Belgium

Sad news.
Sister Moore passed away.  If you remember, she's the one who broke her wrist while she and her husband were renovating our apartment.  Can you believe that?  It's quite a shock to me.  Aparrently, she wasn't very healthy.  She was coughing during our mission conference.  She certainly didn't sound 100%.  Still.  Wow.  A senior missionary passed away!  Wow.

Belgium!  I'm in Belgium.  Weird.  Land of chocolate, waffles and bad roads inderdat.  Turnhout is a super cool city.  Very small--even smaller than Leiden.  Volgens mij.  A lot members and even investigators live outside the city, in smaller cities surrounding.  We have to take the bus often.  Which works out just fine.  They have these things called Buzzy passes or something like that, which is only 23 Euro for unlimited use of the buses for a month.  Dang, that is a good price.  Far better than Nederland ten minste.

By the way, it's speak your language week.

Zou ik alleen in Nederlands praten?  Denk ik niet.

So they speak Vlaams here. Vlaams/Flemish is actually Dutch. Just with local variations in word choice. It`s like slang words, or alternative words......a dialect, with a few different words here and there.  I guess the closest equivalent would be British English compared to American English.  Mostly the accent I think.  I actually find it easier to understand than back in Brabont.  Sometimes it just sounded like those people were choking.  I think I'm going to try to get this Vlaams accent down.  It's also far easier than Brabonts.

The ride down here itself wasn't too bad.  We worked it out, Elder Kunz and I, so that it wasn't so bad.  We left our bikes at the station overnight, so we could haul my stuff on the buses in the morning.  Then, I picked up Elder Merril at the station and said totziens to good ole Elder Kunz.  I'll miss that guy.  I'll certainly miss Harry too.  He has this tradition where departing missionaries give him a tie and he gives them a book.  Instead, I gave him a tie, a Canadian pin, a flag and even my books (all 3!!).  He's insistant to give them back, but I want him to keep them.  I really love that guy.

The apartment!  Man is it super modern.  As...far as Europe is concerned at least.  It's like a pie wedge, smooshed in between two little houses.  There's a big iron gate where we park our bikes behind.  You'd miss the place if you weren't looking for it.  It's about 3 minutes from the main station and just off the main centrum.  And yes, the biggest wall is painted purple.  We've got a dishwasher as well (which I discoverd today), but apparently it sucks, so we don't use it.

The aparment is two stories, with tile floors (which heat up), and one little washroom.  It's probably the nicest apartment I've been in, though not the biggest.

I'm hoping to set a pattern.  2 transfers in each area before I leave.  How much fun would that be?

Elder Leach is awesome too.  He reminds me a lot of Elder Burton, if not...louder.  He really likes to sing.  Vooral Disney.  He's from a bit of California, and a bit of Arizona (I just played a guessing game to figure that out).  He's a cool guy.  Nuff said. I think we'll get along just fine.  He's pretty sure that he's gonna be gone at the end of this transfer though.  He's already been here 4.5 months, and at the end of this one, that will make 6 months, so...  But hey, at least I'll be able to keep up my average of a companion per transfer.  And yes, he's the District Leader.

The ward is great too.  We've got a relatively young but strong Branch (ward).  There are so many kinderschnitzels (kids) running around!  I'm going to bring some Canadian candy next Sunday to give out.  I'm sure they'll love that.  The ward is very missionary oriented too.  The person who translates for General Conference is the Branch President here.  He's a fantastic guy, I can tell already.  There are quite a few African people in this area too.  So far the majority of the investigators that I've met have been African.  Woo!  It's like being back in Leiden. 

AAAAND.  Let me just say how excited I am for Kalvin and Jaeden.  Man oh man.  How cool!  That's so great that they're both going to cool places.  I wish I could have been there for Jaedan's farewell talk.  I just hope those Uruguain (?) people are ready for Kalvin!  So proud of them both.  I have no doubt they'll both excell.  Just remember to be yourself!  Let your light shine, as it says.

By the way......they have strange milk here.  You don't have to refridgerate it.  Wait...what?  Nope.  Niet noodzakelijk, hoor.  You just...let it chill on your shelf until you open it, then you stick it in the fridge.  So strange.  It's thicker or something too.  Not quite sure.  Apparently they super-heat it to purify it or something.  I don't know for sure.

We play Foetball elke donderdag (on Thursday's).  We missed it this last Thursday, which was actually good.  I don't have cleats yet.  I'm going to borrow some from a member, but if it comes to it, I'll just buy my own.  Gee, I wish I would have bought a pair back in Leiden!  Oh well, it'll be fine.

Also, Elder Jones is in our District, and Elder Nish ~  Canadian's. And Sister Herring, who loves volleyball.  She just texted us and said she bought a new ball.  We're going to try and play next P-day.  WOO! 

Well, I should get going now.
Happy Birthday to Greg.

Love ya lots!

Tot volgende keer,

Elder Burgess

My new address:

Driezenstraat 21
2300 Turnhout
Belgium

Brother and Sister Moore

Elder Leach