Week 24: Staying in Antwerpen

Hey family!!

First off, sorry I forgot to tell mom and dad for all the wonderful presents and packages that I got the other week! Seriously the best, especially the hot buffalo wing pretzels. LEKKER. And the double-stuffed Oreos.. THE BOMB.

Secondly, I AM STAYING IN ANTWERPEN!! Woot woot. Sadly Z. Rigdon is going to Leeuwarden...which is all the way at the top of the mission..She is going to freeze...I am going to miss her a lot. Bummer. BUT guess who my new comp is? You guys don't know her actually...But I think I have talked about her a little while ago...Drum roll please........Zuster Aldous!!!  .... I just have to tell you something. We just got a text from this cute lady in our ward who we have been working with. Her daughter brought a friend to church last week and she really liked it. There was also a baptism from the elders and she stayed for that also. So we just got a text from her saying: "Good morning Zuster. I have good news. The friend of Ashley wants to get baptized, will you guys help us please? " OF COURSE WE WILL HELP YOU! Awesome huh? So I will keep you updated on that. 

Okay back to what I was saying. So Zuster Rigdon got released as a Zuster Training Leader (which is great) and so now she can do normal missionary work! More great news, I am not the ZTL's companion anymore, so we can do REAL missionary work! Super excited.

Onward! haha This week was really good! We had an awesome turkey bowl last Monday for P-day! I miss playing american football so that was nice. We then had a really good FHE at Julies house. Julie loves you guys. I love her a lot. Ashley came and she just amazes me everyday. Really though. She was the one that brought her friend to church. I love her to death. 

Tuesday...OH MAN. Haha We had an awesome adventure with Bwatu that day. We had a lunch appointment so we met up with him and all he says is "follow me." So we follow him. (Keep in mind that he is from Congo and has awesome broken english and is just hilarious). He brings us to the bus stop and says "the bus is going to take too long, follow me." Next thing we knew, we were in a taxi going who knows where. That is against the rules but we didn't know what to do! Anyway, the taxi driver was hilarious, and a whole other story, but we did end up giving him a BOM. We pull up to this restaurant, walk in and it looks like a bar. The guys at the bar are all like " HEEEYYY hows it going" like they knew us..haha...Bwatu of course knew everyone there. We then walk to the back of the place and there are actually nicely dressed business people there eating. We kinda felt under-dressed and we were in our missionary attire. We ate something...I cant remember what it is called but yeah it had mussels, clams, squid, baby lobster looking things and shrimp with LEKKER rice. Zuster Rigdon doesn't really like seafood so guess who did awesome and ate all of it? Me:) It was actually really good. But it was just nuts. Probably doesn't sound that crazy but once I tell you the story in real life you will bust up. Haha 

Moving on to Tuesday....Remember that lady that called us on our way to Brussels 2 Fridays ago? We had our appointment with her on Wednesday and that went really well. Her daughter was just soaking up everything we said. We didn't get a return appointment but at least we planted a seed. 

Then we had a really good dinner with Bishop and his wife. They are super sweet people. Their kitchen just got remodeled so she was super excited for us to see it. It was GORGEOUS. 

Thursday we had Zone Training (which we had been planning for for like the whole week btw) and it was soo good. Haha You guys are not going to believe what we did...The whole zone reenacted Daniel 6 which is Daniel and the Lions den. Oh man. It was good. We even had the missionaries bring some costumes and we decorated. It was good. You guys probably think that that was pointless but we were focusing on the Spirit for Zone Training and Daniel is a super good example of being a true disciple and having the spirit IN him. You guys should read that story for FHE and then act it out for me. Please take pictures. Thanks. 

I learned sooo much. My presentation skills got better, my confidence and now I ENJOY contacting people. When we focus on having a strong spirit with us, it really does make a HUGE difference. I feel like this training has changed my whole outlook on missionary work. Echt Waar. My dutch is even getting better. Zuster Anjeweirden(?) and I even sung a duet together in front of everyone. It was ok but at least it brought the spirit. I hate singing in front of people.

Then I went to Gent with Zuster Brophy on exchanges and we put what we learned at Zone conference to use! AND I TOTALLY SAW A DIFFERENCE. We got so many potentials that night. Then Friday morning we were contacting and I saw this girl on the tram that I felt like I needed to talk to..She got off at the same stop as us but as I was going to stop her she like ran away. I was super bummed. When we were knocking on doors we came to some bell ups (hard to explain but maybe you know what they are) and I was like NO. We should just move on but Brophy just said come on there are only 6 of them. So we did them all. The first 5 were not interested but then the 6th was a lady who couldn't understand us very well so she had us come to her window. She had her daughter help her understand us and guess who her daughter was?? That girl on the tram that I was supposed to talk to. Crazy huh? The mom was SUPER interested. I am excited to hear about her. 

