August 18, 2014
Hey there family and friends! Life just keeps rolling along here in Gouda. The work is good and weather is bad, and life is pretty great. So I'll just jump right into the days.
Maandag- After emaling we went to Familie Bijkerk for dinner. They are AWESOME and the parents of three amazing families from the Rotterdam ward! So it was cool to meet with them. After that we had an apt. with Mvr. De Wit on the door and that went pretty well. Then we met this really cool guy Sander who we made an apt. with for Wednesdady.
Dinsdag- Great district meeting. I got to see my lovely Zr. Anjewierden! Love her. We had an apt. with Sjef an inactive but he wasn't there. We had dinner with Bishop Roelofson for dinner and that was great. We had pannekoeken! Lekker! Then we went and taught one of our investigators Mohammed.
Woensdag- We met with this sweet member named Marielle and had a little lesson with her. Then we went to Adam and Asep. They are moving so we had told them we wanted to help them so we went all dressed up in our service clothes and we got there and said what can we do to help! And they said just teach our family the gospel. It was amazing. We also had a really awesome lesson with Sander the guy we met on Monday night. And a lesson with Erik. He dropped us but we at least had a good lesson and he gave us treats haha.
Donderdag- We went and did service for a member's son in his garden with the Elders. Then we had lunch with her, Zr. Doelart. She is such a sweetie =). Then we went to a lesson with the Elders to Johanna who is from Bulgaria. She's really cool and they set a baptismal date. We did some look-ups of inactives and one of them was home and let us in. It was sad though because she said she doesn't even really believe in God anymore. We had dinner with Zr. Hoornweg which was really cool and then we taught this lesson to Narcisse. He's a refugee from the Congo and he wants to get baptized! We are going to try and help him start living the gospel though because he's investigated the church for years.
Vrijdag- We started off the day with an appt. with Zr. Flux an inactive. It was good. Then we went to Familie Lanting the family of a member who is currently living in America. They are sooo cool and sweet! I love them! I taught them how to survive a bear attack haha. Then we pretty much did weekly planning for the rest of the day.
Zaterdag- We went and found an inactive which was really good and then did some contacting and found a religious family that we can bring a BoM to. I'm excited =) Then we went to a little city in our area Nieuwerkerk and did some inactive look ups. We met with Zr. Klein who is this really sweet older lady that just let us in and smiles and laughs all the time. Also with her daughter Zr. Markus who is super sweet. We also met with Adam and Asep and their familie in their new house. They are truly wonderful!
Zondag- Church was great and I got to talk to some members I hadn't met yet. They are so sweet! I think these members are going to be the biggest thing I miss about these two countries. Then we went out and looked for some inactives, but none of them were home.
Ok that's it. I know that Heavenly Father is aware of us and He sends us miracles when we need them. Sometimes their small and easy to miss, but they are always there. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!
Love,
Zuster Mizell
August 11, 2014
Hey everyone! Well here I am in Gouda now. It's crazy being here. It's hard to believe that this will be the last city that I serve in. On the other side though I'm excited that I don't have to do transfer days again. haha. Those are always a pain. Ok so a little about my week
Maandag- after emailing we went to this sweet member from Turkey's house and had Turkse pizzas. They were really good and she is so sweet. I love her.
Dinsdag- My last day in Almere. We had a good district meeting and then we taught a first lesson to this woman named Evelien. She was really sweet and was willing to make another appointment =). Then we had another appointment with Eunice but she ended up cancelling last minute so we just got ice cream instead. Then we went to Madelon and talked to her and I got to say goodbye and then we had dinner with Chaya and Reuben. They made me chicken parmesean. My favorite =). We hurried and biked to Adriënne and Johan's. They had invited us over to say goodbye and celebrate Adriënne's 50th birthday. I'm really going to miss them.
Woensdag- Heidi came to say goodbye and help us get to Leiden. She had crocheted me this beautiful flower. I love her. Then we got to Leiden and after waiting a little bit we barely made it on the train to Rotterdam. I barely got to give Zuster Larson a hug goodbye. Sometimes the train conductors are so impatient haha. We got to Rotterdam and I met my new companion Zuster Hoff. Also I finally got to see my beautiful Tahira after many long months. It was sooo good to see her =). We came back to Gouda and unpacked a little, cleaned, talked, and then went to visist Halbert an investigator.
Donderdag- We went and did some look-ups but no one was home. Then we went to visit an inactive member Zuster Vreekamp. She's really cool. She makes jewelry and reminds me a little bit of Grandma. I love her already! Then we had another appointment with Sjef another inactive with the elders. It was...interesting haha. Then we had dinner and went street contacting. We found this really sweet family Adam and Asep. They are from Eritrea in Africa. Also Gouda is beautiful. It's so old and Dutch. It kind of reminds me of a Dutch version of Turnhout.
Vrijdag- We had an appointment with Zuster Flux another inactive and talked to her about the temple. Then we went to Hedi an eternal investigator. She had the sister missionaries live in her house for years but she's never been baptized. She is super sweet but still isn't willing to get baptized. I hope we can help her. Then we spent the rest of the eveing working on weekly planning and we ate dinner of course.
