September 1, 2014

Hey Family and Friends! It has officially been one year since I have stepped on American soil. I'm not complainin'. I cannot believe how fast time flies. Unreal.

Well, I had a really good, busy week. It consisted of a lot of random things, like Zone Conference in Antwerpen, Brussels Trip to pick up my Drivers License, Exchanges, the Stake Barbecue that we had on Saturday, along with a lot of missionary work! What an exciting week it was!

First off, let me just tell you how funny President Robinson is. Honestly, I cannot really explain it in email, but he has the funniest humor. He is such a farmer, and just so chill. Zone Conference was the funnest Zone Conference I have had out here, and we learned a lot about Presentation Skills. If anyone knows a thing or two about this, it is President Robinson. He is good at what he does, and has always been. Very successful guy. It was a blast to see all of my buddies there, and be able to learn from President and Sister Robinson. I love them to death! This mission is seeing a lot of success because of what they do. President literally just says the funniest things. So blunt, and so straight to the point. I love it! That was a good day.

The Stake Barbecue was a blast on Saturday. It rained a ton last week, but we got lucky with the barbecue. What is awesome about the stake, is the Heerlen ward is in our stake, and were at the bbq. This is an American Military Base, so I was able to see a lot of Americans. The best part was when I saw like 6 men wearing BYU shirts, and their kids as well. Elder Bosco and I chatted with them all about the BYU game that happened hours earlier, and they gave us all the updates. Super awesome haha. The BBQ was fun! We had a couple of investigators there, and played sports.

Brussels was cool as well. I had to go switch my American License to a Belgian License, and it turned out that Elder Yocom was going too. All of the other District Leaders went so we could all do it on the same day. It was super fun to spend a little bit of time with Yocom and it brought back a lot of memories. What is funny, is I got to the legalization counter to do the process, and the Office Elder gave her my passport photo that I took over a year ago for my mission. She only spoke French, and she said something to the Elder, and looked really confused. She then looked at me and asked her colleague to come over and analyze. It turns out that I have changed too much in the past year, that I had to take new pictures. She said my face looks too much skinnier, that it isn't recognizable, and it was hilarious! I have officially changed too much to be even recognized by authority ;) We were all laughing for a good 20 minutes.

Freddy is going to be baptized next week on the 13th. He had a rough week with random events that happened. He has soo much potential, and the adversary knows this. He is trying to stop Freddy really hard. Freddy had two friends pass away this week, he was called into work on both nights we had appointments, and some other things happened. It is crazy to see how strong his testimony is though. We had a really good lesson with him last night, and he is working really hard to be prepared for next week. I am so blessed to be around him for his investigation.

My testimony has been strengthened soooo much this transfer. I want you all to know that. My knowledge and love for the Book of Mormon has grown so much, and I love it. I share it everyday, and I feel the Holy Ghost testifying. Amazing things are happening in Europe, and I am so grateful to serve here. I love you all so much, and I thank you for your support! I pray for Friends and Family every morning, and night. Know that ;) Next week, Elder Ballard is giving us a Mission Conference, and I look forward to having the opportunity to meet a General Authority and be able to listen to his council. I hope you all have a great week, and I look forward to hearing from you next week! Go Cougs!

Prediction: BYU - 27     Texas - 21

Elder van Elkins