October 20, 2014

Last week was possibly the fastest week that I have had while being here on a mission. We had so many random things to do, and so many places to travel to. It flew by! To be honesty, I only had probably 1 day of normal missionary work, and that wasn't even in my own city! I was on exchanges that day. I will give you a little run-down of how it went:

Monday - P-day. Went to Brussels, Belgium. Super awesome, but traveled 4 hours.

Tuesday- Worked until 3, then had to catch a train to go to Den Haag. 5 hours on train. Slept over inda Den Haag

Wednesday - Temple Conference! This was amazing. I will talk more about it in a sec. Traveled back to Genk in the Afternoon. Another 5 hours, got home at 10.

Thursday - Went on splits with the two sisters in the District in Turnhout. Traveled 2 hours via train there, and 3 hours via bus back. Unreal.

Friday - Traveled 2 hours to Geel and then had exchanges in Geel. It was nice to be able to work hard for the first time this week though!

Saturday - Re-exchanged in Diest. 2 hours home. Then got directly on a 2 hour train to Antwerpen, where I had District Leader Council, and then we had Stake Conference at night. Traveled home at night another 2 hours, and got home at 11:30. Holy cow!

Sunday - Traveled 2 hours to Brussels for Stake Conference, then two hours home. Got home at about 7:30.

But, do you know what is really cool? We found many potential investigators and had many opportunities to teach while on the public transportation. This mission is incredible, and throws so many things at you. It was a great week, and I particularly enjoyed the temple. It was such a gorgeous morning and a beautiful sunrise. Our session began at 9. The spirit was so strong, and it hit me during the session that I only have one more temple trip until I return home. Insane! I learned a lot, and recommitted myself to the why of missionary work.

I love exchanges because they give me the opportunity to learn from those that I teach. They teach me more than I am able to give to them, and I think that is why leaders are the leaders. We usually get a lot more out of the experience than the others.

Genk has done a lot better numbers wise in times past, but we are getting it back up there. We have just been so busy with so many other things, that it is hard to balance it all right now. This is possibly my last week in Genk, as transfers are on the 29th, so I am going to go so hard this week, and trust in the Lord. I want to leave this place better than it was when I got here. That is the hard part... lol.
I love you all so much! Thank you for your supports, love, and prayers throughout all of this. I really feel them, and I try to return the favor by bringing others unto Christ! Have a super good week, win the miny bowl, and take care of Zoey. Love you!

Veel Liefde,

Elder Elkins