March 31, 2014

Hello my dear family and friends!  Wow what a week it has been!  A roller coaster!  Missions are crazy haha but amazing!  Ok so to start off I guess I should probably explain a few things.  First off, the picture that I sent last week of the burnt stuff.  Well that was a pair of burnt tights!  So Elders generally burn a tie on their year mark but since we aren't elders we decided to burn a pair of tights instead haha.  It was pretty gross but also pretty fun haha.  Also I'll explain the title of my email this week.  I decided to title my email Saints because the members of the branch are beyond amazing and I was pretty much dumbfounded for what they did for us and for the investigators this week.  Ok also important news, transfers were yesterday and my beautiful Zuster Anjewierden is getting transferred to Utrecht =(  I'm really really going to miss her but I will be recieving the lovely Zuster Otteson in her place =).  Ok onto the week.

Maandag- So we had a pretty wierd P-day.  We ended up missing the bus to Stefaan's so we couldn't go to FHE which was a bummer.  We went to Familie Van der Waard's to pick up some food that Broeder Klas had made us and they invited us in for a minute which was really nice of them and then gave us some carmel popcorn.  Then we went home and I wanted some ice cream so we left the bag of food outside for like 5 mins and it got stolen.  Welcome to Europe haha.  Then we taught a lesson to Mia which was good.

Dinsdag- I was having kind of a hard day so my stellar companion helped me feel better by making me talk about it.  Man do I love this woman.  Then we had a rock solid lesson with Sule about missionary work.  I hope he chooses to serve a misison because he would be amazing!!!  Then we had another lesson with Mia and then biked and had dinner with Familie Dhont which was good.  She used to be a Catholic nun!  Super cool conversion story.

Woensdag- Had a couple lessons fall through with Miranda and Fam. Gyimah.  Did go to Zuster Kokx though our inactive and taught her the Restoration which was good.  Then we met this guy Eric who is actually the son of a former investigator whoa!  Then a lesson with Joana and José.  I hope they are understanding us...Then we made chicken parmesean for Tommy and Zuster Smets.  The noodles where all stuck together and it was kind of awkward but it was still good.  I don't think they were too impressed though haha.  Also we played Dominion and I almost won!  Then we went to Emilia's afterwards and she was having a hard time because her grandson was in the hospital.  So we sang her a hymn and read the scriptures and she said she felt much better by the end of it.  I love how much the gospel can help us!!!

Donderdag- Also a pretty good day.  We had a lesson with Mia and then a lesson with Joyce.  *sigh*  Our lessons with Joyce are soooooooo stressful.  She just has sooo many questions and isn't willing to listen to the answers.  We do love her though.  Then we had two amazing lessons with Alanzo and then Sule.  We sat outsided because we didn't have a joint teach and then taught Alanzo the plan of Salvation said a closing prayer and then said an opening prayer and then taught Sule about the Priesthood.  Man these two guys are SOOOOO prepared and willing to change!  It's amazing!  Then we had dinner with Familie Janssen Sr. and their house is BEAUTIFUL and huge haha and they are sooo sweet.  Then we had a lesson with Tommy about missionary work which was really good.  We have so many inside jokes with him it's fun =)

Vrijdag- We had zone training in Antwerpen and it was super good.  My favorite things was that we had a silent lesson on Charity where they just showed videos and music and scriptures and the Spirit was soooo strong.  Good heavens!  I love this gospel!  Then we came back and went to try to find Issac a recent convert that has already gone inactive.  We found him but he's being deported out of the country and things aren't going so well with him =(  Then we had Correlation with our ward mission leader and he made us real American pancakes with maple syrup and it was SOOOO LEKKER!!!!!!

