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! 

Week 58: it's like I woke up and my hair was blue!" - me

Dear family and friends,

Well this week was a really good/interesting week! It didn't quite go as we had planned but it was still good! haha

 

Iris sadly didn't quit smoking...long story so I will try to tell it.. We saw her everyday of the week up until Wednesday night she was totally pumped and excited for her baptism. She had stopped smoking and we were super proud of her...but then Thursday morning we got a text from her and she told us that she wanted to move her date..We were totally bummed. But then we met with her that night and had our district leader still talk with her and she is totally ready to be baptized...minus the smoking. So we still showed her our love and support and let her know that we are there for her. She told us that she was going to come to church but she didn't so we stopped by with a member on Sunday and just had a good time. She just is scared because she doesn't feel perfect. So on Tuesday we are going to set another date with her! Pray for her please!

 

Well.. We got a couple of new investigators this week! haha They are Indonesian and totally awesome. We went over and had lunch and the family just came in and out haha I felt like I was in some reality show with the Adam's Family...so funny. but awesome. haha We sang and played guitar. it was good. haha

 

On Saturday morning sister brophy fainted....that was hilarious and also sad. She ended up hitting her head pretty hard on the wall so she had a good headache for the rest of the day...and Sunday...and that's when things got a little crazy so we ended up having to call our mission president's wife to let her know what happened. Let's just say she is going to be taking it pretty easy for the next couple of days. haha

 

Ali is also doing good. He had a lot of business trips to go on so we only met with him once but things are going good with him. He is still on date for the 20th. We haven't heard from Ludargda and Xionely for a while but we'll stop by soon.

 

Other than that I AM JUST LOVING LIFE. WE had a great zone conference on wednesday and our song went really good. The spirit was strong and just fun! I love life. I am SO blessed to be out here! Missionary work is the best!!! I love you guys! HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK!

 

Miss ya!

Zuster Kohlert