new address for Jenn

Goodbye Nederland, Hello Belgium!

 

yup thats right, im off to belgium on wednesday! now that i got comfortable with the language i am off to a new language (flemish) and a new country! haha im super excited for a new adventure though! and ill be in a 3-some.. that shall be interesting :) i talked to the sister thats already in belgium today and she was telling me that it is a completely different country/mission/everything.  no more biking for a while.. and now im going to the chocolate/waffel capital.. oh goodness :)

 

i just finished my last fresh goudse stroopwaffel...best cookie thing ever.  im trying to pick up all the little things that i can only buy in gouda.  im definitely sad to leave this area, especially my ward and my converts but its time for a change! it was nice to hear how many people dont want me to leave (a couple threatened to call the misson president haha) but i love these people and it feels good to know that they love me just as much :) i will miss it and it will probably take another 5 months to develop these kind of relationships again, but such is mission life..

this week was good! the weather was nice and hot and humid, we had some really great lessons and enjoyed some great dinners with members and investigators.  we found 2 new investigators that im really sad i will not be able to teach.. we were doing bell-ups (apartment sort of buildings where you have to talk into an intercom system) and this man was watching us and then asked if we just wanted to be let in (he thought we just couldnt get a hold of a friend or something).  he thought we were jehovah witness' (there are soo many here) but when he found out we werent then he got interested.. when he heard about the book of mormon his ears perked up and he got really excited.  we gave him a copy, he said hed read and cant wait for out next appointment to hear more. i love the book of mormon. i dont think i really understood what is was before i came on a mission. but it is amazing :) 

Time to go pack up and head to my last night with some of my favorite people! Love you all and cant wait to hear updates from more of you soon!

 

NEW ADDRESS!!

Alsons Schneiderlaan 172

Bus 2

2100 Deurne

Belgium

More Pics!

work is getting slow here now because everyone in europe takes month long vacations.  and they all want to get out of this tiny country so our ward is tiny and there are not as many people out to talk to.  but weve been working a lot on refining our contacting skills and our door approaches. weve had a lot of fun talking to people even if they are not interested.  its so cool to be able to speak a foreign language! weve been out for 5 months now, that is soo crazy to me but at the same time i think ive forgotten what life was like at home.. at least i try to :). 

dennis is getting baptized this saturday and were so excited! i think this is the first baptism that will be adding to the ward since the others were foreigners so the ward is excited too.  hes such a sweet funny man. hes excited to tell his story at the end of the baptism and we have good people signed up to give him the talks so it should be a great night!

the weather is back to being rainy at least a few hours a day and then gets warm and then gets rainy again. but im just happy that i dont have to wear 10 layers yet again. 

sorry for the boring post.. didnt have time today! till next week!

Zuster J

A "normal" week?

I dont really know what a normal week is but looking back on last week I cant think of anything tooo exciting to write about.. but it was a good week! we had zone conference on the 4th of July but no one did anything special (well we did have cake with strawberries and blueberries and zr schwab and I dressed in red white and blue).  then that night our dinner appt cancelled on us so we took the opportunity to go out to eat at a mexican restaurant to feel "american":) that was the first time ive been in a real restaurant since home and it felt kind of strange.. haha but it was delicious! 

We got to know our new mission President and his wife at zone conference and I love them! of course, they would only be amazing people, but i am still amazed every time i meet mission presidents, such humble brilliant successful people.  We finalized another baptism for July 21st and I am so excited for him! He is the most sincere guy and is so excited to have the gospel in his life.  I love seeing the changes this gospel can make in people, even when their life was wonderful to begin with there is still a great change.  I think this week I am just grateful. grateful for a safe beautiful place to live, grateful for the wonderful people that I am surrounded by everyday and the wonderful people who support me at home. grateful for the gospel that I get to share everyday and grateful for my Heavenly Father and the life he has given me :)

I hope you guys have a wonderful summer week! (still weird to me that its july.. summer? dont know what that means.. :) )

Tot volgende week!

Zuster J

Gouda is on Fire! 

We had an unexpected baptism last night! most unreal experience of my life.. let me see if I can explain..

so sister gruppman's (i skyped from her house on mothers day, shes the professional violin player) friend, Zoran, got baptized yesterday. here is the story. they grew up as childhood friends in Serbia but had not seen or heard from each other in 40 yrs.  a couple of months ago, zoran woke up and saw sister gruppmans name in his head and knew that he needed to contact her and didnt know why.  So he searched for her online (and since shes a famous violin player it wasnt difficult to find her) and then they started emailing.  the second sister gruppman saw his name in her email she got a very strong prompting to send him a book of mormon. so two months ago sister gardner and I highlighted some passages in a book of mormon with sister g and sent it too him.  then sister g asked us to contact the missionaries in canada (where zoran was living) and gave us very precise directions on what they should do and say.  we thought she was crazy. But the missionaries went and saw him and taught him a couple lessons, and that was the end. But a few weeks ago sister g told us he was moving back to serbia and would be stopping the in the netherlands for a week and she wanted us to talk to him.  Then friday night we got a phone call and she said, weve been reading the book of mormon together and hes ready to be baptized. now. can you come teach him the lessons? haha uhh yes! So with permission from our new mission president, we taught him every missionary lesson in one evening and then sunday we went over the baptism, he got interviewed by our district leader after church and got baptized and confirmed last night at 7! it was the most crazy unreal, spiritually uplifting experience of my mission so far. some how we were able to teach using the scriptures to teach every single point with no preparation or thought.  my scriptures just opened up to places where thankfully i had marked during my studies and fit perfectly into every lesson.  I love the scriptures.  they are the truth and they bring people closer to the truth everyday.  
So now today were going to go meet up with him to make sure he can get settled into a ward in serbia and get a calling and the priesthood! and we get to go to the conservatory that the gruppmans play at and take a tour with them! So pretty much, im living the life.
No time for other details this week! hopefully pictures soon!
love you all! 
Zuster J

Pictures!

Just a typical day of tracting in The Netherlands...Oh and my new hair!

My new comp is the blonde one w/ bangs.  This was before I cut my hair.

My old comp and me at mission conference!