WEEK 93

BAH! Cette semaine. Elle est déjà finie?! C'est bizarre que j'ai moins que 9 semaines qui reste en mission. Pour vous dire, j'ai bien reçu mon recommandation pour aller au temple!!! Ça veut dire qu'il faut qu j'y aille bientôt! Je suis impatient d'y retourner. Je vais vous dire tout d'abord, je n'ai pas pris beaucoup des photos cette semaine. Il me semble qu'il n'y avait pas beaucoup qui s'est passé...alors désolé pour le manque des photos! J'espère que vous aimeriez mes expériences de cette semaine quand-même! (BAH! This week. It is already over? It's weird that I have less than 9 weeks remaining on my mission. To tell you, I have renewed my recommend to go to the temple! I will need it, as I go there soon! I'm eager to go back. I'll tell you first of all, I did not take many pictures this week. It seems to me that there was not much that has happened... so sorry for the lack of photos! I hope that you would like my experiences this week anyway!)

 

LUNDI SOIR

So we were asked to give the spiritual thought tonight and elder Anderson told me that  he felt like we needed to give it on the spirit. So we went in not exactly knowing how we were going to be doing it, but we knew that the spirit would take over. We went in and just started and immediately the tone in the room changed, and we were prompted to start talking on learning by the spirit and how it happens. It was so cool! The lesson went great and we were able to answer questions from Allisson who is kind of less active. It was an amazing lesson.

 

MARDI

So I kid you not, nothing happened today. Haha there was nothing really cool or anything super life changing happened. We were able to go contacting and we were able to teach a lesson to this super cool lady, but the only problem was that I asked her, TWICE, if it interested her to maybe meet up again and talk a little bit more and both times she hurried and changed the subject and started to talk about something else. GAH. ITS SO FRUSTRATING SOMETIMES. Not that I want to control everyone, but I just wish that sometimes people would say yes. Gah. So this morning when we woke up we made our way to studies and then when we went out contacting and we found a few new fun stores that we'd heard about from other missionaries but never been to so we are going to have to try those, then we contacted the really cool lady, which now looking back on it was a super cool experience cause she was like one of the only people outside at the time! Haha we then went and made our way in for lunch and then since yesterday at the chapel they were replacing the carpet (oh ya minor detail haha) and because we heard that the power at the Liège chapel was out, and we were supposed to be having zone conference there tomorrow, we decided to go up and check to see how the carpet was coming along and if there was power in our chapel in case we all needed to come here. So all was going well there and spoiler, we didn't have to come to Namur for zone conference. So after we just contacted and walked around until it was time to make our way in for language study. When we'd had language study, we then needed to make our way to the gare so that we could pick up the elders from Charleroi cause they were going to be spending the night with us. So we got to the gare and while we were waiting I noticed this group of guys just sitting there and speaking English and so I asked where they were from and they were from England! With their stylish English accents and sounding all cool and stuff haha they told us that they were on an athletics team and that they were all runners. Come to find out that they were on the English National Team and they will be trying out for the olympics in just a few weeks!!! I thought that was so cool! I told them I swam for 10 years before my mission and they were asking some questions about that and if I went Pro or not;) HA. They didn't really ask about our message when we told them we were missionaries and then their ride got in and they left. So imma be watching for them during the olympics!! Then Charleroi came in and we headed home and ate some dinner and ended the night with some jungle speed.

 

MERCREDI

Today was zone conference and it was my last one for my entire mission....haha wow just writing that is super weird! My last one...wow. We were all under the impression that I was going to be giving my 'dying testimony' today but for one reason or another, it didn't end up happening and I will be doing it next transfer in a smaller conference. Which is ok with me;) I don't need to talk in front of a billion people that I don't know, twice;) just kidding. My homecoming won't be only people I don't know. Haha! We got up this morning and we went and made our way to the gare to make our train to get in bright and early to Liège. We got on the train and during the train I was reading this newspaper that I found and it was saying that Christopher Nolan is making a movie about Dunkerque and the huge battle that went on there during world war 2 and as I read it I was like, wow haha who'd wanna go see a movie about that?;) but at the same time I was all, DANG! I lived there for 6 months! That'll be cool to see! I'm wondering if he's gonna be going in and using the real monuments and stuff. It'll be cool to see. Then we got to the gare and met up with the other missionaries and we got to the chapel. We had some super cool formations today and a big theme today was being bold. Being bold in our callings, being bold in our work, being bold. It was cool to hear all the different formations given to us that made me realize how much I need to be more confident. I especially liked the comments from Soeur Babin and how she was encouraging us to persevere and not give up on ourselves or on people. She was telling us that we need to be sure to let people know our purpose and why we are here. It was a good formation! She even teared up a little bit, which made it even that much more powerful! We were sitting eating lunch when elder slaughter came over to me and told me of some of the things that my mother has been posting on Facebook......haha let me tell you I need to have a talk with her!;) He was telling me how much fun it has been to be friends with her and be able to communicate the way that they have. His wife was also ecstatic when I said that we would come back and see them after my mission. Haha after all of that, I had a meeting for the missionaries who are going home in the next 12 weeks, and we talked about putting our faith in the lord to direct our paths. It was good! Then I had the chance to meet with president Babin and get a new temple recommend. It was so amazing to sit with him and talk about it. He is such an amazing man and I've absolutely loved working with him for the past 2 years. After all that, we went and caught a bus to get to the gare to make it home. It was a long day there!! When we got home we had about 20 minutes left to work so we just made a few phone calls and called it a night.

 

JEUDI

So tonight made me super happy! I honestly felt like today was the most productive day that I've had in a while. We saw some really cool miracles that made me realize that Heavenly Father watches over us. I was a little depressed about today, not going to lie, cause it was a finding day all day long, but by the end I was sure thankful for the chance that I got to go and find people. We got up this morning and we had our studies and then once we finished we headed out the door. We were supposed to be meeting up with Patrick for lunch, but he called last minute and canceled cause he had too much work. So we just filled out morning with some contacting and it was hot and I was sweaty and I wanted to go inside, but as I was thinking all these thoughts, I all of the sudden thought of the Sisters formation yesterday in zone conference. They talked about handing out book of Mormons and how we should be holding them in our hands as we are walking, and do it with a smile. So I pulled out my Book of Mormon and that's when I put my smile on and God put Christine in our path! We started to talk and she told us how her sister recently passed away and how she was confused by it cause she was in perfect health and how she was a little skeptical on the existence of a god because of it. So I all of the sudden thought to share Alma 40:11-12 which talks about the state of the soul between death and the resurrection, so I pulled that out in the Book of Mormon I was holding and shared it with her and she looked at me and said, 'that is beautiful. I hope that is true!' We gave her the Book of Mormon and we will be meeting with her next Friday at the chapel to explain more! It was incredible! We then went and got some frites for lunch and headed inside to eat. After lunch, we had about 2 hours left of work cause we were supposed to be having a rdv with Wilmy and Allisson, so we went out and contacted. During that time nothing too amazing happened, but we were able to talk to a couple people! Then we came inside and took dinner and language study and then we were just about to head out to catch our train to their place when the phone rang. It was Allisson and she was telling us that they had to cancel and I didn't really understand exactly the reason, but it was ok. We then decided to go out porting. We made it to a neighborhood that we had never been to and we started to knock and of course there were grumpy people telling us that we should only come back if we ever have anything important to say, so to that we say, this is important! Haha but we knocked on a door and Claude answered! Her and her husband, Bernard, are an older couple that have been to Salt Lake City a few times but didn't know a ton about us. So they invited us in, gave us some apple juice and we began teaching them very simply the restoration. When we were about to finish, we asked them if they'd be interested in ever coming to our church and they said.....YES! You all need to take a minute and realize just how miraculous this actually is. Old people here are all so stubborn and always say that they are too old to change. But these two were like why not! Maybe we'll like it! They said that this Sunday was impossible but that they would definitely come, and they seemed really interested in the BBQ that we are having in July. So when we were about to leave, they told us we could come back next week and then Claude mentions, 'If you have any friends you want to bring with you, please do!' So we left them with a prayer and called up the Badoux's and asked if they would be able to come and they said yes! We are going to see Bernard and Claude next week as week as well. It was a great day!!!

