Happy 2014 NEW YEAR!!! :)

Hello Family and Friends-

 

What a fantastic Christmas I had as a missionary! I loved every single second of it. There is truly nothing like it! Thank you for all the Christmas Wishes and emails. They made my whole week!

 

Well to start off for Christmas Eve we went to our branch presidents house and had a delicious meal and they bought us both a gift which was this amazing Dove soap and we sang Chrismtas songs and read lots of stories. Then after that me and Zr Meier went home and opened up our Christmas Eve pajamas and moved our mattresses out to the family room and slept by the tree! It wasa blast! It really felt like Christmas still in a weird way. Then Christmas day we got up and made ourselves some good breakfast and we opened up all of our gifts together! I LOVED everything so much, so thank you thank you! We got some Book of Mormons and tied bows around them and then went outside and just talked to people on the street and handed them out. It was so cool to see different people and hear there stories on Christmas day. Us and the Elders decided to go caroling before going to the Geens and we only got to one door and we tried to sing "O come all ye faithful" and were TERRIBLE. haha I have never sang with more tone deaf elders in my entire life. But we all laughed and it was great. That night we were able to skype our families which was amazing! I loved every second of it. Everyone has been asking me if i was homesick after. It definately is one of the weirdest feelings I have ever had thus far. I was a little trunky and it took me about 2 days to get back into my "missionary grove". All of our mottos after the skype calls is to just forget about it and kind of block it from your memory. haha as bad as that sounds. Either way it was so worth it and so fun!

 

The rest of the week was just busy as normal and full of missionary work. Really cool story- we met this 25 year old girl named Greet and she is sooo sweet and nice. We went by and gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she would read in it. I am so excited to see where she will go and how she will progress! We have been doing lots of finding lately and we have this goal in Gent now to give away 10000 pass along cards in 3 months. So that means that each companionship has to give away about 50 per day. So we are trying to go strong with that and get as many people to come to church as possible who want to. We have lots of appointments this next week and I am super excited! For New Years we have to be inside 3pm and I think I am going to go absolutely crazy. That is the longest I have ever been inside for 6 months. haha But we bought silly strings and noise makers today and we are just going to partay it up! I love you all and miss you all dearly! Thank you for your sweet prayers and support! It means the world! Happy 2014 New year!!!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!! :) :)

Hello Family and Friends-

 

Holy cow I cannot believe it is Christmas! Time is moving sooo fast and it is starting to scare me just a little bit! This transfer only has about 2 weeks left and I am SO sad! Mainly because I know I will most likely be leaving Gent and I will probably cry my eyes out because I love the people and this city SO much!

 

Well we had one crazy busy week! We have been looking up and searching out the 25 referrals we have for the "Joy to the World" DVDs and we finally got them done just in time for Christmas! It was a very uplifting, exhausting, long experience but I know we will be blessed and see many new investigators come out of it. Our new favorite thing that Elder Texeira taught us last week in Zone Conference was to use the mormon.org cards and literally just walk up to strangers, give them a card, and say hey your invited to church at this time and at this place. And suprisingly most people really like it and we had three people at church yesterday because of it! It was such a cool miracle! Especially during this Christmas season to be a missionary and go around talking to people about why we really celebrate this holiday and what the deeper meaning is! I wouldnt want to be doing anything else on Christmas! We are doing lots of service Christmas day and also on "Tweede Kerst" which is the 26th. They are kind of cool over here and celebrate Christmas twice in a row so we are doing lots of service! And also we decided we are going to go to the hospital that is nearby on Christmas morning and visit the people there that dont have family to visit them. I am really excited. Nothing will beat this Christmas for me I dont think and I will be soaking in every single second of it! We also met this man on the train named Harry and he is a photography student in Gent. He started asking us about the church and missionary work and I explained that kind of what we did on a daily basis and things. Turns out he wants to do a "report" on LDS missionaries and me and my companion get to be the missionaries! So he has been taking lots of pictures and he actually wants to follow us around one day so he can see the life of a missionary! haha kind of made me laugh. Dont worry- he will not become a stalker. At least we hope....

 

We are planning on going finding and finding and more finding all week! We have lots of different parties/dinner appts though which will keep us busy. We are going to a members house with Didier on Christmas Eve and we get to share an "american" Christmas story/tradition and I am so excited for that. Give me a little taste of the American spirit :) We are headed over to Brugge again today to go Ice Skating and to see that beautiful fairy tale city during Christmas with the whole zone. I will be taking lots of pictures! Thank you to everyone who sent me a letter or something for Christmas! I was so overwhelmed and could feel all of your guys love. I loved the Christmas tree and all the ornaments and I have to say, our apartment looks REAL good. I love you all and miss you so much! I know that our savior came into this world and died for every single one of us! Do not forget why we celebrate this amazing holiday and try and go out and serve someone else and give of yourself! It is thee best time of year!! Merry Chirstmas :) :)

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

I have the best life in the whole world. And GELUKKIGE VERJAARDAG to the best dad on the planet!!!

Hello Family and Friends-

 

Wow what a fantastic crazy week we have had!! So much has happened and I have to make sure I remember everything to tell you all. So I will start from the beginning. We started out the week last Pday and me and my companions went and toured the centrum and saw all of the pretty Christmas Markets! Christmas in Europe is seriously the best thing I think I have ever experienced. They have so many activities and so many things to do and see. (pictures attached) Then we had to get Zuster Gallego all ready and packed up to leave for Amsterdam Wednesday afternoon so we got there in time, since it takes about 4 ish hours to travel all the way up to Holland by train. We got there when it was dark and it was my first time actually in Amsterdam besides the airport 6 months ago and Centraal Station is absolutely GORGEOUS! I realized it is actually my cover photo on FB, if I remember right. We slept over with one of the zusters there and it was a blast. We all got up the next morning and had zone conference the whole next day and Elder Texeira, of the seventy who is over the European area spoke to the whole mission! It was such a cool oppurtunity we had. He talked about so many good and inspiring things and gave us some of the best ideas. We were all just completely pumped and ready to get outside and go talk to people like crazy!

