We went to the super cool and big Haagse Markt (in Den Haag btw, in case you couldn't've guessed) last P-day.
Hoi!
Goeie middag Familie Riley!
Last Friday was a milestone- first day without tights, it was randomly so beautifully hot. Anyways, good week weeding through some investigators who will need some time before they're ready to meet again, which gave us more time to do some finding. Honestly, knocking doors is great, because you never know who's going to be behind there. On the way to fix Z. Lemich's flat tire, we met this really cute 16 yr old girl Celina, who lives in our apt. complex (and actually has an identical twin sister!) who wants to meet up next week and learn more about the BoM- she's active in her Christian church nearby, and you could really feel the light of Christ with her, she was so friendly and polite.
Something really cool is that while you guys were having an awesome "super-member present" as we call 'em Restoration lesson with the Niceville sisters and your co-worker and his wife, we were at a member's house teaching the Restoration to the neighbor/ cleaning lady of Broeder and Zuster Touw (a cute older couple- Z. Touw got baptized a few years ago after investigating for 9 years). Her name is Patricia, she's a cute young Dutch mom with a pre-teen daughter, and is so cool. She wasn't raised religious, but she's come to know that God does exist, and tries to read in the Bible. She has great questions, and it was so cool because after reading Moroni 10:3-5 with her, she exclaimed that that described her- she's open, and she wants to know. Woah. She's super busy, and hopefully can meet again soon.
Last week, it was beautiful weather and we were biking down this cute canal-side road to the church, and talked to some friendly older men working in their front yards (they may not have the biggest lawns, but they sure take gardening seriously here and make the most of their appointed space) and turns out one of the men came to the church building open house with his grandson last year, and told us we could come back to talk some more if it's nice weather. Sure enough, yesterday was nice and sunny, so we swung by after church, and he invited us in his beautiful backyard and we went from talking about his horse-and-buggy-riding competitions to prophets and the Book of Mormon. He was raised protestant, and doesn't see the significance in minor differences among Christian religions, but said he'd be down to come to church- once again, if it's nice weather. His grown daughter came to drop off the little grandson, and she was pretty skeptically suspicious of us at first, but he invited her to come sit with us for a sec, which she did. She pretended to be really interested in her phone, but was definitely listening because she looked up and helped us clarify the temple vs. church to her dad which he had a question about, comparing the church to the elementary school where you learn the basics, and the temple to a University, where people can then gain higher knowledge.. pretty cool, because that's a great comparison I've heard members use.
Speaking of the temple, we have a zone training this Friday, and we're talking about "standing in the waters of baptism facing the temple" and I'm enjoying studying about how baptism is just the beginning of a life full of covenants and progression, and realizing the protecting power from temple covenants - as Elder Bednar says, "there is a difference between church-attending, tithe-paying members who occasionally rush into the temple to go through a session and those members who faithfully and consistently worship in the temple." And, it'll be helpful to have a better understanding of the temple seeing as there's one right around the corner here in Zoetermeer which sparks a lot of questions with people we come across. I mentioned how some of our investigators were not keeping their commitments, and it made me think of how a doctor would find it pretty pointless to keep meeting with a patient who claims to want healing and relief from sickness/ pain, but over and over refuses to take the prescribed medicine- the healing doesn't all happen during the discussing with a doctor or physical therapist; taking the prescribed medicine regularly and doing exercises plays a crucial role.
Something really cool is that while you guys were having an awesome "super-member present" as we call 'em Restoration lesson with the Niceville sisters and your co-worker and his wife, we were at a member's house teaching the Restoration to the neighbor/ cleaning lady of Broeder and Zuster Touw (a cute older couple- Z. Touw got baptized a few years ago after investigating for 9 years). Her name is Patricia, she's a cute young Dutch mom with a pre-teen daughter, and is so cool. She wasn't raised religious, but she's come to know that God does exist, and tries to read in the Bible. She has great questions, and it was so cool because after reading Moroni 10:3-5 with her, she exclaimed that that described her- she's open, and she wants to know. Woah. She's super busy, and hopefully can meet again soon.
Last week, it was beautiful weather and we were biking down this cute canal-side road to the church, and talked to some friendly older men working in their front yards (they may not have the biggest lawns, but they sure take gardening seriously here and make the most of their appointed space) and turns out one of the men came to the church building open house with his grandson last year, and told us we could come back to talk some more if it's nice weather. Sure enough, yesterday was nice and sunny, so we swung by after church, and he invited us in his beautiful backyard and we went from talking about his horse-and-buggy-riding competitions to prophets and the Book of Mormon. He was raised protestant, and doesn't see the significance in minor differences among Christian religions, but said he'd be down to come to church- once again, if it's nice weather. His grown daughter came to drop off the little grandson, and she was pretty skeptically suspicious of us at first, but he invited her to come sit with us for a sec, which she did. She pretended to be really interested in her phone, but was definitely listening because she looked up and helped us clarify the temple vs. church to her dad which he had a question about, comparing the church to the elementary school where you learn the basics, and the temple to a University, where people can then gain higher knowledge.. pretty cool, because that's a great comparison I've heard members use.
Speaking of the temple, we have a zone training this Friday, and we're talking about "standing in the waters of baptism facing the temple" and I'm enjoying studying about how baptism is just the beginning of a life full of covenants and progression, and realizing the protecting power from temple covenants - as Elder Bednar says, "there is a difference between church-attending, tithe-paying members who occasionally rush into the temple to go through a session and those members who faithfully and consistently worship in the temple." And, it'll be helpful to have a better understanding of the temple seeing as there's one right around the corner here in Zoetermeer which sparks a lot of questions with people we come across. I mentioned how some of our investigators were not keeping their commitments, and it made me think of how a doctor would find it pretty pointless to keep meeting with a patient who claims to want healing and relief from sickness/ pain, but over and over refuses to take the prescribed medicine- the healing doesn't all happen during the discussing with a doctor or physical therapist; taking the prescribed medicine regularly and doing exercises plays a crucial role.
Fijne week verder, and happy almost summer vaycay!
Veel liefs, Zuster Riley (:
Raw fish ft. Z. Naykoh / Aren't Dutch names fun? The souls of these people are more precious than emeralds.
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