Missionary work. So great.

Hello Family and Friends-

Capelle aan den Ijssel is such a blesssed city. Holy cow we are just seeing sooo many miracles left and right and it is amazing! Me and Zuster Greenwell are having an absolute blast. This past weekend we had a Relief Society Activity and Iris was able to come together with some members. Then we had a great baptism for a man name Jan-Willem. He has been investigating the church for over 2 years now and was finally baptized on Saturday night. I had asked Iris the night before if she wanted to come and she said Nahhh I am really tired and I need some time for myself, but I will come to church on Sunday for sure. So I just let it go, feeling like I shouldnt push it or anything. Then Saturday morning we get a text from her and she says Hey I slept really well and I am coming to the baptism tonight! AHHH we were so happy. It was really cool to see HER take the initiative and come on her own. She loved it and really felt the spirit and it was a great night! Then she also came to church on Sunday. SO 3 days in a row in the church. I was just so proud of her! I also was able to go on an exchange this last week from Wednesday to Thursday with Zuster Kohlert!! Much needed. It was as if we had just been on a week long exchange and then came back together. It was actually pretty confusing. haha but super fun to work with her again in Capelle. While we were on exchanges we were out contacting on the street and saw this man walking his dog. When I first saw him I remember thinking...you should probably stop him and talk to him, he looks nice...so we stop him (turns out Kohlert had the same impression to stop) and start talking to him about the Book of Mormon. He had heard and seen us before and had always wondered what we did, so we were able to get his name, address, and phone number and he told us we could definately stop by sometime. GOLDEN CONTACT. So we call him up on Saturday night and make an appointment with him for Sunday night. We called Zuster Wilkins, a member, and she came with us on joint teach. Cooolest lesson ever!! We taught the Restoration, bore our testimonies, and shared personal experiences. And one of the best things was....he listened. That is such an important part and one of the first things I always notice about people. If they listen, they have an open heart and are more willing to accept your message. We extended the baptismal invitation and he said YES! SOOO great. He is definately a prepared person that we needed to talk to. 

We had a really good zone training this past week. Lots of good tips and things to remember about how to teach really good lessons. Our zone leaders and sister training leader are so inspired. We found out that we are having a Zusters conference at the mission home in a few weeks with all the sisters in the mission. HALLELUJAH. I finally get to see the mission home before the end of my mission. We also have temple conference coming up on the 14th of October and I am so excited to go one last time. Lots of great things are happening and I am just so grateful to be out here right now. I love Nederland and the people here and wouldnt want to be anywhere else! Thanks for all the prayers and support! I love and miss you all! 

Me and Kohlert..it was cold!

 Having fun with the girls :)

Change.

Hello Friends and Family-

This week has been one crazy week. Lots of change and you all know how I usually do with that kind of stuff. We had lots of goodbyes on Monday and Tuesday and then had Transfers Wednesday. Its hilarious how tired you seriously are after Transfer day. Hauling suitcases off and on trains, seeings so many missionaries, and unpacking and reorganizing everything. Zuster Greenwell was coming from Zoetermeer which isnt very far away so we were both back in Capelle by 1 PM or so on Wednesday. Its been very different with Zuster Kohlert. When you are with a companion that you get along with so well for 3 transfers, its quite a shock to all of a sudden switch! But the good news is, I am really enjoying Zuster Greenwell as my companion. She is Always so helpful and super loving. We get along really well. She turned 21 this past Saturday so we had a nice little party/lunch with all the elders. She also got her bike stolen that night. haha SO sad. Rotterdam is sketchy which is why having a really janky, beat up bike like mine is the only way to go. We have been keeping really busy with investigators and we have set some really high goals for this transfer. I decided that these last two transfers are going to be some of the hardest working transfers of my whole mission. I just want to be soooo tired from working that I just sleep the whoooole way home on the plane from exhaustion. And luckily she is also on my same page and we have already seen some really amazing miracles!! Its so great how the lord works. We found 2 new investigators, received 2 member referrals, and taught 16 lessons in one week, 13 of them being after Wednesday/transfers. SOO cool. We are super excited to just blow this city up the next 6 weeks.

We have zone training this upcoming Wednesday and we are all super excited. We are already super busy and we havent made appointments with half of our investigators. I am SUPER excited for general conference and everything coming up! Its starting to get colder here and actually feel like fall. Thanks for your prayers and support! I love you all!

Love, Zuster Brophy

Kralingse Bos, last pday

District photos before Transfers

Transfer day :(

Happy Birthday Zuster Greenwell!

