Hello my family and friends!
This week has passed by so quickly, but it feels like so much has happened! It feels like it has been forever since I last wrote! Okay, where to start? I guess Ill start at the beginning of the week. On Monday night, we went to eat at a members house. They are an American family named the Curtis's. They are awesome people, but I kinda felt out of place, because they are all freaking geniuses. The father served his mission in Albania, and taught himself Slovakian, just because they needed a Slovakian teacher at the MTC. And all of their kids are learning how to speak French. Plus they are learning how to speak Dutch, in French. Its pretty crazy!! They are all so smart.
Then, on Tuesday, we had an interesting experience. We were on the tram on the way to the church to play basketball. I was sitting in my seat when I heard something familiar..I heard someone humming 'A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief'! I turned quickly to see if Elder A* was humming it. At that moment, he turned and asked me, 'Are you humming?' I said no, and we both turned across the aisle to see a man humming that..Elder Anderson asked him what he was humming. The guy said, "oh, just a melody. You know it?" We were both like, yes we do! It turns out that the guy was a member of The Remnant Church of Jesus Christ. Some small break off branch. It was interesting. Apparently they have a few different beliefs. I had never met someone from one of those break off branches before, so that's why it was interesting! And I have good news.
I made ham spaghetti for the first time on my mission. I wasn't exactly sure how to make it, because it had been so long, but it was still delicious. The other two elders loved it, and Elder Anderson said he liked it, but not really because he eats like a rabbit most of the time. (Even though I'm pretty sure he ate the most.) Then on Thursday we ate at Seour Gradfils's house. She is a member, who is absolutely fantastic. She is so very nice, and we were eating at her house with a boy in our ward who is leaving on his mission in the upcoming week. She is so great, but we found out that she has an interesting..style of cooking. I'm still not even sure exactly what I ate, or what was in it.
Then on Friday, we got invited back to S* K*'s house. Shes the less-active African family that I told you about last week. Whenever we get invited over to eat with anybody, I always worry and wonder what they will serve us. Let me just say this, S*'s food is sooo good. I ate 3 helpings super fast, and was waiting for the others to finish when she asked, "Why aren't you eating well tonight?" I had to inform her that I had already eaten about half the bowl..It was so good. I just have to learn to pace myself! Ah, the subject of my email. This week is transfer week. That means that we find out where and who with we will be for the next transfer. So Saturday, we went to check the repriotaire and I found out that I will be staying in Bruxelles for at least one more transfer! This transfer ends in 4 weeks from the ninth of November. My new companion is named Elder Nelson. Elder S*'s companion is named Elder Nelson..Yes. We have two Elder Nelson's coming to strombeek! They will be coming on Wednesday. That is the actual transfer day.
So the only thing I know about him is his name, and that he is coming from a little ville in France named Lille. (Get it? Little Lille? Haha.) To celebrate the end of mine and Elder S*'s training, we decided to get a Mitraillette. I can send some pictures home of a mitraillette. But its basically half a baguette stuffed with pitta meat, vegetables, and french fries. I have two words to describe them. So good. Then Saturday night we had some cool experiences that I would like to share! So we met a Dutch atheist guy about a month ago, to whom we gave a book of Mormon. He wasn't interested in meeting with us, but wanted to search for God on his own. We decided to stop back on Saturday to see how he was. (His name was B* by the way.) We stopped by and met his brother, W*, but B* wasn't there. W* told us to stop by later, so we did. And he was there that time, and he told us he liked reading in the Book of Mormon, and liked trying to apply the things to his life! How perfect is that?! He still wasn't interested to meet with us, but I know that the Lord is preparing him to be baptized sometime in his life. Plus I loved his and his brothers name. B* and W*. What cool guys.
Then we still had about an hour left in the night, so we decided to do some metro contacting. That means ride the metro around and talk to people. So we got on when we received a call from some other elders telling us to go and visit a less-active. Turns out the metro we were on was already taking us exactly to the right place! We got to the address and he wasn't there. So we decided to do some porting. And about 5 houses down, we got let in! Now we don't get let in very often..so that was a miracle in itself. But here's the funny thing. She let us in, and lived on the 3rd floor. When we got to the floor, she was super surprised to see us! She thought that we were someone else. We told her what we were and why we were there. She was like, "Sure, come on in." Haha, so we went in and taught a lesson! Pretty cool experience. I'd call that being guided by the Spirit! Then this past Sunday we had our primary program. Oh my goodness, the primary program is always so amazing!! It included little kids speaking in French and English, singing in three different languages, and just being adorable little kids. It was great.
Then yesterday night the other Elders had a baptism, and they asked me to speak! So let me explain. This guy they baptized had been investigating the church on his own for 5 years. Then about a month ago he put his address into LDS.org to have the missionaries over. They went over, taught all the lessons, and was baptized just yesterday! So cool! His name was A*. So after the actual baptism, while everyone was getting dressed, the four of us, the four elders, did a special musical number. We sang a hymn! It was pretty great..except for the very last note where we kinda died. Then right after that, they asked me to give a couple minute talk on the Holy Ghost. I had had a few days to prepare, but I still feel like it was super short..but that was fun. Thank you all for everything that you do! I love and miss you all very much! I think that that's all for this week! Until the next!
