Six months to sexy!

Before you freak out because the missionary is using words like "sexy", let me just explain that Six Months to Sexy is something that missionaries in our mission do because they've put on weight and/or gotten out of shape in the year or 18 months that they've already been out. So.

I cannot believe that Sister Mizell and I have been on missions for a year already! Next thing we know we'll have been a year in the field and that's even crazier. We celebrated with cake. I've had a bit of a hard time thinking about how short six months is, but I've been praying for assurance that it'll be long enough to do what I need to do and I feel a lot better about it! I'm so grateful for Sister Mizell - she's helped with that a lot! She's truly an incredible charitable person. :)

We had a great week. Didn't quite reach 20 lessons this week but we definitely worked hard and the 18 we had were great. A couple of the most spiritual lessons I've ever witnessed on my mission occurred this week!

Sl. is doing so well. We watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration with him and he bore his testimony afterward about how grateful he is for prophets and all that Joseph Smith and the saints who came before us did to help the Lord's work move on, even when it was so hard! He's excited for his baptism in a couple of weeks, and we are SO excited for him to come to General Conference because we know he'll love it. :)

Jb. gets home this week! We're not sure what day but we're excited!

Dl. came to a branch activity! We went bowling. It was really great - he seemed to really feel comfortable by the end, and to really have a good time with the members!

We have been watching the Testaments in segments with Mi. We finally finished it and she LOVED it. We had a really neat, spiritual lesson with her after watching the last bit. She loved when Christ came to the Nephites. She cried, and the Spirit was so strong in that room. She said a beautiful prayer to end the lesson, where she asked for forgiveness and help to understand all these things.

Ty. really opened up to us this week! We're truly becoming friends with him! He was pretty closed off at first so it has been really surprising. But so cool!

Great sacrament meeting yesterday about missionary work. I love this branch. They are so amazing. Our investigators even talked about it – Sl. wants to start praying for us by name but couldn't remember our names so he asked for them. Hahaha.

Princess cake for our year mark and Sister Mizell's a sweetie and brought me flowers!Today we went to Antwerpen and ate at a fancy restaurant. We felt a little awkward when we realized we were on a missionary date, but not as awkward as I felt when I slipped and fell on the way out. :) In the picture we're drinking super delicious fresh mint and camomile tea (it's herbal, don't worry :) ).

Also here's a picture from the bowling activity. :) 

LOVE YOU SO MUCH. :) Til next week!

Zuster Anjewierden

Amazing week!!!

Wow!

Whaaat a week. It seems like it was really long as I look back on it. Not sure why! Maybe just because so much happened. We taught 24 lessons to investigators this week! And the thing is... There was still plenty of time to do other things! It's incredible how that happens. 

Well, very first is that Jb. called us on Tuesday! He is doing very well. He talked to his mother about getting baptized and says that he thinks about it all the time. Also he's staying out of trouble and talking to all his friends about the gospel. I love that man so much. He is truly a shining example of the redeeming and changing power of the Atonement and living the gospel.

We thoroughly enjoyed being able to cheer Sl. on during his soccer game Saturday night. He is a champion in so many ways. He also came to family home evening with us this week and he loved it. I am so grateful that we have become not just his guides and teachers but his friends! It's so much easier to teach people and not just lessons when you're friends with them. I'm grateful for the charity that I am able to feel for so many people as I teach them the gospel. It really is like nothing else.

I loved my exchange with Sister Meier on Thursday in Gent! We had a good time and spent some time with some neat reactivated ladies. It was great! While I was gone, Sister Mizell and Sister Watkins tore it up in Turnhout and taught 7 lessons in one day. One of them was with Ty. It was about Priesthood blessings and he said he would like one and Brother Van Kerckhoven was more than willing to give him one, so he did. I hear that it was beautiful – Ty. was promised that an answer will come. And Ty. believes it! You can see it in his actions now! It's super neat to see how he's been changed just by faith that an answer WILL come.

We have a new baptismal date and he is SO neat. His name is Dl., he's the son of Ea. He's 19 and he's SO sincere. He came to church yesterday and then we taught him a lesson on the Restoration afterwards. It was so good. At the end we committed him to April 26th and he said yes, but he was concerned about still sinning afterward. It was such a sincere question! We explained a little bit more about the atonement, and about how baptism is the gate. He seemed excited about it all. :) We have another appointment with him on Wednesday, but hopefully he'll come to family home evening tonight!

LIJSTJE!

-I was thinking about Cherie Call this week and man. Sometimes I reaaaaally miss all the great cheesy LDS music that I can't listen to. That stuff brings the Spirit super strong! We heard a Hillary Weeks song (Beautiful Heartbreak, look up the Youtube video if you haven't already, it has Stephanie Nielsen in it and it's SO GOOD) on Saturday at a Relief Society activity and wow. I teared up straightaway.

