March!?

[JK! Hello April. *sniffle*]

Bonjour ma famille et mes amis!

It's crazy to hear about all the snow back home! We keep thinking it will warm up a little here, but as I am typing, I'm looking out the window at ice/hail/rain/whatever it is that Belgium gets. It started out nice and sunny this morning, and now it's quite cold!

This week has been full of adventures! Soeur Clawson and I have gotten really good at having backup plans. I don't think we had a single day that someone didn't randomly cancel on us, haha. However, thanks to these backup plans, we found a couple new amies!

On Wednesday, we had two lessons planned, and they both texted us that they were busy, so we decided to go and do some porting. We walked out of the apartment, and it was cold and raining! We were kind of thinking, “Well this is going to be miserable.” Then, I was like, “NO! This is going to be awesome! And we are going to find an old lady who is lonely and we are going to help her!” And guess what! The first door we ported, an old lady answered, and before we could even say anything, she told us to come in! We went in and sat down, and she told us that she has three cancers, she eats through a tube, her husband and parents are all dead, and her son has mental issues. She's alone, but she knows that God is there. While we were talking to her, I got the distinct impression to share the Plan du Salut with her. I pulled out the brochure, and told her that God has a plan for us, and that through studying and having faith in this plan, I have found so much peace and hope in my life. The spirit was so strong! She promised to read the brochure, and we are going to go see her again this week. She's so awesome! She also told us to go talk to her neighbor, so we did, and they invited us in! (This never happens!) We were able to talk to them for a while, but they weren't super interested.

View of Lèige while porting.

Saturday we got to do a bunch of porting again. We went to this cute rue, up at the top of Liege. The view was incredible! We met a couple people who told us to pass by another time, but nothing crazy. We did meet a lady from Louisiana though! It was so weird to hear an American accent not from a missionary! It was a fun afternoon. Hopefully when we pass back by some of these people, we can teach them a little bit!

On Sunday, we had one of our less actives at church. She has been having such a hard time recently. By choosing the church, her family has written her off. She had a lot of anger for a while, but as we have been working with her, she has started to become happier and happier. She bore her testimony in Sacrament meeting! And then later, after church, she comes walking up to me with a temple prep book and tells me that it's time to go back. Holy poop! I wanted to cry! She has come so far in the last three months. The gospel has put a light back in her eyes, that didn't exist the first time Soeur Clawson and I rang her doorbell. We also had another less active come. She has slowly been coming back, but she is super old so sometimes it's hard for her.

Picture with Laurence, the less active who wants to go back to the temple. 

Today, since we are getting close to the end of the transfer, and Soeur Clawson will be heading out to another ville in France, the Redds took us on another adventure. Today, we went to another American WWII cemetery. This one is on land where the Battle of the Bulge was fought. Turns out that was fought not too far south of Liege. It is so humbling to go to these cemeteries! I am living in a place so full of history! It's so cool.

Every morning, in my studies, I study a Conference talk. I finished the Ensign for the last Conference, so I just started the next one I found in my desk from April Conference 2013. This morning I was reading a talk by Elder Cook about peace… SO GOOD! In it, he quotes Doctrine and Covenants 121:7-8 when Joseph is in Liberty Jail, and he's told to have peace, his adversity and afflictions will be a small moment and to bear them well. The footnote in the talk leads to a quote by Howard W. Hunter I believe, that I have absolutely fallen in love with! It says, "So we must be refined; we must be tested in order to prove the strength and power that are in us." I don't even know why I love it so much. I think it's kind of comforting to know that our trials are given to us to prove that we have the strength to overcome them. So if you are struggling, souvenez-vous that you have the power to overcome it!

Since yesterday, was testimony meeting, I'll just bear a quick testimony for y'all :)

Je sais que notre père celeste nous aime tous. Il est toujours la pour nous aider. Il ne nous oubliera jamais! Je peut ressentir son aide chaque jour. Père Celeste et Jesus-Christ nous connaisse! Chacun de nous! L'église est vrai. Le Livre de Mormon est la parole de Dieu. On peut trouver tous les réponses a nos questions dedans. Nous parlons aven Dieu par la prière, et il parle avec nous par les écritures. Nous avons un prophète vivant aujourd'hui.

I love you all! Until next week.

Almost Four Months... What??

[Guys. I am laughing because this was like… two months ago. BAHAHAhahwwwWAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!]

Carnival, twelve buses in one day, and zone conference...OH MY!

So, fun fact, Mardi Gras doesn't just exist in New Orleans. Which makes sense the more I think about it, but anyways. Here it is a full week called Carnival. It is even a weeklong school holiday. It ended Saturday with a big parade and people dressed up in crazy costumes. Other than that, I don't actually know what else they do. I didn't see much.