Well folks.....Time for the next season.

Hello Family and Friends-

TRANSFERS. Are great. And also very very sad. We got the phone call last night and it turns out I will be staying in Capelle/Rotterdam for my 4th with Zuster Greenwell and Zuster Kohlert is headed over to Utrecht with Zuster Verdegem and Zuster Wood. MAN. How I am going to miss her sooo much!! BUT, the lord is awesome. And Im pretty sure our mission president really thought this one through knowing that we would die if we didnt see each other. Because it is seriously the best situation we could have asked for. We are still in the same zone so we will see each other for zone training in a week, temple conference in 4 weeks, and she is the sister training leaders companion so we will be going on exchanges as well!! How awesome is that!!?? We were very happy. And I am really excited for Zuster Greenwell to be my comp. We stayed in the same room in the MTC so I already know her pretty well and she is a total sweetheart so it should be fun. This also means I will be doing a 6 week wonder in a random city for my last transfer! WOO! That should be interesting and fun. Overall, I am glad to be staying in Rotterdam. I love this city and these people, and Ill be honest.....6 months/4 transfers in a city is the bomb. 

We got to hear and listen to Elder Ballard this past Thursday and it was SOOOOOO great. We all got to shake his hand and talk to him personally along with two members of the Seventy. It was such a great day and I didnt wash my hands for at least three days. Joke. Haha he gave some really great counsel for our mission and for about 30 minutes we just got to ask him all different kinds of questions about our work and how he could help us and he gave some really great advice. That man speaks with the SPIRIT. The second he walked into the room you could literally just feel the change in the atmosphere and it was such a good experience. When he bore his testimony, you could just feel the truth from his words. I have NO DOUBT that man has the keys of the priesthood and helps lead this church today! It was such a great experience I will never forget. It was also really great to see the whole entire mission at one time! There were just so many people to talk to, I didnt even know where to start. We were all soo socaily exhausted by the end of the day. Then we went on exchanges, Zuster Anjewierden and me went back to Capelle and Zuster Kohlert and Zuster Verdegem went to Utrecht. Long story short,  we got a text from Utrecht Friday morning saying that Zuster Verdegem was in the Hospital because she woke up with a numb left arm, after already having heart problems before this, so we rush to Utrecht and end up sitting in the hospital with her the WHOLE DAY while they just pricked and poked her with needles to figure out what was going on. One of the most exhausting days ever! Me and Kohlert ended up staying in Utrecht that night. I hadnt brought any pjs with me so I slept in my clothes. haha pretty hilarious. So that made for a really interesting weekend. She is doing lots better now btw, just a little scary. 

This week we are crazy busy with appointments. Iris is in the process of picking a new baptismal date and now that I know I am staying here in Rotterdam, I have decided that me and Zuster Greenwell are just going to BLOW UP this place and find some new people to teach. That is all we will be doing for the next few weeks, is finding. I love this ward, I cant wait for zone training next week, I cant wait for General Conference in a few weeks. I love and miss you all and cant wait to see your beautiful faces soon! Thanks for all the prayers and support! 

Love, Zuster Brophy

 Me, Zuster Djoukeng, and Zuster Morris

 My MTC District...love them!

 All of the missionaries in our mission from DAVIS! Go DHS!

Me, Elder Muse, and Elder Alston

So who hired the band for the Ward BBQ?....Oh just the Sister Missionaries.

Hello Family and Friends-

Oh my goodness I feel like my brain/head is so crammed full with information and things to do that I dont know where to begin in my emails. That seems to be happening almost every single week now though. I wish there was an easier method to tell you guys everything that has been happening, because my brain just becomes mush by Mondays.