Zaterdag- Had a good lesson with Roger after no contact for a while and then went and had an AMAZING lesson with Emilia.  We got this program to help her stop smoking and Broeder Van Kerckhoven came with and it was so good.  She gave us all of her cigarettes and crushed the ones she had with her.  Broeder Van Kerckhoven gave her the sweetest blessing and then a big hug afterwards.  Then he took us to the store and bought some of the things that Emilia needs to help her stop smoking!  Without us even asking!  What a saint!!!  I couldn't believe it!  Then we had to go and drop Fam. Gyimah because they weren't taking it seriously =(  Then we went and had another lesson with Mia but then Zuster Anjewierden's bike tire was flat so we called Familie Van der Waard to see if maybe they could fix it and they were like "sure and come for dinner too!" Amazing

Zondag- Yesterday was good.  Taught Tommy a quick lesson after church and then worked on weekly planning and then went to Emilia.  She only smoked 2 cigarettes yesterday!  And the day before she had had 20!!!!!!  She's amazing!  SO proud of her!  Jobe is back in town and hopefully we'll see him soon!  

Ok well I've got to go but I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week!  

Love,

Zuster Mizell

March 24, 2014

Well that's a strange way to begin an email but that is a quote from one of the members haha.  Just to clear up he's talking about tights. haha He wanted to make it into my email by being weird so shout out to you Stefaan Cannoodt!  *cough* leprechaun *cough*

ANYSHWAYS this week was fandidelytastic!  Wow do I LOVE the people here.  So anyway on to the week......

Maandag- So luck of the Irish!  At Stefaan's he gave us these cute little buckets with chocolate gold coins and then we totally missed our bus BUT he actually saw us running and then stopped and waited or us!  That never happens!

Dinsdag- We had district meeting as always which was good and then we came home and had a great lesson with Sule and then Tommy as well!  It was super great!

Woensdag-We had a lesson with Mia and then we went and had lunch with Zuster Diels.  We had quite a few lessons fall through but then we went and stopped by Joyce and bought her flowers.  She is so sweet but she just doesn't seem willing to change.  It was really hard to feel the Spirit.  That night we went to correlation and had lasagna for dinner.  It was lekker =)

Donderdag- This was our year mark!  Woah I can't believe that I have been on a mission for a year!  I bought flowers for Zuster Anjewierden and then wrote her a card.  I decorated with a sign I made and then blew up a ton of balloons!  I made breakfast for us and then we went and taught Mia.  We finally finished watching the Testaments and she bore her testimony afterwards and said she felt the Spirit!  It was a beautiful lesson!  Then we took ourselves out to lunch at Il Gusto a super classy Italian restaurant and the food was super lekker!  Then we went and blew out 12 candles on our princess cake.  We had a lesson with Alanzo (Sule's roommate) and his brother Alex.  It went SUPER well and he was like yeah it makes sense and I totally want to read the BvM!  Then we had like a picnic dinner with Familie Van den Berg and their two adorable twins!  It was so fun!  I LOVE them!  They are seriously a wonderful family!  Then we had a great lesson with Tommy!  He's like super opened up to us and it's lots of fun because he always has so much to talk about now haha =)

Vrijdag- We went to Zr. Janssen's an inactive and it didn't go as well as last time.  Then we had a lesson with family Gyimah and it actually went ok.  We had a pretty intense lesson with Joyce.  It was draining and the spirit was super strong a couple of times but it just didn't really seem to touch her.  It was sad.  Then we went and did weekly planning and then we went to dinner with Ely and Jan.  She is sooo cute and they are both artists and they showed us all of their art and it was seriously beautiful!

Zaterdag- Had another lesson with Mia.  Love that woman.  Did weekly planning and then we went to this lesson with Fernandez.  A few days before he had seen us and been like are you the Mormons and we were like yeah!  And we thought he was a previous investigator but it turns out that he's actually an inactive and he wants to come back!  It was an awesome lesson!  A lost sheep found =).  Then we had a good lesson with Emilia and then also with Frank and Beatrice.  Then we went bowling with the branch and it was SUPER fun!  Our investigator Daniel came and it was just a super fun time!  The only thing is they were playing really terrible Flemish music that was way too loud pretty much the entire time haha

Zondag-Great day!  Sule, Tommy, and Emilia came to church!  Had a short lesson with Tommy after church about gratitude.  Then finished weekly planning....finally haha.  Had a SUPER lesson with Sule.  We watched JS prophet of the restoration movie and then after talked about how we need to not just have faith but gain a witness of these things by praying about it and asking God.  I think he finally gets it and says that he will pray.  Then we had a lesson with Mady who we haven't seen in a long while.  She's crazy!  But seriously!  

