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

 

        

 

WEEK 77

SALUT!!! J'ai entendu que le superbowl c'était bien passé? Honnêtement, les publicités sont les seuls choses qui me manquent...j'aimerais bien d'entendre laquelle c'était le plus rigolo!! Ce samedi nous allons savoir les mutations alors' S'IL VOUS PLAÎT ENVOYER TOUS LES LETTRES ET COLIS AU BUREAU DE LA MISSION!! Ce n'est pas le peine de perdre les lettres comme ça:) même si je sais que je vais rester ici à Namur, on ne va pas le risquer. Merci!! Je les attends avec impatience!!:)  (Hello!!! I heard that the superbowl was great? Honestly, the advertisements are the things I'm missing... I would like though to hear about the fun of it! This Saturday we will know about Transfers, then if you please, just for this week, send all the letters and packages to the Office of the MISSION! I don't want to think of losing the letters :) even though I know that I will stay here in Namur, we are not going to risk it. Thank you!! I look forward to them! :)

 

Elder Tanner Libby

France Paris Mission

131 Boulevard Carnot

78110 Le Vesinet

FRANCE

 

LUNDI SOIR

So today was this one members birthday who I've come to really love and so after we had finished emails me and elder Nelson ran home and got all the stuff for cookie dough and decided to make cookies for him! We were also going to change out of our PDAY clothes but as soon as we got onto the bus to get to the church for family home evening, elder Nelson asked if I had changed into my suit and I realized I hadn't. Lol #worstmissionaryever. I had COMPLETELY forgotten! And so we got to the church and we made cookies and had our meeting with the ward mission leader and then family home evening. Frere Mazy was so happy for the cookies! We had a good night together and it was a fun family home evening:)

MARDI

well today we had a fun day! It went by super fast too! I can tell you one thing, I love the members here in Namur. They are pretty special. Today we woke up and went running and let me tell you, I am NOT a runner. Did y'all know that?? Lol elder Nelson is wanting me to do this 6 months to sexy thing and I'm just not for it.....bleh. Who needs to be sexy anyway? During studies we got a text from the Norby couple and they were telling us that the next step in our legality process was to obtain a police record from France and he told us we needed to do that as soon as possible. So for contacting this morning we headed up to the chapel and decided to do that. We got to the chapel and did it and had only a couple of questions and so we only had to make a couple different calls to him to ask him what we were supposed to do. After we finished that we headed home and took our lunch break and then after had a rdv with Josiane, our recent convert. She is such a nice old lady, and every time we go over there she always offers us these really yummy lemon drinks that she buys at the store, 'que pour les missionnaires;)' so that's always fun. We got to her house with Frere Chung and she was in a really sad mood. She said that just 20 minutes before we had gotten there her neighbor had come upstairs and was yelling at her because her dog barks too loud and that he was going to call and have him put down. So she was super sad cause she didn't know what to do. We kind of just let her cry for a minute and then said a prayer and went into our rdv. We started with reading in the scriptures because up until recently she had told us that the Book of Mormon she had had too small of print and that she couldn't read it and so she hadn't been reading. But the other day a member had ordered a triple combination for her and even though the font isn't bigger the book is and so I think she had it in her head that the words were bigger;) she was fine reading that;) so we read the introduction to the Book of Mormon and the first chapter in Nephi and it went well. After we'd finished she was still a little down and so we stayed and talked and cheered her up for a while cause I just don't have the heart to leave a sad old lady all alone with her dog....lol so we stayed and talked and laughed and when she finally said thank you for coming today it really helped me, that's when we asked if we could leave her with a prayer haha! When we left Frere Chung asked if he could come and do some work with us and so we said sure and he came with us and we went less active searching and contacting and then he mentioned that we were in the same neighborhood as this one guy who is kind of less active that he home teaches, but had never been to his house. And so I was like I know where we are going! Him and Nelson were a little adamant but we went and saw him and I guess because it was my idea, I had to give the spiritual thought....so it was fine. I got my home teaching done!;) then we had a dinner appt with a member family and he was coming to get us at our place and so we left and made our way home and he came and got us! Xavier Istace served his mission in Florida and so he speaks English and reminds me a ton of my dad. He was funny and laughing and honestly the whole time I was with their family tonight I felt like I had stepped into the Libby house: Belge edition lol it was a super fun night and we had some good times and he was telling us how they are working with their neighbors doing some missionary work! #EVERYMEMBERAMISSIONARY They fed us tacos and we shared a little message and then he took us home.

