November 3, 2014

Well hey howdy hey everybody. I hope y'all passed a great week and did not eat too much candy or get really scared this past week with HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!! So on to my week, sorry if it is small but there was not a whole lot that happened...... Well for Monday we had a really fun p-day. We went with Patrick and the other elders to an abbey but there was a catch. We parked the car like 7 kilometers away and then biked up to it. There was an old railroad track and instead of just leaving it they decided to make it a tourist thing. They put these rail bikes on that can hold 4 people and two people pedal to make the bikes move and you travel up the old railroad. It was really fun. We got to look around the abbey, and then we biked back down. A round trip of 14 kilometers. Then we got back and did all the usual p-day stuff. Tuesday we had some finding in the morning and the afternoon. For lunch we ate with the Tricot family. Then for diner we ate with the Vanhulst family; Jermie and his wife and their two kids. It was so funny because their son is like 3 so I see him like Garrett and Grayson. He just tells me the darndest things. One thing he told me after he said the Dad, Jermie, spit out water and looked at his son. It reminded me of being in the primary all over again. Let me see Wednesday and Thursday nothing special just us doing a whole lot of contacting and porting. But really nobody was interested so not a really interesting two days. We did teach Jacques and his wife and they are doing good and they finally sold their house. So sadly they will be moving. Then for HALLOWEEN we had a zone conference with the president and his wife which was really good. It helped me out a lot. That night we had a ward party for Halloween. Then Saturday was another day of finding and then for dinner we had a FHE with a family in the ward and their kids, some of which are not members. Then on Sunday we had Stake Conference which was awesome and it was in Bruxelles. So that was cool and Patrick took us. Then he drove us home and we ate with him and worked on our fireside. Then we went and did some porting and that was my simple week. Oh yea I forgot we carved pumkins this past week too for Halloween!

And here are our pumpkins So mine is a Mickey head Elder Turleys is jackl skeleton from Nightmare Before Christmas And Elder Wootoon's is a Goofy face.

October 27, 2014

Well howdy hey everybody it’s been another great week. Let me just start at the beginning, so on MONDAY we had a great chill p-day. It was really nice and much needed. We relaxed in the apartment and did all the other stuff. That night we had a super awesome FHE with the Family Vanbuyten. They even invited a friend of theirs over. It was really fun. We talked about what it is like serving a mission and the blessings because their oldest son Nicholas who is 21 has just decided to serve a mission. So that was really cool. Then on TUESDAY we had our district meeting and that was really fun. We talked about what we can do to change things up to be more effective as missionaries. Then we headed home and did some contacting. We headed over to another FHE with the Family Vanhulst and we discussed the challenge we gave them to give away a Book of Mormon and they gave away two! They are so cool. We are going to try and pass by their friends with them. WEDNESDAY was a pretty normal day. We had a day full of finding and teaching. While we were out contacting this guy came up to us and just told us that he wanted to talk with us. He gave us his address and told us to pass by at the end of the month. Ao that was really cool. We also received a referral that a guy was looking for the Mormons and wanted a Book of Mormon so we gave him a call and fixed a lesson with him for later this week. That night we had our DMP meeting and then we went and saw our friend Jacques and his wife Chantal. We finished talking about the plan of salvation. Then on THURSDAY we just had a day of finding and we did some weekly planning. Nothing really happened because there were not a lot of people out just walking around due to the fact that it is getting cold now. FRIDAY we had an awesome lesson with Patrick and the man that wanted a Book of Mormon. We got to talk with him. The problem is he really lives far away so it’s a little hard to get out there but ça va.(It’s ok) After the lesson Patrick drove us to his house and we worked on our Disney Fire Side. We ended up eating dinner with him and then doing some finding afterwards. Then on SATURDAY we went and visited a less active. The rest was finding meaning talking to people in the street and porting. It was a long day because no body wanted to talk but I guess those days come. The next day is always better. Well then on Sunday we had a great day at church. Then we headed to a little village out of Chaleroi and we prayed with a member family out there to find people to teach. Then we started porting and it was really nice. It was calm and there were people home who wanted to listen to us so we will see. And that was my week. So today for p-day with Patrick we went and saw this abbey it is really cool.

So to get to the abbey we had to use these rail bikes. The took an old rail way and closed it down and put these little carts on that we pedal and we ride the tracks. It was really fun!

Elder Amico and Elder Wooton

Elder Turley on the Pedal bike with Patrick in the bottom corner and a little bit of Belgium in the backround.

Well here is medium frite one of the specialties here in Belgium and they are so good!

