January Update from Belgium

(First of the month at the Bottom of this update a little behind)

Elder McBride in his apartment

Week of Jan 19^th

HEY! 

So Elder Bailey and I had a really good week this week. I don't have a ton of time to share all of it but I will share some really cool experiences we had this week.

So to start, yesterday after church we were going to stop by to see some people to say hello to some less active members and some people we had met on the streets. So we tried four people and none of them answered.  We were in the same area as the Bishop's house and we had remembered that he had given us a referral for his street. Someone that he thought might be interested.  We stopped by and said we were the friends of the family and they said to come right in.  So we went in and got to know them and actually taught them the restoration. (THAT NEVER HAPPENS) we had a really good conversation and they agreed to have us come back this week.  It was a really good lesson. 

We headed back to tell the Bishop how the visit went and he was surprised but happy with the outcome and asked if we wanted to come in and visit with his family as well as his brothers family.  We spent some time talking about two of the Bishop's children who are on missions, then the conversation changed to us talking about our missions. The brother and his wife started asking a lot of questions. Eventually we ended up teaching the restoration to his family and they loved it.  They were really engaged and it was an amazing experience that was totally unexpected. They said that they would love to chat again so we are going to have a family home evening at the Bishops home with both families in the near future. So Cool.  We actually found 5 new people to start teaching as well this week.

Mural in Brussels

It was an amazing week full of blessings. Thank you for your support, love and emails. I love my mission and am in an amazing place.  

Week of Jan 12^th

This week went by so quick! We were so busy. I'll share some of the coolest experiences. 

First Isadore, who we just baptized, has actually been coming to church for a long time prior to his baptism is now actually ready to get the Priesthood. We taught him a couple lessons to prepare for that. So after church yesterday that happened and it was awesome.  His kids were there too and it was a really special moment for him, he wanted it so bad and realized the importance of it. 

He has 3 kids that are not baptized and we are teaching all three of them twice a week.  Sandra is 16, Astrid is 12 & Gilbert is almost 8 and they are super cool kids. They actually don't live in our mission but they come to the chapel every week for us to teach them! The goal is to have them baptized in February. They love the church and they have a ton of friends which is awesome.   

We also got to teach Alemshet this week. She has been reading the Book of Mormon, in her language and loves it.  She wants to send one to her sisters in Ethiopia and the meetings have been going really well with her. She knows that she feels good when we come over and talk and she wants to keep that in her life. 

Brussels

We also staring teaching this lady who is about 60, Marie Louise. She is really nice and has an amazing testimony of Jesus Christ. We taught her the restoration this week. In the lesson there was a scripture in the bible that Elder Bailey was trying to find as she has a great love for the Bible.  So it was important that we could find it. In that moment I remembered the exact reference because I had studied it that morning. That morning I had no idea I was going to need to use that scripture in the lesson and the scripture really helped her to understand more about our message.

The Ward here is amazing, they are so cool. There are so many cool families and youth and it's at the point now where the youth invite us over to eat because they love us. We have been able to get close to some families and really help them with their missionary work. This one family calls us the "beaugosse's companionship" which means handsome boys. They always joke around with us. They like my French, it has been getting a lot better lately.

Candy from the Member's, we just can't keep up!

Overall we had a really good week. Hard to fit it all in an email. Found a lot of new people and had some really spiritual Moments. Love you guys. Thanks for all the encouragement and love. 

Happen to hit a BMW Department store in Brussels on P-day, so cool!

Week of Jan 5^th

This week was an amazing week for us! One of the best weeks we've had. We tried our best to be very focused and give it our all. The one thing that we worked on changing this week was our attitude. It's a little premature to say so but I think the secret to missionary work is your attitude and that always determines the outcome of your work!  This week we tried to go above and beyond in our efforts and of course it was one of the ugliest, most rainy weeks ever! We ended up teaching 14 full lessons and finding 8 new people to teach. We taught 8 lessons in 2 days which was great, some more interesting than others.  