Tuesday, we went on a less active hunting adventure with the Redds, our Senior Couple here in Liège. We spent about two hours driving around Grace-Hollogne and Jemeppe. We set out looking for five people, and we found one! Yay...that is actually really awesome because we usually don't find anyone. People are always moving around here, not many people stay in one place for very long. We also had a couple other lessons that day a recent convert, less active, and nonmember. We pretty much covered all the bases that day.

Wednesday was the day of twelve buses. That doesn't even seem possible to me, but somehow we ended up taking twelve different buses from about 11am-9pm. We had a mangez-vous with a member who lives in the middle of nowhere where the buses don't go, so she picked us up at the Gare. By this point we had taken 11 buses, and we said that if we had to take another bus, we might throw up. We were so happy that the member would be taking us home after dinner. We had an awesome rendez-vous! Her husband is a non-member. We watched the Testaments in French (super funny by-the-way), we were only able to watch about 30 minutes and then we ate, and then we had about 5 minutes for the pensé spirituelle. We did a little thought on feeling the spirit, and it went really well. So, then it was time to go home, and she dropped us off the Gare, meaning we had to take one more bus home, making it 12 buses in one day. We just had a good laugh, and then decided we never wanted to get on another bus again... until the next morning at least.

Thursday was zone conference!! We took a train in to Bruxelles at 8 in the morning and didn't get home until 7:30 that night. It was super awesome! We learned a lot about working with our ward and branches... It's kind of difficult from time to time, but ça va! We had a really good lunch and then we had interviews with President and Soeur Babin and watched Meet the Mormons! The interviews went really well! They were all in French, and I understood everything and was able to talk to them! Soeur Babin even complemented me on my accent! Woohoo! She told me she was impressed with my French and that I am learning quickly. That is always good to hear. I have been working so hard on learning the language. I LOVE FRENCH!!!!

The rest of the week was pretty normal. I just have two more funny stories:

We walk through this little tunnel-ish thing almost every day. In this tunnel is a little shoe shop (SUPER expensive). There is this little man who owns it and is there every day. We have started waving to him and saying hello as we pass. He always gets this huge smile and waves back. The other day, we were walking through, and he was out of his shop. The first thing he does is try to come up and bisous me! AWKWARD! That is the second time I have been bisoused by a man. Oh la la.

The other story is just that Soeur Clawson and I had to ride an elevator the other day with two men dressed in full out drag. The best part, we had a totally normal conversation with them. As soon as they got out of the elevator, I cried I was laughing so hard. It was the strangest thing in the world!

Anyways, I have been studying a lot about the spirit recently, and trying to recognize it in my life. I know that the spirit leads and guides us. He tells us what to say and what to do. He keeps us safe and helps us know the needs of others. The spirit is the most important tool in missionary work! I hope we can all strive to recognize the spirit in our lives and learn how he speaks to us. I have to come to notice that often, the spirit speaks to me through music. I have found so many answers to prayers through hymns and spiritually uplifting music. It is amazing!

Je vous aime tous! Passez une bonne semaine! à la semaine prochaine, alors :)

[Have you noticed that I’ve given up translating the French? If you want to know, you’ll google translate it. Also, if the two months late blog posts show anything, I’ve been a tad… just a tad busy. Selfish reason, really. But there it is.

[The final picture is of the largest cathedral in Lèige called the Basillique St. Leonard. According to Soeur Chisholm, it is, of course, not open on Mondays. But the building right next to it in the picture is apparently supposed to be normal sized.]

The Week of Traveling

[For the week of Valentine’s Day…]

So, this week was pretty crazy. We spent all of Tuesday in Bruxelles for the Louise anconda squeeze, and Thursday night and all of Friday we were in Paris for my first year legality. [I would just like to point out that I had no idea what she was talking about here. You can kind of deduce from the rest of her email, so just keep reading.]

So, I will start with Tuesday! We knew that we were going in to Bruxelles for district meeting, and that we were going to be doing some contacting for the Louise district because they have been struggling a little bit. We found out from the ZLs on the way that we were going to be doing exchanges for this contacting. So, it comes time for finding out the people for exchanges, and they call me and Soeur Clements. She hadn't even been in the field a week. BLEU EXCHANGE!! Basically they circled the metro stop and said, “Allez-y! Have fun contacting!” I don't think I have ever been more freaked out and more nervous in my life than I was when I was leading Soeur Clements out of the metro. I have also never prayed so hard. Basically, they sent us to the ghetto, so we had to hunt down some women. It ended up being so awesome! I understood the ladies we talked to and we taught two lessons! I was able to carry full conversations in French and holy cow the miracles.