-We played Egyptian Ratslap with Sl. and it was hilarious. He's SUPER competitive.

-I love Ether 12. It's SO good. Especially verse 27. I have to remind myself sometimes that seeing my weaknesses is HELPING me.

-I cannot believe that I reach my year mark this week. I'm kind of freaking out. Sister Mizell extended so she has longer left than I do, so she doesn't even get it. haha. AH I have so little time left... So much to do before then!

Studying virtue this week has been great, and I really think that it all comes down to attitude. I love that in Preach My Gospel it says that virtuous people are QUICK to repent. I need to work harder on that! Being quick to change my ways to become better. I love Helaman 13:38 - We CHOOSE when the day of our salvation is. He's already atoned for us - we just have to accept it!

I'm so grateful I've been able to serve so long here in Turnhout. I've been able to see so many miracles here. What a blessed branch, and what prepared people!

I miss and LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE you all. 

Zuster Anjewierden

Us at Sl's soccer game!

Dag, mijn aapjes!

So story behind the subject line. Yesterday we went to visit familie A. and when we were leaving little four-year-old J. said, "Dag, mijn aapjes!" which means, "Bye, my little monkeys!" and it was the cutest thing ever. Hahaha. :)

This was a great week! We didn't quick get our goal of 21 lessons but we DID get 20 again which really was a miracle because Sister Mizell was really sick about half the week. I'm so impressed with her - she worked through the pain and the foggy brain and all of it. I know she was tired and felt really gross but most of the time I couldn't even tell! And neither could investigators or members. But don't worry, I let her rest too! She's still alive!

We haven't heard anything from Jb. yet so we're assuming that everything is going well in the Gambia. He should be getting back around the 24th or 25th of this month. Not too far away, but still not terrible soon either! We're praying for him. 

Sl. is a rockstar. I honestly can't even describe him in words. He is SO excited about the gospel. So excited. The only big thing standing in his way of being baptized March 29th right now is his football (soccer) contract. He plays for Turnhout's team and he has to go to trainings on Sundays. He's so willing to come to church but he's not sure it's going to work out for the next couple of weeks and that's an issue because he's only been to church once (yesterday) and there are only 2 more weeks before the 29th! So. We encouraged him to pray about it and to decide with the Lord what needs to happen.

Ty. is struggling a little bit. But not too badly. He's having a hard time expecting an answer. He's Catholic and he says he likes being Catholic, and really it just sounds like he's a little bit afraid that if he receives an answer that it'll be yes and he'll have to change his life. We had a great lesson the other day about the importance of Priesthood authority and about how faith and hope involve expectations - if he doesn't expect an answer, it won't come. We also talked about the importance of being open for whatever the answer is, whether it's a yes or a no! 

The branch is doing really well in helping to integrate our investigators, which is super neat. That's the intention in the first place but I think sometimes it's hard as a member to reach out to those people you don't know. I'm really proud of them. :) Oh also we had seven people come to church! It was so cool! My very favorite thing was that one of the young men instantly befriended our young man investigator! I was so proud of him. That's what we want for all of the investigators!

We had a cool experience this week where a man called us asking for where the church was. He didn't end up coming yesterday but we do have his number and will continue trying to call him back to set up an appointment!

I loved studying diligence this week, and I think that I've come to the conclusion that every Christlike attribute comes back to trust. Diligence is nothing without trusting the Lord! Also, I really respect the patience of Pahoran. What a good guy.

LIST!

-It's BEAUTIFUL weather here right now. Like... 70 degrees probably. 20°C!!

-Sister Mizell and I got in a bike accident yesterday. We have some nasty bruises but we're fine. The beautiful weather is giving all of the pedestrians this ridiculous confidence that they can't be run over... 

-I heard some GREAT music this week. Just sayin.

-Sometimes I have "off-days" where my hair is gross and I don't like my outfit. Then I go outside and I'm in Europe and everyone looks perfect and then I wish I could just be in the States where other people have "off-days" too. :) Haha. 

-Sister Mizell was sick so Saturday we ended up staying inside for most of the day and it was WEIRD. 

-Pictured below - We got all these eggs from our investigators F. and B.! Super nice! :D

LOVE YOU ALL

Zr A

Life is good but hard!

It's amazing to me that discouragement still comes even when we're seeing so much success. I'm not sure why but there were a couple of times the last week that I felt a little hopeless. Maybe it was something to do with the rain. Whatever it was, I'm glad that I have Sister Mizell! She's a gem. Great at keeping my spirits up!

