Week 28: Liège is Mine for Another Six Weeks!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!!!

Lots of Belgian chocolate from Jacqeline

I hope that you had a very wonderful Easter and that you found lots of eggs and eat lots of chocolate. The transfer news is out and I am staying in Liège, and Soeur Williams is going down to Paris. My new companion will be Soeur Cope, she was also in the MTC with me, so I am excited to see her again.


 This week was so good, I think that all our work this transfer is starting to pay off, yay! We have started working with two women  who have met with missionaries before, Claire and Raymonde. I am excited to see where things go with them. Ming Qi is a young adult who we have been trying to see since I got to Liège. We finally saw her Thursday, she is so nice and she invited us to come back.

This Wednesday I reached my Six Month mark. AAAH, it is crazy to me that I am a third of the way done with my mission already. I feel like I just got here, after Wednesday there will only be six sister missionaries that have been out longer than I have. To celebrate, Soeur Williams and I bought ice cream during our lunch hour. There is an artisan ice cream shop close to our apartment. I got one scoop of Melon, and one of Violet. They were both delicious, the melon was a little like watermelon jelly bellies. The violet was like violets. 

We had boulets at Rita's house this week. Boulets are meatballs, and there is a special liègoise sauce that they make with is that is sooo good, they are eaten with frites (french fries fried twice). Very tasty but must be eaten in moderation. Soeur Williams made a banana cream pie for dessert, it was a very good dinner. Then we had a very good lesson. We talked about prayer and how prayer is more than just words. And because God is our Heavenly Father he wants to talk to us. We talked about how much He loves us as His children and that is why prayer is important, because it is how we can feel his love.  

Left to Right: Myriam, Elder Duarte, Roxanne, S. Williams, S. Turney, Elder McQuay

  

So, In Liège on Easter morning there is a bike race that starts in the middle of the city, goes out into the country and then finishes back where it starts. Of course we didn't know that, so we missed our bus to church, and had to walk a bit of a way in order to find a stop that hadn't been rerouted. So, we were late to church, but when we finally got on the bus we met Christiane and her kids Ismael and Sabrina who where on their way to church too! Christiane has been doing really well this week, she came to church for all three hours, or at least two and a half hours. She also said that Sabrina, who is nine and isn't baptized wants to have the missionary discussions. We are really excited, Christiane's kids are so cute and it will be good for Christiane to hear the lessons again.

Christiane and Soeur Williams

Today was a strange p-day, it is a holiday of some kind, and all the stores are closed, so no grocery shopping. We went over the Skousen's house to help Sister Skousen make the food for FHE tonight and lunch for district meeting tomorrow. It was a lot of fun, the Skousens are wonderful, and it is a little like having your grandparents around all the time. The internet in the Young Adult Center at the church is working now, so we don't have to go to the internet café with all the creepers, yay!! 

I hope that your week is wonderful and bright,

Love,

Soeur Turney

The pictures below are the view from our balcony, we are so lucky!!

(click for a larger image)

Week 27: American Cookies

Happy Easter Everybody!!!! or rather: Joyeux Paques!!!!

This upcoming week is going to be quite the momentous occasion. I reach my six month mark as a missionary, meaning I only have a year left, crazy! It is Easter, which happens to be the most important holiday of the entire year and for which I am super excited. And it is the last week of the transfer, the email that decides my fate for the next six weeks comes out Saturday morning. So many things to look forward to and to stress about, hurray!

This week has been a good one, as pretty much every week is, but I feel obligated to give an overall summary, so this week has been a good week. Tuesday Soeur Williams and I made cookies and went to the town of Seraing. We stopped by the Branch President's house and gave them some cookies. Europeans love American cookies, I think perhaps even more than Americans love American cookies. So, needless to say they were happy to see us, we chatted for a bit and we learned so much about President Stumont and his family. We shared a spiritual thought, and they asked us what we were doing next. We said we were going to stop by another member's house, Betty  who lives in the area. Soeur Stumont said she would come with us and give us a ride. So we all went to Betty's house. We didn't say a lot, Soeur Stumont is a talker but we did share a scripture and in listening we learned even more about both Betty and the Stumonts. It was definitely worth the trip.

