WEEK 78

BONJOUR MES AMIS! Comment ça va?? Nous avons appris que moi et Elder Nelson vont rester ensemble ici à Namur!!! Cette semaine c'était un peu bizarre pour moi. J'ai appris que la vie est quelque chose de précieuse. J'ai appris les mauvaise nouvelles de Sœur Sadie Wells, une amie de lycée, et elle et sa famille était dans mes prières toute la semaine. J'ai pris beaucoup de temps de méditer combien je suis béni. Je sais qu'elle est en paix. Je sais qu'elle continue son travaille en tant que missionnaire sur l'autre côté du voile. Je vous demande de continuer de prier pour sa famille. Cette semaine j'ai décidé que je vais faire une VINE chaque semaine jusqu'à je rentre chez moi, parce que pourquoi pas?!;) j'espère que vous allez tous pouvoir le voir, et que ça vous amuse bien;)  (HELLO MY FRIENDS! How is it going?? With transfers, we have learned that me and Elder Nelson will stay together here in Namur! This week was a little weird for me. I learned that life is something precious. I learned the sad Sister Sadie Wells news, a friend from high school, and she and her family was in my prayers all week. I took a lot of time to ponder how I am blessed. I know that she is at peace. I know that she continues his work as a missionary on the other side of the veil. I ask you to continue to pray for her family. Also, this week, I decided I'll make a VINE every week until I get home, because why not?;) I hope that you all can see it, and it amuses you well;)

My address is:

 

Les Missionaires

Elder Tanner Libby

25 Avenue Golenvaux

Namur, 5000

BELGIUM

 

LUNDI SOIR

Tonight was so good! We had our family home evening tonight and it went well. After our emails today we went home our cookie dough and then head over to the church for family home evening. We were going and accidentally hopped on the wrong bus and so we got to this random place and had to walk to the church and try and figure out on our maps app how we could get there cause we were legit in the middle of nowhere haha!! So we did that and got to the chapel and in walked Emmanuel and Claudette! They came and it was so good!! They said that they really enjoyed the fun night that we had and learned a lot from the lesson that was given. They even had me take some pictures with their little baby;) I LOVE THEM

MARDI

Today went super well!!!!!! It honestly was a super good day for the most part. We got up this morning and had to get all ready for our train into Brussels. We had all decided that we wanted to do district meeting in Brussels at the site where Jeffrey R Holland had dedicated the land of Belgium for missionary work and the progression of the church here and it was super cool!! So we all got into Brussels this morning and there was an elder in our district who has a cousin in the military who is currently deployed in Qatar, but she is on forced leave for 2 weeks and so she decided to come to Germany and Belgium to visit and had got into contact with the missionary and she came and hung out with us in Brussels for the day! Haha so that was fun to get to know someone new like that. It was also pouring rain so we went to this place to have district meeting and it was in the pouring rain and so we were just all huddled under the umbrellas that we had and it was just perfect;) lol my feet were freezing, but it is true that there was a special spirit there. It was super cool to be able to be there. We then went and had lunch at this kebab shop and as we were walking down this street to the right one, all these kebab shop owners from around the block that came outside and we're all like, 'ELDERS COME HERE!!! ELDERS COME TO MY SHOP!' Lol #missionariesownthemkebabshops it was hilarious!!! They were all like come on! And finally one of the elders were like, sorry we are going here and they all got mad that we wouldn't go to one of theirs. Lol!! We went and ate and the elders cousin was super nice to buy all our food and it was super nice!! Then we went and got some Gaufres as well and they were delicious!!! Haha I love food. Did you all know that?? We also were right next to the mannequin pis which is literally what it sounds like. It is statue of a little boy peeing and I was just dying laughing cause I don't understand art lol but it was a cute little statue I guess? If you find little boys peeing cute?? Haha!!!!! We then went and caught our train home and on the train ride I DIED. I was completely out cold. Haha! So anyway we got home to Namur and we had a rdv with our recent convert and that went well for the most part. It was good to see her. She seems to be doing good! We talked a little bit about the plan of salvation and then headed out. We came home to drop off some things at the apartment and then we went out contacting until we had our rdv with Emmanuel and Claudette. When we got there, they had 3 questions for us. 1) can we eat at people's houses? 2) can we come over and eat on Thursday night to eat with them? 3) what was the gospel principles class that they were in on Sunday? Haha!! they were all what is it and why don't all the members go to it?? So we had to explain that it is simply that. The gospel principles class. It was funny! They are so fun! They told us that they are grateful for me and Nelson and that they have a testimony that me and Nelson together can convert the world;) haha they were super cute. Then Claudette tells us, you two are going to be the ones to baptize us. She goes, 'I will come to Utah if I have to. I won't let anyone else do it!;)' haha it was too cute!! We then had to get going to make it home on time, but I left them with the thought to keep praying about a date and what they think and I offered to give them both a blessing and they asked us to do it next time we come over. Thank you all for your prayers!!!!!!!! PLEASE KEEP THEM COMING! 