Well, here are a few things we saw this week -

Jb. headed to the Gambia last night, but not before we'd had daily contact with him last week, plus several lessons, and given him a Book of Mormon and some mormon.org cards to give away, plus an "Endurance Box" with enough quotes, scriptures, and Mormon Messages for him to watch or read every day that he's there. We talked about it last night and we both feel that he's going to be okay. He'll be keeping in contact with us weekly through text! It's so neat to see how excited he gets about the gospel. Even sometimes about random things. He asked us about polygamy last week and said that it didn't matter to him what the answer was, he was 50-50 on the subject. Hahaha. We love him! Excited for him to get back and enter the gate of baptism!

Sl. has made INCREDIBLE progress in the last week. The first appointment we had with him, he said he didn't want to read the Book of Mormon. Eventually he promised to read the Introduction. Last Friday, a week after that first appointment, we asked him if he had been praying to know if it was true. He said no, he didn't feel that he needed to, because he's already got testimony that it's true! Super neat. He's just so excited to learn more! We're just trying to figure out how he can come to church... Because he wants to be baptized on the 29th of March but he generally trains for soccer on Sundays. We're teaching the Sabbath day tomorrow. And praying hard! :)

We got an incredible referral on Thursday, her name is Jc. She's been looking for the truth for 13 years! We had an amazing first lesson. She can't meet until the 14th of March but we're going to stop by and give her a thank you card and such. Speaking of thank you cards, they work! We got dropped by an investigator, then dropped by a thank you card, then she called us and said that we could still come! Buah! It was super neat. 

We're worried about Is. and Rl... We haven't seen Rl. since he was confirmed. He cancels all of our appointments and hasn't been to church... Really worried. Is. promises he'll come but then ends up being sick or busy or something and I'm just worried because they NEED the sacrament. They NEED that nourishment of the word of God... I'm just praying really hard and we're trying to keep as much contact with both of them as possible and the branch council is also doing tons.

Also, studying knowledge was great. I really started to connect faith and knowledge in my head. And I realized that you have to truly trust the Lord for Him to give knowledge! We have to expect answers to prayers, and expect to learn things from experiences and study. Otherwise... He won't give them! 

Random list! 

-Sister Mizell keeps telling everyone that I'm starving her. That's not true, we're just really busy sometimes! Haha. Also, she taught me how to play Egyptian Rat Slap. Woot!

-I heard from Sister Clement! It made me so happy. :)

-This adorable kitten followed us to correlation. See picture.

-We wore pink on Wednesday. Against bullying. See picture.

-Rg's church is a possible split from our church... They teach that the LDS Church was God's church until like the 80's...

-A. S. is still disappeared. :(

-Ma. is our cute old neighbor who's getting baptized in Apri!

I'm just really feeling like the Lord trusts me a lot right now. I'm here in Turnhout with all of these amazing people, and an amazing branch, and an amazing companion, and just... Wow. I am ridiculously blessed.

Love you so much!

Zuster Anjewierden

New Companion!

Transfers were really exciting... Haha I was with a group of only elders for like 3 or so hours and it was... Eye-opening. So glad I have a companion. Elders are great but goodness they're weird. 

It was hard to see Sister Clement go. She has truly become one of my best friends and we ended up not being able to really say goodbye to each other... it was probably for the best. But I really miss her every so often. We made so many memories down here! 

BUT. Sister Mizell and I get along swimmingly. :) She's having a hard time with Flemish but it'll come. It's weird to be the only one who knows what these people are saying sometimes. I had forgotten that I'd had such a hard time with it! We've already been teaching in unity which is something that I've struggled with in other companionships and so I'm glad that we already flow so well with each other! 

It's so great to still be here in Turnhout. This has truly become sacred ground to me. I'll be honest, it's definitely been different without Sister Clement, but telling Sister Mizell all about it has helped me to really see how much I love this place and these people. 

We're having "crunch time" with Jb. this week as he is leaving for The Gambia on Saturday and there are no missionaries or churches there for him to go to until he gets back. It's kind of a scary feeling, but he's bringing his Book of Mormon with him, as well as a second one to give away, because he wants to share it. :) Having seen where he's come from... I'm just so happy thinking about the changes that he's made. He's using the Atonement. He's really just inspiring. I want to repent just like him! I want to be just as excited as he is and be able to answer a resounding YES to Alma's questions of "Can ye feel so now?"

A- S. has disappeared. We're not sure what's going on with him but all we can do is pray and keep trying to reach him... It's hard, knowing that he's had that confirmation that it's all true, but is choosing not to do anything about it... Lots of praying.

