WEEK 62

Well hello e'erybody! What be new? Things are going pretty well in the small town of Dunkerque! There isn't too much that I can be complaining about. We had a long week though! It feels like it's been a long time since I last sent home an email! But it's finally here. Being able to talk to everyone from home just rejuvenates me a little bit and motivates me to work a little harder. So thanks for your help!

MONDAY NIGHT

Well after emails today we went home and ate some food and we packed up and headed out to the gare to catch our train to Brussels for the night. We have a conference tomorrow where sisters Bonnie L Oscarson and Linda K Burton are going to be talking to us!!! I was super excited. So we got into Lille and met up with the ZLs and then headed to Brussels! When we got there there were 8 elders in the apartment and we all played SCUM! Which is a super fun game for all of you who haven't played. Then me and another elder who had served in Reims got talking all about it! It was very fun to be talking to him about our memories:)

TUESDAY

Today was great! I seriously loved hearing from Sisters Oscarson and Burton! They were amazing and being able to hear it with all of my friends was a blast. I seriously just love my mission. I AM SO BLESSED!! We woke up this morning and all got ready and then went and got some Belge Gaufres for breakfast. #wheninbelgium they were amazingly good. A little over priced but still very delicious!! After we had met up with all of the other missionaries, we all headed out to the church. It took a rather long tram ride, but sooner or later we got there. I got to see all my friends and I even ran into the Redd couple again! Soeur Redd gave me the biggest hug! She is so cute. We then were seated to sing and invite the spirit before their arrival! When they came in they began to address us. I wanted to share just a few things that really touched me :)

Brother Oscarson promised us that when we make promises with the Lord, He will ALWAYS help us get over our fears and trials

Brother Burton told us how important it is be converted while being missionaries, but the most important part is to STAY that way when we return home

Sister Oscarson told us that success is not measured by numbers growing, but our testimonies of the gospel growing

Sister Burton reminded us that we were disciples of Christ that needed to remember that we are searching for souls to give everlasting life (3 Nephi 5:13)

Elder Kearon (of the Seventy) reminded us that as Mormons, we THRIVE on adversity, cause we can do hard things!

It was such a good conference!! And I was so blessed to be a part of that! After the conference I went up to Sisters Oscarson and Burton and asked if I could take a picture cause my mom was so excited when she heard I would be meeting them! And they told me yes and Sister Burton says, 'we'll even do this heart thing! It's Korean. ;)' they were so cute!! So I took some pictures with them! What a fun day. We then had a couple other meetings that went well and then had to leave to catch our train. On the tram ride home I was taking pics with some MTC buddies and elder Orton haha do you all remember him?! He's my buddy :) then we got to the gare and my comp told me he was going to go get a gaufre and that he'd be back. So I waited with elder Orton and some other friends! Then about 10 minutes before my train left, my comp hadn't come back! So we went and looked at the gaufre place and he wasn't there, and I had the phone so I couldn't call him cause I didn't have service cause we were in Belgium and I didn't know who he was with! AHH! So I went and got on the train and found some other missionaries and was just hoping my comp was on the train. As we were moving I got a text from a random missionary phone saying he was on the train. So all was well. We met up when we got to Lille and then headed home to Dunkerque! We got home and went and changed and then headed out to do some work to finish up the night. We went to the beach and took some pics with the ocean

WEDNESDAY

Well there goes one week with Sorensen! Time flies when you are having fun right?? Today was a good day though. We woke up and had a text from the ZLs asking if there was any way that we could come in earlier tomorrow to have interviews with President and Soeur Babin before the zone conference. So we studied and once we had finished we went out and looked at train times. We also had to go to the church to download something for a rdv with Mike that we were having today. So we went out to do all of that. We took our language study at the church while there and then headed out. We contacted back to the apartment and then came home and ate some lunch. After we had finished with that, we went over to Mike's and hung out with him, I mean taught him a lesson ;) hahah he's so much fun. I'm so glad I know him! We showed him the Mormon message by dieter f Uchtdorf that talks about us living below our potential. He really liked it and said that it makes him want to be better than he is. Which is what we are going for, right? ;) after we had finished with him, we went and tried to find some less actives and found the places, but one was empty we believe and one had moved and the new person didn't know where to...and they weren't interested in talking to us either ;) #alwaysdoingwork so we were in the neighborhood of some members and so we decided it wouldn't be a bad thing if we stopped by and told them hello. So we were on our way to their house and we saw a bunny in the field! And so I got my iPad out to take a video of us catching it and as soon as I did that, it ran away...he was camera shy! so we just went to the members house and they let us in and we talked and shared a little message with them and they helped us out with some less actives that we didn't know and then we left and came home for dinner. Then we went out to try and stop by some people's house that let us in to pray with them a few weeks ago and so we got to their house and they weren't home:( so we went and headed back to Jean Paul's house cause he had asked us to come over tonight to share a little message.