MERCREDI

Today was a pretty full day. We were going around doing busy work a lot today and it went by pretty smoothly. When we got up this morning I was doing my morning workouts and we got a buzz on the door at like 7 in the morning? I went and answered the phone the dude was all ya I live on the 3rd floor and yesterday someone was here to give you a package and I have it so can I come give it to you? And I was all ya! SURPRISE PACKAGE! Haha so he brought it up and it was a supply package from the Presiding Bishopric in Germany?! Lol that's what the packaging said. But I opened it, cause it was addressed to me(?) and it was a bunch of missionary pamphlets and planners. This is super weird cause like we can get these things, no problem, but in order to get it, we have to send in a request to the mission office and the office ladies have to order them, and I NEVER did that! And then on the packaging slip it said: Sold To: Phillip Andin and it had the address of the mission couple in Brussels! But the couple in Brussels are the Norby's! Haha it made no sense...and we were like what the heck is going on. So I called the mission office and they were like just keep it! Haha so we're keeping the package from the mysterious Phillip Andin who lives at the Norby's house lol? How did he know I was in Belgium? And Namur none the less!! Anyway we got our studies done and then had to run to the grocery store to get some drinks for district meeting tomorrow. So we ran and did that and then made our way to #LUNCHWITHPATRICK. Ha our weekly rdv with him is definitely a highlight of my week. We had a good time with him and ate some great pasta and had some fun and then went out to do some work. We went and tried to find some less actives while we were contacting along the way as well. It went well today and we found out that 2 people had definitely moved cause the people knew them and that 1 person still lived there but it sounded like his wife was a little against the church. So we'll see what happens. We then needed to get to the church cause we had a rdv with Jean Claude! It went really well! He told us that he had been reading in the Book of Mormon and that he even tried to pray once but had forgotten the Lords Prayer;) so we re-explained that praying is something that comes from the heart and that when we pray sincerely God answers our prayers. Then we did an overview of the plan of salvation and showed him all the steps just so he could get a general idea for it, and told him we'd go into detail the next time and he said that he understood what we were explaining and that it all made sense. So that was a good rdv! Then we went home so I could change into my thermal garments cause I was FREEZING cause the wind chill was horrible lol and after we did that we went to find this Chinese restaurant that we were going to eat at with this member family tonight. The Paulus family are so cool! They are a young married couple with a 2 year old boy and honestly they seemed like the kind of people I would have hung out with in high school! Pierre served his mission in Utah and so he speaks English as well and so it was super fun to hang out with them tonight. We got talking about the new video the church made about garments and temple clothing on LDS.org and he showed me the video cause I had never seen it and it was cool that the church did that! They were telling us how they met and how it was to have to wait a year to get married...they said it was hard being engaged for that long! They were super nice. They then drove us home for the night and we had an hour to kill and so we went out to walk and talk to everyone and it was good! We found a member and stopped and talked to her for a while so that was nice;)

JEUDI

Well today was a blur lol! It honestly doesn't feel like we did a ton...but we DID have an amazing rdv with Emmanuel and Claudette! It was super good! And it marked 6 months til I go home!! And today we finally got to see the world wide broadcast for all the missionaries. It was super good! That took up most of our day, so that's one reason why we didn't get to do a ton. This morning we woke up and headed out the door to make our train into Charleroi for district meeting. We got into Charleroi and it was raining and I didn't have my umbrella and it wasn't raining a ton, but it was raining enough that if you were out for a little bit you would get wet...so after we took the bus to the stop we needed we had a good 5 ish minute walk until we got to the chapel and so by the time I got there, I was fairly wet! And to make matters worse, no one was even at the chapel to let us in and so me and elder Nelson had to get all nice and cozy under the little patio until some people came and let us in. We were sitting there waiting for a while. When everyone finally got there, we started the broadcast and it was really good! We were taught about teaching repentance to investigators and baptizing concerts and it was super good. We heard from a lot of general authorities and it was super great!! So we were in the middle of watching it and all of the sudden it stopped working. Like something was wrong with the Internet site and so we tried to fix it but couldn't and decided to give the computer a little break and that we'd eat while we let it rest. So we all went and ate and had some burritos and then after we'd finished up, we went and tried the video and it was working and so we finished up the broadcast. It went well:) something I learned was that we need to testify of Christ and help our investigators understand the true meaning of why we get baptized. It was way good! Then we made our way home for the day and we went contacting outside for a little bit and then came in for dinner and had a rdv with Emmanuel and Claudette. We invited the Mazy's to come with us and so they came and picked us up and we went and had an amazing lesson with them! We did an overview on the plan of salvation and it went super well and they understood it all and at the end of our lesson, we had the most amazing thing happen. Emmanuel and Claudette told us that they'd been thinking about it and that the choice had been made. They are going to get baptized!!!!!! They said that they had put together a plan and that that plan consisted of them coming to church and praying and coming to know when GOD wanted them to get baptized. They told us that they have been so thankful to hear of the gospel that they wanted to be able to do something to help out their friends in Rwanda to hear the gospel and that they were going to wait for when the Lord told them that it was time for them to be baptized. So I threw in the fact that this Sunday was fast Sunday and that they could fast to know as well and Emmanuel said that he wanted to! Claudette can't because she just gave birth;) so they asked us to come back tomorrow to explain how fasting works and stuff. It was such a good rdv! They are doing so well! Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts on their behalf!:) I came home and had the pressing thought to call up sister Walton, aka my best friend and so I did. She told me that it was an answer to prayer and we talked for a while. She's such a cool kid and I'm going to cry so hard when she goes home next week! How am I supposed to live without all my soeurs?!

