Week 39: Another Week has Come and Gone

So just after we finished our emails last week, a lady that started talking to us! So we actually set up an appointment with her for this Friday! We hope that it goes through:) It was cool to see that Heavenly Father puts us in the places where people are open to us. I feel like that has been the theme for this week! 

We had another cool experience where we decided to look up this inactive in the area and as we are walking up to her house she opens the door and we start talking with her. Turns out she has a hand disease and needed help unloading her car and putting dog and cat food into different bags. So that's what we did(: We got to know her and she served a mission in England and now is living here by herself. She is super nice and really open to have us over. She is redecorating her house so shell invite us afterwards but she also decided to give us her piano! Little did she know that I wanted to get a small keyboard for the apt (not sure it's allowed but..haha) and it was just cool that she ended up answering my prayers, so to say. It was really awesome. She called us her angels from heaven because we helped her out. Those are the moments that make my mission worth it, personally, and confirms that I am where I am supposed to be.

 

We had a lesson with Sofia this week! FINALLY. She finishes work this week so she should be in church this week! WOOT! And her boyfriend even wants to come so we will be inviting them to general conference. I AM SO EXCITED FOR GENERAL CONFERENCE(: After general conference we get to go to the temple and then it's my birthday!  I hope you get to enjoy listening to the prophet and receiving revelation!

 

We also had a lesson with Aji and Henry! We taught them about the plan of salvation..And it went well but not what we thought would happen. He ended up having a lot of questions and it made it difficult to really focus on the spirit. BUT...by the end we made sure to give a strong testimony about how we can live with our families forever and the blessings we receive. I think they know it is true..they are just scared. I think there are more details in my handwritten letter, sorry. haha

 

We had dinner at Zuster Walle's this week and she is one of my favorite people. She was the one who bore her testimony about her black dress..I think I told you about that last month. Anyway, she went on and told us story after story of how she knows God lives and that He answers prayers. I wish I had time to write the whole story but she has so much faith and she ASKS IN FAITH that she gets what she asks for. haha I want to be like her. There is a talk by Elder Bednar that is called "Ask in Faith", you should read that. It is really good.

 

So..have you guys started reading the BOM yet? We are almost done with our 90 day reading of the BOM and it was so awesome. I LOVE the BOM. And reading it all the way through in such a short amount of time has really helped me have a greater understanding of it! It is the word of God and will bless your life. So now I started reading it all the way through in Dutch and it's amazing how much I can understand. I am only a few chapters in but I am really excited to read it all the way through. I hope I can finish by the end of my mission.

 

So we are continuing our work in making the ward more unified. We get to plan an activity for the Relief society in May and we would LOVE ideas on how we can help these sisters see each other the way that the Lord sees them. I would LOVE ADVICE.

 

I love you guys soooo much and miss you!! Oh one more funny thing. I contacted this guy and the second I said "pardon" he looked at us and RAN! And as he was running he was screaming something about devils and it was hilarious..haha Love contacting stories.

 

I miss you and love you! Enjoy Conference!

 

Zuster Kohlert

Week 38: LOVING LIFE...and a Bit Sore!

This week was soooo busy and it was awesome! (: Some highlights:

We got to do service at a kids petting zoo kinda thing and it was raining SO hard but it was lots of fun digging and doing dirty work. We had so much fun but now I am soooo sore. haha That same day the elders had a baptism and it was such a good baptism. When he went under the water and came back up I almost cried. The spirit was so strong.

We also helped with the Open House of the new church building in Zoetermerr! MAN. It was soo busy. I think around 1,000 people came just to get a tour. It was such a huge success and I am excited to see what comes of it. We were standing up giving tours, guiding people and answering questions from 10:00 am - 5:30 p.m. and then we cleaned the church. After working at the petting zoo the day before and then doing that all day, we were so pooped. But totally worth it.

