Eli Mail 9/29/14 (Genk, Belgium) Letter 12

PHOTO CAPTION: Here’re the four of us with a Belgium bus driver. She was super nice, and we had a nice conversation with her while returning from a dinner appointment. (L-R, Elder Nye, Elder Andrew, Elder Clemet, bus driver, and Elder Elkins)

Hello, fellow Americans! Well, I'm not sure what to say about the last two weeks. For the most part things zipped along as usual, but there were a few bumps these past few days. I can't believe this is happening but, yes, I am actually excited for General Conference*. During last April's address I sat and wondered if Conference would actually really get me prepared during the mission, and it sure does. Plus, it feels a little extra special. I'm here in Europe and the times are totally messed up. We'll be watching the opening Saturday session in the evening and we'll actually have to watch some on p-day to finish it up. I've been a little nervous about it, because it's not playing in our branch so we have to ask members to watch it with them or possibly go all the way to Brussels or Antwerpen to watch. But no worries, all will be well when the time comes.

I meant to share this in the previous letter but Elder Nye and I had a very rare experience a week or so ago. After finishing a lesson with an investigator in Herk-De-Stad, we both walked over and sat down at the bus stop. A few Muslim guys were waiting there, too, but we didn't think anything of it. But at one point, one came over to us and curiously asked us who we are and what we do. He turned out to be a very nice guy, and our conversation continued on the bus. Elder Nye sat in front of me, and I sat behind (he likes the leg room if there's enough space on the bus; I don't blame him) as our Muslim guy kept talking to us across from Elder Nye. After a minute or so I noticed this 20-ish-year-old Belgium guy with headphones and an attitude looking at me. He glanced at the name tag as every person usually does, so I took it off so he could look at it. He held it and then looked at me and said, "You really believe that?" I replied, "Well, yes, of course," in English, a little surprised. What happened next was a whirlwind of fury and questions. This Belgium guy just started throwing out all sorts of challenging questions at us. At this point my companion had turned around and started to respond to him. I gladly would have answered his questions, but my companion took the helm. It was really great, actually. Every question he asked my companion had a simple answer that turned into a very basic principle in the first three lessons of “Preach My Gospel.” This wasn't a rare situation perhaps for me, but my companion said nothing ever happens like that up in the Netherlands. That experience testified to me how simple the gospel doctrine is and how important.

Ah yes, I have one more experience to share, also from the past two days or so. As my companion and I were walking home from Genk station to our apartment, a short, jittery older man did a sort of half jog across the street. He called us over and we confusedly stopped and waited for him. He came over and started telling he'd been trying to get a hold of the missionaries for days or someone from church. He'd been staying at a hotel across the street and is a member of the church from Canada but wanted to meet with us the next day. Fast forward to the next day at about 11 a.m., and I'm on an exchange with Elder Clemet out and about doing a look-up. Phone rings and a Dutch woman from some help desk in Hasselt is calling us. Clemet talks to her, and our Canadian friend gets on the line. He has a bit of a complicated situation. Stolen wallet with his credit cards and train ticket to Paris for his flight home. He says he has his passport with the plane ticket inside but no way to get money. His family said they'd wire him some but it was too early in Canada and the banks weren't open. Confused and a little concerned we decide to call our branch president. He sternly responds, "Nope. I will not do it. We get too many people needing 62E for some emergency. Don't care if they're a member or not. Good day, Elder." Then our phone dies so we can't do anything anyway. At this point, I'm a little sorry for the guy, but it feels like it could all be fake, but in my head I contemplated just talking with him the day before and he seemed pretty genuine then. Fast forward to that evening: Elder Clemet and I are riding our bikes when Elder Clemet turns and looks at me and says, "Did you see that?!" I didn't see it but he informed me of exactly what he saw. We had just ridden past a bar, and there he was, our little Canadian friend, sitting at a bar smoking a cigarette with a bottle of beer. I couldn't believe I fell for it, and I couldn’t believe he lied to us like that. I learned one lesson from that day for sure, you can't trust everyone.

