A Week of Miracles

This has been a very long week but for me, I have grown a lot this week. To start the week I went on exchanges to Gent, Belgium to work with Sister Fleming. We were on the train for an hour from Antwerpen, then biked 45 minutes to an appointment and worked in that area till our dinner appointment. The lesson fell through so we spent the next 3 hours door knocking. It got to point that we were quite cold and it was about dinner time. We got back on our bikes to go find a place to warm up and so Sister Fleming could make some phones calls. The only place was a Lukoil gas station... so that's where we went. I bought us some hot chocolate and there was a gentleman also buying something. When he saw my name tag and then over heard Sister Fleming on the phone he stopped me and asked me if we were the Mormon missionaries. Of course we are! ha And he and I talked for about 30 minutes. He travels a lot but he loves the Elders, and whenever he sees them he sits and talks with them. He has attended church in Brussels but is not a member. He bore a beautiful testimony of Joseph Smith and the respect he has for him. It was crazy! The things he said about Joseph Smith were simple and basic but it was sure testimony. He then thanked me for leaving everything behind and coming to Belgium, a place were religion is lost and the people really need us. And then he went on his way. His name was Fernando, and I felt the spirit there in that gas station. Another awesome experience, we had District Leader Council on Thursday and afterwards we usually go to the Centrum for lunch but Elder Bosco said let's just go to the McDonald's around the corner. So we did and we all ordered and started eating (which by the way is much better than American McDonald's) and one of the employees came over and asked us for a card for her coworker. So Sister Jones handed her one... that night on the train on the way to Netherlands her coworker texted us!!! Her name is Lynn and she gave us her whole background and said she has questions and wants to learn more. So we were in Nederland all weekend and said we have church on Sunday and we could talk with her then. SHE CAME TO CHURCH!! And she stayed the whole time and participated in all the classes and the ward welcomed her with open arms! The JoVo's (the young single adults) loved her. I gave her a Book of Mormon and we set up another appointment. She plays soccer as well so we hit it off great! Sitting with her class and I just have a great feeling about her and am SO very excited! I also gave my first talk in Sacrament meeting yesterday.... I felt like a primary kid reading her talk all slow and it was just ridiculous. But I think it went good as well! Our baptism with Agnes fell through... unfortunately.. she was ignoring us and then when we tried to talk to her she was just angry and shut us out. So bummer.. we won't give up on her but are giving her space. This week we have spent hours finding and door knocking and not seeing much success but we kept working hard and doing all that Heavenly Father asks of us. We had times where we could have just gone home and done other things but instead we chose to go keep knocking on doors in the dark and rain. We continued to show our faith and desire to do the work and Heavenly Father has blessed us with Lynn and other little miracles. It is amazing to be a missionary and to see Heavenly Father's love for all his children. It's been hard this week, I had moments where I wanted to just stop and cry but I forgot myself and went to work. Our best effort is all that He asks of us and He will take care of the rest. I love you all and hope all is well. Have a great week! Love, Zuster Young