August 25, 2014

Hey guys! Elder "van" Elkins uit Belgie again. This place is blessed. It is keeping us busy, and on our toes at all times. You never know what is going to happen. Heavenly Father just sends the prepared people to Genk. I don't know how to explain it! I am really enjoying it.

Weeks are only seeming to go faster, and faster. That honestly is hard to swallow, because I know this will all be over before I know it. What can I do to make is slower? haha. On Tuesday, we had District Meeting and it was a lot of fun. It was focussed on how the Book of Mormon is the bridge, for us and our investigators, to Heavenly Father. After, we all stayed in Leuven, and blitzed the city for 2 hours, and helped out the Leuven Elders by finding them 15 new potentials, and teaching 5 lessons. That was great, and I think everyone enjoyed it. After, I was on exchanges with Elder Paur in Genk, and we had a great time! Dinner appt. with the Knoops, then taught Burt after. He is getting to be pretty stubborn, so we will see how he goes tomorrow and I will fill you in next week. Elder Paur is fun, and we had a good day. Wednesday, I was on Exchanges with Elder Muse in Genk. He is our Zone Leader, and we are buds. We just had a ton of fun the whole day, had hilarious lessons, and made some unforgettable memories. Honestly, this is what missions are about. Before my mission, I had no idea how much fun I would have out here. This is a story I will have to share with you guys when I am home... lol. Great day! Now Thursday, I was on Exchanges again! In Genk, with Elder Steenblik. He is a greeny from Utah, and we talked a lot of sports, and he is a cool guy. He is  a great missionary as well! The only problem is that he is a big Ute, and wanted to keep talking about that ;) I don't even know what is going on in the NCAA world anymore. Super fun Dinner Appt with a great family in our ward, and they have a beautiful home. We taught family night with them, and did some cool activities/magic tricks. Then had a ping pong tourny, and the little girls made me dress up like a barbie. Pictures for later haha.

Friday. I was finally back with Elder Clement after three days! That is the joy of being District Leader in this part of Belgium. Travel, exchanges, and travel. I traveled over 20 hours easy this week. Maybe more. It is getting insane! Costs a lot too. It was nice to finally be back with Clement and be able to teach and work with him. Friday night, we taught Freddy. He continues to blow my mind every lesson. So prepared. We stayed at his house with our joint teach until about 9:45 because he asked us to just stay and eat grapes with him after our lesson. We taught him The Word of Wisdom, so he could stop smoking before baptism on 13 September. He was totally open to it, but is nervous because he started smoking when he was 14, and is now 49. He loves everything about the church though, and knows it is true. We gave him a blessing for extra strength. I wish you could all just witness the lessons we have with him. Top 3 investigators of my mission, no doubt.  Saturday, we had District Leader council in Antwerpen, then came back and taught a bunch of lessons, then weekly planned. Sunday was great. Church was fun, and we had investigators there.

The weather is getting colder, and it is raining every day! So crazy.

I can't believe that school is starting up now. I hope that you all have a great school year, and that you work hard and get good grades! I hate missing all that I am missing right now, but I am glad that you are all keeping me in the loop. Tyson, keep killing it in football. 8 carries, 198 yrds, and 4 touchdowns? Future Heisman at BYU eh? Love you buddy.
Shoutout to the big 17 yr old this week! PARKER! Can't believe that you are so old! I was that age when I got my call... remember that? haha. love you man. You are next!

I love you all so much. Thanks for all of the prayers and support. I hope you all have a great week. Till next week!

Elder van Elkins

August 18, 2014

Hey Everyone!
I hope that you all had a great week, and that you are staying safe! I had a great week, and Belgium is treating me real nicely. I love it. There are a few things here and there that make Nederland better, but the change is something that I think every missionary needs to experience. They are almost two separate missions! The Lord is providing, and Genk is still seeing miracles, after miracles. It is soo witness and be a part of. The Lord just expects us as missionaries to our jobs, and he provides the rest because of the Faith that the branch has. They want growth, and they are getting it.