On Wednesday we made cupcakes with Rita and her grandchildren who happened to be over for the day. It was quite the adventure, let us say that the two weren't very good at sharing or taking turns. But the cupcakes turned out despite all the help we had. Everyone was a bit skeptical about the mayonnaise that I put into the batter but were very pleased with the outcome. I love chocolate cupcakes.

Friday there was a Young Single Adult activity. We hiked up the historic stairs (there are 384, Elder McQuay counted) and wandered around one of the oldest neighborhoods in Liege, it was so pretty. We ended up in a garden area that was everything a European garden should be, of course I forgot my camera, but it was truly magical, I kept trying to wander off, but Soeur Williams wouldn't let me. We decided that we had to come back on P-day which we did, I brought my camera the second time. We had a picnic in the shade and sat and drew pictures and looked at the scenery for a good 2 hours today. That is just another of the many reasons I love Soeur Williams, she wants to sit and be in a lovely European garden just as much as I want to.

Saturday after Samedi Sports we had a lesson with Stephan, he lives in the elders' area so we have to pass him over to them to teach. We taught the lesson with the Elders to ease the transition a little. We talked more about the Restoration and Joseph Smith. Stephan just gets it, he is ready for the gospel. We watched the Restoration movie and he basically taught us the lesson. We asked if he had any questions and after a pause he asked, how long does a person have to study to get to baptized in your church. Well, Stephan, you have to have a few more lessons with us and come to church 3 times and you are good to go. It was so exciting, he told us that he has never been baptized into a church because baptism is like marriage; you are making a covenant with God, and he wanted to make sure he did it the right way. The spirit was really strong. He shared a couple of experiences from his life, and he has definitely been prepared for the gospel, it is so amazing. I am excited to see how he progresses.

There was only one black spot on what had the makings of a perfect week, and the problem is all my fault because apparently my creeper radar is broken. We were waiting for the 17 on our way to Samedi Sports and a charming black guy started talking to us, I was thinking, 'cool a contact.' We got off the 17 and were waiting for the 13 when he comes walking towards us from the direction of the bus stop. I didn't think anything of it, but Soeur Williams, whose creeper radar does in fact work, was not pleased. She made a phone call, and in the mean time I give him our card and set up a Rendez-vous for after church, and invited him to Samedi sports. It was only after he was gone to change shoes that Soeur Williams clues me in onto the fact that he is not the desirable type. Luckily the Elders arrive before he does so we can give them the heads up. They talk to him after he arrives. He calls Saturday night to say hi and Soeur Williams more or less hangs up on him. He came to the meeting at church, the Elders were kind enough to come with us, they taught the lesson but he didn't really pay attention. We told him that we can't teach boys, which is true if it is only a boy, and that the Elders had to teach him. I don't think he got the hint as he called us again today, We didn't answer. I am not sure how it is going to end, but I hope it happens soon. Does anyone know of a good place that repairs creeper radars, cause I need one badly!

Church was amazing this week, I learned a lot. Our lesson in Relief Society was about honesty, God is perfectly honest, and He has given us everything we need to know to gain salvation. We can rely on the things He has said because God cannot lie. One of the talks in Sacrament meeting was on prayer, it was a good reminder of what prayer really is; a conversation with God. It made me evaluate my prayers and see how I can improve them, it was a little nerve wracking because I was giving the closing prayer for the meeting. The sister giving the talk's name was Fabienne; she said, prayer is a privilege but it is also a commandment. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart might mind and strength, do the prayers we say reflect our love for God?

I love you all and this gospel, stay faithful to the end,

Soeur Gaelin Turney

Week 26: An Italian Kind of Week

Bongiorno!!!

Yes I realize it is Italian but I spent two days with one this week so I figure I can say it at least once. This has been a good week, though the start was a bit rough. Stephanie, the lady that contacted us on the bus home from church wasn't there for the rendez-vous we set with her, we called her and there wasn't and answer, which made us sad. We passed by on Thursday and she wasn't there either, we will keep trying though. Our lesson with Christiane was on Wednesday, we had planned to watch a talk with her online, but of course the one time we want to use the internet it was down. So, we read a chapter with her from the Book of Mormon and scheduled another Rendez-vous for Saturday night. Stay tuned for it, it is exciting.

