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.

What a week!

Hello Family and Friends-

 

We have had a very crazy, busy week and I am absolutely exhausted!! But it has been very fun all at the same time!

 

We started the week off with zone training and that was SO fantastic. The zone leaders and Zuster Stevens, our sister training leader, talked alot about prayer and personal revelation which is probably my absolute favorite topic in the whole gospel! They brought up really great points and helped me alot with seeing the different perspectives and sides of things. They showed the videos by Elder Bednar abut personal revelation and I highly encourage you all to look them up and see! They are amazing. So me and my companion decided that we were going to make some pretty high goals for this next week. One of our investigators dropped us and so we went back down to having no baptismal dates. During weekly planning we had a really cool experience where we were prayerfully trying to figure out how many we wanted to get in one week. Before we said the prayer, we both though maybe 2 was good, but that would even be pushing it a little bit. And then after we got done saying the prayer we both felt like FOUR. I was freaking out because that never happens, and I havent ever set a goal that high for baptismal dates in one week on my mission. But we also made a goal to pass out 50 pass along cards every single day. You would think that would be easy, but the Dutch people are very different I feel like. They will just say no I dont want that! Or look at it for a second and then give it right back to you. Its been harder than we thought it would be. We have been speaking to about 100+ people every single day and by the time we get home to go to bed we both just crash! I fell asleep in my skirt and everything the other night because I had absolutely no energy to change. haha they also are expecting snow finally here in the Netherlands so we are bracing ourselves for that coming up. (I will be buying gloves and everything warm I can think of today) So that is exciting!

 

We have this recently baptized member that we visit all the time with the Elders and she has two little boys that are under the age of 5. We were over there a little while ago and made them dinner and everything and had a little FHE night. About a week later this past Wednesday we get a call from her saying that one of her little boys was just diagnosed with Scarlet Fever and it has a 14 day incubation period, which means we were most likely exposed to it while we were there. So now we are all freaking out that we have Scarlet Fever. Haha hopefully we dont get it. We are all crossing our fingers! We have two progressing investigators right now, Joseph and Luda. We are planning on giving them baptismal dates this coming week and we are praying they will accept it. Missionary work is a blast! It was definately a harder week this week, but you have to go through a little bit of the refiners fire every once and while I think. I know this gospel is true and I have seen so many tiny miracles every single day! I would'nt want to be anywhere else but here in Apeldoorn, Netherlands! I cannot believe it is already almost February. Time is going by way too fast! I love and miss you all so much!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

Vla, witloaf, and a little bit of pie

Hello Family and Friends-

 

What a crazy, incredible week we have had!! I seriously dont know where time goes. Happy Birthday to Jamie and Anna last week and this upcoming week! I hope you are all doing fun amazing things! :) I love and miss you both and will be thinking about you lots!

 

Well turns out, I am safe with the whole tooth problem. I was able to go to the dentist on Tuesday and they looked at it and said it must just be a sensistive spot! YES! that means I am still going on  my streak of never having any cavtities! I was a little worried about that. We had district meeting this past Thursday and Interviews with President and Zuster Robinson which is always absoltuly wonderful. I love both of them so much! And I love my district. We have super great Elders and me and Zuster Israelsen are the only sisters again so it makes it kind of fun. Us and The Elders in Apeldoorn and Deventer have become super close in the past week and a half. I feel like they are kind of like my brothers and we have that kind of relationship as well! haha we have a really great time. We usually have a dinner appointment with all 6 of us every single night which is so much fun! This past Friday we had to go to Den Haag to pick up my residency permit to reside in the Netherlands and we made it all the way there with no problems, but then on the way back there were lots of train issues and we got stuck in Utrecht Centraal which is still about an hour and a half away from Apeldoorn and we still had to bike about 30 min from the station to get to our dinner appointment on time. The Zone Leaders, who are serving in Deventer, had been up in Leiden for a meeting with president and were driving back in their car to Apeldoorn so we called president to see if we could just get a ride back with them in order to be on time for our dinner appointment together. President said yes, so the elders drove into Utrecht and picked us up. Turns out, we ended up getting stuck in traffic for about an hour and were rushing as fast as we could to get back to into Apeldoorn on time. We had some of thee funniest laughs during that car ride I will never forget! We ate at a members house, she is a single lady who LOVES the missionaries and invites us over all the time. She makes Chicken Cordon Bleu with green beans and Asiago potatoes with some tiramisu for dessert every single time without fail. And it was delicious as always.

