Week 9: "YOU ARE DIRTY ANIMALS!!!!"

Christmas (Kerstmis) Market

So yeah, that's a story for later. 

I really don't have much time, so I'll share a couple stories but that's it!!!

First off, Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!! We had a Zone-Pday in Antwerpen to celebrate today.

This week we have Zone Conference, so it's going to go by FAST!!!! Tomorrow we travel to Nederland for two days. Should be cool. 

So we went to Oostende this week to contact this semi less active family. The mom is from Sierra Leone and is super cool. She has four kids, and the ward really misses them. We need young blood! Anyway, she made us a LEKKER (delicious!) dinner. Spicy rice with spicy chicken and salad. SOOOO GOOOD!!!! I LOVE AFRICANS!!!! They are so awesome. We taught them a quick lesson and then left because it's an hour bus ride home!

So dirty animals..... 

We contacted (talked with) a guy, and we were having a great conversation about what we believe. He asked us a ton of questions about faith and Jesus Christ and talked about when he was younger. He wanted to be Christian, but never really figured it out. There was this elderly lady just standing next to us, not part of the contact, just listening the whole time. He asked us if we believe in the devil, and we said yes. He pointed at the old lady and whispered "She is the devil". I don't know how she heard him but she just started yelling at us in German. He told her that this was Belgium, we speak Vlaams (Flemish-dialect of Dutch) here. So she started speaking in Dutch. She was calling this guy a "woman", "animal", etc. She told us to come inside this house we were standing outside of and look. We don't know at what, but we didn't want to because she was SCARY!  Elder Childs was just like, we only speak English, and she switched to English 'Perfect I only speak English too' it was freaky, she was speaking in tongues. She called us cowards because we wouldn't go inside and then spit on the guy we were talking to, and at us. "You are cowards!!!" "You are women, like him!!! Come inside, come inside." That's what she kept saying. Elder Childs tried to say he only spoke Spanish, and she was like, 'IK BEN GEEN ESPANOL!' (Flemish for "I am not a Spaniard!") We asked the guy if she lived there (She was still yelling at us) and she was like HOW DARE YOU ASK HIM!!! HOW DARE ASK YOU!!! He is an animal. Come inside, come inside. We tried to bear testimony that he is a child of God, and that God loves everyone. He was a really nice guy. She just kept yelling at us so we walked away, and he went into his house. 

We turned the corner and looked back around. She saw us and started chasing us down the street. It was weird!!!! The mission is so crazy!!!!!

Anyway, we had a great lesson with our investigator Martine this week. She's super cool and devoted to her Catholic religion, but she's reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. 

We had a really cool thing happen on Sunday! A Sister missionary who had just finished her mission in Portugal (not even released yet) and her parents visited church. It was super cool.

Anyway I have NO time, so quick spiritual thought. From Elder Holland: Sometimes we wonder why life is hard, why is the mission hard? The Church is true right? Why don't people just flock to join? Why isn't the only difficult part of the mission avoiding pneumonia from being in the baptismal font all day?

I am convinced that it is because SALVATION IS NOT A CHEAP EXPERIENCE!

Me and Elder Childs love this talk, and I will talk more about it next week! Maar (But) think about this for a bit :)

Tot volgende week! (Until Next Week!)

  

Elder Muller 

Ice Skating Rink in Market Square of Brugge
(We used to visit there at Christmas!  Elder Muller is so blessed!)

Ice Skating Rink in Market Square in Brugge

Oostende, Belgium

This is Elder Muller taunting his family!  His caption he wrote was... "Do you know what this is?" 'DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS?!?!?!?"  "A mammoet!!!" This is one of our favorite "sausage meats" to eat with an order of Belgian Fries at a Frituur Shop!  (That would be the world famous Belgian Fries at a local Fry Shop!!) This is all we talked about before he left!! We all wanted one of these!

*I am sorry for the pictures being sideways! I don't know how to flip them!

**I also have to figure out why when I post this it changes the text of makes it line up funny and has white framing around some sentences!  I'm still learning!!

Week 8: Wow this week has been CRAZY!!

Elder Muller & Elder Childs in the Trenches Together!

Wow this week has been CRAZY!!!!

Actually not really, but I wanted to get you all pumped up. :)

It has been really cool though. On Tuesday, we had district meeting. We slept over in Ghent because we didn't have enough money to get back to Brugge the night before (we were waiting on reimbursements). It was really cool. The only sad thing was that the Ghent Zusters were on exchanges so they couldn't make it. That morning the District Leaders got a phone call from President saying that he and Zuster Robinson were going to be there. Kinda put the pressure on! 