MERCREDI

Today went by so fast! Hahah it was good and we even got to play a little:) so first off as usual we woke up this morning and we got our studies done. Towards the end of studies, we got a text from our recent convert telling us she was sad and depressed that her baptism wasn't valid yet and that she wasn't a 'Mormon' yet....SO let me back up and explain. Yesterday I got a call from sister Redd at the mission office, BDE, and so I answered and she told me that on the baptismal record of our recent convert, there was not a year put for when she was born. Ironically we just happened to be at her house and so I hurried and asked her and she told me and then I told sister Redd and then went and talked with her for a minute;) haha when I got back into the room I went to explain what just happened when she said that elder Nelson just explained it. So, either things were misunderstood or something because she was under the impression that her baptism wasn't valid yet and she wasn't a Mormon yet.....she said she hadn't slept all night cause it was bothering her. So after about a 15 minute phone call and a little explanation I think (and hope!) I calmed her down....haha. So anyway we then got going and had some contacting to do and this morning it was cold. Haha and then it got rainy. Bummer deal eh? Then elder Nelson offered to buy me lunch haha so I'm not going to pass that up;) so we went off to get some fries. We came back and ate and then went to a rdv with Luis. Today it was kind of an awkward lesson...we kind of had a slam down and it was a rough one haha. I told him that our goal was to make him change for the better, but that he needed to try. I told him he needed to keep reading and praying and come to church. He told us he'd try....haha so we'll go and see him a couple more times and see what happens. I'm not really sure what to do next. BUT we will cross that bridge when we get to it! We then went out and contacted and tried to get to a few different less actives. We had planned to go and try to find 3 but because one of them lived so far away, we only got to him and he still lived there!!! He told us that he works nights and that we had just woken him up from his sleep, but that we could come back on Sunday! So we will do that. Then we didn't have anymore time so we caught a bus into town for dinner and since we had a big lunch, neither of us were hungry so we made my new weekly vine! hope you all enjoy!;) I decided to make a funny vine once a week from now on and so that will be fun for all you to watch hopefully! I'm hoping it can be emailed around haha so keep your hopes up!! Then the funnest part of the day happened. We went and waited for Emmanuel to come and pick us up and we went bowling with the Elders Quorum!! It was a blast! Emmanuel had never been bowling and so it was fun trying to teach him how to do it. We decided that we needed to come back with Claudette one day. It was super fun!;) I actually didn't suck it up this time!;) then Emmanuel gave us a ride home.

JEUDI

Today was a decent day haha. It was super weird cause today was the day I got the emails from home telling me about the girl in my grade who was killed in a car accident on her mission. I didn't know her all that well, but we had some classes together and to know that someone I know, again, has passed on, is still a weird concept for me to handle. I spent a lot of time today thinking about life, and just how precious it is and how I really am so blessed. I spent some time on my knees today, praying for her family. Like I said, I didn't know her that well, but it's still sad news:( times like these make me extremely thankful for the gospel! I am so happy I am going to be able to see my loved ones again. Today we had our weekly lunch appt with Patrick and it was great as always. Haha! That man gives me so much hope! I always leave realizing that there is a possibility a girl might fall in love with me one day. Haha he tells me all the time that I will get home and all the girls will run after me, so it always gives me hope;) after we had finished lunch with him, we had 20 minutes of lunch left and so we ran into the store super close to the pasta place and I bought a new belt because mine was starting to die haha then we went and did some less active searching. We found a lake with some ducks and swans and I took some pictures. We all know that I love those ducks!;) it was a really long time searching for those guys and going contacting so we decided to go in and take a 20 minute breather and that's when I got the emails. I spent some time on my knees and just realized how precious life is. We then had decided to try and go out to see a potential investigator in this neighborhood that we met the other week and got out to the neighborhood and she wasn't home....so we just did some porting and prayed with this older couple who let us in and gave us some orange juice but in the end told us no thank you...so we went and caught a bus and made our way to our dinner appt with Emmanuel and Claudette! We had a party with them tonight. Not literally, just a figure of speech;) haha we got there and Claudette had made us a huge African meal and they were so excited to be able to sit down and eat with us. It was such a fun night. We then had the spiritual thought and I went to sit on the couch and she layed their baby right down next to me, and so I was like rubbing his arm and he smiled the cutest smile and so I pulled out my iPad and tried to get a picture but.....it didn't work....haha he's still pretty cute though! We shared the Mormon message 'Waiting on the Road to Damascus' and it was really good. We were supposed to give Emmanuel and Claudette blessings but me and Nelson forgot.....but they didn't! They asked if we could do it next time cause we didn't have time tonight. They are AMAZING! Seriously. I can't even explain it.