Ok to end I just want to make a shout out to my brother Elder Mizell who has been called to the Iowa Des Moines mission!  I'm sooooo proud of you!

Also I just want to talk quickly about the Atonement.  I KNOW that the Atonement is real and that when we ask, the Savior WILL take upon us all of our worries and sins and troubles.  I've experienced it and I experienced it again this week.  I love my Savior!  

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Zuster Mizell

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March 17, 2014

March 17, 2014

"525,600 minutes.  525,000 moments a year.  525,600 minutes.  How do you measure, measure a year?"

Hey there!  So how do you measure a year?  In 3 days I will hit my year mark on my mission.  Wow where has the time gone?  This last year of my life has been the most wonderful, difficult, joyful, heartbreaking year of my life.  There is so much that happened this last year of my life that I don't know if I could really sum it up in one word but if I had to it would be Change.  I have experienced more change on my mission than I ever thought possible.  As I heard once in a blessing for a dear member in Zoetermeer, everything that I go through on my mission will help me to become more like my Heavely Father and will help me to be an even more beautiful diamond.  I hope that I am becoming what Heavenly Father wants me to be.  

Well that's enough sentimental dingys haha onto the week!  Well it was a fabulous week!  We taught 24 lessons this week which is a new record!  It is sooo cool to be able to teach people, I love it =).

Maandag: So we went to FHE with Sule and Samuel at Stefaan's and it was fun!  We made funnel cakes for treat but then we ended up missing our bus so then I taught Sule Egyptian Rat Slap and it was super funny because he was super competative haha

Dinsdag: We had District meeting which was good and then we went and taught Sule and then Tommy.  I love those guys!  They are amazing.  Then in the evening we had branch counsel which went really well.

Woensdag: We taught Miranda in the morning and it went really well.  We taught her the Plan of Salvation and it helped her a lot because she is so afraid of death.  Then we taught Emilia about the Word of Wisdom and tried to help her set some goals to stop smoking.  She can do it!  Then we went by this old woman Dymphna who is probably the most negative nelly I've ever met.  It just always reminds me that our attitude really does impact our happiness.  Then we went to Zuster Kokx.  She always blasts this terrible Flemish music out her window and it was so loud that she couldn't even hear us shouting to her from the window haha Then we taught Joana and José.  It went ok but they aren't really understanding why the Book of Mormon is important and also they don't believe in prophets like at all... uh oh.  Then we went and taught our sweet Mia.  I love her =)  We started watching The Testaments with her while reading the Dutch subtitles out to her it's pretty funny haha.  Then we had Correlation

Donderdag: We were on exchanges so I was in Turnhout with Zuster Watkins.  We taught 7 lessons!  We had a good lesson with Zuster Janssen an inactive and then we ended up teaching a good lesson to Daniel, Emilia's son.  Stopped by really quick to Roger and Amusa, watched some more of the Testaments with Mia.  Then we had an AMAZING lesson with Sule and his roommate Alanzo with President Peeters.  Then after we went to dinner with Familie Van Kerckhoven with Tommy.  It was delicious and then after we talked about Priesthood blessings and then Broeder Van Kerckhoven gave one of the best blessings EVER to Tommy.  It was amazing!  Then we played Dominion in dutch! (shoutout to Carson, Anna, and Curtis Evans)

Vrijdag: Taught Family Gyimah and it went ok.  Then went and taught Joyce and it also went ok.  She just has sooooo many questions that we couldn't teach a lesson and we couldn't even really answer her questions.  She's still really positive though.  Mia again and then Tommy and he was a changed man!!!!!!!  He now expects an answer!  It's amazing to see these people change!  For the rest of the day we did weekly planning.

