Nicholas Fernhout in the Belgium/Netherlands Mission: Week 8: Brugge and Brussels

Hey Mum!

Ya, so I went on exchanges to Brussels for 2 nights and about 2 full days. I was there with Elder McConkie. We had a lot of interesting experiences. Brussels is a weird place. I am so glad I am not serving there haha. Dutch is pretty much useless there because so many people speak French and a lot don't speak English so that was hard. We went to this one area called Molenbeek. It is like the Compton of Brussels. I have never seen so many Arabic people. Molenbeek is also known as the place where the Brussel bombers lived. So ya we went there... we had to go there to look up some less active people and it was a lot and a lot of walking. We had a big map out and the street addresses and it was fun trying to find these people in this sketchy place. We ended up on this one street that had hookers everywhere, that was really awful.

Anyway earlier that day we were in another part of Brussels called Vilvoorde which is a lot nicer. It is up north and is quiet. But it is known as the place where they eat horse. We had a lunch appointment with a YSA [young single adult] in the ward there and he took us to a horse steak restaurant. Mum, you know I don't like weird meats. I was so nervous so I ordered the kindersteak which is kid's steak which means it is smaller but the YSA wouldn't let me get a small steak so I got a regular size. The other thing is the most they would cook it was medium! I never get my steak medium! So I was really scared at this point and when I cut into it it was all bloody. But I took a bite and it was actually pretty good and normal tasting. I finished the whole thing and I would recommend horse to anyone in the future. It is very lean, not a single piece of fat! Anyway that was one day in Brussels, oh and we also had dinner with Ari and Tayla. They are a lot of fun, they remind me of Maddie and Jackie haha. On the train back from Brussels we passed a red light district, wow Brussels is not a good place! Anyway that was my Brussels trip, it was an interesting experience.

Daily routine is wake up at 6:30 and work out half hour then shower and eat and get ready until 8:30. Then we daily plan then an hour of personal study and then an hour of comp study then an hour of taal study (language) then lunch for half hour then missionary work after until 9:00 when we return home and write in our journals. We also have dinner before 9:00 sometime. I have seen 0 keeshonds. Ya there was a race through the Centrum, we walked by it but it was before it started. There was an old man in our branch who ran it. Yup it was Saturday night.

Stuff to tell you:
1. There is a member in our branch, he was the first convert 43 years ago in this city and now he is about 75. He is so cool, he looks like a cross between Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise to me. He is also a semi-pro ping pong player and he also goes door knocking every Saturday and gives us a ton of referrals. He is awesome. The ping pong table they have here is so nice! and the paddles too.
2. My bag is so nice, the Peak Design one. It just works so well with everything and is the perfect size.
3. We originally went to Brussels for a conference then I stayed there for exchanges. We ate at an Ikea and it was just like the ones back home. I am going to another conference in Antwerpen today and I will also be going on exchanges there after. Then later this week I will be going back to Brussels to do more legality paper stuff.
4. Elder Richards knows how to make this food called nasi goreng, it is so good, he also makes good peanut sauce for it.
5. Last Pday we saw the blood of Christ. There is a church here that claims they have a piece of cloth that has Christ's blood on it and it was free to see it. There are some pictures of the church in the photos I sent. It was a pretty cool church though.
6. We traveled to a town called Blankenberge to see a less active member and it is a really cool town on the coast, look it up!
7. There is a food called Vla here, it is so good. It comes in a carton like a liquid and it is like a drinkable yogurt but way better and the flavours are so good too!
8. We had dinner with an American family last night and it was really nice to talk with them and eat. They are really cool and fun and the dad is helping to put together a bike for me. He loves working on bikes and things. He has 4 girls ages 10 - 17 ish. They are a lot of fun. We played some games with them and talked and it was nice to be able to speak in English!

thats all,

love elder fernhout