Week 49: We Don't Have any Orange Juice!!!

This week was really good, though poor Soeur Ingraham was sick with some nasty stomach something. This week we taught Savitri and her kids about the Plan of Salvation, Soeur Ingraham was sick for most of the day, so I made a Plan of Salvation visual aid. Funny that is took me ten months to finally make one. It was so helpful to have, it was cool because we taught them and then they taught Savitri. The gospel is amazing, even in the three weeks since I have met them she and her family have changed for the better. They are just little differences but they are there.

On Saturday on the way to a rendez-vous we met a really cool old guy. He was just leaving his house to walk his dog. He speaks seven languages, and he learned most of them while listening to people on a ham radio. I felt really cool that I knew what Ham Radios were. He has a three or four big antennas and he has talked to people in all 50 states. I should have asked for his call sign, but I know where he is so if anyone wants to get in touch with him just send it to me and I can give it to him.

There is a lot of talking around me so I am having a hard time concentrating. So sorry for the disjointed stories.

On Sunday we came home after Church for lunch and a made some phone calls. I called Rusty, he said that he was babysitting and that he had a cold, Soeur Ingraham yelled into the phone that we could bring him orange juice. Rusty was like that would be great. When I hung up I was like" We DON'T HAVE ANY ORANGE JUICE!!!! There was some on the table but she had just finished the carton. Of course it was Sunday so we couldn't go buy some. So we called the senior couple, the Halls, to beg orange juice. Luckily they had some and let us have it. We took it over to him and he was really grateful. I hope that he will come to General Conference this weekend. He started school so he is super busy.

Soeur Larsen says "Hi" She is in the other sister companionship in Brussels.

Today for p-day we had a picnic in the big park by our house with all the missionaries. We played American football; it was really fun. Though I was trying to catch the ball in the end zone but I missed it, and biffed it. I ripped a hole in my pants and skinned my knee, yeah battle wounds from the mission. I didn't catch the ball but it was cool all the same.

I love you so much,

Soeur Gaelin Turney

Week 48: Referrals are pretty much my favorite thing ever.

Some cheese Gaelin has been eating this week

I got us very lost again or rather I knew where we were but the place we were looking for wasn't where I thought it was. In my defense there are in fact three different streets named Leopold in this city. I took us to Rue Loepold I instead of Blvd Leopold II, the address just said Blvd Leopold, I think I looked at the wrong page number in the map book . We wandered around for about two hours before we found the place, only to find out that the lady we were looking for didn't live there anymore. It is starting to become a joke that I can't find anything. I do however know how the get to the important things, gaufre place, frite shop, church, home.

We met two amazing families this week, TWO!!!!! They were both referrals from the Church Headquarters referral system. The first family is from California, it is a mom, Savitri, her 4 kids and a grandmother. They live in a beautiful part of Brussels, it is a treat just going to their house. We take the tram for about half an hour. The last ten minutes or so the tram travels through a wooded foresty area that is so magical because you are riding public transportation in the middle of a forest. It is all deciduous trees and it looks like a fairy forest, the first time we tried to find their house we got off at the wrong stop, so we had to wait about 15 minutes in the middle of the woods. There was a little brick waiting area with a tram sign next to the rails and that was it, it was just Soeur Ingraham and it was so peaceful. I love nature, it is always such a pleasure to get to spend time outside of the city.


So Savitri's family. Her house is huge, so we weren't quite sure if it was the right one, but we knocked anyway. When she opened the door she was a little surprised and very excited, she said, "Come in, I've been waiting for you guys for three weeks, I am so glad to see you." That is the first time that that has ever happened to me, I kinda liked it. We talked and waited for her kids to come home from school so we could meet them. She is a member, but none of her children or her mother are baptized. John is the oldest, he is almost 12, and plays the guitar drums and piano very well. Soleil is 10, and is a little wild, but that might have only been because she had a friend over. There is another little girl who is about 2 I think. And the littlest, who is one, is named Jaguar. They had us over for breakfast Sunday morning and then we all went to church together. She has an Expedition, which is a ridiculous car to have in Europe, but it was fun to ride in, and we only had two near accidents. Elder Helvey and Elder Garcia were standing outside when we drove up, they were very jealous that we got to ride in the Expedition. We didn't get to talk after church but I know John had a good time as did the grandma. I am so excited about them. And the ward was amazing, and helped us a ton. Members are so important.