I have bad news and good news. I'll start with the bad, because the good news would only be possible with the bad. Friday, I spent a good chunk of the day doing legality stuff and the entire day my eyes were super irritated and watering, as was my nose. I took out my contacts that evening and went straight to bed, my eyes still totally in pain, but more specifically my right eye. I woke up that morning and it hurt more than ever. I showed my companions and they were all pretty grossed out and identified it as pink eye. I then looked at it one more time and decided to call Sister Robinson. I talked with her, described my symptoms and it sounded exactly like pink eye to her (she's a nurse formally, by the way). At this point, very disappointed and annoyed, I went to my studies. I pushed through the day. Sister Robinson told me to buy green tea in the meantime and to drop that into my eye to give some temporary relief. After about 24 hours and the occasional drop of nasty tea in my eye I went from constant pain to almost completely healed. It was wonderful. I wish I could have called up Grandpa Andrew in the states; that was the first thing that came to mind, actually. Whether it actually was pink eye or not, I don't know. But I feel blessed because I went out and did the work anyway, and I believe the Lord blessed me because of it.

I'll end this letter with Friday's experience. Elder Steenblik and I traveled again to Brussels for legality stuff. The office Elders didn't want to take us anywhere fun, so after legality it happened to work out that we had about an hour of free time. We walked the city, discovering awesome buildings and just having a good time. It was my first real Brussels experience, and I had a great time. When I was in the MTC (Mission Training Center) I never would have thought I'd be half way around the world strolling the streets of Brussels with Elder Steenblik.

The work is coming along great here in Genk! Yeah, it's hard sometimes, but the longer I'm out here the more I realize how powerful a mission really is. Love you guys – hope you have a great week back in the U.S.!

*General Conference is a semiannual gathering of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), held every April and October at the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. During each conference, members of the church gather in a series of two-hour sessions to listen to sermons from church leaders and inspiring music. It consists of six sessions, one exclusively for female members of the church and one for male priesthood holders. While originating from Salt Lake City, General Conference is considered an international event for the church. The sessions are broadcast worldwide in many languages, primarily through local and international media outlets, and over the Internet.

PHOTO CAPTION: Taken last month in Brussels on a walk with Elder Steenblik. (Editor’s note: Elder Andrew finds God in Brussels?)

Eli Mail 9/22/14 (Genk, Belgium) Letter 11

The week started with the nervous excitement that encompasses transfer day eve. The APs (assistants to the president) and zone leaders are making calls all evening, and you never know at what time the call will come. That Sunday (9/14) afternoon the four of us sat on our beds for a brief moment thinking about it. I thought, well they’d be dumb not to transfer Claflin (my current companion) off, since I still have the other two Elders to help with the transition. A while later when at the Knope’s home for our regular Sunday evening meal, our cell phone rang. Elder Claflin picked up, said hello, listened, and finished the phone call with a half-serious, half-joking, “I accept.” He was transferred and is now in Emmen, some city way up north in the Netherlands, and he’s district leader. I was totally right. But it’s exactly what I’ve needed; I was getting a little too comfortable with Claflin. Elder Nye, my new companion, has pushed me into the discomfort zone a little, but overall he’s great.

Ah yes, I must touch on the Ballard Conference. It was a beautiful September morning. Cool and misty as usual for the Netherlands. We arrived there super early to the Den Haag building, the largest chapel in the Netherlands. It was crazy seeing our whole mission gather together, people hugging and laughing. It was pretty nice. Sister Robinson, the mission president’s wife, said this rarely happens, so be grateful for it. I was able to meet a lot of new missionaries, too, which helps when you are a “greenie.” It was so cool actually shaking an apostle's hand, and when he did he looked all of us right in the eye. In my notes I wrote, "Alright, we're good so far. Everyone just shook his hand, and nobody has been sent home yet.” The joke being that some missionaries are afraid that an apostle will take one look in their eyes and send them home.