As I said last week, we wanted to go to Ieper that day, but we were kind of afraid to ask President, because it would essentially give us a second P-Day. 

Elder Lindstrom (from Kortrijk) got up the guts to ask him, and he and Sister Robinson just started laughing really hard. "Of course you can go, that's where we're headed right after this."

So yeah, we got to go to Ieper with President. It was really cool because they were honoring the 100th anniversary of the start of the Eerste Wereld Oorlog. (WW I)

We got to go to several trench monuments and stuff, it was really cool. Sadly I don't have a camera, but I uploaded a few from Elder Childs, and I want to get some from Elder Lindstrom as well. 

We stayed that night in Ghent again because by the time we got home, we would have missed the last bus to our apartment. (It's too far to walk) So we had a slumber party two nights in a row. 

On Friday we went to Oostende (an hour bus ride) and tried to meet with some Less Actives and a Potential Investigator. We didn't have any luck with that, both of them weren't home. We did go to the beach while we were there, so there are some pics of us there. Not nearly as warm as a Florida beach :)  

So Brugge is so cool. They just set up the ice rink in the Markt, and are working on the Kerstmis Markt. It's going to be legit. Too legit. 

Sunday was really cool. We had a really good church service. I'm starting to understand more of what's being taught, so that's pretty cool. Afterwards, we visited a less active that contacted us. It was pretty crazy. He's gone through a lot the past year or so, so we're going to try to help him get back on the right track. 

Today was an awesome P-Day. We went to Ghent and toured the Castle there. It was pretty funny, as soon as we got there I remembered that Hillary and I had already visited it before. Last time we left cause there was a bunch of obnoxious school kids haha. It was a lot of fun. Almost all the missionaries in Belgium came. I got to see a sister from my MTC district, Zuster Mashburn so that was cool. We both miss our MTC district a ton! It's really hard going from being with a whole bunch of missionaries to just you and your companion. It gets lonely sometimes. Luckily, Elder Childs makes up for it with his big personality!

Well that's about it. I guess I should share a spiritual message. 

I've started reading the Book of Mormon again, both in English and in Nederlands. I would encourage all of you to read the first two chapters in 1 Nephi, and really apply some of what happens to Lehi's family, but more especially, the promises and blessings that the Lord gives to Nephi. I think that we often forget that in those first two chapters, the Lord VISITS Nephi. 

1 Nephi 2:16 

16 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers.

Anyway, there's your homework. I promise as an authorized representative of Jesus Christ, that if you do what Nephi did, and live as he lived, that you will receive the same blessings and promises the Lord gave him. The scriptures are for US. Apply them to yourself!

Tot Volgende Week!!!

Elder Muller

Extra notes from a family email from Elder Muller:  He would love handwritten letters.  Emails are obviously faster, but it is nice for him to get a letter at this apartment.  If you do send him a letter, please include your email address so that maybe he can answer you that way. I don't know how easy it will be for him to get to a post office to return a letter. That is my suggestion, not his!

His apartment address for now is:

Elder Bryan  Muller

Sint Petersmolenstraat 204

Bus 201,

8000 Brugge 

Belgie (Belgium)

If you want to send him some thing bigger than a letter envelope, then it has to be sent to the mission address which is on the front of the blog. The post office in Belgium does not leave packages at apartments, and that creates problems for missionaries to try and find the post office and make time to get there.

Elder Muller fast asleep--second day in Belgium! (Thanks Elder Childs!)

Elder Muller and  President and Sister Robinson in Ieper, Belgium

A Beautiful Picture of Brugge (taken by Elder Childs)

The Belgian Coast!

A Chilly Day at the North Sea!

Having Some Fun!

More Fun!

Chillin at a Castle in Ghent

Beautiful Countryside in Belgium

WWI Bunkers in Ieper, Belgium

Monument in Ieper, Belgium

The Last Post in Ieper, Belgium

Elder Muller Preaching the Word!

Musings of a Missionary Mama: What week is this? Oh I know, it is a HARD week!

