Belgium Netherlands Mission

haha So people, we found out some exciting news.... we're being BLUE-WASHED. That means we're both leaving and they're putting elders back in Arnhem. Zr Maughan is going to my baby city Amsterdam with my favorite companion Zuster Hopkin, and they'll be a trio with Zr Harris! It's funny because this same time last year I was in a trio in Amsterdam. Sooooo beyond excited for her. And I'm being sent to Lelystad with Zr Jones, and I've been released from sister training leader. It's been fun and I've learned so much, but it'll be good to have a normal schedule again :) 

It's all very exciting and strange, and we're having fun packing. That's why I'm emailing today real quick. Because we literally ran out of time yesterday. So we came early to the church before district meeting, which starts in ten minutes.

But anywho, this past week was fabulous. We had a Zone Training in Eindhoven and it went really well. We had so much fun and learned a lot for sure, and then I went on exchanges with Zr Bush for the 3rd time (she's going to be STL in Eindhoven zone now! so excited for her!) The sisters in Breda got transfered to Roosendaal, so she and her companion, zr Twiggs are pink washing, and they're the perfect sisters for it. Zr Bush is incredible, and I love her so much! They're both such hard workers. :)

Saturday was a sisters conference so I got to see all of my past companions and friends and it was just so wonderful and opbouwend. I love the sisters in our mission. They're all so strong and powerful. We had such a good time together.

I've learned so much here in Arnhem. I think this past transfer with Zr Maughan really really taught me how the spirit talks to me. That's been so cool to discover, and it's really just been in the past 3 weeks that that's happened. I'm super bummed that we don't get more time together, because this district and area are so wonderful, and Zr Maughan was a dream to work with, but we'll be in the same zone, so that's a good thing. She taught me a lot about confidence and being positive about things and I just love her with all my heart.

The people here in Arnhem are so special and I hope that the elders will love them as much as I love them.

We had a mini miracle yesterday, we ran to buy tape and glue and were only at the store for 5 minutes, but we ran into Mehmet! It was so good to be able to say goodbye in person and break the news of elders coming. God is taking care of that man, for sure! What makes it even better is that after we had purchased the tape and glue, we were walking past another store, and I suddenly wanted to buy these delft blauw magnets that are only 1 euro, and if we hadn't done that, we wouldn't have walked by that spot and seen Mehmet at that moment. Cool how that works.

Also cool that God is sending two of my favorite people to take care of my favorite people in Amsterdam! So sosooo good. I am just very happy. Even though it's ENORMOUSLY sad to leave Arnhem, He's sending us away with some comfort and hope for the future. :)

Love you guys so much!
​Zr Watts

This was just another really good week. It's so packed full that I can't possibly tell you everything, but I'll do my best.

We're working right now with an awesome investigator, and he is just doing really well. We just had a lesson with him a few hours ago about the plan of salvation and he just gets it! He's so awesome and it's such a joy to be able to teach him. He was going to come to church on Sunday, but when he didn't come we were really sad. We called him last night to see what had happened and he said that he had gotten called in to work, but he thought we had an evening service (we had a fireside a week ago, so he was confused) and had showed up to the church at 6 thinking he'd still be fine. We felt so bad! But baby steps, right? First he gets to the building and next week he'll know right where it is.

Zr Maughan is such a great companion and we're learning a lot from each other. We both love to sing, so yesterday we sang again in church. The members have started asking us to sing a hymn with them as part of their talks :) It's so funny. We're also singing at zone training tomorrow (Ye Elders of Israel) and we're just so excited. Our voices pass really well by each other, and it's just so fun to sing with her. Music is truly a way to open people's hearts to feel the spirit.

Talking about that, Saturday was the Singing Elder's concert and we saw some really cool things because of it. We had a special training before on how to ask effectively for referrals from the people attending, and afterward we all met and talked about some cool miracles that we'd seen from the night. First of all, the spirit was so strong throughout the program, and at one point they invited a young girl to sing "A child's prayer" with them, and her child's voice combined with theirs was just sooo SO powerful! Tears were definitely shed.

