Week 72: Homeward Bound

God is great. This week has been such a beautiful week and I am so grateful that our loving Heavenly Father has blessed us sooo much. I will have to tell you more details on THURSDAY but I just wanted to let you know that I love the this gospel. I love the happiness that it has brought in my life and the lives of others. This is the Church of Jesus Christ and He guides us and helps us to return safely to our Heavenly Father. I know that He listens to our prayers.

 

I want to share an awesome experience that I had while on exchanges in Maastricht. We had just gotten out of a lesson and we didn't have anything until 8 or so that night. Sister Reeder just looked at me and said I feel like we should drop by some flowers to this less active that lives nearby, would you mind if we go to the store quickly and get some flowers and then drop them by. I said "guuurrl that is a fine idea!" WE got flowers and biked to her house and then rang on her doorbell. She lets us in and she looked kind of surprised and out of breath. But we thought nothing of it. We sat down and started talking and then randomly this member said "I am so glad you guys are here. I was just having a freak out moment (she has depression and other medical problems) and running up and down and I couldn't stop myself. So I prayed to God that He would help me and 5 minutes later you guys rang on my doorbell." We were so shocked. THat my firends is how Heavenly Father answers prayers. As we are open and receptive to the Spirit, we can be a blessing to others. I hope that we all can continue to strive for that Spirit. I am so sorry for my short email but I will be seeing you all soon. Thank you for you support and love! I love you so much!!! (:

 

Oh by the way sister Maughan is staying in Utrecht and is going to be training....AAHHHH. She is going to to great!! We should definitely pray for her.

 

LOVE YOU! THANK YOU!!!!!!

 

Liefs,

Zuster Kohlert

Week 71: JULLIE ZIJN DE BESTE OOIT.

Hey family!!!!! 

It's starting to get FREEZING cold here..how is the weather in Utah? I should probably buy some warm clothes or something because I don't think I have any clothes at home. (haha mom is probably snorting saying "ha funny, she has tons of clothes") haha But anyways. I am so grateful that I am a missionary! It's so awesome the things we are able to experience out here! This week was FULL of meetings, conferences and firesides! It was so great to be spiritually uplifted and to be able to see all my friends before I leave. It's crazy to think that I will be chilling with you guys in just over a week. I am so excited.

Zwarte Piet! He is Sinterklaas's helper

We had turkey bowl this week and it was sooo much fun! (: We went to Rotterdam and played at this park called Karlingse Bos and it's just such a great place. Brings back good memories from when I served there. Afterwards we had a wonderful family home evening at family Dubbelds and Fiston (one of our investigators) came! (: He really had a great time! It was fun. SO it was a miracle that he made it and that family Dubbeld was so open and welcoming.

Feeding the Birds After the Turkey Bowl

Tuesday I went on exchanges with sister Watkins, she is from my same MTC group so we just had a blast doing missionary work! We even listened to some awesome Mormon TAB christmas music haha That is the best way to warmth into your soul when your whole body is freezing. haha

 Wednesday we had a zone conference with Elder Moriera, an area authority or 70? I am not quite sure, but he is sooo great! He taught us about how important Repentance is and that we need to repent to receive mercy. Of course I knew that before but the way he taught it was just amazing. Repenting is joyful! (: ahaha And I also gave what we call my "dying testimony". Pretty much the missionaries that are "dying" give their testimony to all of the other missionaries. I cried. But I think it went okay. Wednesday night we brought our investigator Hans over to dinner at family Dubbelds (again, they seriously are amazing) and it went well. We had a good spiritual thought and enjoyed our time with them.

Thursday was great! haha We did some contacting and we ended being "held hostage"(not really) for an hour by a muslim who was trying to convince us of his religion but it wasn't working. haha And we couldn't get away. Strange people. We had lunch with a member from Almere! Madelon. SHe is great. Then we went with Fiston to a fireside in Den Haag where Elder Moriera also spoke and the spirit was strong. Fiston decided that he wants to serve a mission with his wife when he is older. We also had thanksgiving dinner on the train. haha It was a really fun thanksgiving. Definitely one I won't ever forget.