Hello Family and Friends,

I haven't posted any of my "musings" here for awhile.  I guess I just haven't had the strength to bare my soul for awhile!  Because that is what it feels like. Sometimes I think maybe I wasn't meant to be a missionary mama!  I keep waiting for it to get easier!  Sure, outwardly to the world I can talk about it now without crying, but that doesn't mean my heart still isn't weeping from missing my son, or that I don't hide in a closet to let the tears flow! And I can't stop looking at the clock to figure out what he might be doing at that exact time in Belgium. I am sure this is what every mother of a missionary does!  I don't seem to get anything else done. I wonder when that stops!

I was so thrilled when I heard where Bryan would be serving his first few months in the mission. Brugge is a beautiful city in Belgium. My second favorite Belgian city next to Antwerpen. We have several European tapestries hanging in our home, and two of my favorite are of the cities of Brugge and Antwerpen! Brugge is a major tourist area and so beautiful. It is on the North Sea Coast. They call it the Venice of the North because of all the canals that run through it. Brother Muller used to take many of our visitors there and give tours around the city....and we used to always find tourists following us around listening to his tours in English! It was quite funny. So Elder Muller has been there many times. The city will be spectacular during the Christmas season with the Christmas markets being set up, and the lights and music...and smells of food! Oh, if only I could be there!

Here is a map of Belgium so that you can get an idea of where Elder Muller is, and just how big his proselyting area is:



He is in Brugge and his area covers all of Brugge, Oostende and everything else north and west of Kortrijk.  Crazy big! To get to Oostende takes an hour by bus!
His District Leaders live in Ghent.  The District Leaders are the two Elders who oversee several companionships of Elders and Sisters in a given area. They then report to Zone Leaders who live in Angwerpen.

For Preparation Days, Elder Muller and Elder Childs travel to Ghent to be with the missionaries in their District. It gives them a chance to be with other missionaries and have some fun. It gets lonely being with only one companion 24/7!

Hopefully this helps to give a visual as to the area that Elder Muller is working in.

For whatever reason, the last week has been difficult.  I think it started with my son, Jeremy, playing some of Bryan's old Christmas arrangements....just brought back the memory of Bryan sitting at our piano practicing this piece to perform in Sacrament for Christmas.  Silly, right? Jeremy performs it beautifully, so that is another tender mercy from Heavenly Father...I can still listen to beautiful piano being played in my home! All five of my children play beautifully.

I realize in my post about tender mercies I have had with Elder Muller's mission, I neglected to mention the first and most amazing one!  The fact that Elder Muller was called home to the Belgian/Netherlands mission is an amazing tender mercy.  The Lord is responsible for this call to serve, not Bryan!  Our missionaries do not request to be sent some where in the world. It is a spiritual experience for our leaders of the Church to place these young men and woman in their missions. It is done with much prayer and promptings for the Holy Ghost to tell them where the missionary should serve. So for Bryan to be sent to his homeland of Belgium, was indeed a great tender mercy for our family. He is going back to the land where he was born, where his family and ancestors are from, and most importantly, where our family found the gospel! It is in Brussels, Belgium where we were baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on December 12, 1998. We were taught by Elders and Sisters from the same mission! Amazing!! It has changed our lives so much...for the better!

The other tender mercy of this mission call is that I know where my son is!  I know the streets he is walking. I know the language he is speaking. I know the food he is eating! That is an amazing blessing to me. Heavenly Father understood how hard this would be for me, and he gave me these comforts for the next two years. 

Let me share another reason that my son is serving, along with 88,000 other young men and women of our Church...did you ever stop to think why so many young people would put their lives on hold for 18 to 24 months....when I say on hold, I mean on hold. They leave their families, they leave their friends, they leave their studies at universities, or they leave jobs that they have had, they leave their phones, their computers, they leave any connection to the life they had been living. They and their families sacrifice financially to send these young stalwart adults into the mission field.  There must be something important that they want to share with the world, or why else would they sacrifice so much?

It starts with the belief that God is YOUR loving Heavenly Father.  He is your Father in Heaven. He knows you personally and loves you more than you can possibly comprehend. He wants you to be happy in this life and in eternity. To accomplish this purpose, He provided a plan called the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Son of God; His life and teachings are the guide to peace in this life and joy in eternity. The gospel is Heavenly Father's plan to help us have peace in this life and joy in eternity. The gospel is centered on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and requires us to have faith in Him, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy  Ghost, and endure to the end.

The Atonement is the event that enables us to be reconciled to God. To atone is to suffer the penalty for sin, thereby removing the effects of sin from repentant sinners. Jesus Christ was the only one capable of making a perfect Atonement for all mankind. His Atonement included His suffering for our sins, the shedding of His blood, and His death and Resurrection. Because of the Atonement, everyone who has lived will be resurrected. The Atonement also provides us with a way to be forgiven of our sins and to live forever with God.

