"Make sure you step on Satan's face on your way out the door." - Soeur Hosking

Pictures: Soeur Hafen,  back to Liege, an invincible summer, Soeur Hosking (matching dresses!!!!!)

This week was...exhausting, yet exhilarating at the same time. 

My body is so tired, but God is seriously carrying me through.  I saw miracles EVERY DAY this week.  He even gave me a companion who loves giving back massages!  He is with me every step of the way.  I feel Him next to me.

 "Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein weknow them; and they are truly manifest from heaven—" Doctrine and Covenants 123:13

But it is all worth it because I am "bringing to light all the hidden things."  There is nothing more important than this.  This was the best decision I ever made... to be a messenger.

This week I had two awesome exchanges.  The first was with Soeur Hafen.  She is from Michigan.  We saw incredible things together.  The best was when we taught this lady in the street and she accepted a Book of Mormon.  I noticed there were two people hanging around behind us...after we started to walk away, they approached us and asked us if we were lost.  The pointed us in the right direction and then just stood there...  They asked if we were preaching the word of Christ.  Turns out the Elders had found them a few months ago and promised to send the Soeurs... they never did.  They said, "we saw you over there and thought, those must be the Soeurs!"  So yeah, we have two new friends!  They let us into their home and we taught them a lesson and prayed with them!

 

Then I had my last exchange...with Soeur Hosking!!!!!!!  She was trained by the one and only Soeur Johns!  It was an incredible exchange!  We taught the Restoration to this girl named Nayolie.  She really felt the Spirit and asked great questions.   

Soeur Hosking should go into motivational speaking.  She is seriously inspiring.  She's the one who told me to "Make sure you step on Satan's face on your way out the door."(aka finish strong)  I really learned a lot from our exchange...  It just the perfect way to end my STL run.

THEN the best part,  I got to take her back to Liège!!!  It was so surreal to walk those streets and to ride the bus and see the apartment.  Everything was the same, yet so different.  I was just knocked over by a flood of memories and emotions... I realized that Liege was pretty much the same...but that I was different.  I can't believe how much I've changed... What a blessing.

Then the weekend.  All this running around this transfer with exchanges and what not finally caught up with us...Soeur Whisler and I both got really sick.  It hurt to walk, and everything got dizzy when we went outside.  But God helped us!  We tried our best to get the necessary rest, but we also tried to work.  And God just sent people to us... We even had a member's daughter tell us she is ready for baptism!

This sunday we had two amis at church.  One of which was muslim and we got to give her an Arabic Book of Mormon...so cool.  Also, I'm giving ANOTHER talk this next Sunday.  Two in the same transfer!

Well, it was another great week on the mission!

Talk to you soon:)

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

This week was crazy, as usual.  We kicked it off with zone conference.  The most I've ever done in a zone conference before was lead everyone in the mission song, but this last week Soeur Whisler and I gave a 40 minute formation about teaching with the scriptures, I gave my dying testimony (I was the only one too!) and then I played my violin for the musical number.  It all went really well, but man was I stressed right before!

Then I headed straight off to Villen d'Ascq for an exchange with Soeur Tane (a tahitien!)  Then the next day Soeur Bennion and I came up to Brussels for our exchange.  She is incredible.  We had a marvelous redhead exchange (yes she's a ginger too) together and really learned a lot from each other and met some cool people and taught lessons in the street...so awesome.

Then this weekend was pretty crazy... we did some service so we ended getting to wear jeans...it was so strange...haha.

But the best thing was today for p day the senior couple here took us to the gorgeous park to the site where Belgium was dedicated by Elder Holland.  It felt like the sacred grove.  It was these three giant stone in the middle of a clearing lead to by 12 paths...symbolic?  Then we read the dedicatory prayer together.  It was a really amazing moment.  It really helped me remember why I'm here and that what I'm doing really matters... And just the potential of the church here in Belgium...

Anyways I chose 2 Timothy 1:7 today because Soeur Whisler and I have been talking about fear lately.  And how if we have the gospel in our lives we have no need to fear.  Perfect love casteth out all fear.  We don't need to worry about our futures or if everything is really going to work out in the end.  God LOVES us and if we trust him and his plan, EVERYTHING will work together for our good... there isn't a more beautiful message than that.  And I have the pleasure and blessing to share that with everyone I meet, everyday...

Well everyone, I love you! Until next week!

"God is so good. God is so good."

This was maybe one of the craziest weeks on my mission.  Like Soeur Whisler says..."everyday like we are in a movie..."  But really, Brussels is absolutely nuts.  We just walk outside and the cameras start rolling.  If they made"The District: Brussels" it would definitely be interesting. 

This week started out with...going back to Arras!!!!!!!!  It was absolutely magical.  The train pulled in and I just led Soeur Whisler to my old apartment, where I had just lived for the last six months, rang the door bell and was greeted by a giant hug from my dear daughter Soeur Liabeuf!  Then I got to meet my Granddaughter, Soeur Rasband.  She is absolutely adorable.  She's from American Fork and she's already an amazing missionary.  Our exchange together was a dream.  The Lord blessed us with some crazy miracles.  I am just so grateful that I got an extra day as a missionary in my beloved Arras.

