Geliefde friends and family,
Scripture of the Week
Enos 1:4-8 - "And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens. (4) And there cam a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed. (5) And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away. (6) And I said: Lord how is it done? (7) And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole. (8)"
Deze wek was niet so lol (as you can see my Nederlands is perfect, despite not ever being able to speak it). But, some fun stuff did happen. I got a haircut last Monday! It looks pretty dorky, but I guess that's to be expected when Mary was focusing more on getting me to teach her Dutch swears (which I refused to do) than on cutting my hair. It could have been worse though.
I was on exchanges a lot this week. With Elder Taylor (District Leader) and with Elder Monreal (Zone Leader). Elder Monreal is awesome. It was so nice to be able to have that experience.
We visited a less active member named Brother Blake on Wednesday. He was sort van awesome. He has a Dutch wife, so that was kind of cool! Or at least, it would have been cool if she hadn't gotten angry and stormed off when he let us in to get a drink. Sooo excited to meet more people like her in Nederland!
We met with Jack on Wednesday night and had the opportunity to meet his friend Ray, who just happened to be sitting out by the pool where we were. Ray is a funny guy. He wouldn't accept a Book of Mormon or our number or even a short message. But, he did share with us his plans for world domination. Lots of great ideas, including putting big dumpsters on every corner and shooting anyone who breaks the law and then throwing them in the dumpster which then will be thrown into the Grand Canyon... Fortunately he's in his 70s and won't have his plans solidified for another 10 or 15 years so we're all good to speed through yellow lights and do Chinese fire-drills for a little while longer. The best part about Ray was his openness to all women, regardless of age. He said he will take out anyone from ages 18 to 85. What a nice guy. Very accepting. He did say that he used to tell people that it was between 16 and 85 but people would give him weird looks. Classic Ray.
So we met with Jack again on Thursday at the church building for his baptismal interview. Before he left, he told me how happy he is to be finished with smoking and he said "thanks for everything". That made me feel good. But, it wasn't me, or any of his other missionaries. It was our Heavenly Father. He does answer prayers and He definitely answered Jack's. He had been smoking for 45 years and managed to quit within a matter of weeks. That is the hand of God.
Jack was baptized on Saturday. I had the honor of helping him perform the essential ordinance and help him take that first step toward living with our Father in heaven again. I was my first time, so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. I forgot a towel though, among other things, so paper towels definitely came in handy. It was an awesome experience though.
After the baptism we went to visit some people and ended up meeting Jane the Cat Lady. She is the nicest lady ever and her house smelled as if it was made of cat pee and poo and fur and other fun stuff. She has like 8 cats in there though, so it's not her fault. She does cat rescue stuff or something. Anyway, she was super nice and asked us to give her a blessing because she had just had a surgery. It was super cool because she is not a member but is aware of the priesthood which we hold and it's power. Hopefully she recovers quickly and recognizes even more the healing power of priesthood blessings.
Yesterday was good. Church was awesome, and we met a lot of cool people and families throughout the day. We played baseball with some middle schoolers and I accidentally hit one of their balls into a tree. The game ended but my team won soo...
I listened to the Bill Carpenter Conversion Story this week. It is amazing. If you haven't listened to it, you should. It's about an hour and every minute is worth listening to. It really shows the importance of personal revelation, that God answers prayers, and also the power of missionary work. It's amazing!
During church this week I had the opportunity to sit and think about the atonement during sacrament meeting. It is sad to know that there are so many people who do not realize the full extent of Christ's atonement and all that it does for us. It allows us to repent and be forgiven of our sins. Each time we repent, and each week as we partake of the sacrament, we allow our Savior to take the burden of our sins and sorrows from us and help us to continue on our path to eternal life. We all make mistakes and we all do something stupid every once in a while. Or more often than that maybe. But, the beauty of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is that it allows us to carry on and move forward, with an eye single to the glory of God.
I love this gospel and I love being a missionary. Everybody have a great week and maybe/hopefully/possibly/
Tot ziens!
- Elder Wright
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