My Parents Away from Home

Friday I had mission leader council which is where all the leaders (zone leaders, sister training leaders, ap's and president and sister robinson) get together to talk about the mission and what we can to do help the mission out. Elder Moriera was there so he talked with us the whole time. He is great. I learned a lot about the importance of the spirit and also the importance of marriage and raising families. haha kinda funny that we would learn about that but we did. It was just so great to be able to see my friends again. :) I love the missionaries here. And president and sister Robinson are also amazing.

Sister Training Leaders

This week I learned about how important it is to use your time wisely and how sometimes we just need to give investigators some time to themselves in order to help them progress. We are praying and working to find a stable family for this ward and I would love it if you guys prayed with us! Thank you :) You guys are amazing.

I am so grateful for the agency that I have and that I can choose what I want my life to be. Heavenly Father is loving and amazing. And has made sure that we have good choices to choose from:) That is why he has given us Jesus Christ and the gospel. (: haha I love Him. He listens to you and to me.

Picture of the Utrecht Train Station Bike Stall

Love you and can't wait to see you!!!

Zuster Kohlert

Week 70: Ah...so blessed!!

Dear Family and Friends,

I am so sorry I literally have 2 minutes to write this email. I am the worst ever. SORRY! But This week was seriously amazing. I love the work of the Lord. He really works through our weaknesses to make us stronger. Hans and Fiston came to church on Sunday and we had a great time. We had Thanksgiving dinner with Susan, Henk, Lois, and Jarno! SO much fun. We had a campfire. 

 

Susan told us that she thanks whoever is listening (prayers in her own way) and when she does, she feels good! We have 3 new potentials for this week! And we are just busy busy busy. I love that I have the chance to be on a mission. I love my companion. She is the best! 

And I am so sorry that I can't write any more...But just know that I am doing great. I am so excited to see you in 2 weeks!! IT is seriously flying by. I don't even know what to think. Heavenly Father is just amazing though and I know that he loves me and that He looks after all of His children. I am sorry that this is so short! LOVE YOU GUYS AND MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY!! STAY STRONG.

 

LOVES, Sister Kohlert

Week 69: We Are the Architects of Our Own Happiness

This week was yet again a super busy week with exchanges and appointments, traveling and of course, AWESOME missionary work. I love missionary work. And there are sooo many forms of missionary work. We seriously are so blessed to be members of the restored church of Jesus Christ. I have no doubt that Heavenly Father loves us. No doubt.

I was pretty much the whole week out of Utrecht on exchanges and I thought it was AWESOME! It's sometimes tiring but it's ALWAYS rewarding. Haha I was able to work with SISTER BROPHYon Wednesday AND Thursday because our greenies (sister Lemich, Sister Maughan and sister Jensen) had to go down to Brussels for legal stuff. And so Wedensday I was with sister Brophy and it was the best thing. I love working with her. Even though we knocked doors almost the whole day, we still had a blast! We were even able to find a couple of good potentials for them which was great! I always feel better when I leave a city and they have at least one new potential. We aslo got Chinese for dinner because that exchange was our for sure last exchange together..crazy. We can't believe that the time is going by so quickly. It was a great way to look back on all of the fun experiences and blessings we received from Heavenly Father throughout our missions. So we worked hard in Breda! On Thursday sister Reeder jointed us and we also had another great day of contacting! We even gave an almost lesson to this lady at her door. It was way cool. And we used the gift of tongues and understood what an Arabic person was saying haha ;)

We had a wonderful first lesson with a new investigator, Fatmata, on Friday and we are excited to teach her! (: She is from Africa..somewhere. haha And after her lesson we were planning on going to visit another potential and then we got a text from a member telling us that his wife needed help at the church for the wedding reception and wanted to see if we could go. We decided that supporting the members was more important so we headed to the church. MIRACLE. She was so stressed but once we got there, we worked hard and got everything done WAY before it needed to be. She was soooo grateful and she even was offering to come on joint teach with us if we ever needed someone. Seriously a blessing. Then she continued to tell more members what had happened and they were all so happy. It goes to show that just the little things can make a huge difference. Turning outward and helping others is always the right way to go.

