My first real Christmas tree!

Hey everyone!

This week was pretty crazy. We spent most of the week in the car since it was the last week that we would have it before giving it to another companionship. We saw as many people as we could with the last few days.

Wednesday, President Poznanksi came down to Luxembourg for our district meeting. It was really good to see him. In the car he asked me how long it has been since I arrived in the mission. I told him it has been nine months and that all nine have been outside of France. He was shocked that it had been so long and then told me that if I repent I might get to go to France--the promised land. Haha That French man has jokes!  Little does he know that if that was true, I would never repent! Going back to Belgium sounds pretty good to me. No but for real, it was good to see him and he shared with us a super good message. He talked about right before Lazarus was resurrected when Jesus was talking to Martha. How she had faith that her brother would be resurrected but that she didn't believe it could happen right then. He compared it to us, we know that we can find new investigators and have success but do we believe we will have success now? It was good and it made everyone think--so that was good.

This week we were driving down the road and we saw a bunch of Christmas trees. I have always wanted a real one and so has my comp so the next thing we know, we were carrying a small, but real, Christmas tree up the 3 flights of stairs to our apartment. It was pretty awesome and I have now accomplished a life-long dream.

Friday we woke up early and drove through Belgium and into the top corner of France to give the missionaries there the car. We drove though Namur which was super exciting for me. Afterwards we snagged a couple trains back and we got to stop in Liège, which was part of my district when I was in Namur, and got some good Belgium fries. It was a pretty awesome day!

Saturday was the ward Christmas party. We had two investigators that came and the sister missionaries had three that came so that was really fun.

This week we have zone conference so we will be going to Paris Wednesday and then I have an exchange later on in the week so this week should be quick and then the next week is Christmas so that will be good. We have lunch planned with a less active family and dinner with my favorite family plus we are skyping at their house so I can't wait to introduce them to you all.

Well that's all for this week. Time sure is going by quickly. Erik, I can't believe you are home already! Go eat panda express for me!

Elder Lerdahl

Christmas is coming!

Hey everyone!

This week was a super boring week. Elder Kusseling and I have had colds all week which has really made things go slow. We had a pretty decent week number-wise though so that was good. Last Friday we went and saw a family that lives in France. We had fixed the rendezvous the week before but the family had completely forgotten about it. We pulled up and the father was outside shoveling snow. He looked up and we could tell he was not very happy. He invited us in and then got the family all together. We started talking to them and found out that they have really been struggling. We shared a message and just talked about how the gospel affects their lives. The father really opened up to us and it was pretty awesome. Right before we showed up he slipped and hurt his back and was just stressing about everything. He told us that he said a prayer asking for help and literally 30 seconds later we showed up. At the end of the appointment we were all shaking hands saying good-bye and when we went to shake his hand he grabbed us and gave us each a huge hug. It was such an awesome visit after what was a terrible day for him and for us. It is such a struggle to find people here who actually want help and want to become stronger or learn about the gospel and so when you have appointments like that it is that much more special to you.

Other than that nothing special has really happened. Everybody here is getting ready for Christmas. We have a couple members who have started inviting us over so that will be good. We are probably going to Skype Christmas day from the Olivers' house so that will be legit. It has been snowing here for the last week so that helped get everyone excited and Saturday is the ward Christmas party which will be rather interesting. We are hoping to have a lot of less-actives and investigators there.

This week the mission president is coming out to Luxembourg for our district meeting so we have to clean the apartment really good in case he comes and inspects it. We have to prepare for picking him up and the train station and that whole deal.That should be rather interesting as well.

Today we are going to check out Bastogne which is a pretty big World War II site. It is where the 101st airborne got pinned down by German artillery for winter. Then we are going to look and the Wall that France built to "keep" the Nazi's out (doesn't work so well when the just walk around it haha) I have heard it's cool though so that should be awesome.

Well that's it for this week hope you all are doing great.

Elder Lerdahl

Already December!

So this last week went pretty good. It was a pretty intense week which is normal for transfer weeks. I had an exchange last week with Elder Hunter who is awesome. During the exchange we felt the need to go visit a member, so we went and when we got there the member had a friend over. We talked with the friend a little about what we do and she was really open. We are hoping that we can do a family home evening with the member family and invite their friend over for it. 

Friday night we went to visit a partial member family and the same thing happened all over again. We got there and they hand a friend over. We started talking about the church and by the end of the visit the friend had a Book of Mormon and committed to come to the ward Christmas party and to church. It was awesome to also see the partial member family doing missionary work despite the fact that some of them are not members.

Sunday the miracles continued. A less active family that we have been working on has come to church for the last four weeks and are now considered active. They have even started inviting one of their friends to church and so we have given him a Book of Mormon and are planning on teaching him as soon as we can find a member who speaks Portuguese to translate for us. The other miracle was that a member from France came to church in Luxembourg and brought one of her friends along who lives in Luxembourg. He was really interested and we are going to go teach him this week.

This week was so awesome when it came to all the crazy things that happened, the best part about it is that it was all made possible by the members and the missionary work that they are doing.

Saturday we got our transfer emails. I am staying in Luxembourg at least another 6 weeks with the same comp. I am excited to spend Christmas here, the city has put of tons of decorations and it looks like it's a big deal here. There are huge Christmas trees on almost every street. My favorite family in the ward invited us over for Christmas so that should be awesome too.

Thanksgiving Bowl

Hey everyone!

This week was good as usual. I started the week of with an exchange with Elder Lee who is Tahitian. It is fun to talk to him about his home, it makes me want to go to Tahiti way bad--it sounds like paradise. Wednesday we spent the night in Metz and had a BBQ with the Elders there then the next day went to Strasbourg for the Turkey Bowl. Each companionship in the mission brought something for our Thanksgiving dinner and then we played football for about an hour and a half. It was a nice relaxing day and it was fun to see everyone and play football together. Afterward, we had a couple hours before our train so we got to walk around Strasbourg which is a way cool city near Germany. We had fun looking around and now I hope I serve there someday.

Last week we had a pretty good week. We went and visited a partial family and had a really good lesson with the husband who is not a member. The last missionaries that taught him really pushed him to get baptized and he had two baptism interviews that he did pass and so we have to be really careful with him cause he gets tense if you talk too much about baptism. I am excited to work with him though, he is cool and I think if we can help him to get a testimony of the Book of Mormon that he will be ready.

We have also been teaching all of our other people. We have one guy who I think will get baptized this coming transfer. He is really good and loves coming to church.

Other than that things have been the same old same old. This week is the last week of transfers so everybody is getting their predictions ready. I am hoping to stay in Luxembourg for at least one more transfer.

One of the highlights of my week was getting a package with Miller Motorsports Chapstick and decals. So here goes my shout out to Jason Shelley, thanks man you are the best, despite what everyone says about you at the track haha.

This week I have another exchange which will be good. It always makes the week go by super quick. We also found a Christmas tree in the apartment so we might set that up.

Hope you all are doing great.

Elder Lerdahl

Another Crazy Week

Hey everyone,

So this week was a pretty awesome week. Last Tuesday and Wednesday I went on an exchange with one of my favorite people in the district. We had a good time and worked hard so it was good. Last Friday we went down to Paris for mission conference. Elder Neil A. Andersen came and spoke to us. It was really cool because he served a mission in France and then was a mission President in France so he spoke to us in French for about half and then swapped to English. It was really cool to hear him speak and have it really directed towards you and what you're doing. I definitely got pumped up after the conference. It was also cool cause I got to see all my friends in the mission and talk to everyone for a little bit. Not to mention it's always fun to walk the streets of Paris on the way to the train station. There is definitely a feel to the city different from anywhere else.

Saturday we had an appointment with a new guy named Marco. He lived in the states for 8 years and there joined a church down in Florida. He moved back here and told us that he has been to different churches but has not felt anything special about any of them. He loves Jesus and accepted the first lesson really well. I am excited to keep teaching him and I am confident he will accept the gospel. One thing that was so cool is he told us all about how he tries to talk about the Bible and Christ with his friends. He is like 20 and could totally get baptized then go on a mission and share the gospel with everyone!

