Well it was transfer week.  I am staying and Zuster Woodbury is leaving.  We're pretty devastated because we wanted so much to spend Christmas together, but it's the Lord's will, not ours.  I am happy to be able to stay with this ward though.  My new companion will be Zuster Djouken (I know I'm spelling that wrong).  She was in my MTC group.  She's great I just definitely didn't ever see us being companions but again the Lord knows best.  I'm pretty sure the week was great but I don't have much time to talk about it.  The Elders came and gave Saba a blessing which was amazing.  We had a really amazing lesson with Lutgarda.  We also had a really great lesson with Zuster Stafford.  Oh and a great lesson with Laurien.  Also we had lots of gezellig eten afspraken with members.  It was a good last week together.  We bought a Christmas tree today and decorated it.  Only a month until Christmas.  I can't wait to skype you guys.  Well that's about it.  I love you.

 

Love,

Zuster Mizell

Well hey there my loverly family!  Oh how I love and miss you!!!!  Things were definitely better this week.  I've been doing a few things to try and keep a positive attitude and see more of the blessings that surround me.  I think it has definitely helped me to feel better this week.  I thought I might write this email first since I never seem to get to it haha.  Ok so first there are a couple of things from past weeks that I have forgotten to tell you all.  First is that I ghost rode my first bike!!!  So what that means is I ride my bike while pulling an empty bike along side me.  It's very Dutch haha.  I feel more and more like a Dutch woman every day.  Ok now on to the week.

 

Maandag- Well I got a lot of good sleep and then we finally went and visited our inactive member Zuster Carty who is in the hospital.  We shared a spiritual thought with her in front of her other friends that were there and they were Jehova's Witnesses so that was cool.  Also the Gouda zusters came and spent the night and Zuster Juchau talked to us which helped out a lot.

 

Dinsdag- We had a good district meeting and then we did exchanges.  Zuster Otteson came here and we made an appt. with Gregory.  The weather was beautiful this day.  We met some really cool people knocking on doors.  Christiana a woman from Poland and Paula a woman from Spain.  They are both catholic but I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and both said they are willing to recieve a book =).  Then we went and had dinner with Zuster Van Driel Kluit and the Aalse sisters and Tahira.  It was SUPER Gezellig!  It was really a great night!

 

Woensdag- So today was pretty chill.  We exchanged back.  I talked to Elder Peery and then we went and talked to Zuster Wilkens for a little while.  She is currently inactive because of an injury she had.  She is a really sweet lady.  Then we went and tried to do some look ups in Rotterdam and then we had a great dinner with Familie Van Rangelrooy!

 

Donderdag- So we went to Tahira's for her themed lunch with all of the missionaries in our ward and it was French themed!  YUMM!!!  It was so much fun.  Tahira is a really really amazing member who is SOOO bezig with missionary work even though she goes to school full time and works!  She's so great!  I love her.  Then we went and had dinner with familie Van den Herik, another amazing family.  We had lekker stompot and worst.  Echt Nederlandse eten =) 

 

Vrijdag- We started this new thing we want to do with the whole ward.  We do visitng teaching splits where we split with a visiting teaching pair and then visit all of their visiting teachees.  Hopefully this will help the members to become more involved in doing their visiting teaching, but it is A LOT of work to put together.  I did get to work with Christy though who is a YA who is preparing to go on a mission.  We went to our appt. with Gregory but he wasn't there.  Then we went and visited Zuster Stafford the amazing inactive whome we love!  We just need to get her to church.  Then we were going to drop off a book of mormon to Paula the woman we met from Spain with a member who just moved into the ward who is also from Spain.  Her name is Renata.  But she wasn't home jammer.  But we got to know Renata really well and she is such a great woman!  Then we had Ricky (another inactive) take us out to dinner for Chinese.  It was SOOOO lekker haha.  Then we went to ym and yw to practice the song we will be singing with them next sunday.