Elder Ballard knows how to really command an audience with the power of God. He went up there without notes, with just his unlimited amount of experience and knowledge, letting the Spirit direct. Apostles really know how to have just the perfect balance, too. They can add a perfect amount of humor and answer all of our questions with power and authority. What really hit me was just how powerful the simple doctrine really is. He said, “There is no greater pearl than being a Child of God.” And I really believe that. Once we can realize the true potential in a person and be able to uniquely love them as a child of God, the rest will come. Another one liner I really liked was, “The years teach much that the days never know.” That's a great one to just think about for awhile. I'll finish off with one of the last things Ballard said. And that is, “We are dealing with the inner most part of a person.” And that’s very real; we're dealing with people’s inner most soul, the true desire of their hearts, and that’s pretty cool.

Last p-day was a very pleasant one. We have a little pond by our apartment with a big, fancy hotel, and we’ve seen little boats docked by the pond. We found out it’s 3.50E for half an hour on a boat! So, we all got in with our paddles, four missionaries in Sunday clothes laughing and having a good time out in the middle of this pond. We were sure a spectacle to a regular person, but that's missionary life for ya; people are always noticing and watching.

Last week we also had our baptism. This guy who had been searching for the right church for two years walked into Sacrament meeting six weeks ago. The other two Elders started setting up appointments with him, and he started progressing fast. He’s been a big testimony builder for all of us and a miracle. After reading the Book of Mormon for the first time, he could finally understand a Bible passage that he’d been thinking about for awhile. He’s had countless confirmations of the Spirit, and it’s been cool to watch it happen. The week before his baptism the other two Elders had him start weaning off of cigarettes. This man had been smoking 40 cigarettes a day since he was 14. And you know what happened? He went from 40 a day to zero, none, within a week. All because of one book, and his faith and desire to follow Christ. He’s a real blessing to the branch, he’ll be a much needed Priesthood holder, and he also has two cars, which will help the gemeente (branch) out a lot. So, seeing a person totally change like he did and make a promise with Heavenly Father through baptism was awesome.

P.S. (FROM SUBSEQUENT 9/22 EMAIL):

Today, we sadly have to play Axis & Allies with our ward mission leader. It’s a board game that takes like six hours to play, and he requests we do it at least once with him. We’ve put it off for a while now, and he does a lot for us so you can’t really say no. But we’ve got some sweet p-days lined up. We’re going to Bruges for one, which is super far away. Hopefully Brussels, because I still haven't seen anything there, and there’s this place in Belgium where you can sit in three countries, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks to Eli’s Uncle Bruce for help with translating some of Eli’s Dutch. Also, apologies to his Uncle Whitney, who is a big fan of Axis & Allies. I wouldn’t doubt that the “newbie” elders will be fans of the game by the end of today.

(PHOTO CAPTION: This is our chapel, all four rows of it, with the primary in the background. Hah, love it!)

(PHOTO CAPTION: By the pond in Genk after our little boating adventure.)

(PHOTO CAPTION: Last week we also had our baptism. This guy who had been searching for the right church for two years walked into Sacrament meeting six weeks ago.

(MTC companions)

This picture was posted on lds.org and this what Eli had to say about it, 

"That's me staring Elder Ballard in the face getting ready for the handshake of my life."

Elder Ballard's visit to The Netherlands

Eli Mail 9/15/14 (Genk, Belgium) Letter 10

Okay, interesting week. If I had to describe it in one word I’d say, ‘Sunny.’ I think this past week was the one last hurrah you get for summer, one last warm week. And it was nice. It’s overcast so much that any sun is warm and pleasant. Let me jump right in with today’s (Sunday, 9/7) activities. It was my first fast Sunday in the land and let me just say, missionary work and fasting do not mix well. For the most part I was fine, but by our 5 p.m. dinner appointment I was really growling. Testimony meeting in our small branch is really unique. There’re only so many people (15-20), so you basically know you will be sharing your testimony.

