4 office chairs in replacement of 2 couches.

Hello Friends and Family-

Well....thats right...we got rid of our mouse infested couches and the office was so generous to replace them with 4 standard office chairs! Haha needlesss to say...our house looks really funny with the two mattresses in the middle of the floor and 4 random chairs. But hey, Im not complaining. When are we ever home anyways?

We have had such a great week over here in Rotterdam! Lots of good things going and new goals being set! We have been feeling like this last transfer has literally just been so jam packed busy with getting ready for Serenitys and Ushas baptism and with all of our investigators that finding time basically went out the window. And so this week we made a goal to really start building our investigator pool up again and finding some good potentials wherever we go. So we are hoping to see some really cool miracles from that these upcoming weeks. We get transfer calls this upcoming Sunday night or Monday morning and we are crossing our fingers that we both can stay one more transfer. The chances of that are super slim but it could still happen. If I were to leave, I just would feel like I wasnt here long enough, being that Ive been in my other two cities at least three, not to mention how much I love these people. They have just become my family and it will be hard to say goodbye when the time comes.

We had zone training this past Wednesday and it was SOO good. It was all focused on Elder Bednars talk called The Character of Christ. They talked about how we need to really apply those things in our missionary work and how we can ultimately become like him and strengthen our realtionship with Christ. They hit it all right on the head for me and the spirit was super strong. Zuster Kohlert sang a beautfiul musical number (she is pro) and everyone loved it. Today we are all at the church with the Elders, we are all super good friends, and we play sports and do fun things basically every single week together. Missionary work is fantastic! Good luck to my bro Connor!! You are going to do SOO good out there in Chile and I cant wait to see and hear about all of your cool experiences!! I love and miss you all!

Love, Zuster Brophy

Sooooo one of my awesome former companions, Zuster Israelsen, sent me 9 bottles of AMERICAN Diet coke and 5 packs of Trident spearmint gum. SHE IS THE BEST.

Me and Kohlert on a bikeride by a windmill

HOT Baptism!!

Goedemiddag Friends and Family-

Wow we have had such a great and HOT week! We reached a good 93.4 degrees Farenheit with 86% humidity on Saturday! Woo...talk about burning hot! It is exactly the same as last year being that Thursday is my year in the land mark!! How crazy is that?! I remember my first few weeks it was just like this...burning hot and humid and I had the worst jet lag and could not sleep even if I took some sleeping pills. Luckily I have just gotten so used to it now that you just learn to deal with it and fall asleep anyways. :) And for the rest of this week it seems to just stay nice and hot. Lekker lekker lekker!

Serenity and Usha are BAPTIZED and I am soooo happy!! It was such a great day. Me and Zuster Kohlert used one of my favorite cookie recipes that I brought from home (the chocolate chip cookie one with vanilla instant pudding). But we revised it a little bit and put M&M´s in there instead of chocolate chips since you cant buy those here and added oatmeal. They were delicious. Everyone was asking how to make them and for the recipe. I will say....we Americans have just got the cookie thing down. I dont know what we do differently but we just do. The girls were super super nervous but everything went well! Afterwards we were helping them get dressed again and Serenity says Wow I just feel so happy! And Usha said Yeah I just feel the warm feeling that mom Always talked about! It was sooo sweet to hear and it just made me tear up! Zuster Kohlert played the violin and she did BOMB. And lots of the ward members came to support and we all just had a party. We had a picnic today with the girls and I just couldnt love them more. SO proud of them!

We are still working with Chanel, Iris, and Lugarda! They are all preparing for their baptismal dates this upcoming month and we are super excited for them. Iris is making huge progress with her smoking and drinking! I see the change in her eyes every single time we go over there. We have zone training coming up this Wednesday and lots and lots of appointments planned. Me and Kohlert are having way too much fun over here in Rotterdam and we are hoping for a third transfer together, since transfer calls are now less than two weeks away. Time flies! I love you all and miss you! Thank you for all your prayers!