Freddy, one of our baptismal dates, is a complete stud. Honestly, probably the next branch president. We taught him twice this week. One, The gospel of Jesus Christ, and the second, we watched the Restoration movie. He loves the Book of Mormon. In the mission, like I said last week, we are focussing on strengthening our own conversion to the Book of Mormon, and helping our investigators do the same. Clement and I are really trying our hardest to help him understand the importance of the book. He absolutely loves it, and told us that he has received an answer that it is true, because he was able to understand something out of the gospel of paul for the first time, because he read it in the Book of Mormon and the Bible. How cool is that? He came to church, gave a lot of input, listens to MoTab, and talks to people about the church. He is a member already, but hasn't been baptized. So cool!

Also, on Sunday, Liset walked into church! She is the one from a few weeks ago that spoke to Elder Holt and I at the bus station. She is wavering back and forth about meeting with us, but had the feeling to come to church. I have been praying for her so hard that she would come, and she finally did! She met a member who missed her train at the train station, and they were able to come together. The Lord does amazing things!

We taught a lot this week as well. Teaching and bearing witness of the Book of Mormon on the door is one of the best ways we can find out here. People cannot deny the spirit they feel when we read special scriptures and personal feelings and thoughts out of the Book of Mormon. We are seeing a lot of success from this. Not only Genk, but the whole district. It is really cool to see! On Friday, we had a ward Barbeque at a members home. It was pouring rain, but that is typical for Belgium. I have recognized that in Belgium, when it rains, it literally all comes down at once for about 10 minutes, then stops. I have never seen rain this hard. Super cool haha. We had a lot of fun at the BBQ. Had two investigators there, and played a lot of board games and cards. This Branch is incredible. I wish wards got this close to each other. The BBQ was actually a changing point in Burts conversion. Burt is our investigator with a date who is struggling a little bit still. He loved coming, and totally surprised me when he accepted our invitation. He made a lot of friends, lost in chess, and did weird Burt things, but that is why I love him! He is a stud.
We had a really good week. We are staying super busy, and that is really nice. I had a lot of time to study out of the BoM this week, and I payed really close attention to my BoM hero, Nephi. 2 Nephi 4 is undoubtedly one of my favorites in the BoM. It helps so much to have BoM heroes, no matter how old you are. Nephi is the best!

I love you all so much, and I hope that you all have a great week. Enjoy the last week of summer, Tyson, keep killing it in football, Parker, I want to hear about big things from you game this week, and Emily, keep being a pregnant/sick wife for Shawn, and Paige, clean up Zoeys poop ;)

Veel Liefde,

Elder Elkins

August 11, 2014

What a week! Transfers came by, but also flew by. Elder Clement is my new companion, and it has been super fun to serve with him. He is incredible, and we are going to see so many miracles here in Genk. It is continuing to go, and it isn't letting up anytime soon. How fun it is to be here during this time. He has been here now for 6 months, but has got the hang of everything. It will be super nice to just kick into missionary mode, and be able to rely on a companion as well.

I am going to keep this email relatively short, but just know it was a great week. My mind is all over the place, and I forget what even happened this week. The work in this mission is insane. Honestly, so many different things happen, everyday. It is almost impossible to recollect what goes on. I do remember that it was hard for Elder Holt to say bye to the members, but that is understandable. He had a great relationship with them, and that is something that he actually taught me! On Wednesday, I had to go to Antwerpen Station for transfers. I had to wait over 5 hours for Elder Clement to get to Belgium, so in the meantime, The ZLs and I, along with other missionaries rode the highest Ferris Wheel in Europe. It overlooks the city, and that was so cool! Beautiful city. We then had a dinner appt later that night.

On Thursday, we were able to teach a couple of times. We had a lesson with an investigator named Hubert. He is a boyfriend of a member in our branch, and wants to learn the lessons. We taught the Restoration, and issued a Baptismal Date, but he just isn't ready for that. We will work with him further, and it will for sure be a date. Most of Belgium is Catholic, and they just don't understand the true doctrine of Christ, and the meaning of everything that he did. It is like they believe that the Atonement is a get out of jail free card. That gets annoying, but we continue to work with them, and teach them! :) Later that night, we taught Freddy the Plan of Salvation. He is the one who came into church randomly that I talked about last week. Gosh, the Spirit was so strong. He is so prepared, and had incredible questions. He told us that he read our assigned chapter from the Book of Mormon 3 times, and also ready 70 pages from the beginning. He can't put it down! How special is this. We challenged him to be baptized, and he will be baptized on September 13th. The Lord is too good.