The other family is the Kabambas, they are from Africa and the husband is a member. She is not, and they a six year old girl and a five year old boy and a little tiny three week old baby girl. They are so sweet. The mom's name is Lili and she has met with the missionaries several times before. They live out in a Dutch speaking area. We had a rendez-vous with them after lunch, just as we were about to leave our apartment it started pouring rain. I had my rain coat and an umbrella but my feet and the front of my skirt got soaking wet in the two minutes it took to get to the Metro station. The rendez-vous went really well, we talked mostly about the Book of Mormon. They committed to read it together as a couple. She said that the missionaries had told her many times that she needed to pray about the Book of Mormon but that she never had, but she said that she was going to. We read Moroni chapter 7 together, it is amazing how the Holy Ghost leads us to the perfect things to say and share. Chapter 7 had everything that we had talked about in it and it made sense to her and she was like, "I know this is good because it says the same things as the Bible." She is so ready. She said that she doesn't want to come to church until after the baby gets vaccinated, but that she does want to come. I am so excited to start teaching her. As we headed home there was a beautiful double rainbow, we were standing at the corner of a street and the rainbow arched over the buildings onto the corner, it was so picturesque and beautiful. It was the perfect end to the evening.

Thank you for your prayers and love. May the spirit be with you, always,

Soeur Gaelin Turney

Week 47: Out with the old, in with the new companion

This new transfer is off to a good start, I've only gotten us lost twice! The beginning of this week was a bit crazy and a little sad with Soeur McClaine getting ready to go and packing and all that. Everyone was very sad to see her go, she had been here for about 6 months and she is practically perfect so you can't help but love her. I was pretty nervous that she was going because I don't feel very comfortable finding my way around. Soeur McClaine knew everything so I didn't have to worry about getting lost and only kind of paid attention to where we were going, bad idea. It was very sad when she got on the train to Luxembourg because it is very likely that I won't see her again before she goes home. Alas, life goes on.

My new Companion arrived about 15 minutes after Soeur McClaine left so I didn't even have time to miss her hardly. Sister Ingraham is from Farmington Utah and is going to Utah State. She likes sports and reading books. She is pretty funny and is excited to do everything about missionary work. This is only her second transfer, but she already speaks French super well. Her train was french and doesn't speak much English so she got some intense French training. It feels like no one wants to talk to us now that Soeur McClaine is gone. So we are going to be doing some hardcore finding. We have gotten several referrals though which I am excited about. I got us lost trying to find one of them. I must have read the directions that I wrote for myself wrong because we got off the tram at the terminus, which is where I thought we wanted to be off. But as it turns out that part of the city isn't in our map book, so we started walking in what I hoped would be the right direction. After about 35 minutes of walking and stopping at every street sign to try and figure out where we were I realised in contemplating the metro map that we wanted to get off the tram 4 stops before the end of the line. So we had to turn around and walk back to the tram, by that time we didn't have enough time to go find the house before our next rendez-vous. So, we had a very lovely walk along a foresty road in a dutch part of the Brussels suburbs. It was a beautiful day so it was pleasant, but i don't know that it gave Soeur Ingraham much confidence in my abilities as Senior Companion.

The other time I got us lost was trying to contact another referral in another dutch speaking area. We had to take a train, which is always a little nerve wracking when you've never been there before. Maiden voyages on trains are always stressful because there is always the slight chance you are on the wrong train and you that you are going to end up is Zurich or Eupen or something. We got on the right train and we got to Hal, which is the town we were looking for. We got on one of the streets on my map but i turned too early so we wandered up and down the same street a couple times before we finally made it. Dutch is a crazy looking language there are tons of consonants all stuffed into the same word and some of the words are twenty eight letters long and have three vowels. But is kind of sounds like English is you can only sort of hear what people are saying. It throws me off every time. The lady we were trying to see ended up not being home, we headed back to the train station, I realised that all of the trains and destinations were in Dutch and that every city has a French name and a Dutch name, I was pretty sure that Zuid Station was the same a Gare du Midi, but there was definitely a little moment of panic, we hopped on a train that was leaving right then. Luckily is was the right train and we got back to Brussels with no problem. I don't know why anyone would want to be senior companion, it just means you have to do a lot more work and be more stressed out.

