Lessons in Life - Letter 02/24/14

Hey!

It's so good to hear that everyone's week is going well! 

So this week, to be honest, was not exactly rainbows and butterflies haha. For the first time on my mission, we didn't teach anything. At all. All week. You could say that I felt kind of crappy haha. I had some really interesting experiences this week, and learned a lot of big lessons. 

So obviously we did a lot of finding this week, which is every missionary's favorite thing in the entire world haha. Days and days of finding, not having to worry about being disturbed by lessons, is the dream haha. (Sorry for the sarcasm, I'm in a weird mood this morning). Anyway, I'll be honest, I was really starting to lose faith in finding, feeling like there was absolutely no point because no one was listening.

We had an exchange, which is really cool because I got to go back to my old apartment and work with Elder Ward for a day. It was great! Also, it was a day full of miracles. We were out contacting and this guy said he was interested, but he was really avoiding setting up a rendezvous. Obviously, we felt a little apprehensive. But, then he said "It's actually better if you come right now, because I don't have time later today. Does that work for you?" What a great question! So we walked to his house and taught him a little bit of the restoration. He got into it and invited us to come back later this next week.

Then later that afternoon, we taught a lesson with someone they had found the day before. He was incredibly open, accepted the Book of Mormon, and asked if he could have another copy to give to his friend. So cool! That night there was a baptism for one of the Sisters' amis, but of course we didn't have amis there. I ended up sitting with and translating for Patrick and Isaac, some amis from my old équipe. We found them about a week before I left, they are the ones with baptismal dates that are so excited for their own baptisms! So I translated for them during the whole service, talked with them about their future baptism. The next day I sat with them and translated again during Sunday School. I'm getting so close with them. In fact, when one member asked which missionary Patrick was meeting with, he pointed at me and said "Elder Martin, he's my missionary". Not gonna lie, I just about cried. I wish I could teach them so badly. But, that isn't the Lord's plan. It was just another part of the lesson he wanted me to learn.

In fact, that lesson really hit home this morning when I opened up the announcements and looked at the baptisms in our mission for this week. Anyways, first I looked to see what équipes baptized this week, and I saw Épinal! Next to it was written : Bata Saitovic. Wow. After all this time, Bata is finally baptized! Definitely shed some manly tears this morning. And so the Lord was finally able to get it into my stubborn head: We aren't working as one équipe against another, or seeing who can get the baptisms. We are here to baptize. It doesn't matter if I've never had a baptism. I've taken part in teaching, touching other people. Even if I have not yet had a baptism, I've played a part. Sometimes it is really tough to accept, but it is the Lord's work, not Elder Martin's, that I'm called to do. It's not about me at all, and it never will or should be. I love the quote you gave me from Elder Oaks, and it's true. I shouldn't complain and tell the Lord how big and powerful my challenges are, I should be telling my challenges how big and powerful my Lord is. That's really all that matters. 

Anyways, that kind of sums up my week! Sorry it isn't super exciting haha. But honestly, Bata's baptism makes EVERYTHING worth it. If that is the only result of my mission, I can honestly say that my mission is a success. But, I know that I will see so much more. I just have to be patient! 

I love you all so much, and you are all in my prayers! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Martin

 

Exchange with Elder Ward, my old companion

 

Me in front of the Basilique de Koekelberg, the 5th largest Basilica in the world

 

Interview Session and Training

Elder Richer-Brule and Elder Ward

Role playing after training by the Zone Leaders

More role playing

Brussels Zone

Letter 02/17/14

Iaorana!!!

Just a heads up, that is hello in Tahitian! I've been learning some fun Tahitian stuff this week! 

So right off the bat, I have really been feeling your prayers, and I appreciate them! It has definitely been an interesting week. First off, I am grateful that I've been speaking this language for 8 months already haha. If not, it might be difficult! We have been speaking French 24/7 for the past week, and it's amazing how well we understand each other. I'm happy to be at the point that I understand everything that he says, and I can say what I want to say comfortably. He wants to improve his English too, so we both speak English and French together periodically throughout the day. So, it's an adjustment, but I'm really growing from it.

Also, like you said, starting from ground zero can be interesting. I'm not going to lie, I've had a rough time learning patience, and the Lord knows it haha. These last 3 weeks, we turned around the work in the other équipe. We found tons of people, we had cool miracles, we were seeing success, and I thought I was going to see my first baptisms. But, the Lord knew better and moved me to another équipe. Now, Elder Richer and Elder Ward have several baptismal dates fixed with some amazing people that we found :)

It was tough at first, to see that I was (in my mind) being held back from success and the rewards of my work. But that was a terrible perspective, and the Lord helped me learn and realize that this week. Right now, we have two leçons fixed for tonight and we will start seeing the changes and the success (whatever type of success that may be). I still don't know if we'll stay together after this transfer, because no other Ward in the Mission has this many missionaries. We are the highest baptizing ward, but it is very debatable if there's enough work for 5 équipes. We'll find out in 2 weeks! 