On Friday, we traveled far to look up some potential investigators. We had a cool lesson with a new convert, who we taught about the "My Family" pamphlets that the church is getting out. I was able to show her how to do family history on the computer, because I did it a bit when I was home. That was fun, and she loves it. She is from Suriname, so it is a little rough finding her ancestors, maar het komt goed. Elder Clement and I had a good day this day, and just had fun. Talked to people on the streets, buses, and really just enjoyed people. This is the perk of missionary work. Getting to know all kinds of people.

On Saturday, we had to go back to Antwerpen for District Leader Council. We just discus things, talk about goals, needs, and what we need to do. It is a lot of fun. Elder Muse is a great ZL, and a good friend, but Elder Bosco is a very close friend from out of the MTC, and he is a new ZL as well. It will be super fun to work with him. Especially drawing nearer to Football Season. He gave me a ton of BYU stickers, so I owe him big time ;) We then taught Burt later that night, and he is doing well. He is still struggling to overcome some things, but we are working with him. What a great guy. Just has some problems.

Church was incredible! Such a strong spirit, and Elder Claflin gave a great talk about Christ and his Ministry. I learned a lot, and felt the spirit. After church, Claflin and I taught the investigators class and had a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation. It was really cool, and their investigator really enjoyed it. It is so fun to be a part of the work here in Genk. I doubt I will experience anything like it again. President says this is the first time he has seen something like it as well. What a blessing. Later, we had a lesson with an investigator at 7, about a 25 minute bus ride away. We got to the complex, and it is the handicapped complex that I have told you all about before, and we had a lot of fun. We were on the bus, and literally, I have never seen it rain so hard in my life. Belgium just downpours, all the time. If it rains, it goes hard. I cannot believe it! I left my rain jacket at the apartment, so I had to run through the rain, but it was one of the most exciting experiences of my life haha. We got super wet. It was unreal. We missed our last bus, cause the member and investigator told us that it came, but it didn't, so we had to try and call members to give us four missionaries a ride home. Nobody could, cause they were all busy, so we started looking for another bus. Couldn't find one, so we started walking home. Got home 90 minutes later, and 8 Kilometer later as well, to do call the district and collect numbers, starting at 9:40. It was insane. I had to go so fast, but what a fun time. We tried to hitchhike, and even ask an ice cream man for a ride home. You should've seen the looks we got from people seeing four young men running in missionary clothes, at 8 o'clock at night. Gosh. So funny!

That was my week. It was a fun one! Our Mission is focussing District Meetings and Trainings on Chapter 5 in PMG. How we can use the Book of Mormon in the work. I have been studying this all week, to prepare, and it has really strengthened my faith and testimony in the Book of Mormon. This is exactly what the Restoration of the church is. Heavenly Father loves us so much, that he gave us proof that he Restored His church. That proof is the Book of Mormon. People get so caught up in having to have visions, or seeing God, but just read the Book of Mormon, and you WILL know it is true. I absolutely love it. It is a central point of the Missionary Work that we are doing in Genk, and I firmly believe that that is the reason it is successful. The District will see the same success. I know it.

I hope that you all have a great week. I continue to pray for all you friends and family. Find opportunities to share the Book of Mormon this week. DO IT!

One more thing.... CONGRATS EMILY! I AM SUPER EXCITED TO BE AN UNCLE! I can't wait to brainwash this boy or girl with BYU. You have no idea! ;) Love you.

Alma 26:12

Veel Liefe,

Elder Elkins

August 4, 2014

Another week down, and we are in August? Are you kidding me. Can you believe how quick time goes? It is absolutely unreal. On a mission, you just need to learn to accept that, and go with the flow, because it honestly does get sad with how fast it goes. We had an incredible week. So many cool experiences, and memories that I will never forget. Elder Holt and I have been having a good time together, even though I have American pride, and that trumps his Canadian pride. He does love to bring up the fact that they have Maple Syrup, "The Worlds Best Hockey Team", and cool nature, but come on ;)

