Elder Chase Player: All it takes is 20 seconds of insane courage...and great things will come to pass!

My Friend, Frere Fraiken

Cool park that we did contacting in!

Well, if you guessed, that was from "We Bought a Zoo". I loved the quote and feel like it's very applicable to missionary work. We had a great week in Belgium and saw some miracles from that 20 seconds we gave!

On Tuesday we had an awesome mangez-vous with the DeLigne family. They are from Belgium and speak perfect French that you could listen to all day. They have a super cute family, with three little girls who brought us drinks and then books to read to them in French. We had a delicious meal and a great spiritual thought and then took off to do some finding. This week, like many, was filled with lots of finding on the street, metro and door to door. Here is the approach at doors we use:

1. Introduce yourself...Bonjour, Je m'appele Elder Player
2. Where your from...Je viens des Etats-Unis
3. What are you doing here...Je suis ici dans Belgique pendant deux ans en tante que une missionnaire pour l"Englise de Jesus Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours
4. State a truth and testify of is...like the Book of Mormon, Prophets, Family, anything that you feel will touch them and invite the spirit.
5. Ask an inspired question based on what you testified about.

We call this approach, Alma Contacting. By inviting the Spirit quickly we hope they can feel the difference and will want to talk more. Sadly, often they quickly say "no, I'm not interested" but every once in a while you get that person who will listen. This week during district meeting we were asked to talk to one extra person every time before we were going to be done. Whether before going home for the night or for a meal. Always talk to one more person. So, we promised that we would do that and we saw some miracles from it! Friday night, while heading for the tram, we saw a group of three mean. We said, "Three is even better!" This is where the 20 seconds of insane courage comes into play. You go over, interrupt their conversation, speak in a different language, and teach about religion. But this 20 seconds of our Alma Contacting worked. We proceeded to teach most of the Restoration and then they asked if we could set up another time to teach them more. Again, last night on the way home there was one last guy on the street and he was interested, took a Book of Mormon and said he'd love to meet again this week. If we all give of ourselves, 20 seconds of "insane courage", the Lord will always watch over us and bless us!

Other crazy moments included our lunch with Frere Fraikin on Thursday. Probably our last lunch together since he can't make it this week. I must say, I will miss his advice and conversations! We had a super cool moment with a member and her son on Thursday. They called to see if we could come give a blessing to her before surgery. We arrived and asked if the son wanted to give it. He said he had never given a blessing since being made an Elder. We taught him how and he gave an amazing blessing with so much love for his mother in it. It was amazing.

On Sunday, we were asked to go home teaching with a member, teach Sunday School, give blessings and had a couple of lessons to teach to people we had contacted. Somehow, we fit it all in! I gave my first blessing in French-I've done the anointing but never a blessing. It was a little nerve racking but worked out. I've learned that the Lord will put the words in your mouth as they need to be

The final and most entertaining thing was Friday night when Elder Wood announced, "I have a proposition!" He wanted to move the desks in the bedroom and one set of bunk beds out so were had separate work space. The next day, during lunch, we took a part the apartment. It sounds easy but we stripped the screws and it ended up being a bigger project than we thought but somehow managed. Now it's like a whole new apartment...we'll see if it lasts!

Next week are transfers and I feel like I will probably be transferred...we'll see!

Today we are off to eat a durum and some frites and then see a couple of cathedrals and a quick stop by the Godiva Factory. I can't believe I've already been gone 5 months. I hope you have a good week and always take that 20 seconds of "insane courage" to talk to that friend, someone at work or school about the gospel. Just do it and great thing will come of it!

Love you all...