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