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