Zaterdag: We went to a RS activity in Antwerpen on the Atonement and it was wonderful!  It was beautiful and I heard my new favorite song, Beautiful Heartbreak by Hilary Weeks!  We came back late in the afternoon and then ended up finishing up weekly planning before we taught Frank and Beatrice.  Then we got to go to Sule's voetbal game and it was lots of fun!  Except the coach didn't put him in until the last 3 mins but it was still super fun!  

Zondag: Tommy and Daniel came to church which was great, then afterwards we had a really good lesson with Daniel and he is SUPER sincere!  Then we went to Mia and the Sule and then we had dinner with Familie Klas.  They are so fun!  Also last night I heard the news that an inactive I taught in Rotterdam, Zuster Stafford passed away.  It was really hard to hear.  

Well that's all I've got for now!  I hope that you all have a really good week!

Love,

Zuster Mizell

P.S. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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March 10, 2014

Well dag mijn aapjes!  Haha actually that's what a 4 year old little boy said to Zuster Anjewierden and I last night!  But seriously hey there!!  This week has been an interesting one but still really good =)  So I'll start with Monday

Maandag; we had FHE with Stefaan per usual but played Egyptian Rat Slap and it was SUPER fun and then we were running to catch our bus and this guy holding a leveling stick came running after us saying you threw potatoes at my house!  In Dutch of course.  Which we hadn't and then we missed our bus it was pretty funny but not at the time haha

Dinsdag; we missed the bus....again.  Welcome to my life in Belgium haha.  We eventually made it to district meeting  and then after we had a lesson with Emilia then we went and had a lesson with Sule that wasn't that great because he doesn't believe in keeping the 10 commandments it was a looooooong lesson.  Also I started feeling icky this day.

Woensdag; We had a lesson with Tommy that was ok but he still has some concerns that we are working on then we went to lunch with Familie Van Steenbergen and they are such a sweet cute old couple =)  Then we went to this investigator that they were never really able to have a lesson with and she finally let us in!  She told us she has depression and started crying.  I told her that I knew exactly how she felt and that the gospel could bring light into her life.  I hate that I had to go through depression but one of the blessings is being able to understand others that are going through it as well.  Her name is Miranda and she is such a sweety!  Then we had our crazy inactive Zuster Kokx and then we taught the family from Ghana, family Gyimah.  The kids just ate up the lesson it was super cool!  Then we went and had a lesson with our sweet neighbor Mia.  She is probably the sweetest woman in the world and is also the one with the dog that eats off the fork haha.  Then we had correlation and I was feeling pretty sick by then.

Donderdag; I went to Ghent with Zuster Meier on exchanges and it was soooo good to catch up with her!  Pretty much the only thing that happened besides ridding buses was we went to Zuster O's house and had dinner and then her Mom force fed me stright ginger and made me cry it was a pretty weak moment of my life haha

Vrijdag; I felt SUPER sick so after teaching an AMAZING lesson with Tommy where we addressed all of his concerns and then when he said the prayer at the end the Spirit was super strong, we went home and did weekly planning.  Then we went and met this cool lady named Wendy who has a store and probably loves Swarovski more than Mom haha.  Then we had dinner with the Van den Bergs and it was good but super long.  They have these two adorable little twin girls!!!

Zaterdag; I felt awful so we pretty much just stayed in the whole day and I got a lot of rest.  Then in the evening we went out to teach Sule and the lesson went WAY better this time.  He agreed to uphold the 10 commandments but not keep them.....I'm still not sure what the difference is haha.  We also taught our sweet Mia =)  Whenever we go over there she gets this big huge smile and it just makes my heart happy =)

Zondag; we had SEVEN people in church!!!!  We walked to church with Ekow, Ama, and Esi and then Sule and Tommy came.  Then Mia and Emilia came to sacrament meeting.  It was great!  Then right after church we were just biking along in the BEAUTIFUL weather here and this lady stepped right out in front of my bike so I crashed into her and then Zuster Anjewierden crashed into me because her brakes arent good haha.  Then I tired to stand up and I practically fainted.  But a few bruises and scrapes later I'm just fine =)  Then we went and visited Joana and Jose and then Joyce who just loved having us over again!  And she's already 150 pages into the BvM after just a week!  Then we went to Frank and Beatrice and finally had a non contencious lesson with them!  And then they gave us like 30 eggs haha.  Then we went to Fam. Arthurs and had a lesson and then visited Mia again.