 

VENDREDI

Well today was just a normal day in the craziest place ever. Haha no Namur isn't that crazy, but it does seem like there is always something going on. Today we found out that there is a grève (strike) going on with the trains, and it is very possible that it could be going on until next Tuesday. Ahhhhh. So the reason that this is annoying is because we were supposed to be going into Nivelles tomorrow morning to have a finding day with the district there and with the trains not running, it is literally impossible for us to get there. So anyway, we got up this morning and we had our studies and then we got ready and headed outside and walked around and contacted. Today there was not the crazy amazing success like we had yesterday, cause people are just too busy sometimes haha it's sad really. But the sun was out and I was cooking a bit and all I know is it was hot and there was some sweat in places I shouldn't be sweating. Haha! We got in to eat lunch and during lunch, we got a phone call from our district leader telling us about the grève and so we decided we'd go and see if it'd be best for us to go in tonight to Nivelles but when we got to the gare, the lady told us that it would be impossible for us to get from Namur to Nivelles. She said that getting to Brussels was maybe possible, but Nivelles would not be possible until Tuesday at the earliest. So we called the district leader and told him and said we'd do what we could to get to Brussels and then Braine could come and get us with their car. So we left the gare and headed home to weekly plan, which was awesome today cause for the first time in forever, we had more than just one person to plan for!!! #tendermercies When we'd finished that up we took language study and dinner and then decided we'd pack our bags and head up to the church where we could get on the computer and look to see if there were any updates on train times to see if we could get to Brussels. So we got there and the site was no help, but we went and hopped on the next bus to the gare and decided we'd wait til there was a train going into Brussels, cause it only made sense that if there are trains running, there would be one to Brussels. When we got there we sat and waited and all of the sudden, a random train came on the board that was going to this little village in the middle of the ward boundaries for Nivelles! So we called up Braine, and said come and get us and we went and caught out train to Ottignies! When we got on the train, the controller came and looked at our tickets and we got into a nice conversation with her about the grève and she explained to us that it happens just because people aren't happy with anything. She said they all are just unhappy with their job, so they strike against everything and just don't show up to work. She said it bothers her, cause they accepted the job so they should work and that she was ok with it and she decided to come to work, cause she knows people depended on the trains. It was good to have someone that caring about others stop and talk to us. She then told us she wasn't sure if we'd be able to catch a train tomorrow back to Namur.....haha😬😬 when the guys from Braine picked us up we just headed to their apartment and finished the night off with some frites and talking;)

 

SAMEDI

Well today went alright for the most part! We were able to make it back to Namur! Haha they had to drive us home from Braine, but that's ok! We had a good finding day there and we were able to help. At least I hope so! Haha we got up this morning and we went and made our way to the chapel to start off our finding day. We got there and all the members that were coming to help showed up and we started out. We all got our specific tasks on what to do and where to go and then left and went downtown. They had planned to have a table that was going to be holding a big Book of Mormon and all this stuff and so we got there and started to set it up and this guy that owned the store right behind the place we were doing it came out and told us that we weren't allowed to do it haha so we moved across the street and then the officials for the city market came and told us that unless we had official papers saying that we could do this from the city, that we weren't allowed to do it. So we just left and went contacting around the city instead! It went well! We were able to give a Book of Mormon to a guy and talk to a bunch of people. I went on an exchange with this member from Nivelles and he was BOLD! Haha like legit he was telling people that would say they weren't interested, 'Oh, is it because you saw Jesus Christ written on my friends badge?!' I was just like DUDE!! You go! Haha I have always wanted to do that, but because I wear that badge, I'm not exactly allowed to talk to people like that haha! Anyway, we finished and made our way back to the chapel to finish off the day with the members and then we all sat and ate as missionaries and while eating we decided we would go and check to see if the grève had finished or if there were any updates online and so we did and there was nothing and they were saying that since it was Saturday they were already less than normal but then with the grève they were just almost not running at all. So we were a little worried that we were going to have no way home, but we called the mission office and explained the problem, and they gave us permission to have the elders from Braine give us a ride home in their car and so we went and finished off our day with those guys and then we headed back to Namur! It was a fun car ride. It's not everyday that I get to ride in the car and so I take advantage when I can, cause I just love driving and I can't wait for that again!! Anyway, when we got home, they had to use the bathroom and so they came in and we talked for a little and then they left and we went and made our way to our rdv with Romuald, his son and Dydy. It was a super great rdv and they'd even read the restoration brochure and were super ready to learn more about the Book of Mormon which was awesome cause that was exactly what we were going to talk about. We explained the story of the Book of Mormon and gave them each one and they told us they were going to start reading and praying about it!! So when we left, we had a couple missed calls and it was Braine from their France phone number and they were telling us that they'd lost their Belgium phone and wanted to know if it was in our apartment, and so we got home and found it....and the next time we see them is next Wednesday! Haha😬😬 looks like they're just without a phone....

 

DIMANCHE

Well today was pretty slow. Because of the nasty weather, we weren't able to do a ton and it was a bit of a bummer haha but that happens. We needed to improvise and do something else to be effective with our time. But in other words, church today was great. We got up and got all ready and made our way out to catch the bus and right when we got out of the apartment building and the bus passed right before us....haha we are super good at missing that bus!! So anyway we started walking and we got to this hill that we have to go up to get to the church and I always do fine until the hill and then just like usual, I died haha I was so hot! Anyway, when we got up to the top of the hill, when all of the sudden heard a horn and turned to see the Badoux's who offered us a ride the rest of the way! So we got in and because our hearts were pumping and we were all warmed up, we started to fog up the windows in their car lol! We got to church and had a good day there. Right after sacrament meeting, Soeur Halushka came up to me and told me that she had been thinking me a lot this week and she wanted to know how much dad was doing and that she has been thinking and praying a lot for my family, and that (selfishly) she's praying that I will stay here in Namur for my last transfer;) she is such a cute lady. Anyway, the rest of the meetings were really good as well. We had Romuald and his son that came to all 3 hours of church and let me tell you haha he LOVES to talk. It was an interesting couple of hours. But he seems to be super interested in what we have to say and so we'll see where those interests take us! After all the meetings, we were talking with the Mazy's and they told us that they had some bottles full of water for us, and they wanted to take us home so that we could take in the water with us. So we got in the car and they took us home and we got our water into apartment and we had lunch. After we'd finished up with lunch, we did our studies for 12 week and then we were about to go outside, but from the time we'd left the church to come home all the way up til now, it had been pouring rain and there was nobody outside so we started to work on the area book. We were writing down things in papers and making some phone calls and all that fun stuff trying to wait out the rain, but by the time we knew it, it was already time to come in for the night. So we finished out the night with some last few papers and cleaning up our apartment.

 

On nous a dit qu'il y aura une grève encore aujourd'hui et avec la pluie, on a reste dans l'appartement encore toute la matinée. Alors nous pouvons dire que nous n'aurons pas une sécheresse cette année-ci en Belgique! Pour vous dire, je vais bien. Le seigneur me protège. Il écoute à mes prières, et il me surveille. Merci pour votre tendresse envers moi et ma famille. J'espère que cette semaine, vous passeriez les bonnes expériences, et que vous aurez l'esprit avec vous! Je vous aime!  (We were told that there will be a strike today and with the rain, we remain in the apartment all morning. We can say that we will not have a drought this year in Belgium! To tell you, I'm fine. The Lord protects me. He listens to my prayers, and hears me. Thank you for your tenderness towards me and my family. I hope that this week, you would pass along good experiences, and you'll have the spirit with you! I love you!)

 

Elder Libby

 

 

WEEK 92

Pour commencer aujourd'hui, j'aimerais bien vous remercier pour vos prières! Cette semaine j'avais un peu dure de persévérer lol. Il y avait pleine des fois quand je voulais arrêter, mais mon collègue était inspiré de me rassurer de tout les bénédictions que l'on voyait. Alors merci pour votre confiance en nous! Et merci pour vos prières d'emmener les bénédictions envers nous. J'étais fortement touché cette semaine par votre foi! J'ai bien reçu mon itinéraire pour rentrer chez moi cette semaine aussi! Alors ça c'est chouette aussi! Cette semaine qui vient, je vais avoir l'occasion de renouveler mon recommandation pour le temple. Et j'ai hâte pour cet entretien avec Président Babin. Déjà ça fait 2 ans que je suis allé au temple....WOW!! 

