Find the '1'

Mission Leader Council at the Mission Home
February 5, 2016
Antwerpen Zone:  Sisters Remich & Dobbler, Elders Lott & Reese
picture from Mission Blog

Full Group at Mission Leader Council
February 5, 2016
Elder Lott is third from the right, in the red and black stripped tie
picture from Mission Blog

Dag Iedereen!

Wow, what a fun week.  A week that took me to all kinds of places, and let me see miracles that maybe seem coincidental, but I know better.  Those kind of things are always the hand of God. That's what I want to share this week.  That is that God is truly working and trying to help us in our lives, and sometimes if we are not careful we might let the noise of the world drown out what truly are faith building experiences.  So with that I'd like to share a few 'small' miracles from this week.  None of these miracles are striking unique in the life of a missionary, or in the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ for that matter, but they are none the less miracles, and prove to me that God is still a god of miracles, and will be forever and ever, and that He works according to the faith of those who believe in Him. (Mormon 9:19 shout out!)   

Thy Kingdom Come
Neil L. Andersen
April 2015 General Conference

First miracle may seem small, but still very much a miracle.  I was on exchange away from my own area with one of the companionships in our zone, and we were sitting on a bus having a heart to heart talk, when all of the sudden I get the impression, 'talk to the bus driver, ask him where your stop is'.  I think, ok, I can do that.  So I go up, and as I ask him, he laughs at me and says that we passed it ages ago.  So we ask to get out at the next stop, (which was in the middle of nowhere, but a very pretty place, the Belgian countryside is gorgeous!) we get out, and crazy enough the same bus going the other way is pulling up, so we run across the street, and catch the bus.  A bus that comes only every 2 hours, and because we caught it we were able to be on time to a dinner appointment where the member gave them some referrals of people to look up.  

Second miracle: right now we are in the middle of looking up referals from a Facebook campaign the mission is doing right now.  (People order a DVD having to do with Easter, then we go and follow up, try and give a short explanation, tie it to the restoration and set up a teaching appointment)  This campaign has taken us everywhere!  For the ones our ward got, we gave all the ones inside Antwerpen to the other Elders and Sisters because they don't have a car to get out into all the tiny dorps (towns) in our area.  So we've been going all over, seeing some of the most classic and beautiful parts of North Belgium.  One even took us into a group of houses that was in a forest.  Dirt road, cabin, and everything!  And because we did it at night it was so dark I couldn't even take a picture, the flash wasn't enough, it reminded me of home, and how bad I want to go camping, and not be suffocated by having people surrounding you on every side 24 hours a day.  But that can wait, I'm on the Lords Errand and that is far more rewarding.  Still though, I can count the number of times I have gone somewhere 'offroad' on my mission, 5.  I'll tell the other stories another time.  

Hallerbos Forest, Belgium's Blue Forest
picture from acmphotography.com

Where was I?  Ah yeah, miracles from these referals.  Well, the one out in the forest invited us in and wanted us to teach them about the church.  The rest we have looked up were almost all not positive, but we were able to find people around them who are prepared to receive the gospel.  One of these people is a Belgian lady named Nxx who Elder Reese found while on exchanges, and whom we went back and taught on Sunday.  She has had a rough life to say the least, but she is so prepared to receive the gospel, and I really feel like the testimonies of myself and Elder Reese are the ones she needs to hear to help her look to the Savior and enter into His grace.  Looking her up was a miracle in and of itself, seeing as we came right as she was pulling into her driveway, and otherwise she would have started working on projects and been too busy to meet or she wouldn't have been home.  These are just a few examples of some everyday miracles I have seen this week.  Love you all!  Hope you have a good week!

Love you all!

Elder Hayden Lott

Question of the week:  Do Belgian bakeries sell varieties of sweet pastries, or only breads?

Answer:  Belgian bakeries do have a variety of sweet pastries as well as breads.  Although specifics vary from bakery to bakery, some classics include chocolate filled croissants, apple-flops, Worst-filled pastries, and the list goes on.  One of my favorite ones to get though is a pastry filled with a skinned and cored, yet whole apple. (So it is about the size of your fist)  Then they fill the middle of the cored apple with either chocolate or jelly or something.  I've only seen that at one bakery though so I'm pretty sure it's not classic Belgium, but still super good!

Belgian Croissants
picture from Google

Belgian Pastries
picture from Google