We picked up 2 new investigators this week! Well, technically 3 because we are now teaching that one family that I talked about 2 weeks ago..when I saw them in white! Their names are Aji and Henry. Their little boy is Jack and they are from India. They couldn't go to church last week because she was sick (she's prego) but they came this week and man, it was amazing! They were asking so many question and Henry was asking us how he could become a member. So after church we met with them and taught them our first lesson. And it was SO GOOD. The spirit was strong and everything was working out great. You just know that they are ready by the way the lesson went. We asked them if they would get baptized and they said yes! We didn't set a date but we will on Saturday:) It is amazing how much the Lord is blessing us. Please pray for them!

Well I got a call from the Sister Training Leader yesterday and she asked me to give a 30 min training on how to work with less actives and inactives...WHAT? haha I am not going to lie..I do pretty good at working with them but I think every one else is too. So I was praying last night and it was crazy how clear of revelation the Lord was giving me. He gave me 3 points to work off of. Luckily I have also a great comp and she helped me think of a great activity for the missionaries. Oh ya, the training is in 3 days...haha so i am going to try my best to be prepared. Good thing the Lord answers prayers(: I love him! 

I don't have much more time. Sorry. But I love you guys sooo much and I miss you! (: Please pray for our investigators! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you!

I love you and ya! (: Until next week!

Zuster Kohlert 

Week 37: A Pinkster, a JW, and a Muslim

Hey family! 

Thank you so much for the wonderful emails and the love that you send! I am so grateful to have you guys in my life and I just love hearing from you every week. This week was such a GREAT week. Man am I tired. Yesterday after church and everything I was just pooped. But we have seen soooo many miracles this week so let me start sharing them with you!

First off, we set a baptismal date with Sofia!! YAY! She is going to get baptized on July 5th. I know that is a little far away but she is pregnant and also needs to get married so we all felt super good about that date. I am excited for her. We also picked up three new investigators this week! Daniella, the lady we found because we went to the wrong door, is from a Pinkster Gemeente (Branch) and she is very intelligent. She has four children and is amazing. Then we have Cassandra and Selim. Sadly I wasn't there for their first lesson because I was on exchanges, but Zuster Taylor and Zuster Greenwell were amazing and had a great lesson with them. Cassandra is Jehovahs Witness and Selim is Muslim!  I am super excited to see how thing go with them. I think this week we will try to set a baptismal date with Cassandra because she is totally awesome.

So I was on exchanges in Den Haag with Zuster Wood and Reeder. We started out the day making a rap about Nephi getting the plates from Laban for one of their investigators! It is hilarious! So I am really excited to show it to you guys when I get home. It was sad because we didn't get to do it for him because he wasn't home.. :( But we did have a really awesome first lesson with this girl named Fatima who is 17 and the daughter of one of the recently-baptized members in Den Haag. We didn't really know what to expect from her..Long story. So we kinda went in there not knowing exactly what was going to happen. It turned out to be one of the most spiritual lessons that I have ever had. She asked sooo many good questions and I could just tell that she really was searching for the truth. When I was baring my testimony to her about how much this gospel means to me and the joy it brings to me, I could feel the spirit so strong. Just thinking back on it makes me want to cry. But right after I gave my testimony she said that we were all glowing. That there was this light to us which was no doubt the Spirit. We ended up asking her to be baptized and she said she'd think about it. I am sad that I am not in Den Haag to continue teaching her..but I know that the Lord works wonders. He loves us sooo much it's crazy.  We had a lesson with Wilma this week...And sadly I don't think she is very open to the gospel. We will keep contact with her but I don't think we will but having anymore lessons.

So at the beginning of this week we had a lesson with Magnolia, an inactive and we made rice crispy treats with her and her son William (he is the one we take to church every week) and we had sooo much fun. We then had a really strong spiritual lesson with her and then asked her to come to church...and she said she would! There was also a Pot Luck going on after church so we told her we'd come over again to make food for it, she was totally down. haha We made rice an chicken stuff..it was good! And guess what? She came to church! YAY! People were really nice and had open arms to her. She is a little shy so I could see that it was a little hard for her but I think she really enjoyed everything. And the food there was great!