 

After that we got our Christmas packages, mom THANK YOU SO MUCH. Holy cow we are so spoiled. Between me and Zuster Meier we had about 6 packages and by the time we had made it all the way back to Belgium with them all intact our arms are STILL sore from everything. haha We have had so much fun with them already and put everything under the tree. I absolutly LOVE  the ornaments you all made for me. They made my whole week and I have hung them all up and I read them every day! It was such a clever Idea and I love it so thank you so much. Before we made it back to Belgium, Zr Meier had a meeting in Ledien for all the leaders of the mission so I got to go on splits with Zr Taylor and serve in Breda, Holland for about a day and a half. It is such a beautiful city! I rode a bike for the first time as well and holy cow. I am soooo out of shape its ridiculous. haha my legs wanted to fall off. And apparently there is this thing they call "greenie bum", and basically it is your worst nightmare and I had it for about 3 days. haha moral of the story, I am now mentally preparing myself for biking next year and I am feeling very bittersweet about it. It was very fun to just bike around Holland. Not to shabby of a life if you ask me. :)

 

Guess what? I gave a TALK in church yesterday. In FLEMISH. not english, FLEMISH. For those of you that know me well, know that I about want to pass out everytime I have to do that in English, let alone in a different language. To say the least, I was extremely nervous but I surprised myself and was able to say everything I wanted to say in a different foreign language. Maybe a little rusty at parts but It was such a good feeling!! I love the people and the language here sooo much. Well I love you all so so much and miss you dearly! I think about you all personally often and I just feel so blessed to have you all in my lives. Especially during this Christmas season. :) This church is true and I am so happy I am where I am right now. I know without any doubts it is where I am supposed to be and I love my mission with all my heart. You are all the best! Have a wonderful week!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

Its beginning to feel alot like CHRISTMAS! :)

Hello Family and Friends-

Ohhhh my goodnesss what a fantastic week we have had! I LOVE this work so much. And I am completely sure that I have the best companions in the world. Zuster Meier and Zuster Gallego are the best.

We have been having such a crazy week with appointments with less-actives, recent converts, and investigators this week plus the 16 referrals we have received for the "Joy to the World" DVD's we have been delivering! We have a new investigator named Lucero who basically only speaks spanish so Zuster Gallego has been loving it since her native language is Spanish. She unfortunately leaves this week though and we are so sad to lose her :( Me and Zuster Meier will need to brush up on our spanish. I dont know how that is going to work out but we will do our best! Didier, our recent convert that was baptized about a month ago went to the Temple to do baptisms for the dead on Saturday with the Branch President Pres VanHees and it was SOOO good! He was so happy and it just made my whole year seeing that happiness in him. On Chrismas Eve we will be spending the night at President VanHees's house with Didier and I cannot even wait. It will be such an amazing holiday season! We just got a Christmas tree for our apartment from Zuster Geens and Its sooo fun! She gave us ornaments and all the lights and decorations. She really is like my other little mom. So now our apartment is all festive and ready for Christmas as well. We have our big mission wide zone conference this coming Thursday and Elder Texeira from the 70 is speaking and I am so excited. So we will travel all the way up to Amsterdam on Wednesday for that. Then Zuster Meier will be in Leiden for a huge council for all the leadership missionaries and I will be heading down south to Breda and work with another sister for just one day and then we will finally return back to Gent on Friday night. It will be one crazy week! We also had a small miracle the other day. We had gone to deliver a DVD to a referral and they ended up not wanting it. So we were walking back to the bus stop and Zr Gallego saw this lady working out in her yard and went right up to her and just said "Can we help you with your yard work?" She was BLOWN AWAY. She kept saying "why on earth would you do that?" You dont get paid?! And we kept saying no no we are volunteers etc etc. We ended up helping her in her yard and had a nice lunch of soup and bread that was delicious! they were so sweet and it was such a good feeling to beable to just help someone completely random. Missionary work is the best!

So funny story, Guess who Zuster Meier's dance coach all through high school was? Lorna Strong! All of a sudden she said she went to Hunter High School and it rung a bell in my head and I asked her if she knew Lorna Strong and we both just freaked out. Both her and her family know Tom and all of the kids. It was such a fun little connection we made! We are having a blast and I am absolutely loving it. I love this gospel so much and I love being out here on a mission being an instrument in the lords hands. Especially during the Christmas Season it is so fun to walk around and talk to random people about why this season is so important. I love all of you and thank you for your wonderful support and prayers!

Love, Zuster Brophy

Craziest Week of my Life!!

Ohhh my good goodness this week was the longest, shortest, craziest week of my entire life with transfers and everything else going on! Big news, I actually have two companions Zuster Gallego and Zuster Meiers! Zuster Gallego is going home and completing her mission in 2 weeks and then it will be back to just the two of us. It has been a total blast and I love both of them to death. They both came down from northern Holland and Zuster Gallego is 32 years old and lives in Aruba and Zuster Meiers is 20 and from West Valley City. She was joking and said that Dad probably had given her multiple tickets for speeding. haha We have been having a blast together so far and I am so excited for this transfer.

 

We had a great Thanksgiving Dinner with some members last Thursday and it was a REAL American Dinner. Potatoes, Turkey, cranberry sauce, etc etc. It was amazing! This transfer is nothing but full of Holidays and we have appointments to be somewhere for every single one and more so I am really really excited. Zuster Meiers is the Sister Training Leader so we will be doing lots of traveling back and forth from Holland and different things all the time and I am really excited to be able to meet lots of the other sisters in this mission. I have been told that being the companion of the Sister Training Leader is kind of like being an "undercover sister training leader" So i am pretty excited.