Anyway it was a wonderful week!  The weather is absolutely gorgeous and the work is wonderful!  I'm on my way to recovery and I can't wait for another week!  I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!!!!

Veel liefs,

Zuster Mizell

Pics

1; Castle in Turnhout

2;View from our street

3;Us with 30 eggs

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March 3, 2014

Ok so I dont have a ton of time again but oh wait by the way hello =)  This week was wonderful!!!  So because I dont have much time again surprise surprise;  im going to tell my week in Wonders (miracles) and grapjes (laughs).  Thats what we write in our planners every day.  

Ok so Wonders for the week: Maandag: Went grocery shopping!  We have food now!  took a nap, got a letter from Aad and Elsje with cute bunnies on it, FHE at Stefans, played UNO! had two lessons with Roger and Jobe

Dinsdag: got more caught up in my BOM reading, lunch was lekker, met Emile on the bus and taught a lesson, lesson with Sule and set a baptismal date and hes reading the BOM! lesson with Tommy, Branch counsel was bom!!! 

Woensdag: taught 5 lessons, Ama and her family, got 3 new investigators! dinner with Familie Germans, Jobe is hilarious and is going to start the Mormon Movement in the Gambia, Amusa wants to learn more

Donderdag: Talked to Elder Peery for the last time I dont need a counselor anymore!  Got an amazing referral Joyce and taught first lesson, Correlation was good and fast, cute kitten we named Wiggles who followed us around, Jobe

Vrijdag: had a lesson with Emilia, figured out Tommys concerns, amazing lesson with Sule in less than a week he went from not wanting to read the BOM  to knowing it's the word of God! lesson with Jobe, sweet Maria, Stefan got us donuts

Zaterdag: eat lunch, had a lesson and finally met Isaac the recent convert, Jobe finally made it to Familie Peeters, dinner was delicious

Zondag:Emilia, Joana, and Jose came to church, had a fun and lekker dinner with Familie Klaas and Maria is probably the sweetest person I know!

Ok so running out of time for grapjes but the highlights were definitely feeding a dog with a fork and this weird Jesus song someone made us listen to.  

Anyway gotta go but I hope you all have a wonderful week and remember to "eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow is lent!"

pictures: 1. Zuster Anjewierden and I wearing pink to support non bullying day

2. Us with Wiggles the kitten

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March 10, 2014
Well dag mijn aapjes!  Haha actually that's what a 4 year old little boy said to Zuster Anjewierden and I last night!  But seriously hey there!!  This week has been an interesting one but still really good =)  So I'll start with Monday

Maandag; we had FHE with Stefaan per usual but played Egyptian Rat Slap and it was SUPER fun and then we were running to catch our bus and this guy holding a leveling stick came running after us saying you threw potatoes at my house!  In Dutch of course.  Which we hadn't and then we missed our bus it was pretty funny but not at the time haha

Dinsdag; we missed the bus....again.  Welcome to my life in Belgium haha.  We eventually made it to district meeting  and then after we had a lesson with Emilia then we went and had a lesson with Sule that wasn't that great because he doesn't believe in keeping the 10 commandments it was a looooooong lesson.  Also I started feeling icky this day.

Woensdag; We had a lesson with Tommy that was ok but he still has some concerns that we are working on then we went to lunch with Familie Van Steenbergen and they are such a sweet cute old couple =)  Then we went to this investigator that they were never really able to have a lesson with and she finally let us in!  She told us she has depression and started crying.  I told her that I knew exactly how she felt and that the gospel could bring light into her life.  I hate that I had to go through depression but one of the blessings is being able to understand others that are going through it as well.  Her name is Miranda and she is such a sweety!  Then we had our crazy inactive Zuster Kokx and then we taught the family from Ghana, family Gyimah.  The kids just ate up the lesson it was super cool!  Then we went and had a lesson with our sweet neighbor Mia.  She is probably the sweetest woman in the world and is also the one with the dog that eats off the fork haha.  Then we had correlation and I was feeling pretty sick by then.

