WEEK 88

SALUT MES AMIS:) j'espère que cette semaine c'était bien passé et que vous avez réussi à tous ce que vous avez dû faire. Pour Elder Anderson et moi, notre semaine c'était bien passé, rempli de tout! Nous avons appris beaucoup et nous avons pu voir combien nous sommes béni en tant que serviteurs de notre seigneur Jésus-Christ. Alors je vais en partager avec vous ce qui est arrivé cette semaine:)  (HELLO MY FRIENDS :) I hope this week was well and that you managed all that you have done. For Elder Anderson and I, our week was fine, filled with everything! We learned a lot and we could see how we are blessed as servants of our Lord Jesus Christ. So I'll share with you what happened this week :)

I hope that you all know that today (April 25) is my perfect date. It's not too hot and not too cold. All you need is a light jacket! #NAMETHEMOVIE (If you didn't get that, we need to talk.) 

 

LUNDI SOIR

So tonight was a really weird night because the Mazy's are in Portugal and so tonight at family home evening, it was just us, the Badoux's, Chung and Claudette. There was no one there and so we just had a really nice and chill night hanging out with everyone, but it was super weird to not have the Mazy's there. Tonight me and Anderson had to give the lesson and we'd decided we wanted to talk a little bit about prayer and how it helps us, what it is and why we do it. It turned into a pretty great discussion and we were able to each share some really cool experiences. We then ended the night by playing Uno and the only people that won were me and Claudette. But I guess we all knew that would happen. Nothing but the best;)

 

MARDI

So today we got up early and we headed out to catch our train into Charleroi for district meeting. We got there and as we went to go and wait for the bus, we were approached by this lady telling us that she was currently meeting with the missionaries and that she was kind of all of the sudden telling us her whole life story haha it seems like we get that a lot. People love to come up to us and explain a bunch of stuff like that. But as we were waiting she told us that the bus systems were having a strike that day and so like no buses at all were running. So we called the missionaries in Charleroi to ask what we should do cause we didn't really know and they told us to come and get on this one tram and we would all go together to the other chapel in Charleroi cause there are 2 wards in Charleroi. So we called up all the other missionaries and they ran and made the same tram and we all got to the second chapel together. Me and elder Anderson had decided to make some egg salad sandwiches for lunch so we went and and started to boil all the egg while we were having district meeting and getting our formation. As a missionary, the amount of times that we have a formation given to us on why we came out on a mission and not losing the motivation that we had at the very beginning, is incredible haha I think that was at least the 10th time that I've been given a formation on remembering why I really came out and letting that continue to motivate me. It was good, but man! #repetitive anyway after the formation me and Anderson when and peeled the hard boiled eggs and we made us some egg salad and we ate and it was SO DANG GOOD! Haha it had been FOREVER and a day since I'd eaten egg salad. It reminded me just a little bit of home. We then played a few rounds of jungle speed and then we cleaned up and did the dishes and we bounced out of there and went to catch a tram back into Charleroi and then get home to Namur. When we got into Namur, we came inside and we dropped off our stuff and I had my birthday package from home!! I was super happy to get that! It was fun to open it and eat all the yummy treats that my mom had sent me anyway after we'd finished that up, we went out and we contacted and talked to a ton of people and then we went and had dinner and language study and then we ended our night porting in this little neighborhood nestled up in the forest/citadelle area and it felt like we were in the middle of the mountains somewhere haha. On the way home, we went through the citadelle and we took some cool pictures of us over looking Namur. I love this city and how beautiful it actually is!!

 

MERDREDI

Well today was an adventure. Haha mostly just because of the fact that today was the day that me and elder Anderson finally legitimately celebrated my birthday together! Haha because I finally got my package from mom, I decided to make the cake and we put some candles in it tonight and partied with some cake! It was fun. And plus we had time today to FINALLY go and see Emmanuel and Claudette!!! We haven't been to their place in like 2 weeks! We've had daily contact with them, but it's been hard to get over with Emmanuel's new job and what not. And let me tell you. For some odd little reason, being back in that little apartment with those 3 people did me so much good! We were in there and as I was surrounded by them, I didn't want to leave! EVER! For some reason I felt at home, at peace and I just didn't want it to end. It did me so much good to see them! I just can't even explain it!! Anyway, maybe I just sound stupid, but being there was amazing. So anyway we got up this morning and we had studies and then we went out contacting and then we came in for lunch. After lunch, I grabbed mom's present for Emmanuel and Claudette and we headed over to their place and when we got there, they went and got Yannick and said, 'OK! We're ready for the present!!' So I pulled out the picture frame and Claudette was so happy!! Emmanuel took it and said, 'Ah! It's too good.' And then I pulled out my camera to make a video of them and their reactions. It was a tender moment. We then started talking about how they are already planning on coming to Utah next year and how they are going to come to conference so not only will they be able to go through the Salt Lake temple, but they'll be able to see conference at the conference center. Claudette was saying how she needed to be right up front, just behind the families of the people on the stand, so that she'll easily be able to wave into the camera and see it when she gets home;) lol! When we had to leave, I am going to admit it, I did it heavy heartedly....I didn't want to! But the show must go on! So we left and we ended the afternoon out with some contacting and then we had a rdv to finish off the night with this one investigator that we found in the phone who we thought was named Kime....so we got to the place and found Kime and his cousin Jeremie and we taught them a little bit tonight on just trying to get to know them. It was really good and they both said that they didn't know what they wanted, all they knew was that they needed the truth, and so we testified that we knew they could find the truth and that if we kept meeting that that confirmation would come from the spirit. To which they both said, Ok, we'll come to church!! So hopefully we'll see them on Sunday! At the end of the rdv he told us that at first when he met the missionaries that he lied about his name and that his real name was Dan. So we were happy to meet Dan:) We then came in for dinner and I made my cake for that and it was fun!! Birthdays are special days:) especially when they continue on for a week!!