I will try to explain this week as well as I can. The Lord provides, not only for unforgettable missionary work experiences, but also unforgettable memories with other missionaries. Our investigators are doing really well. Burt is has come to church for the past 4 weeks, and that is super good because he wouldn't come to church before I got here I guess. I love him to death, and he is so funny to interact with! He is Belgian, but hates speaking Dutch, so he even speaks English to the members, and I have to translate to Dutch for the members. Super funny. We had two lessons with him, and he is progressing. He will be ready for baptism on the 6th of September! Can't wait! We have a few other progressing investigators that we are working with. After the 6 baptisms that Genk had last transfer, we are all back to square one, and finding new people. The amount of faith that this branch has in Genk is unbelievable, and I firmly believe that they are the reason this city is on fire! We had a really cool experience on Monday, right after we emailed. We went to a store to look at suits, and summer sales, and this really nice employee came up and talked to us. She asked who we were, and she started explaining how cool it was how we are so young, but so involved in something, and invest our lives in "an organization". She told us that other than her job, she works with a foundation called Forever... I think. She was saying how the founder of this foundation is religious, and that his morals and beliefs are the key to his success, and that he is a Mormon. She asked us if we have ever heard of the Mormons. What a super cool miracle! Long story short, we now have an appointment with her on Thursday, and she wants to learn more and come to church, with her two kids. Super pumped! See, the Lord provides. We were just shopping, not doing anything on a P Day, but that happens. We had another lesson this week with Zr. Gertrude. She is a progressing investigator, and the girlfriend of a member in our ward. She lives in a handicap person home, because she has certain struggles, so we visit her, and it is the highlight of my week. You all know how much I love experiences like these, and being around these angels! I just needed to throw that in there. I love visiting her! The next day, our ZL, Elder King, came on exchanges with Elder Claflin, so he spent the night in our apartment, cause we have a four man. Elder King is a stud and a gymnast, so we asked him to teach us to do backflips. We pulled out all the mattresses from our beds, and laid them out on the floor. We all took our turns, and it was nearing the 11 PM hour, so we were already a little too late awake, and Elder Holt tells King to spot him one more time. Next thing we know, we heard a crack, and Elder King fell back and grabbed his nose. He broke his nose that late at night, and Holt and I ran to the store to buy ice. Missions are the best! He was in a lot of pain, and we all learned a lesson, and that lesson, I will never forget :)

One last miracle we had was on Sunday. Right after church was over, we were eating cake for the birthday of one of the members, and this guy walks in the door. I go an talk to him, and he introduced himself. I said that he has been looking for the true church for 2 years, and he came across our church on Google. He got the address, and this was actually his 3 time stopping by the church. The other 2 times, the church was closed. He told me that he really just wants to know, what we know. We took him into another room with a member there as well, and taught him the restoration, with a focus on prophets. He said he met with the Jehovah Witnesses, but prayed about it and got the answer that it wasn't true, but he said when he walked into our church building, he felt something he has never felt before. The lesson went really well, and he loved the fact that we believe in Prophets and Apostles. He is so prepared, and this was one of the coolest miracles that I have been a part of on my mission. We are now going to his house on Thursday, to teach him about the Plan of Salvation. The Spirit was so strong, and he felt it as we explained what the Book of Mormon was. He is so excited, and I have to doubt in my mind that he will become of member of the true church.

Miracles, Memories, and Missionary Work. I love it! This is why I am here, and nothing brings greater joy to me, than to see others experience the joy that I have taken for granted all my life. I love being a messenger of the truth, and having this wonderful opportunity to just bear testimony to Gods' lost sheep. I hope that you all had as good of a week as I did. ;)

Transfers calls were last night, and of course our four man was super nervous. We knew that we were going to get broken up, but none of us wanted that! The "Genksters" are officially broken now. Elder Krebs is going to Rotterdam, Elder Claflin will be training, so that will be fun, and I will be getting Elder Yocoms companion, Elder Clement! It will be a fun time, and I am grateful that I get to stay here. Every companionship in the district got effected, so it will be interesting, but I love all the missionaries in the new district!
I love you all, and I hope that you have a great week :) Expect to see miracles!

Alma 26:12

Elder Elkins

July 28, 2014

I cannot believe how fast this week went by. I feel like I was just sitting here maybe 3 days ago, but here I am and it has been a week! Unreal. It doesn't help that we had a weird week with Zone Training, and other unexpected things in the way. It was a week of doing a lot, but the numbers didn't show. Sometimes that happens, and you just gotta keep your head up, and realize that sometimes you sacrifice numbers one week, so you can have good results in the weeks to come. We still had a great week, and had lots of cool experiences.

