Letter 01/27/14

Hey!

Yeah, I am very excited to be staying in Bruxelles! Sadly, I'm pretty sure I'll leave after this transfer, but we'll see! I could end up staying for 3 or 4, but at this point, I doubt it. I was really sad to see Elder Christensen go, he is a great missionary and a really great friend. But, I love my new comp(s) haha! Being in a 3-man is different, but I'm really enjoying it. It changes the way we contact people and teach, but we are starting to find a really good balance. Also, it requires more food, which Elder Christensen and I did not buy accordingly for last week because we didn't know. So, that made this week a little hairy. But, it's OK! I think there used to be a 3 man in our apartment, because we already had beds and closets for all of us. It isn't as difficult as I was told to get along in a 3 man. In fact, sometimes we get along too well and go off on tangents during planning haha. But, we're working on that :) 

So, Elder Richer-Brulé (or just Richer), is from Ottawa, Ontario. He is 100% bilingual, he grew up speaking French and English at home, had church in English, and had school in French. So, he really helps us out a lot with the language. He is in his 16th transfer! For most missionaries that is the last transfer, but since he didn't have to learn a language in the MTC he gets an extra one. He has been a Zone Leader and District Leader for most of his mission, and so there's a lot of wisdom there to draw from :) He is a great missionary. As District Leader, he just does the same thing that Elder McKechnie and Elder Stucki did as DL's; exchanges, trainings, weekly calls, and just kind of leading the District and reporting to the Zone Leaders.
 

Elder Ward is from Idaho, from Mountain Home. He is in his 3rd transfer, so he just left his first ville and his trainer. He is a great missionary, and lots of fun. He's still got that bleu fire that we need here in Bruxelles, it's great! 

This week was a crazy week! We tried to give Phil a baptismal date, and he shot it down. He said he wouldn't ever be baptized, and that we were wasting our time on a doomed soul. But, by the end of the lesson he said that he just needed some time to really think and pray about it. He wants to be baptized to be cleaned, but he doesn't necessarily want to join any church in particular. I have faith that he'll come around and do well. Dido was super sick, so we weren't able to see him :( He wasn't able to come to church either. But, we'll make up for that this week! The man we found in the church, Aimable (it means loveable or likeable haha) has been passed to another équipe. We taught several less active members, including a little Spanish speaking family that I love to death. Their son is less active, so we visit him regularly. But, the other son is working on his mission papers! The grandpa is about 5 feet tall and super loving. He's determined to teach me Spanish before I leave (Linds should be excited about that ;) ). Technically I have to have permission to really study it, and Président isn't a big fan of it if there isn't a good reason. But, after the mission I'll learn Spanish, it's super useful. We also visited Paul, an Albanian guy that lives in the other half of Bruxelles but prefers our Ward. He actually lives about 10 minutes from the Atomium, which is super cool. Yesterday we set up lots of visits with members for this week.

Do you remember Joseph Fife, who did Cedar Badge with me when I was younger? Well his older brother, Sam, is in my Ward! He's in Bruxelles for a few months with his wife on an internship. So, we got to talk to them for a few minutes, which was really cool.

I learned a cool lesson on member missionary work yesterday. We have been looking for young, really solid interested people, but it's really tough. Then Danial Casares, one of our young men, brought 3 of his friends that are intently searching for the truth in their lives! They're awesome young guys, and I'm really excited to start teaching them! GO MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK!!!!!

Aiden and the Lears will be in my prayers, I love that family! Also, I'm praying that whatever happens with dad's work, it will be for the best. Whether that is staying in Idaho or not, I know that it will be for the best. 

I'm not too cold, but the temperature has dropped this week. It has been between 7 and 12 degrees Celsius since I got here, but now it hangs around 1 degree all day, every day. But, we got the heater in our apartment working again, so I don't have to wear my thermals to bed or to studies anymore :) 

Keep up the good work at home, I'm so excited for everything that you are doing right now! Tell the boys I love them and they're in my prayers! They're lives are moving pretty well, and I'm really glad for them. I love you all so much, have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Martin

3's Company Too! Letter 01/20/14

Howdy!

So transfer results are in! There is most certainly news haha..... I'm staying in Bruxelles! Not a big shock there. But, Elder Christensen is leaving. I'm super bummed. I actually got a big surprise today.... I'm now in a 3 man companionship! It is going to be very weird. I have heard that 3 man's can be really interesting, I'm excited to make it awesome! My new companion(s) are Elder Alexandre Richer-Brulé and Elder Eric Collin Ward. Elder Richer-Brulé is the new District Leader. This does make me pretty sure that I'll leave Bruxelles after this transfer, but anything could happen. 

Like you said, time is really flying by. For me, it started flying about halfway through my second transfer, which feels like it was just last week. Now I'm at the beginning of my 5th. It is pretty scary, in all honesty. 