 

JEUDI

Well today wasn't a whole lot of anything special. Sadly we were ditched during a rdv and we were contacting all day long and so it was just a little bit long. But we did get to go to lunch with Patrick which was awesome! So that makes it all the sweeter:) lunch with Patrick is seriously something that I look forward to every week for some reason! It's such a blast. Anywho, long story short we did a lot of walking and talking today. We got up and had studies and then we went out and contacted up to lunch with Patrick. Today we were talking a lot about me going home cause he acted like it was brand new information when I told him I was leaving in 3 months and he was all freaking out a little bit haha but he was telling me how he wants me and my family to go and see him at this pasta place for lunch when we come back and that when he comes to Utah he really wanted to come and see me, so that'll be fun! Gotta keep these friends here in Europe in case I ever decided to make a trip over here;) #freerent anywho. After lunch we went and contacted all around. We didn't have any crazy miracles come to us today, but we were walking a lot and then finally it came time to have our rdv with Adrian and so we went and got to his house and rang the doorbell and called and nothing. So we were just sitting there waiting when this girl walked past and as she walked past I could have SWORN I saw something fall from her hands into the drain that was just next to us, but I couldn't see anything in the bottom, so I didn't really call her out saying she dropped anything, but still I looked and looked and couldn't see anything. And just as I was about to stop looking, I noticed that there was a bus pass the had fallen into the drain and gotten stuck in the cob webs that were just under the grate. So, me being the amazing Boy Scout that I am, cause we all know that I loved scouts............, I took our keys to the apartment and made tweezers out of two keys and pried out her card! Not gonna lie I was pretty proud of myself. After we'd waited for about 20 minutes to see if Adrian was going to show up and he hadn't, we left and we headed to the bus pass place so that we could give them the pass that we found in the drain. Ya know. Just your friendly neighborhood missionaries. Just saving the world one bus pass at a time. So after we'd done that we went contacting and about 10 minutes before we were going to go in for dinner, we ran into Claudette and Yannick! So we walked and talked with them and it was good. She doesn't really like Emmanuel working all the time. She says she gets really bored being alone at home and not seeing him at nights. But she's grateful 1) that the Lord blessed them to find a job and 2) that he is happy and finally working again after a whole year. So we left her and then came in for dinner and packed up and went off to catch our train into Braine, cause we were going to Paris in the morning and they are the closest to Brussels. We got in and we played some games and stayed up being funny missionaries into the wee hours of the morning;)

 

VENDREDI

Well today was an absolute RIOT! I absolutely love going into Paris! Did you all know that?! I don't know if I've said it enough times during my emails to you all, but just in case you didn't know, Paris is my favorite place on this planet. Today as I was hanging out with elder Reiss all day, an old friend from the MTC, he said something that just explains it so well. 'There's just no feeling to describe being in Paris. It's just being in Paris that makes everything so special.' And that is BEYOND true. No words can describe it! So I guess that you're all just going to need to come into Paris sometime and experience it for yourselves;) it really is the city of dreams. You will all see one day. Anywho. We got up this morning pretty early so that we could go and catch our train into Paris. We were out of the apartment by 6:15 this morning and got into Paris around 8:30. When we got in, I had to navigate us through the metro systems and all the way to the chapel in the middle of Paris. Riding on the metros in Paris is just so fun. You'll all have to experience that one as well;) haha we got there and all the missionaries started showing up and honestly it was so cute to see all the bleus see each other for the first time in 4 weeks! Haha they were honestly killing me. I had to take a few videos! Some of them even started to cry cause they were so happy to see each other lol. Bleus are so cute!! So anyway, we had a few directions given to each of them and then they split off to go to their legality and doctors appts and me and elder Reiss split off to go and do our own thing. We called today a date cause we were just together all afternoon and walking through the streets of Paris and having fun looking at people and different things. We wanted to make it over to the Eiffel Tower with our bleus, but sadly it didn't work out. We went all over downtown though and even saw a man that was making bubbles in the middle of town and saw the Eiffel Tower from far away! So does that count?? We received the strict instructions to order tickets for trains home 3 hours after our bleus appts were scheduled. SO. Elder Anderson had his appt at 14h30 so I ordered tickets for the train that left at 17h46 and we got tickets that put us on the train at 17h16. I didn't see it as a huge problem until the clock rung 17h00 and there were still no bleus back at the chapel.. They all showed up at 17h12 and so we just made our way to the gare cause if we exchanged our tickets within an hour, we heard it was free. So we got there and the lady at the desk told us that with the tickets we had ordered we could only make the exchange from the phone. SO we had to make a phone call, which led us to finding out that it wouldn't cost us any money if we took the 9:49 train getting into Brussels at 11:14 PM or we would have to pay 58€ for each ticket to get on another train. SO. We called elder slaughter and explained the situation, he gave us his credit card number, we got some seats on a train, we had to run to McDonald's to get wifi and receive the tickets and then head to a lounge next to the gare to print them off. FINALLY. After a lot more effort than needed, in my personal opinion, we had seats for a train leaving Paris at 18h52. 🏻 so after we'd gotten tickets we decided to go and treat ourselves to McDonald's and get our train. When taking a train from France to Belgium, you have to go through security and send your luggage and stuff through X-ray scanners and so when we were going through, I sent through my bag, iPad and had set down my bag of McDonald's when the worker ran over and grabbed my bag and was all NO!!!!! Hahah then I saw the sign that said please don't send through food. LOL I DIED. WHY AM I SO FUNNY? anyway we got to our train and made our way to Brussels. When we got there we went looking for a train ride into Namur, and they were having some sort of problems, that we later came to find out was people on the train tracks, that there were no trains leaving for Namur and EVERY other train in the gare was at least 20 minutes late....so we called up the elders in Braine l'Alleud again and....we ended up staying the night again! Haha it was an adventure to say the least. We got in and ate some food and talked til we got to bed, and then talked again;) it was a longggg day. But it's always fun to go to Paris so I am not complaining!!

