First Talk

Hey all!

So before I go too far I'm going to leave a little cliff hanger... transfers are next week and not this week so I won't know until next week where I will be, either staying here in Leuven or somewhere else.  Sorry for those of you who had maybe been expecting news either way this week.

This week has been really good though.  I had the chance this week to give my first talk in sacrament meeting on my mission.  I talked about the importance of teaching simply, with a lot of the thoughts I had in my letter from one of the weeks in the recent past I've sent.  I based it mostly around Jacob 4:13.  That went pretty good, I guess.  I'm super grateful for the opportunity I had before my mission to give a talk in stake conference because public speaking doesn't really scare me anymore.  What was kind of scary was the giving it in another language part, that just kind of adds another factor. Plus the Bishop asked me to double the length of my talk like 5 minutes before I gave it... great, but it all worked out in the end and I felt the spirit so all is well!

We had a cool experience this week of giving a Preach My Gospel Training to members of the Genk ward on Saturday. That was super fun, and I would invite all who are reading this to study Preach My Gospel.  It really is amazing how much and what a broad range of things it can teach and help with.  It is mostly written to help the user become personally converted, and better able to convey the gospel of Jesus Christ, thus helping all of us, not just the missionaries!

Preach My Gospel

We had a ton of cool lessons this past week, with the coolest being with a super cool young Ghanian guy named Wxxx.  He is pretty religous, and has really studied the Bible pretty well and had some remarkable experiences in his life that have prepared him for meeting with us.  What made it even more impressive to us on how much he knows and how prepared he is, is that he is almost as young as us! He's only 20 years old!  When we first went to have a lesson with him I was a little wary that it would turn into a Bible bash and we would just have to testify and leave. But he seems to really have found a lot of truth on his own, most of what he believes is actually what we believe!  The spirit was super strong during most of the lesson and at the end he seemed to really being feeling that he should check this out, read the Book of Mormon and find out if this is the truth or not.  Ah! So cool.

We are looking forward to having a really good week this next week, and I am really excited for whoever gets to be here next transfer, either me or whoever else.

I know that the church is true and that it is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth today.  We are that light which was spoken of and I know that as we put ourselves forward, place ourselves 'on a hill' that is to say that we can all help wandering souls find the peace and hope that is found in the Gospel, that is found through Jesus Christ.

Finding Hope in Christ
Elder Johann A. Wondra
December 2002 Ensign

Love you guys!

-Elder Hayden L. Lott

Question of the Week:  Is cobblestone only in the walking/bike areas, or on the driving roads too?  Are only the old streets cobble, and new ones pavement, or is cobblestone everywhere?

Answer:  Cobblestone is kind of hit and miss.  It is only on old roads for the most part, with all new ones pretty much being paved.  It really is cool, and you really feel like you are in Europe when you are bouncing around on your bike driving over cobblestone while under the shadow of a giant church or something like that.  Side comment on that, there are so many churches in Leuven, its crazy! But also sad because there is almost never anyone in them.

ps Hey sorry no pictures again this week.  The 16 gb card is being dumb again, so there's about 300 picures on there that I guess you guys will have to just wait until I'm home or something.  They are definitely still there, you can see it on the camera still, it just won't show up on the computer.  I did clear my other card that does work though, so I'll go back to using that... pictures will be back next week :)