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