And here are the fries 15 min later, we had these bad boys during the week.

Look what neat treasures we find while we are out porting.

October 20, 2014

Well hey howdy. Hey everyone this week was crazy so let me tell you.... Monday was not a usual p-day. We did an exchange and I was with Elder Amico. He is the native French speaker in our apartment. We hung out during the p-day and we got pizza and did the usual stuff like shopping and emails. That night we had a FHE with a less active family from their ward and it was really fun. We ate more pizza so I was pretty sick of pizza by the end of the day. We shared with them how they can be missionaries and help us out and we then asked them for some people they know. They said they would think about it. On Tuesday we had our District Meeting. Then we came back and planned out our night because we were planning on the member we were going to eat with to pick us up but he had car problems. So we ended up figuring out how to get to their house and that took some time. Then we had to hurry and get the metro but sadly we missed the bus. So we had to walk to their house but the diner was really good. We had lasagna and we even played a little game and had a great spiritual thought. Wednesday was just a normal missionary day we did some phone calls. Then we headed up to this area by our church and we passed by this lady that we had contacted there a few days ago. We had a lesson with her at her house but sadly she was not there. So we left her a note and hopefully she will call us. If not we are going to pass by her house. Then we did some contacting and then went and taught Jean, our less active friend. It was fun seeing him again. He is just super chill and it’s great. Then we headed over to Patrick's house and we had our DMP meeting and then we had a rendezvous with some over of our investigators that we had not seen for a while. So that was cool. Thursday we WENT BACK TO FRANCE!!!!! So while I was in Alençon I started this exchange thing for my Texas License for a French one. Well it never came in and I left before I got it. A couple of weeks ago I called the Elders in Alençon and asked if they knew anything and they said they would check. They called me a little bit later telling me that the prefecture (police station) forgot to send in my document so they still had everything. I called the mission office and they told me not to worry about it and that I needed to go get the papers and my license. So we woke up early on Thursday morning and caught a train from Charleroi to Bruxelles at 6H58 then another train at Bruxelles to Paris at 8h13. We got to Paris around 9h3. We then crossed Paris to get to another Gare (station) to catch a train. We stopped and got some Pain au Chocolats for breakfast. Then we caught a train at 11H06 leaving Paris and going to Le Mans and there we had a layover for 40 min.. Then we caught a train to Alençon and finally got there around 2H00pm. So we hurried over to the prefecture and of course it is closed because there was just a strike there grrrrr!!! So we had to change our plans and instead of going back to Paris to stay the night we stayed the night in Alençon. That was okay because I knew the ville. I showed Elder Turley around while we did some contacting. Then we ate dinner with the other Elders in Alençon and did some weekly planning. On Friday we hurried over there right when it opened and I was able to get my Texas license back yes!!!!!!! Then we caught a train at 10h00 out of Alençon and we got to Le Mans but this time we had an hour and a half layover in Le Mans so we went and saw the big Cathédrale there. Then we headed back to Paris and then crossed Paris again and got to the North train station and caught another train back to Belgium. Oh boy it was a long two days but it was really fun to be back in France! That night we had a lesson with a new investigator and Patrick. Saturday, we had a great day. Just before we left for France we contacted this guy who said we could pass by his house. So we did that and he is super cool and has a great family. But sadly he lives in the other Elders area so we have to pass him. Then we did some finding and that night we had a lesson with our recent convert Jacques and his wife Chantal. Sunday we had church and it was great. We had lunch with Patrick afterwards. The rest of the day we did some finding and that was my week. Well here we are on our little France field trip in Le Mans with the big Cathédrale