Zuster Rigdon and I got back together on Friday and did some contacting before our awesome dinner with the Schiltz family. While contacting this guy came up to us and was talking super close to our faces. His name is Blas and we joke that he is my new boyfriend because he was only paying attention to me.. Anyways when we gave him our info he looked at me and said "is this YOUR number?"Rigdon said "ya it is OUR number." He pretty much ignored her and was only interest in me. Haha He actually came to church..So funny.

Saturday we visited with the Willems for a little before lunch. Super cute old couple that speak really hardcore Antwerps...and I can never understand him. He gets frustrated. Haha its funny. But he taught us some funny words. Then we helped out our favorite, Julie! She made us LEKKER pudding and I helped sand down her door so that it wouldn't get stuck anymore. (Julie, ik weet dat u dit zal lezen. Haha Ik houd van u. jij bent de beste ooit en gelukkig verjaardag! Wij zullen je vanavond zien!)

We are going bowling for Julies Birthday today! It is going to be awesome!!!!! I am super excited. 

 

Eugeen is doing great! I wasnt there for his lesson but I heard it went well. I will be seeing him on thanksgiving:)

Victoria and Creola are good, didn't get to have a lesson with them this week but hopefully this upcoming one. 

TASI! Guess what? That song you sung for me, the I Need Thee Every Hour one. well I heard it the other day and started crying hardcore. It sounded just like you. Anyways. I love you and miss you tons! Thanks for the awesome email!! 

I hope you guys all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. The members here are really taking care of us, I love them soo much! This IS the true church. I miss you tons and cant wait to hear from you! 

Sing beautiful songs for me!! and dont forget to act out Daniel 6. THanks. haha Love you!!!

Zuster KOHLERT 

Week 23: Alma 32

Hey family!!! Mom and Dad! Thank you for all the treats and presents! I got them from Julie last Monday and they are totally awesome. I haven't opened all of the presents because I will save them for Christmas! I am so grateful that you guys had a great trip and a lovely time with the members here. 

I got a big hug from Zuster Boegaerts and Julie when I saw them. They are both in love with you two. Z. Boegaerts told me not to change myself and to stay spontaneous like my momma! I hear that you met the ZLs and pretended to be a visitor from Germany. Haha So great. the Elders told me that you (Mom) and I are exactly the same and I am very proud of that:) Haha! 

This week was a weird week but still really awesome. Things with Eugene are good. I think I told you that he fell and hurt himself so now he has to either move to a rest home or move in with his kids..Jammer. We will see what happens with him this upcoming week. 

We didn't get to meet with Marisa this week...Total bummer. She is kinda flaking on us which sucks but we hope we can get an appointment with her this week. 

Remember the Romanians? Victoria and her friend Creola? Well we stopped by their appointment the other day and they were totally open and happy to see us. We read Alma 32 With them and it was super spiritual. Creola was so excited because that scripture answered a question she had. She bought a pot a couple of months ago that said something like "the pot is the hope and the flower is the gift or faith or something" Anyways she was wondering what that meant and after reading she was super excited because she understood what that meant. (If you don't know what I am talking about you should probably read Alma 32 this week)

Zuster Rigdon had another meeting in the Netherlands so that meant a lot of traveling and me spending time in Maastricht knocking doors. I do have to say that I am getting a little better at my Dutch. Haha Whenever we are by Julie she always gets super mad if we say anything in English..thanks mom:).  

We went to the youth stake fireside on Friday night which was super good and also Saturday night we had the adult session of Stake Conference. That was SOOOOOO GOOOD! the Area Seventy who spoke was so bold and just said everything that everyone needed to say. He definitely is pushing the members to do their part of missionary work and I think it is great. He is also pushing us to do better. I think it is fantastic. 

Haha.. Saturday night the Turnhout sister slept over (because we had stake conference in Brussels on Sunday) so we decided to have a competition to see who could finish a can of whipping cream the fastest. I didn't win.. I thought I was going to though. Haha It was fun. 

Sunday was fabulous. We picked up Ashley (one of the youth who we reactivated) and went to conference with brother Schiltz. He is totally awesome btw. He told me about Belgium and life in the car. He is really a cool guy and can't wait for you guys to meet them when you come pick me up. Stake Conference was great. When the Seventy spoke..it was sooo good. Ashley was even crying (which means of course I was crying). She told us that she really wants to go on a mission and is going to start preparing now. Soooo cool. 

