I speak dutch!

This week was crazy and wonderful! my new comp zuster schwab and I have had so much fun getting into the "real mission" as we call it.  No more letting our companions take the lead, no more worrying about our dutch, we just have to do it! and i love it! It feels so good to be more confident in myself as a missionary and to see Zuster Schwab have that confidence too! (she was in the MTC with me and had a hard time for a while).  The Lord has been with us every second of the day as weve taught our amazing investigators and contacted people on the street.  I dont know how but all of a sudden I can speak dutch! well i know how, i have a little help :) but it feels amazing.  of course it still has a loonng way to go but we are capable of giving lessons in a foreign language without any problems!  people understand us and we understand them!  It really is wonderful not feeling like the baby anymore though, ive never been good at that :)

 

we had wonderful lessons with our 2 baptismal dates that made me even more excited for this work.  These 2 guys are amazing and I cant wait to see them work in the church! Zuster Brubaker came on joint teach with us on Friday and it was so fun! Her and president called us on thursday to see how Zr Schwab and I are doing (were the youngest missionaries theyve put together) and then we tried to figure out a way that we could see each other before they move on thursday.  she came and brought us a beautiful plant and fresh mint for my tea! shes a woman of my heart :) 

Love you all. till next week!

zuster J

Love Love Love.

 

Ok so this week was amazingg! where to even begin.. This week has left my heart exhausted! Too much love! but as President Brubaker tells us all the time, there is always enough love to go around :)

 

We had our first baptism in Gouda!! Hossein was baptized saturday evening and it was a wonderful service! He bore his testimony at the end and it was so wonderful to hear how much he feels the love of his heavenly father during this hard time in his life (he is the one from iran that has no family and no friends (besides the members now) here and doesnt speak dutch or english..) but he is fitting into the ward great now and im excited to see where his life takes him! he should be going to the temple to do baptisms next week too!

 

We also had mission conference with the whole mission this week to say goodbye to President and Sister Brubaker.  i got to see my whole mtc group and it was so fun! We were all just so overwhelmed with love the whole day we couldnt take it! I am so impressed with the wonderful people that i serve with. We really do have the best missionaries in the Belgium/netherlands mission!

 

And the last biggest news of the week... TRANSFERS! i will be staying here in gouda and sister G is off to den haag.  but the scariest part... Zuster Schwab is coming to serve here with me. She was in the mtc with me! She is the sweetest thing in the world and im excited but two sisters that have just barely gotten used to the culture trying to teach all these people in dutch...! i should be wayy more overwhelmed than i am (maybe im just in shock) but i know that now i HAVE to learn this language.  So i will be eating sleeping and breathing dutch from now on so i can continue to see the success that we have in Gouda.  lots of prayers please :)

love you all!

Zuster J

Great week in Gouda! Last full week of the transfer and its going to be the best ever! Here is a story from us this week!:

 

Miracle of the week! Kind of a long story so lets see how i can type this out.. President De Jonge shared this at priesthood session of stake conference in Rotterdam.  The De Jonges went to a pinkster service in Moordrecht after praying to have missionary opportunities.  There they met a super friendly lady who wanted to make them feel comfortable at her church.  They started a simple relationship from there and started saying hi after school and such.  The De Jonges then decided to fast specifically for ways that they could share the gospel with this woman.  They saw each other once more at school and this lady told them that they should get together for coffee and chat! Exciting! Then the best part.  Sister Garnder and I left an appointment in Gouda and saw this lovely lady walk out of her house and stand on the curb. So of course, we rode on over and started up a conversation.  It was a great contact and we felt uplifted but she had her own church and we left it at that.  Sunday we found out that this was the lady that the De Jonges were fasting and praying about.  She called Sister De Jonge so excited and told her that she just met two wonderful young ladies from her church and that she had just happened to walk outside at that time and she never does that! She said it was no coincidence and that she just loved our questions and conversation and kept saying that it was no coincidence! oohh how the Lord works through us! The De Jonges are uplifted, we are uplifted and this woman has more interest than ever in learning about the gospel!

 

till next week!

Zuster Jones

 

ps. thursday i have been out for 6 months... crazyyy.

blog:

Oh goodness gracious, how does time go by so fast!  Where to begin. Dont worry about me being too hot or needing too much sunscreen here because the beautiful weather doesnt last long.  Its been raining for the past 2 days so were back to thermals and tights :( but it is definitely warmer and i think well see sunshine more often.  We got to garden twice this week for members and it was soo nice! they thought we were crazy when we offered (or insisted because thats what you have to do here) to help, but i love gardening! the spiders here are a little bigger than home but i got good at killing them quickly.

a funny moment this week.. we had a woman who is originally from russia come on joint teach with us this week because the guy spoke one of her 5 languages.  She was soo excited and then he ended up not being home.  but she wouldnt stop there.  she rang his doorbell 6 times, yelled out his name, we to his backyard, wrote him a note and then we sat in her car in front of his house for 20 mins just in case he came home.  we were professional stockers.  hahah she just wanted to teach him so bad.  We did make an appointment with a lady who was walking behind his house though and she has a young family so we know why we were there!

This week I fell in love with the work even more as we saw miracles and even when we had days that didnt feel so successful.  The biggest miracle of all.. Hossein! When he found out we had approval to move along with his baptism he cried and said 'dank u well, dank u well' 5 times. (hes from Iran and doesnt speak dutch) and then his life changed even more.  A member this week offered him a room in his house and food if he worked at his store during the week! and he received a bike! So now he has housing, a sort of job, and transportation! He fasted with us this weekend for all to go well with living with the member and learning the language (a member is giving him free language lessons).  This man is a walking miracle and is so grateful!
love you all. have a good week!

Zuster Jones