A Year of Service - August 10, 2015

This past Thursday on the 6th of August, marked one full year of full time missionary work for our MTC group. Pretty surreal that we are this far and still feel like we got here not too long ago. The zusters only have a few months and us elders are closer to getting home than from the day we stepped into Holland. 

This past week was a goodie for many different reasons. We were able to get in contact with our A team investigators and they are doing well still and continuing to make steps of progression! WE were able to get Adnen a Book of Mormon in his mother language which he loved and read chapter after chapter during church yesterday. We have a couple investigators on the brink of setting baptismal dates and this week we are pushing the focus toward church attendance and the spirit of the branch here. 

It should go well this week. We have great faith in our plans and one of our investigators, Lucia, is on the very edge of being baptized, but wants to make sure she can attend church every week when she moves to Suriname so that is a huge focus for us this week is contacting Suriname for a ride. She is fantastic and teaches us as we visit.

 

We are continually searching for more and more people to teach and it has been a little slower in the past week but we are HUNGRY for new investigators. We have like 3 or 4 exchanges this week haha so hopefully we rack up potentials and can find the people the Lord has prepared. 

We taught Ankie Thursday who is the nice lady that made fun of our helmets last week but invited us for lunch. She really isnt into anything about our church or faith so it was kind of a fly by lesson but she was hilarious and we had some good food haha

 

Also we had cool experiences on the door where we looked up a few older potentials and they both let us inside to share our message of the Restoration! So we were able to teach 2 kind super Dutch couples and although they didnt want a return appt they said we are welcome to stop by if we are in the area and they really appreciate the book we gave. Seed planting perhaps.

This weekend and today we are doing service. Saturday we did service in Breda with the missionaries there for the bishop and his family. Afterward we had a barbecue and 2 investigators came so we had a good time and it was NUTS. Haha we cobblestoned (thats Europe) and cut wood and weeded but the weather was super nice and we smashed tons of massive spiders so that was neat. 

I dont know if there is a sort of curse once you become a year old but yesterday and today i have been struck by a lightning bolt of exhaustion haha so hopefully that rolls by soon and all the energy comes back.

We were making a lesson plan for an investigator yesterday and I watched the Bible video when Christ teaches the people how the Truth makes you free. go watch if you havent. its magnificent.

Make it a killer week.

Elder Trevan Scott Reese

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

Seaing the World - July 27, 2015

Program of their Singing Project

Despite the fact that I love this area with all my heart and that we have an entire province to ourselves, being barracked with sea spray and hurricane winds on a daily basis was not a foreseen factor for this previous week. It seems as if we have been transferred to the Shamu Splash Zone of the mission where a 3 minute bike ride puts you in the exact circumstance of jumping into a pool would. The fair is also in Vlissingen right now, but you know the Dutch. Nothing can rain on their parade.

Another week another reel of ´´how does this even happen?´´s come to be. 

Helmets are a must now!

Where to begin. 

We had a free day Wednesday with only one appointment that evening so we strapped up our boots and headed out to a tin town in Zeeland called Krabbendijke to spread the word. Personally I love dorp finding because you feel like missionary trail blazers in the middle of nowhere. Super fun. 

We had a killer lesson with one of our miracles from the other week and our branch president was with us. Super neat and the Spirit was strong. 

Not just in Idaho

Looking back at it now, this week was incredible normal. Wow go figure.

Well then I won´t go too much longer. 

We were travelling quite a lot this week around Southern Holland for meetings. Had a massive storm Saturday and it took 5 different trains and layovers to get home from Eindhoven haha. Thank you Mother Nature. Den Haag and Amsterdam were shut down for a while too while trees fell amidst the tracks. Exciting.

So yeah.

Raw, Slimy, What.......

People are doing well. We were able to set up 2 baptismal dates this week and will be working hard with those :) 

I guess one highlight was that we took a picture in front of a DoTSwift graffiti sign with our new mandatory bike helmets (....) after which my camera took a toppling roll off the bike, hit the rim and has now bit the dust. So we are going new camera shopping today. But we got the picture. Nice.