Here is just a thought: I remember the feeling of the day you guys dropped me off at the MTC and how sad I was and all the different mixes off emotions. Do you guys remember that? I do. Anyways. That feeling you guys had, the feelings we had were the same feelings that we had when we left our Father in Heaven except for those feelings were even stronger. Heavenly Father gave us a big hug and said "I will see you again." I cant imagine how he feels now as he watches live our lives. He just loves us sooo much. He knows that being here on earth is what we need to be doing in order to be happier and perfect like him. Just like how you guys know we need to be on a mission right now in order to be better when we get home. Thank you for all of the support you guys give me. I know this is the church of Jesus Christ. I know that I am not perfect but by live the gospel and following the words of the prophets, we can become perfect, we CAN live together forever. 

This is the work of the Lord and I am so excited to be helping and doing my part. I love you guys a ton. Hope I didn't forget anything.

Transfer calls are next week..I think I am going to be staying in Antwerpen....sadly that means Zuster Rigdon is leaving..but we won't know until next week! 

Steph thank you for the letter! I will write back asap. LOVE YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!! Keep being awesome. 

Zuster Kohlert

Week 22: Can't Believe I saw Soeur Hilton in Brussels

Hello family!! And parents who are in the same city as me right now...that is totally nuts! haha

I hope that everything is going well with my siblings and my missionary parents. Haha I busted up laughing when mom said that she talked to 20 people about the church. I should give Julie some pass along cards to give to you so that way you can hand them out. haha That would be really great actually.

Anyways! Sorry for the bummer letter last week. I have now learned that the Lord gives us downs to prepare us for the ups (and vis versa (I suck at spelling?)). This week was just Full of miracels so I hope that I can remember to tell you all about them. haha

I am sooo excited for mom and dad to be hanging out with the members in my ward! You guys are going to have so much fun! Sister Boegaerts said that she was going to drive you by our apartment so I think I am going to surprise you..Just a heads up, Look at the first level of windows and you might see something there!(:

Okay, so Tuesday was a great day! We had Distric Meeting, which is ALWAYS amazing because Elder Cooper is our district leader and he totally follows the spirit. The church kitchen was full of stuff so we went to eat at Janky Shaorma. That was really fun and lekker. Then we went and visited Thinely ( the girl from Tibet...? or somewhere..she is a little hard to understand) And we had a good talk just about life. Her brother was there so we also gave him a BOM. We set up an appt to meet with them tomorrow. It will be really interesting because they are Buddists and dont believe in Christ. I am excited. Then we stopped by Marisa's house! She was that lady who stopped us on the street. She was super cute and so we made another appt with her. (Just you wait...there is more about her on the way!)

Wednesday we had a really good lesson with Eugeen. He still is having a hard time understanding the difference between our church and other churches so we taught him about the priesthood and the restoration again. Thank goodness we had this member named Javier there because we would have totally confused the poor guy. He totally helped explaining the priesthood better. Then we had dinner with the Schiltz. MY FAVORITE PEOPLE EVER! It was such a great meal and good time. We listened to Christmas music and sung hymns together. It was just gezellig. I felt like I was at home with you guys and just having a great time. I miss you guys a lot..so it helps to have a great couple like the Schiltz.

Thursday I was in Turnhout..doing a lot of what I hate...Door knocking. But hey. It wasn't that bad. I just need to be happier when I do it. No one wants to listen to someone who isn't happy! I learned a lot. But meanwhie. Zuster Rigdon and Zuster Clement were having a great day in Antwerpen! Contacting like crazy and having a great lesson with Victoria's friend (Creola) and friends daughter (Roxanna). Victoria was too tired or something. But they had a really great lesson with them. Super positive so hopefully the ball will get rolling with them when we had another lesson tomorrow.

Friday I went to Brussels to get my Belgium visa card! Woot. It is super ugly but oh well. haha BUT GUESS WHAT!? On our way down there we got a call for this lady that Z. Rigdon and Z. Clement talked to..They were lost so they went to her house to ask and she helped them so in return they gave her a BOM even though she wasnt really religious. When her kids came down stairs they asked what the book was about and the lady said "jesus" and the little girl shuttered. So She called us to apologize that her daughter had shuttered...It wasn't because she didnt like Jesus, she just thought of the suffering that he had been through. She went on and said that she was reading the BOM with her kids that night and she felt bad that she didnt know anything about it...so that is why she called us. We made an appt with her for the 20th so we are super excited about that. Super cool miracle eh? I think so! I hope that made sense. AND we were walking out of the law building and guess who I saw??? Sister Hilton! One of the sisters that Kristy trained in Rennes! Cool eh? We talked a little and that was fun. I will send a picture. That night we helped out with one of our favorite members Bday party. That was fun!

