Neva Betta

Hidy ho Family and I guess friends as well.  Well it seems as if I fell asleep for ten minutes and woke up and it was Saturday again. I can't believe how fast it has been going.. It is ridiculous and someone needs to slow it down.. haha..
This week was really great. We saw some cool miracles as always and it was just good.
Haha so funny note, this week we had two different Africans try and get us to sign papers saying we knew them and they were associated with the church so that they could get nationality here in Belgium.  It just so happens that both of them were possibly women of the world (if you know what I mean), it was sad. But we just told them well we are American, so I don't think that Belgium is going to take that, sorry.  Then we said, "Hey if you decide you wanna come to church we will see you there.. but otherwise we will be seeing you later."
We saw a lot of members this week and it was so cool.  I realized what amazing and strong members there are here.  We taught this one guy, his name is Omar Haruna.  He was baptized about two transfers ago and he is from Ghana.  He walked all the way from Ghana to Belgium.  He took a little row boat from Moroco to Spain.. haha.  It took him four years and when he got here he had no place to stay.  So he stayed in the train station for 2 weeks.  Then finally another Ghanian took him in.  It just so happens that it was a inactive Ghanian member.  Well long story short..Omar was Muslim and then one Sunday Bro. Francis. (the inactive mem) and Omar showed up at church.  Omar got baptized and he is so solid and ever since he has found a really nice job, and things are just going amazing for him.  The Lord is taking care of him and he is so hungry to learn.  He recorded his whole conversion story on a tape and we are going to type it out so I can have it on paper to read because it is crazy.

This week we decided we needed to mix this up and try a different way to find.  So we decided that we would pick member families and go to their house, pray with them and then go finding/tracting in their area.  So we did that and the first member family we chose.. just happened to live in pretty much the richest part of Brussels.. haha We thought, man this is different than being in poopy/slummy areas, so we went forward with faith.  Not a whole lot of people were interested, but we knew we would find someone.  And we had promised the family that we would come back and tell them miracles..SO we were OBLIGATED:)  Well at the very end of our finding time we found two Phillipinos.  One hadn't heard too much about the church but she knew it a little, but the second one we talked to had friends on missions.  He knew all the lingo and everything about the church and he was like, ya I used to talk to the District President all the time.  He used to feed the missionaries and it was crazy.  He was really positive, so we will see if we can get him going.  But it was cool to go back and share the miracles with the family.

On Thursday we were up in Zwolle, Holland.  It is a BEAUTIFUL dutch city WAY WAY up north.  There were some struggling missionaries and areas so the District Leader asked if we could come up and do a huge finding activity.  He asked Elder De Mass to bring his bag pipes, so we went up and it was awesome.  I wasn't super effective because it is such a Dutch city that not everyone spoke English.  Haha pretty much every Dutch person speaks perfect English.
Yesterday was an awesome day.  We saw the family Johnson and taught them about temples and somehow Bro. Johnson already knew a lot.  He was like, "Well in one year we can prepare ourselves to go to the temple where we can be sealed together for eternity."  So of course I was happy.
Oh I almost forgot, the highlight of the week was Sunday.  Sunday was so special.  The whole family Johnson got confirmed and received the holy Ghost.  It was really powerful.  The whole family sat on the stand and so all the Ward knew they were new members.  When Bro. Johnson received the Holy Ghost and after the blessing was finished he got up and his eyes were filled full of tears and he was just crying. He gave everyone a huge hug and a lot of the members all were teary eyed as well.  I can't explain it.  It was really one of the most powerful experiences I have had.  I love that Family with all my heart.  Last night we took a member from Guyana (South America) to teach them.  Wilfred (is his name) he is 73 and you would never guess it. He was honestly one of the most powerful joint teaches I have had on my mission.  He is the happiest person and every time you ask how he is doing he says Neva Betta (Never better).. I love it.  I wish you could meet some of these people..
Well I will stop boring you.  I love you Lots and it sound like you are all gearing up for a fun next few months.  And to answer your question.. it is more than likely... no, it is for sure that I will be here for Christmas.   Elder De Mass has been Assistant for 5 transfers, so I will be getting a new companion next transfer which is the second week in December.. so..
Love... Simonson, Jacob, Von, Elder... PhD.. in awesomeness..