Right now we are living with our Zone Leaders, which is awesome! It's Elder Everett (From B.C. Canada) and Elder Tai (From Japan). So I'm the only American in the apartment haha. They are both called to speak Mandarin. Usually they stay in Paris, but Président is doing lots of experiments with Bruxelles right now! haha. But he is definitely inspired, because they teach so many Chinese people right now! This area needed some Mandarin Elders. We all get along super well, and we're adjusting to the 4 man. I'm still in the same Ward, I'm just living on the other side of town, which is honestly much better for contacting and porting. My new address is 194/3.2 Avenue de Broqueville, 1200, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Belgique. 

Tonight one of our lessons is with a Muslim man named Nabil. I guess that last week, this member named Esau (formerly Muslim) from Sweden met him on the metro and invited him to come to church. So he came to church and said he would like to learn more! We gave him a Book of Mormon, and he said that he was really excited to read it. He is very open and prepared for the Gospel, so hopefully it will go well! The other is an Indian man name Ream. We contacted him the other day, and he said that he's Hindu, but he believes in and has faith in Jesus Christ haha. That's kind of weird, but we can work with that! 

Fin, bref... That's about it for this week, nothing too exciting. We'll continue finding this week! Everyone have a great week, take care, remember who you are and don't let it get you down! Love you!

Love,

Elder Martin

Elder Martin and Elder Utahia

New Faces, New Scenes - Letter 02/10/14

Family!

So first off, I'm so sorry that this email is super late haha. I spent the whole day packing and moving stuff and getting a new phone and bus passes and everything.  Kind of the most stressful day I've had so far on my mission haha. But I'll explain why I had to do all that later, just to keep you in suspense! hahaha!

So this week started off pretty well, kind of average in all honesty. We continue to find people to teach, because we don't have tons of people in our teaching pool. Honestly, it was a little tough because people were dropping their appointments left and right. It got pretty ridiculous for a few days. But, there were also appointments that stuck, which were awesome!  We are teaching some really cool young families right now, which really is the goal. Preach My Gospel talks about how families strengthen the Church, and it's so true. Especially here, where the Church needs that extra strength. Individuals are wonderful and conversion is an individual experience. But families bring so much energy and strength to a Ward!

We have been teaching Jonathan and Genevive, a Ghanan couple. They loved the Family Proclamation and are praying to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet. We also visited the family Stojani, a family that was baptized just a few transfers before I got here. It took like an hour to get out there, but it was so worth it!  They are Albanian, and their 9 year old daughter had to translate. It was different, but pretty much the same thing we did with the Saitovics! 

As far as other news of amis, there isn't much. Plus, technically speaking, I don't have any amis right now haha. I'm actually no longer comps with Elder Ward and Elder Richer :( I got a phone call from Président last night telling me that he was sending another missionary up to serve with me and open up another équipe! His name is Elder Utahia, from Tahiti.  He got to the mission field the same time as me.

So, I moved out of my apartment this morning into the Zone Leader's apartment because it's big enough for 4 missionaries. Then I picked up Elder Utahia at the gare at 14h and spent the rest of the day figuring out how to make this work haha. We had to go get a cell phone, but we didn't know how to get there and couldn't call anyone to find out (because we don't have a phone duh haha). We haven't even done groceries yet, so hopefully we can do that tomorrow morning!  Also, it's a big change for the missionary work itself.  We aren't starting with any real amis or anything, basically just opening up from ground zero. Essentially, it is going to be extremely tough, but I'm really excited! It also means that I'll probably stay in Bruxelles! This équipe might just be temporary because of the situation, and we both may leave in 3 weeks. But, if the mission bought a new phone and everything, we'll probably stay :) So that's good news!

It's a good thing that my French has been improving, because Elder Utahia doesn't speak a ton of English. But, he's gotten better since our first day together at the airport! We're going to really help each other out so that I improve my French and he improves his English! Communication is a little tougher, but it's really good for me! I'm nervous, but I feel like the Lord is giving me a challenge to help me grow, and I'm excited and anxious for it. Pray for us to find people to teach quickly so that it isn't just solid finding for 3 weeks! That principal of positivity is definitely in play right now.

There are, of course, the little feelings of "why did Elder Utahia have to leave Toul, why did Président change my équipe when we were getting along so well, why do I have to start over from nothing?"  But, if I look at it like that I'm never going to survive haha. It's something I've really learned this transfer, and because of it we've seen some really cool miracles! Now I'm ready to see even more than before. 