 

We have had a really great productive week! Our ward mission leader has this website where people can request Joy to the World DVD's and Books of Mormon and so far just in Gent we have received 42 referrals. So between us and the Elders we are BUSY. We have 14 we need to contact within the next two days and I am so excited to see what comes out of it. It is so cool to sit and watch this branch grow so much. Broeder Geens knows the right way to do missionary work and It is just on fire. We will be having a zone conference (The Christmas Dinner) next week up in Amsterdam and Elder Texeria of the 70 will be speaking to us. I am sure it will be sooo great! That is also when  we will all get our Christmas Packages. Update on my foot, It is still giving me problems but I am just trying to rest, ice, and use those essential oils I got. I am praying it works! Zuster Robinson got some pictures of it from me and sent it to a specialist to get his opinion, she said if the swelling and things dont start going down within the next week after I have been taking 600mg of Ibprofun 3x per day then we are looking at something more serious. So we will see! It has just been an adventure! Thank you all for your prayers and support! I love you all so much!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

Well....Gent gets me for a whole THIRD of my mission!! :) :)

Hello Family and Friends-

 

Well we found out transfers and I get to stay in Gent again and I am so soooooo happy! I wanted to be here for Christmas and New Years so bad. We already have plans for all of the holidays with members and I seriously cannot even wait. I also get a new companion and her name is Zuster Meyers!!! she was also called as the Sister Training Leader! I am so excited. I have met her once before at Temple Conference last month and she seems like such a fun nice girl! Life is good :) Unfortunately Elder Corsini is leaving Gent after two transfers and we all were balling with the Geens (our ward mission leader) last night. Transfers are always so bittersweet. We still dont know where my companion is headed to but we will find out very soon!

 

Also an update on my health- turns out I may be going to the doctor/ER AGAIN today. :( My tendonitis is getting lots worse in my right heel and starting in my left. This past week my whole foot has also started hurting. Yesterday we were at church and one of our investigators called us and was outside but couldnt find the church building so me and my companion ran outstide super fast and down the street. I knew that wasnt a good idea because I am not suppposed to be running but I didnt even think about it really. Afterwards I was sitting in Sacrament meeting and my right foot was giving me SO much pain. Especially in the joint that connects your big toe to your foot? if that makes sense? I took some pain killers and just watched it thinking It was just irritated. Over the day it got to the point where I couldnt really walk, got super blue and purple, and super swollen. Now we are thinking I may have snapped a tendon or possibly a stress fracture due to the tendonitis and the amount of walking I do. I got a priesthood blessing from my fantastic ward mission leader at church and its not looking too good but we are hoping everything will be ok. I will keep you all posted soon. But that is the great update! I am offically walking around in slippers and sunday clothes with lots of pain killers because nothing else works. :)

 

We had a great week here in Gent! Belgium saw its first snow fall as well! It is just always super super cold and wet but i am learning to love it! We had Zone Training on Thursday and it was AMAZING! Antwerpen zone has the most amazing zone leaders. We reinacted Daniel and the lions den in a live play and I got one of the main roles so my great acting skills had to come out and it was really interesting to say the least but I had a blast. It was Zuster Djoukengs 21st birthday this past Saturday so me and her woke up and I made her a little breakfast and wrote notes and then we went over to IKEA for a bigger breakfast. I planned this whole day for her but decided to keep it a surprise. So I invited the Elders and Broeder and Zuster Geens to dinner and we went to this chinese wok place in Gent and it is DELICIOUS. I have never had better Chinese food before in my life. We had cake and ice cream and had such a great time together. Lots of laughs and memories :)

 

Didier received the Priesthood yesterday and it was such an amazing experience! He is so on fire and I am so proud of him and all the progress he is making. Ena is still in the same place. We are trying to work with her on setting another baptismal date. The Elders have found....no joke.....30 new investigators these past 2 weeks!!! So we are splitting it 50-50 and each taking 15 which means we are in for some of the busiest weeks of our lives but I cannot even wait. We have been doing lots of door knocking as well and we found 6 new people in one night that all want books of mormon so we will hopefully be delivering all of those this week if I can start walking again. I love missionary work and Gent is seriously on fire....this whole mission is on fire!! I cannot wait for this next transfer to see what the adventure brings! This gospel is true and I know that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us no matter what the circumstance. I know that he is trying to just see how strong my faith is and I am trying my best to be strong and trust in the lord that everything will be ok and I will be able to finish out my mission for the next year. I love and miss all of you so much and thank you for your prayers and support. I will keep you all updated! I love missionary work! And HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I will be gettting two full thanksgiving dinners in Europe! I am spoiled!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

I LOVE my Mission!!

Hello Family and Friends-

 

This past week was so so amazing!! We had stake conference in Antwerpen Saturday night and then in Brussels Sunday night and I just loved every single second of it. We have an amazing stake in northern Belgium and I love it so much.

 

All is well with Didier after being baptized. He is seriously SO awesome already and doing missionary work just like he has been a member for years. We went over to his house this last week and he went into the other room to get his scriptures, and then just came back with another friend! I was dying of happiness! He also came to stake conference (both sessions) and loved it. We had Elder Adler come and speak and he would be speaking in English and then someone would be standing right next to him and have to say it in Flemish so that took awhile but it was really interesting and he is a great speaker. I can understand all of what is being said and pretty much go up to any person and start a converstaion with them in FLEMISH. I still have no idea how  that has  happened in 5 and a half months though. Its so cool! Its definately not me, its the lord :)

 

Ena is still considered one of our progressing investigators. We had President Van Hees come over and we talked to her about the law of tithing and how we can help her talk to her husband etc etc and she said she will be doing that this week so I am really excited to see what comes of it. We are hoping to see her be baptized in December so it should be great. She will be such a great member and the Gent branch really needs her talents and abilities. We also have transfers coming up this next week, and we find out where everybody is headed to this coming Sunday so it will determine whether or not I am in Gen t for Christmas and New Years. I am hoping I stay SOO bad! We have Nicole that is progressing towards her baptismal date in December and she is soo wonderful. She is  a Belgian woman who is 77 but still just has that skip to her step and still babysits grandchildren and everything. She is so so sweet. The only thing for her is coming to church because sometimes she feels good and other days she doesnt so it just depends. But we are working with her and hoping we can figure something out.

