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| The Elders, Jean-Phillipe and Henri |
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| Elder Lerdahl & Ghazwan |
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| The Elders & Ghazwan |
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| Jean-Phillipe, Henri, Mei & The Elders |
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Belgium: Week Three
Bonjour Toute le Monde,
This week was a pretty crazy crazy week! I had my first exchange on
Tuesday and Wednesday with Elder Barney who is our district leader. We
went after district meeting and dropped my stuff off at their apartment
in Liege about an hour from Namur and then we went porting for about
two hours. Nobody was interested, so that was fun stuff but porting
isn't all that bad. It's kinda fun if you make it fun by being goofy in
between houses and singing and what not. We probably looked like crazy
people but oh well. We then taught a lesson, went back to the apartment
and did the usual- daily planning the next day. We did our studies as
usual which was kinda cool with someone else, then we contacted, had
lunch and caught a train to Namur. We taught Jean-Philippe at Jenri and
Mei's house and then switched comps there. It was good to have a day
with someone new and be able to learn a lot. The rest of the week was
pretty normal. We had some good lessons and fixed a baptism date with an
Ami named Odette. I have not worked with her much, and I think we are making good progress with one of
our Iraqi Amis named Abdel. He has been coming to church and he loves
the ward and they love him so I am looking forward to working with him.
One of our recent converts that we work with a lot is Beebee. She is Moroccan or something like that and she moved to Belgium to take care of her son who got in a car accident and is mentally and physically handicapped. She is about 70 and feeds us once a week and on special occasions which in this place means we get fed twice a week by here because there are so many flippin' holidays.
One of our recent converts that we work with a lot is Beebee. She is Moroccan or something like that and she moved to Belgium to take care of her son who got in a car accident and is mentally and physically handicapped. She is about 70 and feeds us once a week and on special occasions which in this place means we get fed twice a week by here because there are so many flippin' holidays.
Well I am about out of time. Things are good--I get fed so much by
members but have still managed to lose about ten pounds so that is good
and my French is slowly improving. That's the life and the life is
crazy.
Love you all! Hope everything's going great
- Elder Lerdahl
Monday, May 21, 2012
Week 2 in Belgium
Bonjour toute le monde,
I have been staying so busy here! We taught 17 lessons this last
week and had three or four dinners with members where we had spiritual
thoughts but they don;t count for our numbers. We even got one new
investigator and scheduled an appointment with a lady who we hope will
become a new investigator. Things are going good with our progressing
investigators too. We had two investigators come to church for the first
time ever yesterday and they fit in and everyone at the church was
super nice it was great. We have another investigator named Monique who is a strong Catholic
and by the end of our third meeting with her she is saying that she
knows the Catholic church has been changed and is liking the Book of
Mormon so that's cool. We have some great investigators so I am excited
to see where we are at with all of them in a few weeks. We have a lot of
dinners with members and I have been giving most of the spiritual
thoughts. It has been good because they are members and are
understanding that I am terrible at the language and I find that I am
improving a lot by speaking with them. In our lessons when we talk about
the gospel I understand a lot and can help, but when they talk about
other stuff I am completely lost a lot of the time. It is crazy that the
MTC has helped me understand so much gospel talk I just wish I
understand more of the day to day stuff. I think my vocabulary just
needs to grow and it will get better.
Contacting still is pretty intimidating because you never know where the conversation is going to go but i am making some goals to contact a lot more so hopefully that will get better. I was told contacting is scary the first 1000 times so you might as well just get those 1000 times in your first few weeks--easier said than done. Tomorrow I have my first exchange, I am going with the district leader. We have a district meeting every Tuesday that we take a train for about an hour to and from. Tomorrow after the meeting I am with Elder Barney our district leader for 24 hours then we switch back. I don't really want to go but I think it will be good for me. I am starting to get more used to the schedule and life in Europe in general. Namur was a great place to start because we have a killer ward here and are having some good success. I am excited that I will be here for at least two probably three transfers so I can hopefully see a lot of progress here with the people.
Funny thing here is there are a lot of Jehova's Witnesses and people here hate them and so sometimes people will see us and be like oh my the "temoin jehovas" or tj's and when we explain that we are not tj's they totally get happier and stop hatin' on us so that is kinda funny. There is a lot of American music over here-- especially music from the late 90's so its been fun to hear some of the classics I grew up on ha ha.
