Missionary Life

Here is one more picture of Elder Loosli and Elder Mier in Brussels.

Jonah wasn't sure what this was at first, but he figured it was something iconic so he took a picture of it. This is the Atomium in Brussels. It was built for the 1958 Brussels Worlds fair. There are nine interconnected spheres and they are each 59 feet in diameter.  One of them has a restaurant in it.  Jonah has seen these a few times now. 

Jonah is loving the Belgium waffles.  He has always liked waffles and he says they are so good there. He told us he has been using the cash I sent with him for extra things until the new credit cards come.  I asked him if that has been enough and he said, "yeah except I didn't have enough for a train ticket."  He went on to explain he did have enough, but he stopped and bought a waffle on the street and then he didn't have enough. He went on to tell us that there was a miracle because a lady approached them and said she bought two extra tickets and sold the tickets to them cheaper so Jonah was able to afford his waffle and his train ticket. Ha!  Same old Jonah. 

Apparently they have really good Chinese buffets in Belgium.  They went to one for Elder Gambee's birthday.  Patrick drove them there and paid for Elder Gambee.  Jonah said there is a special place in the Celestial Kingdom for Patrick.  He does so much for the missionaries. 

Jonah said the food was so good.  He wrote, "Wait, maybe this whole mission thing is ok?" on this picture. 

This robot delivered food.  Jonah said it was pretty cool.  He set up obstacles with chairs and the robot was able to go around all of them.

Jonah was really excited to go to the zoo last week on P-day.  It is in Brussels.  Patrick drove the elders there and they met a couple of sisters.  Pairi Daiza is the biggest zoo in Europe.  Jonah said it was huge and they had a ton of every animal.

Here wrote "Moto Moto" on this one.

They decided to wear their mission clothes and Jonah was not excited about that, he said it was so hot.

Elder Loosli and Elder Zollinger.

This is a screen shot from a video of Jonah and Elder Gambee laughing because the deer wouldn't lick them so they were joking that they smelled bad. 

Jonah had his first zone conference last week.  He loved it.  He loved meeting with his mission president and all of the devotionals they had.  He said he was asked to share his testimony a few times.  For pday they all went to Brussels and played volleyball. Jonah loved that, he said blue team is the best!

He added some more beautiful sunset pictures.

A sunset over water is the best.

I think this past week has been a hard one for Jonah.  He is still feeling homesick and there is a lot of things at home that he is sad he is missing out on.  He added this picture to his google photos this week. Last Sunday he spoke in church.  I asked him to send me his talk and he sent me the English version of it.  I'm so impressed that he was able to give this talk in French.  I'm so glad he shared it with me. It was so good! Here is what he said:

Hello brothers and sisters! I am excited to speak to you all today. I will try and make this so that you guys can understand what i am saying. My French is still coming along very slow. 

About 500 years ago, a man named Hernan Cortez took 500 men, and they left their homes in Cuba to travel to Mexico. They were commanded by their governor to go and attack the Aztecs in Mexico. They wanted to have more land. But, when they got there, they saw that there were a lot more Aztecs than they thought. The men were scared to fight. A lot of the men complained to Cortez. They wanted to go home. They thought they were going to lose. Sometimes, I feel like these men. I feel like the battle of life ahead of me is too much to handle. I think that all of you have experienced this. 

So what did Cortez do? He commanded his men to destroy the boats that they sailed in. He made sure that the men had no choice, but to go forward and give everything they had to complete their mission. This was a big risk, but, it ended in victory for Cortez and his men! 

That must have taken a lot of faith. Sometimes God gives us challenges that seem impossible to complete. But, because of his perfect plan, we can find our potential. We can learn so much. One of the best ways to understand our potential, is to strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ. 

Mosiah 5: 7 reads, "Et maintenant, à cause de l’alliance que vous avez faite, vous serez appelés enfants du Christ, ses fils et ses filles ; car voici, aujourd’hui il vous a engendrés spirituellement ; car vous dites que votre cœur est changé par la foi en son nom ; c’est pourquoi, vous êtes nés de lui et êtes devenus ses fils et ses filles" 

I love this scripture. We need to grow our faith, so that we can learn. We can't expect any blessings if we are not acting in faith. Cortez was a great example of this. There are many other prophets the scriptures who acted in faith, leaving no way to return. Lehi had to leave Jerusalem with his family forever, and give their lives to the lord. And when Nephi had to go back a third time to get the plates, can you imagine how much faith that took? His brothers were all ready to quit and go home, but the angel that appeared to him told him that the Lord would deliver the plates to him. The Lord never breaks his promises. Nephi is a great example. 

It is clear that acting in faith is never easy. While this is true, it is necessary to show god that we love him. If everything was easy, how do we learn? Believe me, sometimes there is nothing i want to do more than to be at home with my family and not complete this mission. This mission is full of hard things. But I have seen the Lord bless me more than anything before. I know that being out here is helping my family more than being there. Faith is also the best blessing for us. I promise that as you choose the right, even when its hard, those choices will come easier over time. Your faith will grow. 

Now, how do we strengthen our faith? It always comes back to the small and simple things. The lord loves effort. That effort starts with praying, reading the scriptures, and trying to strengthen our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That is how we find the joy in everyday, AND how we see our own potential. We all have the power to be like Cortez in our lives. You are never too far from the light of Christ. His hand is always extended out to you. 

This last week, I was struggling with the life of a missionary. I had a hard time getting the motivation to do things, and I felt too disconnected from Jesus Christ, and a little too connected to home. Thankfully, in my meeting with my mission president, he reminded me that I need to work every day to give my all to strengthening my relationship with Christ. Since I started doing that, everything has become easier. I've destroyed my boats! President Eyring gave us a great promise. He said, "que nous comprenons et croyons que notre Père céleste entend chacune de nos prières, et que nous nous efforçons d’obéir aux commandements, notre capacité de recevoir la révélation continue grandit. Le Saint-Esprit peut être notre compagnon constant. Nous conserverons une sensation de lumière, même quand le monde qui nous entoure s’enténèbre." (As we understand and believe that our Heavenly Father hears our every prayer, and as we strive to obey the commandments, our capacity to receive ongoing revelation grows. The Holy Spirit can be our constant companion. We will retain a sense of light, even when the world around us grows dark.)  I have seen my faith grow, and my life get better when I act in faith. The Lord loves effort. I know that we have everything we need here on this earth to return to our Heavenly Father. If we destroy our boats like Cortez, we will see the lord give us the blessings. 

We had a great call with Jonah this week.  Caitlyn joined from her apartment.  Hallee and Wyatt talked for a bit and then they went to bed.  Jonah started sharing some thoughts on the Book of Mormon and things he has been learning and then we all shared some thoughts.  We talked about how we can have peace and joy no matter what is going on in or lives.  Jonah talked about President Nelsons talk, "Joy and Spiritual Survival." I have been reading that talk a lot over the years as we have been going through hard things like job loss and losing my mom to Alzheimer's.   It was nice to have that discussion with our kids.  I heard something this week that helped me, a lot of the time we think our prayers will be answered by alleviating our discomfort and making us comfortable, but more often than not we are just given strength through Christ to persevere.  The thing we are all learning is we can have peace in the middle of our trials, not just when they are over.