Christmas Time
Good news, Pepe isn't lost! He wasn't
able to come to church last Sunday because his son was with him and is against
the church. But, he has switched which days he has his son so that he can come
to church on Sundays and was there yesterday. We have taught him the
Restoration so far and tonight we'll teach the Plan of Salvation! He's still
praying to know the truth, but to be honest I think he's already got his answer
and is looking for further verification. I'm cool with that, I know as long as
he remains sincere he'll find it. Last week we set up a baptismal date with him
for December 23, Merry Christmas! Yesterday at church he met a few of our ward
leaders and they all like him and had positive interactions and impressions.
Tonight we have a joint teach to Pepe with the elder's quorom president and his
mother. Our ward continues to be increasingly supportive of us and the work. It
feels good to be working in unity with them. Not going to lie, I'm a bit
nervous for transfers next week, to find out what the Lord has planned
next...I'm hoping it involves me getting to continue the work here in
Antwerpen, but if not I know they'll be left in good hands and I'll be where
I'm needed.
Speaking of which, I'm considering
extending my mission from July to August. I don't know the policy or rules or
wat dan ook daarover, maar ik wil heel graag een zendeling blijven als lang
mogelijk. I feel good about staying, but we'll see what President Robinson
says. I know whatever is decided will be what the Lord wills.
As far as how other things this week
have gone, remember that young family we found on the street from our
bishop? Yeah, the wife didn't want it :/ we were pretty heartbroken. Like on
the verge of tears. So we talked to literally every person on the street we saw
after that convinced that we'd find someone who needed us in that area at that
time. We ended up talking with a professor of religion whose students are
interested in learning more about our church! He asked us if he could give our
information to them so those who wanted to could meet up with us. Uhh,
'turlijk! He told us it would be purely for scholastic reasons and they would
not be looking to be converted. We told him we are more than happy to answer
their questions and so he accepted our information. We really hope some of them
call, even if they aren't looking for "conversion" there's no way to
share a testimony of the truth with someone and not have the spirit present.
Hopefully one of them will be touched.
Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving with
a family in our ward, the Sherlocks, and tracted in their little village.
Turns out that there has never been investigators in their village besides one
woman whose friend introduced her to the gospel and was baptized a few years
ago. We have absolutely no other records of people being taught in this town!
Zuster Jones and I are trying to work with the members who live in the small
villages such as this one that have never really had any tracting or a strong
missionary presence to introduce more people to the gospel. It means traveling
more outside the city for us, but hey, if that's where the families are, that's
where I want to be. As far as our Thanksgiving celebration went, we had a lot
of fun and ate some delicious food. Zuster Sherlock bought turkey and we had as
many traditional Thanksgiving dishes as we could including greenbean casserole,
sweet potatoe pie, and pumpkin pie, mmm! The Sherlock family is my little
British-Dutch family here in Antwerpen and I love them a lot! Jessica and
David, the two teenagers remind me a lot of Mary and KJ, it's nice to be around
family for the holidays :) (Side-note for mom, Zuster Sherlock posted our
Thanksgiving pictures to facebook, you should friend her! Ingrid Sherlock is
her name and her email is ingrid@sherlocktribe.co.uk ).
Mom, I really liked what you said in
your email last week about developing a faith that is based on more than
convience or the moment. This weekend I've had a few conversations with people
about faith and what it takes to develop an enduring faith that is evident in
our convictions and works. Thank you so much for your example.
Hey, guess what?! Thanksgiving is
done and it's official the Christmas season now! Well, at least I know it is in
America. Haha people here celebrate Sinterklaas before Christmas, so
there aren't too many Christmas decorations up yet, but I'm told that
after next week things get more decorative...we'll see ;)
I love you all a lot and am excited to hear about your service experiences
this Christmas. One of my favorite family traditions is service whether through
a gift drop, caroling, doing stuff for a secret person, or delivering cookies.
Whoever has my name this year can serve me by doing some missionary work and
letting me know how it goes! You all are great and I am glad for you support!
Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love, Zuster Becky Hinchcliff
PS Mom, don't forget to post my pictures and emails on the
blog! Thanks :)
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