Streets of Belgium, finally stopped raining

One of our lessons was with our friend Almeshet from Africa. She has been waiting for some time to see if she could stay legally in Belgium. When we first met her she was having some challenges regarding her immigration and was feeling very troubled regarding her future.  We gave her a blessing. I remember saying that she would be blessed if she did the right thing and was honest. After that we didn't really know what happened however she was noticeably more happy and joyful! Then this week she actually got her papers back telling her that she could stay in Belgium, Great news! This week in the lesson we taught her about the Book of Mormon, now that were able to get her one in her native tongue, Amharic. That went well, she is going to start to read this week! 

After that we taught some new people and one man's name was Jean de Dieu which means Jean of God!  He was interesting, he is also African and living in a house for refugees and is super cool and receptive. He works close to the church so we are going to start teaching him there. He has not had an easy life and is really humble! Great guy.

Another guy we taught this week was Laurent. We ended up knocking on his door to sing for him a Christmas Carol. He didn't have time in the moment and were finally able to go back to see him and he let us in. We found out that he is actually at a point of his life where he is searching for something and we gave him a Book of Mormon and taught him the restoration. He actually has a ton of books about religion and was blown away when he found out that we were Mormon. He's like Mormons "WHAT! that's so cool". We are going back there this week to teach him and his family.

Those were just a couple of the people we taught this week! 

We eat out once in a while!

We are seeing a lot of success with less actives as well.  This one family has had a lot of problems but have been able to come to church the last 3 weeks. They have a son who is 13, not yet baptized so we are teaching him separately to prepare him. He has a knowledge of almost nothing so we are starting from the beginning. It would be awesome if he could progress in the church because he needs direction. He has so much potential and he wants to be baptized. He knows that church is not always the most fun thing in the world but he knows its where he needs to be. He is the one that I bought a pair of vans for. We are going to drop those off this week! He should love those! Also got some gifts for the parents with the money sent for Christmas gifts. 

One thing that has changed about me from before my mission is that I am seeing the struggles emotionally, financially and physically that people face and with the challenges this brings into their lives.  I have learned to see them as Jesus Christ would see them. I want the best for them and I know that I can help them get there. Often I don't realize or know why I love them but I do. That is why I love being a missionary. Because you help people. This world is far from perfect and people need the gospel. 

I have also come to the conclusion now as I have almost been out six months that I have moved past being a teenage punk! The humbling experiences you have on a mission are hard to replicate.  You develop charity and love and realize that you were sometimes selfish and unkind to others. I'm not saying I'm near perfect but at this point I am really thankful for what my mission has done to me. I was reading a scripture in Ether 12:27 which explains it perfect. 

My nickname on a train in Brussels.

We had a really good week! I even found my gang on a train. I love my mission and am thankful for all of you that have helped me get to this point. Have an amazing week! 

Week of Dec 29th 

HEY! 

So we had a good week this week! A little slower than usual but still really good! A unique experience: We were contacting near our house on the way to get a train and I see this guy say HELLO.  Immediately after that he walked into a van and fell over.  He started going on about how he needed to go to bed and all this crazy stuff. Then he tried getting real serious with us. Kinda funny.  

We went out contacting and the first two contacts we had were the most interesting we have ever had. The first guy we asked if we could talk to him about Jesus Christ?  His immediate response was "NO you came to my house and rang on my door bell the other day and I said no!" (side note you see a million faces a day and you can't remember them all. People will come up to you and be like "HEY" and you will think "umm lets just go along with this because we have no idea who you are") anyway after this guy said no he told us that he was going to call the police and then stormed off mad and we went on with our day! The next lady we talked to was a little crazy, all I really got out of what she said to us was that she has a goose. A stone goose in her backyard and every time she feeds it is says "Jesus", just yells that out. So she has a stone talking goose.

On the other hand We got to meet with Isadore this week at a members home for dinner and a lesson. We taught him about the Priesthood because he is preparing for that now. He wants to be able to baptize his kids soon. The meeting and lesson went really well. He understood the responsibility's and privileges and is pretty ready. Along with that we are starting to teach his 2 Daughters who are 13 and 15 I think? They come every week, love church and want to be baptized around the middle of Feb. So we are starting to teach them everything they need to know to make sure that they are ready for that day. They actually live out of the mission but they are meeting us at the chapel to we will be able to teach them because they only speak French and they go to our ward so that should be really good. We are really looking forward to that! 

