This has been quite the crazy week! On Monday, when all 11 people are in the office, our internet decided to take his P-day. So we spend the entire day messing around waiting for the internet company to fix the problem and then to reconnect our external drives to the internet and computer. Nothing like a day to mess around with Elder Wilson (my favorite Canadian ever) and Elder Crowder. The internet finally got back online at 5, so the four of us were here till 11 catching up (luckily with a dinner appointment to break it up) We also decorated the desk of Elder Reeves (one of the office senior couples)--check the photos attached.
Tuesday, we got to teach a guy that we contacted on Sunday. He told us upfront that he was atheist and wasn't interested but he had heard several bad things about us and wanted to take the time to hear who we really are. Even though he wasn't going to become religious it was really cool of him to take the time to give us an honest chance to tell him who we are.
Wednesday, I did my usual Brussels trip, but I don't think I've ever disregarded so many traffic laws in my life. hahah. I woke up way sick that morning and it only got worse. Luckily I wasn't too bad till we were 30mins out of Brussels and my sickness went from 0 to 100 really quick! I basically was internally dying for those 30 minutes needing to go to the bathroom sooo badly. Once we got off the freeway by the city hall (10mins away) I was about to my limit. In order to get to a bathroom in time I had to run 4-5 "orange" lights- haha Luckily I made it and the appointment went well, but that wasn't the end of my rule bending. Once we got into Brussels City Center we found out our parking garage was closed! Terrible! While driving around for a new parking garage I found out that the GPS had lead us onto the bus lane with no way out for a few kilometers, haha So we just sped through it and again had to run a red light to get back into a normal lane :) It was quite the adventure!
The highlight of my week was Thursday! Me and Elder Dearden got to the temple with Ron and the crew from Emmen because it was Ron's first time doing baptisms there. It was honestly such a surreal thing. I love being with "me mate" as he always calls us. Ron even brought the names of like 40-50 family members. I just had the coolest thought in my head that it was amazing to see what the influence of one person can make. Because Ron joined the church, now hundreds of his ancestors will get the chance to accept the same ordinances! Way comforting!
Friday night, we had a lesson with a referral. This girl Farah was interested to know who we were because she is a major in religious studies, so she submitted a request for a visit online. When we called her to set something up she said her mom wanted to hear as well! We walk in and the mom says "Do you want anything to drink? i know you don't do coffee or tea." they had done their homework- haha We shared the message of the restoration with them and then answered tons of questions. It was cool because they asked questions about our views on the family, so we pulled up The Family: a Proclamation to the World. (I think that's the first time I've ever used it on my mission) then we pulled up a bio and talks from President Monson, when they asked about a modern prophet. And even showed temple open house photos to show them what the inside of the temple looked like when they asked about it. It was awesome, and Farahs mom had the funniest comments. Here are a few:
"You're both named Elder? Is that after the Elderflower? You're moms didn't love you if they never made you Elderflower juice..."
"I think everyone has an inner Mormon inside of them"
"Give it 2 generations, I bet everyone will be Mormon by then"
"Farah, you can't baptize dead bodies. Did you really think they did that? How did you ever get your masters in religion?"
Momma N was firing off one liners the whole time. It was a way cool appointment and I think they will visit the church one of these weeks. Farah is also going to try to set up a church tour/Q&A session with her religious studies group. That would be way cool!
This was definitely a sweet week! Loving it!
Love you guys!
--
Elder Talyon Anderson Perry
Belgium/Netherlands Mission