We visited Isabelle on Thursday, we made it to Visé without incident. You would think that it would be easy to get to and from a town that only has one train that stops there, but experience says otherwise. Isabelle was in a pretty good mood, we decided that we are going to start teaching her all the missionary lesson even though she is an active member. It will be good practice for us, and she sometimes asks us strange questions that I think a lesson about the Plan of Salvation will clear up pretty well. The lesson went really well, there is something about the story of Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel that brings the spirit. I love talking about it, and I love it when people share their testimony that Joseph was a prophet.

Sister exchanges were this week, we hosted the Nogent Soeurs. Nogent is a suburb of Paris, like Evry, its a 30 minute RER ride from Paris too. Soeur Woyak and Soeur De Santis came up Friday and left Saturday afternoon. Soeur De Santis is Italian and Liège was the first city she served in so she was really excited to be back. Soeur Woyak only has French Legelity so this was her first and probably last time in Belgium on her mission so she was excited to be here too.

Soeurs De Santis, Williams, Woyak & Turney in Liege

 I went with Soeur Woyak to pass by a Young Single Adult, Andrew. His little sister Indiana answered and said he was at work, so we went outside and tried to figure out how to get to the next place. While we were sitting on the steps Andrew's mother came home, she is also a member but I didn't recognize her. Her name is Fabienne, she asked why we were there and we told her and asked if she had time to talk to  us. She said yes, but she didn't let people in her apartment because it is too small, so we all stood in the hall and talked. It was different but kinda fun. She has a really strong testimony, and she has sleeping problems which is why she doesn't come to church every week. We had a mini lesson with her and it was really good. What is even cooler is that she was at church on Sunday!

Soeurs Woyak and Turney. They look like cousins or something!

All four of us went to English class Jacqueline was the only one there but she loves Soeur De Santis and Italian too so it worked out quite well. Institute is also on Fridays so Soeur De Santis got to say hi to lots of people, it was funny to watch everyone's faces when they saw her. We found out that night that the Zone Leaders had bought us our new stove top and that is was being delivered the next day, Saturday. So, Soeur Woyak and I stayed and waited for the stove people to come and Soeur De Santis and Soeur Williams went to the church to pick something up and to be there for Samedi Sports even though they didn't play. Our old stove was about 50 years old and only one of the elements works. The ovne works fine, and because of the way it is wet up you can replace just the stove part and leave the oven. When the installation guys saw our stove they were slightly horrified at how old it was. We asked tham if everything was okay and they said we hope it works. One of them kept cracking jokes about it, "it was made fifty ago, fifty years before Jesus Christ! I think your stove is from the dinosaur era..." It was funny. After a bit of struggling they finally got it installed. It is the flat top kind, it is shiny and black and was made in Italy. There are buttons and it lights up, and flashes H so you know the burner is still hot even after you turn it off, it is very fancy. The first thing we made on it was stir fry and rice, it was very exciting to be able to cook the rice AND the vegetables AT THE SAME TIME!!!!!

Any time is Gaufre time. Oooh, what a beautiful new sweater!

Soeur Williams and I had a Rendez-vous with Stephan Saturday afternoon, after we took the Nogent soeurs to the train station. We asked how he liked general conference and he said he learnezd a lot and that he liked it. He said your churc is all about Jesus thats good. We asked if he had any questions about Conference. He said no, but he did want to know more about Joseph Smith, the other missionaries had talked about him and he wanted some clearification. We were more than happy to oblige. We explained about the restoration and the preisthood and he was like "oh, so the reason that God said for Joseph to not join any of the churches was because they didn't have the authority." "Yes!" He then said "So, when you use the priesthood you are doing what Jesus would do, you can't use the preisthood for yourself you have to do what Jesus would do with it." "Yes!!!" It was such a good lesson. The things to say just flowed, it was such a good experience. It made us both super excited about missionary work. We gave him the  Restoration pamphlet and he said, I am going to read all of this, yes!! He is golden and I am excited to be able to teach him at least for now, he is actually in the Elders area, but we are going to teach him a few lessons before we turn him over to them.