Jungle Book 

On New Year's Eve we went to a member's house watched a church movie and had dinner and played games, it was good. Then New Year's Day we drove to the Stake Presidents house, Pierre and Noelle Kahne, the people that you know. We went to the city of Liege. SUCH a cool city. The reason we went there was because their was this exhibition of Disney ice sculptures in a huge cold tent. It was so awesome. We saw all of the latest Disney characters. They had this huge Ice Slide.  It was so cool. We had so much fun with their family. After that we went back to their house ate dinner.  It was super fun. 

Oh and then today, our P-day we went to Brussels this morning early because we wanted to do some service with the money you gave me. We went and bought a package of oranges and some Pain du Chocolate and handed them out to the homeless people all over the metros and streets. It was super awesome. A  lot of people liked it! It was cool to see their smiles. When you are really doing service you see and feel the love that Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father have for all of us. So that was really fun. We also shopped for some people in the ward that we are going to help out.  

Overall it was a good week!  A week of service and helping others

The Month of December

Week of December 22^nd

With Christmas this week, we didn't have a lot of work like we normally do and only taught a couple lessons.  One was with the Ba family which we met a few weeks ago.  They are a great family and have said they feel something different when we are there.  We had a really good appointment and the next time we are going to teach the Plan of Salvation.

We also had a lesson with our recent convert who just got baptized -  Isadore.  He was so excited and has been so happy since being baptized and has tons of strength and is ready for anything that comes at him. He also had an interview with the bishop and will be getting the Priesthood in the next two weeks. We are teaching him a lesson on that tonight.  Everything is going well him. 

This week we spent a lot of the time singing. One day we went out with all of the youth in the Ward to sing to a number of families as well as some we are teaching. 

 

Ward Christmas Party

We spent Christmas Eve at the Bishops house with his family and Christmas day at another members house, the De Lauw's. We got some presents from both, they are very generous and are two really cool families.  The De Lauw's got me 4 hockey sticks that they ordered from Finland as they know how much I love the game and miss it.   Overall it was a really good week with a lot of fun. I learned to appreciate Christmas in a different, in a special way and grateful to be here on my mission to allow me to deepen my understanding of the Gift of our Savior. Thankful for that as well as the Skype call with my family in Dallas!

Christmas Day with the De Lauw's

Week of December 15^th

We ended up going back to the Ba family the past week that we were led to earlier. The one time we just stopped by on the way to Paris and they set us up with all this food, we ended up having to go back later to teach a lesson. They had dinner for us so we taught them the lesson during dinner. They are really curious and are the nicest people in the world.  We have loved getting to know them and see them begin to understand who we are, what we do as missionaries and the message that we have to share.

Isadore was baptized this week, it was an amazing day. It was so cool to see him take that step and I loved being a part of helping him get there.  It was a good service and there were some really good talks given by the members,so many people came out to support him.  After his baptism he had a different glow and you could tell that he carried a different light with him. It was a great day as a missionary to be able to experience that.

On Wednesday we had a Christmas Conference in Versailles.  The mission was  split in half for convenience.  President Babin and his wife as well as the Area 70 for Europe Elder Texeria and his wife were there.   We took an early train from Brussels to Paris. Got to the conference about 9.  The first training session was given by President and his wife. The second was given by Elder Texeria and his wife, there was a Christmas lunch in between.  At the beginning of the second session President Babin asked a Sister to come up and bear her testimony and after she sat down, all of a sudden the Elder conducting says "Now we would like to have Elder McBride come up and bear his testimony!"  So on the spot I went up in front of the Area 70 and 160 missionaries. After the meeting I thanked the President for the opportunity, he had a big smile on his face. The training were really good, learned a lot. Grateful to be able to meet up with the many missionaries that  I have become friends.

To cap off the week we had a big Christmas Sunday yesterday. We had 2 less active families that we have been visiting,  a recent convert who just got baptized and 2 amis de Eglise attend church, it was great. After church we had a big lunch/dinner activity where Santa came, we ate, sang and had activities. The Belgians do Christmas right over here!.

