Elder Müller in the Belgium/Netherlands Mission: Week 23: #Poopmouth Initiative

"If you take my place, then you can also take my handicap"

Elders Muller and Childs - Father and Son Reunited!

City Hall of Mortsel, Belgium - Where Elder Muller's Parents Were Married

March 2, 2015

This has been a week of miracles! It's probably been one of my best weeks on my mission. Shows how the Lord gives us hard times so we can appreciate the good times even more!

First #Poopmouth. So there is a problem in the mission. There are many Elders (and some Sisters) who like to use 'Utah' language. Such as, fetch. That's really the only word. Lots of missionaries say the word fetch. A lot. So this transfer in the city of Antwerpen, we started the #poopmouth initiative. Whenever someone drops the word fetch, we say poopmouth. It actually has helped a lot. So yeah, whenever you're gonna drop a word that your mother wouldn't be comfortable hearing, think of poopmouth. :)

Alright, Monday was awesome. We went to the Cathedral in Antwerpen with a lady from our ward, Sister Evans. It was a lot of fun, and I have pictures. :)

uesday was also an interesting day. I was assigned to do a musical number in Zone Conference this week, so we went to the church and I practiced a bit. Then we went and had a super member present lesson (A lesson with an investigator at a member's home). It was super cool. We read the story of Christ blessing the little children in the Book of Mormon. Pretty powerful stuff. We then had a dinner appointment with Familie Evans that night. Super fun stuff.

Wednesday we had an awesome day. We went on splits with the Zone Leaders, and I was with Elder Childs!!!! Father and Son reunited! It was so much fun. We took a train to Lier and worked there for a bit, and then took a bus to Nijlen to look up a HQ referral. (someone who entered their info on mormon.org and requested a Book of Mormon). It took us a bit to find where she lived, but when we knocked on the door she let us right in. She's a young mom of two super cute kids. Her ex husband was muslim, and so when she married him she converted. Now she's remarried to an atheist and is doing some soul searching. She still believes in Islam, but she doesn't 'practice' it. She has a friend from Turnhout who's is a recent convert, and so she decided to look us up. We taught her the first lesson, and it was awesome. Probably one of the most comfortable lessons I've had. She asked lot's of questions, but in a manner of wanting to learn, not trying to quiz us. It was super cool. We prayed for the first time with her. It was awesome. At first she didn't want to do it, but after we reviewed how to do it she gave one of the sweetest, humblest prayers ever. Super cool. We have an appointment with her this week.

Not only was that a miracle, but when we left her house and were walking to the bus stop, we had a miracle as well. Elder Childs and I were talking, and he was walking behind me. When I turned to say something to him, I saw our bus right behind us, so I started sprinting. The bus only came once an hour, and the bus stop was like 100 meters away from where we were. It was a miracle because the bus driver saw that we were running, and pulled over and waited for us. That NEVER happens.

That night we had dinner at Familie Staepels, the bishop, with mensen 6 (all the missionaries in Antwerpen) It was super fun. When there are six missionaries in one room, it's pretty hard not to have fun. Especially when one of them is Elder Childs.

Thursday was Zone Conference. It was super cool. President talked to us about applying the Atonement in our lives. Here are a couple notes I took.

God knows more about you than Google does... Which is pretty impressive...

If it's fun, it's sinful (he was joking, President is a super funny guy).

The cycle of sin can be broken by breaking the Atonement down into daily events, instead of a lifetime view.

Set daily commitments with God through prayer.

Make the Atonement alive in your life.

Do not pray to have your circumstances changed, pray for the strength to change your circumstances. -David A. Bednar (it's in this month's Liahona)

We also got to watch Meet the Mormons (FINALLY!!!!) It was super cool. I got to see Elder Matos again as well!

That night we looked up a less active family and had another miracle. We had never spoken to these people before, but we decided to look them up. When we got there, they let us in and we talked for a little bit. Suddenly the mother and one of the sons asked to talk to us in private. He had been having some trouble with drugs, and the day before, he had almost overdosed. He had a 'moment of awakening' (his words) and he suddenly felt like he needed to change his life. He feels like there is something missing in his life, and wanted our help.

NOTHING IS AN ACCIDENT! That happened the DAY before we randomly showed up at their house. There are no coincidences when it comes to the work of God.

Friday we had a busy day. Our first appointment got cancelled, so we knocked some doors for a bit. Our second appointment was pretty good. It was with a guy named Gerold, from Suriname. We talked about the Apostasy. Then we had a lesson with a guy from Russia named Yury. He barely speaks any Dutch or English, but we brought a member along, so it was good.

That night we practiced for a talent show that the ward had on Zaterdag. We sang a Disney mashup I made. Hopefully we'll get the video to you guys.

Saturday we practiced and did the talent show, it was awesome.

Sunday we had church and taught a super cool lesson with a member.

It was this really nice Iranian business man named Amen. When we asked him how we could help him, he told us that he thinks that "we are the way". So that was sick. Then the lesson got worse. It ended in him telling us that he was Jesus, and Buddha, and that if he joined the church he would die at age 39 because that's how old Joseph Smith was when he was murdered. Yeah. He was legit crazy. Still fun though!

We had dinner at Familie Schiltz and waited for transfer calls. So I'm getting a new comp. Elder Pugh (like church pew). Sister Jones is also leaving, everyone else is staying. Fun!

Well, that's it for now. I'm out of time. I took like a 100 pictures, so have fun!

Love you all!

Elder Muller