 

I seriously love my mission. I love these people, I love Belgium, I love Holland, just everything about it. It has become my second home and it will be SO hard to leave it when that day comes. I know  this gospel is true and that it can change lives. I have seen it come into so many peoples hearts and eyes and it is so cool to see how our savior works. I love this gospel and I am so glad I am out here sharing it with everybody. One thing Elder Adler said to us yesterday at our Brussels stake conference was "what the lord gives you, is for you to share. And as you share it, he will give you more."I loved that because it is so true! I love all of you and miss you all dearly! thank you for the support and the prayers. You are all the best!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

Me on a street in Brussels

Here we are in Brugge. All four sisters serving in Belgium

Carriage ride last P-day with the Zone.

I finally saw Elder Elkins in Brussels! It was good to see a familiar face from home!

Being a missionary is hard...but its harder in the winter!!

Hello Friends and Family-

 

It was such an amazing week!!! We had our first baptism with Didier and it was amazing!!

 

Sad story, Ena, our other investigator getting baptized who has been golden basically the past two months decided to not go through with it at the last second right before her baptismal interview! Long story short, I think she kind of got a little scared and since her husband isnt on board with all of this she was scared out of her mind to tell him about the law of tithing. She doesnt work at all so it wouldnt have been an issue but she was nervous to just even tell him. So we are working with her and seeing what we can do in order for her to still be baptized soon. She is so ready there is just that little issue in the way. But Didier was baptized with the Elders investigator, Amparo. It was a beautiful baptism!! It makes all of the hard work we do everyday so worth it!! He is already on board with helping build up the branch and serve others!

 

I ended up going to Brussels this past week again for Zuster Djoukengs legality issues. Me and Zuster Rigdon spent the day literally touring Brussels by ourselves. It is such a gorgeous city and we had SO much fun!! Belgium also had one of the biggest rainstorms in years last week. I am not even kidding...there was not one piece of me dry that night. Haha I looked as if I had taken a shower, and ironically I had left my umbrella on the bus earlier that day so I only had a little hood. The people around me on the street looked concerned. haha but it was kind of funny at the same time. Today in Beligum, its a holiday so nothing is open so we just get to relax today so I am excited for that. My feet are doing well, I actually am starting to get Tendinitis in my left foot as well, so I am trying to watch that. Not too much pain, but definately not fun. Its been an adventure to say the least!

 

I am loving this work! We are finding more and more people everyday to teach. We set a baptismal date for our investigator Nicole for the middle of December and we have 3 other potentials we plan on doing the same thing for :) I am so so excited for them! I love this work and I love being a missionary. It truly is an amazing feeling to watch someone change their lives. The Gospel is true and I love it with all my heart! I love and miss all of you so much!! you are all the best!!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

Belgium does not mess around with its weather!

Hello Family and Friends-

 

We have had such an incredible week and this week will be even better with TWO BAPTISMS on Saturday!! I am probably going to cry like a little baby and I cannot even wait!

 

We have Didier, a referral we received about a month ago, that is getting baptized this Saturday and Ena as well. They are both so so ready, it amazes me! We are seeing Didier every single day this week except today to teach him all the rest of the lessons. They both come to church every week and are so strong. We are having a little "Mexican Fiesta" type party after for them all because all three of them speak spanish. So Elder Corsini is an amazing chef so he is going to make us all tacos.....if we can actually find those ingredients here in Europe. But nonetheless, I am excited. After being gone for 5 months, that is definately the food I miss the very most. We gave 8 other given lessons this week as well!! That is SO many! Me and my companion actually re counted twice to make sure we were right. We found 5 new people, just knocking on doors, and basically were able to actually go inside and share a little lesson with them. It was incredible! We have also received about 10 referrals in the past two weeks from headquaters and our ward mission leader. Gent is just on FIRE!

 

Utah is not even close to the category of cold comparing it to Belgium. It is SUPER super cold here. I have a feeling we are really starting to round the corner into Winter and the snow will be falling soon. I look like the kid off of a Christmas Story with my coat and scarves on. I might take a picture sometime soon :) but the important thing is I am warm!! My companion has a super nasty cold right now so I am praying I dont get it.

 

I went over to Antwerpen this week with Zuster Rigdon, my sister training leader, and we had so much fun! Antwerpen is a really big, cool city and we go there alot between zone trainings and conferences and exchanges. Today we are going to take a train over to Brugge and spend the day with alot of missionaries in our Zone. Life is hard :) Other than that everything here is really amazing and I love Gent so much. When the day comes that I will leave, I really think I might cry. I thought I will write a short testimony in Flemish just for fun. Ik weet dat deze kerk waar is en dat Joseph Smith een profeet was. Door gebed en Jezus Christus alles is mogelijk. Ik weet dat als wij lezen in de schriften elke dag wij kunnen de geest echt sterke voelen en onze getuigenis groein. Ik houd van dit evangelie en ik ben zo echt dankbaar voor de gelegenheid dan ik heb om een zendeling te zijn. Ik houd van jullie en ik ben dankbaar voor jullie gebed and steuen voor mij. Tot de volgende week!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

Well....I have Tendonitis

Hello Family and Friends-

 

This past week has been a great one with lots of new and exciting things happening!! I went to the doctor on Monday night and they sent me to get an Ultrasound and an X Ray of my heel, so we had an appointment Tuesday morning. Turns out, I have Tendonitis pretty bad in my right achilles Tendon and it is starting in my left. So that just made the next year of my life alot more interesting! I am just watching it for now and trying to find new boots for the winter but we will see how it all turns out. Apparently, once you get this type of disease it is extremely hard to get rid of so that was kind of a bummer to find out.