Saturday night was a little crazy, We had a mangez-vous with Christiane and her kids. We got to the apartment before they did, Christiane was just getting back from picking the kids up from their dad's and the new dog up from her mother's house. It was a little bit of a zoo. She prepared seafood pasta for us. We knew it was coming, she showed us the package of mixed shellfish she was going to use while we were at her house on Wednesday, she bought it Monday. So, it was quite potent having been sitting in her frigde all week, but don't worry no food poisoning occurs in this story. The pasta was a bit fishy flavored but pretty good all things considered. The exciting part of the story is that Soeur Williams ate a fourth of a mini shrimp!!!! It took her seven minutes to work up the courage but she did it!!! You should all write her letters of congratulations, this is a feat. The first fish she has eaten in her life and I was there to see it! Simply splendid. We sort of had a lesson, the dog was all over the place and the kids were quite distracted but they did like the Ammon cutting off arms part, as I knew they would. So they will probably remember that part if nothing else. 

I am out of time, but I love you all have a wonderful week full of happiness and spiritual experiences!

Love,

Soeur Gaelin Turney 

The famed curtains in the Liege apartment

Week 25: I Love General Conference!

Hello Hello Hello!!! Yes, you get three hellos this week.

I must start off by saying General Conference was awesome! More on that later however, I have to start at the beginning of the week.

Elder Duarte and Elder McQuay had the FHE lesson on Monday, they shared the story of Gideon and his 300 soldiers. They had as a visual aid a bunch of plastic army guys. The Israelite army started out with 21 thousand soldiers, and were eventually whittled down to the 300 that Gideon used to destroy the innumerable host of the Mideonites. To represent the difference there was one army guy against an army of thirty other plastic men. It is interesting to think about the faith that the 300 must have had in the Lord and in Gideon as their leader. We need to have the same kind of faith in the prophet and the Lord. This life is hard but when we trust and follow the guidance of the prophet we will conquer all the enemies in our way, even the ones with plastic grenade launchers.  

Liege's Angel Bridge (from Soeur Williams' blog)

We had interviews with President Staheli this week. At interviews all the missionaries in our zone come together and we have training, lunch and an interview in which we can talk about anything we want, problems, doctrinal questions, advice for now and after the mission. Elder Duarte made lunch, Portuguese pasta and soup, delicious. I had kind of a cool experience during training, I have had some questions and little concerns that I have been trying to figure out for a couple weeks, and during the course of the 40 minute training I received all the answers to all the questions that I had had. During my interview I asked for clarification, but it was truly a miracle and a tender mercy. Heavenly Father is so kind and loving and He knows each of us so well, He knows our strugglings and worries. He answers our prayers.

This weekend we got new curtains. In order to get new things for the apartment you are staying in, the protocol is to call Elder Haas in the mission office and ask permission to buy such and such, Once he approves whatever it is you want you then contact the nearest elder who has a "blue card," a separate credit card than the personal one each missionary has, and you get them to buy whatever you need with the blue card. Our apartment needed several things one of which was curtains, it is one of the rules that every window have them and we have a wall of windows that didn't have any. Elder McQuay and Elder Duarte are the ones with the blue card and they came and measured our windows and our stove( we need a new one but that is proving tricky to replace) and then they went off to Ikea. They came on Saturday morning after studies to install the curtains, it was very funny to watch them try and figure out the best way to install them, after a couple hours and a trip to the hardware store they succeeded and they are very nice. Elder Duarte is very proud of them, as he also picked them out. He has asked us how the curtains are every time he has talked to us since; They are doing quite well, if you were wondering. I of course forgot to take a picture, so next week you can see the lovely curtains.

