Hallo Iedereen!!!

Hallo iedereen!!!!

Ik hoop dat alle met jullie goed is! Ik hou van jullie zo veel!

Well, I made it through my first whole week here in Belgium! It was good, but a little hectic! We went on exchanges twice this week, since my companion is the Sister Training Leader and Mission Leader Conference was this week, and yeah, so I got to work with some different people, and I also got to work in Locharan, a gorgeous little town not too far from Antwerpen. The big theme of this week was contacting. Our zone had a contacting contest, where we had a list of 60 different contacting approaches and you got a point for every new one that you successfully used and extended a commitment with. Some of them were kind of weird, but it really got us talking to a lot more people and using more creative approaches. We had some pretty cool conversations with people and even got a couple of appointments for next week. You will be proud to know that our district crushed it and won the Shield of Antwerpen!

My personal highlight of the week was finding a new investigator! We were proselyting, and a man named Janko let us in. His life story is crazy, and I really feel like he needs the gospel in his life right now. We've had a couple of appointments with him and are meeting him again this week. One of my favorite things about being here is hearing people's stories. There are so many refugees here, and I have gained a completely different view of the world. Just in the last couple of weeks, we've talked to a woman who's entire family was killed by the Taliban, a man who had to leave Afghanistan because his girlfriend's family was trying to kill him for getting her pregnant, a woman who was kidnapped from Nigeria when she was nine and was brought to Belgium where she didn't find her family again for 30 years, and countless, countless people who had to leave their homes and families because of war and bad governments in their countries. It has made me realize how blessed I am, and also how much this world needs the gospel. People are legitimately suffering; they are lost and confused and hurting, and they need the peace and joy that the gospel brings. They need the knowledge that a loving Heavenly Father has a plan for them. Not all of those people are willing to listen to us yet, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to share it with those who are ready. 

Funny moments of this week:

- The elders in our city are teaching a woman named Joy, who is a legitimate hoarder. Ever since meeting with the elders, she has had a desire to clean her house, so we went and did some service hours helping her clean. Afterwards, she fed us an authentic African meal, which is a stew with ALL parts of a cow, including the stomach, brain, tail, skin, etc. I didn't know this before I dished my plate, so I couldn't be on the proper look out, so I ended up with the skin and something that I am pretty convinced was the brain. In case you're wondering, cow skin is like chewing on a huge chunk of fat, and brain is best when you cut it into small pieces that you don't have to chew. 

- When I was on exchanges in Locharan, all trains between Antwerpen and Locharan were stopped because a hot air balloon crashed on the tracks (we eventually made it home, but it took some maneuvering)

-We took Broeder Neins (our ward mission leader, who is very old and only speaks a horrible Flams dialect) on joint-teach with us, but our appointment feel through, so we went and taught Janko (who lives really close) instead. The problem being that Janko speaks mostly English and very little Nederlands, so Sister Burnham was trying to translate for Broeder Neins while I mostly talked to Janko. Broeder Neins would hear something that Sister Burnham translated and then jump in with a really random comment (in Flams) about it, but the conversation had already moved on, so it made for a really interesting lesson and was kind of funny, but also kind of horrible. 

Anyways, I love you all and miss you!!!!!

Met liefde,

Zuster Cluff