Elder Karl's last week in Belgium!

Big news everyone!!! I am leaving Belgium and heading to France. I am going to a ville called Brest. It is on the very coast of France, that's right I will be at the beach for summer ;). But I am really excited to finally be going to france and to the coast for summer should be super fun.I leave early Wednesday morning and my companion is someone named Elder Ricks. It's an 8 hour train ride lol! I will find out my new address and everything next week so stay posted. This week we had a pretty slow week. To start we were on our way to the church to teach a lesson and out of nowhere it starts to pour down rain. We began to run but then realized we were totally soaked and just walked in it. To make things worse the person we were gonna teach at the church never came. He must have been smart to know not to go out in the rain ;) But Elder Miller and I had a good laugh about it. The next night we had dinner at the Ablecita's and they knew I might be leaving and they bought me some socks and made me a going away CD with pictures from the birthday party. It was so nice of them and really touched me. I love the members here. It's gonna be hard to leave but I am so ready for a new area. 
Some crazy things that have happened this week is that I saw 3 girls pee right in front of me! And they were all at different times. It was so gross and they just smiled at me and took their pants off and peed! I was like what the freak!!! Then to make it worse women just breast feed out in the open here and just take everything out and show it to everyone so we have to be really careful where we look lol. 
But on a brighter note we found the coolest family ever this week. They are african and super awesome! We are helping him remodel his house. Thank you dad and the amish for teaching me how to build so many things! We also ate at the Orsinis house this week! The dad is from belgium and his wife is from Ireland! they have 3 kids and they all speak with an english accent. It is so legit and the food and ice cream was amazing. Tonight I am going to the Davis for dinner to say goodbye! I love them so much and know they will be my friends forever! Love you all and thank you for all the support! Love -Elder Karl  

Singing Disney songs!

Last week in Belgium ahhh where has the time gone lol. This week went by super fast! First we had dinner at the Volz( a german family). It was alot of fun, but something really cool happened. The night went a little long so they gave us a ride home. When we got to our apartment the dad ( Brother Volz) got out to say goodbye and when he shook my hand he pulled me in for a hug and told me that they are praying I don't get transferred and that I stay! It almost made me cry lol. It's hard to explain but it means a lot when people like you being there and that they care about you. Since most of the time people want nothing to do with you. So it was a really cool experience for me! Also this week Elder Miller and I were riding the tram and we were singing disney songs and just laughing and having fun. Some lady saw this and contacted us! She thought it was strange we were here for Jesus and that we enjoyed life so much! Needless to say we explained a little more and gave her a Book of Mormon and she is now a new amie! Later that day Elder Miller had to go to Paris so I went on an exchange with 2 other Elders. I did not pack a bag which was a mistake lol. Because Elder Millers train broke down and I had to spend the night in my church clothes for 2 days haha. I was a little gross haha. Can I just say General Conference was so amazing! It was so good!!! I don't know why I was such a punk before my mission lol. I love Conference<3. Not to mention I got to watch 2 of the sessions at members homes! Saturday I watched it at the Davis house of course ..Love them! Then on sunday I watched it at the lauritezs. I think that's how you spell it haha but they are from utah and are a young couple with 2 kids. They are super awesome and it was so much fun and such good food. That's all for this week! Love you all and thank you for your support! -Elder Karl

A marriage proposal and a train wreck, all in the same week!

Hello everybody! Things is Belgium are going well only 2 more weeks in Belgium until I get transferred. So I better enjoy it while I can I guess :p. This week I tried to give myself a hair-cut. I say tried because I messed it up really bad! But thank goodness for members haha. So I went over to the Davis house and he fixed my hair. I love the Davis family so much they are the most amazing people and I am going to miss them so much. 

Also got the chance to eat with Frere Frankin again(the one armed man) And it was good! 

We had a member baptism on Saturday. It went really well and also had some awesome food after it so I can't complain. Funny stories of the week! While waiting for the metro Saturday night. Elder Miller and I were approached by a very drunk women. She asked who we were, and as we talked with her she found it very strange that as missionaries we don't have sleep around. Then she asked Elder Miller if he would sleep with her and marry her. That it only costs 2500 euros and that she was in love with him. To her surprise he said no haha and we ran away and jumped on the Metro haha! Also on the tram we were on our way to a members house for a birthday party. When all at once the tram goes from 45mph to 0 mph because we smashed into a car. What you don't know is that the tram is packed and we have to stand. So when the tram hit a car everyone flew 5 feet and everyone fell on each other and got messed up. However Elder Miller and I did not get hurt lol! The lord watches out for us I swear. pretty crazy week, also in church had to teach primary and the gospel principles class all in french all alone! Not too bad if you ask me! Love you all and hope you are all doing well. Thank you for all of the support and love it is much needed! Love -Elder Karl

Caterpillars, lost keys and photos!

The Eiffel Tower

Blog: Bonjour everyone! Hope everyone is well I know I am :). Let's see where do I begin, Well on Monday- We taught Xavier our guy with the baptism in 2 weeks with a member cough cough Lee Cummard. Yeah I teach with a pro basketball player.. so dreams do come true ;) but the lesson went really well. After the lesson Lee gave us a ride home and when he dropped us off I began to realize the keys were missing. And that I was in charge of the keys.. yes I lost the keys lol. So we called Lee and he had to come all the way back to our apartment and we searched his car for a good 20 mins. No luck finally Lee says did you check your shirt pocket? I was Like why would I put the keys in...oh... That's right the keys were in my shirt pocket the whole time! Lee laughed at me for a good 5 mins. So yes I looked kinda dumb but we all had a good laugh about it! And now in church Lee always asks me if I know where my keys are haha.