I wanna talk about this great talk I read this week! And I read it a month or so ago so sorry if I already talked about it but it seriously is amazing. It's call "we are architects of our own happiness" by Gerald J. Causse CES fireside and sadly I just looked at the time and I have to get off but I hope you guys can get the chance to read it! haha

"..Your happiness is not really the result of the circumstances of your life. It is more the result of your spiritual vision and the principles upon which you base your life. These principles will bring you happiness regardless of the unexpected challenges and surprises you will inevitably face during your journeys here on earth."

Love you all!!! MISS YOU!!!!!!!!!! Next monday is TURKEY BOWL and we are going to have a blast! :) LOVESSSSSS

Zuster Kohlert

Week 68: Running around with my head cut off...

Hey family!! How are you doing!? haha It was funny cuz daddy wrote in his letter that it feels like he just was writing me yesterday...and I feel the exact same way. Like I feel like there is nothing to special to tell you guys but I should probably tell you something anyways. haha I think I am hitting the "oh I'll be home in 4 weeks and can tell them in person" stage of my mission. haha Sorry, I will try my hardest not to let that happen. 

I love Heavenly Father. He is so amazing. I think this week I was sooo caught up in the "bigger" details of missionary work that I wasn't able enjoy the small little miracles that happen every day. And then I look back on my week and I think, "man, what did I even do this week that brought this amazing happiness to those aroundme?" Then I thought of some amazing things and so I will share those things with you!

I had the privilege of working with 2 of the sisters in my zone this week and it was amazing. I swear, these greenies are no regular greenies. They came pre-trained and ready to preach the gospel. I learned soo much from them. On one of these exchanges I was able to be in Capelle!! And I got to visit a TON of the previous investigators that we had when i was there. It was soo cool! Iris is doing great, Mano is doing awesome but sadly the Meisjes are not doing as well. There were some awesome things that happened that made me realize that exchanges are SO inspired! It was cool to see. Sorry, the stories would take WAY to long to explain..haha But just know that the Lord planned exchanges PERFECTLY this week. 

 Another little thing: haha just randomly after praying before going into an appointment a couple passed by us and before I knew it my hand grabbed a pass a long card and my mouth was speaking to them. Turns out that the lady had just told her husband a couple of days before that she wanted to find a new church! so that was cool!

We were knocking doors yesterday, after a long and hard day, and we just kept enduring even though NO ONE wanted to listened. The last house that we knocked on was this 23 year old girl(Lady?) haha who was so cool and wanted to hear about what we believed in. We gave her a restoration on the door and unfortunately she didn't want us to come back but she was definitely sincere and said she would read the plan of salvation pamphlet. It was just cool to see that we still could plant seeds even when we had bad days. The catch was that WE NEEDED TO PUT IN THE WORK.

We also had dinner with Susan and Henk again this week! They are amazing. ANd guess what? Henk's children were there! Löis (girl, 16) and Jarno (boy, 13) And afterwards we got a call from Susan saying that the kids LOVED us and they want to come to the thanksgiving dinner that we are having with Susan and Henk! COOOLLLL HUH??? We taught them about heavenly father last time. I hope they felt His love.

We fasted and prayed for an lessactive who was getting brain surgery this week and everything went super well! He is back to his normal self just after 4 days! (: fasting and praying works my friends!

We set up 2 appointments with potential investigators for this week so we are excited! 

I am feeling super trunky...and it sucks. But focusing on the work has definitely helped! Am so ecited to be able to see you guys! AHHH It's crazy. I love you and miss you! Hope you have a wonderful week, I know mine is going to be CRAZY. haha

Love you, 

Zuster Colie Kohlert

Week 67: The Lord is Amazing!

All I have to say is the LORD is amazing. Seriously. I was pretty stressed about training and becoming a sister training leader but He has blessed me with the best greenie EVER. Her name is sister Maughan (pronouced as if you were to say "hey, MAAANNNN.") I hope that made sense. Haha she is 20 and is from Highland, Utah. She has 10 siblings and she is a twin. What else....? SHE IS AMAZING. So motivated and just a really good missionary. She keeps me sane. haha She also is JUST LIKE ME. I swear we are the same exact person. Haha I like her a lot. Her Dutch is also very good. So after picking her up and seeing how amazing she was, I was SO releaved. She is amazing and she can sing like a babe (I am listening to her right now haha she doesn't know I can hear her..haha)

I am almost out of time...sorry, I was trying to figure out classes. But pretty much we are teaching the same people...Finston, Daniel, Hans, Mellonie, Jan, and Jeremy along with Susan and Henk and some less active members. Everyone is going good. We had dinner with Susan and Henk (she's the awesome American and he's an amazing Dutchman) and they told us that they LOVE having us over. He gets out of bed right on time because he's so excited to see us and to get home on time from work! Sooo cool huh?

