Week 21 - Belgium

Beste Fam,

Z. Stevens and I (and I'm sure we're not alone) both feel that Gent is too large of an area to have remained a branch for so long and are excited to be finding so many potential investigators who are ready to receive the restored gospel. For example, we met a friendly 20 yr old foetbal player from the Ivory Coast, Raimon, who we talked to briefly in the park, and then left him with a card (with our info on the back) and an invitation to join us at church the next day (and he said he would come). He was not the first person we'd had such a conversation with this week, but he was the first one to call us at 9am on Sunday from the station (and he lives an hour away) where he said he'd meet us to come to church. We might've seemed a little surprised, and he said that of course, learning more about God and Jesus Christ was something important to him and he wants to meet with us and see what we can teach him. He seemed to really enjoy church, and hopefully there wasn't too much of a language barrier (while he speaks French, Spanish, Arabic and 3 African dialects, he is still learning English and Dutch- he's only been here 6 months- and has a hard time understanding American and Flemish accents, respectively).

I also gained a testimony of re-gaining a testimony- that is, reading, fasting, praying and pondering to re-apply Moroni's promise (the one that every day we encourage investigators to use) to strengthen and evaluate my testimony of the Book of Mormon as an inspired book that strengthens my relationship with Christ, answers questions of the soul, and proves that the fulness of the gospel is restored on Earth. I encourage you to do the same.

Also, a disclaimer on all the photos I'm about to send.. don't let my few hours as a tourist in Brugge (for P day) and Brussels (for legality paperwork) skew your image of me toiling away in the vineyard. (:

Fijne week verder!

Z. Riley 

I love getting mail from you. If you have a sec, I'd love to read some of Isaac's early letters home/ more from Dad's mission. Have fun in Haiti!

Liefs,

Z. Riley

Cute Slovak kids gave me princess hair