 

Zaterdag- So today was the start of Sinter Klaus.  So here the kids don't really believe in Santa Clause or Kerstman but they believe in Sinter Klaus.  He's a Saint that comes from Spain in a boat to the Netherlands every year on the 16th I think and then the Dutch kids all put out their shoes in the hopes that he will come and bring them something.  He comes every so often until the 5th of December when he brings all of his presents to all the kids.  He also has a little helper called Swarte Pete (black Pete) and a white horse.  We put out our shoes and I've bought some little treats and made a few small things for Zuster Woodbury for Sinter Klaus.  Anyway so we saw some swarte petes running around this day and they had some big parade or something but we missed it because we did more visiting teaching splits.  We also did weekly planning this day and then went to Zuster Carty again and helped her with her family history.

 

Zondag- I gave a talk in the church so that was ok.  Haha.  It was on Zion.  Today was a miracle day!  We finally got in contact with everyone we've been wanting to!  So we went by this inactive woman Zuster Benschop and she was finally home!  Then we went and had dinner with Aad and Elsje.  We decided to sing to them and it really brought the spirit =).  Then we went to Saba's and got ahold of her!  She wants a Priesthood blessing so we're taking the Elders tomorrow.  Then we went to Jirhee's and she was there!  She didn't seem to intersted but we made an appt. and then before we left her roommate was like can you tell me more about that book?  Bam new investigator!  Laureen.  Then we went to Gregory's and he was there.  We made an appt. with him and I think he'll keep it this time.  Then we went to Benne's and had a really great door appt. with him.  So that was all amazing! 

 

Maandag- Today I took a 6 hour nap haha then we went grocery shopping and then we went and toured a windmill!  There is a member in the ward who owns a windmill and she gave us a free tour.  It was so much fun I'll send pictures! 

 

Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!

 

Love,

Zuster Mizell

Well familie, I´m afraid I don´t have too much to report for this week.  It´s cold, very cold here.  And it rains, like a lot haha.  The week went ok.  We aren´t really having any success which is pretty discouraging, but I am trying to keep my hopes up and remember that it´s the agency of others which I can´t control.  We are working quite a bit on making the Thanksgiving activity a great experience.  I think it´s really going to turn out great!  I just hope that I don´t get transferred two days before it happens.  Also we are really bezig with the young women.  Yesterday we did splits with them and they seemed to have a good experience.  If we are doing anything in this ward I think it might be with the young women.  Also the work is going good with in active members.  We are finding a lot and working with a lot.  I have really learned just HOW important visiting and home teaching are.  This ward struggles with it here and because of that they have so many in actives.  Speaking of which we are trying something new where we go on visiting teaching splits but it´s pretty hard to do since we have to coordinate so many schedules but it will all work out I´m sure.  We found a couple potentials this week, it just seems like the day after we meet a good potential, they aren´t interested the next day.  Even if they were SUPER positive when we met them.  It´s amazing how much opposition people receive.  We continue to try and work with Ralf, Lutgarda, and Xionely to not much avail.  I just wish we new more how to help them.  Well i think that´s about it for this week.  Oh Wait!  We did receive a referral from a member.  Her name is Trude and she is going through a rough time so we went by and brought her some chocolates yesterday.  She dind´t have time to meet with us but she gave us big kisses on the cheek (a very nederlander thing to do) and then gave us her phone number so we could call and set up an appt. with her.  So that was great!  =)  Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Zuster Mizell

November4,2013

Ok well again I'm pretty much out of time so here is a quick overview of the week.

maandag-nothing really actually haha

dinsdag-good district meeting.  I went to Gouda on exchanges and worked with Zuster Otteson.  It was pretty good, though I'm not a super huge fan of exchanges.

woensdag- we had a good day.  We visited Aad and Elsje the inactive.  They are so old and so funny haha.  I just adore them.  Then we did some good contacting time and found a possibly good potential.  Then we had dinner with Familie Van Rangelrooy and that was geweldig!  Then we had a lesson with Jirhee.  She's very interesting.  We think she may have a slight learning disability but she's such a sweet heart! 