(To start today, I'd love to thank you for your prayers! This week I found it a little hard to persevere lol. It was full of times when I wanted to stop, but my colleague was inspired to reassure me of all the blessings that we saw. So thank you for your confidence in us! And thank you for your prayers to bring blessings to us. I was strongly affected this week by your faith! I received a copy of my itinerary to go home this week! So it's good also! Coming up this week, I'll have the opportunity to renew my temple recommend. And I look forward to this interview with President Babin. Already it's been 2 years since I went to the temple... WOW!)

LUNDI SOIR

So today was also another holiday here in Europe. Haha I remember from last year, almost every other day in May is a holiday and so since it was a holiday, we spent almost all of our PDAY at the church. We finished up emailing and just chilled waiting for all the members to get there for family home evening and playing around with the ping pong table and stuff. When everyone got there, we pulled out jungle speed and we played some jungle speed with some of them and Frere Mazy LOVED it haha. A little too much in my opinion! It was funny to see him playing that. We had a good lesson tonight on the importance of the hymns and how they can speak to us and Soeur Pironnet had us all go around sharing our favorite hymns. It was good:) 

 

MARDI

Well today flew. Legit it went by so fast. But days like that are good! It was such a fast day! So today we woke up this morning and we got ready and headed out the door to make it to district meeting. To be honest, we weren't really looking forward to going because we got a new district leader and we'd heard only bad things about him...so we were a little hesitant on going. He'd already told us that from now on we weren't allowed to have a meal at district meeting anymore and so we were all a little confused. His reasoning was the fact that it takes up too much time, but if you think about it, we still have to take an hour for lunch no matter what....so we had decided that we were just going to go out to eat after with the elders from Braine l'Alleud. We got in this morning and found out, after 3 transfers of me being here, we can take a train that gets us in a little bit later, but allows us to catch a bus DIRECTLY around to the church and gets us there on time for district meeting still. So we're going to start taking that one. When we caught the train, the other elders met up with us there and we all rode up together and got to the chapel in Charleroi, even before the missionaries from Charleroi got there so we had to wait for them. We just sat there quoting movies while waiting and then when they got there we went in and started. Sadly to admit, the rumors of our district leader were true....he kept mentioning how he wanted us to pretend that we were our own mission, and not pay attention to the Paris mission, but become part of the Nivelles mission.....haha he was telling us how the other district here in Belgium have 7 baptismal dates and how we only have one and how he knows we can do better, so we needed to..we were all just kind of like ok....he seems to be a 'if you don't have good statistics, you aren't a good missionary' missionary...which is sad, cause if I'd based my whole mission on that, I would be a failure haha. Anyway, once he'd finished we walked out and we headed into downtown Charleroi and found a kebab joint and sat and talked about getting married and to be honest, I felt the spirit more during my conversation with these guys in the kebab shop than I did during district meeting. Haha! It was honestly a really good conversation. Then we went and caught a train home and we went grocery shopping since it was a holiday yesterday. I love going shopping when everything is cheap! It's seriously the greatest to walk out with your bags full of stuff! Haha when we'd gotten home and dropped off our groceries, we went and contacted until we had our dinner appt. Chung, his wife and Soeur Pironnet invited us over for dinner and games tonight and so when we needed to go catch the bus, we did and we went and ate and played Yahtzee with them for the night. It was super fun! I hadn't played Yahtzee in forever! And I sucked it up and lost by like a million points but it's ok! Haha we had fun.

 

MERCREDI

So last night Meï Chung told us that she's learned to become a massage therapist and some other type of thing that has to do with that kind of stuff...lol I don't really remember the words, but she wanted some help with what she's doing. So she asked if she would be able to practice on us today, cause she wanted to practice on some people who are stressed, busy, need help yeah yeah yeah and she said the best example she could think of were the missionaries haha so we told her yes and she told us to meet her and Chung at the chapel at 11:30. So this morning we got up and we had studies and then we changed into our comfy clothes and we headed up to the chapel, not really knowing what we were getting ourselves into haha when we got there, her and Chung were there setting up and we just walked in and she pulled out some yoga mats and told us to get comfortable. So we laid down and she told us that she was going to take our spirits into our consciousness and all this stuff and I was just thinking, sweet! I get a free nap lol! This is the best service ever! Haha so we started this inner journey, and I'm pretty sure that I just fell asleep but after we finished and she'd woken us up, she told me my results, and with the 'journey' we took she said she got out of it that I was definitely in the 'unconscious zone' during the session and that she found out that I had a hard childhood and that the person that was directing me throughout my journey was someone that did something bad to me as a child, and that is what is causing the most stress in my life right now. Now you're all gonna laugh at me, but the only thing I could think of was........Michael Jackson's Thriller. LOL. YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW MUCH THAT SCARRED ME AS A CHILD!!!! Lol anyway. It was super weird. She said it was the first out of 3 steps...so we'll see if we do more! After that they'd brought pizza for us and so we sat and ate with them and then we got up and headed home and changed and then headed out to go contacting until language study. We were invited to the De Lauw's house tonight, but they live out in the booneys and so we had to take a train that left around 4:30 so we went out and contacted until we came in for language study. After that we went and caught our train out to the De Lauw's house and it was such a fun night! They have this big beautiful house out in the fields, just 500m from the French boundary! It was fun to be with them. They have a huge movie collection in their house and I saw it and went to go look at it and found Mean Girls and was asking them where they got it cause I'd been looking for it and Frere De Lauw goes, just take it! My present to you. HAH! I was so happy!!! So we ate with them and talked about movies and had a really fun night with them. To end the night, Frere De Lauw gave us a ride home and we were talking all about getting married during the entire ride home. It's hard for me to believe that that is going to be my next step in life....Weirddd

 

JEUDI

I'll tell you, after today was over, I was done. Haha seriously, I was just so dang tired. It was a long day. But I personally had a really cool experience today. It's after these little experiences that I know Heavenly Father really does listen to every prayer, even the ones that go unspoken. Today we got up and had our studies and then we went out and contacted our way to lunch with Patrick. That pasta is so dang good. It is going to miss me so much when I am gone!!! I love it and it makes me sad that soon I'm going to be having to give it up. Maybe they'd give a loyal customer the recipe?? I've already got the frites recipe;) get ready for some Belge frites all you Utahans!!! So lunch today was good and we had a fun time with Patrick. He keeps telling me that he is praying that after I finish in Namur, I can go die in Charleroi, so we'll have to see if his prayers for that get answered! I'm secretly hoping not cause Charleroi is not a pretty ville......lol anyway when we'd finished with him, there was a nice little breeze that was going through Namur that made it just a little bit chilly and so we made it back to the apartment and got my jacket and then we went out finding. We walked all over, we ran a couple errands, and we even talked with like everyone that we walked by, but no one wanted to stop and talk. Ok, one person sat and listened to us and took a card, but it didn't seem too promising so we'll see if anything happens. But then I was just starting to feel really down. I just wanted to someone to talk to and know that the Lord really did put them in my path, so I just started praying and singing hymns in my heart and we were walking and stopped this older lady and I felt prompted to tell her about prayer, so I did and she went on to explain how prayer means so much to her, and how grateful she was for it and how much she is thankful that the lord wants to talk with him. We talked for a good 20 minutes and then when we asked to pray with her she said yes and at the end of her prayer, she said this, and I quote, I'm very thankful you had the courage to stop me and talk to me. You did the right thing to talk to me. Thank you for what you do. I knew RIGHT then that the Lord had placed me there for her at that time. It was a cool little confirmation for me to know that Heavenly Father has a plan. He listens to prayers. And right now for some reason, he needs me and elder Anderson out all day finding. I got a (little less than) pleasing phone call from our new district leader today wondering why our numbers were so low last week and what he could do to make them higher this week. He told me he wants me to get more member present lessons and I told him that that wasn't going to be possible for the moment, cause we need investigators to be able to have those. He didn't seem to like my response haha am I sassy?? After we finished up contacting this afternoon, we went in and took dinner and language study and then went out porting in this little town outside of Namur that I'd never been to to work in. It was good tonight and we got one little lady to let us in to pray and she took our card and told us she'd call if she ever needed some service done! So this little town called Wépion just outside Namur is said to have the best strawberries in the world. While we were out porting there was a little stand and I told myself that I was going to stop and buy some on our way out and when we got there it was closed.......I was sad, but it'll happen sooner or later! Apparently they are like life changing. Haha I'll be sure to take pics of that life changing moment;)

 

