Missionary Life

The four of them like to play games at night after working hard all day.  They like to play Catan. 

Napping is not safe around Jonah!

Finally some payback for all the sleeping pictures Jonah has taken, his companion got a picture of him sleeping.

They ate at the Macca's house with the birds again.

Elder Loosli and Elder Pelaez.  Elder Pelaez is from Bountiful.

Jonah added a video where he is eating dinner.

Then he ducks and you can see the bird sitting on his back.  He said the birds just fly around and sit on you and bite you.

Here they are walking back from the store. 

He said one of the members took this when they were there for dinner.

Jonah wrote, "My favorite picture thus far" on this picture. 

They always stop for waffles!

Jonah added a video of them running in Paris.  On this picture he said, "calm lil courir in Paris."

They went into Paris this week for exchanges. 

Here they are with Elder Trogar, one of the AP's. 

If you look you can see Elder Pelaez has gloves on.  Jonah added a video of them putting on gloves to eat these massive, messy burgers. 

Then he posted a video of his messy face and said, "the gloves keep you clean" and laughed. 

He added this picture of a parade with these giant things he said, "those things are so scary."

Here they are in the elevator on the way up to the Patrick's apartment.

Jonah said this picture captures Elder Jones and Elder Pelaez.

Cheffing it up.  They made a good pasta dinner.

They took this picture after they found 29 friends!  They stayed in the train station for 3 1/2 hours to try and meet their zone goal for finding.  They met their goals this week.

Jonah loves Patrick.  He is so good to them.  Here they are at his apartment eating a spaghetti dinner that he made them. 

Jonah wrote, "Not the chocolat chaud."  Elder Zeedik commented, "those who know."  I asked Jonah about it and he said it's a mission story and if you know you know and I don't know so he can't tell me.

Wyatt loves talking to Jonah every week.

Jonah was giving Wyatt pointers on face offs for Lacrosse. 

Here are Jonah's own words in an email he sent to Matt this week, "The work here in Belgium is weird, I can't lie! Our ward is hard because it's on the outskirts of the town and either nobody wants to make the trip, or they live closer to the other church that's here in this city.  It's frustrating! We found 56 friends this last week and had 2 at church.  It's demoralizing but we know we're doing all we can. I think it's also because our members don't reach out or connect with the friends that show up. But FEAR not we have a master plan for this next week where we just double down on relationships and really emphasizing the importance of commitments.  The language is coming as well! I can have a really solid conversation with people when contacting, and make good conversation in general, but I definitely don't know it all and DEFINITELY get lost sometimes. But hey, I think I'm progressing faster than I thought I would so I'm happy!  The food here is also incredible.  Matt, the waffles, the fries, and chocolates stereotypes here are SO REAL! I've had the best of each of the 3 here in Belgium and I'm convinced it cannot get any better. The Belgium's have mastered those! The members make great meals too, so safe to say Elder Loosli is getting some flabs!  Thank you again for reaching out as much as you do! I hope you know the confidence and courage you've been giving me throughout the weeks! You really do always email at the right time! We are so lucky to be in this gospel knowing the happy ending to the story we call life!"

3-Months as a Missionary

On P-day they went with Patrick to a small town nearby.

Everything over there is so beautiful.

Elder Gambee in front of the tower they climbed. Jonah said it was a lot of stairs and a big climb, but so cool.

This is the view form the top of the tower. Jonah took a video, it was so fun to see.

Elder Zollinger took some cool pictures with his camera.

 The Maccah's, a family from their ward took them out to eat for Elder Zollinger's last night.  Jonah said the food was great and they had the best barbecue sauce.

Elder Zollinger was a great companion. Jonah is going to miss him.

Jonah sure eats good on his mission.

On Wednesday they took the train to Paris for transfers. Jonah got to go around and sight see with Elder Zollinger for a while.  He said there are so many places right by the mission home. 

Here he is in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

I took this screen shot of a video Jonah took.  At the end of the video you can see the Eiffel Tower. 

I took a few screen shots of the video.

It was so fun to see a video of some of the famous sites in Paris.

Hotel de Ville is the city Hall of Paris. 

La seine is a river that runs through Paris. 

Jonah loved seeing all the sights. 

He loved seeing his group form the MTC. Sister Whitney, Sister Miller, Sister Bargar, Elder Loosli, Elder Blaylock, Elder Kent, Sister Garlock and Sister Bargar.

Elder Loosli, Elder Snow and Elder Church on their way to Chipotle!

I'm not sure why Jonah is making this face, he was so excited to eat at Chipotle. He took a video of him saying, "Honey, I'm home" and then showed the Chipotle sign and showed himself walking in. He also took a picture of his burrito.

Elder Church loves Chipotle as much as Jonah.

Elder Snow is from Provo as well. He went to Timpview, but he went to the Provo MTC.  Jonah had fun talking to him about Provo and people they both knew.

He loaded a picture of his calendar.  I thought it was fun to see what he had for the day.  It says: 

10-11 AM: Find Peeps

11AM-12 PM: Training Call

12-1 PM: Dejeuner (lunch)

1-2 PM: Mentor Sesh

2-2:30 PM-Daily Contacts

2:30-3PM: Etude en Equipe (study and team)

3-4 PM: A Leglise (at the church)

4-5 PM: call every single dot

5-6 PM- Etude de langue (study language)

6-7 PM: Chez Patrick (at the home of)

7:00-7:30 PM: Counseil de Paroisse (church counsel)

7:30-8:30 PM: Chez Nous (our place)

8:30-9:30 PM: Dinner

Elder Jones is Elder Smith's new companion.  Jonah said he is pretty unique, but he's hilarious. Jonah said it would be hard to be his companion, but living with him is fine.  