Love, Zuster Brophy

My cologne: Waffle- President Robinson

Hello Friends and Family-

Wow what a great and exhausting week! We are staying crazy busy over here in Rotterdam and it is great. We are preparing for Serenity's and Usha's baptism for this upcoming Saturday and they are soooo excited. We brought them to church because there mom was sick yesterday and they are starting to make lots of friends with the other kids in the ward and everything. Because we see them so much and have become so close with them, it almost feels like we are their little moms. Haha we both have gotten really attached and I am scared for the time when we have to say goodbye! We told them yesterday that in about three weeks one of us would probably have to move somewhere else, and they both just stopped talking and wouldnt do anything for like 5 minutes. It was so sad! Definately a hard part of a mission- saying goodbye to people! But we are super excited for the baptism and will take lots and lots of pictures :)

Nederland got third place and it was super fun to watch the game on Wednesday night! I am stillll recovering from going to bed at 2am but...in the end it was all worth it even though they lost to Argentina. We went to a members house and did face paint, wore our orange, and ate some good food. It was super weird...it almost felt like I was a normal person for awhile. Haha On Friday we were able to see a really cool miracle. We received a really awesome member referral. Broeder Vermeer told us that he had some neighbors he wanted us to meet. So we made an appointment and went over there and he introduced us. They are sooo prepared! We talked alot about the Book of Mormon and The Plan of Salvation and we have a return appointment for this upcoming Wednesday night. It was so cool to see the spirit work through them and to see how much they wanted to know more and more about the Book of Mormon. We are super excited to see what happens as we continue teaching them. We also had interviews this past week with President and Zuster Robinson- oh how I love them! They are so hilarious hence the quote in the subject line. I had walked in the room and it smelt like waffles and I said something to President and he goes- Its my cologne. hahaha I died laughing. It was super awesome to sit and talk with him about the work and everything. Other than that, we are just staying busy and are booked with appointments this week. We barely even have time to go finding! But I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week!

Love, Zuster Brophy

Emotional Roller Coaster of a Lifetime!

Hello Friends and Family-

 

SOOO many miracles to tell! First, we are now allowed to watch the World Cup games since Nederland is in the Semi-Finals. And if they win that and go to the Finals then we get to watch that game next Sunday!! Our president is just so awesome. He just randomly called the asssistants one morning and said "You guys should probably let all the missionaries know they are allowed to watch the games now." Haha so we are going to be at a members house for the 10pm game on Wednesday aganist Argentina so everybody, pray that they win and keep going! All of the Dutch people are freaking out.

 

Second Miracle....Chanel, the 16 year old girl from last week, is getting BAPTIZED!!! On July 19th!! We had our appointment with her Monday night and it was one of the coolest lessons I have ever given. She literally asked to be baptized and planned to come to church with her mom on Sunday all before we said the opening prayer! Her mom came in a little later and we realized that she couldnt speak Dutch or English, so we asked Chanel what language she speaks and she goes Öh we are actually gypsys" Haha how awesome is that? So apparently she only speaks some crazy language that they made up and Chanel had to translate every time she wanted to say something. But what was amazing is that through the whole lesson her mom wasnt understanding alot but every once in a while she would just say "These people are really good people. They were supposed to be here and meet us." And usually by the end of the lesson you invite your investigator to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it but not with Chanel. At the end she grabs the Book of Mormon and says Ï am going to read this book and pray about it and I know I will get an answer because I can feel the love of God." Like I seriously thought I was dreaming. It was the coolest thing ever. And then her mom all of a sudden interupts us and starts saying something to Chanel. And she turns to us and says Öh my goodness, she says that she has seen you (pointing to me) somewhere and has talked to you but she just cant remember where, but she knows that she knows you." And immediately I had the strongest impression and I knew without a doubt that I had met and spoken with her in the Pre-mortal life! Its as if, that whole memory just came flooding back into my head. She started crying, I started crying and we just had a really good moment! One of the most unforgettable experiences I have ever had. Her mom also wants to be baptized, we are not sure when yet but she will be one day very soon! We were able to meet with Chanel three times this week and trying to get her ready for baptism. We are SOOO excited! She will be baptized with two other little girls who are now just our best friends, Serenity and Usha. They are 8 and 11 and we have been teaching them all the lessons and they are so excited for their baptism too. I would say...Life is good :)

 

I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July! We were able to go to a members house and she had decorations and made delicious food and we all wore red, white, and blue. Me and Zuster Kohlert threw a BBQ for our whole zone this past Saturday night in celebration of America and it went really well! We have interviews this coming week with President and Zuster Robinson and I am super excited. We are super super busy with lots of investigators and we are teaching alot! Love missionary work! It is super super hot and humid and the mosquitos (spelling?) love our blood with a passion. We gave up trying to sleep upstairs because it was way too hot and pulled our mattresses downstairs, stacked our mouse infested couchs on top of each other, and have been sleeping on the floor. Haha its great fun! I love you all and miss you!! You are the best and have a great week!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy