Ik vind het leuk om kruidnoten te eten. :) Uh Oh....dit is een probleem.

Hello Friends and Family-

Sooooo I love Europe around the Holidays. They just do it SO much better than America when it comes to the food. Mainly just the pastries. Last year around this time I was in Belgium which is very different than the Netherlands so I didnt get the gevulde speculaas and the Kruidnoten and Kerst Pannekoeken! They are SOOO DELCIOUS. Its seriously a dangerous environment over here. And there real Christmas holiday is Sint Nicolaas and that is on December 5th. So I will be here just in time to catch the big one here and just in time back in America to catch the one there :)

We have had a great week. We went to the TEMPLE!!! For the last time...in dutch. That was a really weird feeling when I left there. But I finally got to see one of the new temple videos!! WOO. They finally finished translating it to Dutch. I thought it was super good but also very weird. haha idk how to describe it. I guess I just didnt really know what to expect, but it was super great! We had a really good conference after with everyone and good trainings. We have been doing alot of good finding lately and trying to find some good investigators. We have seen some success but not alot this past week. We taught this new woman and her name is Sibel. She is from Turkey and she is hilarioussss. She doesnt speak Dutch and only a little bit of English so she is constantly making funny comments and trying to figure out what we were saying. But the good news is...we made it through the Restoration lesson and it went really good and the spirit was strong! Iris is still doing great. We moved her bap date AGAIN to Nov 15th and we are praying she makes it. Transfers are next Wednesday and we find out this upcoming Sunday if I am leaving or not. I think I am leaving Capelle but im not so sure. We will see what happens! Another one of our investigators Mano, is throwing a huge party for me with his family and all of the elders in our ward are coming next Sunday and I am super excited. Mano speaks fluent dutch but he likes to practice his English with us so most of the time we end up speaking a mix of the two. But in his broken english he told me I really hope you can stay here...you are the Sunshine in this house. haha I laughed super hard. When he says it in Dutch it sounds a lot less sketchy and creepy....but he translated it directly so it sounded really funny in English. He is so great! We are hoping to set a baptismal date with him very soon.

This upcoming weekend we have Stake Conference here in Rotterdam! We are getting transfer calls on Sunday and we are busy with lots of appointments! Life is good. And not to mention...the weather here is sooo abnormally warm for this time of the year! So I am counting my blessings :) I love you all!!

Love, Zuster Brophy

Jason from Apeldoorn came and visited me in Rotterdam! SO fun!  

                                        

Lunch at Vapianos. LEKKER

At the temple in Den Haag

Hellllllllllllllo Herfst :)

Hello Family and Friends-

We are wittnessing miracles here in Capelle!! We had a super great week and we are staying super busy. Just to start off with a miracle, we have found 3 new investigators and  less active that we are teaching, all in one week! We decided to go do some bell ups by our house and we push this number and this sweet little lady comes up and says Hey are you guys the mormons?! and We say yes we are the mormons. And she goes...I am also a mormon but I am not active anymore. WHAT! So cool. We made an appointment with her for the next day and had a really great appointment with her. She is from Peru and has been inactive for about 14 years, but at the end of the closing prayer she looked at me and Zuster Greenwell and said Im so glad the mormon church is back in my life! :) She is so awesome. She wasnt able to come to church this week but she wants to come really bad. We also have found some really great positive investigators that we have appointments with this week! Super excited for those. Iris is doing great! She is planning on being baptized on November 1st and I am sooo excited. Even if I get transferred and dont stay in Rotterdam, you better believe I will be at that baptism. She has made soo much progress and I just love that woman so much.

We had a sisters conference this past Saturday with all of the sisters in the mission at the mission home. It was super fun and cool since it was my first time going to the mission home and dang- it is BEAUTIFUL! It was very weird because there were probably a total of 45 sister missionaries there and by Jan 15th there were only 12 there that would still be on their missions. So we talked alot about the mission culture and traditions that we have had and started together and how we want those sisters to keep up with it and keep it going. It was super weird to realize I am one of those actually getting ready to go, it hits me more and more- especially since I got one of my "dying letters" this past week! AHHH. Crazy. Me and Zuster Greenwell are having a total blast over here and seeing soo many cool things. We get to go to the Temple Tomorrow and I cant wait! It is Always much needed after 6 whole months of not going. I am so grateful for this gospel, I see it change lives and Its been the best experience in the world to come here on a mission. I wouldnt change it for the world!! I love and miss you all!!

Love, Zuster Brophy

All the Sisters that have served in Gent, Belgium :)

All of my companions except for Zuster Meier, Gallego, and Israelsen

 My companions that I served 3 transfers with :) Zuster Kohlert and Zuster Djoukeng.

Algemene Conferentie is mijn favoriete weekend van de jaar!!

Hello Family and Friends-

I just sat down at the computer to write this email and I seriously cant even remember what happened this week. All of my days are just smashing together. So I apologize in advance if this email is really scattered all over the place. GENERAL CONFERENCE IS AMAZING. Especially the Sisters Conference. We basically camped out at the church all weekend long. Because how it works here, is they have broadcasts in the church and they watch the General Young Womans meeting in the afternoon saturday, and then watch the Saturday morning session live at 6pm our time. And then Sunday afternoon you watch the Saturday Afternoon session and then watch the Sunday afternoon session live at 6pm. And then us poor missionaries have to find some way to watch the Sunday afternoon session by ourselves since we dont have any internet. haha So its kind of cool. Everytime I watch the sessions where it is live, I Always think of all you guys watching the exact same thing with me. Kind of a fun thought :) I love our prophet and all of those great men and their inspiring words. I need to go back and review all  of my notes.

Today we went to the Zoo in Rotterdam with the whole zone and it was SOOO fun! We all pre ordered our tickets and luckily it turned out being decent weather and didnt rain or anything. We had a good time and I may or may not have somewhere around 200 pictures to prove that. This past week went by sooo fast and was a really productive one. We have alot of good potentials right now that are just waiting to turn into new investigators! We have been trying over and over again to meet with this lady named Adrianna that we met doing bell-ups. But everytime we go over there she isnt home and we have to reschedule! So frustrating. I have never wanted to teach someone more in my life. She is just soo positive! We have been seeing lots of success with our teaching and less-actives we are working with. We had lots of investigators also watch the conference online which was awesome! Iris is still doing really well. We are hoping she gets baptized sometime this month, but if not for sure in November. We have a zusters conference that is on Saturday in the Mission Home and I am SOOOO excited! We are going to have an absolute blast and I cant even wait. And then the week after that we have Temple Conference! WOO! We are just partying it up here in the Netherlands! I cant believe that its already halfway through the transfer.....time really needs to slow down. I am starting to freak out with the amount of time I have left. Its kind of scary! I love all of you and miss you! Thanks for all the support and prayers!

Love, Zuster Brophy

Enjoy the zoo pictures :)

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!