 

SAMEDI

Well today seemed to be a really interesting day haha to say the least, I honestly didn't feel like we had a great day, but we did work as much as we should have, but as I am writing this, I am remembering that we were outside working when we needed to and doing things when we could. So since we were in Braine still this morning when we woke up, we just decided to do studies there cause we decided that if we wouldn't have done that that we would have missed out on our studies for the day. So we went and did that and then we left and went and caught our train home. By the time we got home, with the trains that we took, it was already afternoon and so we needed to get up to the church cause we had a rdv with a potential investigator. So we got up to the church and we were waiting for him and while waiting, me and Anderson had this quiz that we needed to take for the first 12 weeks of missionary work for elder Anderson and it was testing our French and so while we were waiting we were taking this test and after about an hour of waiting and he hadn't showed up or answered his phone so we left and made our way home and took some lunch and then we got ready to go out and work for the rest of the night. We had about 3 1/2 hours of work and so we were walking all over and we were talking with tons of people and sadly, there were just too many people that were too busy for the afternoon and so it was a little disappointing but we kept going and we were just trying our hardest. It's just a little bit of a bummer when you seem to be doing all you can and people just don't want to listen. FREE AGENCY IS SUCH A KILLER. WHY DONT PEOPLE JUST LISTEN? Lol no just kidding. So anyway to end the night we went and got some frites and then came in and had some language study and then take dinner.

 

DIMANCHE

Well because of the fact that we were not in our apartment like all weekend lol jk no but seriously because we weren't home for such a while, we had a ton of stuff to do in the apartment and so sadly after sacrament meeting, we were stuck in the apartment all day long planning and doing some stuff to get ready for the week. So that was honestly such a bummer. I HATE BEING STUCK IN THE APARTMENT. Even if we are being productive in the apartment, I feel like we aren't doing anything and I feel like we have so many other things that we can be doing instead of planning or studying....but anyway. I know we're doing things that we need to do, but still sometimes I feel like we aren't doing that much. Haha anyway there's my rant. So we woke up this morning and we got outside and this week, we actually caught the bus!!! Haha we got up to the chapel and this morning and there was absolutely no heat!!!! We were freezing and the heat finally turned on by the end of all our meetings and so that was such a bummer. We had a really good turn out of members today and so that was awesome and the meetings were so amazing. The spirit on Sunday's is so strong and it's so amazing to go to church and experience the spirit. I hope you all are able to feel the Sabbath day spirit! I have always been able to feel it, but coming on my mission has really helped me to recognize it. I know that the sacred buildings that we have our services in each Sunday are dedicated to the lord so that his spirit can reside there and that he touches us with his spirit while we attend the meetings. The spirit of the lord is always so strong during our weekly church meetings. We had really great meetings though and I especially loved being able to study king Benjamin's talk in Mosiah. It was a great Sunday school lesson. After church I went up to Pierrot and I gave him a Girl Scout cookie and handed him one and he tried it and then told me he didn't like it! I was only a little offended.....#THINMINTSARELYFE it was only a little sad, but then I realized that it was good he didn't like them cause there were more for me;) so anyway we went and caught the bus and then came home and took lunch and then we went into weekly planning and this week we made some more phone calls this week and we scheduled a couple rdvs that seem to be a little promising for this next week:) the only down side is that our week also seems a little empty....so we'll be able to find a lot more people to fill up this next week! After weekly planning, we had to do some of the first 12 week studies that we need to do everyday for elder Anderson and so we did that and then took dinner and that legit took up the entire day......bummer but that's what happens sometimes....

 

Et bien, une semaine de plus en arrière. Qu'est-ce que les semaines passent vites!! Wow. Mais en tout cas, je sais que le seigneur nous guide, et il nous donne les difficultés afin de nous apprendre comment nous améliorer. Je vous demande de continuer de prier beaucoup pour moi pendant cette semaine qui vient. J'en ai besoin de beaucoup. Merci pour votre foi, et votre soutien pour moi. Vous ne saurez jamais combien ça m'aide de continuer de surmonter les épreuves qui viennent. Que dieu vous bénisse! Chaque un de vous!  (Well, another week done. So quick weeks pass !! Wow. But in any case, I know that the Lord guides us and gives us difficulties to teach us how to improve. I ask you to continue to pray a lot for me during this coming week. I need them a lot. Thank you for your faith and your support for me. You will never know how much it helps me to continue to overcome the challenges ahead. God bless you! Each one of you!)

 

Elder Libby

 

 

 

 

 

 

WEEK 87

Et alors! Je peux dire que je ne suis plus en enfant! Lol j'ai 20 ans et honnêtement je ne ressens pas la différence! Et en plus, j'ai oublié que mon anniversaire c'était vendredi! Lol cela peut vous dire combien nos jours, en tant que missionnaires sont différent. Chaque journée c'est le même! Mais quand-même, j'étais gâté et je suis béni avec les amis que j'ai ici à Namur! J'espère que vous avez aimé la neige qui est venu! Ça se passe chaque année pour mon anniversaire! Je ne me rappelle pas d'un anniversaire sans la neige! Alors amusez vous bien avec la neige. Merci à vous tous pour les mails et les mots gentils que vous m'avez envoyé pour mon anniversaire. C'était une bonne semaine:)  (So what! I can say I'm not a child! Lol I'm 20 and I honestly do not feel the difference! And besides, I forgot my birthday was Friday! Lol it can tell you how days as missionaries are no different. Every day is the same! But anyway, I was spoiled and I am blessed with the friends I have here in Namur! I hope you enjoyed the snow that has come to you! It happens every year for my birthday! I do not remember a birthday without snow! So have fun with the snow. Thank you all for the messages and kind words you sent me for my birthday. It was a good week  )

 

 

 

LUNDI SOIR

Well today we just stayed at the church while we waited for all the members to show up for family home evening. Tonight was the last time that we were going to see the Mazy's for a long time cause they are going off to Portugal for a few weeks cause they have a house there and so they will be gone for a while. I was going to make some cookies, but we ended up not going back home so, sadly we just had family home evening and then some of the other goodies that the members all brought. It was a good night. We had a lesson on how even when we are members of the church, we still are learning. Brother mazy told us all about how it's important to remember that we can still learn. It was a good night ended up with some hangman and some hugs. The Mazy's also gave me a birthday present since they weren't going to be here on Friday. It was a tie with elephants on it and they said the reason they got it was so that I would never forget them, or Emmanuel and Claudette cause they have elephants in their country hahah! They are such sweet people.

