Quickest week of my life!

Hello Friends and Family-

 

So basically....I have no idea where this week went. Every single Sunday night our District leader calls us and we report our numbers for that week and talk about how our investigators are doing and everything, and my companion answered the phone and started reading them off and I turned to her and said "why are you giving him numbers tonight?!" and she just started laughing and said Üm...its Sunday. haha so I have officially lost it and I never know what day it is anymore! But it was a fantastic week full of good things.

 

First off, I think its important for you to all know that I tasted REAL Diet Coke again for the first time on Friday night. How did I do that? Well there is an amazing member here in Apeldoorn and we have become good friends and I told him that I really missed it one time. So what did he do? He went and got it for me from ENGLAND!!! So basically I had a fantastic week. And I also came to the realization that I really do have a slight problem because it shouldnt ever taste THAT good. haha and I only have two cans so I am making those suckers last ;)

 

So transfers were also this past Wednesday and everybody went to their new places. We lost Elder Eastmond and Elder Claflin which was super sad but we got Elder Lee and Elder Alston (who is with Elder Muse as zone leaders) and its basically a party. We have dinner appointments with all six of us basically every single night and we always have good times and laughs. We did an American Panacake breakfast for the entire ward this past Saturday morning and that was SO much fun. We did one batch completely normal and then another with Bananas and Chocolate. Elder Muse is SO good at cooking and so he was doing alot of it and we all just gave support. Haha it was a blast! We had a baptism on Saturday for the Elders for a man named Simon. He is chinese and his visa expired here in Holland so he has to return back to China for a little bit of time and then he will come back. Me and Zuster Israelsen are still having a blast teaching Sam and Guvendi. They are both progressing perfectly and on track for baptism. We had a really cool miracle...we were teaching Guvendi about the Word of Wisdom and he drinks tea every morning and also coffee every once in a while. And 9 times out of 10 its a little difficult for an investigator to give up those kinds of things at first but he literally said ök well it looks like I wont be drinking those anymore...I will just drink milk or juice instead. BAM. And it was good. How crazy and awesome is that? He is so prepared its ridiculous and I cannot wait for this upcoming month of March because we are going to be having a good time :)

 

We are also working alot with the Young Women in this ward and can I just say...I love them. So much. There are 6 of them total and we have become such good friends and me and Zuster Israelsen have been making it a goal to see them every single week at least once and to help them with their scripture study and prayers. Because I have really realized on my mission how lucky I was to go to school where the majority of people I was around had the same standards and believed in the same thing. Because it is SO much harder for them out here. They have so much around them pulling them in a different direction all the time but they stay strong! I love this ward in Apeldoorn with all my heart and I am so grateful to be here and have this oppurtunity. Being a missionary is so cool/rewarding/hard/exhausting/amazing. All in one :) I love all of you and miss you dearly! Thank you for the support and the prayers! Also, I am going to send some pics home sometime this week so be watching the blog (sorry ive been slacking on that).

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

The work is on FIRE!!!

Hello Wonderful Family and Friends-

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day and had a fantastic week! We are at the end of the transfer over here in the Netherlands and it turns out I will be staying with Zuster Israelsen and I am SOOOO happy. This will be her last transfer before she heads back home which means I am almost guarenteed to stay one more as well unless they whitewash it, but probably not :) i am just starting to really connect and get to know the ward and they are so amazing. I feel so blessed to be here and to work with these amazing people!

 

So this past week, we have seen so many amazing miracles in this city. Our hard work is starting to pay off and we are SO busy....we dont even have time to do weekly planning this week. We are headed over to Den Haag again this Wednesday to pick up Zr Israelsens identity card and we have a schedule full of just appointments with people all week long. Miracle #1: We were out door knocking Sunday February 9th and we came across this man who we sat at the door for awhile and talked about the Book of Mormon and ended up setting an appointment at the door for this past Friday the 14th. Not thinking too much of it we go over there Friday and start talking with him. Turns out, we end up teaching him the first lesson and setting a baptismal date for March 22nd!!! The spirit was SO strong and it was such a cool experience to see! We also, that same day, set another baptismal date with one of our investigators named Joseph. He has been getting lessons for us the whole transfer but we have been working on specific things with him like Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity and he finally accepted one! I am so excited!! :) We are going to see lots and lots of miracles this next transfer! We, as missionaries, are making American Panacakes for the whole ward and our investigators this Saturday so that should be very interesting and fun! We dont have lots of time to go finding because we are so busy with appointments and different things. I feel like I am living the missionary dream! :)

 

I love this gospel and I love this mission! Looking back to when left and to now being almost halfway through...I have changed and learned sooo much about myself. And you cant get the same experience in any other way. Missionary work stretches you in ways you didnt think you could be stretched and shows you what it really means to rely on the lord and figure out who you are. Im still learning every single day and its still hard at times but I love this work so much. It scares me that I am literally almost half way done and looking at the down slope.. it actually makes me sick. haha I love you all and miss you dearly!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

 

PS There is a video on Youtube of me and the other missionaries when we made a video for the young women in Dutch if you want to look it up. I have forgotten to tell you every week except now haha type in "Mariska Feith" and then it should be there as Ëlders the Movie. :) Its all in Dutch so you wont know whats going on but...Enjoy :)

Living in the Netherlands is like a dream. :)

Hello Friends and Family-

 