We found a really cool new investigator this week named Si. - he's Nigerian and he's SO prepared for the gospel. We went for our first appointment (actually to reschedule because we hadn't been able to find a joint teach) and ended up having a surprise member present lesson because his uncle was there and he's a member in Antwerpen! He has a solid testimony and he just seemed super happy that we were there! We're really excited :)

Random stuff -

-Nl. got baptized in a different church yesterday, as far as we last heard... How awkward is it going to be when we re-explain priesthood power and tell her that she has to be baptized again? Wahoooo. Haha.

-We taught a Word of Wisdom lesson to Gt. (one of our Belgian investigators. She has a handicapped son who we sing for every week. She's super sweet!) and found out that Sister Clement and I definitely broke it at her house last week - she fed us a dessert with Amarretto in it. Also awkward! Haha. I knew it tasted different...

SO MUCH LOVE. I miss you all to the moon and back.

Zuster Anjewierden

Our district

Me with Valentines stuff

The view down our street

TRANSFERS!

First, answers to questions -

Zuster V D B is from Brazil! :) We were at her house on Valentine's day.

Jb. wasn't baptized.:(  He's struggling... He's afraid that if he's baptized he'll eventually go back into old habits.

Our week was GREAT! We got 23 lessons! A-S. is doing all right but still against baptism. Not much new with families... Though Ea. from the Romanian family came to church! Zone Conference was a DREAM.   I'm sorry... I got tons of emails today and did a bad job again. :( Plus I forgot to bring my planner and that thing is like half of my brain...

Transfer calls revealed that.... I'm staying and Sister Clement is headed up to FRIESLAND. Really. Leeuwarden with Sister Hoff! So while I'm super sad to see her go because we've gotten so close, I'm excited that she gets to experience Nederland! :) Or... Sorta. Haha talk about a culture shock. She wonders if she'll ever learn real Nederlands. :) (side note: Friesland is in the northern most part of the Netherlands and also has it’s own unique dialect or way of speaking Dutch.)

I'm psyched to be staying in Turnhout - This is sacred ground for me. I love it. I love these people. And good heavens, sometimes they just frustrate me, but I'm excited to have at least another 6 weeks to do my best to help them feel the Spirit. I'll be with Sister Mizell.... I'm excited! I get to be with someone from my MTC group! 

I love you so much!!

Zuster Anjewierden

the picture is from valentines day :) we had fun!

Three weeks in a row. Patience...

We have once again achieved 20 lessons. This is three weeks in a row, and it has been incredible. That's not to say that it's been all fun and games, but it's certainly been amazing.

I'll be honest, there were parts of this week that were incredibly difficult. Both Sister Clement and myself got sick. Then it poured for days. We were really cold. And our appointments those days just kept cancelling! And Ay-S. disappeared on us. We learned a really good lesson in having great back-up plans. Which we got down really well by Sunday, when we ended up having six lessons and only half of them were previously planned! Goodness, I love this work.

I mentioned that Ay-S. disappeared. Well, Friday night we got a call from the Geel elders telling us that he'd sent them a text apologizing for not answering calls or text messages, but that he'd talked to his rabbi and decided that it'd just be better for him to stop meeting with us. We were heartbroken. He is SO CLOSE. He's so prepared. However, the story's not over - we ran into him yesterday and talked a bit. He agreed to continue meeting - he still wants to learn more, but he's not ready to be baptized at this time. 

Jb. had his baptismal interview last night. He passed with flying colors, but he told us that he can't decide if he wants to go through with it Saturday or not... He wants to, but he's worried that he won't  be all in it. We're trying our best to help him see that no one is perfect, whether they're baptized or not, and that's what repentance is for! He'll make mistakes but it will be okay! We're still going for Saturday. And praying. A lot. Please pray for him - he's come so far but he's got to come a little further!

We saw Is. after not having seen him for weeks! Turns out that things at the refugee camp got really busy and he's the only one who speaks Russian, English, and a bit of Dutch, so he's been translating for all of the Russian-speaking refugees. They have him working daily! He hasn't been able to come to church in about a month, and we've been really worried. We encouraged him to do what he can to be able to come.

As far as the families go - The Czech family dropped us like a rock a while ago. Ghanaian and Romanian families are still going strong! They're not progressing quickly, but they are progressing, nonetheless.

This week we studied patience and oh my goodness I realized that I'm super impatient. I'm trying to be better there. To have more hope. And I realized that patience is a lot about courage. Take Abinadi for example. He never gave up until he'd patiently shared his entire message. What a guy! I definitely encourage you to read his story in Mosiah 11 - 16.

We're excited for zone conference! And we have a goal this week not to think about transfers next week. Transfer monkeying never helped anyone. :)

Love,

Zuster Anjewierden

This is us in Brussels with the Paris sisters we ran into! And the other one is a picture of Antwerp Central Station, argueably one of my favorite buildings in the WORLD. So beautiful.