Week 34: Partly Cloudy with a 100 Percent Chance of Shouters

Ah, another transfer has come and gone and I am staying in Liège with Soeur Cope for one more. This has been the fastest transfer yet, and I've been told it just keeps speeding up 'till its over, either way. Transfers are like mini new years, a chance to start over, take inventory of how you are doing and make some new goals, I love it. This last week didn't turn out quite the way we had imagined it but it ended well and I am ready for this next one. 

Tuesday was a very wet day. and we got yelled at from a second story window by two different rather cross women. One was an ami that we had set up a Rendez-vous with for Tuesday at 1 o'clock. When we knocked she stuck her head out the window and shouted "I SAID WEDNESDAY" and then shut the window. Soeur Cope and I just looked at each other a little unsure of what to do. The lady then came down and talked to us but it was a rather unexpected response. Later we took a 20 minute train ride to Verviers to contact a referral we received for an Italian lady. Our bus passes don't work in Verviers so we walked 45 minutes to her house. We rang her doorbell and she too stuck her head out the window and shouted that she was not interested. We tried say that her daughter had sent us but she shouted that if we didn't leave she was going to call the police. It was rather perplexing to the both of us as to why someone would react that was in that we only rang her doorbell. But there you go, we then walked back to the train station in pouring rain. It was kinda fun in the end, I like the rain so it wasn't a bad end to a rather confusing day. 

Ortman Fountain in Verviers, via Wikimedia

Verviers City Hall, via Wikimedia

On Saturday we had a super awesome Samedi Sports. We played four square, the only ball we had was a pink exercise ball. We made a huge court with some chalk in the church parking lot, The zone leaders (Elder Paoli and Elder McQuay), a young adult named Ewoma and one of the Elders' amis Rolings were there. It was a lot of fun and a little ridiculous because the ball was so big. I think everyone who wasn't African got sunburned, Elder Paoli most of all, he was quite lobsterish on Sunday, poor guy. 

We had a really awesome rendez-vous with Jean-Baptiste Saturday afternoon. We met him in a park by his house because all the members we could think of to teach with were in Brussels for stake conference. It was a nice setting though and there were some very pretty ducks. We learned a lot about Jean-Baptiste, and I am amazed at the faith and knowledge that he has. His life has been really hard and instead blaming God for all of the awful things that have happened, they have brought him closer to God. He is one of the few people I've met that are truly hungry for the gospel. We read Alma 32 with him and talked about faith, he was like, yeah that is totally how it works. We gave him his own copy of the Book of Mormon and a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. There were a lot of little things in what he said that could all be answered with a knowledge of The Great Plan of Happiness. I don't usually call it that, but it really is that, a plan that brings about the happiness of God's children. And what is even more exciting is that Jean-Baptiste has a heart that is open to learning more and I am so excited to see the how his understanding will grow with the clarity of the gospel. It is moments like these that make getting yelled at by an angry Italian lady worth it. 

Sunday was Stake Conference, which is held in Brussels, we being in the Brussels stake. There are a lot of English speakers so everything is translated in both French and English it was a bit odd. It was my first time in a bilingual church meeting, but it is fairly common in the bigger cities. The theme if the conference was the book of Mormon, it was so good. Since being a missionary my love for the Book of Mormon has grown so much, I love that it has all the answers to every question we could ever have! President Staheli was there, it was exciting to see the Stahelis as they are going home this transfer. In her talk Soeur Staheli talked about how time changes the way we see things, and it is so true. In six weeks from Wednesday I will be halfway done with my mission, I do not see the world or the people in it the same way I did last October, and I know that next may I will not see things the way I do now. I think that is why knowledge is so important in our progression. It is the experiences that we have and the things we learn over time that change who we are and how we view the world. 

I love you all and I hope you have the bestest week ever!!

Love, 

Soeur Gaelin Turney