The testimonies during fast and testimony meeting on Sunday all had the same theme of change and holding on the the constant rock of the gospel throughout the storms of life. I love that the gospel helps everyone, no matter their age or the problem. The gospel is a source of hope and help when you don't know where else to turn. It is hard sometimes when I meet people and learn about their lives and problems, I know that the answers and the help that they are looking for is the gospel. But they often don't believe us, or won't try it long enough to see that its true. Reading the scriptures, prayer, and going to church really do hold the answer to every problem that you can experience in this life. I wish more people could see how putting God first and trusting Him to take care of you is how to overcome the hard things in life, and that the miracles come after the trial of our faith.

I hope you all have the best week ever!

Amour,

Soeur Gaelin Turney

Week 46: It's the end of the world as we know it...or at least it looks like it

Well, it's transfer week and Soeur McClaine is leaving me to go to Luxembourg for good this time. My new companion is Soeur Ingraham, she was in Paris before. This will be her second transfer so she will still be blue, I am a little nervous but really excited, I want her to start out her mission well and her trainer is amazing, so I hope she's not disappointed.

So I was pretty sure the end of the world was happening on Tuesday. We were having studies when the sky got really dark, it was about 8:30 or 9 so it was pretty light, then in about 4 minutes the sky was black and it looked like it was night time, the clouds were super low and menacing and it was pretty creepy. We were expecting something to happen but after about ten minutes or so the sky lightened again and everything was back to normal. It was so weird and nerve wracking. It has been pretty stormy lately there was a huge downpour with hail about a week ago and there was an outdoor music festival and five people died because of the hail and everything falling down from the rain and wind, crazy! I think that is what made Tuesday so scary is because we were expecting some huge deluge and than nothing happened. I am glad the end hasn't happened yet in any case.

This week was a bit of an up and down kind of week. We had a ton of rendez-vous set, but every single on of them either was cancelled or didn't show up. It was kind of frustrating, luckily we have Rusty who isn't really doing anything at the moment, we were able to see him a couple times this week. He is so interesting, we've started giving him specific chapters to read and then we discuss them. Everything he has read so far he has really liked. We talked about God having a body and that was a little hard for him to accept, we asked him to pray and meditate about it, because it is a very different concept from his belief about God right now. We asked what his mother thinks about him meeting with us and he said that she was not very happy about it at all. Please pray for him.

We had our first Zone conference with President Poznanski on Wednesday, it was all in French and so good. He talked about his vision for the mission and the goals we have set as a mission. He wants us to increase the work we do with members, to build trust and to teach with them. He shared a quote that I really liked by Elder Richard G. Scott "To reach a goal you have never before attained, you must do things you have never done before." It really make me think about the things that I am doing now and what I need to change to be better and to reach our goals as a mission. One of our goals is to teach 20 lessons a week and to try and to teach half of them with a member. The most lessons I have ever taught in a week was twelve, so 20 lessons is going to take some effort but I feel confident that we will get there if we work hard enough. The Holy Ghost is the key to missionary work, if we are obedient and humble we will be lead to the people that we need to find, I have high hopes for this next transfer, I feel like there are so many miracles waiting to happen.

I met an amazing member this week, her name is Bernadette she is from the Congo and is one of the most incredible women I have ever met. She is less active but she did come to church this week. She was had a really hard life, she has had so many horrible things happen to her but she has an amazing faith in God. She loves God and has so much charity for others she prays and fasts for everybody and just wants to do what is right and to find peace. She is an artist as well and has some really beautiful paintings on her walls. I am constantly amazed at the people that I meet, to hear their stories and to see how God has touched their lives. I think that is one of the most precious things about a mission, meeting people and talking to them about life and God and about the things that really do matter.

Love and gross bises

Soeur Gaelin Turney

Week 45: The bestest Brussels Birthday ever!!!