Week of December 8^th

We have been doing a lot of knocking on doors and asking people if we can sing them a Christmas song. One night we taught 3 lessons and sang three songs and one of the last streets we were on I felt like we should go down to this one building. The second buzzer I pressed, we asked this man if we could sing for him. He said one second I’m coming down and it ended up that we taught him a lesson on the street two weeks before where we had 5 min to teach him and he was really impressed but he really had to go. He came down and opened the door and invited us in. We walked in to meet his wife with their two kids.  The cool part was that I had seen that family 3 times before! We were on the bus with them and then we saw them on the street two more times!  As soon as we entered the apartment they took our coats and our bags and invited us to have dinner with them as they were just about to eat. We taught them the WHOLE restoration and had a 45 min conversation before dinner. Then during dinner we talked about what we do, who we are, our role, families, interests and hobbies. We also shared with them basically everything different about us. After they both said "you know this makes sense, you guys know your stuff. There is something different about you".  I know that it was not by chance and that we found them.

Week of December 1^st

Leading up to Christmas we have been talking to people about Jesus Christ and asking them what they are doing for Christmas or why Christmas is special for them. It’s been really effective in getting people interested and we then share a message about the gospel.  We are meeting a lot of new people this way.  We have also been knocking on doors and singing Christmas Carols and sharing the story of the nativity.  The other night just before we were about to go in we knocked on this door and asked this older man if we could sing a song for him. He said yes. So we came in and sang away in a manger in French. He was blown away and he said it was amazing. He felt the spirit and said he felt different.  So he invited us back and we are going to start teaching him.  This week we taught 14 lessons and also met with Isador who is being baptized on the 20th.  He is so ready and I can’t wait for him to make that step.

It snowed this week which was awesome. Just a little bit of it stayed for a day!  I also taught a 20 minute lesson at a bus stop as our bus was late.  It was an older lady and she listened but wasn't that interested in the message, just interested in me. We are going to Paris on Wednesday to pick up Elder Bailey’s legality card and to help with luggage in transfers. Should be a fun week. Fitting in a little shopping in Paris which is always good too. 

New Suit, Merry Christmas Elder McBride

Elder Cook Visit and other Highlights

Week of November 23rd

We have been teaching some different people on and off right now.  A couple of guys, one has a Baptismal date for December 20th and a woman from Ethiopia. They are all super awesome.  We have been working with the ward mission leader to set a date and figured out all the logistics of the baptism. He has 4 kids and 3 of them want to be baptized so that will be happening in the future too. He wants to be able to baptize them so that will be really cool. They all come to church every week. The other guy is 40 and lives on his own and drives big ships in the ocean. He has lost faith in the world. This week we dropped by because we hadn't heard from him in a while. He ended up being really sick. We taught him a little lesson then gave him a blessing, it was super awesome. We are going to meet with him again soon.

Then there is the woman from Ethiopia who is a refugee.  The lesson we had planned to teach her was the Plan of Salvation. As the lesson progressed it we ended up teaching about faith, repentance and baptism. I was questioning the whole time where this was going.  Then all of a sudden she commented that this was what she wanted to learn about.  I knew that's where the spirit guided the lesson. I realized that's the only way the lesson could of gone to connect with her. We offered a blessing to give her added comfort. I gave her a blessing and it was amazing the spirit was so strong.  That was probably the moment that I have felt the power of the priesthood the most.  She said she felt better and that she felt stronger after. She has had an amazingly hard life and I can't explain how much I've been humbled teaching her, pretty cool experience. 

This week we had our Thanksgiving district meeting with the whole zone. We had a massive lunch in Brussels as always. 

The number represents how many 6 week transfers they have been through

We got yelled at knocking doors this week which was funny. An old lady yelled something I couldn't really understand. We just stand in the lobby's of the big apartment buildings and buzz every sonar. 

I Had a cool experience on the train one day. We talk to a ton of people and contact on trains but this time I was sitting across from a lady, it was a short ride. We were getting off at the same place and I could see that she was looking at me so I smiled. All of a sudden she said "do you have a book for me?" I didn't say a word just smiled, pretty cool how the spirit works. We gave her a Book of Mormon and our card.  We also met this old guy contacting and we asked him if he had a relationship with God. He was convinced that God is the sun? He kept on going on about how he sees God (the sun) everyday haha. He even yelled it, So funny. 