We picked up one of the Elder's investigator named Netty. She is such a sweetheart. She is the one that we went to her church..She's Indonesian. Rmember her? Well she's cool. She couldn't make it to church or the Pot Luck so she made food and dropped it off. What a sweetheart huh? I am excited for her to progress further in the gospel.

Thank you all for your love and support! I love you so much and I miss you like crazy, but this has no doubt been the best thing in my life. I am excited for Morgen to experience the same(: And also Lauren!!

This week I learned lots about prayer..Prayers are answered everyone! I was actually focusing a lot of praying for new investigators and guess what? We got them. Sometimes we just need to pray for the right things and ASK our Heavenly Father. (: He loves us so much.

I love you and keep up the good work!

Zuster Kohlert

Week 36: The Lord is Awesome

Okay so I don't have much time but I will try my best.

So pretty much what I learned this week is that the Lord is amazing. It might not seem liking he is blessing you but..he definitely is. So this week was full of appointments...which didn't go through. :( We had so many potentials with awesome appointments set up and no one was home. And I am not going to lie. That really wasn't very cool. We had worked sooo hard and we had NOTHING to show of it. But little did we know that the Lord was setting us up for the best UP ever.

So one really cool story! We were running late to an appointment with Sofia. She just moved, so it was our first time going to her new apartment. We thought we had the right door so we knock on it and this lady answered..we asked if Sofia was home and she said...."no".... and we are about to walk away when she starts asking us all of these questions about our church. We talked for a while and then set up another appointment. SEE YA'LL. The Lord works through out mistakes:) It's awesome. Haha!

Zuster Taylor and I

Something else cool that happened was the SUNDAY WE HAD A COUPLE INACTIVE MEMBERS WHO WE ARE WORKING WITH US COME TO CHURCH!!  And also an investigator!! (: It was sooo amazing to see the Lord bless us even though almost everything fell through. He really is so loving. It was cool because Zuster Taylor gave a great talk and then she played the piano while Madelon and I sung. I went pretty good..but I get nervous and shakey so I was great, but Madelon ROCKS. Haha

Working with Inactives!

Then after church we were taking William home and Zuster Taylor stopped a family right outside the church. They are from India and had just moved here. They are looking for a church! As they were talking, I could see them both dressed in white. I am really excited about them. Hopefully things will go good!    Ahhh! So much more happened but I can't think of anything right now. This week was sooo cool. We are working TONS with inactives and I am just loving it. SO GREAT.

I love you guys sooo much and I miss you like CRAZY! (:

ALMA 26:12 - LOVE

Zuster Kohlert

Week 35: Bike Accidents, Miracles, and Lots of Fun

HELLO FAMILY! :) Oh the sun is shining..well was shining..haha and there is just happiness in the air. How is everyone doing?

Before you guys start freaking out..I didn't get in a bike accident...but sadly Zuster Taylor did so I guess you can freak out a little bit;) haha. It was actually kinda funny because we were going to get our bikes and we thought..oh maybe we should take the bus today..nah..we'll save the church money and just take our bikes. We were are riding and I don't really know what happened but somehow Zuster Taylor's wheel got turned and she ended up crashing into the ground..Luckly she didn't get too hurt..just cuts and bruses. She is a trooper so that's good. I guess we should have listened to the spirit and taken the bus..haha oh well.

