Becoming the Best in Brussels, Belgium

Bonjour tout le monde!

Well, sorry again for my incredibly short email last week.  It was a hectic day.  Well, I made the 1 hour trip to Bruxelles on Wednesday and met up with my new (old) companion, Soeur Mataalii!  It was a bittersweet time on Monday and Tuesday.  It was crazy trying to make sure the apartment was prepared for the new sisters coming in.  Luckily I'm not too far from them.  It was also super sad to see Soeur Hunsaker leave, but I couldn't help but smile when I saw Soeur Mataalii for the first time as my new companion.  Life has been hectic from then on out, though.  We helped the sisters at Strombeek on Wednesday, and on Friday, we headed down to Paris for a all-day meeting.  But it was wonderful.  Our leaders really are so inspired.  It's so easy to see and feel the love that President and Soeur Poznanski have for not only the missionaries, but also everyone that we teach and meet.  Soeur Mataalii and I are so excited to work together and see miracles.  In fact, we already have!  We got to church on Sunday, and a member named Frere Casares was already there.  He introduced us to a girl he'd met, named Karolina.  He had literally JUST MET HER ON THE METRO, on his way to church, and had invited her to come, and she DID!  Karolina is from Poland, but is studying in Bruxelles, she speaks french well. At first, she was a little confused about church, but we explained what we do, and she really liked it.  We exchanged numbers, then she had to leave right after sacrament meeting.  Then, an hour later, ANOTHER polish person walked in.  It was a member, who happened to be visiting, and wanted to stop by.  Her name was Ola.  We were like, "What are the chances that another Polish girl would come into the church?  Coincidence?  I think not!"  We tried to call Karolina and organize a way to stop by quickly after church with Ola (Ola had to leave about 30 minutes after church to catch a train), but unfortunately, Karolina didn't answer.  For one minute, I was bummed out, wondering why we were so close to having a crazy awesome miracle, only to have Karolina not answer her phone.  Then I heard a tall blond boy walk over and start talking to Ola in Polish.  I was confused.  He then turned to me and said, "Hi, I'm Ethan, I'm from Pennsylvania.  I served my mission in Poland.  Last week was my first week in the ward, I'll be living here for the next 3 months."  I was like, "What the?!?!"  How many Polish people are going to walk into my life in one day?!  So, Ola had to leave, but because of her, we met Ethan, who, of course, is MORE than excited at the thought of teaching someone with us.  Miracles are everywhere!

             I love you all!

                      Passez une bonne semaine!

                                   Soeur Bracken