The Wind Blowin' in My Hair...

Hallo Hallo from Antwerpen Belgium!

Just Me and My Bike

I bought a bike for 120 Euros! 

President recommended 160 Euros, but this bike is really nice- it's second hand which is best so it shouldn't get stolen as easily. It was our biggest miracle of the day. . . it's tall enough for me and in great condition. I'm buying lights for it and a fiets tas today. I might have spelled that wrong... but a fiets tas is a bike bag for the back! It's so cool. Also here in Europe the bikes have a key and lock for the back tire so if you can't hook your bike to a bar then the back tire will still be locked in place.

It was the best feeling riding it home with the wind blowing my hair. 

I think I'm gonna love this bike! 

Until the rain comes hehe. 

Editor's Note: Em has been anticipating this day ever since she first got her call... 

I can just see her in my mind's eye sailing down the street on that bicycle 

with the wind in her hair. 

Em's New Cafe Rio

We ate at this place that has food called Schwarmys. I prob spelled it wrong, but it has some kind of meat with lettuce tomatoes, and you put it in a pita. There are like 5 different kind of sauces that you can put in it that are spicy or more mild. I told my comp that it might be my new Cafe Rio. Super good.

Also I got to write my testimony in a Book of Mormon- this time in English- and leave it in the sharing book shelf in the middle of the centrum. This Indian man who we saw a little early working as a waiter for a restaurant came up to us while we were sitting on a bench, and I thought it was a miracle he wanted to know who we were and what we were doing. I boldly said what we were all about and gave him a card with our number and everything, and his response was giving us a paper with his number on it. Awkward. He had written that number ahead of time which meant he had been following us and had that intention all along. haha. We gave his number to the Elders. It was good practice for me in contacting though!

We had interviews with the President and his wife on Wednesday during District Meeting. President is a little bit quiet and it's hard to get him laughing, but it was still good. I mostly learned alot from Zuster Robinson this week though. She gave me the advice of memorizing PMG in Dutch. They want all of the missionaries to do that so that we have good grammar. Not saying she wants us to repeat it word for word in the lesson, but it will really help us to pick up on the language faster. Also she gave the advice of going through preach my gospel and memorizing the Restored Truths. It is likely that most people know that God is our Heavenly Father and he loves us, but do they know that we have a Prophet on the earth today who we receive guidance from? Interesting thought. I'm gonna do that this week!

I tried Philapeano food this week! Wow did they stuff us. We had 6 missionaries there and we had a feast. Sooooo good. I never knew I would be a part of so much diversity here.

Sisters!

We had a really cool super member joint teach on Woensdag. We brought our investigator Tom to Sister Van Wauwes house. She is my favorite 62 year old lady besides my own mother of course :) (Editor's note: For the record... her mother is not 62 yet. Really. Still twenty something.) We taught him about Fasting and I got to start the lesson. I am working on speaking more during Dutch lessons because when I don't really prepare a certain part it's hard for me to add much. It was a great lesson in 2 ways. Tom really understood the importance of fasting- he is working on quitting smoking- and I was able to speak more than I usually do. Afterwards Tom left and Sis Van Wauwe invited us to stay for soup. She lives alone and her grandkids weren't coming over that day. We ended up staying for almost 5 hours total. Including when Tom was there...but still... too long!! She showed us how she is doing with family history and showed us pics of Congo. Lots of good things were said, but I was getting so tired! 5 hours of Dutch is a LOT for my brain right now and sometimes my eyes just start to close. Ahhh.

Somewhere Out There

Okay get ready for this... Little Greenie takes the lead and takes over Antwerpen for the day! We had exchanges, and in the past I've gone to Ghent, but this time the Sister Training leader came to Antwerpen! It was a weird day cause we didn't really have that many appointments, but we did lots of contacting in neighborhoods, and lots of tram rides back in forth because we get distracted and forget to get off at the right one. We didn't bother with the bikes because I had just barely bought mine and had no idea where to go! Contacting is NOT my forte- in fact sometimes it freaks me out because we talk to people who don't understand why my Dutch is horrible- but it was really good practice for me. We find a couple of potentials and one man who said his wife has a B of M in Spanish and he's talked with Zusters before and really appreciates what we do. My tactic was to ask him if I can come back another time and practice my Dutch with him.

  "Mag ik mijn Nederlands met u oefenen een andere keer?" 