VENDREDI

Today was a good day. Lol it was busy and full of a lot so like no problems right?? We got up this morning to do our studies and we got all those done. Currently I am reading the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi.....ahhh they are killer and I don't understand a ton but I'm following along in the student manual and there is a quote from Boyd K Packer that said: 'Most [readers] readily understand the narrative of the Book of Mormon. Then, just as you settle in to move comfortably along, you will meet a barrier. … Interspersed in the narrative, are chapters reciting the prophecies of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. They loom as a barrier, like a roadblock or a checkpoint beyond which the casual reader, one with idle curiosity, generally will not go. You, too, may be tempted to stop there, but do not do it! Do not stop reading! Move forward through those difficult-to-understand chapters of Old Testament prophecy, even if you understand very little of it. Move on, if all you do is skim and merely glean an impression here and there. Move on, if all you do is look at the words.' And so that was like just for me and I'm just gonna have to keep on going. We then went out contacting and we contacted this one lady who was super nice, open and interested and she was like ok I'm from this little ville right next to Luxembourg.......GAH! So we are hoping that all works out as the missionaries from lux work with her....we then came in for lunch and then went out to our rdv with Luis. I honestly am just super lost on what to do to help out this guy....he won't come to church, and today told us that he doesn't like to pray/can't pray cause he gets this weird feeling pulling inside him that he doesn't like....but he did tell us today that he was reading in the Book of Mormon. So hopefully that helps him! We then went out to Emmanuel and Claudette's. We talked about what they thought about the rdv last night and also explained the principle of fasting and then we got out of there. It was good to see them and to see just how happy they are! THEY ARE COMING TO CHURCH THIS WEEK!! After we had finished with our time with them, we headed out to go do some porting in an area that I had never been to and we were knocking doors and one lady let us pray with her and told us to come back another time to explain more! So that was awesome! Then we came home and stopped and got some fries for dinner:) I also finally got my letter from my mom today!!!! It was so fun to get her pictures and letters and fun to have the New Era that she gave me;) haha I do love me some mail!!

SAMEDI

Well straight up there is not a lot to say about today. We contacted and had weekly planning and then went porting and that's it. Lol we woke up and had our studies and then called up a few people that we needed to and then went out to contact for the morning. While we were out we went into downtown and fell upon the city market. Here in France and Belgium the city markets are held every week and are a super big deal and they go for like 2 or 3 hours a day and so like all of downtown is shut off during this time. Plus they are just fun to be in. People are selling all kinds of stuff! Clothes, fruits and veggies, homemade items, and they are just kind of fun! So as we were walking through, you know there were like a billion people, and I was just looking at every stand and I found this coin holder! When I was back in Metz, elder lattin had one and I thought it was the coolest thing! It holds coins and it's just this little plastic thing that holds all your coins for you in like an organized way and since I saw elder lattin's I always wanted one. So when I found one, and it was 3 euros I bought it! Haha so I was super happy about that buy;) we went in for lunch and then after we finished that we did weekly planning and that just took forever....lol it was long and we got off topic a lot and it was super annoying, but we persevered and finally made it through! We then went and did some porting to end the night and it was in this super weird and old neighborhood and I felt like I had walked into a Wanderlust haha I was just in what seemed to feel like this little neighborhood inside of a neighborhood up in the mountains somewhere and the whole night I just felt out of place. It was a super interesting night for porting. When we got home I got reading the new era from my moms package the other day and read an article that hit me hard! It was called 'preparing to take the sacrament worthily' or something like that...it talked about a kid who said that when he was little he never knew really what it meant to go to church every Sunday. He said one week he heard someone say in a talk that we need to make Sunday's and sabbath days the CENTER of our lives, and not a PART of our lives. He said he can't remember who said it or what the rest of the talk said, but that that helped him. Later in his teenage life he said that he was struggling with some worthiness issues and didn't really know what to do. He said he didn't really want to talk to his parents or bishop, but that he knew he needed to change. So he started by applying the counsel he heard when he was younger and by making the sabbath the center of his life, mainly preparing all week for the sacrament, he was able to go to his parents and his bishop to get the help he needed. I thought it was an amazing principle! Preparing all week for the sacrament! I decided that I'm going to start doing it with purpose, and get on the right track....cause heaven knows we all need to get on it sooner or later:) 