VENDREDI

So today was spent mostly doing just weekly planning. Haha it wasn't too eventful and it was spent mostly in the apartment planning, but was good none the less. We got a random phone call today from a random number only to hear the voice of a familiar Frere Adams, who is a well known teacher at the MTC telling us that he was in Namur today and wanted to know if he could come and meet up with us to buy us Gaufres. He served here in Namur a good 3 years ago and so he was back for a visit. So that is always exciting when random members ask to buy you some snacks! (It's the reason why I'm gaining so much weight.......seriously I look like a blimp) anyway we got up this morning and we had our studies and then we went and contacted for the morning hours. The sun is really starting to come out and make things warm so that's always a good thing! We then passed by chez gaby and I realized that it had been maybe a week since I'd eaten frites and so we stopped and I got some frites to eat for lunch and made our way back to the apartment and ate. On our way up, I checked my email to see if I had anything and I did. I GOT MY TRAVEL PLANS! Crazy!!!! So when we got upstairs I called elder Orton to see if he'd gotten his as well and we ended up talking for a while. We then sat and planned for our new investigator that came to church last week cause we have an appt with him at a members house tomorrow and so we planned really well for that and also for the rest of the week and it went well. When we had finished we went and did some contacting to end the night and there was nothing too special about tonight that happened.

 

SAMEDI

Today was a hot and long one. Haha I was POOPED at the end of the night. Honestly, you never know how much just walking around will get you. Haha I was seriously so dang tired. But it was good none the less and elder Anderson reminded me at the end of the night, that we did see a super amazing miracle! Heavenly fathers hands were in our work today. Well like I mentioned I was pooped at the end so that tells you that just like the past month, we spent all day outside working! Haha we walked and walked and walked some more. We did however start off with some studies and then we left. As we were walking around outside, we heard a cry, 'Elders!' So we turned to look at where it was coming from and saw that it was again Frere Adams from the MTC! He hadn't left quite yet but was on his way and was so happy to find us cause he needed to call a couple last members from the ward. So we lent him our phone and we were talking to his friend who turned out to be super cool! He is going to need school to become a surgeon! So we talked a lot cause funny enough that's exactly what I want to do as well! He was super cool. They needed help getting to the Pizza Hut so that they could meet up with a member that he wanted to see one last time before he headed out and so we took them out to the Pizza Hut and then we left them and made our way in for some lunch. When we'd finished eating we made our way out into the blistering heat and we walked and talked and talked and walked and then did it again and still there is just not one person that really wants to talk to us! I don't think I'm that ugly....but I have been wrong before. We went walking on a ton of different roads that I'd never been on before and so I didn't know if they'd be good or not and it just took us to this one lookout over Namur that the Mazy's took us to once and so we sat and looked at that for a while and we even found a new area where we can go porting again sometime so that will be good! We then we're just walking and trying to navigate our way out when we found ourselves in downtown Namur, right next to the McDonald's in the heat and so we decided that we were going to stop for a mcflurry. Haha! I don't know if you all remember or not, but last year, we went to McDonald's like daily to get mcflurries cause it was just so dang hot and so this reminded me a lot of last year. We got in and got our mcflurries and then made our way home for language study. When we'd finished that up, we went and made our way to Dydy's house cause she'd told us that we could invite our new investigator Romuald, who came to church last Sunday, and we could have a lesson there with him! So we got there and not only did we have a lesson, but Dydy had gone and bought a lasagna for us to eat! It was a great night and we kind of got to know Romuald and he told us a little bit of his back story and then we taught him all the way up to Joseph Smith in the restoration and he told us that he thought it could be true, and that all he was hearing was sounding good to him. So we'll have to see how this works out with him.

 

DIMANCHE

Today went well for the most part, except for the embarrassing fact that I was just so unmotivated! Like legit all day the only thing I wanted to do was curl up in my bed and sleep. I didn't want to do anything and it took almost everything in me to just get up and get out of the apartment today. It was hard. Long story short, I am excited for Sunday naps again! Today when I first woke up I was laying in bed and for some reason, I couldn't stop thinking of dads cocoa cake haha (for those of you who don't speak Libby, cocoa cake directly translated in Libby is Coffee cake. Dad makes it for us every Sunday back at home, and every Sunday when it's fresh out of the oven we hear through the intercom in the house, 'Cocoa cake is ready when you are!' It's kind of like our bribe for getting ready haha)  but anyway I was thinking about it and decided to get up and make some. So I did! And as I was sitting there eating it I all of the sudden realized that I wasn't ready for church and I was eating the cocoa cake....haha looks like the 18 years of practice didn't really work all that well. Anywho we headed off to church once we got ready and we walked in and had a good turn out today where Romuald and his son came! So that was a bonus! We had some good meetings today and during the gospel principles class, they were all trying to figure out what lessons that they could teach that would easily go along with the lessons we teach Romuald during the week so that was awesome. I got a little worried when Frere Badoux just out of no where looks at Romuald and goes, are you ready to commit for the rest of your life to this?? I was like WOAH! We haven't even asked if he wants to be baptized yet! Haha but Romuald answered just saying he wants to know more before he makes any decisions. So that calmed me down! After all the church meetings we made our way home and got some lunch down, but the whole time we were just sitting there like ehhhh what to eat..? Haha we were just really unmotivated for some odd reason. But when we finished lunch we watched the 12 week videos that we needed to watch and then once they'd finished we forced ourselves to get dressed and up and out of the door to go and work. Haha it was hard but soon enough we were outside in the rain walking and talking. We kept getting stopped by a bunch of drunks that kept asking if we were Jehovahs witnesses and they kept asking for some money from us and all that fun stuff, so when we'd had enough of contacting, we went to the gare and caught a bus out to go porting. When we got off we just started knocking and we knocked on this one lady's door who told us she knew who we were and she already had a Book of Mormon and that she wouldn't mind if one day we came back and shared a little more! So that was cool. When the night came to an end, and it was still raining, we made our way home and did some paper work to end our night.

 

Alors j'espère que vous avez aimé mes expériences cette semaine! Il y avait pleine des hauts et aussi pleine des bas, mes en tout cas, j'ai survécu et je sais que j'ai le soutien de continuer. Alors cette semaine j'aimerais bien vous souhaiter une belle semaine, rempli de tout les bonnes choses, et j'espère vous pouvez partager votre témoignage avec au moins une personne! Ça changera votre journée. Merci pour tous ce que vous faites! Keep on keepin on yo!  (So I hope you enjoyed my experiences this week! There was full of highs and also downs, anyway, I survived and I know that I have the support to continue. So this week I would like to wish you a nice week, filled with all the good things, and I hope you can share your testimony with at least one person! It will change your day. Thank you for all that you do! Keep on keepin' on yo!)

 

Elder Libby:)

 

 

 

 

WEEK 91

Je n'ai aucune idée où le beau temps est allé! Cette semaine il faisait froid! Et il n'y avait pas beaucoup de soleil. Alors c'était un peu triste à cause de ça, mais autrement cette semaine nous avons passé une bonne semaine!! C'était un peu vite en mon avis, mais ça arrive des fois. Quelque chose que j'ai appris cette semaine, c'est qu'il faut aimer tout les moments dans la vie. Nous pouvons apprendre de chaque moment, alors il faut en profiter !! J'espère que vous aimez mes aventures de cette semaine!  (I have no idea where the good weather has gone! This week it was cold! And there was not much sun. So it was a bit sad because of that, but otherwise this week we had a good week !! It was a little faster in my opinion, but that happens sometimes. Something I learned this week is that we must love all the moments in life. We can learn from each one, and then take advantage !! I hope you like my adventures this week!)

