Belgium Netherlands Mission

Lieve Familie en Vrienden,

This week was just a lovely dream. 

On Wednesday last week, we had Marjan's baptismal interview and it went really well. Elder Yocom interviewed her and we were sitting in the lobby with Elder Bishesar, his companion who is from Suriname and he was just being really funny and projecting future plans and wishes for her. It was just a really happy day too. 

We also finally got to meet with another friend!!! It's been such a long time because she had finals all last month (here they do 2 months of classes and then 1 month of tests) It was a great lesson with her about the big 3 (prayer, scriptures, and sabbath day observance)

That night we went to look up this Easter campaign referral (where people can order the finding faith in christ dvd and we receive their info to look them up and make sure they got it and maybe teach them). She answered the door and was like, "Oh hey sisters! come on in!" We were super surprised, and apparently she and her daughter were meeting with the sisters about a year ago. She was so sweet and we're hopefully going to be teaching her now.
So many miracles and that's only one day!

Friday we were on exchanges, because Zuster Kimmons and Romney went to Belgium. So I was here with Zuster Jones, who's from Oregon. She's super cute and we found out that we lived in the same building during Summer semester 2013 at BYU. Crazy! She was on the 2nd floor and I was on the 1st. We were planning our lesson for a friend the night before, because she likes to meet at 9 am, and as we were going through the commitment, I said, "well, we'll see how we feel about committing her to baptism. Maybe just follow the spirit on that?" And then I remembered that we are supposed to, so then we just decided we were going to ask her how she felt about setting a date. We felt really good about that and I was just super fired up to teach her! We had a really spirit-filled lesson and at the end she committed to be baptized! May 23rd is her baptismal date. It was a wonderful moment and it strengthened my faith. I was humbled and taught a lot. Love her so much!

The rest of the day went really well. We had a lesson with Julius and got him really excited about accepting a calling in the ward and passing the sacrament. (he's a recent convert) And then we just had time to do finding and got let in by this EXTREMELY Gronings lady. Her dialect was THICK. She wasn't too interested but we had a cool conversation about God and about a life after death. She doesn't believe at all that that would be possible, but I always love opportunities to bear my testimony powerfully. Then we had dinner with this cute couple, that are recent converts from Cape Verde. They're some of my favorite people here in Groningen. It was just such a great day! I love exchanges. There are just miracles every time:) And it was super fun to get to know Zr Jones better. 

Saturday was a dream! At least, it felt like it :) Dordrecht Zusters slept over the night before, so we had fun catching up with Zr Hopkin and getting to know her super cool greenie, Zuster Duncan. They are awesome!

We biked to the church and just practiced the musical number Marjan requested and filled up the font. As time got closer to the baptism more and more people trickled in and by the time it was time to start, the chapel was full of members and some of the missionaries who live close by! It was incredible! Marjan looked radiant in her white dress and she was just bouncing on the balls of her feet she was so excited. She brought a little gift for us, little books of little children's small notes to God. Super adorable and hilarious and just perfect.

We didn't tell her that Zr Hopkin was coming, because we wanted to surprise her. When she finally saw, her reaction was just adorable! I wish I'd gotten a picture of her cute face. It was a very sweet reunion. Every member was just so good and so supportive too, the whole time they were just shaking her hand and hugging her! Zr Kimmons and I gave the talks... .in Dutch! (that's the first time either of us has given a talk on our missions!) And when she got baptized by broeder Van der Put, it just made me cry. Zr Hopkin and Kimmons and I just lost it. haha it was awesome!

The spirit was just so strong and then on Sunday, Marjan bore her testimony after being confirmed in sacrament meeting. It was such a powerful testimony and she loves the gospel so much! She feels so strongly it is true she's willing to live with that differences. It was just a wonderful weekend!

Sunday was actually our Ward Conference, so the stake president and area 70 spoke and it was just awesome. I loved President Hulleman's talk. He shared D&C 88:34 Through the law of God we are "perfected and sanctified" And then he talked about how we are made stronger and healthier and better through the Lord. It was so powerful and he talked so boldly and it was just like POW! 
Very descriptive I know.
​But believe me it was wonderful.

Monday was Koningsdag. It's a celebration of the King's birthday! Basically everyone wears orange (but I heard there were a lot less this year wearing orange) and there's a Vrijmarkt (an open market) where people can just come and set up whatever kind of stand they want, mostly selling stuff, some performing on the violin or guitar or whatever. There was music in the centrum and it was super cool. We always do a booth for Koningsdag at the vrijmarkt and just give away the Book of Mormon or church dvds, pass along cards, etc. It was a really fun day! We showed up at the centrum at 7:30 am to set up and were there until around 4 pm. We had so much fun and got so many contacts. There were some people who weren't so nice... but for the most part they were very respectful and curious. It was funny, a lot of people came up asking for a Bible or a Koran, and we had a cool opportunity to explain what we were sharing. The coolest conversations were with the students who were very curious. We gave sooo many away so quickly that we had people sign up to get them. It was such a blast! Marjan and a lot of other members dropped by throughout the day and it was just a big party. Loved it!

