Monday, November 3, 2014

October 13, 2014

Goede middag allemaal! It has already been another week, and I am back in this library writing you all. I just got done watching Tysons football highlights, and that always sparks my day, and gets me going on a high note. That kid is incredible! Holy cow.
The mission life is a blast. I am enjoying my time and learning so much. I was worried that I would be one of those missionaries who doesn't recognize a change in himself, but wow. I look back and I cannot even remember who or what I used to be. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has changed who I am and has given me a very strong testimony of the gospel. Think about it. We can't gain testimonies by ourselves. That's why prayer plays such a vital role in gaining a testimony. A testimony is a gift, and I have one. What a blessing that is.
My testimony does get a little tried when I hear about the plague that BYU is going through. So many good, amazing young athletes who are just going down with injuries and losing. ;) It is pretty typical though. Glad I am here! Go Cowboys! :)
Genk Belgium is still on fire. We received 8 referrals from the facebook project this last week, and that has been really nice. The referrals are our number one priority right now, so we are doing our best to look them up. I feel like a lot of time is wasted sitting 2 hours on a bus, driving through gorgeous Belgian fields, castles, and villages, to go look up a referral who isn't home, but then I remember that this is the Lords work, and I rely on Him. For example. On Saturday, I was on exchanges with an Elder who is on his second transfer. I wanted to be a good example, get to know him better, and teach him a little bit as well. Our day was planned out to go look up 3 referrals, one after another. We made a daily goal for the work and that was "open our mouths". When we travel to go look up all of these people, we need to stay diligent and "preach by the way". Heavenly Father WILL bless us, and I have seen that all throughout my mission. This is completely necessary, especially in the Belgium/Netherlands mission. We went out and knocked doors while waiting to catch the bus. We had about 20 minutes, so we parked our bikes and locked them. I come back after 20 minutes, and my tire is popped. That was a big bummer! Now I have to replace my tube. We had to catch our bus in 10 minutes, and had to run a mile to the station. In the rain, with big bags on our shoulder. It was game. We ran and ran, looking like big fools, but it was worth it. We barely made it on time, got on a bus, and relied on the public transportation schedule the whole rest of the day. Throughout the day, we taught a lesson on the door, looked up our referral, made two appointments for next week, and found 5 new potentials. This was Saturday. Thursday, and Friday also turned out similar to this. We plan for certain things, accidentally take a wrong bus, or miss a bus, but there is always a reason. Everyweek, the Lord shows me His power. This week, he wanted to show me to trust in him and that everything happens for a reason. We had a great week. This next week will be crazy. Lots of exchanges, temple conference on Wednesday, and we have to go to Nederland on Tuesday to sleep over. I am really excited, but sometimes I do think it would be nice to just chilll in good ol Genk Belgie. I love you guys, and I hope that you have a great week. I will continueu to pray for you! Fall is in the air, and it is really hard for me to believe that it is already here. Unreal.
I love you all! Tot volgende keer!

Veel liefde,
Elder van Elkins

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