Later that afternoon, we looked up a few potentials and while we were walking down a busy stretch of road, a lady pulled over and called us over. She seemed relatively harmless, looked about 40 years old, and only had a bit of an accent. This is how our conversation went:

Woman: I know who you guys are.

Elder Claflin: Yeah, we’re missionaries from our church.

Woman: No, I know what you guys do, and when you go back you should rethink this.

Elder Claflin and I: “Umm...”

Woman: “Millions of people have died under the church; you think I’m joking?!”

It totally caught Elder Claflin off guard, and he smiled in just a confused way. She then pulled over again quickly when she saw him give a confused smile and cussed us out and raced off. She was just a crazy lady who was being very vague and weird, but these experiences scare me a little. I wasn’t scared during the event, but afterwards I just became aware of all the people around me and yeah.

But we had a tender mercy. After a delicious dinner appointment with the Knoops family, we came back and ended up talking in the apartment for a little while. It was just an awkward time of evening where we needed to proselyte for an hour more. So, we went on a whim and looked up a church headquarters referral that we had tried about six times previously to contact. The person ended up being home, invited us in, and we taught him a RAD (restoration lesson with baptismal invitation) and he accepted a doop datuum (baptismal date). It was super random and just a blessing. People are just coming out of nowhere here. Just between our two companionships in Genk, we have five baptismal dates, which is awesome. Shows me what kind of work can get done here. I love it. Super cool things here.

I’m learning a lot about myself on this mission. I’m seeing that the mission makes all your personality flaws very obvious. My family knows this best, but I can be very nitpicky and stubborn. I’ll give someone a death stare if they take more cereal than I want them to – stupid stuff like that. I’ve been praying a lot about that. I want that to change. And it’s so cool because I know the Lord knows the desires of my heart, and I can see the results and change He’s bringing to me. What a blessing it is to be here. So much has changed since June 25^th. I have a love for the scriptures, I’m trusting in the Lord, I can speak Dutch for heaven’s sake! It’s super cool. But what I’ve also learned is that going on a mission does not change you. It gives you the opportunity to change. We will still always have our agency to choose. Home life and even high school seem like a distant dream. I’ve barely been out for two months, but it feels like I’ve been living missionary life forever. The other missionaries think that’s funny, because I’ve really only just begun.

I also wanted to share what happened to the other Genk Elders the other day. They had a really great lesson with a new investigator, and it went really well. He accepted a baptismal date, and everything just went perfect you could say. On the bus coming home, Elder Clemet put his feet up on the seat just because of how good he was feeling and the evening’s success. He and his companion were the only two on the bus when the bus driver pulled over. He walked back to Elder Elkins and Clemet and asked for (demanded, more like) Elder Clemet’s bus pass. The bus driver went back up to the front and started doing some work on his computer. Confused, Elder Clemet went up to the front and asked him what was going on. The bus driver responded that he was getting a 70 Euro fine for being a “disruption.” They went back and forth about it, but the bus driver didn’t give in. Hopefully, it can be overturned.

Fast forward a few days, and it is Wednesday (9/10) as I write here. I didn’t get the motivation to finish this letter till now so I’m doing a week and half’s worth of letters you could say. The highlight of these past couple of days were exchanges. The zone leaders from Antwerpen came, and Claflin and I switched companions for a day. Elder Bosco and I went in their car and headed off to a busy day of lessons in Antwerpen. It was a fine day. And something I recently learned about Elder Bosco is that his Dad was a BYU quarterback and won the only BYU National Championship, which is really cool. His dad was also quarterback for the Packers for a few years! Super crazy! Elder Bosco isn’t a football player himself, but he has a bigger build and is just a super fun guy. We ended up staying up till 11:30 the other night just crackin’ jokes and talking in the Antwerpen apartment. I told him about our family and how we were some of the “pioneers” of the first Green Bay branch and stuff. I’m really interested to know if he went to the branch in Green Bay or if Grandpa Andrew or someone has met him. It was such a relief to be able to take a car the whole day. The inconvenience being at the mercy of public transportation gets a little annoying. We could use a car in Genk – we would be so much more time efficient.