DIMANCHE

Emmanuel and Claudette came to church today!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahah it didn't come without a scare though...lol we woke up this morning and we were late getting out to the bus stop and missed our bus to get to church!! So we walked and when we got to the chapel, we welcomed everyone in and then started and there was still no Emmanuel and Claudette! So I called them and asked them if they were coming and they told us they'd be there in about 20 minutes cause they thought that it started at 10! Ahhhh and something that the Mazy's brought up is that what we could do for their baby is bless it since he's just small....I didn't know we could do that for non-members?? But Frere mazy used to be a bishop and so I trust him. Anyway, today there was a baby blessing for someone in the ward, and they missed it!:( but they got to the chapel just in time for all the testimonies and they said that they loved it! We then had all the other classes and sister mazy was just a saint!! She totally was with Claudette the whole day and just helping her with the baby and hanging out with her in relief society! It was so cool. Emmanuel and Claudette and doing SO GOOD!! I hope things will pick up pretty soon:) after church I wanted to sit and chat with them and all the members, but we got into a rdv with these 'less actives' that we scheduled earlier that week. Wilmy and Allisson are a member couple that are not married, but live together.....and it's sad cause they both have such good testimonies, but they just don't get this point I guess? They are super nice and we had a great rdv with them! We shared 'Is It Still Wonderful to You?' And it went well! #BESTCONFERENCETALKEVER #WHATSYOURS? I guess I'm a little biased given that Gérald Causée is my French homie and I can't wait to find him when I get home and we can just go around speaking French in front of everyone and just be so much cooler than all you haha but no really, I'm gonna go and find him when I get home. I gotta find someone to speak French to! After that we ate dinner with them and spent the better part of our afternoon with them and then they took us to catch our train and we missed it so they had to drive us home lol. We got home and changed and then we went out porting to finish up our night. It went well! Lots of knocking and lots of no's...but we win some and we lose some and we learn from each experience! We met an old guy, he told us he was 80, and he told us that he appreciated what we were doing and that he hopes people will accept us warmly and that he wants us to come back in 20 years, cause he'll still be there! And he told us to tell him, remember on February 7, 2016? And he'd remember us lol I'm half tempted to try it;) we came home and I made cookie dough to eat cause I wanted to;)

Et voilà! Comme j'ai dit toute à l'heure, merci VRAIMENT pour vos prières et vos jeûnes qui ont été fait pour moi et mes amis de l'église! Je sais que le Seigneur entend nos prières et que, ensemble, nous sommes plus fort et unis. Je sais que notre père céleste nous aime. Et je sais qu'avec l'aide de son fils, notre frère, nous pouvons retourner dans sa présence encore un jour. Je vous encourage, chaque un d'entre vous, de commencer à préparer pour la Saint-Cène ce dimanche. Vous serez content avec l'effort vous avez fait d'être digne de la prendre. Je suis très reconnaissant pour l'évangile rétablie ici sur terre. Nous sommes béni de l'avoir dans nos vies pour nous diriger. Je vous demande de continuer à prier pour moi et mes amis de l'église pendant les prochaines quelques semaines, car nous avons tous besoin d'eux. Merci encore et n'oubliez pas que je vous aime!! ️  (And voila! Like I said any at the time, really thanks for your prayers for me and my friends in the Church! I know that the Lord hears our prayers and that, together, we are stronger and United. I know that our heavenly father loves us. And I know that with the help of his son, our brother, we can return another day in his presence. I encourage you, each one of you, to start to prepare for the Sacrament you will take this Sunday. You will be pleased with the effort you have made and to be worthy to take it. I am very grateful for the Gospel restored here on Earth. We are blessed to have in our lives to direct us. I ask you to continue to pray for me and my friends of the Church during the next few weeks, because we need all of them. Thanks again and remember that I love you!)