The gospel of Jesus Christ blesses all who accept and live it. One of the best places to teach and apply the gospel in in our families. God has established families to bring happiness to His children, to allow us to learn correct principles in a loving atmosphere, and to prepare us to return to Him after we die. Although family relationships can be challenging at times, our Heavenly Father blesses us as we strive to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. These teachings help us strengthen our families. *

*From the Church pamphlet "The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ"

This is a part of the message these young people want to share with people around the world.

One other question to answer....why am I a missionary mama and not a missionary mom?!  This is a cute question I have been asked. It is simply because my first three children were born in Belgium and started their young lives there. We lived the traditions of that country...including me maintaining my maiden name, and our children calling us Mama and Papa instead of Mom and Dad!  We kept that tradition going once we moved back to America! As my kids explain - I am their Mom but my name is Mama!! 

Until the next time....and if you have any questions you would like me to answer, please feel free to contact me at amylschaefer1210@gmail.com !

Week 7: My First Full Week as a Missionary in the Field!!!

Hello all!

This is going to be a short email, because I only have 13 minutes before this library closes, and it's not an American  keyboard, so pardon my typing mistakes!

So Brugge is awesome, and Elder Childs is awesome. He has his quirks (so do I) but we get along.

I went on two exchanges this week. They were both an adventure. (Exchanges are when Elders switch companions with another set of Elders.  They will do an overnight exchange, or maybe just a day exchange. It helps them to learn other ways of teaching, etc.)

The first one was with the ZL's (Zone Leaders...two Elders who are responsible for many different Elders and Sisters) and I had no idea where any of the places were that we were planning on going to visit. It was still fun though. We managed to find everything. The only thing that wasn't cool was my camera was lost/stolen. I will have to buy a new one. So no pics this week :'( I had it in my bag all day but when we got home, it was gone.

The next day we were supposed to exchange back, so we waited at the bus stop for 20 minutes with no buses. Our phone was locked out so we couldn't call anyone either. Turns out there was a huge strike so only a few buses were running. We eventually got to the station though so it turned out good. (People were striking due to austerity measures the new Belgian government is implementing, so of course, it affected public transporation!)

The second exchange was with the District Leaders, and I taught my first lesson in Dutch!!  (District Leaders are two Elders who are responsible for certain Elders and Sisters in their district area.)  It was to this cool lady named Martine. We taught the Restoration and talked about acting on answers to prayers. She is our only progressing investigator right now.

We had zone P-Day today, so we went to Antwerpen to play sports with the zone. (P-day is every Monday. This is the day the missionaries get to email home and write letters, do grocery shopping, their laundry and clean their apartments...and make time for some fun!)  We are sleeping over in Gent tonight because we don't have enough money to take the train to district meeting tomorrow which is in Gent.  It's also a holiday tomorrow (Veteran's Day) so we are going to Ypres. That should be cool. We're going to go see the World War I sites with some members and less actives (Less actives are members of the Church but may not be coming to church for various reasons.)

EDIT: So just as I was about to send this the computer shut down, so yeah. I now have an English keyboard so it should be a bit easier :) Still has to be quick though.

So Brugge is awesome. We have a really small branch, but we've been working hard to help it grow. We have some really cool investigators that are really interested. We are also working with some less actives to try to help them come back.

Something cool happened. There is a film student going to school in Brussels, but lives here in Brugge. He is studying Documentary Film Making and is thinking about making a documentary about our branch for school. He's still working on his idea, and we still need to talk to the church leaders, but it could be a good way to help the missionary work here.

Elder Childs says hi. He is soooooooooooo awesome. Best trainer ever. He's super funny, but drops super awesome quotes all the time. I've started a quote book that I'm going to write quotes from all my companions in. Should be pretty cool.

Anyway, I don't have much time, so till next week!

Elder Muller

(Since Bryan didn't have any pictures to share with this letter, I am going to include some from his last letter that haven't been posted yet.)

Changing trains in Antwerpen Centraal!!

Riding the train to Belgium with Elder Childs.  You can see Elder Muller in the window!

Beautiful Brugge

A beautiful way to see Brugge...tourist boat!

A favorite child show!  Our family saw them live way back when the kids were small!!

Hallway in apartment

Sleeping Area

Study Area

Beautiful Brugge!

