Missionary Life

Last P-Day they went to a small town with a guy named Benjamin from church to look around.

He said they have been there before so it wasn't super exciting. 

Elder Pelaez on a cool looking street.

Elder Loosli and Elder Jones.

Another missionary left this coat behind so Jonah was able to take it.  Elder Loosli and Elder Pelaez were out finding and thought they looked pretty tough in their coats. 

Jonah finished the Book of Mormon this week.  This is his first time completing it in the mission field. He said he loved this scripture in Moroni.  

Jonah made a video of him eating these strawberries. He said he has been eyeing them for a while and finally bought some. 

Jonah did exchanges in Brussels again this week. He said this was a cool palace. 

I let Sister Munns know that my mom was going to pass away and she was so kind and offered love and support and said Elder Loosli had permission to call and text.  My mom passed away at 3 AM on Saturday September 20th. I was with her and even though I have been hoping and praying that she wouldn't have to suffer anymore it was so hard to let her go.

I called Matt and he and Caleb came right over.  I was so grateful to have them there.  I messaged Jonah to let him know that grandma had passed away.  He came home for lunch shortly after that and called me.  He loved saying hi to Caleb and Matt too.

It was so good for me to be able to talk to Jonah during that time while we were waiting for the mortuary.  It's so hard to have him so far away, but I'm so grateful we can stay connected. 

We had the funeral on Thursday and Jonah was able to watch the zoom. He was able to call me during the family prayer so he could listen and participate in that too.

Dad gave a beautiful prayer and I'm so glad Jonah got to hear it.

Jonah made this flyer for Amelie's baptism. 

Amelie was baptized last week right after church.  Jonah said the font wasn't filling up so they had to fill it with buckets of water.  Jonah gave the talk on baptism.  The bishop confirmed her and Jonah got to stand in the circle.  He said it was a great experience. 

Patrick took the Elders to Namur, France on P-Day.

Jonah was excited to check it out.

It looks gorgeous.  He took a video and said "bellevue" which means beautiful view.

It is definitely a beautiful view. 

Jonah added a video of him and Patrick talking about what they were going to do that day. Jonah's French sounded amazing. I asked Ben what they were saying and he said Jonah's French is SO good, he said he sounds like a native.  Ben said Patrick said, "We are going to visit the city. We are going to eat in a good restaurant and afterward we Elder Pelaez will sing a hymn in the car (Jonah said that was a classic Patrick joke). God bless! Congratulations on your son because he is REALLY someone special."  It was so fun to see this video.  Jonah loves Patrick and I'm so grateful for him. He is taking such good care of the Elders. 

I love seeing the pictures he takes.

They ate at a really good restaurant. 

You can see the Cathedral at the end of the road. 

They were doing construction, but they were able to go inside. Jonah said it was beautiful.

Jonah was really excited that they were going to go to a place where they make their own cologne. He added a video, it looked like a cave with different bottles.  

Poor Jonah hasn't got his cards that I sent him yet so he has no personal money.  We figured out how to put his debit card on his phone, but they keep declining his purchases.  He made his cologne and then the card got declined.  He just found out that the cards finally arrived at the mission home so he should get them in a couple of weeks during transfers. Hopefully he will have better luck with the credit card. 

He had zone conference last week and he was so excited to eat at Wing-Stop!

Zone Conferences

Sister Munns posted on Facebook about their last few zone conferences.  She said, "On August 14th we hoped over to Bruxelles to meet with the wonderful zone there! They are doing great things and seeing many, many miracles!!"

Elder Loosli and Elder Zollinger. Jonah is sad that they only got six weeks together, he loves Elder Zollinger.

I asked Jonah if he was leading the music in this picture, but he said he was bearing his testimony, so he must have been waving when she took the picture.  They had him bear his testimony since it was his first zone conference. 

"Our last zone conference this transfer was with the Lille and Bruxelles zones on September 30th! Again, it was so wonderful to meet with our beloved missionaries and learn together. They are just amazing! We love them more than our words can express."

Jonah loves President and Sister Munns.  He said they are the best and the next mission president is going to have a lot to live up to. 

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!"