Bonjour

Bonjour! 

I hope everyone had a great week. Belgium has been awesome.
This week I was able to master the metro map. Haha. After I sent out
emails on Monday, we went to the grand place for some sightseeing. It
was so beautiful. Then we got some Nutella covered Belgian waffles.
They were absolutely delicious. 

Monday evening we had dinner at Sister Noël's house again. She is a super nice lady. Tuesday morning I stepped on the scale and to my surprise I had gained 10 pounds in 10
days. Haha! So I need to lay off of all the pastries I have been
eating. By the end of the week I had lost 5 of the 10 lbs, so I think
things will be back to normal soon. 

Tuesday was a fairly busy day. The General Young Women's President, the General Relief Society President, and Elder Kearon of the 70 came and talked to our zone. It was nothing
short of amazing. One of the main points they had was to not give up
on investigators. I could definitely feel the spirit they brought when
they were talking.

On Wednesday, we spent the entire day deep cleaning our apartment. We swept, we mopped, and we washed every little corner of our apartment. Thanks mom for teaching me how to do those things. Haha. 

The park outside our apartment

Thursday, I went on an exchanges with Elder Rafanomezana. He is
from Marseilles but his parents are from Madagascar. Thanks to Jessey,
we were able to talk a lot about Mada and have a good time together.
That evening as we prepared for bed we took part in a Paris France
mission tradition. It is called the flan suck. Flan is a desert
popular here in Europe. It is kind of like Carmel jello with a thicker
consistency. Anyways they come in these little jello-like plastic
cups. When you open them up, you flip it over on a plate and they plop
right out while maintaining the shape of the cup. The flan suck is
when a missionary sticks his mouth over the flan and enhales it in a
matter of milliseconds. It is quite amazing. I wish I could send you a
video. Well my first flan wasn't too good but by flan 3 I had become a
pro. 

Anyways, on Friday, because me and my companion are new to the
area, we went through the area book. In total, we went through more
than 350 investigator sheets, and got rid of 257 super old ones from
before 2010. 

Saturday was nothing but contacting. Every missionary's
phones haven't been working for the past couple days. We can't set up
any meetings or confirm anything so it has been a lot of contacting. I
think someone forgot to pay the phone bill at the office. Haha. 

Sunday we got some pretty big news. They are switching up the ward structure.
Previously there were 2 wards in Brussels split based off location. As
of next week there will be one ward that has all the French and
Spanish speakers and one English ward. The English ward is going to be
part of the Antwerpen Stake so it's now out of my mission. Sunday
evening we ate at a member house they were really awesome. Other than
the dad, they all only spoke Japanese, so it was a little hard to
communicate but it was still fun. 

And today, we got groceries, and Nutella covered waffles again. We went to the capital building (I think) and it was super cool but there was a slight problem. A while
ago they were going to refurbish the outside, so the set up
scaffoldings on the outside. Well when they finished the refurbishing
the scaffoldings had rusted on to the building, So they couldn't get
them off this beautiful building. It's quite a shame. 

My companion and I were only able to teach one lesson this week. The work is
hard here. Her name is Janet and she has been facing some trials as of
late, so we hope that she can really latch on to what we are teaching.
Anyways this week I have gained a strong testimony that Jesus is the
Savior of the world. I know without a doubt that he performed the
atonement and was resurrected. His sacrifice applies to everyone who
ever walked on this earth. I love yall. Have a great week!

Elder Hein

Brussels!!

So this week went well. 

On Tuesday I left with 3 other missionaries to
Paris. The flight only lasted 2 hours but it was so uncomfortable.
Anyways, we arrived in Paris airport at about noon and met up with 10
other missionaries coming from the Provo MTC. One of the kids coming
from Provo is 7'2". He is absolutely huge. Anyways, from the airport,
we all headed to the mission office in Versailles. We met President
Babin and his wife. They took us out for dinner at an Asian buffet. It
was absolutely delicious in comparison to the MTC food. 

That evening we slept at their home. The next morning they took us into Paris but
we only had time to go see Notre Dame. While we were standing outside,
at least 20, 40-year old Asian tourist women started to giggle at us
missionaries and take pictures. It was so strange. They just came up
to us, grabbed our arms, and then their husbands took photos. We had
no idea what they were saying. Haha. We just smiled for the pictures.
After that crazy experience, we went to the main church building in
Paris. That is where I got my area and mission companion assigned to
me. I am starting my mission in Brussels! I'm so excited! My
companion's name is Elder Madsen. He is super cool. He has been on his
mission for 21 months, so I will be his last companion. He is from
Orem, Utah and he is so funny. He is quite the artist as well. 