Last Monday, for -Day, we played Axis and Allies with a member for 5 hours. That was ridiculous, but he deserves it. He does a lot for us. Like pick us up at 11 PM at night when we are 1 hour away from home, and no buses are running. Yes, he deserved our P-Day haha. I will never, ever play that game again. So frustrating. I was America, and still got owned. Since when does America get owned? I'm a disgrace lol. Still a good day, and we were able to teach a good lesson afterwards with the member present.

Tuesday, we had a good day doing look ups, and finding new people to teach. We had an incredible lesson with our investigator, Burt, and he is making a ton of progress. He came to church and enjoyed it. Stepping out of his comfort zone, and will be baptized on September 6th.

Wednesday we did service all day for an investigator. We attacked his back yard with shovels and sledge hammers, to do some weird things that he wanted to get done. He is kinda a hippie, and he loves spiders, so he catches spiders in "his" forest nearby, and brings them to his back yard. If anybody knows me, this might've been my least favorite day of my mission.... haha not really but it was vreselijk! He also is a famous trumpet player, so he always goes off playing music and it is so interesting haha!

Thursday was the big hump day, and I celebrated it with Elder Claflin by going to Zone Training! What a good day, and I learned a lot. The focus was on Losing Ourselves from Luke 9. It totally was a great way to start the second year, and refocus my mind and set new goals. Elder King and Elder Muse are the ZL's and they both are great missionaries. Lucky to have them as Zone Leaders. At night we went on Splits with the members, and Elder Knoops and I, and Elder Holt went to look up in actives. He is a missionary giant, and just wants to give all day everyday to doing missionary work. He is hands down the best example of a member missionary I have ever met.

Friday we weekly planned, and traveled far away to get two baptismal forms signed. We traveled 2 hours or so, then could only stay at the house for 10 minutes, and had to leave in order to catch our bus home on time. That is the story of Genk. Super different than anywhere else I have served! Our day was over after that. A little frustrating haha.

Saturday, exchanges with Elder Krebs. He is in our four man, so we just split for the day. We had a good day, and saw cool miracles. This guy at a bar flagged us down to talk, so we chatted with him for 45 minutes, and supposedly he is the king of Genk. We then went to look up some former investigators and had a good time doing that. He is a huge ute fan, so we always have fun conversations ;)

Sunday was a great day! Church is always a good time, and the spirit is always strong. After church we went to look up a former, really far away. Nobody was home, but we had the opportunity to walk around and talk to everyone. Found two really cool potentials from the country "Georgia", and a Jehovah Witness stopped us to talk, then she bashed. Pretty funny. It makes me really grateful to know without a doubt that this is the true church, and I'm really grateful for how WE do missionary work. That was our whole day. Traveling. But, talking to people while traveling is super effective, so it's never a bad thing.

My mind is lost as I think about this past week. It feels like a blur, but I am looking forward to this next week. It is potentially my last week with Elder Holt which is a bummer, but we will find out on Sunday when they do transfer calls. We are going to work hard, and love it.

This week, I studied a lot about the story of King Noah, and Abinadi. I love this story, because it proves to me how just bearing testimony, to even the most wicked person in the city, can effect anybody around. I doubt that Abinadi knew that Alma would take his testimony, apply it, and become who he was. Imagine if Abinadi wouldn't have done that? Alma wouldn't be Alma, which means we also wouldn't have Alma the Younger, which means we lose one of the best missionaries of all time. I'm grateful for testimony. A simple testimony is something that nobody can deny. I loved that with the Jehovah Witness. She could deny our doctrine, or the fact that the Book of Mormon is scripture, but she cannot deny the witness that we have of the truthfulness of the Gospel. Testimony is our most powerful weapon. Use it. Who knows, maybe you can have an Abinadi type of influence.

I love you all so much, and I hope that you have a great week. Make good choices, and enjoy your last few weeks before school :) Tot volgende week!