 

MARDI

Today we had district meeting and for district meeting we were given the task to make the side dish and so we decided to make some pasta salad. So I got up this morning and I had some pasta to make so I did that and we got all the ingredients and then headed out to catch our train out to Charleroi. When we got in, we met up with all the other missionaries and then we hopped on a bus to the chapel and there has to wait for the guys from Charleroi to come and open up the church. We had a good formation today on testimonies and their importance and why we have them. It went really well and it really gave me the desire to have mine strengthened. We then went to have lunch and these little missionaries were so dang cute that they bought some ice cream sticks and then stuck some candles in them for my birthday and brought them out to sing to me haha! The only problem was that there wasn't any lighters and so it was just an ice cream stick with candles hanging out of them. Haha we then decided that since we had about a half hour left until the bus passed to take us to the gare that we'd hurry and clean up all the dishes and then hurry and go play a few rounds of Jungle Speed! I don't know if any of you have ever played that, but let me tell you, it is fun, exhilarating, and FREAKING INTENSE!! Haha when you know how to play, these guys really get into it haha! So after a few rounds I finally got the hang of it and figured out how to play a little bit and we played until the bus came! It was super fun. Then we had exchanges with the district leader for today and tomorrow so we all got on the bus and headed down to the gare and then went and hopped on the train and all headed up to Nivelles together. We went into the apartment and we planned for the rest of the day and talked about 'what goals we wanted to set and accomplish during our time together on these exchanges.' So we did that and then me and elder Taylor headed out and worked for the rest of the evening. We had about 3 1/2 hours to fill and so we did a lot of contacting and a lot of knocking doors and it was good. He just came from the district with one of my really good mission friends that I met here and so he was telling me lots of really funny stories. It was fun to be with him and learn from him. He is only one transfer in the mission younger than me, so we are pretty much the same age. We came to the conclusion that I am the oldest missionary that is currently in Belgium....can you believe it? I die in 2 1/2 transfers and I'm the oldest one in the whole country!! Anyway, our night ended by going in for dinner and the other elders coming in and us all playing Jungle Speed together. I finally won a round, and I think I might be getting the hang of it to kick someone's butt!

 

MERCREDI

Well we were still on exchanges today when we got up and so we got up and had some studies and tried to figure out what we could do for the day. We decided to go and work for a little bit this morning and then all meet up for lunch at a kebab shop. So that's what we did. Elder McDonald had a letter to mail off to the mission home and so we had to run to the post office and send that off cause he said he'd been putting it off too long haha then we went and looked at train times for me and elder Anderson to make it back to Namur. When we got to lunch I gave in and I bought the wretched metraillette! Haha it had been a while and when I saw them I just ordered one and are it and wanted to die....lol so anyway during lunch I had told elder Anderson when our train would be leaving and he said something along the lines of not wanting to go back to Namur because he was having fun and we all laughed and said oh just wait haha when we get back into Namur, you'll know that it was time to get back. Nothing explains the feeling of being home. (I'll let you know what that feels like in a few months haha) so we then went back out and contacted around for the afternoon and me and elder McDonald found this pond and some really flat rocks and we decided to try out our skipping rock skills! Sadly as I am typing this I realized we didn't get any pictures or videos of us skipping those rocks, which might have been a good thing cause I was suckin that up BIG TIME, but I'm also just a little bummed cause I was super happy to finally do that again! It reminded me of all the times that we would do that as a family (which wasn't often like at all, but still we did it sometimes) and how my mom would tell me all about how my grandpa would love to go and throw some skipping rocks out in the dam. It was a cute moment. Anyway we came home and did some exchange inventory stuff and then we went and we caught a couple trains back into Namur and as we were walking into the apartment I asked elder Anderson, 'you see what I mean by being home??' And he goes, 'I totally understand.' Lol so we had to hurry and get our stuff and go cause we had a rdv with some less actives (well, he's less active, she's not, but they live together and they're not married....long story) cause they'd invited us over. So we went and caught another train out to their house and had a good quick little rdv with them and talked about our potential to conversion and watched the 'Waiting on the Road to Damascus' Mormon Message which is such a good one! It was a pretty good rdv and honestly, ELDER ANDERSON'S FRENCH IS AMAZING. The whole rdv he was just talking with the members and even added in his '2 cents' at the end of the message 🤗️🏻️🤘🏻🏻 he's doing so good. Anyway after that rdv we headed home for the night.

 

JEUDI

Well today we had an awesome rdv with the old investigator that we re-found last week named Adrian! It honestly was such a great lesson and we got super in depth with him and he's doing great for the moment. So to start off today, it was my last day of being a teenager haha what the..... It's so weird how old I am getting I just can't believe it. Ahhh. Anyway. We got up this morning and we studied and then made our way out to lunch with Patrick. Today was alright. I felt like he was kind of just complaining a little bit about everything, but I guess we all have those days right?? After lunch we had a rdv with the new guy that we'd met last week and so we went and made our way to the church cause we told him we'd meet him there. I'd called him earlier today to confirm but he didn't answer and so I was a little nervous he wouldn't show up. Me and elder Anderson had a few things that we needed to do on the computer though. We have to go into Paris next week and we need to buy some train tickets and so we went and looked up train times and had to fill out a form online for our legality here in Belgium, which is an absolute nightmare.....the government doesn't seem to be working with us at all and so we are apparently having so many problems with legality here. This is Elder Libby talking, but I kind of think that since I only have 2 transfers left, that they're going to kick me out of Belgium next transfer and try to get someone else in here so they can try to get legality for them instead....so if you'd like to maybe start praying for that that could help:) anyway the new investigator never showed up and so we finished up the things we needed to do on the computer and then we left and made it down to Adrian's place for our rdv. It went super well!! He'd read the restoration brochure and he'd marked his questions and he'd asked all his questions and told us that the whole past week, after our last rdv, that he'd really felt like he needed to pray and so he'd been praying! He just said the only embarrassing part was that he hadn't really gotten any answers to prayer and so we told him that it was ok and that he could totally just keep praying and that with time, as he read, prayed and came to church, that things would start to work out. Then. He was all, ok I'll come to church this Sunday. I WAS LIKE WHAT?! Haha it was the best! He said that he just didn't want to have to get up and introduce himself cause he was a little shy about that kind of thing. So that was funny. But anyway we had such a great rdv and talked about the priesthood and the Book of Mormon and then we left and came in for dinner and then went and ported in this one neighborhood that I'd never been to before and it was good haha I feel like Satan is working really hard on these people right now! Not a ton of people are listening to us lately and it's super tempting to not go talk to them cause it's just not fun to get rejected! But we're still trying. Anyway we knocked and knocked and nothing happened before it was time to go in for the night.

