Paris, Pouring Rain and Preaching - Week 11

Cathedral de Notre Dame in Brussels

Reading the Book of Mormon

Chris and me at the 4 hour BBQ

Preaching the "good news" from the top of a catholic church

4 good-looking Elders in Belgium

Good Graffiti

The Basilique - 3rd largest church in the world?

View from our Apartment

This week has been crazy and very busy but another great week with so much that I've learned.

Last Monday we went sight seeing and saw three huge churches.  We went to the top of the Basilique by our house and saw the Belgique style Arc de Triomphe.  There is a really cool car museum that we would like to see on another P-day,

Tuesday we had an amazing district meeting.  We read a journal entry by Scott Anderson.  He poses the questions, "Do we really know what we have with the gospel?"  The gospel blesses our lives more than we can comprehend and there are so many people that are longing to find it.  After I read the article it made me think and realize how often we take the gospel for granted!  We had another rendezvous with Bogaert and his cleaning lady that went very well.  Bogaert even made us hot cocoa and fresh bread!

Thursday was a big day.  After making invitations for Nosa's baptism and going over the interview questions and teaching him everything, it was obvious he was ready.  We talked to the Zone Leaders and they gave us the OK.  Nosa was moving an hour away by train (out of area) and was super stressed.  His wife is pregnant and being induced today (Monday) and so we decided to pray about the decision to baptize him now or wait for him to be baptized in his new area.  We prayed, slept on it and decided Thursday morning that it didn't matter what we wanted but we needed to do what was best for him and his family.  After talking to him we decided that it would be better for his wife to finish all the lessons and better for him to get moved and be baptized there in the new area.  It was no easy decision but we instantly felt peace after we made it and called the other Elders in Hasselt.  We went and taught the family that night and they are so excited and ready.  So, hopefully in a few weeks I'll get a picture from the other Elders at their baptism and send it your way.  It was like saying goodbye to our kids.  I know that they will be sealed in the temple one day and I know it was the right decision.  After making that hard decision that morning we went out contacting.  We saw a man and contacted him.  He gave us his number and then another lady did the same thing.  Later that night, after a lesson, we were approached by a Bulgarian and slowly all his friends joined us and wanted to hear more.  We went through all our pamphlets fast!  They offered to take us to Bulgaria and told us everyone there would love to hear this message!

Friday we were on our way to Paris.  We were up at 5:30 a.m. to catch the train.  It only takes an hour and 22 minutes to get there by high speed train.  We had training from the AP's and President and Soeur Poznanski and it was great to see Elders and Sisters newly arrived from the MTC.  At OFII all the rumors of an awful in depth physical were false and so it wasn't so bad.  As they went to stamp my passport I noticed the numbers were wrong so I have to go back next week to pick up the stamp.  Maybe I can see the Eiffel Tower while I'm there.  I haven't seen much of Paris but I sure love it!  On the train ride home we were delayed.  A tree was hit by lightening and took down the high speed line.  So it took us 4.5 hours to get home.  It was about 10:30 p.m. by the time we arrived in Brussels.  Long day!

Saturday we woke up to pouring rain, lightning and thunder that continued to go on for most of the day and night.  At least it was cool.  We taught the man we ran into Thursday morning.  His name is Manuel and he's so prepared!  He had researched the church and said he wanted three things.  A church that was a lifestyle church...check!  A church centered on Jesus Christ...check!  A church with the power that the apostles of old had...check!  Amazing lesson and we hope to teach him again this week.

Sunday we had 4 amis at church!  Awesome!  Out of the  4 we had 3 different languages - English, Spanish and French.  Crazy!  We had dinner with a member family and they served us American BACON!  So delicious!  I've learned how great America really is and how blessed as a nation we are!

I love Belgium and the people here are so amazing and so prepared to hear the gospel.  I hope you all have a great week and reflect on how blessed we are with the gospel in our lives!

Nosa and his family with me

Belgium's Arc de Triomphe