BUT, we had a realllly great week this week! Did lots of fun things and saw alot of cool miracles! We had a really fun ward BBQ this past Friday and yes.......we may have accidentally hired a band and offered ourselves to be the main singers. haha you can only imagine how that turned our. We met this really awesome guy named Mano a few weeks ago and got started teaching him. We found out that he played guitar and he found out that we liked to sing so apparently he formed us into a band without telling us. He asked if he could come to the BBQ and play his guitar. We said he could thinking ya he can totally just sit on the grass and play the guitar....no big deal right? Welllll...he ended up bringing his amp and guitar with two other friends he had that also can sing. hahaha funniest night of my life. We ended up singing and dancing for the whole ward all night long and being the main entertainment. SO fun! I was extremely nervous and a little bit scared at first, but then everything turned out great! The ward loved it. I have a really great video that I can show all of you later. Then on Saturday night me and Zuster Kohlert were able to do something that no other missionary was able to do......go to Rotterdamse HavenDag!!! Its this really awesome show that they do every single year in September in Rotterdam, where they have all of the different kinds of boats come to the Harbor and have a show and big firework show on Saturday night since Rotterdam has the biggest Harbor/Haven in the world. Iris, our investigator, invited us to go with her and her son to see the Haven and the firework show on Saturday night. So we called our mission president to see if we could get permission to go, kind of scared thinking he would say no, but since we have the coolest mission president EVER he was just like Ya sure....just make good choices and have fun!! WOOO Bomb! So we got to see that and it was SOO fun! Thenn.....to top it all of for this week...we have some members in our ward here in Rotterdam that live INSIDE a Windmill. So they gave all 6 of us missionaries in the ward a private tour of the Windmill this morning :) It was a great week full of lots of non missionary ish things I guess? haha so fun.

We only have a week left of this transfer and I cant figure out where the time has gone! Me and Kohlert may just cry on Transfer day next week. I wish we could just finish out our missions together but unfortunately that cant happen! I am excited to see who gets to leave this beautiful city though. I am very torn at what I actually want though. We have a VERY busy week this week. We have a mission conference this upcoming Thursday and we get to listen to ELDER BALLARD. SOO excited. Its going to be bomb! I hope you all enjoy the pics :) Love and miss you all!

Love, Zuster Brophy

HavenDag!

 Me, Zuster Kohlert, and Elder Conatti

 HavenDag :)

Our private tour of the "windmill house"...so fun!

Ï feel like I woke up and my hair was dyed blue."- Zuster Kohlert

Hello Friends and Family-

 

What a week! Its been a rough one to say the least physically and emotionally and I am happy I can say its over! We started off the week with Zone Conference on Wednesday in Zoetermeer and it was sooo great! President had some really great hilarious one liners and we were all spiritually fed :) Luckily we get to see everyone again next Thursday the 11th for Elder Ballards Conference. SOOO excited. And its SEPTEMBER. I woke up this morning and looked at the phone and I realized that It was already September. Barf. Time goes by too fast.

 

Unfortunately Iris didnt get baptized. It was all planned and ready and it ended up falling through on Thursday morning. We had seen her on Wednesday night and everything seemed fine and she had smoked her last cigarette. But turns out, she needs a little bit more time to quit smoking and she wanted to really take some time to think about it. When me and Zuster Kohlert read the text that she sent us on Thursday morning that she wanted to change her date, I have never had my heart break and drop like that before. It was SOOOO sad. I knew that it was the right thing but knowing how bad she wants to be baptized and with how much I care for her and love her, it was so heart breaking for us. I will admit....I may have shed some tears for her. Haha sounds crazy, but its true. We saw her yesterday after church and were able to talk everything through and she is still just as strong and she still wants it. And she is progressing. She is really good busy with the things she should be doing and she is a strong lady, so I know everything will work out. We had a really great weekend as well. Kind of a funny story, Saturday morning we had just gotten done with personal study and we had just sung a hymn to begin companionship study. I stood up and started to stretch and all I remember is getting REALLY light headed, and I went to grab the chair and the next thing I remember, Is I was on the ground all tangeled up in my chair. haha I had NO clue what had just happened. Zuster Kohlert said that I had totally just passed out and hit my head really hard on the wall next to my desk. So needless to say I wasnt feeling very good all day Saturday because I had a massive headache. I went to bed Saturday night not feeling so good, but woke up Sunday morning feeling lots better. Went to church and had a meeting after, when all of a sudden my headache came back. As the night went on it got worse and worse and we had a member of the ward on joint teach with us and she looked at me and said "you look terrible and you need to rest because I can tell you do not feel good." Everyone started getting worried because apparently I looked like a zombie. I got a blessing from some of the elders late last night, called the mission presidents wife to inform her, and we came to the conclusion that I probably have a very mild concussion. Haha go figure! So I slept in today (The best thing ever) And am going to be taking it easy the next few days to get myself back into health. So that made this weekend extra exciting and exhausting! My body is falling apart is really the good conclusion.

 

We have a really great, busy week planned! We have lots of appointments with our investigators, we have a ward bbq this friday and I am making the really good sour creme bundt cake that my mom makes and its going to be delicious!! :)  I love missionary work, even when you wack your head aganist a wall, and I love the people here! Thank you for all the prayers and support! Love and miss you all!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy