The week of achteroping

First off, this place is stinking bi-polar. Last week it was ridiculously hot! This week...

Let's just say Utah would have flooded by now with how much rain we got...

We were soaked to the bone! But that is ok, because now we are aware of a little bit of what we are in for, and are planning accordingly. I think it's funny that everyone asks about the weather back home, because that is honestly a conversation starter here. EVERYONE likes to talk about the weather. It is so strange to me. 

Oh the achteroping (two riding on one bike). Once upon a time we were in Zwijndrecht (one of the little Island places surrounding Dordrecht) And Zr. Elting got a flat tire... Well here in order to get a tire fixed it is 25 Euro!! What?! That is ridiculous to me! Give me some free time and a cheap kit and I'll do it for free! So we walked it back to Dort and took it to familie Ampem (The Amazing family of saints that has a spot reserved right next to God in heaven. Also the ones that feed us every Sunday :) ) Where Hans Ampem tried fixing her tire. Found out the innertube is like twice as big as the tire... That's what we get for going to a second hand store. It is hilarious. He temporarily fixed it, but today it was completely torn apart. So we have been achteroping... This is the test to see if we truly belong here. How many things can you balance on one bike?! It's pretty entertaining.

B (our investigator who was on date) is kind of not on date anymore... Because his date is this week. And we haven't been able to meet with him for the last 2 weeks because he is "tired" I get it, he works funky shifts. But we will need to move it. He also should probably come to church. The last time we went by to visit him he was in the process of kidnapping a cat whose owner abandoned it.. So he catches this cat and we are in the stairwell waiting for pest control or someone to come, when this lady comes over and just starts yelling at B for who knows what! And then he gives her bread and cream and yells at her to just leave. They were arguing about why the cat was here, and what color it was and such. SO WEIRD! Zr. Elting and I just stood there without a clue what to do. We had a good laugh after we left...

I don't remember if I told you about the man that stopped us last Sunday - M?- Well anyway he is the one that called out "sisters!" as we were biking by, found out he was baptized a while ago and such. Well, HE CAME TO CHURCH!!! And that's not even the best part. This man is PRIME! He was crying during the sacrament and just kept saying "I know this is the true church! I don't feel like this anywhere else" Oh my and he LOVES the gospel. It was one of the most amazing things to see. How great to see even just one man come back. :)

P is going nuts. He got mad that we couldn't sit by him in sacrament and stormed out... I guess that means he can't trust us anymore? Oh man, he is struggling big time. He tried sneaking beer in while we went shopping with him (and succeeded) only to find out it was alcohol free. That was hilarious. But the poor man, ah... Just needs to have the faith he can do it!

S is at 3 weeks no smoking!!!! AHHHHHHHH!! He can pick a baptism date after 1 month if the bishop approves it! We are SOOO excited for him! And he just loves the gospel so much! It is so great to see him progressing like this!

We contacted a potential too, sweet single mother who doesn't really know what to believe. We stopped by and kind of introduced what we do, and she totally wants us to come back! She is SO prepared for the gospel it is amazing. I have really high hopes for her. And our appointment with the inactive family and their referral? It was interesting to say the least. They had a lot of super weird questions, but it was a good experience none-the-less. So that about sums up my week! It has been fun! And I'm really enjoying the work. Yeah, it's hard. But I know why I am out here and that makes it all worth it. I truly am happier than ever! Success with everything going on this week! Sounds like everyone is having such a great time. Ik houd van jullie!!!

 

Liefs, Zr Packer

Once upon a time our ward thought they were getting new missionaries. hahahahaha.... They didn't seem terribly excited we had stayed. Why? I'm not sure. All I know is the honeymoon phase is most definitely over. However, that doesn't mean we don't have any support. Our support comes from the inactives who LOVE us, and our investigators. I can't even tell you how often our investigators try and give us things. I think they think we are starving or something... It's super sweet though. 

We had a super great lesson with B this week introducing the commandments. It all seems so natural for him! We really pushed church attendance, and come to find out his job with the funky hours that makes him so tired is mostly volunteer!!! What?! This man is a saint! He just wants to keep busy and help people. I'm going to be more like him some day. He took us to a Moroccan (no idea how to spell that... please help me....) market right after our lesson and got us this thing of bread, funky olives and dates... The thought was nice :) 

P is on 6 days sober! woohoo! He wants to go 10 days and then keep adding. He went on a frenzy and threw all of his alcohol away, and since he shops with us he has no way of getting some legally.. :) I have lots of faith in him. S is on 2 weeks no smoking! It's super!!! We just have to make sure we check up on him regularly or else he gets depressed... 

We had all sorts of crazy miracles happen! I will explain why the inactives are our supporters. We went out to literally the middle of nowhere to look up ONE man. just one. on a whim. Got there and his wife lets us in. She LOVES the missionaries. And apparently she is a member too! And they have this adorable baby girl! I have NO idea why they are inactive, I think something big may have happened, but they were super nice and friendly. Well yesterday she called us! And invited us over for dinner, and then told us she had a friend with interest in the church that would be there...

WE GOT A REFERRAL FROM AN INACTIVE?!?! I can't even tell you how excited we are. This lady knows all about the gospel too, so it will be quite the experience. Also as we were biking along yesterday this guy calls out "sisters!" We flip around to talk to him and he starts asking where the church is. Apparently he is a member too!!! He is only here for 3 months, but he is going to try and make it to church this next week! God is truly looking after his children, He doesn't forget anyone!

I missed America this week. We were on the water bus with this caravan of Americans doing some bike trip through Holland and Belgium. It was HILARIOUS!  This man came up to us because he knew we were Mormon missionaries. And just started talking to us. Then he was going around the bus "have you talked to the girls from Utah yet? They are the Mormon missionaries!" Ah it made us feel so welcome! That's about it really. We have some really good potentials we are trying to work with. A potential family that was referred to us too! So the Lord is most definitely answering our prayers. I know that without a doubt!

And uh yeah! I read Omni today, that was interesting. If you read it I want you to think about why it is in the book of Mormon. cool? Well success everyone this week!

Ik houd van jullie!!!

 

Liefs, Zr packer