Week 53: Four office chairs in replacement of 2 couches...?

Hey family!!!!!! 

I can't believe that this time next week Kristy will be home. I am soo excited for you guys to see her. PLEASE SEND PICTURES. Don't worrym now we will be doing the same thing with me. (: haha

This week was pretty crazy. But also fun. haha The Meisjes (girls we baptized last week) are doing really good. They are now starting to have a hard time listening to us in lessons because they have already learned this stuff but it's good. haha 

A windmill on the way to a member's house who lives in a windmill.

WANNA HEAR A CRAZY STORY!? Well we were in a lesson with Lutgarda and it was going really good. Then she started getting distracted while looking at her phone...She then excuses herself and then all of a sudden we just hear her SCREAMING at her boyfriend and pacing back and forth. She is yelling in a different language so we couldn't understand her but all that I could pick out was "police". I thought to myself, well this isn't good. So we left asap. Later she called us to say sorry..Again she promised to come to church but she didn't come. :( 

Banana Berry Bread...that exploded!

Iris was sick this week...and she also didn't make it to church :(

Let's just say this was a rough week. Lots of things fell through. haha But we have been enjoying ourselves none the less. We found a potential and we are super excited for her! Her name is Sheila!

We then had a great Zone training! AND I SUNG! I sung "Blessings" by Laura Story and it went pretty good. Tasi, you'd be proud. haha And Zone Training was great!!! We learned lots about the Character of Christ! (:

This is my new cute dress!

We also got 4 chairs in place of 2 couches...totally the same right? so now we sit on these awkward chairs in the middle of our house. haha oh well. 

 I don't know what else to tell you...Transfer calls are on Sunday...so I will let you know what happens. We honestly have no idea. :( Sadly. But, wherever I go will probably be my last city:( So crazy. Time is flying and it's making me sad. I am just grateful I have such a wonderful companion. 

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!! SAY HELLO TO KRISTY FOR ME!!! AHHHHHH SOO EXCITED FOR HER!!!!

LOVE YOU!!
ZUSTER KOHLERT

Week 52: HOT baptism!

Hey family!!!!!! 

How are my favorite people in the whole entire world doing???? This week was one amazing week. Can you believe that it is already Monday again. Time is seriously flying..just like Kristy said, it's impossible to figure out how to slow it down. But I found one thing that helps slow it down...BOILING HOT HEAT AND HUMIDITY. I don't think I have been so sweaty in my whole entire life. But it's totally worth it. 

We had a wonderful baptismal service for Usha and Serenity! They LOVED IT minus the fact that the water was like a hot tub haha. I played the violin and it was good. I was so nervous and HOT that you could sometimes hear the shaking of my hand..oh well. At least the spirit was there. I don't think that the Nederlanders believe in AC because it was burning hot and everyone was sweating. The girls really had a great time and they looked sooo cute. After they were baptized you could just see the happiness on their faces! They both just glowed and kept saying how happy they were and that they felt all tingly inside. Oh it was beautiful. The Lord seriously has blessed us here in Capelle a/d Ijssel. 

As for the rest of the week we were able to meet with Iris and she is doing great. Still progressing a little slower but she is just a trooper. Our joint teach, Ashley, was amazing and hit her strong with the spirit. Lutgarda and Xionely are doing good too but we didn't meet with them until today. They missed church again :( 

You know, I decided to focus this email on something that really hit me on Sunday. Elder Taggart gave a talk on becoming disciples of Jesus Christ...or in better words, becoming friends of Jesus Christ. I wrote to Tasi about this so sorry for saying it again but it's just amazing. I want you all to think about your best friend. Whether that be your neighbor, spouse or your sister, doesn't matter. Think of your best friend. What would you do for your best friend? I bet most of you would say "Anything and Everything". I know I would. You know everything about your best friend. What makes them the happiest? How do you push their buttons? In the end you would do all of these things for your best friend because you LOVE them. Imagine if we were to study the scriptures and find out the things that Christ loves and we were to do them with him because we love him. We would be doing exactly what we were sent here on earth to do. Serve others. Love others. And love God. I firmly believe that if we become best friends with Christ, we will no longer feel alone in this life. We are never alone because Christ is there. I wish I could go deeper into this but I hope you can see how pumped I am about becoming Christ's best friend. I have been falling into some selfish habits that aren't good and I am excited to work on that relationship with him. We can't just take. We need to give. I know that as we study and pray that we can receive answers and revelation on how we can better our lives. I am SO grateful for this gospel and that I have the knowledge of His plan for me. The Plan of Happiness. Who doesn't want to be happy?? I sure want to be happy. 

I love you guys and I look up to your example! Thanks mom and dad for being the best example. I love you with all my heart. LOVE YOU TONS. 