 

VENDREDI

I'm going to be 100% completely honest with you all right now and say that half way through today, I legit forgot that it was my birthday haha! I legit didn't even remember and then elder Anderson mentioned something about it and I was all oh ya haha! That honestly goes to show how repetitive our days our. They all feel the same! So anyway, we got up and I was all haha it's my birthday I'm going back to bedddd haha so I went and slept in a little bit more and then we got up and had some studies and then we went out and contacted a little bit and it went well haha we had to go up to the church to print off some train tickets that we need for next week going into Paris so we went and did that and then we were contacting again and we went for some #BIRTHDAYFRITES haha we got there and the guys gave us our frites and then we headed home and we ate some lunch with our frites right before we planned. How sad, I know...we had to weekly plan on my birthday...what kind of sick world is this?? Anyway we started and it took a long time haha but we finally got it finished and when we did we had a bout a half hour until we needed to go and get Emmanuel and Claudette to get to the Badoux's house for dinner. So we took language study, like good missionaries, and then we went and we headed out and got to Emmanuel and Claudette's house. She stuck her head out the window and told us to go ahead cause she was a little bit behind schedule and that she'd be there soon. So we had about 20 minutes and we went and looked to see if we could find some yeast so that maybe we could make scones or something, but instead we got distracted by the movie rack and because it's my birthday, I may or may not have bought some movies to watch when I get home! Haha they all reminded me of my past times with movies and so I got them cause why not?;) now the real problem is to keep them hidden away in my bags so that I don't watch them while I'm still out lol jk my will power is too strong haha. So ya we went and got those and then we headed over to the Badoux's and as soon as we got in it started to rain really hard and so Claudette called and she goes, it's raining and so I'm going to sit here and wait for the rain to stop and so Frere Badoux decided that we'd go and get her, and so we got there and Emmanuel wasn't there and we were all....huh? Apparently he found a job! And he works every night and he had just started the day before and for some reason they didn't tell us! But we were like sad cause he wasn't there, but super happy because he found a job!!! He works in a Chinese restaurant I guess and he says it's good, so we're happy! We got back to the Badoux's and we ate raclette and had a fun night there and soeur Badoux had bought a really nice patisserie cake and it was delicious! So anyway that was probably the biggest part of my birthday haha nothing too exciting, just another day. We then left and came home the Nivelles elders had come in for the night so that they wouldn't have to wake up super early tomorrow morning to make it in to our finding day. 

 

SAMEDI

today was a good day! We had an awesome finding day! The only down side was that it was legit a day of teaching and no legit finding....that meaning that we taught tons of lessons and people, but we didn't find any new investigators....:( so that was definitely a bummer. But we had fun and some members came and hung out with us for the day and helped us out and so it was a good time. We got up this morning and we made a couple of boxes full of book of Mormons and brochures and contacting cards and all that and then we headed out and all the other missionaries were on the bus that got us up to the church and we went and waited up there for all the members to come and while we were waiting, elder Larsen pulled out a box and it was wrapped and he said happy birthday from the district! It was so nice! So I opened it and it was a game of Jungle Speed!!!!! I was so happy and so excited!!! So I wanted to break it open and play it right then, but then Pierrot and Annabelle showed up and then Frere Chung and the bishop and a couple other members and so when we had waited for a little bit, we all got into cars and headed down into centreville and we started to hand out book of Mormons and brochures and go contacting and all that and it was really good! I got to go with elder dudfield and it was a blast and we taught 2 lessons in 30 minutes!! Haha it was great. We then went and it was our turn to, for lack of a better term, work the corner! We had our box full of brochures and cards and family proclamations and we were just stopping people as they walked by and asking them if they wanted to learn more and talking to them about all our beliefs and stuff. It was really fun actually! Then the grey clouds started to roll in and it got time that we needed to leave to make it to Pizza Hut Buffet on time for our reservation and so we left and we headed there and as we were driving there, it began to POUR!! We literally stopped at the perfect time haha. We got to Pizza Hut and had a fun hour or so and tried to see who could eat the most pieces of pizza and elder Anderson won and ate 22 slices of pizza.....I was satisfied with a solid 13 hahahaha it was good fun. Anyway after that we all came back to the apartment and said goodbye to the members, and went to go and check train times for everyone and then played a couple rounds of jungle speed while everyone hurried and used the bathroom and then me and elder Anderson went and got some porting in for the night. There wasn't a ton of people that wanted to listen to us, like I said, I'm pretty sure Satan is working hard here! But we are trying to work harder! And we're gonna win. So ya we walked and knocked on lots of doors and got lots of no's but we'll just keep going until we get those yeses!! When the night had finished we came inside and counted it up and today we had taught 17 lessons in all!!! I don't know about you guys, but I find that just a little bit incredible!! It was a great day, and plus we had lots of fun. The only down part was, I went to go look at our phone this afternoon and it said, LOCKED. PLEASE ENTER PUK CODE. So I was all what? And I called the office lady and she told me we'd have to wait til Monday to get our PUK code....so we were without a phone all weekend.....