One day we were not feeling motivated at all to do missionary work but of course we pumped ourselves up and went out and did the Lord's work..and MAN did he bless us. WE ended up finding two referrals for some other place and then three solid potentials for us. We set up appts to meet up with two of them the next day and the other we will call today. I was just amazing to see the Lord blessing us and showing us that if we do HIS work, he will bless us. He wants us to succeed we just have to ACT. We also got a new investigator this week! Her name is Wilma and she is an older lady from South Africa. SHE IS HILARIOUS! She pretty much told us her life story about why she lives in the house she lives in and everything. Good times. We didn't have much time to actually give our message to her but we sure felt the spirit as we testified the Book of Mormon. She talked for like two hours straight though..haha so funny. We did also meet with Judith again! This time we met with her a lone and it was good. She also ended up telling us her life story..it's sad to hear some things that went on in her life. But now we know how we can help her! She needs to find peace and balance in her life so we are planning on helping her find that! I will let you know how that one goes.

Haha so many funny things happened this week. We threw a surprise birthday party for Elder Hulet at a members house. It was so much fun! And we had really good Mac and Cheese. hahahah we also dropped by a member's house who just got an operation on her knee and she let us in. The second we all kinda got settled she goes 'Look at what they did to me!' and just pulls down her pants and garments! AHHHHHHHH!!! I freaked out inside because I thought she wasn't wearing anything else underneath them..but luckily she was wearing some regular undies. haha She showed us where she was operated and it looked pretty nasty...I am scared that I might now be a good nurse. Maybe I should just work with dead people. ;) haha just kinding y'all.. but maybe not. haha

We helped Sofia move this week...For some reason when people move here they need to gut their whole house...so we were pulling up flooring and just putting it in the trash. It was pretty dirty..so it was good that we were there to help out. Her kids are soo cute too. I was playing zombies with them and now they just want to play zombies everytime they see me. It was good stuff.

We found a lady on the bus this week but the only information that we got from her was that she worked at this driving school on saturdays...haha so on saturday we went to the driving school and sure enough, she was there! We had a really good talk with her about the restoration. Her name is Asha and she is from Ethiopia. We hopefully will be teaching her next weekend. Cool stuff. After talking with her we went and sung for Zr Van Vliet who is the sister who has a brain tumor and is slowing dying. I love the spirit that I feel there. It is just amazing. It's sad to see her getting worse and worse through the days..At lease we know what we will see her again and that she will be so much happier after this life. She is a great example of enduring to the end.

So quick story...We were exchanging so we were taking the train and as we were walking down the stairs my lovely companion who is sooo observant saw this lady who needed help with her luggage. So we helped her and she ended up being from Mexico but had just gotten married to a Dutchman and now they are moving to Switzerland...anyways. She loved our help and called us angels. We gave her the info for the church and sent her on her way. We will probably never know what happens in her life but we know that we touched her heart and planted a seed. YA! Way to be Sister Taylor.

So many more things happened..I need to catch up on my journal writing so that I can tell you more when I get home. I have really grown to love the Book of Mormon while out here. One day I will understand all of it (aka the Isaiah chapters) but for now I am loving every chance I get to read from it. I know that you can receive answers to your prayers if you study and read in the scriptures. They will bless your life. Here is some other good stuff: Joshua 24:15 - As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I feel like this theme has come up a lot this week. WE as members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints need to choose whom we are going to serve and serve with our heart. You don't need to change you who are, just be you and serve. Do what YOU do, WITH Christ.

There were sooo many good testimonies given on Sunday.  I need to write them down..but I promise I will tell you everything when I get back. But one things I really loved was this Brother gave his testimony and he told a story about how he was on business and was going to church so he took a taxi. The taxi driver dropped him off and said I'll just wait in the parkinglot...then this Brother invited him to church and long story short the taxi driver went in with him. Turns out that one of the speakers was a friend of the taxi driver and the taxi driver was so touched by their reunion that he started investigating the church. The brother (from our war) then said he got a call from the taxi driver a couple of weeks ago saying that he was getting baptized and thanked him for the things he did. SEE EVERYONE, your good examples can make a difference in peoples lives. Through small and simple things, GREAT things come to fast. I know we all can make a huge difference.

LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU A TON! HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK!!!!!

Zuster Kohlert