Week 36 Almere Netherlands

So it turn out baptisms are super bad for numbers.  We taught less lessons this week than I have in months. haha we turn in our numbers every Sunday night and they were pretty pathetic this week.  Once you get someone baptized your lessons like cut in half. So I’ve decided to stop baptizing on my mission because numbers are the only thing that matter! haha I'm just kidding. It just shows that we need to find another Farley!

 

So transfer calls came last night and I'm staying here in Almere but elder Schmidt is going to Rotterdam!!! I'm so excited! He's going to my greenie city! Well he is Rotterdam north and I was in Ommoord but they are right next to each other so that's pretty exciting.  I will be getting elder Fowkes as my companion. Don't really know too much about him yet but I'm excited.

Not a lot happened this week.  We had a zone training and learned some cool new stuff, taught a few other lessons, and just did a lot of finding.  I've had a lot of fun here in Almere with elder Schmidt and it will be sad to see him go, but one thing my mission has taught me is to get used to change because as soon as you start to get comfortable transfers come.

Elder Hulet

 

Week 35 Almere Netherlands

A whole lot happened this last week in preparation for the baptism.  We met with Farley every day and made sure he was ready for this big step he was taking.  So Friday is a big Netherlands holiday type thing where everyone in the country is supposed to do some sort of service and our ward mission leader, broeder Kat, set us up to help on a farm run by handicap people.  So Friday morning we headed out for service. The whole week had been super nice weather but then on Friday the rain wouldn't stop coming.  It was crazy!!  We just ran wheelbarrow loads full of bricks and dirt for about 4 hours. Farley was there too and he really enjoyed himself.  He grew up on a farm in curacoa so he was telling me all about the chickens and all that good stuff!  Then after the service project we ran home and showered then headed back to the church to start getting ready.  We made sure to fill the font on time because we were in charge of filling it for another baptism and we started it way too late so we remembered this time to make sure to get it going on time.  

Farley invited a bunch of people to the baptism and they started showing up around 6,30, and it didn't even start until 7,30.  It was super cool that so many friends and family of his came.  Me and Elder Schmidt got to be the witnesses so we stood up on the front row.  A priest named Thomas was the one who did the baptizing, so we took him on a few joint teaches last week so they could get to know each other. But anyway when Farley came up out of the water he stuck his hands up in the air and said hallelujah!  Haha it was so awesome! And when he grabbed my hand from over the edge of the font I could see the tears in his eyes!  That is one of the most memorable experiences of my mission.  He was so prepared and ready to make this covenant. He was confirmed on Sunday and that was also amazing! He is going to be an awesome member of the church.

 

Love,

Elder Hulet

Week 34 Almere Netherlands

This was on someones door and it says no jehovas witness!
haha we laughed really hard and then knocked the door!

Just chillin with Farley

Us and Farley after he passed the baptism interview!! What a stud!

This week we had a ton of lessons with Farley preparing him for his baptism this next week.  Last Sunday while we were walking to church he said something about how god the father was named Jehovah (he investigated with the Jw's for a few years) So we decided to address that one this week.  It was a super cool lesson. He was like It just makes so much sense that Jesus is Jehovah and all that good stuff and then at the end of the lesson he got pretty emotional and called us his angles. He said at the start of January two angles showed up at his door and taught him the truth! It was such a cool experience! Then we had a member present with sister Wolff. She is the Suriname lady who has a catering business so she makes super bomb food! It was super delicious and Farley had a good time. Then on Sunday Farley came to church again and also a less active named Michael that we have been teaching! SOO DANG COOL!  It just so happened to be the ward pot luck right after the meeting too so he was forced to stay and mingle for a while and he enjoyed it a lot.  It was a pretty cool Sunday. 

So a few days ago we were contacting in the centrum, like we do all the time, and in one of the store windows we noticed an NBA game playing! NO one here watches the NBA! We both kind of just stopped and watched for a few minutes. It was the heat vs. the nuggets and man it was just a nice little tender mercy. 

Farley passed his baptism interview so he is already for his baptism. He invited like 65 people to it too! That's 65 easy referrals. ha I can't wait for the baptism. Next week when I email yall he will be a member of the church!!!

Elder Hulet

Week 33 Almere Netherlands

We had a district pday today so I don't have a lot of time to email this week so sorry if it is really short.  So a couple of days ago we had an appointment on the other side of Almere and it fell through so we decided to just knock doors and one of the doors was a Muslim lady who started telling us all about her beliefs but that she was different then different Muslims because she believes that god can still call prophets today! So we got all excited to tell her that we've got a prophet! But then she wouldn't stop talking and she ended up giving us 4 books in English and they were like HUGE books! I will try to send you a picture later but I was looking through one on the bus ride home and it was super weird.  We left her with a pamphlet and told her a little bit about the restoration but we aren't planning on going back...  We had a bunch of lessons with Farley this week though and he's just getting better and better every week!  He's such a cool dude!  We had to miss volleyball on Saturday because we had to travel to Zoetermere for a zone blitz.  We passed out invitations all day to people for the open house for their new church building.  It's a super cool church. It's just like an American one! It even has a basketball hoop!! Super cool!  Besides that not a whole lot happened this week.  We taught a bunch of first lessons and got a few new investigators so we will see what happens.

Elder Hulet

Week 32 Almere Netherlands

Flowers starting to grow on the side of the road.

Bench contacting in the wilderness

Me standing on a rock by some water

Random work out stuff we found while walking through the wilderness

Surprise birthday party with Familie Herribrugh
(if you look close enough she actually isn't even touching me.
 haha Because that's not allowed)

This week was a lot of fun! So my birthday was on Thursday and we got a call Wednesday night that we would be getting a new washer the next day! But it was one of those things where the company says they will deliver it within like a 5 hour period so really we had no idea when it would come. We ended up just having to wait in the apartment for half the day and then they finally came, but when they came they told us they couldn't install the new one because the old one was still full of water. So they just dropped the new one right in the middle of our bedroom.  We had no idea how to drain a washer! haha it took us a while but we figured it out and then we had to go to a dinner appointment with the Herribrughs. Turns out it was a surprise birthday party for me and the sisters were in on it too! haha it was a lot of fun! So anyway about the actual missionary work, we had a bunch of lessons with Farley this week and man he is progressing!!  We are done with all of the lessons so we just get to read with him now and teach random things that we want to teach! It's awesome! and yesterday he pretty much taught us. He just understands the gospel so well! He came to the volleyball activity on Saturday and then after that we had a super member present with familie kat.  They invited us and Farley over for dinner and that was awesome. They fed us super good food and then we watched a church film with Farley.  Farley is back on date for March 21st and he has already invited his family in curisou so I think he is pretty serious about it this time. He has come to church for the past two weeks too and he just loves it.  It is just such a rewarding feeling to be able to see the gospel actually change someone’s life.