 

LUNDI SOIR

So today was pretty chill cause we were in Waterloo! We had a ton of fun and because of that, we missed our bus getting to family home evening with the ward. Lol so we called up a member and they came and picked us up and we got to family home evening. During it I had my iPad hooked up to the laptop because I keep getting a notification on my iPad telling me that I'm running out of space and so I was moving a bunch of my pictures onto a USB. Thank heavens for technology!! We had a good lesson on the Book of Mormon and then we had a Mexican Party! All the members had pitched in for some burritos and stuff and it was good fun!! I do love me some good Mexican food, we all know that I CANNOT wait for my cafe rio! I've mentioned it to my mom, but I think I might be stopping at the cafe rio in the airport before going to see my family....I'm still thinking on it;)

 

MARDI

Well today was SO FAST!! Like honestly it just flew by lol. It was good though. We had the opportunity to go and listen to president Uchtdorf tonight because he came and gave a special conference for our stake! It was really good and as per the norm, he gave a very good and very uplifting conference. We are so lucky to have such kind and caring apostles and prophets who really do care about us and our well being. I feel that it is a true blessing that we have them that truly worry for us and love us as much as they do. Hearing President Uchtdorf express his love for us, and the love of the rest of the apostles, and the fact that during the weeks after the attacks, they were praying for us, even though I'm not TECHNICALLY a member in the Brussels Stake;), I felt something. I know that they were worried, and that they care for us. Just like our heavenly parents. They want the best for us. I know that truly care for our wellbeing. We are blessed as saints in these latter days! So because yesterday we weren't home at all, we didn't have the chance to clean our apartment and go grocery shopping. So we got up and had studies and then cleaned and then headed out to go grocery shopping. We had told Pierrot this week where we go grocery shopping and he told us that the store we went to is too expensive and that we should try this other one. So we went and I'll tell you what!! WE ARE NEVER GOING BACK TO THE PLACE WE NORMALLY WENT!!! This place Pierrot told us to go to was SO CHEAP! We spent 35€ this week and bought about double the stuff we normally got. I was on cloud nine just like, SURE! Let's buy ice cream!! We've got 30€ more to to spend!! so that was fun. When we got home we put our stuff away and then took lunch before we went out contacting. We went out and got one phone number from a guy who said call me, and we talked to this one younger man who is studying to become a catholic priest and I really wanted to keep going with him. Seeing this man today really lifted my spirits for some reason. Like obviously we all know that we are having some difficulties in finding some new investigators, and even though this man told us in the end that he didn't want to meet with us again, I was really grateful that Heavenly Father put Marc in our path. We talked all about the restoration and we were able to get his perspective on things and try to help him understand the restored gospel, and as I was explaining it, peace just came into my heart. I was so grateful for the knowledge of the restored gospel!!! Then when we were getting to the part where we ask if we could meet again, I was just PRAYING my heart out that he would say yes and let the spirit talk to him. He told us he would love to, but because he's studying to become a priest, his instructors has asked him to do the same we are asked, and to focus only on their teachings. So it was only fair, but as we were walking away, I couldn't help but be thankful! Normally I would be sad, or even a little angry that he wouldn't listen to the spirit, but this time I was thankful we were able to talk and I was able to feel the spirit the way that I did. It was amazing. Isn't the gospel GR8!?! Anyway, by this time we needed to go home and get all packed and ready to go and get to Emmanuel and Claudette's to head up to Brussels for the conference. So we went and changed and packed, because of transfers tomorrow, the elders in Braine asked if we wanted to come and stay and do a finding day tomorrow, and then headed out to E&C's. We got to their place and hit the road and ran into traffic, but it was ok cause I was able to play with Yannick in the back seat the whole time;) he's already teething!!!!! He's only 4 1/2 months!!! Maybe that's normal, but idk! I got a few pics of the little angel. Because of the traffic we were a little late to be seated for the conference, but oh my. IT WAS SO HOT IN THAT CHAPEL. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE. No joke. But the conference was amazing. President Uchtdorf asked us to continue to love others, no matter our circumstances, just as Christ would. He related it back to the bombings and told us we need to love our brothers and sisters no matter the cause. We are all family. It was a really good conference. After he finished, he invited everyone up to come and shake his hand and so I went and asked if he remembered me from 4 years ago when I hugged him at a jazz game and he hugged me for my birthday AND!!!!!... He said no haha but it was worth a shot. As I was there I just happened to see Elder Conner Williams who is serving in the Belgium/Netherlands Mission who is in my ward from home and so we took some selfies to send home! He told me he'd prefer if I came and served in Brussels cause they had too many people who spoke French;) lol! We then left and made our way home from the conference and when we got to the gare, it was already WAY too late, like later than you want to know haha and the next train getting home to Braine l'Alleud left in 45 minutes. So we went and got our ice cream and sat in the middle of the gare and ate ice cream out of our huge tub at 11 at night....haha we got home and were in bed by 12:30. We are saying that this one was Uchtdorf's fault;) IM KIDDING. CALM DOWN. I don't blame les apôtres.

 

MERCREDI

So there is not a ton to tell about today. I think all the information from yesterday should make up for the lack of information about today;) it was good though. So there were 2 big events that happened today. 1) Elder Anderson got up and got in the shower this morning and when he got out, the shower had clogged and the water was not moving! So I thought to get a plunger to try and plunge it, but they didn't have one. So there's a story to that later. But the second thing is that we got a call from Elder Taylor this morning and he told us that, long story short because of really complicated reasons that you all wouldn't understand cause you aren't missionaries in Belgium haha, they were going to be a trio-companionship til Friday cause his new companion would be staying in Paris for a couple meetings. So we decided that we would just make this a week of finding! Neither of our companionships have investigators and so we decided that we'd spend Wednesday in Braine l'Alleud and Thursday in Namur and try and find us some new investigators. Cause for some odd reason, miracles always happen on exchanges!! So we started off the day going to the store and trying to find a plunger to unclog the shower drain and when we got home and plunged it, lots of gunk and nasty stuff came up, but the water was still standing there and so we decided to just give up and all head over to Nivelles apartment and take showers there. So we went and did that and then by now we went and worked. I went on a small exchange with Elder Larsen and it was great! We talked with tons of people, but all the people here have the same problem as those in Namur. THE BELGE ARE ALL SO HAPPY AND CONTENT WITH LIFE. Haha it's a blessing and a curse. But we talked with lots and got a lesson with one lady who was obviously drunk....but she wanted to talk and so we talked and we gave her a brochure and she said that she was going to read it and call them. So we'll see if she turns into something! Towards the end of the night, we met up with the other guys and we had gotten Elder Taylor and me and Elder Anderson were put in a trio-companionship for the night to go and work. So we went off and honestly, going porting with 3 missionaries is WEIRD! Haha people like freak out seeing the three of us at their door. But we knocked and taught a lesson to this one guy who seemed interested to have people over but not really to learn more. He said he liked exchanging ideas..but we prayed with him and then we made our way around the rest of the neighborhood and knocked some doors and we got s few passbacks for them! So that was great. We'll see what happens for them. We then headed in for the night and ended it with some curry and raspberry crumble which was DELICIOUS. I've decided that I've come to love raspberries. Grandma, do you want to get some jam ready for me for when I get home??;)

 

JEUDI

So the shower problem in the Braine l'Alleud apartment is still not fixed. We got up this morning and we all got 'ready' meaning dressed in normal clothes and headed over to Nivelles apartment so that we could all shower. So we went and did that and then had to go and buy some Drano so that they could try and dump some of that down the drain and try to clear things up for them. So we went and did that and then headed back to their apartment so that they could do that and then we all changed and we headed out to go and catch a train from Braine into Namur! So we were finally on our way home!!! When we got into Namur, we all made our way back to the apartment and took our lunch and got all our plans out for our little finding day here in Namur! Elder Dudfield, who is from Australia!!, asked if we could go together and so needless to say, we had a blast. I love that kid. Seriously it was so much fun and he told me today that if I ever come to Australia, that I'd have a place to stay. I told him that I returned the favor for when he ever came to Utah. We had quite a fun afternoon to tell you all the truth. We did spend most of the day walking around and contacting, but it is always good to change it up a little bit. As we were walking, I was about to contact this one lady and instead she came up to me and said, 'Are you the Mormon missionaries??' That is the first time that that has happened to me! I told her yes and she told me that she knew our bishops mom and that she thought that what we were doing was incredible and that she was eager to learn more, but for the next month or so, she's trying to finish up school and get her head a little bit above water, but that she'd been invited to church by the bishops mom plenty of times and that when she finished school, she'd definitely come! So that was a blessing for me. Haha. We had been out contacting for about 2 hours and then had planned to go and meet up with the other guys so that we could take a 20 minute pause and then head out and do some porting, and it was so funny cause on the way home, we got talking about the 50 NIFTY UNITED STATES and since he's Australian, he didn't know all 50 and so he was trying to name as many as he could and it was so weird to be with someone that didn't know them all! Haha I was just singing the song in my head and he was having trouble getting more than 25 haha! When we got back to the apartment, he had me draw him a map of the US so that he could try to name them all haha. When everyone got to the apartment, we went and caught a bus to this neighborhood and we all split up and went knocking on doors. Sadly, no one really wanted to listen to us now either....so when the time came to go and catch a bus, we went and caught it and then we stopped by chez gaby for some frites cause everyone wanted some, and it had been a while since we'd eaten frites haha! They were delicious as usual, and after we all headed home for the night.

 

VENDREDI

Well today wasn't too full of anything either. Haha the funnest part of today was lunch with Patrick and spending the night with the youth at the church! Frere Istace, the young men's president, asked us, the missionaries, to start coming to the weekly youth activities cause he wants us to become friends with the youth and start getting them excited to go on missions. He said that us being their friends and showing them that missions are fun would really help them, cause it isn't easy for these youth in Europe to go on missions. Not a ton of them really want to go. So he's just trying to figure out how it can really help them out. Anyway, we all got up this morning and the other elders all had to leave around 9 cause they had some appts in their area and so they headed off and me and Anderson finished our studies and then once we finished we went and had lunch with Patrick. We got there and ordered the usual, cause we always get the same thing to eat haha every week, and the workers came out and told us that they'd messed up the order and made some different pasta for us and he was wondering if that was ok...so we told him that it was fine and he brought it out and I'll tell you what!! This pasta was so spicy for some reason that my mouth was on fire and I swear I was on the verge of tears! Lol it was so spicy and I couldn't figure out why. I loved it cause my mouth hasn't had that kind of spicy in almost 2 years, but wow! It was spicy! So anyway after we'd finished, we got up and headed home and me and Anderson weekly planned. It amazes me how even though we have no investigators to plan for, our sessions of weekly planning still take forever and a day. Haha it's weird, but they do. So anyway, when we'd planned and gotten next week taken care of, we went and we contacted for a couple of hours. The weather this week has been so nice and it's been really great to go and walk outside. I haven't been too upset with the fact that we needed to be outside cause I don't go outside and die once I beat the brick wall of 440 degrees Fahrenheit! Ha so we were out walking and sadly we just walked and talked to people but nothing still. It's a little rough not having investigators haha! When the time came we made it to the church and the youth activity for the night was cleaning the chapel. It was fun and they had pizza and we even got to play a little bit of soccer. It was funny cause Frere Istace came up to me and Anderson and said, Libby, you look so good! You've got the tie and pants and suit and you look European! But Anderson, you keep wearing those baggy clothes, and people are gonna know you're American! I thought it was super funny, and plus it was the first time that someone complimented my clothes and told me I looked European! #swag tonight just across from our apartment they were having some sort of like block party and were blasting music til about 12 or so and the members were all laughing telling us that if we were planning on sleeping tonight before midnight, that we needed to change our minds;) haha it wasn't too bad though. Drunkies make me laugh;)

 

SAMEDI

Today was a straight up Blur!!! It went by so fast but it was good. We got to do service for the first time in forever haha that's one thing that I'm really sad about. During my mission I haven't had a ton of service opportunities...its been a bummer, but I'll take it whenever I get it!! The bishop had called us earlier this week asking if we were busy today cause he had a few things he needed help with in the yard at his place. So this morning we got up and then headed out contacting before he said that he was going to come and get us. So we headed out and all of the sudden we were in the middle of the weekly street market in downtown Namur! Going to the street markets is always a fun time. It's really fun to see what everyone is selling and the fun ideas that people come up with. We then headed home and changed and then went up to the church where the bishop was coming to pick us up. When he got there, we climbed into his car and then headed to his house when he told us he was planning on having a bbq for us, but because the wind was blowing and there were clouds in the sky, he didn't want to be out in the cold, so instead he made us some burritos! When we got there his sweet wife, who just had a baby, had set up the table and they had made us this huge meal to eat that was delicious!! Like holy Moses it was great! I'd forgotten what really chili tastes like! So after we'd eaten til the point we were about to explode, he told us that he just needed help getting some stuff moved from the yard into a trailer so that we could move it to the dump. So we went out into the yard and we were loading things into his trailer and then took them to the French dump! Haha I'd never been before, but it's not like the ones at home. Instead of having just a big open place for all your stuff, they make you sort all your stuff into different bins and take metals to one place, wood to another, and paper to this one.....haha it was a different experience! When we got back to the bishops house, he gave us some ice cream and then told us he wanted to play a game with us, so we got out one of his games that he had, cause he's a HUGE gamer, and we played one round and he creamed us haha I don't even know what game it was, or what I was doing, but he beat me haha! His wife then took us home when she left to go run a few errands, and then we came in and changed and we decided that we wanted to try and go see a member family that hadn't been to church in like 5 weeks haha so we went and we tried to see them, but their less active daughter told us that they weren't home and they'd all be at church tomorrow. So we hope that means her as well! To finish out the night, we went around their house and knocked on a ton of their neighbors doors and they all told us no....but we're going to keep on trying! Just like tommy boy, we don't take no.......PRISONERS! No, we don't take no......for an answer;)

 

DIMANCHE

Well today was a fun day! It started out with us missing our bus to church...to be fair, it passed 2 minutes early and so us getting out of our apartment as it passed by means that technically we were on time and the bus wasn't being fair.....so we just walked over to Emmanuel and Claudette's and asked if we could snag a ride with them and they told us yes, but they were running late. So when we all got up to church, we had like 3 minutes before the meetings started;) hahaha all the members were like, you guys were late!! On the bright side, there was this guy that we met a couple weeks ago on the street that randomly showed up to church! So that was swag. As we walked into the sacrament meeting, Chung came up to me and goes, Bishop just told me that someone isn't going to be here today who supposed to give a talk, so he wants me to talk about the bbq that we are doing in June. So here I'm giving you the paper so that you can go and talk about it. ....I was like, no you're the ward mission leader and he asked you so you do it! And he goes, but you know more about it! And I was like, bishop asked you to do it so go ahead! And he goes, fine but at least come up and stand by me...haha this man is a character! He was like whatever I miss, go ahead and tell about it. Haha so we got up after the sacrament and he talked and asked if we had anything to add and I was like....nope! You did it! I think he was a little agitated....lol then we went to the gospel principles class with the investigator that came and Chung again was trying to get us to teach the lesson when the instructor, which is normally supposed to be the ward mission leader, but Chung doesn't want to so he always asks Frere Badoux, was trying to teach his lesson....so that was again awkward.. But we talked a little bit about the church and what we do and stuff. Then we fixed a rdv with him this next Saturday at a members house that knows him already a little bit! So that's going to be great. After church I was hoping to get invited over to Pierrot and Annabelle's, but we can't win them all;) so instead we came home and ate lunch here and then we did some of the first 12 weeks studies for elder Anderson and then we had about a half hour before Frere Halushka was going to be picking us up at the gare cause we were invited over for dinner tonight! So we went out contacting and then met up with Frere Halushka and we went to their house and ate with them and had a fun time. I brought jungle speed to play with them and they loved it! It was a fun time with them. Then their son who is 12 wanted to play a little foosball with us and so we went and played that and let's just say I found my god given talent! And it's being a cheerleader for foosball players lol. I couldn't play that game to save my life. Anywho, we had a fun night with them.

 

Et voilà! Une semaine de plus fini. Je ne peut même pas le croire. Haha merci pour tout vos prières. Merci pour tout votre amour! Je sais que la fin de ma mission s'approche, mais il faut que je me reste concentré! Alors continuez de m'encourager! Et aidez moi de continuez:) je vous aime et je vous souhaite une belle semaine!! À tantôt! (There you go! One more week ended. I can not even believe it. Haha thank you for all your prayers. Thank you for all your love! I know the end of my mission approaches, but I must remain focused! So keep encouraging me! And help me to continue :) I love you and I wish you a great week !! See you!)