donderdag-  HALLOWEEN!!!  we went trick or treating AKA door contacting almost all day.  I bought a delicious stroop waffel.  I had the most delicious pumpkin soup ever.  We talked to some really nice people and wished everyone a happy halloween which worked wonders haha.  We met with Lutgarda and it went well.  Then we had dinner with Familie Wiggers, they are so great!  Then we went trick or treating inside our own house at all the doors all dressed up.  It was great haha.

vrijdag- weekly planning.  Zuster Carty is in the hospital again so we went to go visit her.  We had a lesson with Lutgarda and Xionely which went great.  We had dinner with Familie Bij Kerk and then went to Young Womens to practice singing with them. 

zaterdag- it was cold and rainy all day long. we contacted a lot but had ollie bollen for the first time which was pretty good.  Then we went and had a lesson with Zuster Stafford and talked about covenants and it was great!

zondag- no one came to church =(  we did look ups and contacting but we met this really great inactive whose name I forget.  Also the young women WANT to come with us to do missionary work!  That's a miracle. 

Ok well I love you all!  I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Zuster Mizell

October21,2013 and October28,2013

October 28

Well this week was a rough one.  I honestly don´t have much positive to share and I´m also out of time.  This I will say.  I went to the temple and it was beautiful.  I also saw Zuster Rigdon which was great.  I have the best companion in the world Zuster Woodbury and she´s gotten me through this rough week.  I love my family and I´m so glad we can really be together forever.  I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true.  Not everyone accepts it, but it´s true.  We have a loving Heavenly Father and Mother.  We have a Savior who died for us so that we can have the chance to return and live with Him and our families forever.  The gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored on the earth in it´s fulness.  This church has the same Priesthood authority, the power of God to act in God´s name for the benefit of souls.  We have a Prophet who leads and guides us just as prophets have led and guided people from the beginning of the world.  The Book of Mormon is truly the word of God.  If anyone reads it sincerely and then asks God in the name of the Savior if it´s ture, they will come to know through the power of the Holy Ghost that it is true.  The temple is the house of God, and therin lies the power to be sealed to our families for eternity.  There is a plan for us.  We have no need to fear, for the Lord is on our side.  I love you all and pray for you daily.  Have a blessed week.

With all my love,

Zuster Mizell

October 21

SOOOO horrah horrah!  It's the beginning of a new transfer!!!  And I am still in Rotterdam and just LOVING life!  Also I'm with the incredible amazing fantastic Zuster Woodbury =)  Soooo because of the fact that it's a new transfer I left my old planner at home which means I don't know how much I'll be able to remember about the week but here it goes.  Sorry if it's jumbled. 

 

So I do remember having a REALLY amazing ward counsel!  We introduced the idea for the Thanksgiving activity and everyone just jumped right on it!  They were SOOOOO excited and it was amazing!!!  It's seriously going to be legit.  The week was good.  We have a new investigator Jirhee and she's super sweet.  We also have a new investigator Mary who is also really sweet.  We are struggling a little bit with Xionely and her parents.  They were supposed to come to church this week but they didn't.  We decided to give them a week and then try to work with them again.  Also Paul and Nadira dropped us.  We  had a really amazing lesson with them and it was even a member present lesson!  They pulled out a ton of concerns trying to stump us but we had the spirit and it went amazing.  But they still dropped us.  They just aren't ready yet.   So Zuster Juchau is here!  WHOO I love that woman!  I have only ever been 4 weeks on my mission when she wasn't in my district.  So it is really beautiful here.  The weather has warmed up a bit and the trees are just beautiful!  But somedays it still is really cold.  Also guess what!?!?!  I"M GOING TO THE TEMPLE ON WEDNESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  AHHHHHHH!!!!  I am beyond excited!  Also this week is looking like it's going to be pretty good. =)  Boy do I just love missionary work!  I realized I am officially just in love with the ward here.  I saw Tosca Van Eeden yesterday from Zoetermeer ward in my ward and it was SOO good to see her!  She said Zoetermeer misses me and boy do I miss them, but I realized also that the intense love I have for Zoetermeer and the ward there I now have for Rotterdam and this ward.  It really is amazing!  Well I think that's about it!  Until next week!!!  I LOVE YOU ALLL!!!

 

Veel liefs,

Zuster Mizell