Monday, February 21, 2011

Moving forward in Belgium

February 21, 2011

I know I always complain about the limited time I have to write, but today I honestly only have about 20 minutes. So sorry ahead of time, but it looks like this is going to have to be a short one.

I'll try and write another letter today, but our schedule is crazy all day! But I'll do my best.

Since you've gotten my letter now, and each of you mentioned it, you should know I really am doing loads better. I think I mentioned that I was comparing it to the MTC as far as adjusting goes. And it's taken longer and I'm still a bit overwhelmed at times, but I'm learning to love it here. And the thought of being a missionary for the next 15 1/2 months is far happier. So not to worry. I'm fine.

For Valentines Day, Soeur Thompson and I went on a "date" to
Grand Place
. Wow! That place is SO cool. Mom, you'd LOVE it! Google it if you get a minute. We also grabbed a hot waffle (Belgium is famous for them - of course) with Australian Speculous ice cream on it. Oh my heavens. It was to die for! We took a ton of pictures, but I don't have time to send them today. (Sorry again)

We had a rendezvous with an investigator we found in our area book this past week. She used to have a baptismal date, but in being transferred around, the missionaries lost contact with her and hadn't seen her since September of 2009. We called her up to see if we could stop by some time. Once she realized who we were, she got really excited and informed us that she had "given our bible to her aunt." We didn't really understand what she was trying to tell us until we met with her. She is from Cameroon and her aunt is a preacher in the Catholic church there. Her aunt apparently loves to read. So our investigator got an extra copy of the Book of Mormon from the sisters that used to teach her and gave it to her aunt. Well...she loves it. She now reads it over the pulpit to her congregation! Hahaha She's leaving for another vacation to Africa today and won't be back until April 22, but...she very happily took the two extra copies of the Book of Mormon we had with us to give out while she's gone. So little does the pope know, but we're slowly working our way into the Catholic church through the members in Africa via people who aren't even members of our church yet! Good thing we'll have a temple in Rome. They're going to need it!! ;)

We have another woman that we are working with. She was baptized a year ago, but still has plenty of concerns. One of her biggest issues is that she can't be a missionary until her youngest son is 18. He's 14 now. We've told her that four years isn't that long. However, she's really upset that there are people our there who need Jesus and our bishop won't let her do anything about it. So...she took matters into her own hands. She randomly took off for a week and we couldn't reach her. Turns out, she ran off to another city to be a street preacher for the week. Ha ha yup...she's kind of a piece of work. But at least her heart's in the right place.

I don't have any more time right now to type. So...letter it is. I love you and I'll speak at you again soon.

Love,
Kim