General Conference was by far the best part of my week. Because of translation time and the time difference, the schedule is a bit different. Saturday at 2 was the young Women's session, which we didn't go to, and at 6 was the Saturday morning session. On Sunday at 2 and 6 we watched the Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning sessions. The priesthood session was at 11 o'clock Sunday morning. Normally they project the French translation in the chapel and they have a separate room that has it in English. They were having transmission problems so they were only able to have it in French. I understood more than I expected I would, my brain hurt a bit afterwards though. While I didn't perhaps get the finer details of the talks I definitely noticed some patterns and things that I want to study further, I cannot wait for the Conference Ensign to come out! It was interesting as I watched, I found myself thinking this would be perfect for Christiane, or Jacqueline could really use this talk. It was cool to have inspiration about how to help other people in the middle of taking notes of things for me. There really is something for everyone during general conference. We had an ami come to the Saturday session, his name is Stephan, and he moved to Liège from Brussels a couple months ago. The Sister missionaries in Brussels found out and gave us his information. We met him briefly on Friday and invited him and he came and he took notes. It was really exciting. We explained a little bit about what conference is and who all the people were. When President Monson walked to his seat, Stephan said,"so, that is the Prophet, he is a simple man." When we asked for clarification he said, " He is carrying his own binder.   He is like Jesus, who washed Peter's feet." I think that is so amazing that that was what he noticed. President Monson is a simple man, and a humble man, and I know that he is a prophet. I am excited to talk to Stephan about what he learned and what he felt. I am so grateful that I got to see conference, I am so grateful that we have a conference to watch. The church is true, and there is a living prophet on the earth!!!

I love you all,

Soeur Gaelin Turney

Week 24: There is Sunshine in Liege Today, So Glorious and Bright!

I feel bad for all the people that still have snow at their houses, because it is spring here and the weather is beautiful. We changed our clocks forward Saturday night, it was a bit of a brutal adjustment, but it is light outside until 8 now, so can't really complain.

Family Home Evening last weekend turned out interesting, Ewoma the girl in charge of FHE called us an hour and a half before it started and asked if we could do the game and the lesson because she was sick. Of course we said yes, we tried calling the Zone Leaders but they were going to a member's house for FHE. So, we ended up doing the Lesson, the game, and refreshments. Our numbers were small, Manu, Jacqueline and Maurice showed up, and Beauty came after we had finished everything. We decided to give the lesson on gratitude and used President Monson's talk from the last conference, it was short but I felt alright about it. We all shared the things that we were thankful for.  I love hearing what other people are grateful for; it helps me remember even more things I am grateful to have. We played charades for the game, and ate our cookies. We had so many left over, we made chocolate chip cookies and chocolate chocolate chip cookies so our resolve not to eat sugar this week was killed before it even began.

We had a really good lesson with Christiane on Tuesday, we've been reading the book of Mormon with her almost every night for the past three weeks, so we wanted to see if she had seen a change in her life and if, with the change she wanted to try to stop smoking again. When we asked her if she thought reading the Book of Mormon together was helping her she said, no not really. She doesn't have the motivation to do anything and she reads the Book of Mormon because she knows she is supposed to and because we call her, not because she wants to. She went on to explain her problems and how she was feeling. She said she has questions she is looking for the answer to but doesn't know where to look. I shared with her the card experiment that we learned about in training, to write a question down on a card and then got to church looking for the answer with a sincere heart. I testified that Heavenly Father loved her, and that He was waiting to answer her as soon as she turned to Him. The Spirit was really strong and we asked her how she was feeling. She said, "I am feeling more appeased than I was." I think that is good, or at least a start. We had another lesson with her Saturday night, she was pretty sick. She was kind enough to make us dinner that we didn't want but ate anyway. Sausage cooked in a lake of butter, mine wasn't cooked all the way, mushrooms which were actually pretty good, bottled peas and carrots, and mashed potatoes from a mix. Christiane is so nice and well intentioned, but her cooking is something else. She was feeling well enough to sing us several songs in Wallonese. Liège and the surrounding areas have an old dialect called Wallonese and there is a lot of cool culture and history about the Wallone people. It sounds a bit like French but its spelling is apparently crazy, and it is hard to read. I am searching for books about Wallone, because I think it is very interesting. Christiane didn't come to church but we are going to see her this week and commit her to come to hopefully all three sessions of General conference that are broadcast in French.  

Wednesday was a bus stop disaster of my own making. I was in charge of the Map Book, which means I get to figure out where we go in what order and how we get there. This includes when we get off the bus. We started the day by going to Ougrée to follow up with Josephine, and finish the pass bys. Alphonsine called and said she wasn't going to be there but come by next week, we ended up dropping a note in her mailbox with the time and address of the church, she didn't come, but we are going to try to see her again this week. Anyway, We are riding the 25 to get to Ougrée and we are talking and enjoying the lovely day, and a miss the bus stop we are supposed to get off at. We get off three or four stops later, and we have to walk a bit of a ways to get to where we wanted to be. No one ended up being home and Josephine said that she was in the middle of something so come back another time. We went home had an early dinner and got on the bus to Jupille to find 2 young single adults that live out there. The bus to Jupille only comes once or twice an hour, and Jupille is much more countryside-like, meaning fewer bus stops and more space in between. We were riding along quite nicely until I realized that yet again I had missed our stop, this time by only 2 but the distance was significant. Luckily it was a beautiful evening. We started walking back along the side of the road, there weren't really sidewalks and the ground was uneven. Soeur Williams ankle started hurting about the time we reached the next bus stop. We still had a long ways to go until we got to the street and the house number was 7 hundred and something, and we weren't sure which end of the road the numbers started on. So after discussing our options we decided to head home so that we didn't make Souer William's ankle worse, because she still needs it. It  wasn't the best sort of day as far as work goes, I think it might be a good thing I only have the map book every other day.

Friday we went to Brussels to do Soeur Williams' Belgian legality, we were a little confused as to why I wasn't doing mine too, but it was just her this time. Brussels is only an hour train ride away so we left at 9:48  and met the group from Paris at the Brussels-Midi train station. There were a bunch of missionaries from our MTC group, including 4 of the Elders from my MTC district. It was a happy reunion, it was a lot of fun to see everyone. Soeur Larsen, Soeur William's MTC companion was there too. Belgian legality is lots easier than French Legality, you go to the commune and sign a paper and you are done. We made it back to Liège with enough time that we didn't need to cancel English class, yay!

On the bus back from Church on Sunday an interesting thing happened, we were contacted by a lady instead of us doing the contacting. She was standing next to our seat and looked very intently at our badges.  She then asked if we had a brochure we could give her, to which we said "oui!" She then asked if we were Jehovah's Witnesses, after assuring her that we were not in fact Jehovah's Witnesses and we were Christian, but not Catholic, she seemed okay; and asked if she could gives us her number and we could talk. We said, "oui!!" It was really quite amazing, she seemed like a normal person, and I am excited to talk with her, we gave her a pamphlet on Joseph Smith, so we shall see how it goes.

Today, we wanted to have a picnic for lunch again, but it was a bit too cold, so we spread a blanket on the floor and ate our very French meal on the floor, we didn't have goblets or juice, so we used grape Crystalight, it was the first and probably the last time I have grape Crystalight, yeach. We went shopping and I bought a very lovely scarf. We draw people at one of the major bus stations, Place St. Lombert, it was so fun. I am glad that Soeur Williams likes drawing too.

I am so excited for General Conference this weekend!!! You all better watch it, and tell me about it! The prophet is going to speak to us so pay attention.

I love you all,

Soeur Gaelin Turney

Week 23: Our Mother Left Us But We're Doin' Okay

Happy First Day of Spring!!!!

Well, Soeur England has gone the way of all the earth and left Soeur Williams and I to fend for ourselves in this charming city. It was transfer week this week and Soeur England hopped on a train at 6:40 a.m. Wednesday morning never to come back again. She successfully finished her mission in one piece, we are going to miss her. I don't know if it was the early morning but our parting was a lot less tearful and dramatic than anticipated. Which was alright by me; lots of hugging and crying on train platforms are better left for the movies. Though the walk back to the apartment was a quiet one, it was a little bit like being dropped off at the first day of school, exciting and terrifying at the same time. But Soeur Williams and I have survived!!  District Meeting on Thursday was really good and we met our new zone leader Elder McQuay, he seems like a very good sort of fellow. I am excited to get to know him better Other than that our district is the same sans Soeur England.