Avec amour, votre FRENCHIE préféré;)  (With love, the FRENCHIE you like best ;)

Elder Libby

 

        

WEEK 76

SALUT LES ENFANTS! Comment allez-vous?? Cette semaine, elle était très bon et je vais vous dire que je l'aime Namur :) haha ​​cette semaine jeudi, je commence mes 6 mois à sexy et si cela signifie que je dois me préparer pour les filles, donc je ne suis pas un grand vache quand je rentre chez moi lol. Je ne voudrais pas faire du sport .... mais quand même ... je dois trouver une femme ... donc je faire l'effort pour elle !!! Lol ceci est ma semaine!  (HI CHILDREN! Are you okay?? This week, it was very good and I can tell you that I love Namur :) haha this week Thursday, I began my 6 months to sexy and that means that I have to prepare myself for the girls, so I'm not a cow big when I get home lol. I do not do sports ... but when... I have to find a woman... I'll make the effort for it! Lol this is my week!)

LUNDI SOIR

So tonight we were told that we were going to have a meeting with our ward mission leader. This man isn't super motivated and so I was like ok cool he wants to have a meeting with us so we get to the church and he walks in with 2 other member families to come into the rdv and so I was all ok like why didn't you tell us more people were coming? And then during the whole rdv he was telling me and elder Nelson that we need to step up our game and get things down on paper and bring them to him.....honestly he made us look TERRIBLE in front of all the members...so I was a little mad cause yesterday he told me that he had been ignoring us and our calls cause he was hoping to get released......it was a little hypocritical....but we learn from our mistakes. We went into FHE after that and had a good time with the members and shared a good night together. We had a member share a spiritual thought and she had this fiction story book that took facts from the bible but made them into little stories that weren't necessarily true but had principles taught from Jesus in them, if that makes any sense at all? Like it followed stories from the bible but added in some stuff to make a story. It was cute. Then we came home for the night

MARDI

Well it's like super funny cause we told everyone all weekend and we've been super excited for this week cause we had plans up the wazoo! But they went and changed district meeting on us til tomorrow and so today was a little slow and filled with lots of busy work;) but it was good none the less, just not what we'd planned for the week. We got up this morning and had some studies and they went really well. Then right after we had our weekly lunch appt with Patrick and that was fun like always;) he's such a nice man. He was telling me today how I'm gonna get home and get married within 6 months. HA! NO DUDE THAT MEANS SOMEONE WOULD HAVE TO LIKE ME. LOL. I got a good laugh out of it;) then after lunch we headed home and did a little bit of paperwork to be able to give it to brother Chung (mad last night for not having it and so we went home and did them all for him) and also plugged in some less actives to our map app and then went out and killed the afternoon doing that. We contacted and searched for less actives for a good 2 or 3 hours I'd say and so it was a good chunk of time. We talked to some really interesting people but there was nothing too incredible that happened. It has always surprised me how open people are with us as missionaries. Like honestly think about it. If you were just some random person and this snot nosed 19 year old came up to you and wanted to talk about God, would you just tell him your deepest darkest secrets and problems and let them know your true feelings towards life and God and all that?? It honestly shocks me how much people are willing to share and just proves to me that the spirit guides our conversations and so when we know what is going on with someone in their life, we can try to help them apply the gospel in their lives with what we know. It has been a cool experience for me to see this happen. It makes me think, would I be willing to share stuff like that hoping maybe someone could help me?? So anyway we then made our way to this one lady's house cause we met her on the road a few days ago and she told us she wanted us to come to her house and talk there. So we got to her apartment and then she let us in and we talked...it was an interesting rdv and from what I got out of it, she was more interested in US and not talking about GOD so we finished up our little discussion and then prayed and headed out and headed to our dinner appt. We had been invited over by a member named Claudine and she had also invited the Chungs over and so that was a fun night...;) haha we ate some Chinese soup which was super good and then we all talked and had a good night with them and then headed home. We had to make taco soup for district meeting tomorrow and so we were doing that for a while and it actually turned out super good! We used lots of stuff to improvise...but we did it! It's funny so I'm gonna tell you, we added some pasta sauce in cause we didn't have tomato soup or juice don't worry it tasted really good still.

MERCREDI

So today we didn't have a ton of time in the apartment so we didn't get any studies in. We woke up and did our morning routine and got all ready and then headed out the door and caught our train out to Charleroi for our district meeting. We got out there and met up with the other elders and made our way to the church. It was super good today! We had a lesson given to us on repentance and how we can help our investigators understand how to repent and how to best use it. It was super good and not only did I take it and apply it to my investigators but I also applied it to me. It was really cool! After the lesson, the other elders were talking about a missionary who just came home from his mission in their ward and I asked his name and they go, 'Elder Snickers.' And I freaked out cause I met Elder Snickers in the MTC and we hung out and talked a lot and I even have a picture with him! Haha we talked about that and apparently he just came home! So I told them to tell him hi for me and see if he remembered me;) then we all went and ate our district meeting meal. Haha the taco soup went really well;) I'm glad I got to make it!! Even with the nasty spaghetti sauce we were getting all those compliment thingys;) it was fun and I took some pictures that I'm going to send you! So we were eating and then since it was our district leaders birthday, we all sang happy birthday while they brought out the cake and the piñata. Haha it was a really weak piñata and he broke the bat while swinging! So that was super funny to watch. After district meeting had finished we all headed back to the gare and caught our trains back to our normal villes, even though me and Nelson didn't stay for too long;) we got home and then called Chung to see if he could come to see our recent convert with us cause we need a member to come since she is a woman...be he told us that he was already there visiting and so we went and met up with him there and taught her the rest of the restoration. It went well, she is just a little older and so she doesn't really remember a ton of stuff and so it's hard to really know how much she understands. She is super sweet though and she always tells us how she is proud to be a Mormon:) so it's cute. After our rdv with her we had to head home and pack our bags cause we were going on exchanges with the district leader so we went and packed and headed out the door to catch our train into Nivelles. We got into Nivelles and were planning and going to the Pizza Hut to eat a birthday dinner with elder McDonald for his birthday but didn't know how to get there so we were aimlessly looking at the bus lines and then all of the sudden I heard from behind me, 'is that the missionaries??' So I looked and some people in a mini van started to freak out and I was all hi! And they were all we're members and I was all oh we're trying to get to Pizza Hut and she goes get in we'll take you! So as we were climbing in I was all who are you?? And they go, 'The Snickers Family!' AND I FREAKED! I looked at the kid and immediately recognized him and said, 'DUDE! WE MET AT THE MTC. REMEMBER WE WERE LIKE BFFS?!' And he goes, 'I KNEW I RECOGNIZED YOU FROM SOMEWHERE! Dude how are you?!' We talked the whole way there and it was so fun to see him again! Haha he was super dope. He was super cool and I found my new best friend;) lol jk but like how crazy is that?! I ran into him outside of a random gare and he gave us a ride to Pizza Hut;) haha it was great. We got to Pizza Hut and met up with the other guys and for some reason they all decided they wanted dominoes instead and so we all piled in the car, with elder Nelson in the trunk, lol, and headed for Dominoes and then brought it home to eat where we quoted hot rod the whole night;) #SUCHAFUNNYMOVIE anyway nights spent with the missionaries are always fun!

JEUDI

So I totes had the funnest exchanges OF.MY.LIFE. lol like in all seriousness today was just great. So we woke up and had our studies...you know even when you're doing exchanges things are still the same. After our studies we planned out the day and how it was going to go and since we changed how like almost everything works in the mission lol, we changed how exchanges work. We do 1 exchange and during the exchange the district leader goes with both of us. So this morning I was going to be with McDonald and later I would be with his companion, elder Ashcraft. So we split off this morning and me and macdo went contacting;) haha we walked and talked to lots of different people and it went well. It was a good morning but there was nothing super crazy that happened. We went to go and look at train times for me and Nelson to get back to Namur and because of the schedule and what we were going to be doing with our time, we were going to have to take the train tomorrow morning. So after we found that out we went and met up with the other guys at the friterie for lunch;) we got kebabs and fries and then made it back to the apartment to eat. They were delicious as always haha so no problem. Then we hopped in the car and headed to a part in their area named Mons. There is a little branch there but because it is on a military base, there aren't any missionaries there for the moment. On the car ride down I plugged in my USB, turned on my iPad and set it on the dashboard to record us while we danced and sang. Honestly it was so funny to go back and watch all the videos! Being in the car with three other dudes singing to Disney is pretty fun;) we then got to Mons and dropped Elder Nelson and Elder McDonald off and me and Elder Ashcraft went and made our way to our rdvs.....we followed the GPS which led us to the freeway and you would not BELIEVE how bad the traffic was! Honestly it was terrible. I couldn't believe it. We were stuck, in park, on the freeway for 2 hours! We were just sitting there and listening to music and talking and not moving on the freeway for 2 hours.....jk we moved a little bit a couple of times, but it was so long haha we were so bored that I found a Book of Mormon in the car and we started to prophesy out of it. Literally it was that bad lol. We got to know each other pretty well though;) when we finally got to an exit we took it and found ourselves back in downtown Mons where everyone else, who didn't want to be in traffic went and made more traffic downtown! So we were stuck in traffic again! And so I pulled out the iPad and opened up this map app that we have and found the first lady's house and found some crazy back roads to get there. So off we went! We went through some crazy country sides and were flying to get to this lady's house, when we entered a forest. I kid you not. This road turned into a 1700's road made of cobblestone and had dips and potholes bigger than you can imagine! Be it was legit in the middle of a forest! Haha so we were going through this forest flying through mud and puddles when finally we found civilization again haha we got to this lady's house and gave her a blessing. She seemed super happy to see us! Then we went and had to get to the other lady's house and this time we took the freeway cause the other direction was the one that had the traffic. This next lady was an excommunicated member who is trying to get re-baptized but has a smoking problem. So we went to eat with her and discuss her smoking problem and try to help her make a program. It went well and she told us she is trying to stop and that its just going to be slowly done. Then we left and went to get the other guys and headed home making some more singing videos of course;) it was a crazy fun day!

VENDREDI

So this morning we got up and out of the apartment to catch our bus home from exchanges! It felt like it had been forever since we'd been home and so it was good to get out and make our way home. Got home at a decent hour and were able to catch a bus straight to our first appt! Today we had so many appts and so we were crazy booked for the whole day, which is tiring but that is the best thing to be tired from haha. It makes things go so smoothly. So we caught a bus to go and teach the lady that lives just right next to the church that we met porting a few weeks back. She remembered that we were coming and let us right in to talk! We sat down and got to know her and talked for a while about all her questions, like who we were and what we believed. We answered her questions on prayer and a living prophet and all that fun stuff and the lesson was going really well!.....then her husband walked in. He shook our hands and then walked into the kitchen and 5 minutes later came into the room and said, 'Look, my wife is too shy to say it, but none of this interests us. Sorry thanks.' And so since we he just had such a nice conversation with his wife, where she had directed it, and asked us questions, or in other words, WAS INTERESTED, I just sat and stared at him. It was kind of funny cause I knew that that remark was supposed to make me feel uncomfortable, but because I just sat and stared at him, he went red in the face and laughed and looked pretty uncomfortable and asked his wife, 'What, does this interest you?' And her response was the best. She said, 'well if it didn't, I wouldn't have invited them back over!' And he goes, 'OK well it doesn't interest me.' I could tell that she was a little upset at him and he was a little upset that we were there and so we just decided to leave. We told her that she could always call us and that she was always welcome at the church and she told us she would come one day and when we told her there were classes for kids as well, she was like oh cool! So I hope to hear from her soon. Then we went to our rdv with our investigator Luis from Peru and today we just read in the Book of Mormon with him cause we don't know how much he is understanding when we teach him so we read and he said he understood 1 Nephi 1 and so we encouraged him to keep reading! Then we ran over to Emmanuel and Claudette's house!!! THESE TWO ARE SO GOLDEN AND AMAZING. I LOVE THEM. AND THEIR BABY. The last time we were there they were asking all those questions on baptism like they'd never been asked to be baptized and so that's what we decided to talk to them about today. We talked about their questions and shared Mosiah 18:8-10 and told them that if they want to get baptized it really only is them holding themselves back and it was such a great rdv and then we had to get going to make it to the next rdv and so we asked if we could come back tomorrow night and talk more and they said yes! So we told them that we wanted them to take a piece of paper and write down all their questions that come while they read the rest of the chapter in Mosiah and then we asked them to pray for them and for us as we prepared to answer their questions. We then went to catch a train to a less actives house when we missed the train and so we called her and she said to just come and see her another time...so we just went out porting for the night.

