Au Revoir to LLN and Friends

Bonjour! Today is our last day in Louvain-la-Neuve, and I am pretty bummed about leaving. We are going back to CTS tonight. We have had an awesome time while we were here in LLN. We didn't get much sleep, because we would hang out with our new friends every night after we had all eaten dinner until around two in the morning. We have made lifelong friends while we have been here, and some of them have already said they are going to come visit us in Alabama! Tonight we are going to go to the Maze which is the magic show with the Christian illusionist that shares his testimony with the show. I think the show is going to be awesome. We have been hyping it pretty hard while we were here. Yesterday we went around Brussels and to a university in Brussels and passed out tickets while the illusionist walked around and did card tricks and other small illusions. The reaction on the people's faces were priceless. I don't know much French, but I could tell they were amazed and had just had their mind blown. Some of them would say they had blocus (it is like dead day where we study except it lasts two weeks here) when we asked if they wanted to go, but when they would see one of the tricks they were hooked and said they would be there. I am really excited about tonight, but at the same time I am said that we have to leave LLN. God is doing some awesome things here in Belgium. I have never really had the desire to travel, but after this trip to Europe I have decided that my new hiking backpack is going to get a lot of miles on it in the coming years. Au revoir!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Bonjour! We have been really busy over the past few days, so I haven't gotten the chance to blog. We worked at CTS on Monday and half of the day on Tuesday. Their lawnmower has been broken since February, so the grass looked like a jungle in some places. We cleaned out all the flowerbeds, mowed a lot of the grass, and powerwashed a lot of the patios and concrete. We will finish all of that when we go back there for two days after we leave Louvain-la-Neuve. We arrived in Louvain-la-Neuve on Tuesday afternoon. (I'm going to refer to Louvain-la-Neuve as LLN for the rest of the blog, because it is a lot to type). LLN is a city that is built around a university, and it is a pedestrian city with most of the traffic and parking lots being underground. We walk everywhere here. I feel like we walk 100 miles a day (slightly over-exaggerated). While we are here we are staying with different students in the SFC (which is Students for Christ which is the European version of our Chi Alpha campus ministry) in their kots (that is what dorms are called here), and every night we are cooking for the students. We are cooking American food every night and the SFC students invite their friends and cokottas (which are the other students in their kots), and this helps them gain new members and spread the gospel by forming relationships with new people. Afterwards, we hang out with the students on campus until it is time to go to bed. Tuesday night we met at the Bonin household where they fed all the students and us. Last night we cooked tacos, tonight we are making bbq chicken, and tomorrow night we are making breakfast for them. During the day, we are promoting the Maze which is an American illusionist that shares his testimony while he does magic. The show is on Saturday night and we promoted it on campus today, and the next two days we will be in Brussels promoting it. Everyone is starting to arrive for dinner, so au revoir until next time!

Bonjour! I didn't get a chance to blog about yesterday. We went to the Neuhaus Chocolate Factory and stocked up on Belgian chocolate. After that, we went to Gasbeek and toured the castle and the grounds around it. Then we went to Waterloo and saw where Napoleon was defeated. Today we toured Brussels. This morning we took the metro (which is the train here) downtown, and then we got off and walked around the city. We saw all sorts of old buildings, and we stopped a few times to eat a delectable Belgian waffle. We got to go inside of a cathedral, and we took the metro to go see the Atonium which is a massive metal atom looking thing. My favorite part of the day was when we go to walk around a park. It was easily the coolest park I have ever seen. Au Revior until tomorrow!

Bonjour! It is our second day here at CTS. After chapel last night we had crepes which the CTS students made for us. After that we talked with them and played ping pong for a while. Then the rest of the night we sat around with the French students while they sang and one of them played guitar. They would sing a verse in French and then in English, and it was an incredible experience. Tomorrow is going to be a tourist day for us. Au Revoir!

It is our first morning in Brussels, and I slept like a baby last night. I was pretty tired from all the traveling. The geese outside got a little rowdy this morning around six and woke some of us up. I'm ready to get the day started, and it's time to eat so I got to go! Aurevoir!