Elder Thornton in Belgium/ Netherlands: Week 16! "Wilt u wat sla met uw boderham?"

Bonjour! (not Dutch :) )

Things have been a little rough number wise this week, but it nonetheless has been a fantastic week! We have been working pretty hard with the members, getting them excited for joint teaches and that sort of thing. We also have a new investigator with a lot of promise!

Her name is Hanneke Boots, and we found her in the Area Book. She is severely physically disabled, with almost no movement capability, but she is one of the kindest people I have met. She can move her arm just enough to control her wheelchair, and she has a really smart dog who helps her with things like putting on clothes and opening doors. It is pretty impressive. This last lesson she said she wanted to know if it really is true, and then asked if it is normal for someone who is already in a church to convert and be baptized in the LDS church, so she is actually considering it! We hope to set her up with a baptismal date next week!

Joelle is still doing well, but her boyfriend is not being super accommodating, so we could use everyone's prayers.

One really funny thing happened this week. It was easily my most creative contact ever. On the bus you aren't allowed to "direct proselyte", meaning no questions like "Have you ever heard of the Book of Mormon?" , at least at the beginning of a conversation. You can later on. We had done the lunch for the District meeting, so we had some leftover lettuce, and the guy sitting next to us pulled out a sandwich with only some ham and cheese. The Holy Ghost immediately placed an idea in my head, and I went for it. "wilt u wat sla met uw boderham?" (Do you want some lettuce with your sandwich?) We ended up having a great conversation, and after he got out, a few other people started talking to us.

Sunday was excellent! It started out super great! We missed the bus and it doesn't come very often Sunday morning, so we would have been late. This finally gave me the excuse to bike to church! I have really wanted to for a while, but Elder Ocampo didn't want to . I convinced him it was the only way to get to church on time. We biked through the National Park on the way there and it was super cool! There were some wild horses walking right along the path with us! I love Nederland! It is so beautiful! I had the map out so we didn't get lost and at one point I was looking at it really closely, and I failed to see the beginning of a little island separating the fietspad from the street. I hit pretty hard but I just hopped up onto it since it was just a curb. Had I hit it an inch over either way I would have gone flying, so it was definitely a miracle. Then we sang in Sacrament Meeting (The Elders and the Sisters with Brother Latort playing piano. It went pretty well. Hanneke and Joelle were there!

Have a great week everyone!

Haring with Tim, the Bishop's less-active son! He has been coming to church pretty regularly recently!

It wasn't awful, but I don't really understand why people would eat it... ( I finished it, of course)

New Furniture! In Nederland, people put their old unwanted furniture out on the sidewalk. What missionary doesn't want a free chair? (Our super steep spiral staircase was nearly too small :) )