Jonah told us that Elder Jones talked them into playing Dungeons and Dragons.  Jonah said he found out that Elder Gambee's new companion is from his class at Diamond Ridge, they weren't close friends, but they remember each other.  Jonah really misses Elder Gambee, he got really close to him while they lived together. 

This is Elder Pelaez, Jonah's new companion. He has been out for two more transfers than Jonah. He is from Ogden and Jonah really likes him.  He said it's been a little hard because they are on the same level with their French, so they struggle a bit to communicate with others since they don't have a companion that is farther along in the language.  Jonah also feels a lot of pressure and like he is the trainer since he has been in the area.  He said he is learning a lot and doing a lot of things that Elder Zollinger used to take care of.  Jonah was discouraged because at least one of their friends that was planning to be baptized is going to postpone it and he's worried Pricilla will postpone as well.  He said it is really discouraging that they are having such a hard time finding people to teach.  He always ends on a positive note and says something like, "but it's okay, we will get there."

Jonah sent grandpa an email that summed things up better than I can:

Hey Grandpa! It made my entire day when I opened my phone and saw this email! I would love to come clean and say that I haven't been sending emails. For some reason I get so busy every week and just do not find a time or desire to write them.  But I'm working on it! And don't worry, the emails will be right here on Gmail. I've always got time to send one to you though, so please keep reaching out! Sorry for putting you to work!

The work here is great! My new companion and I are on the same level of French so although I am technically still "in training," I feel as though I'm the one training him because I have to show him around the area and handle most things.  He is an amazing companion but a little shy.  It has helped me a lot to really carry conversations, and so far so good! It has definitely been one of the most exhausting weeks thus far, but I can see my French has improved so much! I'm at the point where I can make good general conversation and teach a solid lesson as well.  I can't wait until I'm completely comfortable, that will be a good day! 

I think, fast, and pray about you and grandma so much! i also pray that you guys can feel the love and gratitude that you deserve from the family.  We owe everything to you guys! You're the strongest person I know. Please give grandma a big hug for me.  I love you Grandpa.  Please keep reaching out! And I'll do my best to start getting weekly emails out.

Love you!

Elder Loosli

Everyone here is flakier than a southern biscuit

I asked Jonah if they are teaching any new people and he said no, they get referrals and people say they will come to church, but they never do. Then he said, "Everyone here is flakier than a southern biscuit."

Jonah has loved serving in Charleroi with Elder Zollinger. They only have a few more days together before Zollinger leaves.  You can only stay in Belgium for two transfers.  Elder Zollinger was a great trainer for Jonah and he is going to miss him.

Jonah has been telling us that he is worried about money when he comes home.  He said he wants us to just put money in his savings account for all birthdays and Christmas presents while he's gone.  Jonah hasn't been taking very many pictures so I messaged him and told him that I had a great idea and I'll pay $1 for every picture.  He immediately loaded a few pictures.  Smart boy!

On P-day the elders went mini golfing with Patrick.

Jonah said it was a lot of fun and he took second. 

Grocery shopping.

I think Jonah has eaten a ridiculous amount of waffles in the past few weeks.

Jonah said they spend two to three hours on the train every day. He said it’s really hard because there are a lot of drunk people on the trains. He said they get yelled at a lot by the drunk people and one lady tried to spit on them. 

This is the view from the church. 

They went to a barbecue for a member meal and had a really good sausage and chorizo on a banquette. 

They went to district council in Nivelles Belgium. 

Here is their District.  Elder Gambee, Elder Smith, Elder Loosli, Elder Zollinger, Soeur Mills and Soeur Sharpe. 

They walked through the town on their way and Jonah said the buildings were all really cool.  

This building is a helicopter pad, Jonah said it's cool to watch them land on there.

They helped some members repair their fence.  Wilson is from Columbia and Jonah said they made them the best dinner after. He loved the authentic Mexican food. 

They had to take the train to go do service for Wilson. He said they always have at least a 45-minute train ride to go anywhere. 

Jonah said they usually have dinner with the Cox's on Sunday night.  When they left last night they saw this beautiful sunset and rainbow. 

He said the sunset with the rainbow were amazing.

He told us about a miracle they had this week.  They met a man named Thomas when they were finding.  He is from The Congo and was fascinated and impressed that these two young Elders left their lives and came across the world to teach people about Christ. He gave them his number and said he was interested in learning more.  They called him multiple times and the call wouldn’t go through and they realized they must have the number wrong.  They decided to try one last time and the call went through and Thomas said he had been waiting to hear from them. They asked about his number and they did have it wrong and they got the right one so it was a miracle that the call went through and they were able to reach him. 

Patrick made this really good lunch for them today, but Jonah was fasting with us for Caitlyn, so he didn't eat it. He said it was hard!  It meant a lot to us and Caitlyn that he did that. 

While we were talking to Jonah tonight he sent Wyatt this song and told him it was their missionary pump up music. It has clips of  apostles talks with pump up music in the back ground. It’s pretty funny.  The best line is Elder Holland saying, “Feed my sheep.”