We also have a guy named Benga from Nigeria who has come to church three times and he told us he feels good when he comes. He even asked if he could come clean the church because he likes being here. We are going to invite him to be baptized this week. I am really excited for that!

Last night we went to a family's house in the ward and we taught their family about missionary work. The mom told us she has a friend who she recently connected with and that she had the impression that she needed to invite her to learn about the church. We gave her a Book of Mormon and committed her to invite her friend to come to church.

It has been a great week and things really picked up which has been nice because it has been slow lately. We taught 6 lessons this week which sounds like not a lot but for us it huge after the last 5 months in the area! Hopefully we can keep finding more people to teach.

This Thursday, we are going to play good ol' American football with a bunch of missionaries as our small celebration of Thanksgiving and I have another exchange so it should be great. We are also teaching the entire ward during a combined Sunday school so hopefully we will get some references!

Hope you all have a great thanksgiving, eat some pie for me!

Elder Lerdahl

C'est la vie, et la vie est fou!

Hey everyone!

So this week was pretty crazy-- just not normal at all. Last Tuesday I went on an exchange which went really well. We had a great time and did work. It was fun because we had the same trainer so we were able to laugh about all the crazy things that happened to us with our trainer. We meet this Romanian lady who I just know is gonna get baptized! The only problem is when we went to go meet her for the appointment, I think we had just missed her. It's okay though--we are gonna find her and I am gonna carry around a Romanian Book of Mormon until we do!

Wednesday we needed to switch comps back and Thursday we had zone conference so we just went down to Metz, France and spent the night all together. We worked as normal and then at 9:30 when we had an hour to do whatever--we had a huge BBQ. It was so good and it was a ton of fun. Thursday we had zone conference and interviews with President and Sister Poznanski. My interviews went well and it was nice to talk to President and just have that time to get counsel and  talk about the work and yourself a little. Yesterday we taught the young men's class at church. We are working really hard on getting the ward excited to do missionary work and so we have been teaching each class. Next week we are scheduled to teach the young women and I think we are gonna let the sister missionaries take that one haha!

This Friday, Elder Andersen is coming to our mission for our mission conference. Everyone is stoked. I think it will be great to hear an apostle speak specifically for us and our mission.

Tomorrow we are doing a skype session with Elders in Albania to teach one of our recent converts. I will be on an exchange so it will be a really cool experience for us to teach from English to Albanian and then back. It is so cool that we are able to do that and that the missionaries there in Albania can help us out!

Well that's the life, and the life is crazy!

Elder Lerdahl

Elder Lerdahl & Elder Kusseling

Transfer 5 Week 2

Hey everyone this week was pretty good. Last week I got to go on an exchange with one of the zone leaders and it was really awesome. I love it when you get to learn new things from new people and it seems like miracles always happen on exchanges. It was definitely the highlight of my week!

So last week we worked really hard to have lessons with members. Teaching with the members always goes so much better because you can integrate the investigator and it just works out perfect as long as you pick a good member. Last week we taught our investigator Loraine about baptism she was really a little hesitant about the whole thing but after a little while I think it got better. She finally committed to come to church. She didn't come, but hey at least she said she would try that is better than how it has been going. I think she is just nervous to go because it's new and all. Hopefully we can get her to come this next week.

During the exchange we were looking for where a less active lived and we saw some guys walking down the street and we stopped and talked to them. They invited us right into their apartment complex and introduced us to their friend who was interested. I love it when people who are not interested themselves refer you to someone. It makes missionary work so much easier. The friends name is Gaylor, (yes I had to stop myself from laughing and yes, I did think of the movie Meet the Parents.) Anyways he is pretty chill and I am excited to work with him. He loves the Bible so we will see how he takes the Book of Mormon. I am thinking he is gonna go crazy about it, that does seem to be the new thing for people who actually take the initiative to read it!

Things are going well with my Frenchie comp. Sometimes I find myself wanting to through all the French jokes of Talledega Nights--- I try to refrain. We are having fun and after just two weeks I feel the French coming so much more naturally and I am learning so many new words, some good and some well anyways... I am having a lot of fun and it is nice to be able to practice all day. I do however enjoy getting to speak English with some of the investigators and other missionaries. 

This week I have been dominating Jesus the Christ and that book is incredible! Read it!

Tomorrow I am going on another exchange and I am stoked. It is with my half brother in the mission (meaning we have the same trainer) so I am sure we will have a ton of fun. 

Well that is it for this week.

Elder Lerdahl

Transfer 5 Week 1

Hey everyone,

Transfer week is always crazy but this week was even crazier than normal. We spent a lot of Monday and Tuesday visiting people for Elder Manivanh to say goodbye to everyone and to prepare for the transfer. Wednesday we went to Paris to exchange comps. I was exciting because I got to see Elder Adams, my trainer, it's crazy how much I miss that guy haha! We spent a few hours there waiting for our training and then my new comp Elder Thomas Kusseling and I left to head back to Luxembourg. The worst thing in the world is trying to carry luggage through the metros of Paris! It is such a pain with all the people and stuff but we eventually got back to Luxembourg. Thursday we had a pretty normal day and taught Jonathon. We did an object lesson which worked really well.

You put water on a plate and the water represents us and then you sprinkle pepper in the water and the pepper is our sins. You then put two or three drops of dish soap on it, representing baptism and it cleans out the pepper to the sides of the plate. You then put a candle in the middle of the plate and put a cup over the candle. The candle represents the Holy Ghost, baptism by fire and the cup is the protection we receive by the guidance of the Holy Ghost. It sucks all the clean water into the cup and all the pepper is left on the plate! So by baptism and by the Holy Ghost we, or the water, are made clean! It is a good lesson especially when it works really well: We ended up setting a baptism date with him but have a lot of work to do.

Friday we went back to Paris for something called Mission Council. It's for Zone Leaders and invited District Leaders and their comps. I got to sit in and basically be involved in all the planning for the mission. It was a great experience to see a little bit of the back-end of the mission and how they create goals and prepare for special events. Elder Anderson is coming to our mission in November so we did a lot of preparing for that and set up a new goal for each companionship to have a family baptized in their area before Christmas. It is a pretty cool goal!

Saturday we taught another ami who is progressing really well. She told us that she can see her life getting better as she meets with the missionaries. I have a lot of hope for her, we just need to get her to church. After the appointment, we went to the ward Halloween party, it was a Trunk or Treat. You know that you have a lot of Americans in the ward when they do a Trunk or Treat haha! It was fun, we went and handed out candy and introduced my new comp to everyone and even meet some new potential investigators.

Elder Kusseling is really cool! He is from Lyon, France and we have been having a lot of fun together. I also have been speaking French all day and it's awesome! It is a huge blessing to have a native comp.

Well that is it for this week, I think we are going to have a pretty chill pday and just kick it and finish unpacking and all that which will be nice--transfers are always super tiring.

Hope you all are doing great.

Elder Lerdahl

Week 6 in Luxembourg

Hey Everyone!

So this week was pretty slow but it was good. My highlight was a less active visit that we went to. We met him about three weeks ago during what we call "reach out night" here. The ward gets together and splits up and then goes and invites less actives to activities and what not. So me and some members here went and invited a less active member to General Conference and a lunch think. The following Sunday he came to General Conference and really enjoyed it so we set up the appointment with him for last Thursday. When we got there he had definitely outdone himself! He had an apple tart, ice cream and fresh fruit all ready for us! He served a mission in Belgium and so we ended up just talking and getting to know him for about 40 minutes. He is way cool but unfortunately he told us he feels like he doesn't really have a place at church anymore because the path of the church is to get married and have a family and he is 40 and has not done that, or in his words he is off the path. He for sure has a place in the ward here! But I totally understand where he is coming from.  After that we were going to start talking about what we had prepared, but Elder Manivanh and I both got the feeling that we should do something different. I bore my testimony about the Book of Mormon and actively participating in the gospel and then Elder Manivanh shared Moroni 10: 3-5 with him. It is of course verses he has read hundreds of times but it was really powerful!  I have the feeling that as we read that the memories of himself hearing it when he was being taught by the missionaries, and then the memories of all the times he shared it with others on his mission came flooding back to him! At the end of the appoinment we committed him to come to church so that the Lord could bless him more in his life. He responded by saying that he couldn't for sure say if he would come but that he would think about it. Well, Sunday he came and I think he really enjoyed it! The ward all remembered him from about 7 years ago and it was just great!