This morning when I woke up there was a rainbow right next to the rising sun, it was the perfect beginning to my p-day birthday, Soeur McClaine took me out to lunch at a cute little Chinese restaurant where they make their own noodles fresh. It was delicious. Then all the missionaries in Brussels, ten in all, met up to get ice cream at a place called Zizi Glace for birthday ice cream. My ice cream came with a candle in it, it was so fun.

This week was crazy, Tuesday we had a really great district meeting and then we had to run to the train station so that soeur McClaine could leave for Luxembourg on exchanges. Soeur Bell came to Brussels, she is very energetic and was so excited to be in Belgium. She kind of reminded me of Sister Whitworth. Cute and smiley all the time. We had a good time together. Thursday Soeur McClaine and I went to Lille, France for her legality. It was nice to be together again, I love exchanges but i am always so grateful to have my real companion back. We had a real french lunch, with bread cheese, pure fruit juice and a large chocolate pastry.

I am always amazed at the power of music. We had two rendez-vous this week where hymns that we sang touched the people we were teaching. One was Ndaboli, an African man that we taught the Plan of Salvation to. For the closing song we sang I am a Child of God, as we sang it he got tears in his eyes and after we were done he said what a beautiful song because it was a song that thanked God for our knowledge but also asked for help. And the other was Joseph a new ami of ours that we met about a week ago. We sang How Great Thou Art, he said that it was his favorite song and that it was just another sign for him that God had led him to us. Music is powerful and brings the spirit, I love singing and that we are a church that sings.

We had a ton of mangez-vous this week. On Saturday We had two in a row, I was so full I could hardly move. Members always make so much food and expect you to eat lots, so you try to and always leave feeling slightly bloated, and then we had to do it again, luckily we got lost finding the second place so we could digest a little. Don't get me wrong I love eating at members houses, but it was poor planning on our part. The food was so good at both of them, then the next night we had another. We were very spoiled this week with food.

Saturday was ten months!! Crazy!

Rusty is doing well, we had two really good rendez-vous with him. We talked about Jesus Christ as our savior and about His atonement. What is was and how we cannot reach perfection on our own.How Christ is central to God's plan and because of who he was and what he did for us there is one way to salvation, one faith and one baptism. The spirit was very strong and we keep reaching new vistas of understanding with him. I love teaching him because he is actively searching and h e has so much knowledge already, and he believes everything that we talk about.

I love you all so much, Dieu soyez avec vous tous!

Soeur Gaelin Turney

Week 44: You're following the spirit aren't you...

Happy Immaculate Conception day, Europeans have strange holidays that they use as an excuse to close everything. The cool thing is that we get to go on a tour of the king's palace, which isn't normally open on Mondays but because it is a holiday we get to go and its free!!! Missionaries are all about free things I have learned. Pictures next week of all the cool things I am going to see.

This week we received a referral from an old missionary, he gave us the information of a young African family that have two cute kids. We just had their address so we stopped by, and they were home, AND they let us in. It was amazing that hardly ever happen let alone on the first try. We talked about the Book Of Mormon and the dad still had his copy, he said that he used to go to church, but he hasn't been in a while. They were so nice, I hope we can continue teaching them. Families are so great, we are told to search for families to teach. Families are so important to God's plan and I love imagining families being baptised and sealed together.

We had a super rendez-vous with Atinasu about the plan of Salvation. We taught with a member, Claude. It was so good, Atinasu said that he knew Joseph Smith was a prophet, and he said that he would read the Book Of Mormon AND his chess books not just his chess books. That is progress, especially because he has two really big chess tournaments the next two weeks. I love the Plan of Salvation and I love teaching people about it too. There is so much hope and so many answers in the plan.

Rusty has been progressing too. On Saturday we had a really intense rendez-vous, he has been having some concerns about authority. Be we talked about Jesus Christ and prophets and why we believe that there is only one church with the authority. Finally I asked, do you think that you can reach the level of spirituality that you want to by being a member of our church. He said, yes I think so, no i know that I would. Then I said, what is keeping you from becoming a member of our church. He just looked kind of stunned for a second like he couldn't quite comprehend how to answer. Then he said, your following the spirit aren't you, you just hit that nail on the head. He said he didn't know right then what was keeping him but he that he would meditate about what we had talked about. He also came to church, it was an interesting Sunday, we talked about the importance of work, exaltation, and eternal marriage. We are seeing him again tonight. I feel that he is one of the people that I was sent to teach as a missionary.