Saturday! Woot. We taught Marisa the restoration and it went really good. The spirit was totally there! She told us she was going to go to church and it was just awesome. She is totally ready. That night the young womens in the stake had a fashion show..that was hilarious and fun.

Sunday...GUESS WHO CAME TO CHURCH!? Marisa!! And her son. I think she really enjoyed it. I know that her son had a lot of fun. Afterwards he held my hand on the way to the tram. it was cute. So yea!

Great week! Totally blessed! (:

Love you guys sooo much! I hope everything is going great and I JUST LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Zuster Kohlert

P.S.  The following is a letter that Sister Hilton (the missionary that Kristy trained) wrote to Kristy about seeing Nicole in Brussels:

This last Friday Soeur Johns and I went to Brussels to do my legality.  We get off the metro and we join up with Elder Smith and Elder Nicholson.  All of a sudden a SWARM of really unfamiliar-looking missionaries appeared. It all happened so fast, and suddenly there was a sister missionary introducing herself to me.  She said her name was "Sister Kohlert."  Seriously the wierdest moment.  I was so confused!  I was thinking to myself, "No way, Sister Kohlert is shorter and lives in Luxembourg!"  Then all the pieces fell together in my dazed brain and I freaked out... Yes... I saw your sister.

She is seriously the happiest missionary I've ever seen.  She seems like she is really really loving her mission. We chatted/screamed about you for a few minutes and took pictures.  She looks so much like you...it was surreal.  I'm sorry that it was me that saw her and not you.  But it was meant to be because they actually had a refferal for us and they didn't know there were sisters in Liege, and we have a referral for them, and I had forgotten there were sisters in Antwerp! 

Also, her companion was Sr John's Relief Society President at BYU freshman year!  It was seriously so crazy!

Anyway, I love you to pieces and seeing your sister just made me miss you even more!  I loved getting your letter and I'm so happy to hear that your mission is so much calmer now:)  Oh and HAPPY 9th MONTH MARK bientôt:)  

love love love,

Sr Hilton

Week 21: Feeling the Spirit on the Bus

Hey family and friends!! How are things going with you guys? Thank you for all of the emails and love. It really helps.

 

Sooooo Today we went to Brugge so I don't have much more time to write my big letter. I am really sorry. But know that I pray for you daily and I wish the best for you.

 

This week went by soooo quickly but also sooo slowly. We had our awesome Halloween party and that was a blast!!! I wish I had time to send pictures.

 

Tuesday we went on exchanges and I was with Zuster Clement! Woot. Cool story from that day. We were riding on the bus back to Antwerpen and there was this super sad looking lady on the bus so I told Zuster Clement that we were going to talk to her. I just had a strong feeling that we should. So when we got off the bus we awkwardly started a conversation with her. Her name ins Victoria and she is fro, Romania but speaks English. When I was talking to her about the Book of Mormon. I have never felt the spirit that way before. I didn't have to try to speak. The words were coming from my mouth. She was touched and really was interested. SO we got her info and brought her a book later this week and she was super positive. We are teaching her this week. I cant put into words how uplifting that experience was for me. The Lord works wonders ya all. Haha

 

We had a really good lesson with Eugeen this week.. We talked a little about baptism and he doesn't see the difference between his church and ours so this week we are going to focus on the Priesthood and how important it is and hopefully set a baptismal date. Imagine baptizing a 91 year old. Nuts huh? I think it would be soo cool. Haha

 

Everything else is pretty much the same. I love my comp and we are just loving life...Saturday was a really hard day for me for some reason...Just super homesick and feeling worthless but by Sunday I felt better and realized that our ward here is great and the gospel is true.

 

I am sorry I don't have much more room. Haha I almost kissed one of the sisters in our ward yesterday because we were going in to kiss cheeks and we both went to the same side..haha Awkward but super hilarious.

 

And we went to Brugge today..I hope I didn't already say that but it is BEAUTIFUL AND AWESOME! Can't wait to send pics.

 

Other than that. it is normal life.

 

I love and miss you guys tons. Probably too much because I have dreams almost every night of seeing you. It will get better though.

Love you!!!!

Zuster Kohlert