9th letter from Leuven, Belgium -- Week 15

Elder Benjamin Steenblik's feet (Oh, how I miss looking at those size 14's!!!!!!)
Yummy!!!!!!! Best 4 Euros I done ever spent!!!!!!!
"Barefoot Path" in Zutendaal, Belgium

My beloved district
(Left to right)  Elder Eli Andrew, Elder Benjamin Steenblik, Elder Hayden Losee, Sister Riley, Sister Aston, Elder Clement, Elder Eby, Elder Nye, Elder England and Elder Elkins

Elder Benjamin Steenblik
At the Brussels church building, they have the name in English.

My first General Conference in the land! Ha, it actually kind of stunk because I only got to see 2 sessions because of the time difference.  For the priesthood session, we went out to the French church in Brussels. We watched it, had lunch and got to meet a lot of the Elders in the Paris mission.  They were all way cool and it was fun to talk with them.  Anyways, we talked with them for an hour and then went back to watch the next session, but some hooligan put the translation headsets away and locked them up so it was only in French.  We don't speak French, so we just left.  On Sunday night we watched the Sunday morning session live at the Bishops house and it was really good. 

While we were at the Brussels church, I met someone else named Elder Steenblik.  He was one of the senior couples in the Paris mission and it turns out I actually know him.  He is Peter Steenblik's dad.  (The choir teacher at Jordan.)  It was cool to talk to him and look at our family history and how we are related. 

It was really cool because on the train the other day, I forgot to write in my pass and the conductor guy was walking toward me.  Conductor? Or is that the train driver? I don't know! The guy who Tom Hanks plays in the Polar Express movie.  Any hoo, I was scrambling to write it in and he got to me and I handed it to him.  He started talking to me and I thought he was going to give me a ticket or something, but he just said "Bless you guys for the work that you do. I really like the Mormons." Whaaaaat? A stranger spoke to me and it was a compliment.  No middle finger or cuss words? He wasn't a member, but it made us feel so good to be appreciated by some random dude.  We had to get off the train so we couldn't really talk to him, but just that small act of kindness really made my day. 

We had a lesson with Naomi this week and it was really good.  We also gave her a tour of the church. Unfortunately, the bus was late so we didn't have too much time to teach, so we just showed her around and spoke about the Book of Mormon.  After the lesson, we rode the bus back to the station with her and just chatted and got to know her better which was cool.  She is an amazing woman. 

It's so weird because I keep having dreams of home.  It's nothing even special or crazy.  I just have a dream of a normal day at school with all of my friends and family.  They are so real!! They make me miss you guys so much, but then I wake up and realize that I am a missionary in Belgium and then my homesickness goes away.  It is hard being out here, but totally worth it. 

Today we did a district P day.  We did some barefoot hike thing.  It was basically pay money to go on a hike without shoes and it was okay.  I love my district so much so we made it fun! It reminded me of hiking through the woods at home.  Haha.  Just kidding! I never went hiking at home, but it did remind me of the Utah forest.  After, we had a picnic and played American Football.  It was a good time.

Well another solid week full of adventure.  Doin' great!!!!!!

Ik hou van jullie. Steenblik out. (If you can't tell, I never know how the heck to end the email so it usually gets pretty weird, so just get used to it I guess)

Love you all,

                                        -Elder Steenblik