 

Friday was a super busy day and we got a lot of work done, go team! After lunch we took the 25 to a town called Ougrée. Our first two passbys were unsuccessful but the third one, two kids answered and said that their dad wasn't home. It wasn't much but it was a start, we at least know that they still live there; we will stop by this week later in the day and hopefully catch the whole family home. A family to teach is every missionary's dream, I hope they work out. The next place we tried was for a guy named Ano, he wasn't there but a woman named Josephine answered the door, we talked with her and gave her a Book of Mormon, and made an appointment for this Wednesday. A couple of houses down was another woman named Alphonsine who was also home and interested in talking to us. It was very exciting to have to prospect of new amis. Ougrée is very hilly, so we did a lot of hiking but it was definitely worth it.

 

Ougrée is famous for its steelworks. Image via Wikimedia.

Sunday was an adventure. Two weeks ago a member of the branch Presidency gave Soeur England a peice of paper with the assignment to give a 10 minute talk on Sunday, March 20th. She shrugged and said, sorry, I won't be here, and handed me the paper. So, yesterday I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting. The subject was Jesus Christ.  You'd think it would be easy to come up with things to say, but where do you start with a subject like that? I finally decided to talk about who Jesus Christ is to me. He is my Savior and Redeemer; He is my friend and my brother. I know him because I have spent time with him through prayer and reading the scriptures and He has healed my heart and given me hope when I had none. I know that He lives! I think that it turned out pretty well. The start was a little shaky, literally my hands were shaking, but I was able to calm myself down by the end and finished strong. I think it was for the most part comprehensible. Jacqueline also gave a talk, her first one ever, she did wonderfully. I was so proud. Sunday School was really good this week, and I understood what was going on. Usually I am totally lost, but I got it this week! The lesson was on the parable of the sower in Matthew 14. The part I liked best was about the good ground. The seeds, or the word of God that falls onto the good ground takes root and begins to grow. The good ground is those people who understand or "comprend" the word. The teacher said that "com" means to ones self and "prend" is to take. So, the people who are the good ground take the word of God into themselves. I love the scriptures!  It is so cool how reading the scriptures in another language adds a whole new level of understanding. The difference in word choice brings an new way of looking at the stories.

 

This week has been a good one, I am so glad that Soeur Williams and I get to stay together. We have very similar interests. We did transfer planning this week, and one of the rules we made was a mandatory 30 minute drawing session/sitting and thinking or doing nothing session every p-day. We also rearranged the apartment so the table is next to the windows so we can look at the view while we are eating. On Thursday we turned the lights off and ate dinner in the dark so we could see out the windows better. She is just as crazy as I am, or at least is willing to put up with my eccentricities. We had a picnic in the park across the street from our apartment for lunch today, baguettes and cheese, apples and yogurt. We felt so European. It was a pretty calm uneventful p-day, we did make cookies for FHE and found an art supply store. I think I know where my new favorite place is, I love art stores so much, I bought some brown pens and a couple colored pencils.  I think art supplies are one of the few things I impulse buy. Good thing there aren't too many around. 

 

I feel so lucky and so blessed to be here in Liège, yesterday was my 5 month mark, it is strange to think that I am almost a third of the way done, I have only just started! It is motivation to make every moment count, and I think that Soeur Williams and I are going to do that. This transfer is going to be legendary!!!

 

All my love,

 

Soeur Gaelin Turney

Week 22: Liege, Still the Place I Call Home

Bonjour *kiss*

 

So, the transfer email is out, Soeur Williams and I are both staying in Liege together. Which means I am going co-companion in my third transfer, whooooo. It doesn't really mean anything other than I no longer have a companion who knows what's going on any more than I do, as she has been in the mission as long as I have. Soeur England is getting ready to go home, it has been one very long goodbye starting about last Wednesday. I am gonna miss her, but her time has come.