We had a really good experience with district finding. We were just outside of a Metro so there were lots of people. I drew the Plan of Salvation in chalk on the sidewalk, not cobblestones this week. We talked to a lot of people and a got three phone numbers. I love teaching people about the gospel!

I hope you are all happy and righteous

Love,

Soeur Gaelin Turney

Week 43:"Vous avez des beau yeux..."

Bonjour!!

 We took advantage of the sun last Pday and went to Grande Place, it is the heart of the old city, and were they had marchés and all the big goings on. It is so beautiful, the buildings are ornate and old. It was full of tourists but it was fun anyway. We went to a museum about Brussels and there was a Mannikin-Pis statue that we could put our face in, which we did. I don't really know why but one of the things that is famous in Brussels is a statue of a little boy peeing. There are stores devoted to it and they even make chocolate replica that are bigger than the statue is in real life. There is even a Metro stop named Mannikin-Pis. It is a bit crude but endearing in an odd sort of way. I guess it is just part of being in Brussels.

 

On Tuesday we were in a threesome because Soeur Larsen had to go to Paris for a meeting. So, Soeur Emilcy (she's from the West Indies!) got to hang out with us. We had a full day with all our rendez-vous. Our favorite one was with Thierry and his friend Jean. They are both Belgian and in their late forties. Theirry seems to have a genuine interest in the gospel and asked Soeur McClaine and I how we came to know that the church is true. It was really good, we both testified of the Holy Spirit testify to us that it is true through prayer and scripture study. It would have been a truly wonderful lesson except that Jean was slightly inebriated and kept interrupting to tell me I had beautiful eyes ("Vous avez des beau yeux" ) and asking me if I was going to get married after my mission and have Mormon babies.(Vous voulez un bébé mormon?") To which I answered that yes I was in fact going to marry a Mormon and that children are part of the plan. Slightly awkward, but very funny after we had left. I definitely do not like alcohol, it makes me so sad to see what it does to people. It was a good rendez-vous  in spite if the interruptions and I hope that we helped both of them at least a little.

 

On Friday we had a District Finding Activity. Our whole district (The zone leaders Elder Helvy and Elder Anderson, the District Leader Elder Canonica and his companion Elder Haviraa and the Senior Sisters from Germany, Soeur Progler and Soeur Seeborg, and Soeur McClaine and I ) all went to a big square and made a chalk drawing of the Plan of Salvation and then talked to the people that stopped by to look. Drawing on cobble stones was a new adventure, but I imagine that I will get pretty good at it. I love talking about the Plan of Salvation, it brigs people so much hope and peace. The alligator fountain was near the place where we contacted people and i thought it was cool. There are so many cool things like that everywhere you go in Europe. You can be walking down the street and there is suddenly a castle tower wedged between the frite store and the six story apartment building. I feel so lucky to be able to spend so much time in these places.

 

We had a special treat on Sunday, there was a group from Utah, The Rocky Mountain Strings, that came to Sacrament meeting and played for us, and then had a concert in the evening. They were ages 8 to 14 and played the violin, I was a bit skeptical about their skill level at first but they were amazing. There were about 25 of them and it was so fun to watch them. The concert was really good, they played mostly classical pieces but they did play a medley of West Side Story songs and their last number was a hoedown fiddle tune. It was also cool because afterwards they were just as excited to see missionaries and we were to so they. They thought we were so cool, it was kind of strange, because people here don't usually get that excited to see us, but they were. I love music, I think I have grown to love it more as a missionary because I can't listen to just any music anytime I want. not listening to it all the time makes me appreciate the power and influence that good music has. I am so glad that singing hymns is part of how we worship God on Sundays. The song of the righteous really can be a prayer to God. It was a really good end for the week.

 

I hope that all is well on the home front and that there is sunshine and happiness all around.

 

Je vous adore, tous!!

 

Soeur Gaelin Turney