VENDREDI

well sadly I don't have a ton to explain about today. It was an interesting one and we didn't do a whole lot because of weekly planning. But that normally takes up the whole day haha. Anyway, we had a ward party tonight that was fine, but honestly after me and elder Nelson got home tonight, we really wondered if it was like the best thing we could have done as a ward. Not that it was bad or anything, but like the music was so loud and they all stayed so late and everyone was all over the place. Haha we don't really know what was up with it. But I'll get to that later. We woke up this morning and we did our studies and then we went out contacting, which is just like any other day #amirite? Haha! We talked to some really interesting people. As I've said before, people are so interesting. Their beliefs are so contradictory that I just can't understand why they believe what they believe. How can you say you know Jesus created a church on earth and that the 12 apostles were called to preach his gospel, but then now, today, as we are standing here in Namur speaking, you and me, us and the whole rest of the world DO NOT need a church because men are the creators of church and whoever created churches wants to be paid and is not called of God? Hahaha it doesn't make sense! Anyway sorry for the rant. It just isn't logical to me lol. We came in for lunch and then after we finished we made our way to weekly planning. I went to go make my planner cover, but I realized that I had left my tape and scissors in Dunkerque. I KNEW I LEFT A PIECE OF ME IN THAT VILLE!!;) lol jk but ya I was sad I couldn't make a cover yet. Then we got weekly planning over with and we were having a CARNIVALE party tonight! Haha carnivale is kind of like a Halloween but it's European and it usually lasts a whole month and goes every weekend and it's pretty much just a reason to dance and drink. Thankfully, we had just the dancing part tonight. Yes there was drinking but it was juices, no alcohol. Europe isn't the US but we still keep all gospel standards;) we were asked to dress up and we decided to dress up as normal people haha so that was fun;) you'd be surprised how many people were fooled by us! When we got there we helped with what we could to finish setting up and then we started the party. When the bishop got there me and elder Nelson were assigned to be the DJs haha! So we were sitting at the computer for a while controlling the music and what we were gonna play. It is weird to be in charge of stuff like that when I haven't heard all those songs for over a year and a half! But then Emmanuel and Claudette showed up so we went and hung out with them and then when they were ready to leave it was 9 and so they offered us a ride home. We told the bishop we were leaving and he said already?! He then told us he had planned to be there till midnight..so as we were leaving, ward members were still showing up! It was crazy. Anyway we were home and in bed before they had even thought to end the party!

SAMEDI

Today was an interesting day. We found out transfers!!! Me and Nelson are staying together here in Namur! So I'm pretty happy to be staying here:) we'll get to that story soon though. So this morning we got up and had our studies and then during language study, we got a BUZZ at the door. Elder Nelson went and answered the phone and said, '3rd floor? I don't know him sorry!' And then hung up...so I was all huh? He said it was some guy looking for someone on the 3rd floor and I was kind of bummed cause I wanted my package from mom. Then like 3 minutes later our doorbell rang! It was our building manager who had taken my package yesterday! So I got my package and I was SUPER happy!! Haha so I opened it and had all I ever wanted;) #mercimama it was great to get that. To this day, I HAVE YET TO LOSE A PACKAGE;) so then we went out contacting and I got a call from Jorgy saying, 'Have you looked at transfers?!' Apparently they came out early and so while we were out contacting, they had sent it out. He told me that me and Nelson were staying together. Let's just say that Elder LIBBY was ok with that news;) the rest of the day was a little difficult cause someone was upset. But it's all good. We then got home and looked at transfers and ate lunch and while eating, this member appt that we had fell through. Which was a bummer cause it was rainy and cold outside. So we sat and figured out what we could do and we decided to go to this tiny ville named Dinant that is outside of Namur. So we caught a bus and headed out and caught our train out there. We had some less actives that live out there and we had also received a referral from the church headquarters that was out there and so we decided we'd go contact as we were searching for them. So we got out there and contacted around until we had found the less active (no one answered) and found the referral (who told us it was a mistake and that she actually wasn't interested). So I had it in my head that since we were out there, and it had only been an hour that we were going to go and do some work, so as I asked where we were going to elder Nelson, he said home. Lol so we went out and then came right back....it was fine cause like we contacted that one referral, but also not the best use of time lol. So we got on a train and came home. When we got home we just contacted around until it was time to get to Emmanuel and Claudette's. Claudette had mentioned how she hadn't eaten any frites since she had her baby and so we wanted to surprise them tonight with some frites during our lesson;) so we went and got frites and then went and taught them. Tonight we taught the creation and the Fall of Adam and Eve and they were really confused. Honestly the lesson was not going too great. But then, after about 20 minutes of explaining, I literally just saw it in their eyes. IT CLICKED. EVERYTHING FELL INTO PLACE. I literally watched them go from asking tons of questions saying 'no that isn't right. Why would God let that happen?' To, 'oh my gosh. That is it. Right there that makes sense. God wants us to learn.' It honestly was amazing. The spirit just took over!!! It was amazing. They then asked for a blessing and so we blessed them and then came home for the night. It was a great night with them again;)