 

We were able to go to the temple this past week in Den Haag and it was SOOO amazing!! I am so bummed that we only get to go visit there every six months, because it seriously is like an addicting feeling because of the spirit you feel there. The whole entire session and all the temple workers were of course speaking all Dutch, so that was such a cool experience. The temple here is SOO tiny as well. I was blown away with the size! We left Tuesday night to travel all the way up to Zoetemeer which is about a 4 hour train ride from Gent and stayed over night and then traveled all the way back down after the session. It was so fun to see all the different missionaries as well since they combined 3 zones into one day and the other 3 in another day.

 

We set another baptismal date for November 9th!!! With a man named Didier, he is Belgian and probably in his late forties or so. We taught him the first lesson and we asked him what he thought about church and everything so far and he said, "it just feels very natural" which I thought described the feeling of the spirit and everything we do perfectly! When he said the prayer at the end of the lesson the spirit was SO strong and I just couldnt stop smiling. So that makes for 3 total on the 9th so we are soo excited about that. Ena is still doing very well! She comes to church every week  and is really excited about her baptism as well. I think she is exactly what this branch needs here in Belgium. She is so friendly and willing to do anything to help others. Her husband also said that he wants to come to church with her one time so that was really exciting as well! Nikole is still progressing great as well. Her only issue is church attendance because she has to babysit her grandchildren on Sundays alot so we are trying to work with that. But she is so loving and I just love it whenever I am around her. Other than that, we are doing lots of door knocking every day trying to find more and more people to teach. I love love love talking to people at doors and seeing all the different reactions we get when we say things. haha it is very fun and entertaining sometimes. I love and miss you all and thank you so much for the support and prayers. I need all I can get! I love this work so much and I wouldnt want to be anywhere else. Looking back on even the day I entered the MTC to now, I can see such a difference and the list of the things I have learned is SO long. I love this gospel with all my heart and I know it is true!! Missions are the best!! I love you all!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

A week full of Adventures!

Hello Family and Friends-

 

This week has been such a crazy one!! Lots of teaching, visiting the ER, parties, you name it!

 

This past Tuesday, it was early in the morning and my companion was in the shower. I was out in the kitchen just folding some laundry waiting for the bathroom when all of a sudden the door opens and I hear Zuster D scream, and then before I know it she is falling to the ground and hits her face and head on the door across the hallway. I seriously dont think I have ever ran so fast in my life and my adrenaline has never been that high Im pretty sure. Im thinking to myself "Is she dying?!?" For a second she is so out of it she isnt even talking to me so I am just down right FREAKING OUT. Turns out, she barely had eaten any food at all the day before so her stomach was completely empty and she passed out. So that day started off interesting.

 

The next day, Wednesday, we got up and started knocking on doors in the morning like normal and Zuster D thinks she has a broken nose from hitting her face. So we call Zuster Robinson and our ward mission leaders wife and we take a nice long 4 hour trip and visit to the Emergency Room in Belgium! Cross that one off my bucket list! Luckily there was no fracture or brake, so she just got some good pain pills and everything was fine! What I learned from that? Eat food.

 

We get to go to the Temple this week and I am SOOOO excited! It is about a 4 hour train ride up to Den Haag from Gent so we are leaving tomorrow night and traveling all the way up to Gouda, another city in Holland, so we dont have to travel in the morning. It will be a full day but I am so so excited! I have missed the temple. This past Sunday President and Zuster Robinson came down and spoke in our branch and they did such a good job. It is always so fun to see them! Ena, our golden investigator is still set for November 9th for her baptism and we are so excited. Her parents fly in from Mexico this coming week so they will beable to come and everything. We had an amazing dinner appointment with her and member and her husband as well. We had some really great chats and she is SO ready! We only have 2 more things to teach her. We met another couple last week named Frans and Rosietta. They live just a little bit outside of Ghent and they are fantastic! Frans came to church yesterday and he really wants to turn his life around and have a relationship with God in his life so we are really excited about his future. Also, I will be finally going to the doctor this week for my heel so I am hoping that everything is okay and it is a simple fix!

 

Thank you all for your love and support! I can feel all of your prayers helping me in the bad and good times and I am so grateful for them! I love this gospel and I know it is true. I have the BEST job in the world!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

I get to stay in Ghent another transfer!! :)

Hello Friends and Family-

 

Well we got transfer calls this morning and it looks like I will be in Ghent for another transfer with Zuster Djoukeng so that should be fun!! I didnt really want to leave this city quite yet so I am excited!

 

This week has been a great one! We visited a lot of our investigators and taught lots of lessons! The weather is really turning into winter I feel like. There was a really bad storm yesterday and it was freezing and raining and windy! It was an adventure knocking on doors and all of that good stuff. Yesterday at church was SO amazing!! We had 3 investigators at church. Ena came (she is the one who is getting baptized on November 9th) with her two kids and her sister-in-law, Anna came as well for her first time so that was soo great to see, and Didier (he was a referral we had that we met with, gave him a book of mormon, and explained a little bit about it) and he came to church as well! It was a fantastic sunday! we also had fast and testimony meeting and everything was geared to what our investigators needed to hear! It was amazing!

 

We also found a new investigator named Nikole knocking on doors in a little town called Astene. She is a medium and can read auras I guess? so that was really fun and interesting! She is very open to our message and we have another appointment with her on Tuesday so I am super excited about that! I love this work and gospel! It is so amazing how much I love these people and love seeing them see a change in their lives! It truly is amazing! I love and miss all of you dearly! thank you for your prayers and support!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

Me, Zuster Kohler, and Zuster Rigdon with our chocolate milk in Antwerpen Centraal. I love these girls so much!

Chocolate castle in Brussels.

At the Geens for General Conference. Madison loves them to pieces!

All 5 Ghent missionaries...

Elder Corsini, Elder Rudolph, Elder Wiscombe, Me, and Zuster Djoukeng 

I love my Mission!! And General Conference!!

