Last Monday the Campells, who were dropping off Sarah for her study abroad in London, came and visited. Jim served in the Paris, France mission and wanted to see the mission again. We had lunch and showed them a little of Bruxelles! We went to the Grand Place, tried some frites, a meat triette, and of course, some Belgium Chocolate. It was so fun to see them and spend some time with them. On Monday evening we had a rendez-vous with Nosa. It went great and we left in such high spirits after hearing him bear his testimony.
Tuesday we had our weekly district meeting that went great and then we had steak for lunch and a cinnamon cake we made for dessert. Delicious! We had a rendez-vous with Mike later and taught him more about the restoration and asked him how his reading in the Book of Mormon was coming. He finds it so interesting and wants to read more and more. We talked to him about the ward and how the church is a family. We both bore our testimony of it and the blessings in our life. The spirit was so strong. When we asked him about baptism he said, "yes" and so we set a date for September 29th. Super exciting!
Wednesday was a normal missionary day but on Thursday Frere Fraikin treated us to lunch. He gave us lots of advice that I'm writing down for when I get home. After, we decided to make the trip to do some porting in an area known as Crainhem. All four of us that live in our apartment went out together. We split the streets and started knocking on doors. On the sixth door we met a young man who said he didn't believe in God anymore. We asked if we could take 10 minutes to tell him a little about our church and how it has blessed our lives. Than a miracle happened...he said, "come in"! This was a super nice neighborhood and his home was one of the nicest homes I've been in since I left. We had a great lesson and left him with a Book of Mormon and hope we can go back this week and meet his whole family. That evening we had two more lessons with the Mulunda and Sylvestre families. They are both so awesome and we love them so much. We are sure that they will be ready for baptism one day!
Friday we taught the Johnson family. The are preparing to go to the temple to be sealed. They have 4 daughters and their spirits and smiles are always fun to be around. We received some news about Nosa that we didn't want to hear. He isn't being baptized anymore. After a week of trying to make sure everything was set we found out that his marriage wan't legal. This was hard to hear and the branch where he lives was really sad too. He still had a great attitude about it and has a strong testimony of the gospel and I believe he'll be ready down the road.
Saturday we had exchanges and I was with Elder Wood! He's awesome and such a great missionary. We had fun, did lots of porting and taught Kingsley and Marsella. We went to teach them about temples but Marsella asked a question that had been on her mind all week and the Plan of Salvation answered her question perfectly. It's amazing how things work out and plans change but if you follow the spirit it will always be better than you planned!
On Sunday the craziest thing of the week happened. We had told the Sylvestre family that we would go to their church since they have come to ours a few times. They offered to take us right after our meetings to their meetings. We hopped in their car and made our way to their church. It was a Russian church, not sure what denomination, but boy was it an eye opening experience for me. For the next three hours we sat on a wood bench and tried to listen to a young girl who was translating for us from Russian into French. There was a baby blessing and a marriage blessing. This is where they are given permission to get married and then given flowers from everyone. There were 10+ prayers where everyone would kneel and yell their prayers out loud for about 5 minutes. Somehow they all stopped at the exact same time. Elder Davis and I kept looking at each other like, "what are we doing here!" There was about 10 or 15 songs, some solos and some by the whole congregation. They even had an accordion that was playing along with the piano. After three hours we walked out and I realized I felt so many different emotions. Mostly shock and sadness. I hope that one day all of these people will be lead to the truth. We have the authority from God and the Holy Ghost to guide us. I know the church is true without a doubt. We are so blessed to have the truth in our lives and I'm so lucky to be a missionary and invite others to find this out for themselves.
Today we aren't sure what we are doing but it'll definitely involve a baguette and some cheese for lunch and maybe some frites. This is our last week before transfers and most likely one of us will be going. It'll be crazy because every companionship in our Zone will change. I don't know if I'll be going or staying but I'll let you know next Monday. I love Bruxelles and I'm so thankful to be here and to be able to teach the gospel to the people here. It is truly amazing. Thanks for all of your love and support....till next week!
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| Kurt - A priest in our ward that has gone porting with us! |
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| Anthony - A Priest in our ward that has gone porting with us! |
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| Sunset at the Basilique It's getting dark earlier and earlier! |
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| Our church building with 3 different languages...Dutch, English and French |
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| The Sylvestre Family |
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| Last Monday with the Campbells |
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