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| Elder Toole and Elder Bishop |
This week was a big eye opener for me though with a lot of good lessons learned. It all started last saturday night. We had another lesson with our investigator. He read from the Book of Mormon and loved it! He had a question about one of the verses. It talked about repentance, baptism and the Holy Ghost. We were planning on teaching the second lesson (The Plan of Salvation), but after that question we taught him the third (The Gospel of Jesus Chirst). We went over faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. He LOVED it! Especially the gift of the Holy Ghost part. He wants it really bad and we told him he could receive it after his baptism. He understood it really well and could recite the steps back to us after the lesson. After our lesson, we had some extra time, so we went to the church to print off a few things for zone conference the coming week. As we pulled into the church, a man approached us. He told me in very broken English that his name was J and he was a member from Columbia. He pulled out his temple recommend to make sure I understood. He then went on to tell me what he was doing here in Holland. It was cold and dark outside, so we went inside the church to talk. It turns out that he lost everything he had in Columbia due to the economy there. He has a family with 2 daughters. He spent some time working in Spain a while ago and one of his friends told him to go to Holland to find work because it was easier there. He wasn't too sure about it, but he had a strong feeling that he should go. He felt that feeling was from God, so he flew from Columbia to Amsterdam, and went to the church because he had nowhere else to go. He only had two bags and that was it. He started crying and told us he hadn't cried in 20 years. He missed his family and felt so lost. He didn't know what to do. We called the elders quorum president and found a member who would let him stay the night, and then he could talk to the bishop the next day in church. We bought him some dinner and then dropped him off at the members house that night.
He showed up to church the next morning and met some of the nice Spanish members and talked to the bishop. After church he asked me to help him get his bags. We went out to the parking lot and told me that there was nothing the bishop could do for him. He started crying and hugged me. I gave him the rest of the money I had in my wallet which was only about 40 euros and he walked away. He slept on the street that night and the next morning we got a call from him. He told us that he met some Colombians who could find him a place to stay and work in Madrid, Spain. That was perfect because he had lived there before and had his residency and working permit and everything! He was leaving that day.
J listened to and followed the impression he had to go to Holland, even though he didn't know anybody there or have any plans. He took the leap of faith and came to Holland so he could find work in Spain. It seems illogical, but His ways are higher than our ways, and He blessed J for listening to the Spirit and going and doing. The Lord blessed him from the time he landed in Amsterdam and ran into us til the time he met a Colombian who found him a place to stay and work so his family could eventually come and stay with him. I am so grateful that I was able to be an instrument in the Lord's hands in helping this man. It opened my eyes and helped me realize how blessed I really am on this Earth. He also set a great example for me in following the promptings of the Spirit. I pray for him still and hope that things are going well. I am confident the Lord is continuing to bless him as he listens and obeys.
Monday was our office day and we were very busy. We had a long meeting with President and Sister Robinson getting last minute things ready for Zone Conference and then we stayed late in the office getting our segment ready. We got to the mission home that night and fell right asleep.
We woke up the next morning and drove to Apeldoorn where the first Zone Conference was being held. It went really well. A member from Den Haag traveled with us and gave a nice presentation on the Role of the Book of Mormon (we are focusing on Preach My Gospel ch 5 this transfer). Afterwards we gave a segment with President about helping investigators pray and sister Robinson talked about making contacts on the street more personal. President finished up the first section with a segment called, "Immunization against Apostasy". It was really good and he just addressed some of the topics brought up on the internet since anti material is getting so big nowadays. He then went on and bore powerful testimony of the truthfulness of the Restored Gospel. My testimony was strengthened after he spoke. After lunch we moved into the second section where President and Sister Robinson talked about Presentation Skills. It was a lot of fun, and then Elder Alston and I closed with our segment about the new Facebook project. We introduced a door approach where we could more effectively turn those potential investigators into progressing investigators. We both felt like it went really well. After the conference, we traveled back to the mission home and President and Sister Robinson took us out for Chinese
:) It was fun visiting with them and getting to know them better. They are such good people and very funny. I am learning a lot from them.
:) It was fun visiting with them and getting to know them better. They are such good people and very funny. I am learning a lot from them.
Wednesday we did the same thing all over again, but this time we went to Zoetermeer to give it. That is a city right outside of Den Haag. Zoetermeer is actually where the Temple is here in Holland. This time around it was even better. All the missionaries had a lot of fun and really enjoyed it. That night President and Sister Robinson took us out again, but this time we got Greek food. It was really good and President made us get expensive dishes because he had a really good coupon haha. He went in and paid afterwards and came out with a big grin on his face. Elder Alston and I looked at each other and said how the coupon must have worked. He came back and told us that this was the wrong Greek Restaurant, so the coupon didn't work! haha! It was so funny, and he was laughing about it too.
Thursday we traveled down to Belgium to give our last Conference. This one was another great one. Within those three days, I saw all of the missionaries in the mission, and it was a lot of fun seeing some of my really good friends out here. We got back and went to the Greek Restaurant (the right one this time), and we got more delicious food :) It was really fun spending so much time with President and Sister Robinson. They are such great people! We got back to Amsterdam that night and we were SO tired! We fell straight asleep.
Friday we woke up, and I honestly felt even more tired than I did when I fell asleep the night before. We did some more driving because Elder Alston had to pick up his new residency card. We got back and had to take a nap for a little while. We woke up and finished off the evening looking some people up and getting a hold of some investigators. We set up a couple appointments and got the rest of our week lined out.
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| Study/Preparation Time! |
Now you know what I mean when I said it went by so fast, but so much happened in between! Giving three, 4 hour conferences wears you out. But it was so much fun. Now August is over, and, before I know it, we are rolling into September. Time is crazy and it freaks me out a little bit, especially as I come to the end of my mission. I still got three months though, and I am gonna take advantage of that and make them the best three months of my mission. I love you all and hope you have a great week! and Meleese, I hope you have that baby!!!
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| Amsterdam Apartment |
Veel Lief,
Elder Bishop
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