The day and a half in Paris was super fun. Soeur Clawson and I got to explore the Paris RER system [train] so that was fun. We didn't get lost!! We spent the night in St Ouen with Soeur Higgins and her trainer! And then, I got to see everyone from the MTC on Friday for legality! The APs taught an awesome lesson. They talked a lot about not focusing on your weaknesses. I have been so focused on my biggest weakness these past two weeks, and it has really made working hard! But, this week I'm going to try and find and focus on my strengths! They also talked about the importance of having "20 seconds of insane courage." I've seen that when I just pump myself up and go for it, everything is easier! Whether it be talking to someone on the street or on a bus, or making a comment in a lesson at church (that one is really scary) or ANYTHING. All it takes is twenty seconds of insane courage. It's a principle that I plan on applying for the rest of my mission because talking to people on buses really is hard for me and I know that all it takes is twenty seconds of insane courage. Legality was nothing crazy. I had to do an eye test though... and my eyes have gotten a little worse. I have just started wearing my glasses more. We read a lot of road signs...

Saturday was fun. We baked a bunch of cookies because we were going to see a couple single women that day. Bonne fete de Saint Valentin! We went to one of our amis and we talked about the restoration. I had the pleasure of doing the first vision. It was really cool because at district meeting we talked about the importance of eye contact--a lesson from the MTC I kind of forgot about. When I was getting ready to say it, giving the background and all that jazz, I remembered that I should keep eye contact. I looked her in the eyes, and said the first vision. THE SPIRIT WAS SO STRONG!!! She teared up!!!!! Holy poop, it was awesome!! It was just a really good lesson over all. It was also fun to spend my first Valentine's day in Europe............ hahahaha lots of men bought flowers that day, fun fact.

So basically this week I have had some really great reminders and some really great lessons. From all these experiences, I have been reminded that I am doing the Lord's work, not mine. When I put all my trust in Him, I can do all things. I read a scripture in Doctrine and Convenants this morning that I really love, I'm pretty sure it is in section 6 the last verse, "Look unto me in every thought. Doubt not, fear not." I have always loved that verse, but it really spoke to me this morning. In those moments of doubting my abilities and having so much fear that I don't talk to the person next to me is when I'm letting Satan win. I just need to have those twenty seconds of insane courage and then the spirit will help me with the rest. I've seen the miracles that can come from just opening your mouth. I taught two lessons in the street Saturday as the "senior missionary."

I love you all!! Be safe and have a great week! Je vous aime!!!!

Awkward palm tree with the MTC people

High and Lows...The Norm

This week [or technically three weeks ago] was an adventure and a half; I can tell you that much. When they talk about your mission being like a rollercoaster ride, they mean it! I think I would compare this week to a crazy roller coaster I can't remember the name of at 6 Flags, Atlanta. You know, the super roller coaster with the huge hill and then a bunch of little hills after it. (Sounds like your average roller coaster, but yeah...)

We've hit a lot of roadblocks in a lot of our amies these past two weeks. The amies that were progressing now aren't or have slowed down. However, we are still holding on to Gwen! (I will get to her in a little bit.) Tuesday, we had the most beautiful lesson on eternal families with one of our investigators. The spirit was so strong, and she said that she wants to see her brother and father again (they passed away a while ago), but then at the end of the lesson she told us that she still isn't willing to change religions. AHHHH. It was rather frustrating. Basically, we are giving her a lot of space and praying for her every night to read le Livre de Mormon and to be pricked in her heart...

Also on Tuesday we met with another lady who is an eternal investigator. She is literally running out of money to the point where she can barely live. It's really heart breaking. While we were visiting, I felt impressed to share the poem "Don't Quit." (Good thing this was an English lesson, huh?) She read it, she I could see that it really touched her. She asked if I could help her print it off next time we are at her house. It was a really special moment. Afterwards, we had a mangez-vous at a member’s house, and to avoid an hours worth of travel time, she offered to drive us there. Now, the thing about Liège, and it's surrounding cities, is that they repeat road names all the time, so when looking at a map, you have to make sure that you are looking at the right city. We were in search of Rue du Plope in Ans that night. Our investigator put Rue du Plope Liège in her GPS. An hour later, and a lot of worried prayers, we finally get to the members house in time to share a small message, eat some ice cream, and then get home by 9:30.

