#Greenie

Goede dag! I am officially in Europe and have been assigned to the Antwerp, Belgium area. My new companion and trainer is Sister Jones from Lindon, Utah. She has been out for about a year now. She is incredible and helping me so much. She is the Zone Sister-Training leader so we have been working with the Zone Leaders (who also live in Antwerp) a lot since being here. Alright well I'll get right into it... Our apartment is in Durne, a small subtown of Antwerp and it is right above a pizzeria. It is actually the same apartment one of my MTC teachers, Sister Juchua lived at one point. She was incredible!! We ride the trams and buses all the time. I will be getting a bike on Thursday and once I do we will bike more. There are all sorts of strikes going on here in Belgium so things have been closing for the day. Had my first lesson the first night I was here with a progressing investigator (the elders were with us) named Tom. We are handing him off the the Elders because that will be better for him. But he asked me to say the opening prayer and it wasn't too bad. That was the most talking I did for the whole lesson. SO since I'm in Belgium, the language is Flemish, a dialect of Dutch. So Tom was speaking and he was throwing French words out there and I was just so lost. So I will be learning Flemish while working on my Dutch. Oh boy... pray for the gift of tongues! Saturday night we had our first dinner appointment with a member. Arman and his family. The Netherlands and Belgium is the TRUE melting pot of the world. There are people and cultures from every country!! Arman and his family is from Africa, his wife only speaks french and he speaks English, Dutch, and French. He served with the Holland Army in Afghanistan and talked so much about that. So our dinner was an African feast and boy was it lekker!! That night was a sweet experience in their home with all six Antwerp missionaries. Oh yeah, so there are six of us here in Antwerp because it is so big. Us the sisters, and two sets of Elders. One set is the Zone Leaders. My first Sunday was hectic. The ward is great and so welcoming but I didn't understand much. Relief Society was crazy... and the Dutch are straight tell you how it is kind of people so it was interesting. Sunday School (investigators class) went right over my head. Sacrament however was beautiful! It was the primary program, so I wasnt called on to go up and introduce myself. Maybe next week but if not thats okay. Maar the primary program was beautiful and listening to the kids sing primary songs in dutch brought a little bit of water works. Oh! So Friday I went on my first exchange back up in Den Haag, Netherland. There was a Zone Leaders council so all the ZL's and STL's in the mission had to meet at the mission home. Which is my companion so I had to go up and exchange with Sister Huber who came in with me. So two greenie's with a phone and a map in a new city were told to go to work. Oh boy.. on the bright side there was a scheduled appointment so I borrowed a bike and we biked in the pouring rain for 45 minutes to get to Laura's house. I was soaked and freezing! But the lesson went great!! Then biked the 45 minutes back. Ate lunch and then was out the door again to go contacting. We were in Spui Centraal and in the rain walking around approaching people. We did it all in Dutch and stopped a few people. Handed out some mormon.org cards so it was a somewhat successful night. For two greenies we did pretty good. Just crazy to be here and I still can't believe that this is real life. But I love it! It is freezing but worth it. I hope all is well with everyone. Y'all are in my prayers and thoughts. I know I'm leaving a lot out but I don't have the time to say all of it! I love you! Tot Maandag, Zuster Young

Getting 1st area assignments.

Arriving in the Antwerp Centraal Train Station that night!

First companion and trainer, Sister Jones.