The other highlight of my week is that I started reading Jesus the Christ. Wow is that book crazy! It took me a while to get into it because it is pretty deep stuff but after about twenty minutes, I was hooked! Yesterday during P-day I spent about an hour and a half just reading it!  I am learning so much about Christ and his divine mission.

Last Saturday we got transfer emails. Elder Manivanh is leaving and going to Dunkerque a small town in the north of France, and I am getting a new companion named Elder Kusseling. He is from Lyon, France and has been out just over a year I think. I talked to him on the phone and I think it will be a good transfer. I  will learn a lot of French and I have a feeling we will work hard and get along really well together. Sister Pymm, one of the sisters here in Luxembourg, is leaving too, but the other two sisters are staying. I am bummed to have Elder Manivanh and Sister Pymm leave, but I am also really excited for this transfer!

Other than all that, is was a pretty normal week. We have been struggling to find new people to teach and the investigators we have now are progressing very slowly but it has let us do some less-active and recent convert work so I guess that is not too bad. I am excited to get out there and find some new people to teach this transfer though! We have just got to find the elect!

Well that is it for this week hope you all are doing great and are excited for Halloween!

Elder Lerdahl

Transfers

So we just got transfer emails. I am staying in Luxembourg but unfortunately Elder Manivanh is leaving. My new comp is a Frenchman who speaks no English so that will be fun and good for me but tough for our English investigators. Should be good though.

Talk to you all Tuesday--love ya! 

Elder Lerdahl

Life Accomplishments

Hey everyone,

 

So this week was another pretty slow week. We did a lot of finding and I am so not even joking... we did a lot of finding meaning we taught one lesson the entire week, so yeah that really honestly just sucked. But hey this week I did accomplish some lifelong goals. The first one and the one I am the most proud of is that I officially used an entire tube of chapstick! Normally I lose them or they melt or something, but oh no, I finished that sucker and it lasted a solid year. The downside to this accomplishment is that it was pretty much the best chapstick I have ever had it my life and chapstick is really important when you have Angelina Jolie lips.  So the first person who sends me a tube of chapstick from Miller Motorsports Park is pretty much going to be my favorite person in the whole wide world! The second lifelong accomplishment is that I finished the bible, and yes I know that is not nearly as impressive as the chapstick, but it's still kind of a big deal.

So yesterday I went on an exchange with my district leader. He is from Tahiti and only speaks French. It was a lot of fun to speak French all day and I learned some new words to add to my vocabulary so that was actually pretty sweet. Here in Europe they have things called Kabob shops and they are meat that is just left in like a light heat thing and it's only here because I am pretty sure they are against the food safety thing in the states. But they are so freakin' good and I don't know why that is important other than I like them and I had one this week. I also made lemon bars this week which really hit the spot. The only thing I need now is cheesecake! So Monday I am gonna buy a kit to make one. Elder Manivanh cooks and bakes a lot so I am learning from him.

The biggest thing that happened this last week is we were able to help one of our recent converts. His family has been giving him a really hard time about the church and he only speaks Albanian. So we called the missionaries from Albania and they called him and talked to him and then we gave him a blessing and iI translated it into Albanian and gave him a typed copy of it. The guy totally went from depressed to happy just like that. The coolest part was that he was instantly much happier before he even got the translated copy of the blessing!  It was really cool--he has been making it back out to church and everything too so that has been awesome. 

We have been finally finding some new people so know we just need get some appointments fixed with them and start teaching them. I am hoping a couple of them turn into new investigators.

This weekend we get transfer emails. I am pretty sure I am staying in Luxembourg but it will be super interesting to see what happens in our district. I really like everyone now so I am nervous for it.

Well that is about it for this week. I hope you all are doing great.

 

Elder Lerdahl

Chicken Feet Soup

Bonjour à tous.

Well what a crazy week!  Last Friday was a pretty good day! We always make a really good dinner because Fridays we have something called weekly planning which is where we plan for the next week. So we do our planning while things are cooking. Anyways  Elder Manivanh made me Chicken feet soup! It was a little different at first but all in all it was pretty dang tasty. I have some good photos of me chowing down--haha it was a blast. 

Saturday we knew that nobody was going to go to the church to watch conference so we stopped off at the grocery store and got some candy and snacks and then went the church for conference which started at 6:00 because of the time difference. We watched the Saturday morning session Saturday night, the Saturday afternoon and Priesthood Sunday morning and the Sunday morning on Sunday night. I still haven't seen Sunday afternoon. So we got all our candy and went and one of our Amis actually came so we were super excited! He speaks English and German so we got to watch conference in English with one family that came, the sister missionaries and our ami Jonathon. It was awesome listening in English because I hate listening to a translator when I know that's not what the people's voices sound like. So anyways after the session I started talking to the ami about everything and he told me he wanted to join the church! so I asked him if he knew what he would have to do (he already has been taught the first three lessons) and he was like "yeah i gotta have faith in Christ, repent, be baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." I was thinking yeah buddy we are gonna have a baptism soon! so I asked him why he wanted to get baptized and he said he wanted to because he knows that this church is the true church. So I am on cloud 9 trying to keep myself under control. We invited him to go to conference the next day and figured out a ride for him and everything. So the next day he came for one of the sessions and we introduced him to everyone and since we had a member there we decided to grab the member and teach him the word of wisdom. So we go in and we start teaching him all about the word of wisdom and we explain the blessings and testify and then we go to commit him and he said, "I want to be a member because I know its the true church but I like smoking and I refuse to quit" Man I just about flipped a lid and wanted to call this man to repentance and then it clicked and I said to myself "How many times do you sin knowing better?" It really made me think a lot about how Christ just asks us to follow him and to do our best. Luckily most people are willing to try to do their best, but him refusing to try taught me another lesson. I have heard that as missionaries we will experience a fraction of the sorrow that Christ feels. It really was a heavy blow to have someone you are working with tell you despite their testimony, they refuse to accept and obey the things we are asked to do. All we can do is keep trying. We are going to try and work with him a little more and I hope it clicks for him. 

So anyways conference was really good. My favorite talks were definitely Elder Holland's and Elder Packer's. I just finished the book Believing Christ and I feel like I know so much more about the atonement and then while listening to those to talks I just felt the spirit so strong. It was great! I also really enjoyed something Elder Nelson said. It was something along the lines of our desire is based on our worthiness, personal conversion, and preparation. That really made me think too. All in all conference was awesome and after president Monson's announcement about the new ages for missionaries I am stoked to hear about some mission calls. I am sure glad I was 19 because at 18 I would have been terrible and would not have gone for the right reasons even if somehow I ended up going, but I think that it will be great for those who are ready to leave to not have months of waiting.

Well those are the big things that went down this week. I hope you all enjoyed conference!

Elder Lerdahl

Luxembourg Week 3

Hey everyone,

 

So this last week has been pretty slow for us as far as the work goes. The elders from Metz have a car and we got to use it last week so we just went around doing as much less-active work as possible because our area is so big. It was so nice to have a car for a week! I felt like the days went by so much faster because we were constantly moving from person to person and didn't have to wait for buses and stuff.

The biggest thing that happened last week was that one of the sister missionaries went home, she was pretty sick and was having a hard time so she went home and that day they sent in two more sisters so now there are three. They are all pretty cool and one of them is from my MTC group so it's cool to catch up and stuff. This last Monday we actually went shopping with the sister missionaries which we can do now because there are three of them and it's a public place. So anyways, afterwards we were helping them get all there groceries home and we can't go in their apt building and they didn't want to carry their stuff up the stairs so they went upstairs and we just threw everything up to them on their balcony. It was pretty ridiculous! All of the neighbors were looking at us and laughing--it was a good time. We managed to throw everything up to them safely except for a bottle of shampoo haha! So there is an easy way to get your groceries home if you live in a building without an elevator!