Elder Muller in Brugge

The canal in Brugge

Living room, planning area in the apartment

Kitchen - looks pretty good!

Brugge by night

Ahhh!  Real Belgian chocolate spread!

Brugge

Brugge

Brugge - Elder Muller is so lucky!

Elder Childs dong missionary work at night!

Beautiful Fall weather in Brugge

Brugge at night

Week 6: I'm in Brugge!!

My District Before Leaving the MTC

That's right! My first area here in the Belgium Netherlands mission is in Brugge!!!!! More on that later....

So, what a crazy week and a half. So much has happened, I don't even know where to start. I guess with the MTC.

So the last couple of days in the MTC were pretty tough. My companion Elder Matos had knee surgery, so Elder da Silva and I had to take turns taking care of him. It wasn't hard, but it threw a wrench in our schedule. 

Elder Matos

Coolest District Evah!!

Something really cool happened while we were waiting for Elder Matos in the hospital. Elder da Silva and I were reading our scriptures together, when this lady come up to us and was like, "Are you reading the Book of Mormon, or the Bible?" and we were like, "the Book of Mormon", and she was like "Why? (Really confrontational) why always the Book of Mormon? Why never the Bible? The Bible is God's love letter to us" etc. So we explained that the Book of Mormon is supposed to support the Bible, not replace it and that we do read and study it. She went away for a couple of minutes, and so Elder da Silva and I talked about a scripture to share. We both felt prompted to share a scripture in Matthew 5 that talks about the light upon the hill and letting it shine forth. 

When she came back, she was still confrontational, so we shared the scripture, and her attitude completely changed. She broke down in front of us, and started telling us her life story, and how she had always tried to live her faith, but she had lost it and now was trying to get it back. We were able to share the first part of the first lesson with her, God is our Loving Heavenly Father. That seemed to comfort her. We ended up talking about God's love, faith, and Jesus Christ for about and hour with her in the waiting room. We mostly just bared our testimonies to her.  It was awesome. The greatest part was at the end. She looked us both straight in the eye and said, "I will never forget you two. Thank you so much." Elder da Silva and I both just about lost it right there. The fact that the Spirit was so strong in a hospital waiting room just goes to show that it doesn't matter where you are, people can always be taught. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm serving a mission. 

Anyway, so after that Spiritual pumped experience, we went in to see Elder Matos. We stepped into the room (he was just waking up from anesthesia) and he looked at us and was like "Are you angels?". We laughed soooo hard. Elder Matos is normally very reserved, so it was really funny to see him so loopy. He said a ton of funny stuff. 

Last Gym Day - Mustache Thursday!

Shaniqua

Shaniqua

So some thing else pretty  funny happened: Shaniqua. 

We came in from class one night, and there  was a mannequin head in Elder Hunter's bed.

It really freaked him out, cause it's pretty scary looking. We had a bunch of new Elders going to Norway and Sweden, so we decided to have some fun. We put Shaniqua on top of Elder Silva's head, and run into their room. That's what the pics are. 

One more day at the Provo Temple

Tripanionship of Destiny with their teacher, Brother Wells

Our Departure Ritual

Elder Muller and his teacher, Broeder (Brother) Wells

Our last day in the MTC was really hard (sad hard). We had a testimony meeting that night that really changed my life. Probably the strongest I have ever felt the Spirit in my life was that night. All of us Elders gave all of the Sisters blessings, and it was absolutely incredible. We all said things that we know did not come from us. They were things that the Sisters had been struggling with, or were worried about that they hadn't told anyone, but we were prompted to comfort them. The worst part was that we could only shake each other's hands!!! The Spirit was so strong, and we were all crying and just wanted to do a big group hug, but couldn't. It's times like that that I wish the rules were allowed to bend just a little. Oh well, they protect us, and I haven't had any problems with them so far. (Missionaries have many rules that are in place to keep them safe.  One such rule being that they should not have physical contact with members of the opposite gender.  So that is why after giving such spiritual blessings, the Elders were not allowed to give the Sisters hugs.  I will explain Priesthood Blessings in a separate post.)

The testimony meeting was absolutely incredible. We still had the Spirit from the blessings, so we were all just on a ridiculous Spiritual high. I can't even share much, because it was so personal. It changed my life, and my testimony.  

On the train to the Salt Lake City Airport

Look at all that luggage!

