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

Week 9 (27 feb t/m 4 maart),

I had an invigorated week! Our greatest miracle was with Bethany Swarbrick, she is the youngest daughter of the Swarbrick family. Most of the Swarbrick family got baptised just before I came to Wigan, only Bethany (9), her little brother and the father did not join when the rest was taught.  At the end of a normal lesson for the converted family, Bethany came to see us (she normally waits until we are gone before she goes back into the living room) and told us she read a bit of the Book of Mormon. Elder Cofone then asked her if she wanted to be taught as well, she replied “Yes”, then Elder Cofone asked her if she wants to be baptised, she replied “Yes!”. The room was silent for a second and then Lucy, one of her sisters said “Oh, Bethany wants to be baptised!” in her wigan accent. I feld chuffed to bits! I never experienced the happiness I feld for someone else like that, I was smiling and jumping and I was the happiest person on the planet! My heart was filled with joy and consolation! =D

We taught her the restoration the following day and explained the confusion of the many churches with different chocolates and her sisters were all saying that their particular chocolate was the best chocolate there is. We explained that Joseph Smith wanted to know which chocolate was actually the best chocolate there was and asked God. Then he had to restore the best chocolate: Lidt. She understood it perfectly and I’m sure the rest of the family also enjoyed the lesson.

I also had a splendid exchange with Elder Marjanen. He is a great missionary, he talks to everyone and I could really see that he has a sincere love for the people he serves. I also got to see Avril again, an investigator of Southport that Elder Delaibatiki and I found during our exchange in Southport! It was wonderful to see that she is doing well and is trying to learn from us. When Elder Marjanen and I were talking about asking God to know that what we share is true, she replied: “I know that what you say is true, why else would you come all the way to me to tell me something that is not true?”. She an lovely woman but unfortunately she finds it hard to remember things because she had an accident.

Another great blessing from heaven is Imant. We met him on the street where he showed where he lives and asked us to come by another time. We now already saw him three times. Imant is from Latvian but speaks Russian. He actually got kicked out of his parents’ house because he is catholic and firmly believes in God. He is a very strong believer and such a good person, there is just no evil in that man. He moved to England because of the economic circumstances in Latvian but his English is not the best. His wife and his daughter are still living in Latvian but will visit him in a few weeks. He has a different point of view on the Godhead but has a very good knowledge of what Mormons believe in. We are learning him English which we partially do by reading the book of Mormon in english.

With other words, life is good in Wigan!

Grtz,

Elder Methorst