When I got there Soeur Liabeuf handed me a stack of books and said they were for me!  They were from Isabelle and Jean-Pierre.  They had even wrote me a touching dedication in the front.  I'm so excited to read them.  Then for dinner we went to the Engelen's home and, frère Engelen, who's from Bruxelles, told me all about how the quartier where the Soeurs live is dangerous...great.  Good thing we have special missionary protection.  Then the next day Soeur Rasband and I did some contacting and met a woman named Christine.  She started out pretty defensive, but quickly invited us in and we taught her and two of her friends!  She accepted a Book of Mormon and a return appointment.  Then we went to the Marechal's home and she had invited her neighbor over at the last minute.  She isn't believing at all, but her baby grandson is really really ill.  So we prayed for him.  The Spirit was really strong and she ended up agreeing to try and pray and even asked some questions that led to a discussion about the plan of salvation...It was amazing.  I am so happy that I was able to go back to Arras and spend the day with Soeur Rasband, she's soooo great.  So yeah, of course we took some 3 generation photos!

Then on Friday we had the baptism of Steve and Gabriel Kwenge!  I LOVE BAPTISMS.  This one was really really special.  Those two boys have just won my heart.  They have such a deep and sincere faith in Jesus Christ and they will do great things.  I am so happy to have been a part of all of this...  haha but it's been such a comedy of errors getting them to this point.  Their mom Patricia is always like at least an hour late to everything...including their baptism... and then to top it off the water was FREEZING.  Oh well, the spirit warmed them right up afterwards.

Sunday was full of miracles too!  We had our ami Anastasia show up to church...we didn't even know she was coming!  She LOVED it.  We had a little lesson with her afterwards and she prayed for like a good ten minutes, thanking God for leading us to each other.  She even called us 'prophetesses." haha.  AND we finally got Fujiko a Book of Mormon in Japanese!

Well, for those of you who know me well...you know that I talk in my sleep.  Soeur Whisler said that the night of the baptism I said in my sleep, "God is so good.  God is SO good."  And that came from the heart people.  God is really so good.  I love this gospel and I love my mission!  God loves us all, let's share this love with everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Brussels Hustle

So when I was serving in Liege, Soeur Johns and I were often in Brussels.  Whenever we came here we just felt like everything moved so fast.  Everyone running around through the metros, jumping on trams etc.  So I dubbed the fast-paced Brussels' way of life....The Brussels Hustle.

Well, it is still an acurate description of Brussels!  Life here is super fast, and the work is moving even faster!  With four equipes of missionaries we are always getting referrals from the Elders, meeting new faces at church every week, and finding new people almost every day.  Not to mention we are running around going on exchanges too!

This last week was super fast.  We started out with Week 2 District Meeting where Soeur Whistler and I gave a presentation.  We shared this video.  I absolutley love it!  Watch it!  THIS is why we do what we do.

The Hope of God's Light

Then we headed out to VALENCIENNES for our first exchange!  I got to be with Soeur Doyle.  She's only one transfer below me and is whitewash training.  It was an amazing exchange and I really learned a lot from her.  Her blue is super cute too!  She is so excited to do missionary work and it makes everyone else pumped too.

Here in Brussels we saw a lot of miracles.  We are preparing these two boys, Steve and Gab (12 and 10 years old) for baptism this next Friday.  They are AMAZING.  They are just zooming through the Book of Mormon and they understand and apply what we teach really quickly.  They are really a miracle.  Their mom, Patricia, just called us one day and asked if her boys could get baptized...(she's a less-active member).

Then, we've been working with this other family, the Pistaceci's.  They parents are inactive and their 9 year old daughter isn't baptized.  This last week we went over and watched "Finding Faith in Christ."  Sophia, the daughter, got really really quiet...I don't think I'll ever forget the look on her face...or on her father's.  The spirit was really strong, I felt like all of us were just surrounded in the loving arms of our Heavenly Father.  Afterwards they agreed to come to church and Anders (the father), told us he'd like Sophia to get baptized:)

Then we met this lady named Anastasia.  We taught her the first lesson and it was incredible.  She is so prepared, she kept saying how "curious" she was and how she was going to pray and read the Book of Mormon.  She's from Rwanda, just like Gigh!

Then on Sunday, I was asked to give a talk.  I talked about hope...I've really been studying that this week and it's been really interesting.  I don't have a lot of time to talk about it, maybe next week.  Yesterday was the last Sunday in this building at Louise!  It was so sad watching everybody carrying out books and manuals and taking last pictures... but the church here is on to bigger and better things!  As our leader said yesterday, "we are living a miracle."

Well, sadly that's all the time I have...you know, the Brussels hustle and all!  I'll talk to you next week!

Also, if you want to send me any letters, my new address is

Les Missionaires, Soeur Hilton

118 Avenue Henri Jaspar box 17

1060 Saint Gilles

Belgium