Jan said he would like to get baptized...we just have lots to teach him. And we are just sooo excited to go contacting and do awesome work here. I love it. I love change, it's amazing. haha (:

I learned A TON about faith this week. Faith is Jesus Christ is SO important. If we have faith, that means we will act and do the things that Jesus has asked of us. And if we do those things we will always have the Spirit with us. I love feeling the spirit. It is such an amazing gift. I hope we all can strive a little bit more on listening to the spirit. (:

I am sorry that I neglect you guys in my emails. I wish I had more time. BUT know that I love you and I will see you in a month or so!! OH TASI AND KY!!! CONGRATSSS!!!

I love youououuuuuuu!!!

Zuster Kohlert

Week 66: Welllllllll, There is no better way to finish your mission than with a big BANG.

Well I think there needs to be a big drumroll right now! Here is what is happening with the last transfer of my mission....ARE YOU READY? haha I didn't sleep because of it so I hope you are ready. haha I will be staying in Utrecht!! WHOOOhooo. (not too big of a surprise) BUT I will be training and will be the sister training leader of the Rotterdam zone plus Breda and Maastricht!! haha Man. I think I just got a pile of bricks thrown on me. I am sooo excited to be training. My biggest dream!!! This poor greenie is going to hate me... haha! But becoming the sister training leader is pretty insane. All I know is that the Lord needs me for who I am and I can't wait to be an instrument in His hands to help out the sisters and the Zone. So you will be getting pictures next week! You can also look on my mission blog to see the new sisters coming in. You will probably know who my comp will be before I even tell you. haha

We had a really good week this week! Sadly I don't have much time to tell about it....But I will do my best. We are still teaching Mellonie and her brother Jan, such great people. We didn't get another baptismal date set with them this week but hopefully next week. We also had really good appointments with Hans, who is progressing more but sadly he started reading a blog of an ex-communicated member...and now has lots of questions. Good thing we have NOTHING to hid. The gospel of Jesus Christ is pure. It is love. So we are going to be showing him lots of love and help answer his questions.

We had some exchanges this week and I got to work with sister Brophy here in Utrecht! SOOO much fun. I love that girl so much. You guys are going to love her. haha And alsooooo she is going to be training and white washing in Breda. So at least we are going on exchanges together! (: Woohoo. Super pumped. haha And then I went on exchanges with sister Watkins! Guess what happened as we were biking??? My seat to my bike just fell off! hahah SO funny. So she rode my bike (because sister verdegem's bike is too tall for her) African style. That means so rides while sitting on the achterop. (see picture) It was hilarious! 

We also have a new investigator named Daniel! He is really cool and originally from...somewhere in the east...I can't remember. But he is really looking for the truth. I am excited to see where things go with him.

Well that is all the time I have. I love you guys so much...I am sorry to say that I am going to have to stop emailing you guys in 6 weeks. I love you but I just am going to have to stop...haha. I'll talk with you face to face instead. haha LOVE YOU

Week 65: HEYYY!! (: Temple, miracles and tired. haha

Hey family! Yet again, I don't have much time but I will try my best to get as much in this email as I can!!! So how are you doing??? It feels like it has been a long time but at the same time it has really flown by.

This week we were soo blessed to go to the temple! And that was my first time seeing one of the new temple videos. Hmmm. Don't know what to think about it but I definitely loved being back in the temple again! I loved the spirit that was there. Afterwards with have a conference and I was able to see a lot of my good friends. Zuster Wood and I had stayed up until 2 amthat night packing up her stuff....So I was super tired. But now we are just 2 here in Utrecht. haha It's different but it's good. I really do love this ward and the people here. It has been a blast!