 

Elder Libby

 

1 Corinthians 12:17-22

WEEK 90

Bonjour à tout le monde et bonne fête des mères à tous mes mamans!! J'espère que vous sachiez combien je vous aime, car il y en a beaucoup d'entre vous qui sont mes mamans;) merci pour tous ce que vous faites pour moi. Bah qu'est-ce qu'il y a de nouveau cette semaine? On nous a dit que je resterai ici à Namur une mutation de plus!!! ÇA c'est une bénédiction!! Je suis très heureux de rester ici à Namur. Umm j'ai pu appeler chez moi pour parler avec ma famille et ça c'était chouette! C'était bien de les voir encore. J'espère que vous aimeriez ma lettre cette semaine:) (Hello everyone and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MY MOMS! I hope you know how much I love you, because there are many of you who are my mums;) thanks for all that you do for me. Bah there what's new this week? We were told that I will stay here in Namur for this transfer! It is a blessing! I am very happy to stay here in Namur. Umm I was able to call home to talk with my family and it was great! It was good to see them again. I hope that you'll like my letter this week :)

 

LUNDI SOIR

So tonight we had a great family home evening!!! After we finished up with emails me and elder Anderson went back to the apartment to get a little something to eat and then we went out to catch the bus back to the chapel and right when we walked out of the apartment, the bus passed.... So we called up the Badoux's and asked if we could make our way to their house, which was about a 15 minute walk from our house, and ride up with them. They told us yes and so off we went. When we got to the chapel we had a good meeting really fast with brother Chung and then we had family night and tonight we talked about the family proclamation and the 9 key steps to a successful family. Does anyone know them?? 'Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.' I know that one thanks to mom;) it was a good night that ended with some UNO and needless to say, I won;)

 

MARDI

Well today we had district meeting and it really sucked cause today there was another grève going on in Charleroi. For those of you who don't speak the celestial language #NAMETHEAPOSTLE grève means strike and so we got into Charleroi and there were like 3 buses running......so sadly district meeting took up like almost our entire day...bummer eh?? So we got up this morning and since I've decided I'm fat, and that I have no butt, and since I have just less than 90 days until I get home, I am going to work out and try to lose 10 more pounds until I get home. So I got up this morning and did some very basic workouts (squats, push-ups...) and it didn't seem to be doing a lot but we have to start somewhere! So when we'd finished and it was time to leave, we went and caught our train and got into Charleroi to find the grève and we had to wait for forever for a bus and then got up to the church and had to wait for forever for the other missionaries to get there as well....AH. WAITING IS SUCH A WASTE OF TIME. LOL But really. I was like dying. Anyway we listened to a talk from elder holland for district meeting and it was good. It was a talk on missionary work and the atonement that he gave in the MTC and it was good and touching. Anywho then we ate and then cleaned up and went to go and catch a bus to get back to the gare to catch our trains and we were sitting there waiting for our bus for a good 30 minutes and nothing came and so I just decided to start walking and when I left, everyone started to come with. I got to have a really good discussion with one of the missionaries in my district. He'd been having a rough few weeks and so he was just talking to me and let me know how he was doing and it made my heart hurt. Some people are just rude. But it was a good talk and I'm glad he had the confidence in me to tell me the things he did and that I was able to help him. When we got to the gare we were able to catch a train right away and we were able to make our way home into Namur, which just so happens to be the most beautiful ville in all of Belgium. We're pretty spoiled as missionaries here!;) when we got home we hurried and ran to the apartment and planned out a spiritual thought that we wanted to share for a dinner appt that we had for the night and then we went out contacting until we were supposed to get picked up by the member but we got a phone call from the member about 10 minutes before we were supposed to be picked up and he was telling us that he had locked himself out of his truck today and was stuck at work and he wouldn't be able to come and get us...so sadly we didn't get to go:( instead we decided to take the next bus and go out to the neighborhood and go porting. So this bus took us to this random little neighborhood in the middle of this valley which looked over Namur and it was just so peaceful and beautiful. AH! I WANT YOU ALL TO COME HERE. IT SERIOUSLY IS MY FAVORITE PLACE EVER. So that's how we finished our night.

 

MERCREDI

Well today was a long solid day of finding! We went walking all day long and talked to a ton of people, but no one wanted to really talk to us....it was a little sad but we kept on walking and going and I even got a little bit sunburned from all the sun that was out shining! Because of the fact that we were out contacting all day and nothing really happened, I don't have a ton to share, but I will do my best to entertain you! Last night we got a call from Chung telling us that there was a semi-active member who was having a really hard time and needed a blessing and he was wondering if we'd be able to go and help him out, so we told him we could be to the church at 1. So we were supposed to be having lunch with Patrick today, but he canceled cause it was too busy at work and he wasn't able to leave, so instead of going to lunch with him, me and Anderson just went and found a small little kebab shop and we went and got lunch there and then we went and waited for our bus up to the church. We got a call from Chung saying that he had been called into work (I don't even think he has a job....) and so he wouldn't be able to be there but his wife would be there....which is kind of breaking the rules cause we aren't supposed to be alone with women....but it was for a blessing so we went. We got to the chapel and the reasoning behind this lady needing a blessing kind of made me laugh. Lol I'm sure there was a longer and bigger story behind it all but she said that yesterday her friend sent her a text saying that she needed her to come and get her stuff out of her friends apartment. She said that when she got the text, she'd had it up to here and she called Chung asking for a blessing. Haha so we gave her a blessing and after the blessing she just started to cry and cry and cry! Chung's wife came over and started to rub her back like a massage and she was just crying and then stopped and said, I'm sorry but when I cry I cry and it just needed to happen. So we just sat and listened to her for a little bit and then we left and we went contacting. That was one of the more interesting blessings that I've taken part of as a missionary haha! We then went contacting and walked around a good portion of Namur and then went in for dinner and language study and then headed out porting for the night. There wasn't anything too special that happened while we were out tonight, but we went to this one area up by the church that was at the top of a hill and looked out over the whole ville of Namur and I was just looking at it thinking of how wonderful it really is here. Namur has been my favorite area, by far!

 

JEUDI

So today, I got a sunburn on my sunburn! Haha and you know why?? Because we were outside all day walking again! It's not a problem though haha this way I have evidence that even though people don't want to stop and listen to us and it probably looks like we aren't doing anything, we were really outside working today! Haha nothing like getting a double sunburn to try and prove you're working right?? Lol so we got up this morning and realized that it was a holiday (like Ascension or something?? Haha I think Jesus went up to heaven today? Idk ask a European.....) and so the buses weren't running as often and we didn't have a ton of things to do today and so it automatically became a finding day:) #TantMieux so with everyone being outside and with two missionaries with no investigators, today sounded like it was going to be a great success! I'm sad to admit that today was still just a bummer! I am getting really frustrated as to why we can't find any new investigators and its really bothering me that no one wants to listen. But we're going to find someone soon and I'm sure of it. Right now we just need to keep on keeping on and the Lord is going to bring the elect souls to us when they are ready, even if we already are;) we woke up this morning and went contacting on a road that I'd never been to before and we actually talked to one guy, who let us pray with him and he told us he was going to come to church this Sunday, so that brought my hopes up just a little bit! Well just have to see if he ends up coming or not. When it was time to come in for lunch we ate and then we were talking about where we wanted to go contacting for the afternoon. We had a dinner appt and so it was going to be for the rest of the afternoon that we would be outside. So we thought about it and at the same time, we both thought to go up into the citadelle, the big castle thing in front of our apartment. So we didn't know why at the time, but now we are pretty sure we know why Heavenly Father wanted us to go up there. First off, the citadelle is HUGE. Like we were up there all afternoon and still hadn't seen it all haha! It was ginormous. But while we were up there walking around, a random lady, across the other side of a parking lot, who we had never seen before started yelling out HELLO! Hello! And so we went over to see who it was and she turned out to be a member from Romania and she wanted to say hi and said she was here for 2 weeks and wanted to possibly move here. So we gave her our card and she said that she would most likely be coming to church on Sunday! So that would be cool to see her. After we walked around mostly the rest of the afternoon in the citadelle, we decided to try climbing down, which didn't end too well...haha it was a dirt path and elder Anderson slipped and got his suit all nasty and DIRTy hahah but we did have fun as we were climbing down but Anderson was so dirty at the end that we made our way inside so that he could clean up a little! We then took language study and then went and met up with brother Istace and we headed up to his house for dinner! Tonight we just pretty much sat and talked for the night and got to know each other. The Istace's are a fun family! They were asking me what I was gonna do when I got home and telling me that I was homesick and wanting to get home....haha I was like, 'well if you make me talk about it, then ya I'm gonna sound kinda homesick hahaha' we shared a little message on hope and then brother Istace brought us home.