Veel Liefde,

Elder Elkins

July 22, 2014

I cannot believe that it was one year ago, that I entered into the MTC. Where does time go? Now I am sitting on a French keyboard in Belgium, speaking Dutch. It is amazing how time really is put into an eternal perspective it feels like out on a mission. I remember after taking the pictures at the temple right before the MTC, we had some time to spare before I had to be dropped off. We went to a church parking lot and talked as a family for a minute, and Dad told me to give him the go when I was ready. It was at 12:42 when I remember looking at the clock and saying LETS DO IT! I remember those butterflies, but also the comfort that I received from Heavenly Father knowing that I was going to be ok, but it would be a ride. And boy, has it been a ride. :) I am in tears right now thinking about it, and I have had a lot of time to reflect on this past year of my life over the past week. It has honestly been a real struggle for me to grasp the fact that it has been a year, and I only have one more, but I am grateful that I get blessed with one more. My mission has affected me, more than I have been able to affect the lives of others. It has gave me a perspective on things that I hope to be able to carry with me throughout the rest of my life. Being able to serve with the missionaries I am able to serve with, and be able to be companions with one of my best friends is a blessing just of itself, but there is so much more to the time I have had out here, and I am excited to tell you all about it, and show you in under a year. I'm grateful for this past year, but I look forward to the next, and making it even better than the first. I have seen things and experienced things out here, that I know I couldn't have experienced or seen at home, or even in other missions. It keeps me going, every day, with a positive attitude. I love it.
One of these miracles that I have cherished just happened this past Sunday. Before I get there, two weeks ago, Elder Holt and I were waiting for a bus to come, and a lady approached us. She asked who we were and we answered. We taught her about Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the Gospel for a minute, and then we had to go. We gave her our number and church address, because she was hesitant to give us hers. I knew that all we could do then, was pray for her, because nobody approaches us like that. Hardly ever. We knew that Heavenly Father had something in store for her. Come to find out, she went straight to the church, where, luckily, the other Elders were. They answered more of her questions, and offered a Book of Mormon. She didn't take it, but said "maybe I will see you all later", then walked away. This past Sunday, she showed up to church, and that was a proof to me, yet again, that Heavenly Father answers prayers. The wonderful members of this branch spoke with her, and invited her to meet with them and the missionaries. We sat down in a classroom, and she asked questions. I have never seen anything like it. She was explaining her beliefs and telling us that no other religions believe her and tell her she is crazy. One of them being about the Spirit World. She asked what we believe, and we told her exactly what she believes. That was really cool for her, and she started crying. Then, she went on to why were are here on the earth. She explained that she thinks we are all here to learn, receive bodies, and grow, so we can eventually die, and have knowledge and experience. Is that not exactly what we believe? The Light of Christ is real, and there are people who are literally "Searching for the truth, but they no not where to find it". She told us that she has been busy looking for the true church for 9 years, and she doesn't believe in that it was coincidence that she met us. It will be interesting to see where that goes.

On Saturday, we had two more baptisms. They were the baptisms of the other two Elders, but we taught them a ton as well. Francois is from Togo, and is hilarious. He only speaks French, but we find ways to communicate with him. We always taught him with a member who could translate for us. Zacharia is the other. He is an 11 year old boy. Biggest stud in the world, and is the definition of what every parent wants there 11 year old son to be. He is such a nice kid and so friendly to everyone. His mom was recently baptized, just 4 weeks ago. It is really special for them, and they will be amazing members!

Another Miracle that happened this week was on Thursday. We visited an inactive member who promised the members two years ago that she would come back to church after she turned 65. She turned 65 on Friday, so we took her a card on Thursday and got let in to teach her. She told us she was coming to church and that was really cool. We had a really powerful chat with her. She asked us, Remind me what the church is about. Just then, I felt really inspired to ask her why she joined the church in the first place. She started to explain a dream she had 35 years ago meeting with the Elders. One night, she dreamt of her Father, who past away right before her dream, standing in a baptismal font with statues of oxen beneath. The next appointment, the Elders taught baptisms for the dead. She then knew her answer and got baptized. She then explained how it brought so much joy to her, and how she always just wanted to help others and support others in their trials, and to serve God. Once again, pulled out Mosiah 18 and layed the baptismal covenant out. She cried, and cried, and said, "That's what it's about". It is really cool to see how Heavenly Father inspires us to ask Inspired Questions. By asking questions, lets the questioner answer their own question. Super cool experience.