 

DIMANCHE

Well today was a fun day as well! Haha it started off with a just less than awkward morning....we woke up on time and even got ready on time. We literally got out to the bus stop on time, but that bus must have passed super early cause we sat there forever and it did not pass....we were waiting and nothing....so we finally decided that we'd just walk over to Emmanuel and Claudette's place and see if we could just catch a ride with them, and we were waiting downstairs, right next to their car, for them to come down and see if we could ride with them, when all of the sudden, Adrian came out of nowhere and was like hey guys I'm on my way to church! So we started walking with him and I was like look we can catch the next bus and it'll drop us off just 10 minutes from the church and we can walk the rest of the way and Adrian goes ok I'll see you there! And just kept walking....so we caught the bus, passed Adrian on the way, and then walked the rest of the way to church.....we finally got there about 15 minutes before church started... Anyway, like I said, it was just less than awkward. But Adrian did make it to church and he stayed for sacrament meeting! So that was great!! I had to give a talk during church today and it was about how to gain a testimony and if we're being completely honest, I didn't even remember I was giving a talk in church until yesterday and so all last night after we got home I was preparing my talk and to be honest it wasn't that good. So I got up and gave my talk and then after sacrament meeting, I got so many members come up to me and telling me that my talk was 'incredibly inspiring' and 'touching' and 'super good' so that made me feel good. During the last 2 hours of church we had a guy from Paris here to tell us all about the church's self reliance program and what it's all about and how we use it and, I'm sorry, but as a missionary, that was super boring.....haha we were sitting next to Pierrot and Annabelle and the whole time we were all making jokes and laughing and it was a blast just because of that. They are honestly the funniest. Anyway, after that we were just waiting around and saying goodbye to all the members when all of the sudden the bus passed and so we were like oh dang....haha so just as we were about to start walking home, Pierrot yelled at me and asked if I liked tacos and I was like sure why? And he goes good get in the car and let's go and I was like dude you invited us over last week! And he goes, so?? Come on! So we went home with them again and spent the afternoon with them and ate lunch and had fun with them. It was super fun! They were telling us all about some funny movies that they'd seen lately and they were telling us how I'm gonna be able to really know who I need to marry and how they knew and it was a really good time with them. I really like them, can you tell? They also told us that we were welcome to go to their house to Skype our families for Mother's Day, so that'll be fun!! After we'd finished, Pierrot drove us to the train station and we caught a train back to Namur and then came home and changed and then went out and contacted until we needed to come in and do some studies for bleus and take dinner. So it was a good and filled day! I sure am blessed to be in such an amazing ward!! I love these people and I love being here in Namur!

 

Et bien! J'espère que cette fois je vous ai bien amusé. Merci pour vos mails et vos souhaites pour mon anniversaire! Je vous aime tous! Je vous demande de continuer à prier pour cette paroisse et pour les gens ici pour que mon collègue et moi puissent les trouver pour les aider se rapprocher à notre père céleste! On se parlera bientôt! Allez faire quelque chose du bien cette semaine et M'ÉCRIVEZ VOS EXPÉRIENCES! Je vous aime!!  (Well! I hope with this news you had fun. Thank you for your emails and your gifts for my birthday! I love you all! I ask you to continue to pray for this ward, and for the people here, for my companion, and that I can get closer to our Heavenly Father! We'll talk soon! Go do something good this week and EMAIL ME YOUR EXPERIENCES! I love you!!)

 

Elder Libby

 

 

 

 

 

WEEK 86

EN FIN! Le printemps arrive, je crois!! Le soleil commence à sortir et chaque journée devient un peu plus chaud qu'avant! Le printemps ici en Europe c'est vraiment majestueux. Je voulais commencer en disant, MERCI pour tout l'argent que vous m'avez donné pour mon anniversaire:) pour vous tenir au courant, j'ai déjà acheté quelques vêtements aujourd'hui pour quand je rentre chez moi! FAITES ATTENTION LES FILLES. Lol je blague. Mais merci! C'est quand-même un peu bizarre d'acheter les vêtements normale....je ne sais pas le faire! J'étais là, devant les vêtements aujourd'hui et je me suis dit, qu'est-ce que je vais porter quand je rentre chez moi!? Je ne sais même pas. Fin bref, je m'amuse bien avec le temps que j'ai de faire les magasins pour voir ce que je vais porter quand je rentre! Merci encore!  (FINALLY! Spring comes, I think !! The sun begins to come out and each day gets a little hotter than before! Spring here in Europe is really majestic. I wanted to start by saying THANK YOU for all the money you gave me for my birthday :) to let you know, I already bought some clothes for the day when I get home! BEWARE GIRLS. Lol just kidding. But thanks! This is in a way a bit odd to buy normal clothes .... I can not do it! I was standing there before the clothes today and I thought, what will I wear when I go home !? I do not even know.  To keep this short, I amuse myself with the times I have to go shopping and you'll just have to see what I will wear when I get back! Thanks again!)

 

LUNDI SOIR

so tonight we had family home evening and it went well! Haha we got there after we finished up our emails and our PDAY we got to the chapel and the members were waiting for us and we had some games and I sat and talked with the members while elder Anderson went and played some basketball. We had a lesson this week on not forgetting the savior and all he'd done for us and I really liked it. I can't even begin to think how I'd forget the savior. It was a really good lesson. Then we were asked if we knew any games that we could play and so I got up and drew a noose on the board and we played hangman! Brother Mazy was getting so mad at me for beating everyone all the time. He kept saying, 'You aren't even French! How can you guess all these words?!' Lol

 

MARDI

Today was a decent day of working. So the whole last weekend, I just felt GROSS. Like my stomach was just nasty and I didn't want to eat anything and so this morning I woke up at 3 AM and seriously felt like I was going to throw up....so I ran to the toilet and sat there for an hour and....nothing lol so I just got up and went and laid back down and felt good just laying on my back...so when we got up for real, I honestly just didn't want to move cause I felt nasty and so for studies I stayed in my bed and then when it was time to go to sing for companionship study, we went and sang and I was in the middle of the hymn when all of the sudden, I KNEW I WAS GOING TO VOMIT. Lol so I just yelled, I AM GONNA PUKE! And I ran to the toilet and knelt down and lost it....bleh....it was nasty. My whole body just tensed up and I just lost it. BUT after I finished, I felt a lot better! So that was good haha! I went and brushed my teeth and then we went and tried to sing the song again and it worked that time! So anyway, because of that, I didn't really eat the rest of the day cause I didn't want to throw up again. So I just drink lots of Sprite and tried to calm my tummy. Anyway, we had lunch with Patrick today and since I wasn't eating we went and I just watched them eat. It was good fun. After we finished up with him, we had a good rest of the day of contacting to do! So we set off and we went contacting. We walked all around and I got to show elder Anderson a lot of Namur and all the different areas that we like to go contacting cause there are people there. It was good! We talked to a lot of different people and we got to share a few different messages with everyone. I am really grateful for that cause as I am sitting here writing this, I'm realizing how the Lord answers prayers. I prayed that we might meet people who would be ready to hear the message of the restoration and today, we stopped so many different people where we were able to testify of the restoration and explain it, either in full or in little bits and pieces. No one quite accepted just yet, but we're waiting! We then came in for dinner and language study and then the Mazy's came and got us and we all headed over to Emmanuel and Claudette's for the night. Tonight we reintroduced the plan of salvation because for the after baptism lessons we have to reteach everything and so the next step is the plan of salvation and it went really well. They really love the plan of salvation! 