 

We have been seeing lots of miracles with our finding efforts here in Apeldoorn! We currently have 4 progressing investigators and we found 2 new investigators this past week. Right now in  our district, we have 6 people scheduled to be baptized on February 15th and I am so excited! We are hoping and praying that everything goes as planned and they all will progress perfectly. Samantha is one of our progressors who has a baptismal date and she has two little boys and is married. We have taught her the first lesson and are in the process of trying to schedule another appointment for this next week to continue her progession. We have had some of the greatest times! I am absoltuly in love with this ward here as well. The members are so fantastic and loving and we are constantly seeing them on a daily basis and they are always willing to help us out. This week we are doing a "Mini MTC" experience for the young women and we wanted to show the District videos you watch before a mission but they are only in English. So us and the Elders decided to film our own video in Dutch. haha I dont think I have laughed that hard in a long time! I am so excited to see it all done and finished with the editing! If I can get a copy of it, I plan on bringing it home to show to everyone. :) I love this work so much and I am so happy to be here in Apeldoorn! I can feel all of your prayers and support and it helps me out so much during the week when I am having a hard day or something. You are all amazing and I love and miss you so much!!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

I am in Nederland!!!

Hello Family and Friends-

 

Well this has been the longest/craziest week of my entire life! I seriously feel like I have been around the world and back with transfers. And I have to say that after doing one whole crazy transfer I would be find with only having one more city and doing the move only once more. haha It is quite the day! It was really hard to leave Gent and to say goodbye to all those people down there that I grew so close to and love so much. I was feeling really homesick the first few days, but not for home, for Gent. I packed and then went and visited investigators non-stop for about 2 full days before I left. Packing was quite the adventure since anyone who knows me well knows that not only am I absolutely terrible at it but I hate it with a passion! Elder Hansen was my life savor and ended up giving me one of his suitcases/bags that he has used his whole mission. Apparently he found it somewhere in Amsterdam and didnt want it anymore. He also gave me his bike and her name is Amber and she is a complete champ. Turns out, Courtney Moses one of my friends I met before my mission who served here as well, rode the same bike her whole mission. I believe i am the 4th missionary to use it so its kind of like a legend in the mission. It is definately a little rusty and I have to buy a new seat for it eventually I think but I will be fighting for that to stay in good condition my whole mission. Apeldoorn is so beautiful! I have been in a little bit of a culture shock this whole week. Even though Belgium and the Netherlands are close together you really realize how much of a different country they are after you live in one and then move to the other. Netherlands is SOO different. I am trying to get used to the hard core Dutch, and I have to say, I really miss my Vlaams. Dutch is a lot more harsh but you can also understand absolutely everything that is being sad which is really nice. Everyone here makes fun of me because I have the Vlaams accent and I always say Vlaams words. Haha I am proud to be a Belgian though! The ward here is alot bigger than the one in Gent. I think they have about 140 active members coming to church every week. And they actually meet in a church building in Apeldoorn which is super cool. As the sister missionaries here, we are working with the 7 young women we have right now alot. We are preparing a "Mini MTC" experience for the girls in about two weeks and also visiting them all at least once a week. Me and my new companion, Zuster Israelson, have set some really high, amazing goals for these next two transfers before she goes home. I am really excited to see everything start taking action and seeing this city start on fire!