He said yes so we are set. He was SOO surprised that I could even attempt to speak Dutch already. He kept saying "Dat kan niet" It was funny. Really nice guy. Hopefully we can go back soon. The rest of the day was kind of stressful because we had to find stuff to do because our dinner appt was canceled, but it ended up being a really good day. Sister Johnson is so sweet and loving. She's got a really cool story too. Convert as of age 18.

On Vrijdag.... Tom has a testimony of the Book of Mormon!! He knows that it is true. The Zone leaders came to this lesson at the church and we had a really good talk with him and everyone shared their personal experiences with having a testimony and feeling the Holy Ghost. We read Moroni 10:3-5 and then asked him to kneel down right there with us to pray to know if what he read was true. After the prayer we all just stayed there for a few minutes in silence. He then proceeded to tell us that he felt something that was so strong. He wanted to know if we felt that all of the time. Nope! Only during special times we told him. It was amazing. Now the question with him is will he get baptized here or when he goes to Utah to visit Kylee Kay. He says Kylee has to be there, but we told him to pray about it. He is SOO ready to be baptized.

Sweet MTC Sister Reunion!

We slept over in Gouda for Sister Conference! Fun little sleepover with Sister Whittington and her comp Sister Schwab. Sister Schwab was comps with Sister Nelson in Antwerpen right before I came so it was fun talking about all of our investigators.The conference was so gezellig and nice. We have about 40 sisters I would guess and we all just sat on the couches and chairs in the mission home. President and his wife spoke and so did all of the Sister Training leaders. We talked about the importance of the priesthood and how we assit with the priesthood. Also we talked alot about the culture of the mission and carrying it on once the older sisters leave. Out of all of the sisters that were there, only 12 of the sisters will still be here by the end of the next 2 transfers. I will be training by December most likely. Ahhhh. Also at the end of this transfer 12 more sisters are coming in so somebodys got to train! Crazy right. It gives me more motivation to keep working hard.

Orange Dinner

I tried Fufu at Gavins house when we got home from Temple Conference. Wowzers. It was really funny actually. We had a couple commandments we wanted to teach him but he was busy making the fufu while we were there! He brought out appetizers such as a big plate of bbq chips, little hotdogs, cantaloupe, and orange juice. He said he was giving us American food and it was all orange since we had just got back from Nederland. Then he went back to the kitchen to finish the fufu. He lives with a lady now who has 2 kids. We taught the 16 year old about the Restoration and it was really cool. Gavin comes to church every week, but he brought his "son" with him too this week. Gavin is doing great and knows a lot a bout the bible, but we still need to really talk to him about the Law of Chastity. We briefly mentioned it.  In Belgium. It is way cheaper to live with someone, and lots of legality issues which has required him to live with this lady. He's either got to marry her or move out.

Zondag Zondag Zondag! Fast Sunday was marvelous. I could understand so much more than I usually can. I really tried to make an effort to talk to people and it made it perfect that so many people bore their testimonies. I can't say much but I can tell them "Thank you for your testimony today! It was beautiful!" and I'm sure that means more than saying nothing! Also I sat in Relief Society with our onderzoeker Nadia today. It was her first time coming to Relief Society. She is getting baptized in 2 weeks! We have stake conf in Brussels next week though. This Sunday was a lot better than all of the others. It is really hard because sometimes people are not all that friendly and it would even be hard in English, but I could feel the help and strength I had from the Lord helping me to do hard things.

A fave quote of mine this week I heard from the song I believe in Christ. "I believe in Christ so come what may!" The Lord is on our side and here to help us!

I got to see Elder Bednar's talk and a few other ones you were both talking about. I enjoyed your insight on them from last week! I took a pic on my camera and studied them a little bit everyday this week. Can you send me the magazine when it comes out? I crave Conference more than I crave Belgium chocolate! P.S. Belgium Chocolate is too good. Ahhhhh. It is so soft here and perfect. I love Belgium!

Well... I wrote alot!!  Wow. This week was wonderful. Next week we travel a lot and there is something great happening everyday. Heavenly Father is truly helping me to be happy. I have discovered many things this week that I am lacking in and that I could do better at so this week I will work on them!

My Window Sill... LOVE these peeps!  Your Pic Could be Featured Here Too!  Write Me!

Well I have to go... I love you all! Thank you for the wonderful advice and emails!
Mom I have seen Saturdays Warrior! Love it and that is one of my fave scriptures! Also your inspiration regarding me and the Book of Mormon. Perfect. I cherish everything you both say!

LOVE YOU!!!!
Em