We also had a couple service projects on Saturday. First we cut down a giant tree in an old lady's back yard. I don't think that using a chainsaw is allowed but it was super fun. The group of members said "Give it to the Canadian he knows what he is doing." Then we got to go work with horses and scoop poop. That was awesome. The family that owns the horses are really cool. hen to top off the week we had to teach the 5th Sunday lesson at church with the mission leader about effective ways to work with less actives and invite them back to church that went well. Over all is was a really good week. 

Last thing. We are doing a little bit of a Christmas study challenge thing that i think would be good for everybody: 

1. What can you do this month to come closer to Jesus Christ?

2. What can you offer him? 

3. How can you help other come closer to him? 

4. How can you become more like him? 

Week of November 17th 

So this week we had a meeting with this guy that has been in contact with the missionaries for about a year. He is going to get baptized. It should be in the next two weeks. We are so happy for him. He really want's to get the priesthood and baptize his son in January which is awesome. Our last meeting he said some things that were amazing to hear. 

We got a referral from a lady in the ward who is a refugee from Africa. She moved to Italy and then moved to Belgium. She knew the church was true right away and got baptized here.  The referral is a woman about 25 and has a cute little daughter and are from Ethiopia. She has a huge family back in Africa. We went over to the members to teach her in English. She has had a lot of trials but during the lesson she commented that she is just looking for the right church. She expressed that she needs the love and comfort of our Savior Jesus Christ in her life. She loved everything that we shared and we are so happy we get to help her. She felt the spirit of what we taught.  She is a super strong women and a amazing example. I really hope everything works out with her. 

This Tuesday I got to go check out the Atomium. Its the famous huge sculpture with a ton of balls in Brussels.

On Wednesday we moved into our new apartment!  Its so cool and we have so much space. This whole week we have been putting Ikea furniture and we moved all our stuff to the new apartment in our tin can hybrid Yaris. 

On Thursday we went to Paris. We Caught a train leaving Brussels at 6am and got to Paris around 8am. From there we took the metros to Versailles where the chapel is located that the conference with Elder Cook was taking place.  It was an amazing conference, Elder Cooks witness and testimony of Jesus Christ was powerful.

A member of the church here owns a horse farm and we went and did some service there on Saturday. Cleaning and restocking and it was sweet to hangout with horses.  Over all it was a packed amazing week. 

Trip to Paris & Other Updates!

A few highlights from Nate over the past two weeks 

Nate is continuing to teach a number of people and is picking up the language. These past two weeks he spent time in Paris, Brussels and Tubize in Zone and Distirct meetings, visiting with a number of families and having some wonderful experiences teaching them.  Whether in the streets or in their homes, the people they are meeting feel something different about them and are willing to open their doors and invite them in resulting in some great teaching opportunities.  Here are some highlights from the past two weeks:

Week of November 3^rd

To start the week off we went to this little town in our sector called Tubize. We have some investigators and some less actives that live there. First we taught someone who we met on the street. It was our second lesson with him. He loved the first one and wanted us back asap. We gave him a restoration brochure at the end of the first lesson and asked him to read it. Usually people just scan over it and get the main points. Not this guy.  He had highlighted and marked up every page with notes and questions that he had for us. So we thought we were going to teach him but he actually really taught us. It was interesting and we cleared up all the questions he had.  So at the end he pretty much said he felt everything that we taught was true. Then we felt that we should invite him to be baptized. We gave him a soft invite saying when you know what we have taught you, is true, will you be baptized? He said for sure, would love too!  Will see where that goes.  

Trip to Paris!