 

MERCREDI

Well today was just a big long massive fun exciting and interesting day of finding! All day long we were walking around and contacting and porting cause we just didn't have all that much to do... So we made it so we DID have something to do. But because we were just contacting and porting all day, I don't have a ton to report. We got up this morning and during studies the buzzer rang and I thought it was going to be my package from home so I ran and got it and it was ANOTHER package from the church. Haha some more missionary supplies. This command that we ordered is NEVER going to end. So anyway. We finished up and then headed out to go and contact the world and get some new investigators found. We went walking and it was a beautiful morning. The sun was out and it was warm for the most part and it's just starting to become that beautiful spring time here in Europe that I love so much. I can't wait for spring! We were walking and talking with everyone and taught a lesson and then came in for lunch. After that we needed to go to the gare to look up train times for district meeting tomorrow so we went and did that and then we went and contacted some more. We contacted this one lady who knew sister Halushka and said that she wanted to call and ask her some questions and see what they could arrange cause she believed the there are no coincidences and that there must have been a reason that we met up. So she said that she's going to call sister Halushka and that hopefully we'd be able to see each other soon. So that was cool! Anyway after some time we came in for dinner and then we decided that we were going to go out and go porting in this neighborhood that I'd never been to before, but when we got to the bus stop, there were no more buses running out there. So instead we just hopped on the next bus that came. We got to the end and it was pouring rain, so we went and waiting under a little pavilion til it stopped and then went to go and look for bus times back so we wouldn't be late getting home and there were no more buses passing there....so we started to walk home cause we were decently far out haha we then passed this one bus stop to and elder Anderson looked at it and there was a bus that was passing in 25 minutes that would take us home and he goes, 'Awesome! Let's go knock some doors.' Half of me was a little upset cause I didn't really want to, but the other half was grateful for elder Anderson and how he wanted to work, and it was really cool for me to see that. It was a cool little experience. So anyway we knocked some doors and no one let us in, but still it was good and we had a good time til we came home for the night.

 

JEUDI

Well today was great cause we were able to meet up with President and Soeur Babin! I do love those guys. Today we had interviews with them and it was super good. I think that this time might have been my last time interviewing with them...the next time I would do it would be my last transfer and I know that I interview with them my very last day and so I'm just not sure that I'll interview with them one last time for my last transfer or not....it's so crazy haha. We got up this morning and we went and caught a train into Liège for the day. We got on and met up with the missionaries from Charleroi and the whole train ride in we were quoting The Big Bang Theory and Friends and that made me realize how excited I am to watch those again! Haha those are some funny TV shows. When we got into Liège we got to the gare and it was the COOLEST gare I'd ever seen! Haha we took lots of pictures cause it was just so cool. We all hopped on a bus and made our way to the chapel and when president and sister Babin got there we started our interviews. I had some good interviews with them and it was tender to be able to talk to them. It's so weird how old I am getting!! Haha we then had a district meeting and that went fine. We pretty much were just given a run down on all the new rules and president's view and expectations for us this transfer and then he said amen...so it wasn't too spiritual which is a bummer...so anyway once we finished we all headed out to get a kebab together and that was fun cause for the first time in forever, there was a tv in the kebab shop and so we were able to watch some music videos of some of the new songs that are coming out. It's fun cause Anderson knows all the new songster so he tells me all the time who sings what songs and is getting me really excited for music when I get home:) after we finished that, we all headed to the gare and we all got on our train home. Me and Anderson got to Namur and went home to change and then headed out in the pouring rain and hail to contact until our dinner time. Nothing too crazy except for the fact that it literally was pouring and so pour elder Anderson without an umbrella was getting really wet. We then came in to study a little bit of language and then take dinner and so we did that and then the Mazy's came and picked us up and took us out to Emmanuel and Claudette's for the night. Tonight our plan was to talk about Moses and what they'd read and then jump into the plan of salvation and focus really on pre-earth life and the creation and the fall of Adam and Eve. We got in and legit they dove right in to that and we legit talked about it all night! They also asked all about elder Anderson and my 'conversion' stories and how we really came to know these things were true. It was a good night.

 

VENDREDI

Well today was full of the blessings of weekly planning and we didn't have much else than that. Tomorrow the new mission couple in Liège, the Slaughter's, are coming to inspect our apartment and so we also needed to clean our apartment up a little bit so that we could pass ;) haha we got up this morning and we had some studies and then we went out to go contacting for a little bit. It was good fun and we talked to this one guy who told us that one day he would stop by the chapel, except we all know what that is secret for;) haha I guess we'll just have to see what really happens! So anyway we were walking all over and then we decided that we wanted for frites for lunch. So on the way to get our frites, we had to stop in and grab some light bulbs cause we were out and we also had some empty light fixtures in the apartment. So we went and did that and then we went and got our frites and then headed in to the apartment. When we got in we ate and chilled for the hour and then we went and we planned which this week was going really fast for some reason and then we had to stop in the middle cause we had a rdv with this old investigator that we had come in contact with again, last week. So we stopped and went to that and it went well. He was taking all that we said really well and said that he had no questions about the whole restoration. The only problem that he had was that he said he wasn't sure if he really believed that God can hear and answer our prayers. He said that he had a problem knowing how to know what God was telling him and so I told him all about me and going to school when I get home and how since last April I had been praying asking what I should be doing for school but that God had been a little quiet and it wasn't until, with the help of my mom and dad for sure;), after I had made a few choices on my own and took a few steps into the dark that help from on high came and that things started to work out. I told him that praying is one thing but we also need to show our faith. So it was a good rdv. We're going back to see him next week so be sure to pray for Adrian's success and that he will listen to the spirit. We got home and finished weekly planning and then remembered that the senior couple was coming to check our apartment in the morning and so we spent the next hour cleaning up our apartment and then took dinner to end the night. It was a good day.