Things with the comp are good we get a long well. Well there is really not that much new going on here. Next up we are going grocery shopping. Last week we spent 50 euros and that was including all the stuff we only buy once a month or so like toilet paper and stuff. It's funny here the milk is super cheap like 50 cents for a liter and they make is so that you don't have to refrigerate it. It also stays good for like 3 months. It doesn't taste the same as in the US so that sucks but hey cheap is cheap. Cheese and bread are super cheap too so that is nice. But other stuff like soap is pretty expensive also clothes are pretty nuts here--Levis are like 100 euros and shoes are crazy as well.
Contacting still is pretty intimidating because you never know where the conversation is going to go but i am making some goals to contact a lot more so hopefully that will get better. I was told contacting is scary the first 1000 times so you might as well just get those 1000 times in your first few weeks--easier said than done. Tomorrow I have my first exchange, I am going with the district leader. We have a district meeting every Tuesday that we take a train for about an hour to and from. Tomorrow after the meeting I am with Elder Barney our district leader for 24 hours then we switch back. I don't really want to go but I think it will be good for me. I am starting to get more used to the schedule and life in Europe in general. Namur was a great place to start because we have a killer ward here and are having some good success. I am excited that I will be here for at least two probably three transfers so I can hopefully see a lot of progress here with the people.
Funny thing here is there are a lot of Jehova's Witnesses and people here hate them and so sometimes people will see us and be like oh my the "temoin jehovas" or tj's and when we explain that we are not tj's they totally get happier and stop hatin' on us so that is kinda funny. There is a lot of American music over here-- especially music from the late 90's so its been fun to hear some of the classics I grew up on ha ha.
Things with the comp are good we get a long well. Well there is really not that much new going on here. Next up we are going grocery shopping. Last week we spent 50 euros and that was including all the stuff we only buy once a month or so like toilet paper and stuff. It's funny here the milk is super cheap like 50 cents for a liter and they make is so that you don't have to refrigerate it. It also stays good for like 3 months. It doesn't taste the same as in the US so that sucks but hey cheap is cheap. Cheese and bread are super cheap too so that is nice. But other stuff like soap is pretty expensive also clothes are pretty nuts here--Levis are like 100 euros and shoes are crazy as well.
Well that is it for this week love you all and hope everyone is doing great!
Elder Lerdahl
Monday, May 14, 2012
Bonjour toute le monde,
Holy crap this keyboard in French really really sucks, so this
sucker is going to have beacoup de mistakes in it. Oh well just wanted to
let you know from the get go.
I am in a town called Namur, Belguim. It is south of Brussels
about an hour or so by train. The first few days were super nuts: So we
got the the airport last Monday with only ten minutes to spare because
we left late because of this sister missionary going to Ukraine or
something like that was late and then had to go get something that she
forgot--super annoying nes pas? (Isn't it?) So; we got to the
airport
and had to hurry to get through security and everything and everyone was
ticked because we didn't get to call for very long but luckily for me I
had the cell phone so I got to call everyone I needed to. We
then started our 11 hour flight to Paris: Talk about a long flight when
you cant watch the in flight movies-- especially since one of them was
"We Bought a Zoo." I only slept for about 15 minutes on the plane
because I could not for the life of me get comfortable oh well.
The first day after you get here they take your bags and take you proselyting which was super scary. But they give us a senior companion for the activity and the senior comp is called your mom. So we went out and my mom and I actually got a guys number which was exciting for the first day. By the way my mom's name is Elder Taylor. So after that we went to the mission home and had interviews and supper which was pretty good. Then we went to bed and the next morning we went to Consecration Hill which is a hill that overlooks all of Paris and we all say a prayer to dedicate ourselves to the Lord. Then we go and we get assigned our first companions or trainers and they are called our dad. My dad is Elder Adams. This is a funny tradition because your "mission genealogy" is super important so eventually at a mission conference you take pictures of you ancestors and what not-- pretty fun stuff. So after that we got to go tour Paris for a bit before our train to Belgium. I got to go to Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower they were both super cool!
Later we jumped on a train to Brussels and then to Namur. That night we went to a members house for dinner there names are Henry and Mei they are Tahitian and Vietnamese. Henry speaks English because he lived in Vegas for a few years but when I got there he pointed at a statue of Buddha and bowed to me kinda scary when you have no idea who someone is and they are pointing to Buddha and speaking super fast to you haha! But they are super nice and are my new buddies here in Namur. The next day we had four rendezvous=appointments. I didn't talk much but had a fun time. We are super busy in Namur. We have about ten investigators we are focusing on and another ten who have not kept commitments and are not progressing but we still visit on occasion. We have a lot of investigators from different places. We even have two from Iraq and one from Iran.