Zuster Kohlert 

Week 51: My Cologne: Waffle - President Robinson

HEY GUYS!!! I am so jealous of your awesome time at the reunion! It sure looks like you all had a really good time!! I can't wait for the next one(: 

Well nothing too eventful happened this week...We had interviews with President and Sister Robinson and that went really great. haha Sister Brophy went into her interview with Pres and it smelt like waffles so she said "hmm it smells like waffles." and President goes..."ya it does. It's my new cologne: waffle." haha President is HILARIOUS.

Usha and Serenity are still on track to get baptized on Saturday!! We had a little scare with Usha but she is now good and ready to go. We love those girls sooo much and the ward is super excited for them. Chanel won't be getting baptized any time soon..we talked to her and she said she feels too young to make a decision like this in her life and that she is not "smart" enough to do it...We were really sad but it's her own decision. We will keep teaching her though. 

Iris is doing great!!! She is still on date for the 16th of Aug. and she is now working on not drinking coffee and smoking. So for so good. She also told us about how she slept over at a guys house...and that she was going to do something naughty but then she just had this feeling that she didn't want to. So she didn't do anything with him. And after she told us that we were just in awe and so excited. We hadn't even taught her the Law of Chastity yet. Little did she know, we were planning on teaching it the day she told us about that experience. Pretty cool huh??? I think so! Sorry if that was a little awkward to hear but I think it was cool to see that she could make the decision by herself and that she could understand and feel that she deserves better in life! I am proud of her. 

Lutgarda and Xionely are doing good. They didn't make it to church..again. So will just be talking with them about it but they are still on date for the 16th as well. 

We got to watch the Netherlands vs Argentina game...that was depressing. I am sure mom is happy that Germany won though. haha I am happy for her but still sad. WE WERE SO CLOSE. We had a lot of fun! haha I sent some pictures.

OH yeah! WE got a member referral this week!!! And it turned into 2 new investigators!!! They are so cool and we have another appointment with them on Wednesday! It was way cool to see this member get so excited about missionary work. It was great. I just love life.

I love this work and the gospel. THE BOOK OF MORMON IS THE WORD OF GOD!!! It's such a special book. I hope you guys have the chance to read it together!!!!! I love you guys and I miss you sooo much!!!! 

LOVES ZUSTER KOHLERT

Week 50: Emotional Roller coaster of a Lifetime!

Hey family!!!!!! Wow. I love you and miss you guys so much. 

This week was totally CRAZY. We were running around like crazies with our heads cut off this week.

So Chanel! We had a wonderful lesson with Chanel on Monday night. One of the best lessons that I have ever been in. The spirit was just so strong and just amazing. Before we even started praying she asked if she could be baptized. We set a date with her for JULY 19th!! It's crazy. But awesome. Here mom is a gypsy!! THEY ARE GYPSYs!! haha crazy. And her mom only speaks this random gypsy language...haha it was awesome. Her mom would randomly in the middle of the lesson say "this is the true church" or like "these girls are sent from God" and it was just amazing. Chanel, after reading the intro to the BOM, taught us something. She saidd "the bible was for the people then when Christ was living and the BOM is for us now so we can prepare for Christ's second coming!" WHAT? she is great. So we had another lesson with her and a member we brought with us! We taught the plan of salvation and the word of wisdom. She loved it! She had a little hard time with the word of wisdom..but we promised her that it would bless her life. So she said yes! Hopefully everything works out with her...she didn't make it to church because her family showed up this weekend..so I don't know if she'll get baptized on the 19th or just later. We'll see. Still a really great blessing from Heavenly Father!

 

Serenity and Usha are doing awesome! They are so cute and have become our little sisters here. They are seriously the reason why I'm doing okay right now. haha For some reason the end of this week was super hard and I just wanted to go home SO BADLY. And it's just crazy. But they are here and giving us the motivation to move on.

 

Iris is now working on the word of wisdom and we'll meet with her again this week!

 

The Koeks (Lutgarda and Xionley) didn't make it to church but we did have a good lesson with them. (:

 

What else? We had a BBQ for the missionaries and their investigators on Saturday. It went well but it was definitely stressful. I decided it is a lot easier doing a party when you have Walmart and a car. haha (: haha

So we decided to turn our couches over because we wanted to see how nasty they were from the mice..and guess what we found? haha 15 Euros. SWEET. Best thing ever. haha and it was pretty nasty. haha it's been BURNING hot lately and the mosquitos were attacking us so we moved our beds downstairs and ever since then I have slept like a baby! THANK GOODNESS because I was starting to become grumpy from not sleeping..haha

The 4th of July was fun! We had dinner with the Vermeers and it was wonderful! I think they sent you some pictures!