Zaterdag- We went finding in the morning and found this sweet woman Mvr. De Wit. We have an appointment with her later today. We went to Woerden which is a really adorable little town in our area. We went to see Cherry an inactive and she is really sweet. She bought us ice cream and then her friend Shawn was there for the lesson so that was cool. We talked to this girl Charissa in the station on the way back to Gouda and she was really sweet. Also we saw some Americans on vacation and helped them figure out how to get to Amsterdam. We had dinner and then went to Moordrecht another little town in our area to visit Adam and Asep. They weren't there at first then Asep came and invited us up. We taught her the restoration in English and we don't know how much she understood but she was so sweet we love her!
Zondag- Church was good. A lot of people are still on vacation but it's funny becaus I already know quite a few people here because Gouda is so close to Rotterdam. Then we went to Broeder Spanjeberg for dinner. He had us cook it but he told us everything to do. We made some yummy dish from Spain and talked about family history work. I can't wait to go home and start working on family history work. Then we came home and had to go straight to Adam and Asep. We taught Adam in dutch and I think he understood enough. They are just so sweet!
Ok so my companion is Zuster Hoff and she is actually from Parker Colorado! Whoo another Coloradan. She comes from a family of 4 but her parents are divorced. She grew up in the church and is really funny and nice. I like her a lot. Gouda is beautiful and I am loving it already though I do miss Almere. I can't believe that I only have 65 days left of my mission, it's crazy! I know that this is the Lord's work and He is in charge. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!
Love,
Zuster Mizell
August 4, 2014
Well hey there my dear family and friends! It's been a crazy week but a good one of course. So the big news, I have been transferred from the beautiful, wonderful city of Almere with one of my best friends, Zuster Larson. I will be heading this Wednesday to the city of cheese aka Gouda with Zuster Hoff. I knew I would probably be transferred but it doesn't make it any easier. You would think that by this point in my mission that saying goodbye to cities, members, investigators, and companions would have gotten easier but I'm pretty sure it's only gotten harder haha. But I suppose the thing is with each transfer is that I never want to leave, but then end up meeting more peple that change my life. So bitter sweet. Gouda will also be my official last city that I serve in. Wierd eh? It's hard to believe that I only have 10 weeks left. The time has gone by so quickly. Ok well I think I'll go into the highlights of the week.
Maandag- Was kind of a weird none p-day, p-day because we had spent some of our p-day time on Saturday in Haarlem. We taught a couple of lessons though. One to Aimable, our French investigator and then one to Joyce. They both went pretty well. It also rained SUPER hard and we got pretty soaked.
Dinsdag- We had a good district meeting and then started to set up the church a little bit for the activity on Friday with the YSA girls.
Woensdag- We went on exchanges and I went to Den Haag. We visited this really sweet member from Aruba Zuster Kelly and she gave me husband advice haha. Then we stopped by and visited some other members. Marielle, and Zuster Daniels. It was fun to be able to work with Zuster Heilner and get away for a day even though I missed being in Almere.
Donderdag- We went and did service for on of the members. We pulled weeds. I don't think I've ever done more gardening in my life than I have on my mission! It's fun when you have a companion and other missionaries to do it with though. After that we had dinner with Zuster Lourens and then went to the church and started to set up for the activity with the girls. Chaya came a little later and Zuster Larson gave her a piano lesson. I spent the hour watching Mormon messages and then have this new one that's so good! I love how inspiration these messages can be!
Vrijdag- We spent most of the day getting ready for the activity. We set up the projector and hung lights and fabric. Decorated the tables and started to make the food. We made snicker doodles, chocolate fondu, and carmel popcorn. We had tons of food and expected lots of girls. We rusehd back for dinner really quick with the Pantophlets and then rushed back to the church. We had 5 girls show up, most of them who are inactive or less active. We were expecting more but it still turned out really well. Unfortunately they barely ate anything! But it was fun to watch Frozen and they were talking amongst themselves about their testimonies and the church so it was really a success.
Zaterdag- We went back to the church to clean up and then invited all of our elders to come and help us eat the rest of the food. It was fun to have one last kind of hoorah together. I sure do love working with elders in a city. Also it's so funny because you really see what boys are like when they are elders. It's pretty funny haha. Then we looked up some less actives and had an appointment planned with a potential family and the bishop. We all went (in the pouring rain) and they said actually they weren't interested. So that was a jammer. But then we went and looked up another inactive we have just started working with and it was really good to bring the bishop along. Then we came home and made dinner then went and had a good lesson with Adriënne and Johan. I love them.
Zondag- Church was good and we had a new investigator come to scarament meeting with her daughter. She is from Uganda so we had to translate the whole meeting! Man is it hard sometimes. But it was good and she really liked it. When I see the words Why? or Explain. on my homework I die...n mostly I said goodbye to people yesterday. We taught a lesson to our sweet investigator Doina. Then we had dinner with Zuster Wolff. Man I love her.
Well that's about it. I love you all and hope that you have a great week! Also for those that want it my new address is:
Crabethstraat 5
2801 AL Gouda
The Netherlands
Liefs,
Zuster Mizell