We met with the usuals this week and sadly Mellonie wasn't baptized this weekend. We still haven't picked a date with her but we will this week. She came to the baptism of the elders and she loved it! ANd guess who else came?? Her brother Jan! He just walked into the church and was super pumped to see the baptism. Afterwards I talked with him and you could just see that the spirit had touched him soooo strongly. He even came to church on Sunday and we are planning on teaching him this week! MIRACLE!

We also met an oppair(?), babysitter kinda person from Ecuador, who is a member and she invited her friend to church. The member is Sofia and her friend is Luzette or something like that. She really loved church and she is super excited to come back! ANOTHER MIRACLE!!

WE invited Finston to be baptized and he said that if we were to know that the BOM was true, we would be baptized!! YET ANOTHER MIRACLE!

The Lord has blessed us with AMAZING members here!! The YSA just took in Sofia and Luzette like they were best friends. It was SOO great. I am just loving the people here. I hope I get to stay until I go home..but we will see! haha

I am doing good and enjoying life. It's weird that time is going by so quickly. Sometimes I don't know how the week goes by so fast...but it just does.

IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU GUYS WANT FROM EUROPE!? email me back right now. Then I can start getting stuff.

Oh another cool thing! We were sitting on the train on our way back from a meeting and we hear someone say "Are you LDS?" It was a friend of Elder Bitters (an elder here) who was trying out for soccer stuff. His name is Carlos. We talked for a while and then helped him find the bus he needed to take and then as we were saying goodbye he gave both of us a hug. haha SOOO FUNNY. We just rolled with the punches on that one. 

I don't know what else to say except for I LOVE YOU!!! HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK! AND I MISS YOU A TON!!!! :)

Week 64: Crazy week!

Hey family! (: Oh this week was pretty crazy! haha But it was sooo good. I love the work, it seriously is amazing. I am starting to get anxious about going home but I know that there has to be an end at some point. Thank you for the great emails this week. It is so awesome to hear from all of you!

A member who is a photographer took picutres of my companions and me.

More photos.....

Me, Sister Verdegem and Sister Wood

So sadly Melonie's baptism didn't go through this weekend..Her mother ended up getting really sick and had to go to the hospital on Friday. She is staying there for a couple of days but we aren't sure exactly what happened. So pray for her. We will see if she is getting baptized this weekend or not. But It was so cool because we (the young women, mellonie and us) did this skit for the ward and Mellonie did so good. haha (: We just had so much fun. And Mellonie was talking to a member afterwards and she told him why she was getting baptized and it was beautiful to hear. She will get baptized soon. 

We have a new investigator named Finston! he is from Congo and SUPER nice. He really is looking for the truth so we hope we can help him find out for himself. 

The members here are amazing. JUST LOVE THEM. I feel at home with them and just enjoy every second when I am around them! Sunday was just great and the spirit was strong. I love fast and testimony meeting.

Hans, one of our other investigators came to church and he was so great in the investigator class! We hope to be setting a date with him this week! HE JUST NEEDS TO CHOOSE. haha

I really have learned sooo much about patience and agency these past couple of weeks. I think it is great how Heavenly Father puts us in the PERFECT situations to learn things that we wouldn't learn any other way. We had interviews President and Sister Robinson and it was GREAT! I have come to realize how negative I am to myself. I am so hard on myself. But I talked with sister Robinson about it and she totally gave me the BEST advice. It is all about understanding the love that God has for us and having that love for ourselves. So I have been praying so that I can see the moments when i am super negative and then change them before they start making a snowball effect. i hope that made sense. haha If it doesn't...sorry. It's hard to put my thoughts into words haha

The zoo was great! (: LOVED IT.

We also had a sisters conference in the mission home and it was SO much fun. We learned tons about the Priesthood and how we are all empowered with priesthood power. Yes, even us women. SO STOP COMPLAINING PEOPLE. haha Not saying any of you are complaining about it but just thought I would throw that out there. We are privilaged to have the priesthood restored to the earth today. It is a great blessing. And I am so grateful for the worthy priesthood holders in my life. Dad, Ty, Kyler, Gpa (both of you), Uncles and friends. Thank you for being willing to use God's love and power to serve us. It is a burden sometimes but you have no idea the blessings that come from it. 