Elder Bailey and I went to Paris on Tuesday for my French legality(getting legal papers). We had meeting in Brussels on Tuesday morning then our train left Brussels at 4:30pm to arrive in Paris at 6:00pm. So once we got to Gare du Nord station in Paris we bought some metro tickets and headed out to visit some sites. First of all it was Elder Bailey, myself and the Zone Leaders.  Elder G served as the Zone leader in Paris for 6 months so he knew his way around.  We were on the way to the Eiffel Tower when this guy we were talking to on the train said to get off at this one stop and you will have the best view. He was so right we walked out of the metro on to this street with a look out of Paris and the Tower in the dark all lit up. It was amazing. No words can describe it. We then headed back to the metro to go to the Champs d'Elysee.  The huge trees and big cobblestone sidewalks out of the movies.  We then walked a couple blocks down the street to the Arc de Triomphe. So cool all lit up at night too. It’s so much bigger than you think and a lot of history behind it. Took some great pictures and then stayed the night just north called St Oean.

The next day we had some training from President and Sister Babin. It was good. Loved the training. We had lunch there and then we went for legality. A small group of us went and it was long process. 

We also went up to Brussels this week Zone conference was really good.  I don’t think I told you this before but every week when we go to Brussels for district meeting and the other districts in the Zone are there as well for their district meetings then we have lunch together as a Zone after; Its good because you get to know all the people in the zone.

Week of November 10^th

This Week was an interesting one. Right now we have about 5 progressing Amis. So this week we taught a couple lessons and did some more finding. It was good. 

We teach and meet a lot of people that are from Africa and just LOVE the bible. I’ve gotten the opportunity to know the Bible a lot better.  So usually we have to plan our lessons with the bible in order to teach them with their own book.

One day we were contacting in the rain in the Center Ville of town and we stopped this woman and explained who we are and what we were doing. She was really interested in us at first but when we turned the topic of conversation into the gospel and the restoration, she wasn't really interested.  So we said, “we know you are in a hurry but we really want to pray with you”. She had never heard a prayer like that. The prayer was short but after when she opened her eyes she had tears. She didn’t know what it was or why it made her feel that way but she knew that we were different and she liked it. She actually had to go so we gave her our number and she said that she is going to call us.

Another cool thing that happened this week was when we were eating lunch out at this Fry place. It’s Arabic food which is super good and we eat at these places a lot. Anyway the owner brought us our food and then left and as we always do, we said a prayer and blessed the food. We ate the meal, which was really good and we went to pay and he said you know, I’ve been in this business for 16 years and I’ve never seen people, let alone two young kids like you bless the food by prayer before you eat.  He said he has a ton of respect for that. The drinks are on me today. We were like okay! cool! thanks you have an awesome day. Spirit works in cool ways.

This week was also interesting because there were some problems with trains and buses. First of all the people who own the buses always go on strikes because of the government so there are days when we just can’t get places. The trains are electric so there are malfunctions with the currents and things like that so there were a lot of late trains and trains that can’t even run. It was a little chaotic this week for travel.

We have been getting to know some of the families in the Ward well. Elder Bailey and I really like this family that we have a lot of our lessons with.  We are also as a Zone singing in this big Christmas concert they have in Brussels ever year. Apparently there are some very talented people that sing and play. So that should be interesting and fun. Looking forward to that. It’s a great missionary opportunity too. 

Train Station in Brussels

Anyway that was basically my week. It was great. In the coming week we actually get to go to Paris again. President Babin insisted on having the whole mission get together for the conference with Elder Cook. So we are going to Versailles on Wednesday morning for the conference with all 280 missionaries and Elder Cook. Should be amazing.

Never Been Busier! Oct 27th & Nov 3rd

So Where to start?   Thanks for all the emails love hearing from all of you.

 I had another really cool week and early in the week we visited someone in our ward that we see regularly, he was baptised 8 years ago through the missionaries, however his wife and his two sons did not join at the same time. They know who we are because we see them all the time. This week we went over to provide some service and helped his wife with some shelves.  We shared a spiritual thought as well with them.  His wife has never shown any interest at all in the church but we invited her to participate and this was the first time in 8 years she has met with the missionaries.  It was great  to see how happy the husband was that she agreed. We will enjoy getting to know them better.  

Train Station

 Part of our vision in the Ward is to visit and help all members become unified! We also visited a less active family that lived in the same area. They have a ton of kids and hadn't been to church in a while. We went and ate and socialized with them and then shared a message for family home evening. They loved it and they were touched.  The next day they showed up at church with all their kids. We were so happy we made cookies and delivered them to their house later that day and gave them to the Dad and left.  As we were down the road all of the kids starting running after us telling us that their Mom wants to have us over again ASAP!