Wednesday we had a lesson with another amie that had stopped progressing. Then, we went on an adventure to find a members house. We got off the bus, at her rue, Rue de l'agriculture, and house number 80 and she was number 406 or something like that. So, we started walking...and walking...and walking...and then all of the sudden we are standing in a field! It was like being back home for a minute!! Fields around us, fresh air, sunshine... It was beautiful!! 

And then we found her house. We had a really good visit! We set some member missionary goals with her and talked to her less active husband, it was a lot of fun. Then we went to go see Gwen! She has been progressing really well and preparing for her baptism like a champ. Anddddd then we hit a speed bump that we were going to address that night. However, we get there and there is a man chilling there that we don't know. So, we quickly change our plans because we can't talk about what we were going to talk about with other people around. So, we teach tithing. It totally made sense to her! She was like, “Yeah that makes sense. You have to give to receive.” Boom. Bah. Heck yes.

Thursday we saw Soeur Walmag who is a less active because she physically can't come to church right now. We have been working with her to get her to read her scriptures every day. She has been and is slowly making her way through 1 Nephi. She's so awesome! We then had the most awesome member present lesson ever! We went and saw Cythina (an amie who hasn't been taught for 6 years!) We took an awesome member with us. Again, the GPS let us down though, and we were half an hour late, but ça va. We talked about faith and the importance of acting on your faith because Cynthia really wants to grow her faith and she is asking all the right questions in her life right now, but we can't get her to act! Coralie (the member) bore such a great testimony on the importance of acting on what Heavenly Father is telling her to do. She had Cynthia, herself, and us in tears! The spirit was so strong! Then, after the lesson Coralie told us that that was the first time she had ever taught with the missionaries and that what we do is incredible. It was a really touching and humbling moment, an awesome reminder that we really are doing the Lord's work, and that every day is a blessing. We also saw another less active that day, she is one of my favorite people ever, but she is REALLY having a hard time. I'm really quite worried about her.

Friday we saw a recent convert and did our weekly planning. We were planning on seeing Gwen that day, too, and finally talking about what we really needed to address to be able to move forward in her baptismal plans. But we got there and she said that she needed to leave to stop by the post office before it closed. So, she said to come back Saturday at one.

Saturday was rough. We went and passed by Gwen, but she wasn't home. We decided to go pass by some less actives we have been meaning to see, but the bus didn't go to the right city. We passed back by Gwen but she wasn't home again, and she wasn't answering her phone. This is when we started to worry. We did a lot of unsuccessful contacting that day, too. Tell me how you can contact 4 people in an hour in a large city, who have already been contacted by other missionaries? That doesn't happen! But, we kept going, and 10 minutes before our senior couple was going to pick us up for a meeting, we decided to contact one more person. We found a lady. I walked up and did the normal thing, and holy cow. She just took off like a rocket! She was amazed to find people so young talking about religion, and then when I said that I had been religious my whole life, she really got excited! We talked for 20 minutes! Finally, we exchanged cordonnées and ran to the Redds for the meeting haha. So, moral of the day, when things get rough, and nothing is going right, KEEP GOING.

Sunday was a lot of fun! Gwen didn't come to church (this is when we really started to worry), but I was so proud of myself! I was talking to members like no ones business! I have really seen so much progress in myself in the last transfer. It was really fun to be able to talk to members, and set rendez-vous, and ask them how they are doing. We also went to see my favorite lady of all time that afternoon, Marie!! Then, we went to another less active who randomly answered my phone call the other day. She was converted a couple years ago and then started school and fell away quickly. It's so sad! Also, walking into her house was rough, because three people had just been smoking in the room where she wanted to meet with us… It was super hard to breathe for the 45 minutes we were talking to her. We also finally saw Gwen! And we finally got to talk to her about what we really needed to talk to her about, and we had an awesome lesson, and hopefully, we will get to set an official baptismal date this week!!!!

So, overall, this week wasn't bad. Typing this post has helped me see that we had a lot of miracles and blessings this week. I've really been working on finding the missionary fire! I saw a lot of my weaknesses this week, but that's a good thing, because now I can work on making them my strengths! You all are awesome! Share the gospel with everyone. If there is anything I have learned in the last few weeks is that "some will. Some won't. So what? Someone's waiting," is the truest statement on the earth... Well one of them at least. Heavenly Father is preparing each one of His children for the gospel. It usually isn't in our time though, some day that friend that you have been trying to teach will understand the truthfulness of the gospel, and when they do, nothing will stop them from finding it.

Alma 37:47 "Look to God and live"! (My life motto)

[These final pictures were included even though she mentions nothing about seeing her MTC family. But that's who's in the pictures, so have them and enjoy...]