The work is going strong here in Genk. We are looking up a lot of former investigators, and traveling long distances to do it. It is all worth it, because we are being blessed. I'm learning a lot this transfer, and becoming humbled at the same time. I'm super grateful for that.

I want to thank you all for your support and love over this past year. It makes me so happy to hear that you all are healthy, and staying safe, and making good choices. Continue to do so, and I will see you in 11 months! Love you all. Have a great week, and find someone to serve this week! :)

Alma 26:12

Elder Elkins

July 14, 2014

Hey Everyone!

I will try this time to give you all a little more information about this past week. It has just been super hard because of how much time these library computers give us, but I will continue to improve haha. We had a great week, which included watching the Nederland game, finding new people to teach, playing soccer kids with Muslim kids, and setting two new baptismal dates with investigators that we have been working a while with. The Lord is blessing us, and the garden of Genk is still being harvested. Our first baptismal date that we set was with an investigator named Burt. He is a 67 year old Belgian, who is hilarious! He went to Oxford University, and lived in England for a while, so he is really smart, but loves the gospel. I guess when they first found him, he was a really depressed, quite guy, but Elder Holt and I have done a good job getting him out of his shell. We went into the lesson last time, and he was wearing a white shirt and black pants, probably coming home from a smart person convention or something, so I told him all that was missing was a name tag. I put mine on him, and we sat down. I then told him it was Role Play time, and asked him to teach me like a missionary. It was super cool, because he bore testimony about the Book of Mormon, and how it supports, and clarifies the Bible. It was very led by the spirit, and that was necessary, because after, we switched places again, and I was the missionary, and we taught baptism. After 1 hour, he usually kicks us out, so we were expecting that at any time. He finally said, Ok guys, I think it is time. So we asked to say a closing prayer, but then he stopped us and said, no, I mean it is time. I need to make more progress, and develop the skills and love that Heavenly Father blessed me with. He then told us he has these weird desired to help others with their problems and just be a disciple of Christ. I pulled open Mosiah 18, and showed him the Baptismal Covenant, and that was exactly what he was defining to us. We extended the invitation to make the Covenant on the 6th of September, because he has some things to fix before he can get Baptized, but he totally will. Such a spiritual lesson. I have learned while teaching that the most effective way to teach baptism, is to teach the Covenant, and when you invite people to baptism, say it and invite them to make the covenant, then explain that we do that through Baptism. That is something that President Robinson really inspired me about, and it is working. The other was with an investigator named Marcello. He is really interesting, but is progressing. He learns from the Jehovah Witnesses as well, and he gets really confused by them, which is a bummer, but it is OK. We had a good lesson, and helped with questions, and invited to Covenant.

We had a really good week with random acts of service as well. Elder Holt has taught me the importance of that, and I'm grateful for that. We took flowers to an old lady investigator who is sick, and that was special. We made brownies for a family in the Branch, and they loved that too! The Branch loves Elder Holt and I together, and that has been a treat. He is the best missionary I have seen at interacting with the members, but I think most of that comes with the fact that they think he is hilarious because he can't speak Dutch as well because he is pretty new, but at least he is taking advantage of a weakness. Great example to me.

On Saturday, we went to an activity with the Branch. We went to this place here in a forest in Belgium called, Bote Voeten Pad, or Bare Feet Path. You hike 3 miles on a trail of mud, obstacles, and water features, and that was super, super fun! It has been raining all week as well, so it was super muddy. This Branch is incredible too. We had a bunch of investigators there, and 20 branch members of the 25 active. Super amazing! Also, we watched the Nederland game. It is too bad they lost, they controlled Argentina!

I'm really enjoying my time here. I like Belgium, and my love for it grows everday. Limburg is the only province like this in Belgium, really foresty, and outdoorsy. We are probably going fishing one of these pdays! My love for spreading the gospel grows everyday, as I continue to learn about the Atonement, more specifically, the Enabling Power of the Atonement. I urge you all to study that, and think about how you can apply it more into your lives, because if I learned anything with Elder M, it was to rely on the Enabling Power of the Atonement, because Christ died for our weaknesses and adversity as well.

I love you all so much, and hope that you have a great week. Keep those letters coming!

Veel Lief,

Elder Elkins