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

LARPING.

Hello Friends and Family-

This week felt like a really quick week....but then it also feels like I emailed a year ago. SOO much has happened in just 7 days its crazy! We started off the week with helping one of the young single adults, Tahira, move out of her apartment. We were seriously busy doing that for a good 6 hours, missed dinner and went straight to an appointment at 8 pm with our investigator Iris on Tuesday. Iris is making unbelievable progress!! Its one of the coolest things- I get to just sit here and be apart of the changes she is making in her life! So awesome. She is getting baptized next Saturday (Aug 30th) and she is trying really hard to stop smoking. She is making progress but not completely off of it yet. She got a blessing from a member yesterday after church and man the spirit was sooo strong!! Its super amazing to watch your investigator really feel the power of the Priesthood for the first time, there is nothing really quite like it. The blessing was super detailed and had the counsel that she needed. She knows she is strong enough to overcome smoking and so do we, so there is nothing that will stop her! I cant wait to see all of the amazing things she is going to do. She is going to be one of those, that once she is a member, she will stay a very strong member and be a huge help to the ward here in Rotterdam! I just love her so much!

Oh and guess what? I SANG in church yesterday. Did you guys know I could sing? Cause I definately didnt. Since Ive had Zuster Kohlert as my companion, we have been singing alot because she loves to sing and I discovered that my voice actually isnt that bad (especially when I dont have my opera talent going on :) ) So that was fun and we sang Come Thou Fount! We had lots of good appointments with Iris and had dinner with a member and her last night. The spirit was super strong and everything went just the way we needed it to. Life is GRAND! I love being a missionary. All of the experiences that I get to see and experience are so amazing and I am so grateful for this oppurtunity Ive had. The Gospel is True! I know it without a doubt! Thank you for all of the prayers and the support! I love you all!

Love, Zuster Brophy

WIJ BLIJVEN ALLEBEI!! :):)

Hello Family and Friends-

Ohhhh what a beautiful day in the neighborhood!!! We are both staying!!! And we are beyond happy. We were totally expecting for one of us to be transferred but President Robinson is totally bomb and let us stay a third together. Lets just say...its going to be a party. But that does mean that next transfer calls are going to be extra exciting. We will see!

We had a really great week in Rotterdam! It seems like it was just Monday yesterday and all of my days have been mushing all together and its been a little crazy. I was able to go on exchanges with Zuster Anjewierden in Utrecht this past week and that was a blast. We had lots of appointments with our investigators and did LOTS  of service. We helped cute Zuster Hoppen and cleaned our her entire basement for 5 hours on Saturday, we cleaned up someones garden, and anything else you can think of....we probably did that as well. I havent worn pants so much in one week on my whole mission. It was really great- Im not gonna lie. I forgot how much I really liked those things! So overall, it was a really great, productive week for us. We are currently in vacation time over here in Europe so members and investigators are constantly out of town doing awesome things. So for a missionary, it isnt the best thing in the world. This next week we are planning on doing lots and lots of finding to build up our investigator pool again and finding new people to teach. We are just so excited to be working together still. It will be such a party :) Also, huge shout out to my bro, ELDER Brophy!!! So proud of you and hope you are doing good over there in Chile!! I thought about you and even took a picture at the time you were taking off. Funny story- one of the elders in my district came up to me this past weekend and said (knowing Connor had left on his mission already) So how is Elder Brophy doing? And my first thought was....ummm last time I checked I am a Zuster, not an Elder. haha Totally spaced that I actually do have a brother on a mission now! So cool! But other than that, nothing too crazy happened this week! I love you all and miss you dearly!! Have a great week!!

Love, Zuster Brophy 

Me and Kohlert in Vlaardingen (right outside of Rotterdam)

One of my favorite families...The Martes Family

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