As far as protein, it's too expensive to spend MSF money on it, so it isn't really worth it. Don't worry about sending any protein. It would be a pain to pack from ville to ville, and I'm not really worried about bulking right now. I remember Soeur Hawkes, we actually met quite a few times before. I haven't seen her since she got into the mission, but I'm sure I will at some time. I'm glad you told me her last name, because I could only remember her first name, but I knew she was in our mission haha. 

So... We did not hit our 20 lessons. But, that is ok! We taught a lot more this week, and we saw some amazing things happen! So quite a few of our appointments fell through, which was a pain. But, we did meet a cool former investigator. His name is Sydney, and he's Portuguese. He is super into deep doctrine and likes to talk about that a lot, so 4 different sets of missionaries, since 2006, have given up on him after just one lesson. We are changing that!  Also, we have been given the counsel to invite people to be baptized by the end of the first lesson. With Sydney, he halfway accepted it, saying that his Catholic priest had authority already. We'll work on that haha. Then, we met with Dido, who we've had trouble getting in contact with for this whole transfer. He is really interested, and he accepted the invitation to be baptized! He said he has already prayed about the Book of Mormon, and he wanted to come to church to feel what it was like so he can know if it's true. So, yesterday, he came to the last hour of Priesthood meeting! It's a lot better for him to come to Sacrament Meeting, but we had an awesome lesson on God the Father from a convert that has very much in common with Dido, and it hit him really hard. He had to leave quickly afterwards, but we'll be seeing him on Wednesday and fixing a baptismal date. Then we saw Phil. Before I came here, he said that he was just looking at our religion and he would never be converted or baptized. The last few weeks, he has had many questions about repentance and how to be forgiven of his past sins. We taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he accepted the invitation to be baptized! We want to fix a baptismal date with him this week as well. Right after that lesson, we were rushing to the church for a meeting with our Ward mission leader. In the hallway of the church was a man who said he was looking for the missionaries. When we asked which ones, he said he didn't care, he just wanted to be taught haha. So we taught him the Restoration, and he said he really, really wanted to be baptized. We got super excited! Then he told us that he actually doesn't live anywhere near us haha. We're transferring him to another équipe. But, because we're teaching him again on Tuesday, he is a new ami! The only one of the transfer! It is really a miracle that he was there, even though we won't be the ones to teach him. 

Sounds like it has been a crazy, crazy week at home! I am so sorry :( You guys are all in my prayers constantly. Last week I just mentioned dad's job to President Poznanski in my letter, just one sentence. On Friday, we got a call saying that he had read my letter and wanted to talk to me! He was just calling to check in on me and see how I was doing. that was one of the most touching moments of my week. He cares enough that he took 10 minutes, in the middle of his already impossible schedule, on top of everything that is absolutely crazy with transfers, to call and check in on me. What an awesome man! 

I pulled out cash to pay for suit alterations today, just a heads up. Keep me posted on your week, I love you all so much! Have a great, great week! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Martin

Inspiration! Letter 01/13/14

Hey,

Not gonna lie, I'm stressing a little with this big news (Rob got laid off from work last week), but I'm doing my best to not get distracted by it. It's gonna be tough, but everything will work out. You guys are in my prayers, and I'm hoping that everything will work out. God knows what we need to do, that's all we can ever really know for sure.

This is the last week of the transfer! I can't believe it. These past 5 weeks have flown by. We still aren't sure if we'll stay together or not, we'll find out next Monday, (or Sunday if one of us gets a calling). I'm not really sure what stuff I want in the package haha, don't worry too much about it. More mints would be great, I'm starting to run low.  For the most part we're doing well, just eating better portions and avoiding unhealthy foods. If you could find a way to send a huge tub of my favorite protein that would be nice, but I'm pretty sure that would cost a fortune and wouldn't be worth it haha. My finger is doing really well, not nearly as sore, which is nice. I did write to Grandpa a couple of weeks ago. I'll go ahead and write the Lawrences (a family in our Ward that coordinated his Christmas package from the Ward members) either today or next week. Also, I don't know Sister Hawks (a Missionary from Idaho Falls who is serving in Paris), but I'm sure I'll meet her at one point or another. 

So this week we had some awesome experiences!  Zone Conference was great, I love getting training from Président Poznanski, he is truly an inspired man. We had a training on resolutions, and what we are going to do with this year. It was really cool! I got to spend some time with Elder McKechnie, as well as Elder Pilling, who was my Zone Leader until I came here and came to Belgium with me. Anyways....

So on Friday we were doing weekly planning, and we got a really strong impression to fix a goal of, well... 20 lessons taught this week. Right now, we're teaching about 2 a week. So, that was a little crazy. We prayed about it, and got confirmation that this was what we needed to do. That night, we had several people drop out on us and lots of unanswered phone calls, so I got pretty discouraged. I said one of the most sincere prayers of my life and got the really strong answer that I needed to fast the next day, which was Saturday. I started my fast and during studies got the impression to read the chapter in Preach My Gospel about finding people. When I read the section on Former Investigators, it was like I got hit by a train. I knew that I needed to work on that! So I made a list of about 10 formers to call that day. Out of those, 2 answered and said we could meet this week. Then we went out and visited an ami that fell off the radar just before I got here. He was home, introduced us to his friends who were there, then invited us to come back this week. He even said that his friends will be there and that we can teach them! Then we fixed another rendez vous with Phil. For those keeping count at home, that's 5 lessons that we had already fixed before last night, 25 percent of our goal already! So this doesn't include yet any of our return rendez vous or people that we find and teach. WOW!!! God worked a really cool miracle for us this weekend, and He taught me a lot about prayer and fasting. This is going to be very difficult, but I know God is behind it. 

