This last week was a pretty chill week which was good. I needed a week that was not quite as crazy as the last few. Tuesday I had a split with Elder Gibson - we went to Namur and it was good! I was in charge and things went pretty normal so that's good. We did a lot of contacting which helped me get a lot better at it. It's crazy how every contact here goes so differently and I love when people think we are "temoin Jehovas." When they find out we are not it is pretty funny because they totally change their minds towards us. I love contacting Africans because they all love Jesus, so you either get an awesome contact and they will listen to you a bit or you get the nuh uh I already found Jesus kinda attitude which is pretty funny. Saturday they had a baptism in Liege in my district so we went to support the Elders and lady getting baptized. It was really cool and was good for us because later that day we planned our baptism with our ami Odette. I hope we can get a ton of members there and I hope all her family comes: It's on the 23rd and I am pretty stoked. Later Saturday night we went to Charleroi because Sunday was stake conference and they did a broadcast from Salt Lake City and the broadcast was not going to Namur. We stayed with some elders there and it was a blast. We didn't quite make it to bed at 10:30 like we are supposed to but it was good to goof off for a little bit and swap stories and what not. It's funny to see how people are on their missions too. One of the elders goes home in 11 days and it was just funny to see him because he was just so chill about it. It's weird to think Erik is on the down stretch and doesn't have much time left. So anyways our sleepover in Charleroi was fun and Sunday after stake conference we had lunch there and went back to Namur for dinner with Beebee. It was her one year anniversary of being baptized so it was fun to celebrate that with her--she was stoked for it.
So this week we really got one of our investigators to open up. He is our other ami from Iraq and we found out why he really came to Belgium. His wife left him years back and 3 out of 4 of his children have been killed in various bombings or other things. His last kid alive is 19 and she has two kids and her husband died like a year ago. So he has been here for a while and they offer French classes for the people that come here and he has a test tonight. If he passes his test he can get work and if he can get work he can get help to bring his daughter and grandkids over. But they will only let them come if he has work and can pay for them to be here so we found all that out and its just been so crazy. He studies almost all day so he can pass the French test. It's so amazing to hear him pray, he has such faith and you can tell he really is trying to rely on the Lord. I feel like us teaching him has helped him and I hope that he will pass his test and things with his daughter will work out. I also hope he keeps progressing because he is awesome and the ward loves him and he would be so strong in the church. so lets hope we can get him to quit smoking, if we can I think he will be baptized.
So something cool is that last week pres said that someone was preparing to be baptized on Saturday in our zone and a few of the other zones. We had no baptisms planned and Saturday rolled around and there was one in our zone and 5 baptisms in the mission! It's absolutely incredible to see how inspired our leaders are and when we have faith and act on faith that miracles can happen! We have focused a lot of faith in the mission because people have always said it's hard to baptize in France and Belgium. President has really focused on having faith because the Lord has prepared people to be baptized and we need to have faith and act and if we do that we can baptize in our mission. So that was crazy awesome!
So this week is the last week of the transfer. It's funny because all the missionaries start getting nervous about transfers. Everybody starts guessing who stays and who goes where. I am stoked that I am pretty much for sure staying in Namur for another transfer. It will be interesting to see who goes where though.
Well that is pretty much this week! I hope you all are doing great and love ya all!
Elder Lerdahl
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