 

SAMEDI

Today was a super good day! I'll tell you what, it is so nice to have a bleu companion who already speaks so good French. Haha he is honestly just amazing. He's gonna be a great missionary. So anyway we had a good day today and I made really good friends with the new senior couple and they even told me that they wanted me to come back and see them next year when I come back with my family! Haha I need to find all the free places to stay so I'm doing pretty good at that;) I've got one so far in every ville! #SWAG anywho. We got up this morning and we studied and then the couple told us they'd be here at 11:30 and so we just went around and cleaned up a little bit more until they got here! The Slaughter's are such nice people and it was so much fun to be able to hang out with them for the afternoon. I keep finding out more and more about senior missions and it just makes me more and more excited to go on one with my wife when we are old and senile! We asked them what their plans were for the rest of the day and he goes, 'We're just gonna walk around Namur and go see the city!' Hahaha so as we were contacting later today, we saw them walking up the citadelle anywho. They were in our apartment looking at things for about an hour and then asked us if we would show them the best friterie and so....OFF WE WENT!! Haha they bought us some frites for lunch and the owner was super happy to see some older missionaries, and was asking them if they were my parents cause I was a 'good and nice boy' so that was funny. After that we headed out to go and see the no pants man and his wife, the Pesesse's. We got there and this time he was wearing pants, but was on the couch with a crutch cause he's fallen getting out of the car and hurt a tendon in his leg....so that was a bummer. He said that he was going to need to do some physical therapy and we'll see where he's at in about 4 weeks.... Anyway we went and decided that we were going to teach them all about the plan of salvation today and we wanted to explain life and how it all works and so we just did a little overview and BRIEFLY explained all the principles in the plan of salvation so that they'd know what we're really going to be talking about for the next few times. It was a good rdv and Christophe, the husband, told me that he really liked it when we came and talked cause he like listening to me explain cause it made him feel good. #HOLYGHOSTYALL so after we contacted our way to the apartment and had some dinner and language study and then we went out and ported for the night and sadly there was nothing that really happened tonight. We got one lady who told us to come back another day a little earlier, but it didn't seem too promising BUT we take what we get and go with faith so the Lord can work miracles. We'll be going back soon:)

 

DIMANCHE

So I'm not going to be able to explain to you why, so don't ask, but I absolutely love Sunday's here on the mission. They honestly are just amazing. Besides PDAY, Sunday's are my absolute favorite days as a missionary. And I don't know why. They aren't much different than any other day as a missionary, besides the fact that we got to church. They are my favorite. So we got up and got out the door to church and we had ward council. This past week we found out that president Babin had decided he wants us all to have a consecration day in each of our areas, meaning our whole district as well as our ward, all get together and have a HUGE finding day and so during that, Frere Chung had me explain that and they all loved it! We are doing it this Saturday and it is going to be awesome! Pierrot, you all remember him, right? He served in SLC? He went crazy over the idea and was all, for lunch were all going to Pizza Hut Buffet and then ice cream for elder Libby's birthday!! Haha he is honestly probably one of my favorite members in this ward, along with his wife. They honestly could have been my friends back home haha! So there is this member here who is engaged to a Mexican and they are getting married and so her family has been here for the past few weeks and they speak English and Spanish but not French and so they needed some translation. Today was fast and testimony meeting and so he asked if we went up if I'd translate his testimony for him and it was really cool! I like being able to translate for others. Then we had some good meetings for the rest of the day and during priesthood again Pierrot was telling everyone how amazing this Saturday is going to be while we all come and do missionary work! Haha it was awesome to see him so hyped up. Then after church he came up to me and Anderson and asked us if we wanted to come to their house for lunch. So we did! They had just gotten back from New York about a week or so ago and I had asked them to bring me back a souvenir but they didn't....but anyway they told us all about the trip and all the fun things they saw and all that they got to do. They were there during the bombings and because of that they had to stay another 3 days cause no planes were running haha I asked him how it was and he goes, 'those last three days were the worst.' And his wife goes, 'nuh uh! We got to go hit almost every shop on 5th avenue!' And he goes, 'exactly. I have like no more money thanks to those 3 days.' they are so funny! Anyway they brought us home and me and elder Anderson ended our night by walking around everywhere and contacting and we finished up the night by getting a new investigator! His name was Laurent and he said he was interested mostly just to learn more cause he didn't know that much about Mormons. So we have to start somewhere right? It was good though. We then came in and finished the night by making a progression table for Frere Chung for our meeting with him tomorrow night. Sunday's are the greatest!

 

Et voilà! J'espère que vous avez aimé cette épisode des Aventures d'Elder Libby! C'est toujours amusant pour moi de penser à chaque semaine et partager les choses qui m'a fait rire ou les choses spirituelles. Lorsque je le fais, je peux vraiment voir combien le Seigneur est miséricordieux envers ses enfants. Il nous bénit! Quelque chose que je veux vous dire c'est qu'il n'y a JAMAIS un effort qui est perdu. Souvenez vous que vous aidez les gens avec chaque décisions que vous preniez. Je suis reconnaissant pour tous ce que vous avez fait pour m'aider dans ma vie. Je vous souhaite une semaine merveilleuse et je vous souhaite que tout vos rêves bizarres se réalisent! Je vous aime!! À tantôt;)  (There you go! I hope you enjoyed this episode of Elder Libby Adventures! It's always fun for me to think about every week and share the things that made me laugh and spiritual things. When I do, I can really see that the Lord is merciful to his children. He blesses us! Something I want to tell you is that there is NEVER an effort on our part that is lost. Remember that you help people with every decision that you make. I am grateful for all you have done to help me in my life. Have a wonderful week and I wish for you that all your bizarre dreams come true! I love you!! See you in sometime ;)

 

Elder Libby