We are already about in the middle of February and I am freaking out! Thank you so much for all of the birthday wishes and everything. I have to say....it was thee weirdest birthday I have ever had thus far. haha Because I woke up...and it just felt like a normal day but then also a special day as well. And I feel like I am so used to and in track with the normal missionary schedule that I cant really remember what I would of been doing on my birthday in the first place instead of missionary work, if that makes sense? I do feel older with this one though. haha turning 20 seems really weird and way too old because I feel like I just entered into the decade of decisions or something which seems extremely intimidating. But I was soooooo spoiled on my bday!! I got to open all of the gifts that I got from my family (you guys are the best and I love youuuu) and then we had a lunch appointment with one of the members and my comp wouldnt tell me why or what or anything. So we go over there and I walk in and they had decorated their house with everything and gave me tulips and a card and told me they were taking me to a REAL pannokoeken house to have my first real pannokoeken :) It was SOOOO GOOOD. I could not believe my taste buds. And then after we did all of that we came back to their house and they say "thats not everything" and all of the Elders storm in the house and they had made cake and pies and had gifts and everything :) It was so much fun and I felt soo loved! Then that night we went to Instituut and had dinner and they all sang Happy Birthday and gave me MORE gifts!! I just love them all so much. So overall it was a really great day :)

 

Other than that, missionary work is also on FIRE! We still have two baptismal dates with Petra and Sam and they are both doing really well and progressing. We are so booked with appointments now that we really dont have anytime to go finding.....which I guess is a good thing but we are trying really hard to keep that going as much as possible so that we can keep our investigator poool extremely high. We went door knocking last night for about an hour and found 6 potentials and made two appointments at the door. THAT LIKE NEVER HAPPENS. So we were supppper happy about that! We have lots of good things planned for this coming week as well. We are down to our last full week of this transfer! SOO crazy how fast time flies. But we are working really hard and trying to find all of the prepared people here in Apeldoorn! I LOVE all of these members SO much. I am really so lucky to have hit the jackpot two times in a row with the members and wards that are here in this mission. I love missionary work and I am so glad I am where I am spreading the gospel. It is the best job in the whole world! I love and miss you all so much! Thank you for your prayers and support!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

Stroopwafel GOODNESS.

Hello Family and Friends-

 

I love being a missionary and I love missionary work. We had thee most exhausting/busiest/miracle week I have ever seen so far on my mission. As my last email said we were able to make some extremely high goals for ourselves, with one of them being 4 baptismal dates in ONE week. That is the highest number I have ever set for that kind of thing so I was a little sketchy about it, but I knew that if we did the 50 mormon.org card things everyday and also put our faith in the lord that it would happen. Well at the end of all of it, we figured we talked to about 600-650 people during the week and handed out about 350 cards. And now.....we have TWO baptismal dates and new investigators!!! One of them is named Sam and he is in his late 20's and we met him on the street. It was super cool because we were standing outside one of the members house and my companion was on the phone with somebody so I was just standing by her waiting for her to get off the phone when I saw a man walking up the street. And my first reaction was "nah, I wont talk to this one because my comp is on the phone" But then at the last second I decided that I needed to and gave him a card. We got talking about the Book of Mormon and I ended up making an appointment with him for the next day (friday) right there on the street. So Friday we go over there with two joint teaches named Melvin and Amaro and they are both super solid and awesome members. We taught him the Restoration and set a baptismal date for March 8, 2014 AND he came to church Sunday!!! How awesome is that?! We were literally freaking out. So today we are going out to get Chinese food to celebrate. Some good ol rice for myself :)

 

The other investigator, her name is Petra. She is 19 years old and we met her talking to people in the Centrum of Apeldoorn. I was actually going contacting with Elder Alston and Zr Israelsen was with another elder and they are the ones that got the first contact. But we had a really great lesson with her last night at the church with alot of the YSA's in our ward and set a date for the same day on March 8!!! It is SOOO cool and awesome. We also have lots and lots of appointments with potentials this upcoming week and we plan on doing and keeping this goal up for at least the rest of the time we are companions. Because in just one week I have been able to learn how to contact people on a bike, because it is actually alot harder than you think. And I remember during my first few transfers that if I could just learn how to break out of my comfort zone then I would be good for the rest of my mission. But that is SO not the case...you have to do it every single day. So it has been really cool to see us both talking to sooo many people and its starting to become a habit and when I pass someone on my bike or walking I actually catch myself and go back and talk to them. Its making a huge difference and if we keep this goal up for the rest of the time we are companions and also I plan on doing it the rest of my mission, I cannot wait to see the many people we will find and teach. Oh and just a side note, I tried my first REAL FRESH stroopwafel on the street Saturday and I think I slipped into heaven for a few minutes. It was unreal delicious and I wish I could send you all one in a pkg. My next big challenge will be to try the fresh harring, but I will wait until im a little bit furthur into my mission for that one. :) that will be a dozzey. But I love missionary work and I love these people with all my heart!! I am so glad I am where I am and doing the things I am doing! This week we have lots of good things going on and I will be eating lots of junk food and enjoying myself in celebration of leaving my teens behind and turning 20!! haha I love and miss you all dearly!!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

 

PS I swear I have been trying to send pictures but I cannot. This computer is being dumb. So hopefully soon I will beable to send you all a few. Sorry.