Another week, and this one was super quick. It feels like just yesterday that I was typing on this annoying French keyboard, but here I am. Back, and ready to give you a little summary of this past week. I don't have much time, and quite frankly, I forget what we did, but I will do my best. It was actually quite a special week. The Lord is blessing Elder Holt and I with many "tender mercies" and is providing missionary work in a way that I haven't really experienced my whole mission. Things have been going well here in Belgium. Because we are in a 4som, and opening the other side to Genk, Limburg, things have been fun to sort out. Travel here is unreal. We had to go do a look up, and we were on a bus for 2 hours, then 2 hours back. We had interviews with President and it took 3 hours to travel there, in a little city here in Belgium. It is unreal. It is really hot as well, and more humid than I have ever experienced in my life.

A special experience from this week was when Elder Holt and I were walking home. We saw an old man with a cane, and we just said "Goede Avond", like good evening, and he asked us for help. I didnt really understand what he needed, but then he started talking better and explained that he wants to watch the World Cup at the bar, but cant get there by himself, so I gave him my arm, and we walked 200 meters to the bar, in 30 minutes. Slowest walker of my life haha, but, I can honeslty tell you, I have never felt the Love of Heavenly Father more in my life. What a special experience this was to be able to help a 90 year old man, walk. We had the opportunity to talk all about his life, and I  found out he was a Doctor, and the same Doctor that I want to become. We sat with him and talked, then had to go home, but I was really grateful for that.

Because Belgium and Nederland are doing well, President gave the whole mission permission to watch all the games. We went to a members house on Saturday, after the baptism, to watch the game. Super fun family, but too bad Belgium lost. It is ok, I'm all for Nederland! We get to watch the Nederland Argentina game on Wednesday at 10 pm our time too! Pres. Robinson is the best!

I wish I could share more with you all, but I'm out of time. I love you, and hope that you have a great week. Find ways to serve others this week!

Love,

Elder van Elkins

I am sitting in this wonderful library to email, and I begin to type. I realize how many typing errors that I was making, and it quickly reminded me that I was in Belgium. The keyboards here are in French. A bunch of the letters on the keyboard are in differenct places than the English ones: Jammer! I will do my best, but if I make mistakes, than pardon my French (keyboard) :)

Beglium is gorgeous! Especially in the Limburg province, where I am. We live in Genk, but our area actually covers the entire Province. We work in the second biggest area in the mission, and that is insane! Here, it is normal to ride busses 2 hours away, everyday! I'm not used to that, but I'm definitely going to learn. It is a very foresty area, and anyone knowing me, knows that I love that. The dialect that they speak here is called Limburgs. It is indeed Flaams, but they what's a little different than normal Flaams is that they actually kinda sing while talking, as well as do random twists to pronunciation. I have developed a super hard Dutch accent out here, and everyone here instantly tags me as a Nederlander. It makes for super intersting conversations, and it makes me feel good that not everyone instantly tags me as an American or Englander after I open my mouth for the first time haha.

The branch is great! This is my first time serving in a branch, and I know that I am going to love it. There are 20-25 active members, hopefully, ever week. I have served in two big wards out here, so being in this branch is completely different. Our church is two hours, because we don't have any purpose in holding a third class, because there arent enough people to hold the callings and enought people to have enough class students. So weird!

My new companion is 24 years old, and from Canada. His Missionarywork style is a lot like mine, and we are going to get along just fine! He has been out for 6 months or so, and this is his 4th transfer in the mission. He served in San Diego for 3 months prior to coming here because of visa issues. We live in a 4som in a super nice apartment with a dishwasher, two seperate rooms, and a clothes drier. Super spoiled are we. My roomate is Claflin, and he is an MTC friend. We are enjoying it.

We spent a lot of our weekend planning, and deciding how we were going to do 4 Elders here. It was rough to plan, but necessary. I'm just glad that it is over. We had a baptism for two women in their 20's on Saturday! Super Special, and this upcoming Saturday, two more! Benjamin and Aleksander. They are 9 and 11, and super fun. They love us and asked me to give a talk at the baptism, so that will be exciting! This place is on fire!

Well, I'm out of time, and losing my patience on this keyboard, so I'm going to leave it at that. I'm sorry for not writing anybody back, but I'm going to focus on letters while in Belgium, because we only email an hour here, so I have no time to respond to anyone. Write me if you care, and I will write back! I promise :)

Testimony is growing, the field is white, and we are harvesting. Love you all, and I wish you all a great week!

Groetjes uit Belgie,

Elder "van" Elkins