 

I can't remember what else happened but yeah. Life is good. Don't worry about me. Things will get better. I am super grateful that I have a wonderful comp and a family like you guys! I love you somuch! MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY! Only a little bit longer and we'll see each other!

 

LOVE YOU!!!!

 

Zuster Kohlert

Week 49: Free foot massage and Chanel...don't mind if I do!

HELLO LOVELY PEOPLE!!! 

MAN! This has been one of the best weeks of my mission. I was just pondering on this week and I cannot complain. The Lord has blessed us immensely this week! So here we go! 

First off...GOOOO NEDERLAND!! We beat Mexico last night. YES! We could totally win the world cup this year...I would have to say it's because we are living here(; haha

We had a really AWESOME dinner appt with a member, Zr Wilkens. SHE IS AWESOME. Pretty much she told us her conversion story and told us about how she wants to help us with our missionary work. She is even sharing the gospel with her family in Arnhem. It's awesome. The spirit was SOOO strong while she was talking. We all cried at one point that night. If all members were like her, the whole world would be so much better. 

We also set 2 new baptismal dates! It's with a mom and a daughter. Their names are Lutgarda and Xionely...don't worry, I can't say their names either...haha But they were former investigators from 4 or so years ago. She gave us a call last month and we had set up an appt. but then she wasn't home. We then decided to stop by this week and she was home! She told us she wants to get baptized along with her daughter so we set up another appointment with them on saturday and set their date for the 16th of August. We just got to help her marry her boyfriend. They came to church yesterday and it was great. (: The Lord is just blessing us like crazy. It's insane!!!

Our two young investigators are progressing really well. Their mom is also progressing! But she got sick this week and had to go to the hospital...crazy. And it was just nuts so they couldn't make it to church but yeah. Hopefully we'll meet with them 3 times each week until they get baptized on the 19th. Super excited for them. They have the longest names! I'll send you a pic of the text - but it's probably a good idea not to put the pic of their names on the blog, just to let you know. haha it's crazy. haha

OH. And here is where Chanel comes in. Haha don't worry mom and dad, I didn't buy any. But THIS STORY IS AMAZING AND IT WON'T DO IT JUSTICE IF I JUST WRITE YOU SO I'M SO EXCITED TO TELL YOU IN PERSON. Pretty much the Lord is awesome. He sets things up perfectly. PERFECTLY. Sister brophy's brakes broke on her bike...midride haha so funny, She ran over 3 curbs and into some bushes...all of this right in front of policemen. AHAHA don't worry she's okay. So we rode to the bike store to see if they could fix it and they told us to pick it up after 2 the next day. So we pretty much just achteroped the whole day (I was tired by the end of the day...haha) and had lunch with Ronda. It went well.

 Then we picked up her bike. We were going to meet with Iris later that night and we needed to make a baptismal calender for her so we sat down on some benches in this square. After a while this girl comes and sits next to us. WE both had the feeling that we needed to talk to her but we didn't know how to start the conversation. Then a RM from Gouda showed up so we started talking to him for a second and right when we sat down a sales lady came up to zr brophy and started selling something and I sat down and the girl started talking to me. She had heard the words church and so so she decided to ask us what we were doing. She then went on to tell us about how she is religious and that she doesn't believe in coincidences. We gave her a BOM and as she was holding it she got tears in her eyes and she said "this is the word of God, I can feel it" Much more happened but I am running out of time..anyways. She is the most prepared person I have ever met and guess how old she is...16! We got her number and we gave each other hugs and just loved each other. She called us angels and her sisters. It was THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED. We called her a couple of days later and she was SO excited to hear our voices! She even said "wow! I missed your guys voices!" and we set up an appointment for tonight! SO PRAY THAT THINGS GO WELL! We are meeting with her and her mom and we are hoping to set a baptismal date with them for the 16th of August. I TOLD YOU THAT THE LORD BLESSES US!

Friday we went to the beach (hence the free massage...the sand massaged our feet haha) with the RS and Iris (our baptismal date for the16th of August)  came with. She had tons of fun and really enjoyed the sisters. It went tell. Zr brophy and I just partied it up. We had the time of our lives. Iris even asked Zr Wilkens why we were so happy and zr wilkens said it was because of the gospel. It's true people! THe gospel is TRUE!

I gave a talk on sunday! And I almost brought a banana up with me to do a demonstration..but my banana got squished on the way to the church. Maybe it was a good thing because there were stake people speaking...haha Probably another part of God's plan. He's making sure I don't l look like a fool! 

What else happened? I don't know. BUT TONS MORE DID HAPPEN. I think you guys have enough to chew on until next week. I love you guys so much. I miss you like crazy but I know that I am here for a reason. The Lord has a plan for us. I KNOW IT. I love you and miss you!

LOVE, zuster Kohlert