My companion and I eating a famous Belgian Meat Triad

We then took the TGV (an extremely fast train with no stops) to Brussels, where we were greeted by 2 elders who we share an apartment with.  Their names are Elder Wheeler (from San Fransisco) and Elder Smith (from Morgan, UT). Elder Wheeler plays hockey for BYU, therefore we have had some fun hockey conversations these past few days. 

Thursday we went to a member's (Sister Noel) house for dinner. She is awesome and likes to talk a lot. Haha. Friday night, we went to a Halloween party put on by the church. It was really fun because we got to meet a lot of the members. I have a bad feeling that my French won't improve
here because the majority of the members speak English. The same is
true for the entire city. Everybody speaks English! I think it's
because Brussels is the capital for the EU and NATO, so there are a
lot of government workers who learn to speak English in order to
communicate. Anyways, Saturday we pretty much just proselyted all day.
It's tough but the city is absolutely amazing so I can't complain too
much. Haha. Sunday we went to church and afterwards went to the Hatch
family's house for dinner. They literally live in a castle. It's is
amazing. The dad is an American diplomat for NATO so they have all
this American food and candy. I enjoyed it, but not as much as my
companion.  He hasn't had some of that stuff for 2 years. 

The park our apartment looks out on to.

Beautiful Brussels

Currently it is P-Day. We will go to the Grand Place and eat some Belgium waffles soon. It is so cold here. Everyday I have to wear a winter coat. I have seen the sun for 30 minutes. I can't imagine what it will be like in December and January. Haha. This first week has been tiring but quite amazing. On a daily basis I feel the blessings from our Heavenly
Father. I know he loves me, and loves each and everyone of us. I hope
everyone has a terrific week.

Elder Hein

First Blog Post

NOTE:  Cody has arrived in Paris and was already assigned to work in a suburb of Brussels, Belgium.  We should get photos and hear all about it from Cody on Monday.

 Hello everyone! This is my official first blog
post, and I am already leaving the Missionary Training Center for
Paris tomorrow. These past two weeks have been an incredible
experience. 

The first day at the MTC here in Madrid, was quite
exciting. I was suprised to learn that I was only going to be at the
MTC for two weeks. They thought my french was good enough to skip the
language study. Therefore, 6 weeks quickly turned into 2 weeks. 

My companion´s name is Elder Nagloo. He is so funny! He grew up in
Mauritius but has live in Belgium for the past 3 years. We have had
such a phenomenal time together. There are 4 other elders in my
district. They all speak french fluently so it is sometimes hard for
me to understand them. My french in general has been increasing
exponentially. Everyday I get a lot better than the day before. I am
still no where near fluent though. Haha. 

I lived with 4 Russian elders in my room. They were so fun to be around. Every night they'd teach me new russian words and folk songs. haha. There are approximately 66
missionaries here and we have class on the 4th floor, sleep on the 5th
floor, and eat on the 6th floor. The majority of the missionaries are
Americans learning spanish, and going to serve somewhere in Spain. So,
if I ever get tired of speaking french I can just talk with them. 

The food here has been surprisingly good. I am always tired though. We go
to sleep at 10:30, wake up at 6:30, but use every minute of the day to
do something. I have never been more productive in my entire life.
Haha. We have an hour to play sports evey day and so I usually play
soccer. My stat sheet has been amazing, through 4 games I have 6 goals
and 7 assists. These europeans can't keep up with me. hahaa. 

On Saturdays we go proselyting in a Park in downtown Madrid. That is
really tough because I dont speak spanish, but it is a good experience
nonehteless. On P-Day, on Thursday, us French elders went to Real
Madrids stadium. It was absolutley incredible. We got to go to the
trophy room, walk on the field, sit oon the bench, walk through the
tunnel, sit in the press room, and finally walk in the locker room.
The seats on the bench are the most comfortable things I have ever sat
on. It is honestly like a cloud. 

One of the elders had appendicitis so that was quite the experience. We got to go visit him in the hospital and everything went well in surgery. 

In summary, the MTC has been one great experience. I have grown so much in the gospel, and made memories I will never forget. I know that what I am going to preach
for the next two years is true, and I know God loves us all. He has a
plan for each of us individually. 

I will write next week from somewhere in France/Belgium/Luxembourg. Sorry, I don't have any pictures. These MTC laptops don't allow it, but next week I promise there will be some.
I apologize if I wasnt able to respond to your personal emails. We
have a limit of time at the MTC for emails. Once I am in the field I
will respond to everyone. Thank you so much for them though. 

Have a wonderful week. Elder Hein