THURSDAY

We had zone conference today and it was really good! We got to have interviews with President and Soeur Babin and they went really well! We had to start off our day super early and get up at 5:30 to be able to make our train this morning....it's a good thing I love mornings! NOT. We were up and at em so early this morning that I literally just didn't want to function. But I got ready and we got to the gare to make our train. When we got to Lille for interviews we showed up to the church and we were the only ones there and no one was there to let us in so we just had to wait at the chapel for someone to get there. When the APs and some other elders got there to let us in, they did and iPad audit, which is technically just a check to see if we were doing anything against the rules on our iPads. I passed so lucky me! We then went in for our interviews with the Babin's. They went really well. I was talking with president Babin and he told me that it was nice to see a smiling, happy, and changed elder Libby. Which made me happier:) #trialsmakeyoustronger he's such a nice man! Our conference today was really good and we talked a lot about the importance of members in our work and how we needed to have a good relationship with them. The relationships that missionaries have with members is so important and I know that members and missionaries can do amazing things together! I challenge each of you to help out the missionaries in your area at least once this week! Whether that means driving them to an appt or helping them teach an investigator or even inviting them and an investigator to come and eat with you. You honestly DO NOT know how much that could help the missionaries! After all of our conferences we went and ate some lunch and then had one last one from our ZLs and so we went and listened to them and then after we all talked and laughed and hung out as missionaries and then we headed to the gare to catch our trains. We hopped on the train to Dunkerque and I tried to sleep on the way home, but it just wasn't working out....I was so tired though. Early mornings are NOT my thing! When we got home we came and changed and then went out to try to see that old man who let us in to pray with him a few weeks ago. We wanted to see how he was doing and try to teach him. He was home and let us in to teach him a little bit and then told us to come back at the end of November. We then headed home and stopped by Jean Paul's for 5 minutes to talk to him and then came in for dinner and bed time!

FRIDAY

Today was a pretty good day. We got a lot done and saw those miracles! One of the biggest miracles that happened today was when we went to Dominiques house for our rdv, we got in and I saw his Book of Mormon sitting on his table and asked if he'd been reading, and he told me, yup! I read every night. Even if it's just a couple pages! It was so cool! I was so happy that I almost couldn't talk! So this morning we started out with studies and then after we decided that we'd go contacting and less active searching. So after our studies we headed out to find them. We found a couple of them but only one was home and answered and she told us that she wasn't too interested. So that was sad. Then we contacted our way to Dominiques house and he let us in for our rdv. We watched the restoration video with him and it went well. He's such a nice guy, and he's reading his scriptures!! Then we came home for lunch and then after we decided we'd go to a neighborhood with a member and a couple less actives and try to stop by them all. Sadly none of them answered and so the afternoon was just spent knocking on some doors...but when it was time to leave, we caught the bus and headed back home cause we had a rdv with Mado! On the way to her house we were contacting and we met this really nice lady that let us pray with her but sadly she was from paris...so that was sad. But then we got to Mado's house and taught her about prayer. It went well but she got really off topic a lot and was talking about how she thought it would be a good idea if the missionaries went around and tried to find all the 'lost less actives' so ya we told her that that was what we were doing and she was happy. Then before we left we asked her if she'd like a blessing so that she could get better, cause she was kind of sick with the cold that's going around, and she said yes! So we gave her one and she was so happy! Then we ended our night with some contacting

SATURDAY

Today was a long day....lol we had to weekly plan and just like always it took a lot longer than it needed to. Weekly planning is just awful! But we got it done and did what we needed to do. We also saw a little miracle tonight! Well I don't know if it's exactly a miracle, but it was still cool! We woke up this morning and had some studies and right after we went out and did some early morning contacting. It went well, we talked to some nice people but nothing too exciting. We then were heading in for lunch and passed by a friterie and so we went in and bought us a cornet of frites! I LOVE FRIES. = ️ when we had gotten those we went and stopped by Jean Paul's house so that I could track my package that mom sent me cause it was supposed to come this morning but didn't and so I checked and it is in France and should be here Monday! So all is well! After we had finished with that we came home for lunch and since we had already taken like 15 minutes to walk home from the friterie and go to Jean Paul's, and I wasn't hungry anymore, I just took a 45 minute nap for lunch. And it was a good nap! Let me tell you that!! When I woke up, we did our weekly planning, which went well, we got what we needed to get done, done, it just took to long and being cooped up in the apartment for that long makes me go a little crazy! After we had finished we went and did some porting in this little neighborhood just around the corner from our apartment and we were knocking doors and getting no's when this one old guy let us in with his wife! They told us that they'd had the missionaries over before and that they knew us quite well and that they liked us but we're not going to change. They let us talk and told us that of course we were invited over to talk again but that they were not going to change. But they prayed with us and invited us over again in a couple of weeks and told us they were going to make us dinner! They were super nice and it was super cool. Just wait, they'll be members one day ;) then we headed to macdo for dinner. When we got home, I tried calling Jean parfait, but he didn't answer and so I called the missionaries in Reims and they told me that he was going through a rough time right now and that it's really complicated:( PLEASE pray for him that all will work out. I'm going to keep trying to get in contact with him, but KEEP HIM IN YOUR PRAYERS. I also called sylviane tonight to say hello and that I missed her and she was just as happy as ever. She is the cutest little lady and I love her:)

SUNDAY

On the way to church we were walking with Jean Paul and he has a new little walker thing to help him walk and while we were walking he told me to sit down on it and then started pushing me around on it. It was pretty funny! Today during priesthood we talked about the blessings of the temple and it was really good. We read the talk by president monson and we talked about what we feel when we go to the temple and why the temple is important for us. It was a super good lesson! After all the meetings in church we started to make our way home and as we were walking with Jean Paul, he had me sit down on his walker thing again so that he could push me around again! He's so funny. When we got home for lunch, we turned on a movie and sat and ate really quickly. Then we went out contacting for a while and talk to a few nice people and taught a couple of good lessons! We walked all over downtown Dunkerque and on Sunday's there are just not a ton of people out there. But we worked and we are looking for those miracles! We then came in for dinner and when we had finished we went out to go porting for a little while. We had to come back early cause the busses don't run that often on Sunday nights and so the last one brought us back around 8 and we had to contact around til we came in for the night. When we came in I called Jean Parfait and he answered and I talked to him for a while and he seems to be ok! He didn't tell me anything but I don't really need to know about that so it was ok! He's doing alright though. 

Well there goes my week! It was good and things are going alright! I hope all is going well for you all at home! I love hearing from you so keep the emails and letters coming. You guys are awesome! Talk to you soon!!

E LIBS