Some older pics from Gouda

 Stroopwaffel Pday w/ our district!

 Euromast!  We went all the way up!

 Rotterdam!  View from the Euromast.

Toothbrush object lesson w/ a member.  So funny!

Dennis' baptism

Zoran's baptism!

blog:

pass out the shovels

We had an incredible week here in Antwerpen and couldnt be more excited to be doing missionary work in this mission! I really feel more and more privileged to be here everyday! So first off, we had 2 baptisms in our ward saturday! Sara had a rough week being fed anti information about the church and then things going a little crazy with timing for everything but she stayed strong and we had a beautiful baptismal service. might be my favorite one so far.  the 3 of us (my comp,sara,and i)  got to share a special moment together in the changing room after she got out of the water and she shared an amazing testimony at the end that left people in tears.  definitely one i will not forget!  I want to send pictures soon but ill have to print them out because i cant figure out how to upload them here.

we also had zone training this week done by our amazing zone leaders! we have no senior couple in this zone and since we work alongside the zone leaders, i became the senior couple.. meaning that i get to cook for all the trainings for all 30 of us. this week we did chili and baked potatoes and no baked cookies. of course on the way our train got stuck so i had 40 mins to prepare everything before the conf started.. but we had so much fun (my comp and a couple elders) working quickly together stabbing potatoes and crying cutting onions.  but.. i went out to check on the potatoes half way through and low and behold, the oven was on the wrong setting and the potatoes were still cold! my comp and i just died laughing in the kitchen and then one of the elders came and said a prayer on the potatoes. and you know it, they were just perfect when everyone was ready to eat. our little funny miracle of that day! 

other than the cooking, zone training got us all so excited to be serving in this area. we have recieved so much inspriation from authorities lately and have the faith that this area is going to flourish in the next few years.  one experience (and the reason for my subject above) is about moving mountains.  we are planning on baptizing enough members to build a new stake in the next year and we know that kind of miracle takes lots of faith. lots.  so one elders shared an experience from his dads mission.  his dad was a greenie and an older missionary asked him "do you have the faith to move that mountain?" he responded stuttering "uhh umm if its the lords will.. ya"  then he asked the older missionary if he had the faith and he responded "yes i do and i will be the first one at the base of the mountain with a shovel".  So that is what we are going to do. one of the elders quickly responded "pass out the shovels". sister hinchcliff and i build a mountain out of paper in our apartment this week with 2 shovels to remind ourselves that we are going to "move mountains" this transfer.

thats all i have time for now! till next week!

zuster j

 

lets see.. highlights of this week.

its almost really fall!! the weather is cooling down, the trees look like they could change color soon, and the fall clothing is in every store. i love fall. weve decided to celebrate a holiday every week this transfer as a companionship to add a little silliness into our week and to make it feel even more like fall! the members told us there is an american store in the city so were hoping to find some canned pumpkin to start the fall off right :) you know me, i love everything pumpkin!

we started a book of mormon class for the inactive/new members/investigators on tuesdays nights so that has been fun! well see if it sticks but it will be nice to go through the book of mormon on more of a teaching level this time.

were getting bikes!! the sisters havent had bikes in this city for years but sister hinchcliff and i have never heard why. this week we spent 75 mins taking trains and walking to a house that we could have biked to in prob 25 mins. so we called president and asked if he knew why we couldnt have bikes. he thought it so silly that we didnt have them and told us we better go find some! i love this president. so now we can go visit families in the pretty parts of our area and get some exercise while were at it!

lastly, yesterday was a beautiful day. we had a missionary farewell at church and all the young adults sung him the sisters in zion/armies of helaman song and it was so powerful. i love what missionary work does for individuals, families and friends. during church sara told us about a horrible dream she had had that left her feeling very scared for her daughter. she said that her dream ended with her seeing 4 mormon men that she asked to pray for her daughter. i felt impressed to ask her if she wanted a blessing of comfort and she gladly accepted and asked the stake president to do it for her (she had met him at the stake bbq and is really impressed with him and he just happend to be at our ward for the farewell).  now side note: sara wasnt feeling ready to get baptized this weekend so we were going to postpone her date, she just wasnt sure if she wanted to be called a mormon :) so then she received this incredible blessing from the stake president, such a powerful moment and she came out of that blessing walking on clouds. she told him that this dream and the blessing helped her to realize that she wants to be in this church around "mormons" for the rest of her life and she wanted to be baptized sat. she came out of the room so excited to be called a member of the church and told us that she was so sad for the people who think this church is bad and that her heart aches for them. shes already busy doing her own missionary work now.

ok the miracles could go on but i need to write president and go to an appt! oh and maybe eat some dinner.. i love you all and pray for your success and safety everyday!

life here is great though! im feeling a lot better health wise and missionary wise and i really have no complaints. missionary life is the best, so much more relaxing than my old work/school schedule and we get 8 hours of sleep everynight. and my new comp is the one i would run with in the mtc so we get good work outs in and they will get even better now that the 3rd comp is leaving and my ankle is getting strong enough to run longer!  missionary life is also very abnormal but i make sure we do something everyday that makes each day special. we have cultural food days, photo days, buy a sweet day, ect. so life is good :)

 

so highlights from this week! we had zone conference on wednesday with a member of the 70, elder kearen. that was an amazing day! i love the leadership of our church and their brilliant minds and ideas and love for missionary work. this mission is going to see lots of miracles in the coming years as the church in europe grows and im so excited that i get to be a small part of that!

 

we had a lesson on tuesday with a man we had met at his door a few weeks earlier. when we went into his house we say that his brother was listening and invited him into the lesson. then a few minutes later 2 of his friends came to the door and came into the lesson as well. by the end they all wanted to know more and scheduled follow up appts with us! 4 new appointments with super cool people in 30 minutes.. pretty exciting!

we also had amazing indian food with one of our fav indian members and her 9 yr old son we baptized on my first sat here. she kept putting more food on our plates and i was in food coma for hours but it was well worth it. her son is a very quiet but super giggly funny kid so we laughed the whole time. his favorite song is smack that by Akon.. i wish you could have been there to experience us all dying laughing when we found this out. he is a very special kid.

 

yesterday we had an amazing church service and then went to our relief society presidents house to bake with her and her daughter.  weve been having a hard time seeing the love in the ward so we thought it would be a good idea to start a chain of love that could be spread to every member. remember that "boo" thing weve down in the past where you have to put the ghost in the window after someone dropped off goodies and a note? basically same idea but its called "iemand in wijk antwerpen houdt van u" or "someone in the ward loves you". we went to 3 families to start the chain last night and it was super fun and we got to know some great new families! we ended the night eating dessert with one of these families on the back porch of their beautiful belgium countryside home. felt like a perfect day to me :)

 

basically loving life and soaking up the warm weather while it lasts! love you all, have a good week!

zuster