Hello Friends and Family-

 

This week has been such a great one! Holy cow I am just amazed at what this gospel and everything does for us! General Conferece was SOO good and I literally just want to watch it over and over and over again! I hope all of you got the chance to watch it. :)

 

So this past week was so busy and crazy! So I went on Exchanges with Zuster Kohlhert in Antwerpen this past week and we had soo much fun. There is only 6 sisters in the whole country of Belgium for my mission, so when we do exchanges we usually are all together and end up going and doing something fun. It was Zuster Israelsons "year mark" so we went to Antwerpen Centraal and got some Chocolade Melk. (Idk what it is about the chocolate milk over here, but it is SOOO much better than the ones in the states.) I also had the chance to have some spanish lessons in Antwerpen from a member of the ward and so that was fun. Might as well just keep adding to the list of languages I know right? Dutch, Flemish, French, English, and now Spanish. Haha

 

Ena is still progressing beautifully! She is inviting her family and her huband and friends to church which is referrals for us so we are super happy about that. She is so strong and ready to get baptized!! I cant wait for that day. We went and got some yummy ice cream with her and her two kids for lunch one day and it was such a blast. We also found a new investigator, Cory this past Saturday. We found her door knocking right outside the centrum of Ghent. She smokes, is alone, and basically just has no self worth for herself. She apparently had a son, who is now 26 years old, but has no contact with any of her family or him. She has told us she sees no point and living and doesnt know where to turn now. She really is one of those people that is described in the scriptures as a "lost sheep". But we have seen her every single day so far and have taught her the first section of the first lesson, that god is our loving heavenly father and loves and knows every single one of us. She prayed out loud for the first time and it was SUCH a strong, spiritual experience. I will never ever forget. She started crying and took my hand and just kept saying "thank you thank you". It was so cool! I am so excited to really help her and be there for her and show her what this gospel can do for her in her life. I already love her so much and I barely know her!! Its amazing how that works.

 

It is still GREAT weather for Belgium right now! It is hardly raining, a little chilly, but still not too bad. There has actually been a couple of days where I took my coat off because it was so hot. I am counting my blessings and hoping it stays like that for awhile longer. I have a feeling winter is just going to come with a big bang though one of these days!

 

We have temple conference coming up in two weeks and I am SOOO excited to be able to go to the Den Haag Tempel!! I have missed the sweet spirit that comes from the temple so much. I cant wait to tell all of you about it. Get to the temple!! You are all so lucky to live so close to so many. When you go to the temple- you literally go home. There is no truer statement. Make it a pritority! it is the best thing in the world!! Can I just say I absolutely love my mission? No greater feeling comes than that of watching this gospel literally change peoples lives. It is thee best feeling in the world and I am convinced I have the best job ever. I have the greatest mission president who loves and directs this work, along with his sweet wife. I just love them to pieces and am so grateful for everything they do for us. I love this gospel with all my heart and wouldnt want to be doing anything else!! Transfer calls are this upcoming Sunday so we will see if I stay or if I go :)

 

I love and miss all of you so much!! You are all the best!!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

 

Madison and Zuster Djoukeng yesterday at Sunday dinner.

Wonderful Week!!

Hello Friends and Family-

 

First off, Gelukkige Verjaardag to Easton Boy!! I cannot believe he will be one tomorrow!! Time flies! I remember that day so well. Grammy, Lindsey, Emily, Mom- we all had some good laughs, troll hair, "so your a one- hander" haha Ill never forget it! Give him a big kiss and hug from me!

 

We had a great week!! Lots and lots of appointments and traveling. We had an appointment with Ena, our progressing investigator, on Tuesday and taught her the third lesson. We got to the end of the lesson and she basically asked us "so what day should we plan on me being baptized?" Me and Zuster Djoukeng have never been happier!! We have planned it for the 26th of October because her family from Mexico are coming in town to Belgium and she really wants them to be there so it worked out perfectly!! She will be golden and I just love her and her family so so much! We are going to have a member in our branch baptize her, who she has become really good friends with, and he speaks fluent spanish so everything will be able to be in her native tongue so we were extremely happy about that! We also had a baptism this past Saturday for Priscilla, one of the Elders investigators. It was so special and It is always so great to see the changes people make and how happy they are! Thats why we are here!

 

We had zone conference this past Wednesday in Antwerpen and it was SOOOOO AMAZING!! I am throughly convinced that I have thee best mission president in the whole world. He is hilarious and can bring the spirit in that room like none other. After that meeting I was soo excited and ready to just go out and do missionary work! I am also officially a Belgium Resident!! yay!! I went to Brussels again last Friday and activated my residency card and did the last part of my legality so that was really exciting! I also received two marriage proposals this past week, one from another missionary and the other from a random person on the street. haha So looks like ill be getting married pretty quick when I get home ;) It was hilarious and I couldnt stop laughing about it!

 

Other than that we are doing lots of tracting and door knocking trying to find more and more people to teach! Sometimes those days seem like they will never end but I am so grateful I am able to have this oppurtunity to do it! I love this gospel and I love this mission so much! I didnt think I could really gain a sincere love for people I had never met, but it is amazing how it works. I care about these people more than I can say. I know this gospel is true and that is why I am out here! I love all of you and miss you. Thank you for all of your prayers and support! It means the world to me!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

This is Aicha's baby Julia. Isn't she adorable? I can see why Madi loves to visit.  Madison recently helped Aicha decorate cakes for Julia's baby shower.

Zuster Djoukeng and Zuster Geens (ward mission leaders wife)
While they were making cakes for Julia's shower.  Looks like they are having fun!

LOTS of RAIN!!

Hello Family and Friends!!