SAMEDI

So this morning we woke up and had our studies and then looked out the window and it was pouring rain and windy and there was no one outside and we had a half hour until our first rdv and so we stayed in for that half hour and we made some calls and then we headed out into the storm to make it to our rdv. After my studies this morning I was praying and got a weird feeling that I needed to fast...I was kind of against it, but because I felt like I needed to, for some personal reasons and just because I felt like I needed to, I started a fast for the day. Anywho, I'm going to be straight up right now. The rdv was ABSOLUTELY horrible. It was with this African guy who really only wanted to meet with us to bible bash and honestly I was sitting there kind of just letting elder Nelson and him go back and forth trying to contradict one another with bible scriptures. This guy spoke English by the way so that is why I was just letting Nelson go. Needless to say, the spirit was not there, and today gave me a testimony of D&C 42:14: 'And the Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith; and if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach.' Haha honestly we were not getting anywhere and it was just a super bad rdv and when we presented the restoration he was all no and when we said prophet it got worse and DON'T EVEN ASK how he reacted when we presented the Book of Mormon....when we were leaving he asked us to pray to know if we were in the right cause there was no way God would have a prophet on earth today....so we got out of there and I told Nelson I was sorry but that we were not going to go back and waste our time on someone who just wanted to prove us wrong. So we headed out to the church cause we had a rdv with an investigator from last week and so we got there and he never showed up...we even called and confirmed last night:( so because it was still rainy and nasty outside and we had another rdv in an hour at the church, we just chilled there and put together a list of the less actives that we'd been to and they had either moved or their names were no longer on the house and got that ready for the bishop and his counsellors. Then Jean Claude showed up! We had a great first discussion with him! We taught him all the restoration and he told us he believed that things like that could happen and he even accepted a soft baptismal invite! That means he said he'd get baptized if he came to know the church was true. It was awesome! After that we were getting ready to leave to head to Emmanuel and Claudette's house when we got a text from him saying that some unexpected friends stopped by and they wouldn't be able to have us over tonight. Then he goes, 'we are really sad cause we prayed for you both and have a list of questions to ask. Can you come tomorrow?' Haha they are too good! So we fixed a rdv for tomorrow and we headed home and did weekly planning for the night. It went well and we got it done so thank heavens!!

DIMANCHE

Well if there is one thing that I realized today, it is that my mission has made me come to LOVE Sunday's. I don't even know why. When I was back at home, I really liked Sunday's. You know a day off, relax and chill and all that stuff but like here I've come to realize that Sunday is a special day. It is a day we have to worship our Savior and our Heavenly Father. It is a day that we can concentrate fully on them. For some reason, reading scriptures and all that is a lot more fun on Sunday's too so ya today went great! We woke up and got to the church and people all started to come in and it was a good turn out today! Soeur Halushka, the Ukranian that we ate with a couple weeks ago came up to me and asked me to help her find a chapel in London cause she is going to London for 3 weeks and then said that she hopes I will still be here when she gets back!;) I GOT SOMEONE TO LIKE ME! Haha that made my day. There was a lady in sacrament that gave a really good talk this week. It was on being a witness of God at all times and as she was talking I kept thinking of the talk by Elaine S Dalton that she gave for her last one and it was just really good! Then during priesthood was coming up and I went to go and sit by this couple that I've come to love here, named the Mazy's and before it started I asked them how their week went and the wife goes, 'This week went well but this week is going to be hard. We are getting make it or break it news this week. That's why the ward is having the special fast for us today.' I WAS ALL, WAIT WHAT. SPECIAL FAST? NO ONE TOLD ME. BUT IM ALREADY FASTING. It honestly was so dope. Haha I finally knew what it felt like to be inspired. Haha even though my fast did include some personal reasons, I was fasting cause I didn't really know why. It was so cool!!!! That was super cool. Then we scheduled a few different rdvs with some members for this week and the Mazy's gave us a ride home and we are lunch and then headed out the door to Emmanuel and Claudette's house. We started out by reading in 2 Nephi 31-32 with them and they said that those two chapters answered a lot of their questions, but then they had a couple of questions that they wanted to know. They started with the temple and asked what it was, what we do and why it's different from a church. Claudette thought it was super weird that we didn't let non-members in and asks, 'Why not? Are you guys like naked in there or something?' I died. It was great. Then they asked about the do's and don'ts and like what they'd have to start doing if they got baptized and we answered all their questions. The rdv was a good 3 hours and it was super good. They told us that they do know the church is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that they are going to keep praying and meeting with us before setting a date. It was awesome!! Then we went contacting to finish out the night.

Cette semaine c'était très bien passé:) l'œuvre du Seigneur s'avance! Merci pour les prières, je vais vous demander de continuer de les faire pour moi et les amis de l'église:) merci pour tous ce que vous faites et tous ce que vous êtes. Je vous aime! J'espère d'entendre de vous bientôt! A bientôt:)  (This week was very well spent :) this is the Lord's work! Thanks for the prayers, I'll ask you to continue to make them for me and friends of the Church :) thank you for all that you do and all that you are. I love you! I hope to hear from you soon! Soon :)

Elder Libby