The other night we were porting (knocking doors) and we found this family just before we were going home, a Mom and Dad and three teenage daughters.  We asked if we could meet with them but they said they were eating. Instead they asked if we wanted to have dinner with them and suggested that we just share our message then. We don’t even get those invitations with most members!

 We also taught Renault this week. We cleared up some other questions he had and helped him to understand the plan Heavenly Father has for all of us. He loved it!  If all goes well we are going to be inviting him to commit to a baptismal date. We pray all the time for him and all our other amis. I feels like he is is basically a member. He comes to church every week and participates. We went to a YSA activity in the ward with him this week too. He has so many friends in the YSA now. I hope everything works out!

 This week we also helped the Ward prepare for the Halloween party, pretty funny. This week we drove to some farther parts of our area in our little hybrid. It’s like a little tin can. Got to see some really beautiful countryside,  reminds me a lot of Ontario.  

 This next week is going to be really packed too. First on Friday we have Zone Conference in the morning. Then we go right to the Halloween party at the church at night, the next morning we move to our new apartment. THANK GOODNESS!  Then after that we have to go to Brussels in the afternoon for the adult session of Stake Conference. We are staying with the other Elders in Brussels on that Saturday night and Sunday we have Stake Conference. Monday we have P-day then we go back to Brussels on Tuesday for district meeting. Then on the Wed the 5th we go to Paris and get to the see Eiffel  tower etc.!! Exciting times ahead.

The Abbey in Nivelles

Nov. 3rd

Thanks for all the emails this week.  We are literally SOOOOO busy. We actually got the keys this week to our new place and the apartment is ours we just don’t have time to move in!  The office in Paris has to bring up desks and beds etc. It will probably be sometime next week.

So Noelle Finnigan is an old teenage friend of my Aunt Heather and knew my uncle Michael and my parents. Her husband is the son of  the member who Grandpa Sam knew when he was here on his mission 59 years ago. Her husband is actually the Stake President.  He is a great guy and very inspired. It was funny that she knew you guys and we could make that connection. She was wondering if it was the same family she knew from way back when. An Elder McBride from Ontario Canada, good chance there would be a connection.  She is actually in our ward and we are going there this week for dinner. 

So first of all I have never been this tired in my life. It is a good tired though. I really don’t know how I am really functioning. Anyway so right now the work is a little out of control. We have so many appointments and so many people we are teaching. We have this whole week booked already. We are teaching a group of around 15 to 17 people and on top of that we are always travelling. Trains, Bus, and car and people don’t live close to each other. The other day alone we walked like 10 miles!

We had a lesson with Renault this week and he is progressing.  All of the lessons are at a members home and they are a discussion and family home evening combined. It was a really good discussion. He is progressing with his reading.  As a part of the last lesson we gave him a soft baptismal invite; he said yes and told us that when he has been taught everything and knows it is true without a doubt he will be baptised.

The Hybrid!

Friday was the Ward Halloween party. It was a fun to spend time with the members. We were able to meet so many new people.  We had Zone Conference this week which was great. Interviews went well, the training was really good as well. The over-riding theme was about patience and aligning our goals and visions with Heavenly Fathers. Stake conference was totally missionary oriented.  The three speakers were President and Sister Babin, and the Stake President,  Pres. Kahne. They are all good friends.  For Stake Conference we stayed in Brussels ordered pizza with the other missionaries,  Elder Bailey and I get along with them really well.  One is Canadian so we are basically brothers.  

Halloween Party

Train Station in Brussels - Halloween Candy in mouth :-)

I get to go to Paris tomorrow!  Our train leaves Brussels at 4 and we get to Paris at 6. Elder Bailey and I have the whole night free because my appointment for legality is the next day so I think we might go see the Louve, Arc de triumph and the Eiffel tower. Maybe dinner by the Caen River. We have a Conference on Wednesday, the same day as legality in Paris.  We are staying with some Elders we know there too. It should be a good time, can’t wait. Oh and this week we have district meeting, ward mission meeting and 10 appointments.  Here we come!

Love you guys. 

Elder McBride