 

VENDREDI

Today was WARMMMMM! Haha lots of sunshine but I am not complaining! I love the sun, and I'm so happy that it's almost summer again. I remember when I was in Reims last year during the HOTTEST SUMMER OF MY LIFE. Like that was crazy hot. I remember all the members saying that it had not been that hot in YEARS and of course it was that hot when I was here. Lol fun stuff. But ya the sun is starting to come out and starting to warm everything up. So today went by pretty well and I didn't get sunburned again so I guess that's a plus! Today we had a lunch appt with a less active member who had just found out that it was my birthday a few weeks ago and so she felt bad she hadn't known before and wanted to take us out to make up for it;) it was good fun. We started out with some contacting and we went into this park just down the river from our apartment and we talked with a sweet lady named Danielle and she told us that the story of the restoration really made sense and that the only thing that she wasn't 100% sure on with us was the fact that we didn't follow the pope...so she said she was going to look into some things and then she'd give us a ringy dingy. Then we went and met up with Dydy and her son for lunch. She works at this little restaurant behind our apartment and she wanted to take us there and I got this little shish-kabob of beef with a side of frites cause she knew I loved frites haha so when we'd finished up lunch with her, we went and had our little weekly planning session which was really short because of the fact that we really don't have any investigators for the moment to plan for. But elder Anderson had bought a volley ball this past Monday and so in the middle of planning we got a little side tracked and ended up making a home made bowling alley in our hallway with his volleyball and my empty Coke bottles and that entertained us for a good 5 minutes. We each rolled a strike and a spare so I guess you could say that we're champs?? Haha after we finished planning we prayed to know where we could go out to port for the night and elder Anderson felt that we should go out to this neighborhood that we had only 2 passbacks and so we went and they both told us no, but we started knocking on more doors and this one lady opened and told us that she was Muslim so she wasn't going to pray with us, because she'd been suffering with depression for a while. She was grateful to see us because it made her happy and remember that God loved her. It was a tender experience. Anywho we then went and made our way home and this weekend in Namur is a little festival going on called Namur En Mai and it's just a huge fair pretty much and there's tons of people and food and stands and it's really fun! So we went and walked through it and may or may not have stopped for some ice cream and this stand with some Moroccan wraps that were DELICIOUS in case you were wondering. Oh man, I LOVE NAMUR!!!️️️️🤗🤓🤘🏻🇧🇪🇧🇪🇧🇪🇧🇪🇧🇪🇧🇪🇧🇪🇧🇪

 

SAMEDI

So today was just like the rest of the week haha lots of walking in the heat. I'm starting to realize how lucky I am cause my only problem in life right now is not having any investigators where in a few months my problem could be anything else haha but we are trying to find those people, and even if our numbers show otherwise, I know that Heavenly Father knows I am trying my hardest. Elder Anderson asked me a question the other day saying, 'Why am I so happy? We walk around all day, we have yet to find an investigator, and our numbers make it seem like we don't do anything. But yet, I'm still happy! Why?' And it made me smile. NOTHING COMPARES TO SHARING THE GOSPEL. IT JUST MAKES US HAPPY. ️ Mosiah 2:17 so anyway. I love this work. And even though it's hard, and sometimes discouraging, and the last thing I want to do is walk out in the heat for 3 hours to try and talk to people on the road, I am so grateful my Heavenly Father has helped me to be here to do it. I wouldn't be anywhere else than here right now. When we got up this morning we had studies and then we went out to look up the transfers and when we found out I was staying, I CANT EXPLAIN MY HAPPINESS!!! Haha I am so glad to be staying!! I love this place a little too much. So we then went out contacting and nothing too crazy happened before we went in to take lunch and then after lunch we went out contacting. We went to this one part of Namur that I haven't spent a ton of time in and we were just walking down the road and contacted this one lady named Maryline and she was super nice to us and let us talk and explain why we are here and what we do and our goal in being missionaries and then told us she wouldn't mind meeting again cause she knew that she needed to grow her faith. So it was super cool to be able to hear that! We will be calling her on Monday to try to fix an appt. We spent the rest of the after noon out contacting and then we went and took a little break and decided that because of huge festival that is going on in Namur and because almost all of Namur was downtown for that, we were going to go and do our porting in this little town called Andenne. So we went and caught our train and we headed out there and went porting. I've noticed that all the super strong members in Europe come from big families that were found while they were young and living in apartment buildings and so I've been trying to do that lately cause I want to find a huge strong family again!! But we went tonight and nothing happened sadly....so when we needed to leave, we headed home and I wanted to go past the festival cause I wanted to see if I could get a tshirt so we went and there were none left:( but as we were walking out, there was a group of college students that were sitting at a table drinking and sitting there and yelled at us MORMONS to come over. That's like the only reason that we went cause everyone and their dog thinks that we are Jehovahs witnesses and so we went and sat and talked with them and they told us that one of them was a religious instructor and didn't know much about Mormons and wanted to know more and so we sat and pretty much just answered questions and stuff while they drank and during this, I only got one beer dumped on me!! so I counted that as a blessing. It got on my arm so that's all but it was fun to be able to actually talk to someone interested for once;)

 

DIMANCHE

So today was great in the fact that I got to call home!! I can't believe it was my last time and that the next time I see my family it will be as I am coming down the escalator.... That is so weird to me! How can my mission be coming to an end so quickly?? Anywho, it was a good phone call. It was weird being able to call and talk all about home and school and a car and all that fun stuff....it made me realize how when my mission is over, I don't want it to be haha! Anyway, this morning we got up and we got all ready and headed out to catch our bus to church. We got to the chapel and everyone started coming in and all the Sisters were all dolled up and got all pretty for their special day. It was fun to see the spirit so bright and happy during our meetings today. As soon as everyone saw us, they all came running up saying, 'you get to make a special phone call home today don't you?? Please tell your family hi for me!' So that was fun. We had some fun meetings today, and the spirit was definitely there. I'm so grateful for the spirit and the feelings of peace that it brings to me. I love being able to sit in the congregation of church, listening to the speakers and their messages and have the spirit speak to me. It's an amazing feeling and it really has helped me to realize how much of a delight the Sabbath and church attendance really is to me. So during priesthood, Pierrot's dad came and sat by me and told me that me and Anderson were invited over to their house this afternoon for lunch and that Pierrot and Annabelle would be there as well to bring us to their house after so that we could skype home. So after church we went and got in their car and headed to their MANSION. Haha Frere Paulus used to own the biggest catering business in Belgium before he retired and has a HUGE house! It was fun to spend the day there and plus, during dinner him and his wife told me that when me and my family come home, we'd each have a place to sleep:) so far I've got me a place in every ville! We ate some dinner, and remember how I told you how he owned the biggest catering business in Belgium?? His food showed it! It was incredible!! So after we'd eaten and laughed and had fun, we all got into Pierrot's car and headed off to their house to skype! Like I said, it was good and fun to talk to my family. I'm still in disbelief that that was the last time. But after we finished up skyping, I went downstairs and Annabelle had made us dinner and so we ate and then Pierrot gave us a ride to the gare and we caught our train home. We got home a little late, but I think talking with our families is an ok reason to get home late;) all in all it was a good Mother's Day for me!

 

Et voilà! J'espère que cette fois-ci c'était rempli des détails pour vous et que vous avez pu vivre un peu dans la mission avec moi cette semaine. Pour les uns d'entre vous qui sont en train de considérer de faire une mission, arrêtez de penser et FAITES-LA! Honnêtement, la mission vous changera. Vos yeux seront ouverts. Le choix que j'ai fait de servir mon père céleste pendant ces 2 années c'était le meilleur choix que j'ai jamais fait dans ma vie. Vous ne le regretterez pas. Je vous demande de faire tous ce qu'il faut pour que vous puissiez servir notre père céleste dans cet œuvre merveilleux. J'espère que cette semaine, ça ira pour vous, et que vous puissiez faire tout ce que vous devez faire en sécurité. N'oubliez pas que ce Belge vous aime et qu'il prie pour vous! Je vous aime!!!  (And voila! I hope that my letter was filled with the details for you and that you may live a little in the mission with me this week. For some of you who are actually considering to do a mission, stop thinking and do it! Honestly, the mission will change you. Your eyes will be opened. The choice I made to serve my heavenly father for these 2 years it was the best choice I've ever made in my life. You will not regret it. I ask you to do all what it takes so you can serve our Heavenly Father in this wonderful work. I hope that this week, it will be good for you, and you can do what you need to do safely. Don't forget that this Belgian loves you and that he prays for you! I love you!)

 

Elder Libby