 

We have had such a crazy busy week! We visited alot of less active members and traveled to the end of the world and back it seemed like. We also taught both of our progressing investigators this week, Anna and Ena. Both lessons went extremely well!! Ena had lots and lots of questions about Baptism and she came to the understanding about it soo much more which made both of us super super happy. We are going to set a firm baptismal date for October 12th hopefully this coming Tuesday. We had a dinner appointment with member and we invited her and we ended up just talking all together for 45 minutes. Then we had to leave around 9:30 and Ena stayed for a whole hour after we left which was sooooo great! Anna is still trying to get over her coffee addiction and we are trying our best to help her. There is this stuff here called Caro which is basically coffee without caffeine and all the bad stuff in it, so she is trying that and it seems to help so we are excited and super happy she is progressing well.

 

Patrick and his wife had their cute little baby girl this past week so we went to the hospital and visited them! She is ADORABLE. Seeing all of the babies here is honestly just making me baby hungry. I should probably get married first though ;) Actually should come home from my mission first. Haha but we are meeting with him this coming week and we are also going to give him a baptismal date for the 12th too so we are crossing our fingers and praying everything goes well and works out like we have it planned!

 

The weather here is RAIN RAIN RAIN. I have never seen it rain more in my life. But I love it! It is starting to get really cold and we have been buying lots of scarves and sweaters. But I think fall is my favorite season so I am totally okay with that. The language is reallllyy starting to come and my ears and starting to tune to the language which is so great because I am starting to feel like I can have a normal conversation with someone without the language barrier there. Other than that we are just knocking on doors alot trying to find more and more people to teach and its a blast! We have two potentials we will be following up with so it should be an exciting week! I love and miss you all dearly and thank you for your prayers and support! Missionary work is thee best!!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

It is officially FALL :)

Hello Friends and Family-

 

Well Belgian weather has officially taken a turn into the fall weather and it rains almost every single day. Last Monday night we were out tracting knocking on doors and by the end of it we looked like we had both jumped in a swimming pool because we were so wet! I am wearing thick tights as well almost every day because it is chilly, especially at night time. But I love it and people have told me to get used to that weather because it will be like this until about March :) yay!

 

We had a really great week with our investigators! We taught Ena, who was the spanish lady that wanted our help with teaching her two young kids about the gospel. She is taking the lessons soo well and has been to church every single week since we met! We taught her the plan of salvation and she said the prayer at the end and by the time she said "amen" we were all in tears because the spirit was so strong. We are going to give her a baptismal date this week and I cant wait! Us, combined with the Ghent elders could potentially have 6 people be baptized on October 12th!!! :) we are SOOO excited!! We told President Robinson and he said he would be coming down to Ghent that day if everything worked out the way it was planned! The work is seriously on fire right now and I am so glad I get to be apart of it!

 

We also had the babyborrel (baby shower) for our cute neighbor Aicha. We were at her place baking and decorating cakes ALOT and can I just say? I am gooooood at decorating cakes and I didnt even know it. Haha We made 8 total and it was so much fun! So lots of service was going on over here in Belgium for us this past week. I probably will cry when I have to say goodbye to Aicha. She is kind of like my other mom and we have become such great friends! Her and her husband and two cute girls are coming to Utah next December (so I will be home!) and we have already planned that we will be going to dinner in Salt Lake :) I just love her to death!

 

I love missionary work!! It is so great to be able to sit and watch the lords hands in working all these amazing miracles in peoples lives. There is no greater job in the world than to give people such happiness! I love and miss all of you so much! thank you for your prayers and support! It means the world to me!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

 

Our sweet neighbor traveled to Ghent, Belgium and took Madi and Sister Djoukeng to lunch today! He even took a whole SUITCASE full of goodies, gifts, and love to her for us! Thanks Brett....it felt like we weren't so far away today!!

Gelukkige Vejaardag to Grammy, Grandpa, Princess Belen, and Grandma Barb!! :)

Hello Friends and Family!! I hope all of you birthday people have great birthdays!! I cannot believe little Belen is going to be 3 this Thursday!! Give her a BIG hug from me!

 

This week went by so so fast! I cant believe that September is already half way over and it feels like I just flew to Europe yesterday! We have had lots of success with our investigators! We were out door knocking last week and found this 29 year old spanish lady named Ena who has 2 kids and is married to a Belgian. She opened the door and was super super friendly and looked at our nametags and said "you teach people about Jesus Christ right?" and we said "Actually that is the only reason we are here." haha and she let us in and we talked with her. She continued to tell us how in Belgium it is so hard to teach your kids about God and Jesus Christ and she wanted us to help her with that. She came to church this past Sunday and we are teaching her again this Thursday and we are going to give her a baptismal date. I am sooo excited for her and her cute family!

 

This week our neighbor, Aicha, asked me to help her with some cakes for her baby shower this coming Saturday. She isnt an investigator at all. I met her on my first day in Belgium because she just lives right below us and seriously...she is like my other mom. Haha if I had issues with anything, I would call her. We are going to be making 8 huge cakes with fondunt and all this good stuff and I am SOO excited! She has two girls, one is 1 and a half and the other is about 2 months old and she is so cute. Also, funny story, this past week I had taken off one of my cardigans and slung it around my backpack because it was a little bit hot. We got to an investigators house and realized it was gone. So either it fell and I didnt notice, or someone ripped it off. So that was a bummer but it was kind of funny because of course that is just my luck. Dont worry, I have like 15 more and I make it a priority to shop on P days :)

 

So this past week we ate at a members house the Vermeulen Family. Usually they make really yummy food and i have been really lucky as far as not coming into contact with fish. Well that night she decided to make Salmon, Kod, Rice, and this Shrimp Curry. I DIED. The only thing I liked on the table was the rice. haha So I ate the salmon (which she gave me the biggest piece naturally) and rice with...Ketchup. I had said a prayer right before the meal that I would beable to eat the fish without actually tasting anything and it really did taste like chicken. So moral of the story....the church is true!! haha But really, I was proud of myself for eating the whole meal.