Nothing much new has happened here. The weather is getting crisp and the leaves are starting to fall. It has that cool autumn feeling that reminds me so much of cross country. This is my trainer’s favorite time of year, and he has me almost convinced that it really is the best season. Oh! Saw something interesting today. As we were walking to an appointment in Genk, I saw a man carrying a blow torch with a guy behind him lugging a canister of oil, torching the sidewalk up. Upon further inspection we noticed they were burning weeds. Also, have to add: I love the coins in Europe. Just having one and two Euro coins makes everything just work nicer. When I think of the silly quarter and how pointless it is becoming and the inconvenience, I just want to “face palm.”

Thanks for the awesome letters Mom and Dad. All the Elders in the apartment are jealous of just how awesome they are. All is good in Genk, transfers are next week but I think the four of us will most likely stay, but who knows! Excited for the Ballard conference tomorrow. Should be great! Hope things are bright and dandy in the States. Love you guys!

P.S. (FROM SUBSEQUENT 9/15 EMAILS):

I’m staying in Genk for another transfer. Transfer calls were last night. But my trainer is leaving, sadly. This Wednesday. There are four meeting places where missionaries meet up: Antwerpen, Leiden, and a few others. It'll be a change for sure, but I'm ready to take charge over Genk. The other two elders are staying, which is nice – Elder Clement and Elder Elkins. Both great missionaries. Clement spent a year in Germany for foreign exchange, so he speaks German and his accent is great. Elkins is the district leader and also a great guy. Comes from Kaysville, Utah and has great teaching skills and knowledge. Oh – Elder Clement gave me a haircut, by the way. Don't have a picture right now, but it actually turned out great. And my Dutch, it’s coming real good. I can understand an entire three-hour church service almost perfectly, and I can understand my investigators pretty well, too. My vocab is steadily increasing; I just have to get a good accent going so I don't sound too American. It just sounds like I worry a lot in my emails, but it’s not a big deal. My Dutch will be better than everyone else's if I keep up the way I study – hah!

Eli Mail 9/2/14 (Genk, Belgium) Letter 9

Wow, what a week. I’m already almost a month in the field. So crazy. If you would have told me a year ago that I’d be walking around Antwerpen central or knocking on doors in a neighborhood in Belgium, I’d have called you crazy. But I really am here. I’m actually wearing a missionary name tag and living missionary life. It’s hard to comprehend sometimes, I’ll occasionally wake up and wonder what I’m doing or wonder if this is all real. And it is, and I’m enjoying it. But I’m just impatient with the language sometimes. I want to be at the level of speaking as the other zendelingen, so that motivates me to be constantly learning.

This week has mostly been traveling: lots and lots of trains, and not as much teaching as I would prefer. This past Wednesday we had to go to Den Haag to pick up my ID. It ended being nearly 8 hours of travel just to show a lady my passport and pick up a piece of plastic. But, no matter. I’ve had the opportunity to see a lot of cool things.

Then, this past Thursday was my first zone conference. It was awesome! Our mission president is hilarious. He is definitely more of a quiet, subtle type, but he’ll sneak in a political joke or something borderline that only he could pull off. He’s a businessman, and he takes missionary work into a bit of a science, which is surprisingly helpful. He, also, exposed us to a PowerPoint of “anti-material.” President wanted to show us now so if we have any questions he could answer them and us not be surprised later by it. It was quite helpful, perhaps a little surprising, but I felt a little stronger after that.

I’ve noticed a trend with our four-man apartment. The beginning of the week we are pretty well off with food, but by Saturday to Sunday evening we are scrounging for food. This week was probably the worst. But that was only because of the Belgium demand for money. We are buying train passes and bus passes every week that eat into our missionary fund, and it takes forever to get reimbursed. But that’s just a minor thing – all part of the experience.