I love you guys soooo much! (: keep being amazing. I will see you sooner than you can say "ik hou van je meer dan een grote kus van Zuster Kohlert." haha 

Week 63: There's always a rainbow after the rain!

HELLLLOOOOOOO FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!! How is everyone doing?? I can't believe how fast this week has flown by. It's starting to hit me that I only have 8 weeks left..And then I get to see you wonderful people again. It's also very sad and humbling. There is so much work to do!

General Conference was GREAT!! But I would have to say that the Sisters Conference was one of my favorite meetings. The spirit was just strong and I was able to feel the love that Heavenly Father has for me and all of His children. Sadly I missed the Sunday afternoon session, just because it starts at 10 pm here. So I am excited to watch that..if we get the chance. haha I thought it was really cool that a lot of speakers spoke about the importance of personal revelation and receiving a confirmation of the revelation that the prophet and apostles get for the church. It's one thing to follow blindly and another to willingly and faithfully follow the prophet. Let us all accept our trials and set backs and use the Atonement to become better. I have learned recently how important trials are in our lives. I have probably already said this before but let me say it again. No one wants to get off of a comfortable Lazy Boy couch. But if you don't get up, you can't progress. So every once in a while, or maybe a lot of the times, we are put in a hard classroom wooden chair so that way we will get up and move, progress and become who the Lord wants us to become. 

This week was a lot better. We had some great lessons and we were able to find 2 new investigators. MIRACLE TIME. We hadn't had dinner late on Thursday night and we decided that we wanted some Chinese. After trying to find a decent Chinese restaurant, we ordered our food and headed home to eat. As we were biking this lady caught my eye...of course I felt that I needed to talk to her but I kept riding...Worst feeling EVER btw. At the end of the street and just had it with my selfishness (I was hungry) and turned around. I talked to this lady, named Besrat, and she ended up letting us in. Turns out that they had just moved here and they pretty much don't have anything of their own. We taught a short lesson to her and her 17 yr old daughter and made a return appt. and as we were praying for them I had the feeling to give them some of our Chinese food. Before we left I gave them some of our Chinese food and you could just see their faces light up. They really needed some warm, good food. It felt so great. We then had a great lesson with them the next day and invited them to be baptized, they said that if they came to know it was true then they would get baptized! So COOL. 

We met with Susan (the american nonmember) and Henk (also not a member) and we had american pancakes on Sunday morning. SOOOO GOOOD. I felt like home. We answered their questions and invited them to read in the BOM and they said they would. HA! And she said she wasn't interesed in the church. haha

I can't remember what else happened but those were some of the great miracles that we saw. Mel is getting baptized on sunday! SOOO pumped. (: Pray for her and her family that they will continue supporting her. Love you all and can't wait to hear from you next week!

LOVE YA AND MISS YA!

Zuster Kohlert 

Week 62: Tough Love

EY FAMILY!!!!  Thank you for all of the awesome support you have been giving me and the prayers. They are much needed.

This week was good. We had some wonderful appointments this week including one with an American who is from Oregon...not sure exactly where but it's not really close to us. Her daughter became a member after she moved here and she doesn't really believe in God but she just wanted to have some dinner with Americans haha She cooks great. When we first set up the appointment she had told us she didn't want to be converted..oh sweet lady, we dont convert you, the spirit does. haha  haha But she made us some LEKKER (delicious) blackberry cobbler and I was dying. I just wanted to go back to Oregon and pick some fresh fruit. MMMMM. So good. haha And this is what was WAY cool. So we decided to share something small out of the BOM and she (well and her Dutch husband, Henk) was very hesitant but she said okay. We just shared 2 nephi 25:26 and at the end she goes "that's it! Wow.!" and the husband said "that was actually very beautiful" before we could say anything else she said "Does that book explain what happens to us when we die? Next time you guys come over can you share that with me..Both of my parents are dead and I really want to know." Well lady, you really are going to have to pull our arms to get us to come back ;0 haha just kidding so we set up an appoint to eat blueberry pancakes on Sunday morning. haha SUPER PUMPED. Did I mention that they are AMERICAN!? (: haha So excited.