Here it goes?

Have a great week in the July heat!

We are wearing jackets to stay dry but it feels like a sauna everywhere haha 

Love the unexpected. It drives you crazy and makes you stronger.

Shout out to my brother who won employee of the year at Nike too.

When I get back I’m gonna match it ;)

Elder Trevan Scott Reese

180 Backspin - July 20, 2015

If the kickoff was last week then by now we gotta get in some second stringers because this one has become scoreboard shoot up. Such an unbelievably MIRACULOUS week.

Things that are just strange and inevitable in missionary work

Golden coastline sunset

1. Teaching a lady who loves deep conversations about Adam and Eve and the fall whilst having a lazy eye so you can never quite know who or what she is adhering her attention to.

2. Late bus causes a joint teach to arrive first to a first lesson, finding her sitting inside a marijuana filled home at the age of about 81, ready to teach in her Sunday best.

3. Attempt to drop off an Arabic Book of Mormon to a kind Muslim family in a socialist centrum where a plethora of Africans are in hospital suits in line for some sort of screening.

4. Somewhat illegally renting a public transportation bike because the metal doors wouldn’t open to let us out before our dinner appt a 30 minute bike ride away on the eastern peninsula.

5. Teaching a sweet kasmiran man who comes to church and likes it, only to discover that he is also most wanted in India and Pakistan for advocating for the liberation of Kashmir.

Whaddya gonna do about it?

Now, MIRACLES of doing our best diligent missionary work:

1. The lesson with our kind older joint teach goes fantastic and our investigator asks her how she got an answer about the truth and she testifies for days about the truth. He accepts to baptism when he receives the same sort of confirmation.

2. Teach the super great Kasmiran guy who simply loves Jesus and agrees to join the church if his prayers are answered. Came to and liked the church service, see him twice this week as well.

3. Get let in at the door by a flippin tall Somalian man who is reading up in the Koran but prayed the night before that God would show him the way, testifying the heck out of it about how we were led straight to him, see him beginning of next week.

Mother Nature's sense of humor

4. Knock a somewhat random part of town, only to meet another chill Dutch guy with a 3 year old boy who rejects us at first.  we testify and invite, he lets us in, we teach the restoration, hook line and sink the Book of Mormon, he gets pumped to read, coming for a church tour Thursday, little boy is the cutest thing ever and loves to play hot wheels.

5. Teach some of the best second lessons of my mission with a former and new investigator (see #1) wherein I am presented with more deep questions about the Fall and Judgment after this life. No idea why or where they come from but thanks to the gift of tongues they understand that we don't always know answers to a precise point with such questions.

Also, somewhat of a given already but definitely worth mention, the members here are once again the best people in the world and their food is amazing, their testimonies solid, and joyful in life. Such a fun atmosphere with them. And many of them are over 60 hahaha #Dutchlife

The Atlantic Ocean also thought to throw a joke on this week and we had a brutal day of constant sea spray (the one day we planned for many outdoor activities) and so we went swimming Wednesday. Sorry President, the pool came to us. 

Zone Conference was this week in Antwerpen (!!!!) which was fantastic and I saw 7 others from the MTC. Breaking news however: we must now wear helmets. Quite a blow for this mission because there is a lot of ridicule toward those who wear helmets so we will see. President and Zuster Bunnell gave an awesome conference.

dutch drawbridge and railway systems :)

A total of 3 times this week we met and taught people who had been searching for the truth for quite some time with a prior dream of seeing two angels in a field, realizing that us contacting him across the street was unnatural in the flow of life (?) and sees our message as important from God, and praying the evening before to have God show him the way he needs to go. Being able to testify the heck out of these led-to situations is such a blessing and brings such a Spirit. The Lord leads us to do His work. Therefore I boast in the strength of my Lord. (see Alma 26:12)

In a nutshell, that was this week. We have good plans for this next week and staying diligent in our labors will only bring more miracles. I know it. I love it. 

Your prayers are working here. I cannot thank you enough. 

Love

Elder Trevan Scott Reese

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