We met with a friend again yesterday and had a lesson about the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. She took it all very well and was very open and understood it very well. At the end she said, "I've learned so much today and there's just so much to improve on!" She's so positive and really sees the happiness of the gospel. It's inspiring to see and talk with her :)
We're coming up on Mothers day in a couple weeks! I realized that just the other day and it blew my mind! We'll have to regel things further on Monday. Hopefully we'll find a place to skype :) (vast wel)

This morning we played tennis with Sandra and it was SO FUN. I think it's my first time ever if I'm not forgetting something, but I wasn't tooo bad haha We just laughed a lot and had fun. This warmer weather is just divine. We're enjoying all of the ice cream stands that are popping up... oops! haha
Having pday on a Wednesday feels weird... haha

VEEEEEL LIEFS,
Zuster Watts

I'm so glad Zr Kimmons and I are staying together! At District meeting everyone was saying goodbye and we were just like, well, we're gonna still be here :) We saw so many cool things happen this last transfer, and I'm so excited to experience even more with her! We went to Burger King for District lunch afterward and the Romig's (the senior missionary couple here in Groningen) bought us all lunch. It was sooo good I got curly fries and BBQ sauce! You can't find BBQ sauce hardly anywhere here! Miracles.

No but really we had miracles this week, and I just love it. On Tuesday we met with a girl that Zr Bradley and Hopkin found before I came to Groningen. She had received a Book of Mormon from them at the time, but between then and now she hadn't been at home. We finally got in contact with her and had a lesson this week. She and her boyfriend were there as well as her really adorable daughters. We talked about a lot of things and eventually got to the Restoration, but they just had a lot of questions. It was good because we were able to dispel a lot of misconceptions (bij voorbeeld, we're amish, mormon women can't wear pants, etc) They were super open. They're a cute couple, and we're excited to be teaching them now! It was a super cool discussion.

So right now there's this group of elders that have been specifically assigned to travel around the different wards in our mission and do a musical fireside that everyone and their dog is invited to. (they come to Groningen in June) They've been nicknamed "The Singing Elders" and they did a concert for the ward in Dordrecht two weeks ago. There's this family down there that's investigating the church right now, and the mom gave the elders a referral for us up here in Groningen. She apparently told them, "my niece needs that spirit you brought here tonight!" So we got a text from Elder Reese and Corsini to go visit the niece.

We went Tuesday evening because our appointment cancelled at the last minute, and her boyfriend opened the door. He looked very gruff and upset, and called her to the door. She came and he went back inside. She was extremely confused as to why we were there but as we explained that her aunt referred her, she just was surprised and laughed. I said, "Wij delen lessen met mensen over God en hoe wij kunnen dichter tot hem komen" (we share lessons with people about God and how we can come closer to Him)

And she just started to cry. Zr Kimmons is so good and asked her if she could give her a hug, which she did and so then we just ended up hugging her and crying with her and she said she'd love to meet another time. This all happened before we'd even told her our names. She was just so desperately in need of God's love and of a sign that He was there for her. We were disappointed at first that our appointment cancelled, but then we had a super sacred experience with ‘the niece.’ I love when we can look back on an experience and just totally see that God was guiding us the whole way.

Wednesday evening we had dinner with familie Gout. I don't recall if I've told you about them before, but they're this awesome member family. Zr Gout was just recently called as the Relief Society president, and her husband is in the Bishopric. They have us over once a week, normally Wednesday evenings, for dinner. This week they called us and asked us if we would invite our investigator friend to come to dinner as well. Of course we will! haha She came and it was a wonderful evening. We talked with Broeder Gout about the baptism on Saturday, and we decided on a time. At one point, Br Gout asked her if she was starting to feel anxious or nervous about it, because that's something that happens to a lot of people. She replied, "No, Before I decided to be baptized I felt that way a lot, but ever since I decided, I just feel peaceful about it and it feels right" She is SO good! 

Things are really coming together for Saturday. On Thursday before instituut, we got to look at the baptismal clothing with her. And the program is basically arranged. She is so cute, she asked us to specifically do this song called, "This is My Desire" at her baptism, so we're scrambling to get it ready and make it sound good. Pray that my hands can have good muscle memory and not get nervous! My hands shake so bad haha But she's just so excited and on Sunday they announced her baptism in almost every meeting and everyone is just being super sweet to her and excited for her. We hope lots of people come. :) Zr Hopkin and her greenie are planning on coming up for it as well, so it's just going to be a good day. :)  

After dinner, we biked to the church with her to go to a Relief Society activity where we just played board games with a bunch of the older ladies in the ward. It was super fun! She is our best friend :)

Friday was supposed to be this absolutely crazy day. 
9:00 Teaching appointment
10:30 Tex's Funeral
12:00 Teaching appointment
14:00 Teaching appointment
15:30 Teaching appointment
17:30 dinner
19:00 Teaching appointment

We have a lot of distance between those appointments as well, about 30 min biking between each, so we were just getting geared up all week for Friday. Trying to rest up for Friday. We got out the door at 8:15 to bike to our first appoint’s house, and two minutes along the way we got a call from her to reschedule. So we went back home to study until next appointment. He called and also rescheduled. We were able to make it to Tex's funeral, which was a lovely service. I'm going to miss him. We'd go every Sunday after church and the elders would give him the sacrament and we'd all sing "O My Father", his favorite hymn. They had that as the opening song for his funeral service, and the spirit was just so strong. I love love love that hymn.