 

We are working with 4 elders in the same city and it is an absolute blast! We see them almost every single day and we are all on the same pages with the same goals so we are ready to see miracles happen! They also have lots of YSA here in Apeldoorn/Deventer ( My area actually covers Deventer as well which is about an 10 minute train ride from Apeldoorn) so we go to FHE and Instituut every week and it is a blast! Biking has been the craziest thing I have ever done. The first three days I seriously thought my legs were going to fall off because I was sooo sore. Haha I am so out of shape. It is also really starting to turn winter and It is SOOOO stinking cold. I am really missing the dry winter cold in Utah right now, so everyone, count your many blessings. This kind of cold cuts straight into your bones and It is not the most pleasant thing in the world. I am super excited to be here and meet the people I am supposed to meet and teach. I already love this ward and all the new people I am working with! This gospel is true and I wouldnt want to be anywhere else than here sharing it with these people. I love you all and thank you for your support and prayers! I will be sending more pictures next week!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy

Well....onto a new adventure!! :) :)

Family and Friends-

 

My time is Gent has come to an end... and I will be transfered to.....APELDOORN, NETHERLANDS :) :) :) I am SOOOO excited!! I have only heard amazing things about this place and it will be so much fun. My new companion is Zuster Israelson, which I actually already know her a little bit. She was serving in Turnhout, Belgium for my first two transfers so I got to know her a little and she is super nice and fun. I am going to miss Zuster Meier sooo much! It was such a bummer that she came my last transfer in Gent. We both decided it wasnt fair because 6 weeks just wasnt long enough! But good thing, we live like 25 min from each other at home so all is good. My district leader will be Elder Alston, who was one of my good friends my first transfer in Gent (mom I think you went to lunch with his mom or something I heard?) so I am really really excited! It is definately bittersweet though. I will be going to the really dutch language now, no more "Belgian Funk" like we call it, and no more Flemish!! And to mix biking into all of that! I have heard it will be bit of a culture shock and I will just need to "take it all in", so I am planning on doing my best at that. I will always love Beligum though and I am so sad to leave it! Elder Hansen, one of the Elders serving here in Gent with me right now, is sooo sweet and is giving me his bike- her name is Amber- to take with me. :) He is "dying" in April so he figures he wont use it anymore so he is giving it to be because he is the best!!

 

Other than the big transfer news, we had the funnest/craziest week ever! We had a nice little New Years Eve Celebration at one of the members, Zuster Braets, house and celebrated one of her daughters birthdays with everyone. We had lots of cake and ice cream and then were back in the apartment at about 3:30pm and had to stay inside allllll night long. We did lots of sleeping, eating, and talking :) it was very relaxing! We were going crazy at about 7pm though from being inside. And let me just say...the Belgians know how to party HARD. At midnight the sky is literally on fire with fireworks and that is all you can hear for a good 20 minutes. We bought noise makers and silly string and kind of went crazy! One of the members gave us some sparkeling cider stuff (really legit Champagne without Alcohol) and I literally drank a whole bottle by myself. haha It was kind of funny. It was super cool to be in Europe for a New Years Eve and see how they do things. I still cannot believe it is 2014!! It doesnt really seem real to me yet. We have been doing lots of handing out cards and so far we have given away 500 in the past two weeks and have had 5 people contact us from them. We are just handing those things out like candy. We found 4 new investigators this week and all have return appoitments for this week and I am super excited to hear where everything goes with them. We saw one of my old investigators yesterday in the Centrum named Kathy. She had a baptismal date in like September and then disappeared and we saw her and made an appointment. It was such a cool miracle!! :) I love being here and I love missionary work sooo much! It is so cool to see all the little tiny miracles each day and see these people change their lives. I love this gospel and I know it is true! I cant wait for my new adventure in the Netherlands and new faces and people to meet! I love and miss all of you dearly! Thank you for your prayers and support!

 

Love, Zuster Brophy