Anyways, yesterday I went on an exchange with one of the other Elders in the district--it was pretty fun. All of our rendezvous cancelled but we were able to get a few phone numbers and had a good time chatting about all kinds of things. He told me about something called the "Heartland Theory," it's a theory of where the Book of Mormon took place. It makes a lot of sense and was pretty cool. It's crazy to meet so many people from so many different ways of life and to talk and share crazy stuff with each other. It definitely makes a long day of contacting more fun. I actually had a pretty fun time contacting with him--we tried all kinds of different ways to get people's interest and to get their phone numbers. The best part of contacting is you just never know what you are gonna get. Yesterday we had an Italian Buddhist lady... I thought that was rather weird.

Well that was pretty much it for this week other than I found a copy of Believing Christ in our apartment. It's not in the missionary library but it definitely should be. I think everyone should read that book it is crazy good and helps make you realize the impact of the atonement.

 

Elder Lerdahl

La semaine c'était bien passé

 La semaine c'était bien passé

Hey,

 

So this last week was good. I have been having a lot of fun here in Luxembourg. Elder Manivanh and I are getting along really well and I am starting to really like some of the amis and members. We also have sister missionaries in Luxembourg so whenever we have church meetings and stuff we meet with them and the church leaders and that's always fun. I thought it would suck to have sisters in the district but it is actually fun--who would have guessed that haha!

So this last week church was nuts, here they have translators and church is translated into Spanish, Portuguese, English, and sometimes German. It's pretty nuts to just have people sitting there with headphones on, and then if an English speaker speaks they say something and then they pause and someone stands next to them with another microphone and translates it. It's kind of fun to know English and French because every once in a while the translation is different. 

Last Saturday we played soccer again and I scored a goal and had an assist. Everyone said I improved a bunch from the first week so that was good. I have been practicing at the apartment haha! We have a hallway and it leads directly into the bathroom and from the hallway you can see the toilet so I have been kicking the soccer ball trying to aim for the toilet bowl! I am improving and have managed to make it in a few times. I am loving this whole soccer thing! Every time I score or do something good I yell "AMERICA!" It's fun stuff! We play with a bunch of English people and I missed a goal and this one kid yelled, "Elder you bum!" in a ridiculous accent. I cracked up so bad! They also call me a knocker and tell me I am rubbish so that always makes me laugh.

Last week we went to see a member and they lived on the border of Luxembourg and Germany so we took the long way back to the bus stop (meaning we walked ten minutes in the complete opposite direction) and we went to Germany. I can now say I served my mission in Germany too!

I feel like this week's email is not very spiritual so here is something more in the lines of the gospel. I finished the Book of Mormon in French for the first time. Most elders in the mission don't read in French so I am rather proud of myself. I am also getting close to finishing the Old Testament. We also managed to have some really good lessons. We are working on getting Sabri, a recent convert, the priesthood and tomorrow we are going to challenge someone to get baptized so hopefully they accept. There is a goal for every set of missionaries to get a baptism this transfer so that would be 78 baptisms so hopefully we get one. We get a car this week so we have a super busy week planned out. We are going to go visit all of the people that live further away and are hard to get to so that should be good.

 

Well that is just about it for this week. I feel like things are getting more and more normal like lessons and stuff are just the usual so there is not as much to write about.

 

Dane

Moyen--Hello from Luxembourg

Moyen, ('hi' in Luxembourgish)

 

This country is pretty crazy and all the keyboards are different and it is driving me nuts. So anyways I took a train last week down here. It was only about two hours so that was nice. Saying goodbye to people in Namur was really weird but everyone was telling me to come back and visit so that is pretty sick. Luxembourg is insane! They speak so many different languages. Luxembourgish, German, French, Portuguese, Spanish and English. What sucks is so many people speak Portuguese. But hey, it's okay, I am learning. Haha not really, it's a whacked language--no offense Matt. But I can now say, "I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ," then I just give them a pamphlet. Who would have guessed that I would be carrying around stuff in Portuguese!

So anyways this place is super nice. It's got to be the cleanest, richest city in the world which has upsides and downsides. We are constantly saying we need to find the ghetto cause poor people accept the gospel. Unfortunately the ghetto here is still super nice. I have spoken tons of English here because most the people that know German and Luxembourgish know English too, but I need to speak more French! Me and my comp speak it here and there just to use it. My comp is Elder Manivanh, he is from Washington but his parents are from Laos originally. He has been out about 3 months longer than me and this is his third transfer in Luxembourg so that is good he knows the ville really well. He is super chill and we are getting along really well. I am sure we will have a fun transfer together.

So far things have been kinda slow. We are in the process of trying to find new people to teach. So far we have found two so that is good but this week we definitely need to find some more. We do have a recent convert that I just freakin' love though. His name is Sabri and he is Albanian. The only way the elders could teach him is through google translate and Skype with missionaries in Albania, so that is cool. It's always crazy to teach him.

The ward here is super cool we have an awesome DMP and we go to his house every Friday after our meeting with him. He is English so that is kinda fun.

So anyways, every Saturday we play soccer with a bunch of people so now I am joining the cool missionaries like Matt and Erik and playing soccer! I did quite well surprisingly, I scored two goals and had an assist. I am looking forward to playing again.

Well that is about everything I have to say this week. So far I like it here, but it is definitely a huge adjustment.

 

Elder Lerdahl

Goodbye Namur! September 10, 2012

Hey Everyone!

 

So this last week was pretty normal. Nothing super special happened other than the transfer email. We did teach Mary-Claire the word of wisdom and it went really well. She accepted the committment to quit smoking and after she quits she is pretty much ready for baptism! I am bummed that I won't be there for it especially cause I feel like I am the Elder that really connected with her and stuff but oh well. Luxembourg is pretty close to Namur but I still wouldn't be able to go to her baptism. Elder Fish who was in the MTC with me is coming to Namur! I spoke with him on the phone the other day and he is excited. I am gonna write him a letter and leave it in the apartment so that I can make sure my people here in Namur are taking care of.

Out of our district of 6 missionaries, 3 of us are leaving so the transfer email was pretty crazy. I am super excited to go to Luxembourg despite being a little sad to leave Namur. I talked with Elder Manivanh last night and after talking to him I just had a really good feeling about going to Luxembourg and this transfer. I think I am going to really have a lot of fun and do work with my new comp! Since Namur is really close to Luxembourg a lot of the members know people who live in Luxembourg. People kept coming up to me yesterday at church and telling me about all their friends down there. Saying goodbye to the ward was weird with Namur being my first ville. I am gonna miss a couple people but hey the bishop said I always have a place to crash so I will have to just come back and kick it in Namur after my mish for a few weeks! 

Today we went to the store and Beebee bought me a white shirt. She does that for all the missionaries who serve in Namur/ It was super nice of her and I am stoked to have a new shirt. I feel like after only six months all my shirts are getting gross. Plus the shirts here fit so much better-- they don't have all the extra space around your sides so i am diggin' that. Today I have to pack and then tomorrow we are basically just saying goodbye to people. We are having dinner at one of my favorite family's house and I am excited cause we always have Mexican food and good gospel discussions haha! Then Wednesday morning I am jumping on a train with Elder Glover and we are heading down to our new villes. I am stoked that Glover will be in my Zone still so I will see him everyone once in a while. I also talked with my new district leader, he is a native French speaker and does not know a whole lot of English so I think that will be good! The more I am forced to speak French the better.

So here is what I know of Luxembourg so far. They are super rich, apparently everything there is expensive and everyone is loaded so that will be interesting. I am gonna have to be careful with money which will be a new experience for me. There are 4 missionaries in the Country of Luxembourg. This transfer it will be me, my comp and two sister missionaries. It t is kinda cool to think that I am one of four missionarys in the country even if it's a tiny country. They speak a lot of French and German there, but I know a missionary who served there that said that there are also a lot of Portugese and Spanish speakers there as well. I am looking forward to going and checking it out!

Well that is it for this week!

 

Elder Lerdahl

TRANSFERS!

I have been transfered to Luxembourg so I will be one of the few missionaries in the mission who serves in three countries! I will be there with Elder Manivanh who I dont know so should be fun!

My new address is:

Elder Dane Lerdahl

Les Missionaires

6,rue Arthur Herchen 

1727 Luxembourg

I am sad to leave Namur but Luxembourg should be pretty sick. I hear they are rich down there so that will be interesting.

Love ya all

Elder Lerdahl

Pictures and the Flan Suck Video

Me, Grace, Elder Harris & Kabba

Elder Beckstrand and I

Candy I found at the Dr. Pepper Store. Camel's Balls. Ha Ha!

Me, Beebee, Elder Glover & Andy

Store by our apartment

Door to our apartment is on the right...risque storefront!

Another Week Down!

Hey Everyone,

 

So this week was pretty sweet. Last Monday I gave the lesson at family home evening and it went really well. I was able to use some personal experiences and stories which is something I don't do very much because the past tense sucks in French haha, but it went well and I think everyone that was there enjoyed the lesson. Tuesday we went to a zone meeting and we had two different trainings. The one I really enjoyed and hope to apply the things I have learned. The other was good too but I find often now, especially at church, that I want to go so much deeper into the doctrine and the "why" when learning about the gospel. I guess that is one reason personal study is so important is that you can go into as much detail as you want. There is this guy in the ward here in Namur who translated Jesus the Christ into French. I thought that was cool! I am gonna pick his brain one of these days.

After our meeting Elder Glover and I, who is six weeks younger that me in the mission, went to Namur. I was so exciting, some of the people in the mission call us twins because we have such similar personalities. It was so much fun! We laughed and joked so much and I learned that who you are with is just as important as what you are doing. We did a ton of contacting and porting which usually is not my favorite thing to do but I had so much fun. 

Tuesday night we taught Mary Claire, the sister of Odette. It was a solid lesson and we fixed a baptism date! I am super excited about it even though I will probably leave before the date. Other than that is was a pretty normal week. Yesterday we went to the Bishop's house after church and had root beer floats. Not really my favorite American dessert but holy cow root beer-- I miss that stuff!  He special ordered it at the store for us-- I was stoked! After we went to a rendez-vous with the bishop and taught our ami Stephan. We talked a lot about faith and I felt really good about it so hopefully he starts coming to church. One of the hardest things for me is seeing how much potential someone has and then seeing them not acting. I makes me think that as missionaries or other various callings in the church, and parents too that we see a glimpse of the sadness our Heavenly Father must feel when people choose to reject the gospel or don't live up to their potential. It is a sucky feeling but there is also nothing better that seeing someone accept the gospel and start changing their lives to follow Christ!

This afternoon we are going over to Beebee's and she is teaching me how to make her Curry, oh my it is so good! Since we eat at her house every Sunday for dinner, on Sundays at about 4 I start craving curry so bad so now I will be able to make it whenever, yeah buddy! This week I spent 14 euros on groceries. I am pretty happy about that. I also found a store that sells Dr. Pepper near our house so I have been taking advantage of that. And I never thought it would happen but I am now digging mineral water. It is so good here. Well this week I hit my 6 month anniversary of my mission that is prety weird! This Saturday I find out if I get transferred. My guess is that I will be, so that is a bummer but also exciting. Well that is pretty much it for this week, I hope you all are doing well!

 

Elder Lerdahl

Just Another Week in Paradise

August 27, 2012

Hey everyone!

 

This week flew by so fast which was awesome. Last Monday was a crazy day with figuring out all the plans for Amandine, but I am so happy she got there safe and that you all are having a fun time. Tuesday we had district meeting and after had lunch, Sister Okelberry made enchiladas which were the best thing ever after not having Mexican food forever We then did a flan suck which is a tradition with all the missionarys here. I will send a video eventually, but you have to eat a pudding cup thing of flan without your hands as fast as you can. It is about as crazy as we can get during district meeting haha.

After that we started our exchange. I went with Elder Reed back to Namur. We had a couple of Rendez-vous and they were awesome! It is so awesome when you and your comp are on the same page and you are teaching in unity, it makes the lessons so much more powerful! Tuesday night we went to Beebee's It is a tradition to eat at her house on exchanges so she can meet all the new missionaries. Wednesday we swapped back comps and we then went and painted a room in a member's house. Service is one of my favorite things cause you get to just be chill and help people. After we went and had a rendez-vous with Odette and her sister in law Mary-Claire. We taught the plan of salvation and it went really well. The best part about it was then on Sunday, Mary-Claire showed up at church and after sunday school (I taught the lesson on the final jugement, which you think would not be the most encouraging happy lesson for someone at church for the first time) she told the bishop that she wanted to go to the temple! He told her that she would have to get baptized and she just said okay that's fine. It is so crazy how one or two solid lessons can make a huge difference!

Thursday was a pretty boring day so on to Friday:. Friday we went to a less active member's house to teach him and his wife who is not a member. I love teaching them because he is trying to get active and help his wife accept the gospel. I love seeing members testify-- it was awesome! He has been coming to church the last few weeks so that's been great.

Saturday we went down to the red cross center and taught Grace and Kabba. The rendez-vous went well and it was great to see them after a few weeks. Vacance is coming to an end and so we are starting to get more rendez-vous which has been really nice. Sunday was a pretty chill day too we had a lot of people that we have been working with show up to church so that was great! We are going to try and fix three baptism dates this week so I am excited for that. Today we are probably going up to the Citadel and probably do some shopping so that will be fun and then tomorrow I have an exchange wilth one of my favorite elders in the district so this week should be great!

 

Well that is it for this week.

 

Elder Lerdahl

Week 15

Hey Everyone!

 

We had a pretty normal week here in Namur. It's the last few weeks of vacance so people are still out of town but it is getting better. This week we were able to meet with Stephan, he is from Tongo and has been meeting with the missionaries for forever. He knows everything really well but just gets hung up on the stuff you have to just accept and take on faith. We read Alma 32 with him and I think we finally got through his head the importance of acting on faith. I am excited to have another rendezvous with him this week. I am using a little bit of personal study each day to try and find scriptures and talks to answer all the things he has concerns with.

Last Tuesday Odette's brother died. It was pretty expected but it was weird cause the week before when he was in the hospital she was talking to us about how he is super faithful and believes in Christ and everything. I gave her a photo of Jesus Christ to take to put in his hospital room. Well she told me last Thursday while we were at like a viewing thing that she put the picture in the coffin with him. I thought that was interesting but she was happy about it and kept just talking about how grateful she is for Heavenly Father and for the Spirit that she feels all the time. It is nice to see that she is really holding strong and she is doing a lot of missionary work with her friends and family. I hope we get to start teaching some of them.

So last Thursday we went to the Badoux's house for dinner. They are a family in the ward who are super cool and have been having the missionaries over for dinner every Thursday for 20 years. Well anyways I was talking to Alexendre who is like 13, he went to another members house to do some gardening and stuff to make some money. Well he ended up helping to take care of the horses that day and I asked how many horses the family had. He told me they had two horses and one ass (donkey). Right after that his grandpa who is like 80 yells, no they don't when you are there they have two asses! It was the highlight of my day so its definitely email worthy this week.

So on the upside, this week I did not get robbed but I kinda wish I had something excited to talk about like that Matt!  I am glad they did not steal your camera, Matt, that would suck. We were not able to go to the refugee center this week. Kabba is in Bruxelles so we are hoping to go this week.

So last Wednesday we had a leak in our bathroom. The water line that goes to the toilet was leaking due to a bad seal. I called the guy in charge of our apartment and he told me if I thought I could fix it to go for it so we went to a hardware store called Brico ( its like a Homedepot  and it felt so much like home in there ) and I bought some plumbers tape and a seal. We went home and I was able to fix it. I was super happy because we had a working toilet again and I felt rather accomplished haha!

Tomorrow we have an exchange. I am staying in Namur with Elder Reed, our district leader I am super excited! We have a lot of good rendezvous planned and Wednesday we are painting a room in Beebee's house. I love doing service-- you just feel so good about yourself afterward. Speaking about service I am teaching family home evening on service tonight so that is cool!

 

Well that is it for this week:

 

Elder Lerdahl

Week 14

Hey everyone!

 

So it has been a really weird week here in Namur!  It is vacance right now so everyone is on vacation and so it has been super hard to see all of our ami's. It also has been weird to kinda lead the ville. Elder Harris doesn't know all the members and amis so I have been working double time trying to help him get to know everyone. We also have done a ton of contacting, President has asked us to make the first two weeks of each transfer "finding weeks" so we have been in the process of doing that.

This week was actually pretty decent contacting wise but we had two cool experiences in particular, last Wednesday we had a pretty cool experience. We left the apartment and went out to do some contacting.  We stopped in a park and after an interesting conversation and just thinking for a few minutes we then said a prayer together. After, we just started walking and I contacting the first lady I saw. She was carrying groceries and was struggling with her two bags so I offered to help her. We grabbed the bags and starting walking with her meanwhile presenting our message. We got to her place and gave her a restoration pamphlet but were not able to get her number she was pretty strong protestant but i felt good knowing we helped her with the groceries. (I heard a statistic that on average people have to be exposed to the missionaries 7 times before they will listen to the message - so there is one of 7 for her ha!) Anyways we left and I contacted the next person I saw. We ended up talking for like 20 minutes. We got her number and gave her a Book of Mormon. She had a lot of questions so I am super excited to see what comes of it!

Another cool experience is last Sunday we were walking down the road and it was right about at the time to head in for dinner. I decided to just give it a few more to contacts instead of being a few minutes early to head in for dinner. I stopped a guy and he said he was interested in learning more. We got a rendezvous set up but he was reluctant on giving out his number. I didn't want to be pushy so I just took the rendezvous. Well yesterday we went to the park that we were supposed to meet at and I honestly was expecting for this guy to not show up because it had been a whole week since we set the appointment. I kept telling myself to have faith and about 3 minutes later he showed up and even brought a friend! The rendezvous went pretty well and we got his number and set another rendezvous with him and his friend.

 

One other thing that was cool is the other day we were walking to an appointment and a guy walked past us turned around and asked if we were the Mormons. I said yes.  So anyways after we talked for a while we found out that he is a member but has been inactive for like 15 years. He just moved to Namur because of a divorce and when he saw us figured he would talk to us. We set a rendezvous up and went and read the Book of Mormon with him. It was really cool and we are gonna work on getting him integrated with the ward.

 

Things with our amis have been pretty slow: People keep committing to go to church and don't show up: It is disheartening when the people who have the means to get to church don't want to the and people that want to go don't have the means. This week should be a lot better we have been able to set some rendezvous up for the next few days and a few of the guys from Elders quorum have offered to come teach with us and help us out so that is really excited. Hopefully we can use the members to invite the amis to church and offer rides and stuff like that.

 

Last week we were not able to go to the refugee center but I am super excited to go this week and see how Grace and Kabba are doing. We also have our rendezvous with the guy I contacted and we are gonna try and set some up with the other people we have been contacting too!

 

Well that is about it for this week. It was definitely a week of finding. The last thing I'll talk about it we are working with Andy (Beebees son) to quit smoking. He is a little handicapped from a car accident so it is slow progress but he got emotional about the word of wisdom and promised to try and quit. I am super excited for him. Just working with him on little things has been one of the best things about Namur. We have a good friendship. He prays for an elder that served here before me every prayer and the other day he told me I am his favorite along with Heavely Father and that other elder. Sure enough the next prayer he prayed for me and the other elder. It was pretty funny. He also reads the Book of Mormon and every time it says God, he substitutes Heavenly Father-- it is awesome!

 

Well hope you all are doing well

 

Elder Lerdahl

Week 13

Sorry for not getting these out sooner everyone! Cory and I have been in Florida at Disney World and his grandparent's place. Sorry for the delay on the last two weeks!
Love you all!
McKenzie

Hey everyone!

 

So this week was pretty interesting with Elder Adams leaving and Elder Harris coming in. Last monday was the start of many goodbyes but it was good because we saw a lot of people. Last Tuesday we had our last district meeting. The last district meeting of each transfer we mostly just talk about the lessons that we have learned that transfer and then the missionaries who are leaving the district bare their testimonies. It was weird to have Elder Adams and Elder Barney (district leader)  give their testimonies. Luckily they still have a while left in the mission so I will see them again soon.

After district meeting we all had lunch together:. We had foo-foo which is like this African dough stuff that you dip in a sauce with onions, hamburger, and peppers--lots of peppers. I didn't really like it because of the dough stuff but it was fun to experience what all the African missionaries in the Congo must experience. It was also super nice to have lunch all together to celebrate the end of the transfer. Elder Reed, one of my favorite missionaries in our district, is our new district leader. I am super excited to have exchanges with him and his blue Elder Glover who I knew in the MTC and get along with really well.

After district meeting we caught a train back to Namur and started going to everyone's houses to say goodbye. It was a crazy day! We saw five different families and I swear each one has a dessert or something prepared. We went to the Istace family's house for dinner and had Tacos which is one of my favorite things to eat here. We have only had them three times and it's always with people who served missions in the US so it makes me feel more like I am at home.  After we hit up all the families in the ward we went to see Beebee, man that was a rough goodbye. She pretty much has nobody else here in Belgium except the ward and the missionaries so each Elder she gets really attached to. She did pretty good and only cried a little saying goodbye to Elder Adams. It was so funny though cause we got saying that we needed to go and she was bargaining with us ha! She is always asking for us to stay another 10 minutes. After Beebees we went back to our house and started getting everything ready for the next day. It was a weird night.

Wednesday we were up bright and early to finish getting ready to leave. We then left and went to catch our train. We had to go to Bruxelles to meet up with another elder and then all three of us were taking a TGV train which is one of the world's fastest trains to Paris from Bruxelles. We all got to Bruxelles early so we decided to take an earlier train to Paris we went and talked to the ticket person and there were no more available seats but the cool thing is first class was only 2 euros more so we jumped on the opportunity and got to ride first class. We enjoyed complimentary drinks and snacks for the hour to Bruxelles. It was fun to be living the first class lifestyle for a little bit. We then got to Paris and had to take a few metros to get to the church. Turns out metros with a bunch of suitcases is not the funnest thing! I don't get how people go on vacation and use metros here to get to the airport. We eventually got to the church and there was a pleasant surprise waiting for me, a package from Aunt Charisty and the rest of the family! I was super stoked to have some more peanut butter and some drink mixes. I then checked the mail bin and finally got my pants (for some reason they were super long but Beebee hemmed them for me so they are perfect now thanks mom for sending them). Then i found Elder Harris and we took of back to Bruxelles and then to Namur.

Elder Harris is from South Carolina he has been out on his mission for 17 months and is a pretty quiet guy. It's been interesting to work with him so far because he is a lot different from Elder Adams but its good. I am learning a lot still and we are getting some good work done.

Thursday we went to dinner at Beebee's house so she could meet Elder Harris. She did really good the first time I was there. At first, every time she saw me she cried thinking of the last elder that I replaced haha! So this time was better and she didn't cry at all. It was also a good time for us to see each others teaching styles a little more. Friday we went to the Red Cross Center and saw our boy Kabba and Grace his buddy. Kabba is working on getting train tickets figured out so he can keep coming to church. Grace is one of my favorite amis we meet him through Kabba and I was the first missionary to really teach him because when we are at the center we kinda split up and one of us teaches Grace and anyone else who wants to listen and the other one teaches Kabba the new member lessons and stuff. Grace is super christian and quotes the bible all up and down on me but in a good way and so I always show him that the Book of Mormon is the same and even expands on the bible! This last week we read 3 Nephi 11 together and talked about the importance of the priesthood and having the authority to baptize and lead Christ's church. He committed to read and he already prays so I am super stoked to see where things go. At the end of the lesson he gave an awesome prayer and I just got fired up about doing missionary work!!

Later that night we had ward counsel and that went well. Saturday we had a BBQ with a bunch of the members at the Badoux house and they even invited some neighbors that were not members so that was awesome.  Saturday we went and had a lesson with Badia and Raphael J. Raphael is a member and his wife has gotten some of the lessons but has not really been progressing the last transfer. We watched the restoration and just answered questions and shared our testimonies. I was stoked when the next day Brother J. was at church for all three meetings: Badia didn't come but getting Brother J. there was a huge step, he hasn't been in a long time!

Sunday was a pretty good day! There were two missionaries who served in Namur who came back to visit. So church was super happening. Elder Harris is a little shy so he didn't talk to a ton of members at church and stuff but luckily the members are super friendly so he is making good progress with getting to know the members. After church we went and saw one of our less actives who wasn't at church. She was offended by some of the ward members so now she refuses to go. It was a crazy rendezvous. I was surprised by how bold I ended up being. I told her that she has a testimony and she has made a  covenant with Heavenly Father so she needs to continue to renew that covenant and that that trumps her problems with the members. Luckily I get to hand that one over to the bishop which I am glad about. I don't want to deal with Namurs own little version of Jersey Shore. Just kidding.

 

All in all it was a pretty good week. I was forced to talk a lot more and I am so grateful for the gift of tongues. I feel like I was able to really talk clearly enough for people to understand and then the week went well and that we had some awesome lessons. Today we are mostly just chilling and getting all the little stuff down like laundry and grocery shopping. It will be nice to relax since the last couple pdays where filled with all kinds of different stuff. I have been getting mail now so I get to write some letters today too. It should be a chill day and tomorrow its right back to work:

 

-Elder Lerdahl

Pictures from Week 11-12

Visiting the Castle

Kabba's Baptism

Week 12

Hey everyone!

 

So this week was kinda interesting. Last Wednesday we had zone conference and last Thursday legality which means you have to go to Bruxulles and fill out paperwork and all kinds of stuff to be legal. So I feel like most of last week was running around catching trains.

All of our amis are doing the same old same old. I am hoping to find some new ones this week to try and teach. Pres told us to find young families so I have a lot of work to do. Last Monday we went to lunch and I got a real bacon cheeseburger. I love some good American food! We went with some of the young adults in the ward and then we went to the Citadel here in Namur. It was a fun p-day.

So zone conference was pretty good. We went and the zone leaders gave a hour long training and then President talked for about an hour. It's amazing how when you go to church or a church meeting with a question how it always seems to be answered if you are attentive and are trying to listen to the Spirit. After our training we had interviews with President. He said I am doing well and that I need to really work hard this next transfer and that he wants me to be ready for a leadership or training position soon. I think he likes to have missionaries take on new roles when they are young in the mission which is something I totally do not want at all but it was nice to have him tell me I am doing well. I think I am a little hard on myself with the language. All of the other missionaries that were in my MTC group are pretty much at the same place I am.

Thursday we went into Bruxelles and I got to see everyone from my MTC group. It was so fun to see them all and to see how everyone is doing and where they are at with the language and everything. Everyone is doing well. We did are legality and then had about 2 hours to grab lunch and hang out in Bruxulles. We went to a kabob shop which is the best/most disgusting lunch ever then went and saw the "Manneken Piss" and to get the famous Belgian waffles with whipped cream chocolate and fresh strawberries. It is amazing that people come around the world to see a statue of a little boy peeing. You might as well just go to the nearest Italian restaurant (Buca de Beppos). It's cheaper and you get dinner ha ha!  Don't worry though Morgan, McKenzie and Mom, I got you all a souvenir of the "Manneken Piss."

Well after that we all went back to our areas. It was kind of a pretty chill day so that was nice. Saturday we went to Beebee's house for lunch and checked for transfer emails. I am staying in Namur for at least another 6 weeks! My new comp is Elder Harris. I have heard good things about him!  He is in Brest, France right now and has been out for I think exactly a year longer than me so it will be good to learn from him. Elder Adams is going to Antony, France which is just south of Paris: He is gonna miss Namur but is looking forward to the new area: Sunday he said Goodbye to everyone at church and there was a old missionary who came to visit. I know him cause he was the AP when I came in and he left a day after I arrived. We got to go to a nice BBQ that some of the members threw for him. It was fun to be around the members some more and I was able to get some advice from him on how to really take lead of Namur and keep things going the way that they are. We spend most of Sunday saying goodbye to people. Today we did some final solds shopping and are going to family home evening and passing another set of members. Tomorrow we have district meeting and more member visits for Elder Adams to say goodbye to people. Thursday we head to Paris to switch comps. It's so fun to say- oh yeah next week we are going on a day trip to Paris. Who knew I could ever say that?  Sometimes it amazing me when I realize where I am!

 

Well that is it for this week: Hope you are all doing great!

 

 

Elder Lerdahl

 

Week 11

Hey everyone!

 

This last week flew by so fast! It was a great week! Last Tuesday a member came with us for a couple of our rendezvous. It is amazing how much more powerful a lesson can be with a member. It helps so much to have someone who is a native speaker and grown up in the same place. The members can share experiences that help them relate and are great at sharing the gospel in simpler terms. This particular member drove an hour to come help us and then an hour home-- it was awesome to see his sacrifice to come help the missionaries. A lot of the members here live up to 2 hours away from church and are there every Sunday, every meeting, and every activity. I can't imagine driving from Stansbury to Logan every Sunday for church and sometimes up to 3 times a week!

Last Wednesday we helped 3 different people move. It's good weather here in Belgium and when it is good weather you take advantage of it! By the end of our three moves and two rendezvous that night I was so tired! I love service though because it puts me in such a good mood to be out moving about in a good pair of Levi's working with your hands and getting to talk to members and investigators in a less formal setting.

Last Friday we had a baptism. Sheku Kabba from Sierra Lyon, Africa got baptized in a small town called Rendeux. We went to the refugee center at 6 and got him prepped then went down to the river. He had two friends with him and then four elders and the senior missionaries. Elder Adams baptized him in the river and then all of the elders joined the circle and Elder Okelberry gave him the gift of the holy ghost on the side of the river. We have been joking that it is our own little "Waters of Mormon" experience. After the baptism, one of Kabba's friends said he wanted to get baptized, hello new ami! It was an awesome experience and it was cool cause we promised Kabba Sunday that it would be good weather and at the end just after the confirmation the sun came out!

Saturday we went and helped with another move. I am so sore from all of our moves! Halfway through the move we stopped for lunch and I ate something called American. They say they don't know why they call it American because Americans always hate it, but its raw ground up hamburger with spices. I had it on a baguette and it actually was not that bad. It tasted fine but the idea of eating raw hamburger is kinda gross. Oh well, the food was blessed so no worries.

Saturday was Independence Day here in Belguim. We sang the Star Spangles Banner in their honor, ha ha!

After church yesterday we went to the Rousseux family's house for dinner. They live an hour away from the church so we went with them, had dinner and a spiritual thought and then they drove us home. They are an awesome family and Frère Rousseux is in to trucks and four-wheelers so we had a good time talking about all that it.  It was nice to have a conversations that I was comfortable talking about!  We had a Belge dinner-- homemade fries with meatballs and a tomato sauce. Turns out french fries are a lie and it's the Belge who made frites or fries.

Speaking of things Belgian, I have been pounding down the chocolate because members keep giving us chocolate. I am loving it and am afraid I will never be able to enjoy chocolate once I am back in the US.

 

Well that's it for this week. I am on my last week of training and Saturday I find out if I stay or if I go! I am pretty indifferent at the moment but I love the members here. French is coming along and I am finally used to the missionary life!

 

Elder Lerdahl

Belgium Week 10

Hey Everyone,

 

It has been another good week here in Namur. It is weird to think that I only have two more weeks of training. Part of me is so ready to have that greeny, or here that blue status gone and part of me thinks I will never stop being a blue haha. This week I feel like I made some good progress with the language. I have really gotten to the point where I don't care as much when I make mistakes, I just try to correct them. I would not say I am confident when I speak but I would definitely say I am getting there.

So the highlight of this week was an exchange that we had.Elder Barney, our district leader and I went to Namur and Elder Adams and Elder Gibson went to the red cross center to meet with all of our amis down there and to finish the baptism preparations for Kabba. He is getting baptized in a river this Friday. I am super excited for our own little waters of Mormon experience. I am gonna take a bunch of pictures-- it is gonna be sick! We are also making some good progress with the center. Every time we go, there are more people who want to be taught. I think we have given out three Books of Mormon each time we go. The only problem is they all can't come to church because they are an hour away and can't get there. We will have to see what happens. We think that there is a friend of Kabba's with a car so hopefully in the next month or so we can find a way to get some of these people to church.

 

Our exchange in Namur was pretty awesome. We taught a couple of lessons that went well and I took the opportunity to talk more that normal since I know all the people and Elder Barney doesn't. As we were starting the exchange we had a little planning session and made a goal to fix a rendezvous and get two numbers while contacting. It was crazy the first guy we contacted we got his number and set a rendezvous,and we even made our goal in about an hour of contacting! In total we made two appointments and got three numbers. It was pretty awesome to have some solid success contacting. Here contacting is tough. Nobody wants to listen to you and so we mostly try to utilize the members and current amis to find new ones through referrals which normally works really well. So the first guy that we contacted is name was Djabir and we set a rendezvous up for the next morning. We called him a half hour before to confirm and he sounded super excited. We went to the park that we were going to meet him at and it was pouring rain. The church is 15 minuted by bus away and the guy could not have the rendezvous at his house so we were stuck using the park. We got to the park ten minutes early and were trying to think of another place we could go for the rendezvous and could not really think of anything on short notice. I turned to Elder Barney and said let's just pray, I offered a short pray that the rain would stop so that we could have the rendezvous. Within a minute the rain stopped!  It was an awesome experience!

 

This week I have found a lot of really cool things in the scriptures. I read in Nehemiah, I think chapters 4, 5 and 6 which are pretty much the mission theme for the year.  Its when Nehemiah is rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and everyone is asking him to come down from the wall. He says that he can't because he has a great work to do and can't descend. I really enjoyed it and saw how applicable it is. That we have a great work that we need to focus on  and never come down. Pres Posznanski has really focused on  getting us to build up France this year, meaning to really get out there and get missionary work going through member work and referrals.I have also been cruising through the Old Testament, I am almost to Joshua. I am really enjoying it. I have to use the footnotes a ton or else it doesn't really mean much.

 

So last night we celebrated Elder Adams birthday with some of the members. They made so much food it was nuts! I don't think we even ate half of what they made so we have tons of leftovers for the week. Tonight at family home evening they are having a birthday cake for him too. It has been fun! Today one of the members it taking us to tour some of the castles around Namur--I am pretty excited!

 

Well that is pretty much it for this week!

 

Elder Lerdahl

Week 9

Bonjour,

 

It has been a pretty crazy week! I have had to write stuff down in my planner so that I don't forget anything. So last week with going to Paris for legality our whole week kinda got moved around. Tuesday we finished all of our emails and p-day stuff we needed to do and went to work. We taught one ami who I have really started to like. His name is Stephan and he is from Africa-- a country called togo or something like that. He made us dinner --it was interesting. It was rice with a sauce over it which had pili-pili--a super hot pepper some vegetable and sardines. So I found out last week that sardines are not my favorite. I thought it would be better to mash one up in the rice so I could not think about it and then I saw the spine come out and after that I ate them whole because it was easier that way. After the dinner which really wasn't bad because the peppers covered up the fish, we read the livre de momon with him. He asked us if there was scientifical proof if the Book of Mormon is true, and we responded with "Is there proof that Moses parted the red sea? You have to talk things on faith." And he nodded and agreed. I was a cool experience because he has had a hard time with things like that and he just accepted the answer. I am sure the Spirit helped him to accept that answer!

So about two weeks ago we got  a call from the Elders in Bruxulles and they had a guy they were teaching who lived at a refugee center and they moved him to another center that is closer to us. So we decided to go see him last Wednesday. The Elders told us he had a baptism date and had been going to church before the move so I was rather excited for the rendezvous. We had to take two trains and a bus to get there. It took forever so we finally got there and it was a refugee center that the Red Cross does so we found the guy and next thing we know his friend comes and is telling everyone to come hear the Word of God! I was stoked! So we went and found a table and we started talking to the guy his name is Kabba and he said he knew it all. So we started giving him the baptism questions and his friend was confused obviously cause he didn't know about it. So Elder Adams kept going with the questions and I taught the other guy the first lesson. It was half French half English and so it was a little easier but I had a lot of fun! I gave him the Book of Mormon and a restoration pamphlet. He is a super strong Christian and was excited to have the Book of Mormon or as he put it the Word of God! So we finished up and got a lift from the red cross lady back to the train station and found out we didn't really have a way back to Namur. So we took a different train to Liège which worked out okay because we had district meeting the next day there. So we crashed with the Elders there which was fun but I was missing a change of garments and my tooth brush super bad! I ended up just squirting tooth paste in my mouth-- it was interesting! The next day we had district meeting and then went back to Namur and had straight appointments all day. We went like 36 hours in the same clothes it was gross but kinda fun too because it was just a crazy day.

So Friday night we had some left over pday hours and one of our amis wanted to play tennis so we went with him and played tennis for about an hour. It was fun to get out and play some sports and hang out with him. I sure suck at tennis but it was a good time and we are planning on doing it again. Speaking of sports, I kinda like watching soccer now. It's such a big deal here and our amis and the ward members get super into it. So sometimes it's on when we have dinner appointments and the next thing I know I am having to remind myself that I am a missionary and probably should not be yelling at the TV when someone scores ha ha!!

So the last big highlight of the week is we have an ami named Michel who is pretty Catholic and I think he likes meeting with us just to talk about God. But he has kept his commitments and been pretty open. Well anyways he invited us to Mass so we said why not and went last night. It was very different and I feel like I learned a lot. The majority of the people here are Catholic so I really enjoyed seeing what their church is like and it helped me to understand their questions and concerns when they come to our church. I was rather impressed by their reverence--- our ward here has lots of kids so sometimes it's a little noisy. It was a good experience!

 

So here goes the funny story of the week: We were walking down the street and some guy pointed at us and said "C'est dormage que il n'y a pas un permit de vous chassé" which means "it is too bad that there is not a permit to hunt you" and then he made his hand it to a gun and pretended to shoot us. Well I didn't know the verb for hunt so i turned to Elder Adams and said what? And this other guy next to us turns and said in English:  "That guy just said that Joseph Smith was the first person to make guns." and he chuckled. I don't know what was funnier, the guy that wants to hunt us or the guy trying to be nice when we both knew that is not what he said hah!

 

So here goes the sad story of the week: Ghazwan has continued to meet with lawyers and legality people here and has been denied legality again. He is now in the process of trying to make arrangements to leave and move to England to try and get legality there. Luckily he has some family there so hopefully that will work out. We have been telling him he had better find the church in England when he goes. It's just scary because he doesn't really have a way to get to England legally and technically Belgium could deport him to Iraq. We are going to hear from him today on how getting all of his documents back from the Belgian officials went and hopefully after that he will catch a train to France and he can then work on getting into England legally.

 

Well that is pretty much it for this weekend. The Tour de France is here in Namur today so we hopefully will check that out. We are going to run up to the Citadel and check out the Castle. Apparently Napoleon and somebody else super important in history was there so that will be really cool to see today. Hope you all are enjoying summer!

 

Elder Lerdahl