Love,
Elder Hamilton
This week has passed by so quickly, but it feels like so much has happened! It feels like it has been forever since I last wrote! Okay, where to start? I guess Ill start at the beginning of the week. On Monday night, we went to eat at a members house. They are an American family named the Curtis's. They are awesome people, but I kinda felt out of place, because they are all freaking geniuses. The father served his mission in Albania, and taught himself Slovakian, just because they needed a Slovakian teacher at the MTC. And all of their kids are learning how to speak French. Plus they are learning how to speak Dutch, in French. Its pretty crazy!! They are all so smart.
Then, on Tuesday, we had an interesting experience. We were on the tram on the way to the church to play basketball. I was sitting in my seat when I heard something familiar..I heard someone humming 'A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief'! I turned quickly to see if Elder A* was humming it. At that moment, he turned and asked me, 'Are you humming?' I said no, and we both turned across the aisle to see a man humming that..Elder Anderson asked him what he was humming. The guy said, "oh, just a melody. You know it?" We were both like, yes we do! It turns out that the guy was a member of The Remnant Church of Jesus Christ. Some small break off branch. It was interesting. Apparently they have a few different beliefs. I had never met someone from one of those break off branches before, so that's why it was interesting! And I have good news.
I made ham spaghetti for the first time on my mission. I wasn't exactly sure how to make it, because it had been so long, but it was still delicious. The other two elders loved it, and Elder Anderson said he liked it, but not really because he eats like a rabbit most of the time. (Even though I'm pretty sure he ate the most.) Then on Thursday we ate at Seour Gradfils's house. She is a member, who is absolutely fantastic. She is so very nice, and we were eating at her house with a boy in our ward who is leaving on his mission in the upcoming week. She is so great, but we found out that she has an interesting..style of cooking. I'm still not even sure exactly what I ate, or what was in it.
Then on Friday, we got invited back to S* K*'s house. Shes the less-active African family that I told you about last week. Whenever we get invited over to eat with anybody, I always worry and wonder what they will serve us. Let me just say this, S*'s food is sooo good. I ate 3 helpings super fast, and was waiting for the others to finish when she asked, "Why aren't you eating well tonight?" I had to inform her that I had already eaten about half the bowl..It was so good. I just have to learn to pace myself! Ah, the subject of my email. This week is transfer week. That means that we find out where and who with we will be for the next transfer. So Saturday, we went to check the repriotaire and I found out that I will be staying in Bruxelles for at least one more transfer! This transfer ends in 4 weeks from the ninth of November. My new companion is named Elder Nelson. Elder S*'s companion is named Elder Nelson..Yes. We have two Elder Nelson's coming to strombeek! They will be coming on Wednesday. That is the actual transfer day.
So the only thing I know about him is his name, and that he is coming from a little ville in France named Lille. (Get it? Little Lille? Haha.) To celebrate the end of mine and Elder S*'s training, we decided to get a Mitraillette. I can send some pictures home of a mitraillette. But its basically half a baguette stuffed with pitta meat, vegetables, and french fries. I have two words to describe them. So good. Then Saturday night we had some cool experiences that I would like to share! So we met a Dutch atheist guy about a month ago, to whom we gave a book of Mormon. He wasn't interested in meeting with us, but wanted to search for God on his own. We decided to stop back on Saturday to see how he was. (His name was B* by the way.) We stopped by and met his brother, W*, but B* wasn't there. W* told us to stop by later, so we did. And he was there that time, and he told us he liked reading in the Book of Mormon, and liked trying to apply the things to his life! How perfect is that?! He still wasn't interested to meet with us, but I know that the Lord is preparing him to be baptized sometime in his life. Plus I loved his and his brothers name. B* and W*. What cool guys.
Then we still had about an hour left in the night, so we decided to do some metro contacting. That means ride the metro around and talk to people. So we got on when we received a call from some other elders telling us to go and visit a less-active. Turns out the metro we were on was already taking us exactly to the right place! We got to the address and he wasn't there. So we decided to do some porting. And about 5 houses down, we got let in! Now we don't get let in very often..so that was a miracle in itself. But here's the funny thing. She let us in, and lived on the 3rd floor. When we got to the floor, she was super surprised to see us! She thought that we were someone else. We told her what we were and why we were there. She was like, "Sure, come on in." Haha, so we went in and taught a lesson! Pretty cool experience. I'd call that being guided by the Spirit! Then this past Sunday we had our primary program. Oh my goodness, the primary program is always so amazing!! It included little kids speaking in French and English, singing in three different languages, and just being adorable little kids. It was great.
Then yesterday night the other Elders had a baptism, and they asked me to speak! So let me explain. This guy they baptized had been investigating the church on his own for 5 years. Then about a month ago he put his address into LDS.org to have the missionaries over. They went over, taught all the lessons, and was baptized just yesterday! So cool! His name was A*. So after the actual baptism, while everyone was getting dressed, the four of us, the four elders, did a special musical number. We sang a hymn! It was pretty great..except for the very last note where we kinda died. Then right after that, they asked me to give a couple minute talk on the Holy Ghost. I had had a few days to prepare, but I still feel like it was super short..but that was fun. Thank you all for everything that you do! I love and miss you all very much! I think that that's all for this week! Until the next!
Love,
Elder Hamilton