13th letter from Leuven, Belgium -- Week 19

 Central Station in Antwerp, Belgium
Built between 1895 and 1905.

Antwerp's Central Station Clock & Coat of Arms

Antwerp's Central Station's main hall inside the main dome
Has more the 20 different types of marble and stone.
There are three levels with a shopping center with 30+ diamond shops.

Antwerp's train shed or train platform where Elder Steenblik helped missionaries transfer their luggage

Elder Benjamin Steenblik
The Atomium Building in Brussels, Belgium
Built for the Brussels 1958 World's Fair.
The tubes hold escalators that move visitors to another "sphere."
The top sphere has a panoramic view of Brussels.
Dome is built from iron and glass.

Elder Benjamin Steenblik on Halloween

Wow, what an insane week it has been!

To start the week off, we had our last district meeting before everyone got transferred or went home.  I have good news! Guess who played the opening hymn at our district meeting.... MEEEE.  That's right!!! I play the piano now and Mamma would have been so proud.  All that money that my parents wasted on piano lessons finally paid off and look how far we have come! Afterwards, we went to Dominoes! Good old American pizza.  I forgot how much I have missed pizza.

Wednesday, was the craziest day of my life! We had to meet at the Antwerpen Central Station for transfers.  I said goodbye to Elder Losee and thought I would be on my way, but the problem was my new companion wasn't coming for another 5 hours! I was chillin' at the Antwerpen Station all freakin' day with the Zone Leaders and a couple of the other missionaries.  When a train of missionaries would arrive, we would all run down to the platform and unload all of their stuff and carry it to the next train for them.  We did that all stinkin' day! I have never lifted more weight in my entire life which isn't saying much because I don't work out, but still! Just a special note to all the ladies ages 12 to 27 reading this, by the time I get home, I am probably going to be jacked from lifting luggage every transfer day, so just keep that in mind.

My new companion is Elder Cockbain!!! (Don't worry the "ck" is silent and is pronounced Co-bain.) He is super sick! Get this.... he's not from Utah! He comes from the beautiful land of South Africa.  He is white and speaks with an Australian accent.  Whaaat? I'm pretty sure he is just lying to me and is actually from Australia or England. I mean, I'm not a raciest, but I imagined him to be black and have a thick African accent, but I love him either way.  He is a super good missionary and I can tell I am going to learn a lot from him.

I have been super sick this week.  Every night around 7 o'clock my voice is just gone and throughout the day, I sound horrible.  I sound like that woman in the anti-tobacco commercials with the hole in her throat.  It is bad, but hopefully it will start getting better now.

This week has been beautiful weather.  Actually, we had one of the warmest November days recorded in the last 100 years.  That's a pretty big deal!

Missionary work here goes suuuuper slow! With the start of the new transfer, we are basically starting from scratch.  I can't even tell you how many doors we have knocked this week and not one single appointment was made.  It is super discouraging! Most people just politely say no thank you and that they aren't interested, but then there are some who yell and slam the door.  We are still on the hunt to find the people who are ready to hear the gospel and this week will be another long week of finding new people to teach.  We met a guy this week who was so fascinated with how white our shirts were.  He asked us where we got them whitened and we said we just wash them ourselves and he couldn't believe it.  He had never seen shirts so white and that was basically the most successful contact we had all week.

We had our ward Halloween party this week and it was super fun.  Everyone was dressed up in their costumes, well, at least the kids and me.  We carved pumpkins, ate good food, and played "Just Dance."  I will not confirm or deny the rumors that I went hard on the dance floor, but I will say, YES.... I did get 3 stars.

I had another weird meal this week. It was French fries with horse meat on top and that was the whole meal.  Just fries and horse.  Go Belgium!!!!!

Today we went to Brussels with all the Elders from our district.  I got to meet all of the new Elders in my district this transfer and it was super fun.  They are all hilarious! We went to the Atomium which was suuuper sick. After that, we called up the Paris Elders and went back to that chocolate factory with the all you can eat free chocolate.  It was just as amazing as the last time! After, we went to lunch with them and walked around the Brussels Centrum.  It was a super good P-day.

Well, the work here is slow but must go on! We will work our best this week and maybe even see some success while we are at it.   Love you all,

                                    -Elder Steenblik