DIMANCHE

Today was a good sabbath. But like is there such thing as a bad sabbath?? Haha it was good and went pretty smoothly. It's funny cause like every Sunday, we have like a big gap from lunch to dinner of time to work, and every time it always feels like it is going to take forever, but like we go and do it and when it is finally time to get done with and get home I'm always like, seriously?! Shut up we just started! Haha or like it's just getting good! But like whatever. I just have to get used to it I guess. Today we caught our bus to church! So that made it that much better. We got to the church and I went to go and check our referrals on the referrals website and we had like a million of them! Haha no not a million but like I seriously had asked myself if the missionaries had ever even looked at the referrals. So I figured out where some of them were and decided that this afternoon we'd go and find some. A member brought his friend to church today and so I was super happy to see that #memberwork we had some good meetings and emmanuel and Claudette came to all three hours this week!!! They are too cool! We then finished up church and they offered us a ride home. When we got home we ate lunch and then had the rest of the day to go out and work and so we decided to go and find a referral that wasn't too far from our house and then go out to an area to port that we'd been to before and that we wanted to try again. So we went to this referrals house and he wasn't home, but we went and caught a bus out to this area. We went and knocked on doors and we found this one lady who let us in to talk and she was super nice! She is episcopalian and she was all its been a while since I've been to church cause my church lost its priest and so were waiting for them to send us a new one so funny. I was laughing. We talked and then she told us that we could pray and so I prayed and asked if we could come back and she was all BAH BIEN SUR! So were gonna go back and see her again next week. On the way back to catch the bus back to Namur we got a phone call on our France phone. When in Belgium, we have two cell phones. One to call people in France and one for Belgium. Anyway I answered and the voice goes, 'hi I'm interested in meeting you and learning more about your church!' And I was like 'ok well we are actually in Belgium. Are you in Belgium?' Even though I knew he wasn't cause the number was on the France phone and it was a French number and he goes, 'no I'm in France.' And so I was like where and he goes, 'Reims.' AND AS SOON AS HE SAID THAT I RECOGNIZED THE VOICE!!! It was Pierre!!! My good friend Pierre from Reims!!!! Haha he just called to say hi and said that he's super excited for me and my family to come back to see them and that him and his sister are already starting to plan out how we are going to stay there so I'm like super blessed to have all these friends:) I LOVE FRENCHIES!!! Anyway we got back to Namur and we came in and made a weekly sheet of our work for Frere Chung for tomorrow and that is how we ended our night. I also took some time to call Soeur Hudson one last time before she goes home and literally it was one of the saddest calls ever. Haha I told her that she had better stay in contact with me and she promised to write me every week! Haha she's such a cool kid, and I am going to be so sad when she's gone!

Et voilà! J'ai appris cette semaine que la vie est belle il faut, chaque journée, se préparer. La vie c'est une don d'un père que nous aime. Et ça c'est quelque chose que je vais commencer d'essayer à comprendre. Son amour pour moi. N'oubliez jamais que notre père céleste vous aime infiniment! Son amour est parfait et nous sommes important, nous avons une potentiel et nous pouvons réussir de comprendre tous ce qui est nécessaire dans la vie si nous nous humilions devant notre père. Il répondra à nos prières si c'est le vrai désir de notre cœur. Je sais que son plan est parfait. Je sais que par fois c'est difficile à accepter sa volonté, mais tout va finir par s'arranger. Mon invitation à vous tous pour cette semaine c'est simplement de prier pour recevoir l'aide de comprendre l'amour de notre père céleste. Son amour peut nous aider de mettre nos vies en ordre. Je sais qu'il vit. Et je vous rendre mon témoignage au nom de Jésus-Christ, amen. Passez un bonne semaine!!!:)  (And voila! I learned this week that life is beautiful   we need, each day, to prepare. Life is a gift from a father that we love. And it is something that I'll start trying to understand. Never forget that our heavenly father loves you very much! His love for us is perfect, we are important, we have a potential and we can succeed to understand all that is necessary in life if we humble ourselves before our father. He will answer our prayers if it is the true desire of our heart. I know that his plan is perfect. I know sometimes it is difficult to accept his will, but everything will eventually work out. My invitation to you all for this week is simply this: pray to get help to understand the love of our heavenly father. His love can help us put our lives in order. I know he lives. And I give my testimony on behalf of Jesus Christ, amen. Have a good week! :)

 

Elder Libby