 Tuesday- We got to listen to Elder D.Todd Christofferson give a talk to us and it was amazing! So lucky to get to hear and shake hands with an apostle of the lord! Also I got to see Elder Beck so it was a good day! 

 Wen- During my studies in the morning I was reading and it got very dark! That's right our power went out. The funny part is that Elder Miller was in the shower and we have a water heater so he says hey who turned the lights out then we hear a loud scream. The water in the shower was ice cold and Elder Miller was stuck in it in the dark. Also that day I got a package from my step mom and sister ariel and it had letters for when times get hard and I need a laugh ect.. But it was so amazing so thank you again for the package it was so amazing! 

 Thursday- We had dinner with a guy named Sammy he is a 25 year old. Long story short I have been teaching Sammy for about 2 months and never really had any success... However thursday night I testified like I never have before and it gets very quite and Sammy looks up and say (I am going to read every single page of this book before we meet again next week) I can not express enough to you the power of the spirit or the truth of this gospel! It really does work miracles and changes lives! And I know the lord was with me that night and Sammy could feel that and could not deny what he was feeling. Best night of my mission! 

 Friday- We found a new aimé named justin! So hopefully things go well with him. 

 Saturday- We had dinner with a family from Africa named the Boda's! They are so awesome and so good at singing! But where the story gets interesting is that for dinner we had Goat, Stomach, Caterpillars, and fish. It was all very very good... except for stomach I was not the biggest fan of it! But you can say that later that night I had a pretty bad stomach ache lol! so much fun though:)!

The Boda Family

 Sunday- Just had church and ported all night so nothing to awesome lol. 

 Thank you all for the support and love means a lot to me and I love you all! Love - Elder Karl  

The park by my apartment

The Abelcita family

Funny mix ups

Hello everybody!!! Things in Belgium are wonderful, the weather is beautiful, and the work is really progressing! We have 2 baptism dates! That's right 2!!! (That's a lot here) lol But we are teaching DJ right! And Xavier! Both are so solid and are just amazing. Also I have been teaching with Lee Cummard the BYU basketball star and pro basketball player in Belgium.. So yeah my life could not get better! Funny story from porting this week. I was talking to someone at a door and I meant to ask is their another day we can come back but I said is their another day we can come and play games haha and the guy said he had a piano and I was so lost lol Also I meant to say do you have 5 minutes and asked do you have 5 cute kids and the lady got really scared.. so the french is going great ;) Also this week we ate dinner ate the Hakinpa's a family from Finland and they are super cool! They gave us fish soup and it smelled gross but turned out to be super good and I ate like 3 bowls with french bread of course! Big news for tomorrow.. D.Todd. Christofferson is coming to talk to the missionaries in Brussels which just happens to be me! So blessed, Love my mission, love all of you! Thank you for all the support and love- Elder Karl

Well I got a new companion! His name is elder Miller and he is awesome! We get along so well and we teach super well together. So this should be an amazing transfer. This week we found a guy named Xavier and he is a guy in his 30's. He is legit, we have taught him 3 times this week and he has a baptism date for March 30 so I am super excited! The work is pushing forward if we are faithful and trust in the lord. Also this week we were running to catch the Tram and I stepped in a giant pile of poop... You can say I was less then happy to have to go teach a lesson smelling like poop but it's perks of the job lol. On the upside the weather here is super nice! I have been wearing short sleeve shirts all week! And people are being nicer too .. I think it's because no one can be mad when the sun is out and it smells like flowers but that's just me! I also had dinner at the Davis family again man do I love glen! He is my best friend in Europe haha He is from Belgium and is about 35 but he really likes me for some reason and always feeds us so I'll take it. But the ward here is really amazing, I have been here for a while now and I am really loving them all and care for them all. But really great week and hopefully an amazing transfer is in the works! But love you all and thank you for all the support and love! All for now.. Push The Work Forward!!! 

Staying in Brussels!

Well I just found out that i'm staying in Brussels, Belgium another transfer but i'm getting a new companion! I hope he is normal haha, but I am happy to stay another one here I really love the members and our people we are teaching. I also found out that Elder D.Todd Christofferson of the 12 is coming to Brussels to talk to the missionaries on March 18 so I'm super excited for that! Also this week we met a guy named DJ right! That's right he is a DJ haha but he is legit he already wants to get baptised so I am super happy that we can teach him and help him grow closer to Heavenly Father. I gave 3 blessings this week, been staying super busy lol. We got invited to the young single adult activity and it was so much fun. Lots of food for one but the people here are the most amazing members ever! Their faith is so strong and they are such examples to their friends! But they sang songs and we all talked then they asked us questions about missions and it went really well. Frere Frankin an old belgium man took us to a really nice place to eat! But you should know something... he has one arm... and he drives a stick shift.. yeah needless to say the lord blessed us with our lives that day haha. He was all over the road and drove so fast but I could not stop laughing and he is speaking all this crazy french and just yells at all the other drivers on the road so it was a good time! Love you all, Love my mission. love the Lord-Elder Karl