Life at home is crazy! Kylee (cough cough I mean Sister Nielsen haha) is in my prayers, she is going to do amazing things!  I've known Landon Johnson for years, he's a very great guy. I didn't even know those two were dating! haha. (His friend, McKenzie Spencer just got engaged to Landon)  I guess that's what happens when you leave home for almost 8 months. If you see Gabe and Catherine tell them congrats! (Friends of Tyler's from High School that are expecting a baby) That is so cool for them, but I don't count on having kids for a long long long long long time haha. I have a hard enough time taking care of myself! Also, congrats to Riley (Johnston)! He's gonna be an awesome missionary. 

I'm so sorry that you're sick, that's no fun! I'll be praying for you (funny how that has become my go-to response to problems haha). Anyways, hopefully I'll have better updates on our work once we actually do some this week haha. We're gonna see miracles! Have a great week, I love you all! Bonne semaine, à tantôt!

Love,

Elder Martin

PS:  Just realized, I'm the only American in our apartment haha. We have a Canadian, a Tahitian, and a Japanese Elder haha. 'Murica!

The moth man! Just a creepy statue in the metro station, No one knows why haha.

Weird wall painting near our house, we think it's supposed to mean something.

Last Comp photo! We're in front of the Arche Cinquantenaire, but you can't really see it. Plus, you wouldn't even notice it with Elder Richer's crazy gopher face haha.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes - Letter 02/03/14

Bonjour tout-le-monde!

It has been a pretty solid week out here! Not gonna lie, last transfer was tougher than I cared to admit all around. I definitely had some defining moments and wondered whether I was ever going to see the fruits of what I was doing. This week, those questions were answered! 

Last transfer we didn't find any new investigators, which was really tough. Right now, we're kind of going through a detox diet as far as missionary work haha. Some of our amis aren't comitted and aren't going anywhere. We straight up dropped one of them the other night after our lesson. But, we've had a lot more time to go finding! We found several solid people this week! It was always during some of our lower moments, too. We made a goal this week to always be positive, no matter what happened. A few days ago, we had a lesson scheduled with a Brazilian family. When we got there, no one was home. We tried to call them, but the phone number was bad. So, instead of moping, we smiled and started knocking more doors! The 3rd door we knocked, the lady said (over the microphone) that they were busy. We asked if we could come back another time, and she said she would send down her brother. At first we were a little freaked out haha, because that usually means we're getting yelled at. But, her brother, Patrick, answered the door with a big smile and a pen and paper to take notes! :) We taught him in the hallway and set up another lesson for this week. After our prayers, he said "I just started my search for God a few weeks ago, and I've been looking for direction. Now I know that God sent you to my door today to teach me the truth!" Such a cool experience. 

 

The next day, we got frooged again by a lady who said we could come back and teach her. So, knocking doors again! We found a young family that let us in to pray with them. They were super cool! They weren't interested in us coming back, but they loved the prayer and we left them with a copy of the Family Proclamation to read together, with our phone number on the back. Then we caught the tram headed home. A little Hispanic man got on and stood next to me, and tripped as the tram started to move. I asked if he was OK, and he just smiled and asked who I was. I think he thought that we knew each other. He was wrong, but it was a great opening to start talking to him! I told him a little about the church and set up a time to visit him this week. He just said "What a blessing to meet you tonight, I know that there is something special here, because at my church it's only old people. If it can make so many young people still care and believe, there must be something special about your church!" 

We also had our Zone Conference with Elder Kearon of the 70, which was sick! I got to see Ben, which was great, and we got an awesome training! Elder Kearon was super cool. He's the one who spoke at conference in 2010 about getting stung by a scorpion because he was wearing flip flops instead of real shoes haha. 

So to answer your questions... In a 3 man, we usually just take turns contacting people and starting the conversation in the street and at the door, which is what you do anyways with 2 guys. The big difference is teaching, because we know how to balance with 2 people already haha. But, we've found a good balance of teaching short pieces at a time. With the Spanish family, the 2 boys speak French, so they translate for us. But, the grandpa loves me and gives me a hug every time we see him, and he says he wants to teach me Spanish before I leave haha. Such a cool guy! Sam Fife is doing something at the Parliament, which is super cool! I'm not sure exactly what it is. He is going home in a few months, but I won't be here when he does, so I can't send stuff. If I get to serve around Mons, Belgium, there's a US military base where we can send things for very very very cheap haha, so I'll cross my fingers. Our conference was in Versailles, just south of Paris, where the Poznanskis live right now. Usually everything in the conference is in French, but Elder Kearon is English, so this one was all in English. Président and Soeur Poznanski struggled a little haha, but they did very well, their talks were very good! 

Sounds like Trek is getting going! The lady who wrote that book spoke to us in the MTC, she is awesome! You guys are going to love Trek! 

I love you all so much, take care! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Martin

 

 My Super Seyen Mode!

 

 All of the missionaries with Jacobo, the young man leaving on his mission to Spain this week! 

(Hispanic guy squatting next to Elder Richer)

 

The 3 amigos in front of Mannequin Pis

 

Elder Martin and Elder Ben Anderson

 Zone Conference with Elder Kearon