So travel to the mission. Pretty crazy. We took a train to the SLC airport (pictures of us in the album) and from there flew to Seattle. From Seattle we met up with another Elder going to our mission who had been waiting for his visa. Then came the 10 hour flight. OOOOOOOH BOY. I sat next to Elder Silva on both flights, which is funny, because I'm the tallest Elder, and he's the shortest. On the flight to Amsterdam, he was trying to get comfortable. He finally gave up, and tapped me on the shoulder. "Elder Muller, is it okay if I sleep on your shoulder?" I just laughed a little and said yeah. So he slept on my shoulder for 4 hours. 

On the second half of the flight we got to talking with the lady sitting across from us in the aisle. It all started because I went to the W/C. When I came back and sat down, she stopped me and showed me a picture she had taken of me and Elder Silva totally OUT! It was really funny, we both had the masks and ear plugs in and everything. That gave us the opening we needed, and we started talking to her. For the next two hours we talked about what we did as missionaries, etc. She was really interested, and wanted to read out of my Dutch Book of Mormon (She's from the Netherlands). She read the introduction, and we thought that was going to be it, but she was like, "Who's Moroni? And where can I read this scriptures?" SHE WANTED TO READ MORONI 10:4-5!!! GOLDEN!!!

We ended up giving her a digital copy of the Book of Mormon in Dutch (The MTC failed to give us Dutch BoM's to hand out). Pretty sick!!!!

Arriving in the Netherlands!  President and Sister Robinson are on the Right

Waiting for the train to Leiden, Netherlands (Mission Home)

Still waiting for the train -- Elder Muller looking pretty chill after the long travel to get there!

In conference room getting training!  Still wide awake from the overseas travel!

Opening their letters with first assignment!  Elder Muller waiting patiently in the back of the room for his!

Elder Muller opening his letter -- Brugge!!!  Are you kidding me!!  I LOVE IT!!!

Elder Muller meeting his trainer for the next 12 weeks:  Elder Childs

So after we landed we met President and Sister Robinson. They are sooo awesome! The AP's are really cool as well.(AP's are Assistants to the President.  They are Elders just like Elder Muller who have an assignment for part of their mission to work in the mission office reporting directly to the Mission President.)  Something funny, one of the Office Elders knows of me. Elder Evans. Apparently his parents know you, so yeah, he was expecting me. Pretty cool I guess. He's from Antwerp. (Elder Evans is the son of some friends of ours from when we lived in Mechelen, Belgium...which is where lived when we joined the Church!!)

We had tons of training and stuff, but within 3 hours of us landing, me and Elder Hunter this time went contacting with one of the office Elders. It was really scary, but really fun. We only did it for an hour or so, but we met some really cool people. We got 4 potential investigators!!! (not in our area, but still, not bad for being jet lagged and half asleep!)

So that night we found out where our first area would be, and who our trainers were. I of course am assigned to Brugge!!!! 

We got sent all over the place, which is sad. Most of the people in my district are in the Netherlands, but two Zusters, Mashburn and Hanson are in my zone in Belgium. It will be nice to see familiar faces. 

My trainer's name is Elder Childs. He's from Utah and is pretty awesome. I am still getting used to him though. I was so tight with Elder da Silva and Matos. We were like brothers. Elder Childs and I are really different, but so far we are working well together. He has a very American attitude, and I'm used to Europeans haha. He's a cool guy though. 

Our area covers all of Brugge, Oostende and everything else north and west of Kortrijk. It is absolutely HUGE! We have a small branch in Brugge with about 30 active members, but they are all really strong in the gospel, and cool people. 

We don't have a ton of investigators, but that's what we are here for! To build up the Branch! We've done a lot of contacting, and gotten some good potential investigators. We've only taught one lesson so far, the others have all fallen through. Next week we should have more though. 

The language is really hard haha. I was hoping it was going to be easier but that's not how a mission works. It's not supposed to be easy. There are a ton of different dialects here in Brugge because of all the tourists, so that makes it harder. I'm doing my best though! I haven't bought a bike yet because we just take the bus or train everywhere, so I don't really need it here. 

Anyway, I don't have much more time, but Brugge is awesome. The mission is really hard, but it's really worth it. I've only been out here for a couple days, and everyday is hard work, but I love it. There's nothing like coming home and feeling like you did a good job that day. Anyone who's on the fence about serving a mission, stop thinking about it, and just do it. It's worth it, trust me. 

Elder Muller's favorite Belgian food...horse meat!

Anyway, talk to you all next week!

Elder Muller

P.S. I met Elder Cooper, he's training Elder Hunter. Pretty cool guy.