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!"

February 24
Well hey there my beloved family and friends!  So I am officially in Belgium and loving it!  It definitely different than the Netherlands but I'm starting to get used to it all =)  So I would love to write a really long and detailed email but you see they use different keyboards here and it's quite a struggle bus to type, and I am quickly running out of time!  So I'll just have to do the highlights.  Well the first two days of the week I was still in Rotterdam.  It was hard to say goodbye to everyone but at the same time I felt really ready to move on.  I sure do miss them all though!!  Wednesday I made the trek here and basically traveled almost all day!  Then I was warmly embraced in Antwerpen by my wonderful new companion zuster Anjezierden.  We lugged my things home and then ended up teaching two lessons that night.  One to Maria, probably the sweetest little old Belgian lady EVER who is also our neighbor and then Jobe.  This rockstar (not literally) from the Gambia!!  I have never met such sincere people!  Thursday we had our first lesson with Roger a referral from the night before from Jobe, had the most awkward lesson of my life with zuster Cocks an inactive, and then had a lesson with Tommy who is also one of the sweetest and most sincere people I have ever met.  Friday we visited Zuster De Jong an inactive that had a stroke not too long ago and then had another lesson with Maria.  Weekly planning and then we had a lesson with Sule a guy we had met on the street the day before.  We showed up and then he was like my uncle is here and he is also a member from your church.  The lesson we had with him was pretty contentious though because his uncle just kept yelling at him and being like, you idiot read the BOM it's good for you haha.  Then ze had correlation with the ward mission leader and he made us dutch food!  YUMMY!   Saturday we had another lesson with Roger and it went pretty well then we went to our other investigator Greet and sang to her son.  She's such a sweety!  Then we ended up finishing weekly planning most of the rest of the day.  Sunday was great!  We had Jobe, Tommy, and Joana and Jose in church.  Then we taught Jobe, Maria, Sule which went amazingly better, Frank and Beatrice, Adizah, and Otman.  It was amazing.  Probably like half of our investigators are African. It's pretty cool!  Well I have to go but I love you all and hope that you all have a wonderful week!!

Veel liefs, 

Zuster Mizell

February 10, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

So the title of this email is October the 29th.  Why?  Because that is my new release date!  That's right!  I've dedided to extend my mission!  It's official!  WOOHOO!!!  Yay for being a missionary!  But seriously I think it's the right decision.  Ok so you are probably wondering about the rest of my week.  Well I can say it was kind of a slow week as far as the missionary work.  That happens every so once in a while unfortunately.  So the highlights of this week are probably that on Tuesday we went and saw this inactive Diana and she is SUPER sweet!  She is married to a non member but I believe she has the desire to come back one day.  Then on Wednesday I was actually in Gouda with Zuster Frandsen on exchanges.  It was lots of fun!  It's always fun to go on exchanges and meet new people =)  on Thursday we had a lesson with this young man named Jeroen.  He's not really religious but he believes in a higher power.  You actually see that  A LOT here.  It always reminds me of King Limhi.  He knew there was a God he just didn't know who it was.  Anyway we taught him the restoration and it went pretty well.  He's just not quite ready to investigate the gospel yet, but I believe we planted a good seed.  Then that night we went over to Familie Rojas and I cooked the spaghetti casserole for dinner.  Friday we did weekly planning and then we went over to Aad and Esje.  They are so funny haha.  I'm going to miss them.  Afterwards we went and visited a member in the hosptial Zuster Hoppen.  She is SO COOL!!!  I hope that I can be like here when I'm her age.  We talked to her for a long time and just got to know her.  Saturday we did lots of finding and at the VERY end we found this woman named Mariska who took the Book of Mormon and wants to learn more!  Then we had dinner with the Puts.  They are actually moving to Pijnacker, which is in my old area.  Sunday we didn't have any investigators come to church unfortunately, but we did have some inactives come which was great!  Naira came again with her daughter and then Broeder Nijboer came with his wife who isn't a member.  Then we were biking to Krimpen and we met this lady Sandra who basically just started telling us her entire life story.  So we just listened and then we gave her a hug and said a prayer with her and then she said she wanted to hear our message.  Then we went and looked up some potentials in Krimpen and made an apt. with them.  Miranda and Daniel are a young couple.  I'm excited!  Then we had dinner with Familie Thiel.  So I hear some people are confused because I've decided to studay Spanish instead of Frnech.  It's actually something I've been thinking about for a long time.  I have forgotten almost ALL of my french since I've been out here and also as an elementary teacher spanish will come in much more handy than french.  I'll probably never use french again.  Anyway Sister Marble if you're reading this congratulations on your new baby girl!  I love you!  Ok well that's about it for this week.  I am pretty sure I am going to be transferred next week, so hopefully I'll be able to tell you all where I'm going next week!  EXCITING!  Also Happy Valentines Day!

Veel liefs,

Zuster Mizell

P.S. Obama is coming to Den Haag on Wednesday weird haha

P.P.S.  Go AMERICA!  I love the Olympics!!!

February 3, 2014
Well hey there everyone!  So I'm running out of time, surprise surprise, but I want to share the big news of the week.  So first of all we had our first "official" lesson with Kimberly on Tuesday.  We taught her the restoration and asked her to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  Then the next day she said she prayed and got a warm feeling the her answer that it makes sense!  WOHOO!!!!!!!  It's amazing.  She also came to church again this sunday and we talked a little about baptism.  I invited her to pray about whether this church was God's church and to ask Him if she's ready to be baptized.  We'll see what happens.  =)  She also came to the Young Womens activity that we put on and also got a blessing.  So on Wednesday we had interviews with President and Zuster Robinson which were good as always.  After talking to President I'm seriously now considering extending my mission to October instead of shortening to August.  So for dinner with we went to Familie Lutgens and we had Mexcian food, by a guy who lives in their house who's from Mexico and guess what.... I LOVED IT!!  It was SOOOOOO good.  I couldn't believe it!  I even asked for the recipe.  Also I was told that I have a really good Spanish accent.  Oh also I don't know if I'm going to study French anymore at school, but I'm pretty sure that I'm going to study spanish.  Then Firday was the big activiy with the Young Women.  We started off with a game where there was a clip from a disney princess and they had to guess which yw value it was.  Then they made their own crowns, then we declared them official princesses with a red rob, roses, and a scroll.  Then we ate cake and cookies that I made, and watched a video made by Christy one of the YA who also loves princesses.  It was SUPER GREAT!  Then on Saturday we basically had an inactive day.  We went to Aad and Elsje for lunch with Bishop and Zuster Koppe and that was amazing!  And they came to church yesterday!  I NEVER thought I'd see the day.  Then we went to Krimpen and looked up this less active Sherry Shippy, she's American and I just fell in love with her!   She's SO cool and we just like talked forever!  Then in the evening after dinner we went and visited another inactive Sheree who is just super sweet.  Sunday was great!  The church was jam packed with people!  We had two investiagtors there, Kimberly and Amer.  Amer is a guy we just met but he came to church and we taught him the first lesson yesterday.  He seemed to get it and said he will come to church again next week!  Also we had dinner with Family Vermeer which was great.  A good Dutch meal after fasting but then I had an anxiety attack so that was kind of scary haha.  Today I got a hair trim from Summer another American who lives in Rotterdam Zuid.  She's SO COOL!!  LOVE HER!  Well that's about it.  This week should be pretty normal but good.  I love you all!!!!