 

I love you all and miss you so much!! I am so grateful for all of your prayers and support. I love my mission and I love these people so much. I know I am exactly where I need to be! I know this church is true and I am so grateful for the oppurtunity to be a missionary! I love you all!!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

 Me and Sister Braet. We eat at her house for dinner a lot. I love her to death!

This is one of the little girls in our branch named Ellen. She is so cute.

This is my apartment

I am staying in Ghent!!

Hello Friends and Family!!

 

Wow this has been one crazy week! And it flew by so so fast! I hope everyone's first day of school was just great. I have to admit- I am really realllllyyy glad I am in Belgium right now and not studying. haha but keep up the good work! And Happy Anniversary to the best parents in the world!!! 20 years! Woo hoo! That is definately an accomplishment!

 

So this week we had lots of interesting things happen to us. Yesterday we were out tracting and we got to this one house and we started talking to this guy who was probably mid 20's or something years old. (sorry the way I am wording my sentences is sort of weird, the dutch and flemish language is all backwards and its starting to mess me up) Anyways, he wasnt very interested so we offered to leave behind one of our cards with our number on it in case he had questions or something like that. As soon as we handed it to him, one of his friends from a window right above us dumps a HUGE bucket of water on top of us and then slams the door and starts laughing. Me and Zuster Djoukeng just looked at each other and burst out laughing too. haha some people can be sooo rude. And I just consider that like modern day persecution as a missionary. So for the rest of the day we were completely soaked and I had looked like I just woke up or something.

 

Last night, we were also out knocking on doors. (we decided that is our favorite tool because everyone is home at night time) And we met this girl named Pegah who is from Iran. She was super nice and spoke english. you could tell by the way she was talking that she really was interested. So we gave her our card and everything and invited her to church next sunday. She said she was going through a difficulty and had had a really bad day that day and was hopeing someone would come talk to her because she wanted some direction in her life. Coincedence? I think NOT. (name that movie) but really miracles are being handed to us left and right and I cant wait to see what happens! Me and sister djoukeng decided this isnt missionary work it is just missionary fun.

 

Last monday we also went to Brugge for a Pday with our whole district and it was a blast. We took a boat tour through the whole city and then climbed the bell tower. It is a GORGEOUS city. When we come back here, we will for sure be visiting there. I have officially been to all the major cities in Flanders as well :) Belgium is my favorite and I never want to leave! I love you all so much and miss you. This church is true and I am so glad I am where I am right now. This work is so rewarding and I love helping people and bringing them so much happiness. I love you all!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

A week of Miracles and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST SISTER IN THE WORLD!!!

Goedemorgen Familie een Vriendin!!

 

Holy cow this has been the craziest week!! I feel like I have so much to say and tell all of you! I am literally going to just number things and explain each of them. I have seen so many great miracles happen!

 

1. I dyed my hair last Pday. I will send pictures next week. It was driving me crazy and it was such a terrible color so I decided to dye it at this random place in Gent. I spent WAY too much money and I have no idea what I will be doing after this because of that.

2. One of my companions Zuster Morris was emergency transferred this past week to Den Bosche in the Netherlands. We found out Tuesday and she left this past Thursday and it was SO sad! I had started to get close with her and then all of a sudden she is gone. So now it is just me and Zuster Djoukeng. It is so weird and so great all at the same time!

3. We find out transfers this next Sunday so next week I will know if I am staying in Gent or if I am transferred to somewhere else. I better be staying in Gent because I love it here SOO much.

4. We now have SIX progressing investigators!! We have two of them with a baptismal date and we possibly could have three by next week which means we will see lots of baptisms in September and the beginning of October.  Anna, one of our investigators, has gone through all of the lessons and we were debating on what to teach her this past week. We couldnt figure it out but something has been keeping her from coming to church and wanting to be baptized. Both me and my companion agreed that something would have to change, or we would have to see her kind of move forward, or else we would have to figure something out since we have been teaching her for quite awhile. We decided to show her the restoration DVD since it has been so long since we taught her the first lesson. We watched it, and the spirit was so strong. As the movie got over, we started talking about how she has really developed a relationship with god and how far she has come in just a short amount of time. All of a sudden she says "I have something I want to tell you" she proceeds to tell us this story of how one of her cats got really sick this past couple of weeks (she has like 5 cats and they are very dear to her heart btw) she said she prayed to heavenly father that if her cat could get better and live, she would promise to be baptized. And guess what happened? her cat is completely better, even though all of the vets told her it was going to die so Anna is going to be baptized!! She said that is the sign that he really does love me. It was probably the most spiritual experience I have had on my mission thus far. We were all crying and we all had the chills! It was such an amazing miracle! Literally, the lord is just handing us people to teach. It isnt missionary work right now, it is just missionary fun I decided.

I also taught ALL by myself to our investigator Kathy this past week, who is getting baptized on September 21st :) It was such a cool experience and its amazing how much I just love these people and I really hardly know them.  

5. The other day we were walking in Oudenarde which is like 45 minutes outside of gent to a members house and somehow, me just being me, I slipped and fell and wacked my head on the side of the road. It is a HUGE gooseache and all purple and red. We were a little worried I had a small concussion because I had a headache basically the whole rest of the day, but no worries I am okay now. It is healing up really well. I just had to tell you because It just made me laugh that only me would find a way to do that. haha

Other than that, this is the best job anyone could ever have!! Even though some days seem like they would never end and I miss all of you, when you have the experience of watching this gospel change someones life and you can see it in there eyes and they want to change, it makes every single second worth it!! We meet and talk with people every single day and we are just sooo busy teaching like crazy, especially this week. I love this gospel and I know it is true. I would not be out here doing this every single day if I didnt! I love my mission and I love all of you so much. Thanks for all of your support and love. You are the best! Until next week,

 

Ik houd van jullie een a goede week hebben!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

This is me and my companions in Brussels w/ our waffles that have nutella, bananas, and whipped cream :)

Me and my MTC roommates/companions in Brussels

This is a castle in Gent we went to last week called Gravensteen. I am at the top w/ the view in the background