 

Tuesday was Zone Conference in Brussels, we got a ride from the Skousens, it is tricky getting 3 sisters in the back of a European car, and even more difficult to be in there for an hour, but we made it there all right. Soeur Staheli started and she said something interesting. She told us to think about the think that we wanted more than anything else in the world, and then to think about yesterday. She asked us whether what we did yesterday brought us closer or farther away from what we want. It is a good thought provoking question. The choices we made yesterday effect the choices we have before us today and the things we choose today effect what we can do tomorrow. I wish that I could remember that all the time, I think that I would make my life much easier if I did. There is a tradition at the last Zone Conference before a missionary goes home they give their "dying testimony." Souer England gave hers, she said that a mission is a time where you don't have to think about anything else but everyone else. I think that I am going to make that one on my mottoes for my mission. The more you give yourself to the service of others and let yourself be lead by the spirit the more effective and the better the missionary you will be, I just have to figure out how to do it now.

 

Tuesday night we had dinner at Rita's house. It was Mardi Gras and apparently it is a tradition in Belgium at least to have cabbage on Mardi Gras. So we had a pork, and a cooked cabbage and potato dish, it was actually really good. It was made with the big green leafy-ish kind of cabbage. Don't worry we survived carnival without incident though it is supposedly this week that all the college kinds have their drunken initiation thingies. There are a lot of young people wandering around in lab coats that are very dirty and written all over. They also have chain-sash thingys and go in small groups asking people for money so they can buy alcohol. It makes my very sad to see them, and that there are so many of  them around. It is such a stark contrast to the life I am living, and really none of them look happy. As the scriptures say wickedness never was happiness.

 

I got to meet Christiane's kids on Wednesday, she had us over for lunch and it is carnival vacation for school. Ismael and Sabrina are so cute. Christiane sent Ismael to the store for some things for lunch and while he was gone Sabrina asked if we could read in the Book of Mormon like we've been doing over the phone. We are really excited about Sabrina's interest because while Ismael is baptized Sabrina is not. Her father is Muslim and she has been leaning a bit towards that. But she seems excited about reading and she volunteers to say the prayer all the time. We have continued reading the Book of Mormon with Christiane every night over the phone, there truly is a difference in her. I wouldn't say it is dramatic but it is a definite difference. It is a testimony to me of the power of the Book of Mormon. Especially in reading it everyday, I think that is the key to unlocking the power in the Book of Mormon, reading it every day with a sincere desire. We only read a chapter with her, but it makes a difference and a change of heart, even if it is just a little at a time.

 

Maurice is doing really well, he came to Family Home Evening last Monday, and to English class and Samedi Sports. He came to church on Sunday but he went to the other branch I think he had something to do to because he left right after, but he came!!!! We are so excited for him, and the members are being good with him, Beauty in particular. Beauty is one out our recent converts and he and Maurice have a lot in common so they talk a lot, I hope that they will be friends.

 

There have been a lot of lasts for Soeur England, her last district meeting, her last English class, her last Sunday, her last p-day. We've been trying to keep her busy so that she doesn't get too trunky, but we've had a lot of fun too. We went out for pizza on Saturday with the Skousens and Elder Duarte and Elder Weber, it was a lot of fun, and a nice last hurrah. Plus the pizza was amazing! It was a little weird to do weekly planning without Souer England this week, but we managed well enough on our own. She has done a great job getting us ready to be on our own, and I am excited for this new transfer and for all that it will bring. I am glad that transfers happen every 6 weeks, it gives me a way to recommit myself to being the best missionary, it is like having a New Year every month and a half. It is really helpful to have a time that is set to reflect on how I am doing and what I need to do better. That is why we are here on this earth, to progress to change, to evaluate and do better to become what we need to be. I think that is why missions are so life changing, they are a concentrated time where all you think about is how you can do better so you can do the Lords work better.  Wednesday begins my 3rd transfer and Sunday is my 5th month as a missionary. It is strange but that doesn't change the work, I am excited for my new responsibilities and that I have Soeur Williams to work with, we are gonna rock this town with the gospel!

 

I love you all so very much, until next week,

 

Soeur Gaelin Turney