The other 3 appointments went through, but it was just funny that we were expecting a full 9 am to 9 pm day, and then it turned out just being pretty normal. :)

Saturday we finally got to meet with our friend we gave cookies to! We didn't get to meet with him at all last transfer because he just was so busy, so we were super excited. He is a super deep thinker so we're taking the lessons pretty slowly. We just talked about Faith the time before, so on Saturday, we just talked about Repentance. He had some very interesting questions and we just had a super cool discussion about taking the good things out of experiences and learning and about strengths and weaknesses and how Christ ties into the repentance process, and it was just so powerful and great and they gave us wonderfully delicious food and agh I just love the people here.

He's related to the Bishop, actually, so we're in close contact with Zr Bishop, and on Sunday morning at church, she came up to me and told me that they had a family party that night, and he didn't come because he thought it was so important to meet with us! He is very focused on family and so she was surprised he wasn't coming. She said she asked him "can't you just reschedule?" And apparently he responded, "no I've done that the past two times they've tried to make an appointment, I can't do that to them again" 
Super cool to hear that! We love he and his mom!

It was a great week :)
Can't wait for the next one!
Zuster Watts

Bleh so much to tell so little time:) *deep breath* Here we go,

We were supposed to have an appointment last Monday with this girl we met going along the doors last Saturday (sorry if that makes no sense) but then she wasn't home when we came by, so we were pretty sad, but then she called us and asked if she could set up another appointment! It was super cool! We met later in the week and shared the story of the Restoration with her, and she was just so darling! She is 20 and has a 2 year old boy, and is just incredible and so zoekend! We love her so much. At the end of our appointment, Zuster Kimmons asked her if she had any questions for us, and she responded, "ja, wanneer zullen jullie terugkomen?" ("yeah, when are you coming back?") Aghghghgh I love that feeling :) She is a fave.

Tuesday was crazy. dankzij the WIND. There were so many moments I can't even count where we were like, "we're going to die" and we couldn't even pedal anymore because the wind was so hard. It was raining on and off too so when the wind caught the rain it would pelt it into our faces and it felt like hail. So we took busses halfway through the day :) haha we just gave up because the weather was just being hilarious. But it was good because we had pizza for dinner and it made everything happy. 

Wednesday and Thursday were also crazy weather days, but Tuesday was just the craziest of them all :) And then this weekend it was the best weather ever so we just are laughing every day :) You never know what to wear! haha But it's definitely getting warmer, so that's good.

Thursday, we met with the guy that was upset with us that we wrote a card for and brought cookies to say sorry. It was the most ridiculous appointment I've ever been to. First of all because the night before we found this dress in our attic that is so ugly that I just can't help but love it and so I was wearing the dress that makes me feel a little crazy, and then Second of all because he asked me what my star sign is and told me all of these things about myself (that I like flowers--true--and camping--also true--and animals--kindoftrue) and it was just ridiculous. He was a bit dramatic about how much the card meant to him and his mom. At one point he said, "Toen ik die briefje las, zei ik tegen mijn moeder, als ik zo'n vrouw kon vinden zou ik haar morgen trouwen! Iemand die vecht voor een relatie is moeilijk te vinden" (basically, "When I read this letter, I said to my mother, If I could find such a woman I would marry her tomorrow! A person who fights for a relationship is hard to find in these days!") We just died it was so funny and dramatic.

He normally gives us vla or something to take home when we leave, but since things were a little awkward (with the missing the appointment) we weren't expecting anything this time around. He went into the kitchen for a second and came out with this bag that had juice, marsepein brood, (bread with raisins in it and then in the middle a thing of marzipan that you're supposed to spread over the rest of the bread when you eat it.), these little round lemony easter cakejes, and butter SHAPED IN THE FORM OF A BUNNY. It was so cool. And also tasty. 
Funny times
We had two investigators at instituut and it was soooooo good!

General Conference was inspired and so many answers and so funny and just awesome and I can't wait to watch the last session. It's just the best. Every time. We had an investigator come to the session on Saturday and one came on Sunday for both sessions! She's soo wonderful we're just loving her to death [or life]. 

Tomorrow we're going to THE TEMPLE AND I AM SO SOSOOO BEYOND EXCITED. I can't even begin to explain how much I have missed going to the temple. It is such a blessed place :)
We're also going to the keukenhof and it's going to be gorgeous :) Get ready for some FLOWER PICTURES

I love you all so much:) Hope you enjoyed conference in your respective lands and that it was just as good for all of you as it was for us :)

Liefs, :)
Zuster Watts