Week 86 (Nivelles)

We had a super busy week, driving all over Belgium!

OK, I guess we didn't go everywhere, but we did drive to lots of different places! We met with really cool people and had great discussions about the gospel. One such discussion was with our friend Messan. He's a spiritual giant. He loves to study the scriptures and is always ready to discuss and learn more about the gospel. This week we were talking about the Plan of Salvation, and he told us that he had found answers to questions he didn't know he had. That's why I love the gospel so much!

On Sunday we had back to back to back rendez-vous! It was ridiculous. But they were all so amazing. We met with a family for the first time right after church. We accompanied the Branch President of the English Branch in Mons to one of his ministering visits to a less active family. They just recently started coming back to church, and the father and son are not members. So we're starting to teach them more about the gospel and the church. It's really cool to see how people get excited about the gospel, especially when they are sharing it with their loved ones!

À tantôt!
Elder Wood

A district outing to Waterloo. Elders Poulson, Karratti, Morrison, VanDenBerghe, Wood, and Thomas

Old district photo from the zoo: Elders Layton, Wood, Dunn, and McGrew

Downtown Nivelles

Part of the old abbey seen from the zoo

Animal photo - I believe it's a seal

Week 85 (Nivelles)

First week of the new transfer!

Transfer day was crazy. Everyone who had a companion transferred met up at the train station in Brussels at about 9:00 am, and we all said our goodbyes. Then we saw that our new companions weren't scheduled to arrive until almost 4:00 pm. So we grabbed something to eat, talked to people on the street, called people to set up appointments, and otherwise kept busy until their train got in. Then we shoved all the luggage in our tiny car and drove with the Charleroi Elders to go do a baptismal interview. Not even time to drop things off at the apartment!

We were helping a member with his cows a couple days ago, and had quite the scare. One of the cows recently had a baby, Mandarine. We let it out into the enclosure for its first time, and she was happily running around. But then she ducked under the electric fence wire (it was turned off of course). The first time she just wandered back in to her mother, nothing wrong. But then she did it again. This time, she wasn't so lucky. Two of the dogs saw she had gotten out, and they ran over and grabbed her by the back of the neck. When Elder Van Den Berghe and I noticed, she was yelling and trying to get away, to no avail. We instantly ran over and tried to get the dogs off, but they kept circling back to grab her again. Eventually, I was able to grab one and hold him still while Elder Van Den Berghe held the other one at bay and got the baby back in her pen. She didn't seem to be hurt physically, but as the member said, "I don't think she'll be leaving the pen anytime soon."

I thought it was a great parable. It perfectly illustrates why we should keep the commandments and not be "too critical of the barrier." As did Elder Bednar, "I invite and encourage you to reflect on this episode" and see what else you can learn from it. And don't hesitate to tell me what you think of it!

Bon courage!
Elder Wood

Last district photo before transfers. Back row: Elders Wood, Darrington, Belka, and Dunn. Front row: Elder Melanson, Elder & Sister Denton, and Elder Karratti

District lunch: Elders Karratti, Dunn, Wood, Darrington, Melanson, and Belka. He reports that the frites were not necessarily the "best frites in town" but they were pretty good.

Back in his old area, Charleroi

Saying farewell to Elder Dunn at the train station

Mandarine running away

Loading up the luggage at the train station

Elder Van Den Berghe made ratatouille!

Week 84 (Nivelles)

A new year, a new transfer. And things are changing this time around!

We found out the other day that Elder Dunn is headed to Paris! He'll be the new Paris Zone Leader there, and I'll be staying in Nivelles with a new companion, Elder Van Den Berghe.

We had our last few exchanges with Charleroi this week which were lots of fun. I was with Elder Darrington, then Elder Belka for his last exchange. We had a lot of rendez-vous and talked to lots of people. And it was great to learn from a missionary such as Elder Belka right before he headed home. You learn something from every person you serve with, but that day I remarked just how bold he was while we taught. That's something I'd love to imitate.

After church on Sunday we visited a member and her less active son and his family. They fed us an amazing lunch, then we showed a video about the voice of the Spirit. After talking about it, we proposed we come back next week to talk some more and answer some of their questions. They loved the idea! So we're looking forward to seeing them again and teaching them more about the gospel!

Passez une joyeuse nouvelle année!
Elder Wood

They visited the Pairi Daiza zoo in their area. Elders Layton, Wood, and McGrew with the flamingos.

Elder Wood and Elder Dunn at the entrance to the Pairi Daiza zoo (located on the site of a former Cistercian Abbey)

No food photo this week, but animal photo instead: A toucan

The district after a game of frisbee. Standing: Elders Dunn, Belka, Wood, and Poll. Front row: Elders Darrington, Layton, Karratti, and McGrew

Landscape selfie with the Spanish elders: Elders Dunn, Wood, Canez, and Carrillo

Week 83 (Nivelles)

We traveled a lot this week, we went to both Brussels and Paris!

The Zone Leaders had us in Brussels for exchanges on Friday, and it was great. Brussels is such a cool city. Elder Poulson and I actually had three rendez-vous set up for that day, but all three ended up falling through. It was fine though, we continued working hard despite the disappointments, and met lots of really cool people!

On Sunday we got a surprise call from the Brussels Spanish Elders. Elder Dunn (as well as Elder Carrillo) had to go to Paris to renew his visa sometime in the next few weeks, but they had heard that the public transport strikes in Paris were going to worsen. So they were calling to suggest we all go before that happened.

After some last minute changes and scrambles, we caught a train to Brussels and met up with them to take the Thalys to Paris. We stayed the night in my old area, Paris Lilas, so it was fun to get to navigate my way around there. It was different without the metros, but we managed to get to the apartment, then over to the prefecture without too much worry. And once we had finished up what we had to do there, we had time to talk with everyone on the street as we waited for our return train. It was a great trip, and we were able to meet some amazing people, which was probably the most important part.

À la prochaine!
Elder Wood

Elder Wood & Elder Dunn

With a recently returned missionary from his ward in Belgium

Their missionary Christmas tree

He knows his mom loves white tigers and sent me a picture from a recent zoo visit

Food photo: A home-made mitraillete, and of course frites are involved

With the Spanish elders,  Carrillo and Canez

Elders Dunn, McGrew, Layton, and Wood in matching sweatshirts. Bluepool is a swimming pool construction company, owned by a member in their ward in Nivelles. The missionaries help out there occasionally, and he thanked them by given them each a sweatshirt.