Mellonie is doing super good. We had some great lessons with her that I CAN'T wait to tell you about in person!!! They would take forever. Pretty much she is getting baptized on the 12th! Super pumped. haha 

Mellonie and I

I WENT ON EXCHANGES WITH SISTER BROPHY IN CAPELLE!!!!!!! This was my highlight. It was so great. I got to see Iris (she is doing good by the way) and Shabnam!!! It was so great. I felt like I should just stay there forever. But we did some great contacting and we actually found this really awsome man who was super interested. Sunday night I got a call from sister Brophy saying that they had an appointment with him and he is GOLDEN and that he is going to get baptized!! MIRACLE!!! That totally busted my spirits. I am sooo excited for him. SO excited! haha See Heavenly Father is great and blesses us when we are faithful. It was cool because that morning that we had found him, I was studying about faith and so sister brophy and I said we were going to exercise more faith in finding and look what happened. The Lord is great. haha 

Saying Goodbye to Sister Brophy

We also had a great first lesson with Sait. He is from Turkey and he has already read 63 pages of the bom. We will see where he goes!

I thought really hard today about how we all of the agency to decide whether or now we are happy. WE DECIDE OUR OUTCOME, NO ONCE ELSE.  I have also realized that the storms are what helps make us grow. He has planned everything out PERFECTLY and understand what we need in order to progress.I love Heavenly Father. He loves you. I am pumped for the next 2ish months and that I can show my love for him. I pray that I can have patience and endure my trials. Love you tons! 

Zuster Kohlert

Week 61: Trouble with the Internet

Hey, yesterday was crazy and the computer at the library freaked out, so my whole email was erased and then I had already ran out of time to write something...and then the computer kicked me out. 

SO anyway, I just want you to know that I love you and that everything is going good here in Utrecht. 

Zuster Wood and I

My Threesome

LAUREN I AM SO PUMPED FOR YOU!!!!!! 

STEPHANIE!!! I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY on Friday! 

I love you and miss you! 

Week 60: Well...goodbye Capelle and hello Utrecht!

Here is my new address!

Dr. Max Euwestraat 10

3554 EZ Utrecht

Nederland

Hey folks! I am so grateful today. I am just in awe this week of how much Heavenly Father loves me. He is just...so amazing. SO many things happened this week.. I don't even know where to begin. First off, I am going to Utrecht with sister Verdegem and sister Wood! Sister Verdegem is from Belgium and I was actually just on exchanges with her...3 days ago haha so it will be fun to be their companion. I have never had 2 other companions at the same time. So this will be fun haha I am going to miss sister Brophy SO MUCH. We don't even know what to do with ourselves, that's how sad we are. But we really are blessed because we are only 30 min away so we are going to be going on exchanges together and I can come work in Capelle! Sister Verdegem is the sister training leader, so that's why we will go on exchanges. This is going to be fun. haha

So everything with Iris is going good. She came to church and she loves it. We are meeting with her on Tuesday to set another date with her and I will say goodbye:( I don't want to leave this place because the people here are seriously the best ever. Oh so sad. Ali is good? We heard from someone that he might be a criminal...so that's exciting. haha They will be meeting with him this week...so we will see how that goes. haha Mano is great...minus the fact that he got hit by a car and broke his leg in 2 places. I swear everyone I am with gets hurt/has to go to the hospital...Why do I say that? Because I was on exchanges with sister Verdegem in Utrecht and she has been having some heart problems so we went to the doctor on Thursday night and he pretty much did nothing...and then the next day we were going to exchange back but Sister Verdegem woke up with a numb left arm..and it was hurting her so we called sister Robinson and she told us to go to the Emergency Room. So we did! We biked there....haha we are stupid. I wish I could tell more details but pretty much, Heavenly Father really planned things out perfectly because our appts in Capelle canceled and sister Brophy and Anjewierden were able to come to Utrecht and go to the appts that they had planned. And it was no coincidence that I was with sister Verdegem though. They were drawing blood and poking her with needles and I thought it was so cool to see but if sister brophy or anjewierden would have been there, they would have passed out because they hate blood. So I stayed in the hospital until 6 pm as they ran test after test on her and they didn't figure anything out...But she is okay. I got to see her heart on an Ultra Sound. I am kinda taking this as a sign that I should become a nurse because I thought it was so cool and they way they treated her was awful so I want to be a great nurse and help people out. We'll see how that works out. haha So pretty much I was in utrecht for 2 days and wore the same outfit for 3 days straight...haha awkward. haha but everything is good now.