October 6, 2014

Well it was the first week of the transfer and it feels a bit weird to be here in Charleroi again with the same companion but we have already taken a jump start on working and trying to find those who are ready for the gospel. Well on to this week... On Monday we had a fun p-day. We cleaned the apartment, shopped, and all that fun stuff. Then we decided to go to Ville 2, it’s like a mall here. We were looking at some stores and I got myself a Belgium Flag. Why not? After all I have been here for a quarter of my mission. Now all that leaves is Luxembourg baby, hahaha. We were hungry so we decided to be American and go to Pizza Hut. They had this all you can eat pizza buffet so we were like perfect for 4 hungry elders. The pizza was cheap and it was all we could eat haha! We then headed home and dropped of my flag and chilled at the apartment. Then we went and met Patrick at his house and we headed over to our FHE appointment we had with the Family Tesdesco. They are a family that gives missionaries names and are a recent convert family. They are really cool. We talked about General Conference, getting them all excited about it. Then Angelo, the oldest son, asked us for some help. He had an English test in school the next day. He asked us to help him study. It was really fun and really weird teaching English but speaking French haha. On Tuesday it was a whole lot of finding. In the morning we went up to a city that we had not been to before and tried to do some contacting. It was really cool to see some people who have never talked with a missionary before ask such really neat questions about the church. Then we had lunch and tried to do some contacting in ville but nothing special. That night we had an awesome lesson with Doriane and her family with Patrick. We invited her and her family to pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and saw God and Jesus Christ. Wednesday was a day full of appointments. In the morning I made cookies for Jacques and Chantal. Then we had a lesson with an old investigator who might be ready to progress now so we will see how everything goes with that. Then we went home and picked up the cookies and then we went and taught Jean Kawanga at the park and at the end of the lesson we gave him a cookie. He loved it so I was not too worried about that night. Then we met Patrick and went and taught Jacques and Chantal. She screamed with joy when she saw the cookies and was so excited! It was super funny, and the cookies were good. Thursday was back to a finding day. We did some contacting and some porting then ended the night with our DMP meeting and CEP meeting. Then on Friday we had weekly planning and transfer planning. We got to see the family Tricots, a family in the ward, and eat with them. WE had steak, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. It was so good! That night we had a lesson with this lady we found and she told us that the things that we taught her made sense but that she was going to need to ask God first before continuing. It was so funny because that is just what we were going to invite her to do haha. Saturday we had a lesson with a guy that we found by porting his name was Dominque. He told us that he was just praying for guidance and was lost and that he just finished praying when we came to the door. It was cool to be an answer to his prayer. We taught him on Saturday and he is actually crazy, literally. He was not right in the head so that was a disappointment. He would not really accept anything we said. He would tell us in his own head how things happened and what they met. So it was a good thing that night we had general conference. I was so excited and it was amazing. It was really cool to hear people speak in their own native tongue. That was cool to see. Then Sunday was nothing but Conference all day and that was my week.

September 15, 2014

Well hey howdy. Hey everybody it’s been another week. Can you believe it? It seems like weeks just fly by when you are doing missionary work. Well to start off… On Monday we had a super fun p-day. Patrick picked us up right after studies and he drove us to a city just 30 min by car. It’s called Dinant and it was so cool. We had a blast! When Patrick picked us up it was really foggy and on our way up he drove the long way through little villages and stuff. We could see more and we saw some cool castles and even some ruins. It was cool with the fog. When we get to Dinant and the fog cleared up we could see the Citadelle and everything. It was really cool. First we went and saw Aldof Sax's home. He was born here in Dinant and he is the inventor of the saxophone. That was really cool to see as I was in band. The city was covered in cool saxophones. Then we went and saw the Citadelle which is a military building with its primary focus to protect a bridge. At the time bridges were really important and in fact we even got to learn about its history. It played a major role in the First World War, and in the citadelle there was even a really cool exhibit. It was a bunch of Disney characters and stuff all made out of sand. It was really cool. They looked like ice sculptures but sand. Then we went and saw the big church in town. We came home and did emails. Then we passed by some old investigators that night to see if they were still interested. On Tuesday we had our Zone Conference in Bruxelles with president and his wife and it was really good but really long. We started at 10:30 in the morning and we were finished around 4:00. It was long but really good. After that we hurried to the gare (station) where we caught our train and headed back to Charleroi. Patrick picked us up and we headed to our dinner appointment with the Van Hulst family. They are a really cool family from the ward and diner was super good. We ended up sharing a spiritual thought from the Liahona, well I guess it’s the ensign back home. On Wednesday we had our second lesson with the Miracle Man from the post last Monday. It turns out he does not want to change he just wanted to learn more about us and stuff. He said it was mainly educational. So that was sad. He told us that he learned all he needed and did not want to meet with us anymore. After that we ate lunch and then we did some contacting the rest of the day till diner. For dinner we had dinner at the bishop's house. It was so cool. While we were at the table we got to talking about our lives before the mission and I told them that I loved watching tv series and movies, and Disney. The bishop's wife got intrigued because she loves tv series as well. She asked what my favorite was and I told her Once Upon a Time and she flipped out. She got super happy and said she loved that series as well and that she was just watching it before we came over haha. I told her not to tell me anything. I want to catch up when I get home. It was such a fun night and we really bonded with the bishop and his family that night. They gave us a family name to pass by so after diner we went and passed by. They asked us to come back next week. They were really busy so that was really cool. On Thursday we had a lesson with Abraham, a less active, and that night we had our meeting with the bishop and his counselors and our ward mission leader. The rest of the day we were either talking with people or eating and it was great. Not a whole lot of people super interested but we still talked to some really cool people. Then on Friday we normally do weekly planning but today we were way to busy which was really cool. In the morning we went and taught Darios, a recent convert. Then we had a lesson with an old investigator named Margaritta. Now we know why they stopped seeing her. It is because she does not really speak French. She speaks Romanian. Then we had a lesson with Jean, a less active. After that we headed to Patrick’s house and we headed up to Jacques and Chantal's house. We talked about the priesthood. After the lesson, we went and saw another old investigator, Jean-Pierre and his wife. They were really cool and after the lesson we all three felt that they could be ready for the gospel now. Then we went home and ate dinner. Saturday we did some contacting in the morning. Then we had lunch with Patrick. After lunch we went and saw a less active family and some of our investigators. That night we ended up just doing porting and nobody answered. It was a very long night. Then on Sunday Elder Turley gave a talk. It was really good. After church we ate lunch with Patrick again. Then we went and saw some more less actives. After that we ate dinner. Then finally we did our weekly planning, and that was our week. It was really crazy but super fun.