The first day after you get here they take your bags and take you proselyting which was super scary. But they give us a senior companion for the activity and the senior comp is called your mom. So we went out and my mom and I actually got a guys number which was exciting for the first day. By the way my mom's name is Elder Taylor. So after that we went to the mission home and had interviews and supper which was pretty good. Then we went to bed and the next morning we went to Consecration Hill which is a hill that overlooks all of Paris and we all say a prayer to dedicate ourselves to the Lord. Then we go and we get assigned our first companions or trainers and they are called our dad. My dad is Elder Adams. This is a funny tradition because your "mission genealogy" is super important so eventually at a mission conference you take pictures of you ancestors and what not-- pretty fun stuff. So after that we got to go tour Paris for a bit before our train to Belgium. I got to go to Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower they were both super cool!
Later we jumped on a train to Brussels and then to Namur. That night we went to a members house for dinner there names are Henry and Mei they are Tahitian and Vietnamese. Henry speaks English because he lived in Vegas for a few years but when I got there he pointed at a statue of Buddha and bowed to me kinda scary when you have no idea who someone is and they are pointing to Buddha and speaking super fast to you haha! But they are super nice and are my new buddies here in Namur. The next day we had four rendezvous=appointments. I didn't talk much but had a fun time. We are super busy in Namur. We have about ten investigators we are focusing on and another ten who have not kept commitments and are not progressing but we still visit on occasion. We have a lot of investigators from different places. We even have two from Iraq and one from Iran.
The Belgian people have a bit of a funny accent so I have struggled to
understand but I learn more and more everyday. We have a ward of about
80 people and so we eat at a lot at members' houses. I have only had to cook
dinner once so far. The chocolate is tres bien=very good here and the
goefs (spelled something like that) are super delicious. Every week we
also have lunch at a pasta place with a guy named Patrick. He is a
convert for about 7 years now and works in Namur so he likes going to
lunch with the elders and it is now a tradition. We also eat dinner at
the Badouxs every Thurday and Beebees every Sunday so i get plenty of
food. I think I have lost a little weight though because we eat small
breakfasts and lunches and walk a ton so that is good.
So far Europe is a bit of a culture shock! We live about a women's
clothing store if you know what i mean and there is no such thing as
modesty here. Also tons of sketchy advertisements so a bit of a shock
after two months in the MTC. I have already started to like sparkling
water though-- its not too bad and they drink something a lot like sprite
all the time. I MISS ICE SO BAD but am getting use to luke warm water.
Everyone here smokes too- I have second-handed at least two packs by now
so hello cancer, but oh well like Brother Wardle used to say-- the best smell
in a chapel is the smell of cigarettes.
Well that is it for now this keyboard is making me frustrated and I still have to write my mission president.
je t'aime, Elder Lerdahl
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Friday, May 11, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Paris for One Day,Then...
Elder Lerdahl arrived safely in Paris, France and spent the day at the mission home! He met with the mission president, visited with non-members in the heart of Paris and met his companion! Then....off to Belgium he went! He can receive letters and packages at the following address:
Elder LerdahlLes Missionnaires1 Galerie Saint-Joseph 2AR5000 NamurBelgium
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
I'm Leavin' On a Jet Plane, I Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again
Bonjour toute le Monde,
This last week has been super exciting. We all got our travel plans the Congo Elders leave this Thursday and the Benine Africa Lyon France and Paris France all leave Lundi (Monday) le Sept (7th) de Mae. I leave the MTC Monday at 1:30 P.M. and our flight departs Slc at 4:50. We arrive at Paris France the next day at around 11:30 Paris time. I am excited and at the same time not excited for a non-stop flight. On the upside we don't have 3 connections like all the others but I wish we had one stop in like new york or something. 11 hours is going to suck. Oh well I can hopefully read and study a lot. I am in acts in the New
Testament so i will probably get as far as I can in the New Testament.
Classes and what not have been going fine we are still teaching a lot and doing TRC which is when we teach member who volunteer to come be taught. I like TRC because we get a lot of return missionaries from Paris and they get us excited to go. Last night we finished our last grammar lesson and this week we are all just studying. I feel like my french is still bad but that I say what I want so hopefully I can do alright this next week. Not a whole
lot has happened other than that and oh yeah we got to hear from Elder Nielson he taught about the 9 aspects of the doctrine of the church and I feel like I learned more in his 40 minute talk than I did in all four years of seminary. It is crazy how smart the apostles are.