We got to have a mission wide conference this week and we heard from Elder Ballard, Elder Halstrum and Elder Dyches. Super cool. The thing that I learned/ really stuck out to me was how important prayer is. We can teach people and tell them all these things but if they don't pray and ask for themselves, nothing is going to come of it. I challenge you all to read and sincerely pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true. I can tell you that it its. It's a beautiful book. I love it and I know the principles that are inside of it will help us have the happiest life. I love the gospel. It's great.

What else? That's about it. I am out of time. I love you guys. I can't believe time is going by this fast...it's insane. But GOOD JOB MOM AND DAD for doing a tri!!! Sooooo awesome. haha I love you and can't wait to hear from you again!

Miss you!

Zuster Kohlert

Week 59: Who Hired the Band?

Well another week as come and gone! And yet again, I don't feel like there is much to say! So I have been sending pictures to explain things better. Maybe it's just like a block in all "older missionaries heads" that they don't feel like anything new is happening but really there are tons of things!! haha 

Lunch with a member!

Iris is doing really good!! We asked her to pray about a baptismal date and so she prayed and she got the 22nd of September, a lot sooner than we were expecting but we are excited. We will probably have to move it because we can't do baptisms on Mondays..says the ward. But it's okay, we are just pumped that she has been praying about it! I love her a ton! She is seriously one of my favorite people ever. I can't wait until you guys meet her. haha It was funny because after our lesson on tuesday she told us about the World Habor Day on Saturday night and she invited us to come..but it was later than our hours and so we told her maybe that we would try. haha We didn't think that our president would let us go all the way to the city at 9 at night until 11 and watch a boat show and some fireworks with our investigator....but we called him and guess what? He said yes!!! 

 

Haha.... So we had another lesson on Thursday and it went super well. WE talked about the atonement and the spirit was strong. I am sooo grateful for christ! He is amazing. When we are baptized, it's us telling Jesus that we are going to do our best to follow Him and in return He will make up for our short comings and imperfections. He has that authority to forgive us! it's sooo great!!!! (: I am so grateful that even when i am not perfect, he can help me be. Just like what it says in Moroni 10 vs 32-33! LOVE IT. She then came to the BBQ on friday and loved it and then we went to Habor day with her! It was so much fun! We ended up going to bed at midnight that night but it was really great being there with her and her son. Don't worry, we were safe. haha 

Harbor Day with Iris

Emasmus Bridge

Harbor Day with Iris and Brandon

Friday we had the BBQ and it was great! I told you that our investigator Mano wanted us to sing right? Well he really figured everything out. He brought an amp and a singer and had us sing in front of everyone...awkward. haha and then the other singer sung and it was great. It was kinda cool. haha the BBQ was good. haha Not as many people came as we had planned but it was cool! We have a lesson with Mano and all of his friends tomorrow and we are excited. 2 of his friends came to the BBQ and they really enjoyed it. haha So that was fun! 

Iris and Brandon at the BBQ

Singing at the BBQ

Ali is doing good too. We had an appt with him about the law of chastity and word of wisdom and at the end we asked him to throw away all of his cigarettes and guess what? he did! So here is us breaking his cigarettes! I am excited for him. I don't know if he will be able to get baptized on the 20 but we'll keep working with him! 

Breaking Cigarettes

Today we got to go into a Molen (windmill) and it was so much fun! I will send pictures! 

Windmill with our District

Windmill with our District

Life is just good. haha I love being a missionary. Thursday Elder Ballard is coming to talk to our whole mission!!! I am so excited! (: haha I will let you know how it goes! haha we are being fed everyday this week...Lunch and dinner! So cool. And transfer calls are on sunday so i might be moving.

Don't send anything now...I will let you know next week what is happening! I love you all! have a great week! MISS YOU!