I got my first baptismal date this past week! It’s a guy named Joseph, who lives in Hasselt, and he’s a big reader. He’s read from eight different Bibles, but somehow he got a copy of the Book of Mormon. We met him while teaching another investigator. He just happened to be in our investigator’s house at the time we were. He said he stopped drinking coffee and stuff because of Joseph Smith. He already believes, which is really cool. Joseph is a little odd though, so who knows if the baptism will come through. I’ll just have to keep my hopes up!

I must say, I really love the branch here. It’s primarily made up of three families and a handful of older people, but they all want new members really bad. Every time we get a couple investigators to church, members will always be talking to them and making them feel welcome. There are two brothers, Brueder Kroops and Brueder Paeters, who are always helping us. They come and joint teach and are masters of missionary work, in my opinion. And then there’s also Zuster Snow. She’s a small, petite woman in her 40’s who speaks Dutch, English, French, some Polish, and a little German. She prays for missionary experiences and talks to people all the time about the Gospel. If every member were like her I can’t imagine how much more missionary work would be done.

Last week on Tuesday was my first real experience with Belgium/Netherlands rain. It was almost a complete 24 hours of constant rain. I was excited that morning to get out with my new raincoat and fight the elements, but then I felt the chill. A chill that sort of seeps right down to your bones as President describes it. It was a cold, brisk rain that just didn’t stop. I eventually gave up trying to stay dry and just let it drench me. Water soaked through my shoes and my hair turned into wet clumps that I flicked to the side of my face. I wouldn’t say I was miserable, but I’ve heard that’s what winter is like, so I’m not too thrilled about that.

I’ll finish with yesterday’s p-day. We arrived at the station in Genk for our 8:15 train to behold an unusual number of buses. Ah! I realized – the first day of school. It was a very pleasant moment, seeing kids having to go to school, and I didn’t. I’ve been waiting for that moment and it finally happened. I was also a little saddened when I saw all the teenagers getting their last drags on their cigarettes before heading off to school. I’ve noticed Belgium is smart in a lot of ways. They are very good with their garbage disposal, public transportation, and other things, but everyone smokes. I don’t get it. It’s as common as drinking water. Everyone needs it apparently. Oh, I haven’t mentioned this, but you don’t want to drink the tap water here. It’s full of chlorine and is unhealthy. Everyone drinks from big bottles of water. You also have to pay to use public restrooms. I’ve seen one free bathroom and one drinking fountain here. It’s crazy! Oh, and people in Belgium appear to be quite wealthy. It’s common to see Audis, Mercedes, and BMWs. These are sort of the common car. I’ve seen Ferraris, a McLaren, and even saw a Lotus yesterday. So cool to see.

Continuing with p-day, we played futbol with the missionaries in our zone. I had a moment while playing soccer when I realized, wow, I’m in Antwerpen right now on a p-day on my mission: how cool is that! Anyway, on the way home we took a rail too far when getting back to Antwerpen Central. We ended up taking this beautiful walk through the central part of town and it was amazing. I wish I could take you guys on a visual tour of some of the buildings and majesty that is here. So awesome. One of my favorite places in the world is Antwerpen Central. It’s so big and magical even though it’s just a train station.

I’m continuing on my second read of the Book of Mormon right now and starting to dive into the New Testament and loving it. Having three hours of study is great in the morning. I love renewing my testimony of the Book of Mormon every morning and learning new things every day. I’m lovin’ this gospel, and I appreciate all of your prayers. Keep sending me e-mails or letters. I love hearing from you guys!

Love you all, and I’m loving this whole mission experience,

Elder Andrew

Elder Andrew and Elder Steenblik at Zone Conference

(Image of Antwerpen Centraal Station)

Cool cars found all over

(PHOTO CAPTION: Last week on Tuesday was my first real experience with Belgium/Netherlands rain. It was almost a complete 24 hours of constant rain.)