Donderdag; I went to Ghent with Zuster Meier on exchanges and it was soooo good to catch up with her!  Pretty much the only thing that happened besides ridding buses was we went to Zuster O's house and had dinner and then her Mom force fed me stright ginger and made me cry it was a pretty weak moment of my life haha

Vrijdag; I felt SUPER sick so after teaching an AMAZING lesson with Tommy where we addressed all of his concerns and then when he said the prayer at the end the Spirit was super strong, we went home and did weekly planning.  Then we went and met this cool lady named Wendy who has a store and probably loves Swarovski more than Mom haha.  Then we had dinner with the Van den Bergs and it was good but super long.  They have these two adorable little twin girls!!!

Zaterdag; I felt awful so we pretty much just stayed in the whole day and I got a lot of rest.  Then in the evening we went out to teach Sule and the lesson went WAY better this time.  He agreed to uphold the 10 commandments but not keep them.....I'm still not sure what the difference is haha.  We also taught our sweet Mia =)  Whenever we go over there she gets this big huge smile and it just makes my heart happy =)

Zondag; we had SEVEN people in church!!!!  We walked to church with Ekow, Ama, and Esi and then Sule and Tommy came.  Then Mia and Emilia came to sacrament meeting.  It was great!  Then right after church we were just biking along in the BEAUTIFUL weather here and this lady stepped right out in front of my bike so I crashed into her and then Zuster Anjewierden crashed into me because her brakes arent good haha.  Then I tired to stand up and I practically fainted.  But a few bruises and scrapes later I'm just fine =)  Then we went and visited Joana and Jose and then Joyce who just loved having us over again!  And she's already 150 pages into the BvM after just a week!  Then we went to Frank and Beatrice and finally had a non contencious lesson with them!  And then they gave us like 30 eggs haha.  Then we went to Fam. Arthurs and had a lesson and then visited Mia again.

Anyway it was a wonderful week!  The weather is absolutely gorgeous and the work is wonderful!  I'm on my way to recovery and I can't wait for another week!  I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!!!!

Veel liefs,

Zuster Mizell

March 3, 2014
Ok so I dont have a ton of time again but oh wait by the way hello =)  This week was wonderful!!!  So because I dont have much time again surprise surprise;  im going to tell my week in Wonders (miracles) and grapjes (laughs).  Thats what we write in our planners every day.  

Ok so Wonders for the week: Maandag: Went grocery shopping!  We have food now!  took a nap, got a letter from Aad and Elsje with cute bunnies on it, FHE at Stefans, played UNO! had two lessons with Roger and Jobe

Dinsdag: got more caught up in my BOM reading, lunch was lekker, met Emile on the bus and taught a lesson, lesson with Sule and set a baptismal date and hes reading the BOM! lesson with Tommy, Branch counsel was bom!!! 

Woensdag: taught 5 lessons, Ama and her family, got 3 new investigators! dinner with Familie Germans, Jobe is hilarious and is going to start the Mormon Movement in the Gambia, Amusa wants to learn more

Donderdag:  Got an amazing referral Joyce and taught first lesson, Correlation was good and fast, cute kitten we named Wiggles who followed us around, Jobe

Vrijdag: had a lesson with Emilia, figured out Tommys concerns, amazing lesson with Sule in less than a week he went from not wanting to read the BOM  to knowing it's the word of God! lesson with Jobe, sweet Maria, Stefan got us donuts

Zaterdag: eat lunch, had a lesson and finally met Isaac the recent convert, Jobe finally made it to Familie Peeters, dinner was delicious

Zondag:Emilia, Joana, and Jose came to church, had a fun and lekker dinner with Familie Klaas and Maria is probably the sweetest person I know!

Ok so running out of time for grapjes but the highlights were definitely feeding a dog with a fork and this weird Jesus song someone made us listen to.  

Anyway gotta go but I hope you all have a wonderful week and remember to "eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow is lent!"