and I know that the Spirit touched Jones and that it will help him continue progressing.

Delft and Den Haag

Wednesday heaven showered us with rays of Sunshine. President invited us over for lunch so we ate with him and zuster Robinson and said our goodbyes because they leave on the 1st. Really hard and strange but it is exciting for them to go back after 3 years of sheer dedicated service. I love them so much. We were contacting around the beautiful centrum then got a text from our investigator 10 minutes before our member lesson saying she was sorry for the notice but her boyfriend didn’t like that we were teaching her and threw her Book of Mormon away. We want to go over there and pep talk her into being a strong and independent woman but the setting is not too appropriate for that haha after all her name is Destiny, and she was just on the right path to finding hers...

So our joint teach came away and was awesome enough to do some look ups with us of people we had contacted the day before. Heavenly Father knew of the effort we had taken and 2 of those potentials let us in on the spot and we taught the Restoration with Ilyza with us on joint teach! So awesome to see such miracles when you do all you can to move the work forth. Awesome day.

This week we were in Groningen. (good luck finding that one on the map it is basically Germany) and it was a grand time. We actually got to meet with a woman named Nina and her husband and 2 little girls, of which are a referral from a Zuster in Dordrecht that I received after our Rotterdam performance back in April. It was sooo cool to go teach them and help her husband who has been trying to find faith for his wife who is so spiritually sensitive and loves the zuster missionaries there. It was amazing.

Ahhh we met with such cool members in Groningen. I love that ward simply because it is functional haha so sad but the members JUST GET IT. Nothing is better than when members just get it and nothing comes before living and moving the Gospel forward. Priceless.

We head to Leeuwarden this week now. Where they speak Fries. Not a dialect, not an accent. Another language. Hooray.

But the DRIVE up to Groningen is magnificent. Ah it is so beautiful. Last night coming home the sun peeked through the crazy Holland clouds and kissed the richly green landscape with the windmills and canals and it was simply out of this world.

WE are going to play beach volleyball right now and it is raining and windy. There is no such thing as summer in Holland. Seriously. You all say it is like 100 back in the states and you are boasting. That’s really cold of you. Shoutout to my sweats and sweaters because it is freezing here.

The strength of the members here is unbelievable. Once again. This continent is under the refiner's fire in regards to religion and standards yet the members in Belgium and the Netherlands all take the heat and are shaped into some of the most incredible people I have ever had the pleasure to meet.

I hope you had a good week. Shoutout to all the Father's back home for Father's day! Love you Dad thank you for all you do and the prayers and love you send. It is felt and seen in everyday miracles.

Also I got a flashlight as a father's day gift in Leeuwarden Sunday. Haha not a father but it lit up my world.

Love

Elder Trevan Scott Reese

Oh yes, we went to Germany this week as well at the border. Add that to the list.

June 15, 2015

 

Time flies when you are having fun.

Aka this week we have basically no time to email because we were renovating the Den Haag elders apartment so i will write a nice real big email next week.

SORRY

We did have a super coo lesson this week though and we taught in the temple with Kim and Huub. I will tell more next week.

I love you all

Elder Trevan Scott Reese

sorry again :(

 

Faith is Like Wi-Fi (part 2)

June 8, 2015

This week title is recycled due to my own ignorance and not even explaining it after titling it for last week's email.

I apologize.

When we were in Turnhout Branch 2 weeks ago in Belgium (#blessedland) the branch president’s wife gave a talk on faith to follow. She told us how faith can be compared to Wi-Fi, you can't ever see it but it connects you to everything you need. I thought it was pretty cool. But hopefully you don't lose signal.

....

Sorry that last week was such a bummer email. My condolences and apologies but these last 2 weeks have been frazzly.

Our work in Delft has slowed down a little bit but that isn't even a bad thing. We have been able to go and find a lot and have taught a couple new people and set up return appointments so #newinvestigators added to the stack. Our soul harvest is looking lively.