Missionary in Belgium

Dinant is the City which Aldof Sax is from the inventor of the saxophone, here is me and his statue

Me and his very first sax!

Here is me and a Sax, along this bridge there are saxophones all over from different European Countries that for an art project made a saxophone, this is from France.

Here is Adolf Sax's house.

The saxophone from Belgium.

Us in the citadelle where a fight broke out inside between the French and the Germans in the World War 1. A bomb actually blew up so this place is all lopsided. It's fun!

Me at the top of the Citadelle with Patrick, our ward mission leader.

Cannons were placed at the holes to shoot at the enemies.

The City of Dinant, so we went into that big Cathedrale which as the Dome top, and what they called a citadelle which is an old millitaty base used during wars and to protect a bridge, and this one was hit very bad in world war I so we get to go in and see a lot so the next pics will be of it.... The citadelle is at the top of the pic with the flag flying from it.

September 8, 2014

Well hey howdy! Hey everybody. I hope y'all had a great week this past week. My week was crazy full of miracles and fun stories. let me see if I can write them all down, Monday was our P-day. We really did nothing special that day just the usual stuff like cleaning and shopping. Right after we did Emails me and Elder Turley went and I pulled out money to buy our new bus passes. While I was at the ATM Elder Turley was at the door and this guy walked buy and then stood at the entrance. Then he turned around and asked Elder Turley if we were the Mormons and we said yes we are. He asked when can you pass by my house I want to talk to you and learn about your church. He fixed a rendez vous right there. It was so cool! Then we went to the bus place where we buy our bus/metro passes. We got there around 2:00ish and the line was crazy long. It was insane but we need our passes. So we waited and finally after a long time we finally get our passes. By the time we leave it’s nearly 7:00. Yea, it was insane! Almost everybody they had in front of us had a problem haha not fun! That night we had a lesson with an awesome ami (friend) named Emmanel. He is African and really believing. The lesson went great then we walked home. Tuesday we had our District Meeting in Bruxelles and that was super fun because we get to see all the missionaries serving in Belgium now. Then we headed back to Charleroi and did some contacting. That night we did some porting and while we were porting a lot of people were not interested. Of course like you see in the movies or hear from stories the last door we knocked on, the last one on the street this guy answered and we got to talk with him and even pray with him. It was awesome. On Wednesday we got to see our miracle man from the post and I don’t really know his name. He told us but I did not really understand it because it was really weird. Then after him we did some more finding and we even tried to pass by some old investigators and less actives that live in the area but nothing. That night we went to Jacques and Chantal's house and they gave us this really good cake made with SWEET POTATOES! It was really good so I took a picture of the recipe and will try and make it back home. Then on Thursday it was like a day of less actives so we saw Darios in the morning and then Abraham in the afternoon. Then we had some time to do some finding. Then we went to Patrick's house and we had DMP meeting. Then we went to the church and had ward council. Friday we had a finding day with both our mission and the south France mission where every 30 min we said a prayer for everybody in both missions. It was awesome! We really could feel everybody's prayers and we talked to tons of people and got some numbers and even taught some really cool people. Then on Saturday we had lunch with the Tricot family, a family in the ward. Then we did our weekly planning. We just did some finding the rest of the day, porting and contacting. On Sunday we had Church and it was sad. All of our lessons we had fixed cancelled on us so we spent the entire day finding as well. But sadly Saturday and Sunday not a lot of people wanted to talk to us, and that was my week.