Speaking of talks guess who talked in sacrament meeting here. How it works is they give everyone the topic for the week and everyone prepares (or should prepare) a talk. Then in sacrament meeting they just call you out. So this last Sunday I was told I would bless the
sacrament (wicked weird in French) so I didn't think I would be called to speak because of that so I only wrote down a scripture or two. I went to sacrament meeting and right before it started the MTC president came in and joined our sacrament meeting. All I could think of was that song by Queen I think "under pressure" so anyways we blessed and everything was great so I sit down and sure enough I get called to speak. So the first girl goes up and is all like I am so excited to speak and I thought of what you always say mom when people get called to do stuff so when it was my turn without thinking I said "Je suis en peut enthusiaste pour cette occasion" Which basically meant I am very little excited for this opportunity to speak and everybody laughed and I see president brown lean over to our branch president and I think I heard him say "what did he say" and the guy told him so my current mission pres probably thinks I am a jokester or hate my mission. Either way I am gone in a week so whatevs.
Well that is pretty much it for this last week. I went to the temple today for the last time in 22 months which was really weird but awesome because I really knew everything that i had to say and felt the spirit super strong. I am starting packing aujourd'hui (today) and
am going to pack everything I can since its my last pday til i leave. I get some time Saturday and Sunday to pack and luckily I get a few hours Monday morning. Don't worry Grandma and Mom I remember how to fold my white shirts and will try and do it right.
Well next stop Paris!
Je t'aime, Elder Lerdahl
This last week has been super exciting. We all got our travel plans the Congo Elders leave this Thursday and the Benine Africa Lyon France and Paris France all leave Lundi (Monday) le Sept (7th) de Mae. I leave the MTC Monday at 1:30 P.M. and our flight departs Slc at 4:50. We arrive at Paris France the next day at around 11:30 Paris time. I am excited and at the same time not excited for a non-stop flight. On the upside we don't have 3 connections like all the others but I wish we had one stop in like new york or something. 11 hours is going to suck. Oh well I can hopefully read and study a lot. I am in acts in the New
Testament so i will probably get as far as I can in the New Testament.
Classes and what not have been going fine we are still teaching a lot and doing TRC which is when we teach member who volunteer to come be taught. I like TRC because we get a lot of return missionaries from Paris and they get us excited to go. Last night we finished our last grammar lesson and this week we are all just studying. I feel like my french is still bad but that I say what I want so hopefully I can do alright this next week. Not a whole
lot has happened other than that and oh yeah we got to hear from Elder Nielson he taught about the 9 aspects of the doctrine of the church and I feel like I learned more in his 40 minute talk than I did in all four years of seminary. It is crazy how smart the apostles are.
Speaking of talks guess who talked in sacrament meeting here. How it works is they give everyone the topic for the week and everyone prepares (or should prepare) a talk. Then in sacrament meeting they just call you out. So this last Sunday I was told I would bless the
sacrament (wicked weird in French) so I didn't think I would be called to speak because of that so I only wrote down a scripture or two. I went to sacrament meeting and right before it started the MTC president came in and joined our sacrament meeting. All I could think of was that song by Queen I think "under pressure" so anyways we blessed and everything was great so I sit down and sure enough I get called to speak. So the first girl goes up and is all like I am so excited to speak and I thought of what you always say mom when people get called to do stuff so when it was my turn without thinking I said "Je suis en peut enthusiaste pour cette occasion" Which basically meant I am very little excited for this opportunity to speak and everybody laughed and I see president brown lean over to our branch president and I think I heard him say "what did he say" and the guy told him so my current mission pres probably thinks I am a jokester or hate my mission. Either way I am gone in a week so whatevs.
Well that is pretty much it for this last week. I went to the temple today for the last time in 22 months which was really weird but awesome because I really knew everything that i had to say and felt the spirit super strong. I am starting packing aujourd'hui (today) and
am going to pack everything I can since its my last pday til i leave. I get some time Saturday and Sunday to pack and luckily I get a few hours Monday morning. Don't worry Grandma and Mom I remember how to fold my white shirts and will try and do it right.
Well next stop Paris!
Je t'aime, Elder Lerdahl
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