This week we have been busy at a member’s home recording an album of 6 songs for our project so unfortunately that ate up way too much time in the week but I got all my parts done so Elder Shaw and I can go out and do something while the others do theirs.

Oh yes I forgot. We had 2 performances this last week, the surprise one in Zoetermeer.. And the one Saturday in ANTWERPEN. The one in Zoetermeer was also recorded and I have a DVD so I can send it home for you all to watch :) but it is in Dutch hahahaha sorry but that's the language of the land here. The language of the spirit is universal though

The concert in Antwerpen was just as you would expect being in Antwerpen. Out of this world. It was like 900 degrees in that tiny chapel but 200 something people still came from all over Vlaanderen and people really enjoyed it and enough tears were shed to resolve the California drought.

Hence it went well.

One particular story was of a member in the Turnhout Branch who has been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer at the age of 40 or so. She has 2 children who are teenagers and her husband, all strong members and all amazing people. We stopped by for our appt. about the project and as I said the opening prayer I was prompted to pray specifically for her children and their spiritual well-being. As it closed Zr Van De Waard was already crying and the spirit was so strong. That day was this last Friday which was about 30 degrees or like 90 in Fahrenheit with humidity that would drown even a fish. As evening came and we met with the family and a massive summer thunderstorm came in and pounded Belgium, but as we began to sing Where Can I Turn for Peace the storm calmed and they could hear us. We then sang another number for her that is on the album about crossing the divide in life and she was touched so much. I can’t describe the experience let alone across email. As we left and drove away the storm picked back up and rattled the town but for those 15 minutes where we sang and testified, I have no doubt the Lord calmed the elements to allow for this woman to be healed through His Atonement and love.

Yesterday we got to go to church in Den Haag aka HOME for the 5th time ever in my 4 transfers here... Kim and her daughter Angel came (she is the member trying to stop smoking and her husband wants to be baptized) and they had a great time. Angel is 3 and can be a devil with her behavior haha but it went well, she loved nursery and the members in Den Haag were so solid in helping out, as Always in this wonderful place. The testimony meeting was fantastic and they have to tell members to try and cycle through the members because everyone wants to bear testimony every month and there is never enough time haha

I hope you all had a wonderful memorial day last weekend and that you took the time to reflect on the ones who gave their all so we may have what we do. NEVER forget that. Take pride and passion in your homeland. Especially with the women’s world cup that is here now ;)

I had some hilarious moments this week too namely because we travelled and toured Gent and Brugge last week (we get to go all over Europe it is so cool) and Miranda Sings was in Antwerpen THE DAY WE WERE THERE. So I talked like her for a day and introduced her to a member that we party with in our concert, Marcia, and killed myself laughing.

I have come to appreciate so many things that I have taken for granted before. I have 3 pins on my bag given to me by 3 different people who mean a lot to me. A BYU pin from Elder Bosco to never forget where my sights are set. A Dutch/USA pin from my mom to never forget where I come from. And a Delft blue pin given to me by Elder Pouwer who just finished his mission and left the music group to never forget exactly where I am.

Beauty lies within the simplest of things.

Make it a killer week. It depends on you.

Elder Trevan Scott Reese

Faith is Like Wi-Fi

June 2, 2015

Sorry I gotta be short again but this week was a roller coaster.

We drove all over the entire country of Belgium this week haha and I fall more in love with it every day. SO green and SO pristine. At one point we were about 3 minutes from the border of France and the Northern hills where all the famous wineries are. SOO COOL.

Last night we had a surprise performance of our project.

...yeah...

But it went awesome and we got word this project has gone GLOBAL.

WHAT.

We are world famous hahaha

President Robinson has received calls and letters from mission presidents around the world about how they can do this project and stimulate referrals and such. There were several baptisms these past weeks of people who began or further took their investigation after our fireside.

We visited an old Belgian cemetery this week from the world wars which was awesome!

Love

Elder Reese