So, that was my miracle for this week! Honestly, I'm still reeling from it a little bit. I know that anything could happen, but I've just gotta trust. I love you guys so much! I pray for you all daily, and I'm thinking about you! Have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Martin

P.S. Mom, if you want a really really good cry movie, watch Two Brothers from the 5000 Days Project, it was produced by BYUtv and we watched it with a member the other night. It's a documentary where they follow two brothers for ten years, documenting their lives and their relationship. Basically I just thought of Tristan and cried, cuz it's a similar relationship haha. You guys will love it!

Letter to Elder Martin's Dad after Rob told him about being laid off last week:

Hey Dad,

What a crazy week! I can't believe that happened. I guess I didn't see it coming from out here, so that surprised me. But, I have been able to tell for a couple years that you weren't very happy there. The fact that you stayed so that we could be happy and stay where we were is something that I can't ever fully thank you for, because the last few years have really shaped my mission and my life.

God seems to have some interesting things in store for our family right now. I have no idea where it's going to lead us, but I'm trying really hard to trust in that right now. Like you said, I am worrying a little bit, but I'm keeping it under control. There are people that have it worse than us, I have to remember that. You guys are in my prayers constantly. Take care, I love you so much dad!

love,

Ty

Black-Out Year! Letter 01/06/14

Hey 2014! This begins my whole year in the mission field! We had a fun night for New Year's, just hanging out with some members. Honestly, it was all tiny family gatherings and it was still really overwhelming for me. I now understand why RM's are so awkward haha. Parties and stuff like that are now really out of my comfort zone :) Elder Christensen and I are getting along super well! I really like him, he's a very fun guy who likes to work hard. We work really well together :) We're both pretty sure that he's leaving after this transfer, which is really sad :( But, it happens. 

If you want to send a Valentine's package you can, that's fine by me :) Just don't send too much candy, it's really difficult to be healthy right now haha. You guys gave me so much temptation for Christmas! haha but I love it. Go ahead and send it to the mission home, I'll get it one way or another, they deliver them to us fairly regularly. 

 I did pull that money out because I needed emergency cash in case something happens, it's something I should have done a while back and never got around to. So don't worry :) My MSF card is working again, so I'm good for groceries and everything. I went to the doctor for my finger, he thinks that I just have really badly inflamed tendons and he has my fingers buddy splinted right now (I hate it) and we'll see if that takes care of it. I'm taking some Ibuprofen. He also has me taking my Citirizene regularly, because I've got this crappy cough that has followed me for months. He says the antihistamine works well for that. 

So Soldes started today! Technically yesterday, but that doesn't really mean anything for me haha. Yes, my old proselyting bag wore out. That's what happens when I try to look for a deal and buy it in a sketchy little luggage store in a sketchy mall underneath a grocery store in Épinal haha. But, the new one I got is super nice. It was originally 60 €, but I got it for 30€, cheaper than my first, crappy bag! So that was super nice. I also got some new shoes. My 2 pairs are holding up really really well, but they look terrible haha. They should still last my whole mission for actually working, but I look halfway homeless when I go to church and conferences haha. I may spend a little money to get some pants altered, because I have lost a ton of weight and my clothes are starting to hang off of me. But, no worries on shirts! I learned how to alter shirts to give them more of a euro cut, and they all look super good! It is taking a ton of white thread, but I'm a pro at it now haha. I'll be looking nice as soon as my pants don't look like they worked for me 40 pounds ago! But that should only cost about 6 or 7 € for each pair, and I'm going to spread them out a little bit. 

This week we did lots and lots of finding. And it worked! It's kind of funny, because everyone that we contacted wasn't super interested. But, last night as we left the apartment, a guy contacted us! He said that he was born in a Muslim country, so he was technically Muslim. But, he doesn't support it and wants to be a Christian. So, we're going to teach him tomorrow and see where it goes from there. We also taught Phil, who is really coming along in his progression. He reads and ponders and prays a lot, and the Lord is changing him so much. I've already seen his heart changing, and I've only taught him twice! 

Tell Kylee good luck as she gets ready to leave, and that I'm praying for her! Also, my guess for Linds is Indiana!

Anywho, nothing else super exciting this week. We have a big Zone Conference this week, so I'll see Elder McKechnie again and we'll have some cool training since our Christmas goal is now officially over. I'll let you know how it goes! I'm so sorry, I forgot my card reader so I can't send pictures, but you'll get lots next week! Love you so much!

Love,

Elder Martin