Week 21 (21 t/m 27 mei)

We had a very unusual sunny week, this hole week was like a dream coming true: sun all the time, IN ENGLAND! It feld like I'm serving in France! Our investigator Steven is amazing! He told us yesterday that he feels like the church has already improved his life a lot. Although things don’t always get in immediately, he is very determined to be baptised and loves to learn from us. He is doing is best to stop smoking and has already quit drinking. He said that Saturday evening, some of his friends came to ask him if he would come out to drink a few beers with him and he refused. He is unwavering and already came three times to church now! Oh and he got really sunburned :p

week 20 (14 t/m 20 mei)

Jheeeeej! We hebben een hele goede onderzoeker genaamd Steven Smith. Hij is nu twee keer naar de kerk gekomen en wilt graag gedoopt worden. Hij genoot erg veel van de kerkdiensten en probeert nu om te stoppen met smoken en drinken wat erg moeilijk voor hem is. het leven is goed!

Week 19 (7 t/m 13 mei)

I enjoy my mission so much with Elder Stubbs. I learn much from him about the scriptures. Yesterday I learned from him where you can find in the bible that we should pray to God the Father in the name of Christ (Colossians 3:17). And this morning a learned about why the bible doesn’t clearly mentions the people in the America’s (3 Nephi 15:15).

Last week we found Steven Smith. After that we were not able to teach him more but he came with us to church last Sunday. He really enjoyed the lessons and the members were very kind to him. He is also struggling to stop smoking but when he got to church his desire to smoke was vanished and he had no problems for a time. In the time that he normally smokes 10 he only smoked 2 cigarettes. He is very open minded and I just have this feeling that Steven will be baptised for sure.

Groetjes!

Elder Methorst

Week 13 (26 maart t/m 1 april)

Deze week vroeg de zendingspresident om mijn conversionstory te schrijven en de rede waarom ik op een zending wilde. Omdat veel mensen dat niet weten (waaronder mijn familie:S), hier dus de rede waarom ik in God geloof en lid ben van deze kerk en de rede waarom ik op een zending ben:

When I was seventeen I went to a birthdayparty of a friend of mine. When we were talking, religion came up at some of his friends asked me why I believe in God. They said that they think that no one can know but also that no one can say that he does not exists. I had no idea how to respond on his question.

When I came home I pondered about what had happened and came to the conclusion that I did not know if God was truly there, but, I did want to know. I decided to pray every night to ask God that I might know. The first night, nothing happened, I felt totally nothing. The second night, the exact same happened and so the third but the forth night I prayed to know if God was there and if the Book of Mormon was true. When I said “amen” to that pray this amazing feeling came over me! I felt so close to him, so warm inside and so peaceful that I felt the tears rolling over my cheeks.

I did not change much, unfortunately, but after a few years I had other questions about if Thomas S. Monson was the prophet, the apostles, the Pearl of Great Price, the Bible and if these things were of God. Every question was answered the same way, by this amazing warm feeling inside.

The reason why I wanted to go on a mission, well, I always wanted to go on a mission, even when I was around 9 years, I took the missionaries once to my primary school to tell them about it! (als ik het me goed herriner? is dat waar mam/ pap?) But when I was fellowshipping the missionaries while I was studying I had an amazing experience with one of the investigators. The missionaries always took me to the same lady, I’ve seen her progress from the beginning until the time that she was baptised. I saw the great change that the gospel brought her and the increased happiness that came into her life. That made me want to go on my mission so that I could do the same to others around the world.

Groetjes!

Week 12 (19 t/m 25 maart)

A great miracle that we have seen this last week was with Roxanne. She is 23 years old. We met her on the street, she said she was busy and needed to get her kids from school but she gave us her address. No phone number, and no time. When we were in the area, we knocked by last Friday, she said she was busy but would have time the next day. The following day we knocked by again and she was glad to see us. We taught her the Restoration and she was very receptive and wanted to change. She said she would read and pray about the Book of Mormon and she invited herself to come to church. She wasn’t there unfortunately but we will keep the faith!

Something I begin to understand more and more is the purpose of God: “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” Elder Cofone was wondering how God could not be prideful with all his glory, when he said that, my understanding got enlightened. I realized the God is constantly focusing on others, to help them progress and fulfill their potential. Then, this morning I read in 2 Nephi 2:30 about Lehi’s object: “ And I have no other object then the eternal welfare of your souls.” Lehi understood that, in order to become like God, we need to have the same goal, and that is to help others. Also a thought that came up to me is the verse “as we are in the service of our fellow beings, we are only in the service of our God.” As we help others, we help God fulfill his goal.   

Groetjes,

Elder Methorst

Week 11 (12 t/m 18 maart)

Vorige week ontmoette we een man die eerder zendelingen had ontmoet. Hij was toen dronken en schreeuwde naar de zendelingen. Baz, de man, bood nu zijn excuses aan en wilde meer weten over waar we in geloven. Hij zei ook dat hij een vriend had genaamd Martin, die bij hem in woont die ook hulp kan gebruiken. Juist nadat hij dat gezegd had kwam die vriend dezelfde straat op lopen! Martin had veel vragen voor ons. We maakten een afspraak om zijn vragen te beantwoorden. Toen we bij hun langs kwamen vertelde Baz dat hij een alcoholic is en Martin dat hij verslaafd is aan heroïne. We probeerde hun vragen te beantwoorden en vertelde hun hoe we aan het Boek van Mormon kwamen en legde uit wie Joseph Smith was. Toen we spraken over dat Joseph God en Christus zag zeiden ze dat ze iets heel goeds voelde en Baz kwam zelfs dichterbij zitten zodat hij het beter kon horen. Toen we de volgende dag langs kwamen hadden ze veel vragen over Joseph Smith en zei Baz dat hij niet kon geloven dat er een "tweede bijbel" kon zijn en dat hij, wat hij hem hadden verteld, niet kon geloven. Hij had duidelijk veel anti-mormon verhalen gelezen op het internet en was ook dronken... maar, hij zou van het boek van Mormon lezen om te zien wat er in staat.

Verder zijn we twee keer uiteten geweest met de leden van de kerk hier. Voordat ik in Wigan was ben ik nooit met leden uiteten geweest dus dat was erg leuk, en vooral lekker.

Dat was het wel weer,

Cheers!

Elder Methorst

Week 10 (5 t/m 11 maart)

A great event this week was Gerald McMahom a less active. He recently moved into the Wigan area from somewhere around Oldham to live closer to one of his daughters. That daughter had a look on the church website and  asked him if he would like to get in touch with the church again which he explained, he really wanted. Through the office we got his details and gave him a call, saw him last week and he said we would come back to church. Unfortunately, when we gave him a call Sunday morning he said he was not feeling well but that he will come the following week. I am confident that he will come next week! His desire to come back is enormous but he might feel a bit uncomfortable to be in a new ward.

Niet zoveel bijzonders deze week maar komende week zien we zeker meer wonderen.

Groetjes!

Elder Methorst