There is a less active man here in Arnhem who we visited with the elders a few weeks ago when they came to work with us, and he promised he would come. He is a super funny guy so it was really cool when he told us that he was really touched by the program. He even told us that he thought of his brother, and that he wanted us to visit him. One of the singing elders, Elder Conatti, said, "well, you've got two sisters in Arnhem who love to sing, so use that!" haha he totally threw us under the bus! just kidding, we're glad to do it, but it was just so cool! We're excited for that for sure.

Went to Germany again this week! haha we have members in our ward that live just over the border, and they invited us over for dinner. I was on exchanges with Zr Fredrickson (from Kaysville, she knew Alex!) They have 4 sons and it was super cool to meet them all and we had a great discussion about goals and doing good. They're a really sweet family. The wife took us to a grocery store really quickly afterwards because everything is cheaper in Germany, and we found these GIANT kinder surprise eggs! It was so cool! :)

We've got our mission-wide Sister's conference coming up on Saturday, and I can hardly contain how excited I am for it! It's going to be so good. 

I've been studying a lot in the past weeks about using the scriptures for my presentation tomorrow, and one thing that I loved from PMG was the section about marking our scriptures. I had to laugh at the section that said something along the lines of "be careful about over-marking, because then the benefit is lost if you can't understand your markings since you've made too many notes., lines and colors" because my scriptures I got when I was 8 are just sooo overmarked! But I've really seen on my mission the power of the scriptures. They are so essential to what we learn and understand about the gospel. I was reminded of the time Zr Ramirez said "when we first met Heavenly Father, it was through the scriptures." If we want to get to know him better, then, we need to turn repeatedly back to the scriptures!

I love you guys so much and hope you know it!
Zr Watts

Cool things:
-Ether 2:16 "And the Lord said: Go to work"

-The sisters in Tilburg are opening the city this transfer, and we went on splits with them this week. They are so awesome! Zr Maughan and I went contacting while they had their first lesson together and we got let in at one of the first doors and taught a solid restoration lesson with a baptismal invitation. This girl, was super cool and we just had such an amazing lesson together. When we told her that we weren't actually the normal sisters serving in Tilburg, we are in Arnhem, we came to find out that she got accepted to school in Arnhem and will be moving here soon! So crazy. God regelt alles.

-An investigator of ours is awesome. We had a great lesson with him and Zr Sifontes was an incredible joint teach. It's a bit of a jammer because he's going on vacation for almost the whole month of September, but he's taking the Book of Mormon with him! He is friends with the cousin of a member in our ward too. Small world.

-We were able to find the apartment of this less active/recently baptized guy that lives way out in a Dorpje without maps. God regelt alles. Also on the bus ride to and from his house we had some great conversations with these two guys that basically contacted us. Both from India. Separate conversations. Super cool.

-We were working, and our plans ended up being 100% different, because the lady we were going to go see wasn't home. While we were waiting for the bus, I had a feeling that we needed to go visit a less active. When we got there, it turned out that it was her birthday! I happened to have my hymnbook with me, and we sang her a hymn. It was super cool. God regelt alles.

-Also, that same day, we had picked an area during our weekly planning last week to go knocking, and after doing a street, and feeling pretty rained on and dejected, we took a swing break (swings seem to appear right when I need them) and as we were swinging, we both felt like we should go to the park. As we entered the park, I jokingly said, "we'll contact our first person around this corner" or something like that, and an older gentleman walked around the corner! Zr Maughan contacted him and we had a cool conversation. He knew a lot already about "the mormons" and Joseph Smith, and we ended up singing "I Stand All Amazed" ('k sta spraakloos) for him. He accepted a Book of Mormon. God regelt alles.

-Stake Conference this weekend and guess who was there?!!?!?! Koen and Marjan! Marjan gave an amazing talk (SHE GAVE A TALK!) my life is just really great right now. :D God. Regelt. Alles. They are both two of the most amazing converts I've met. They're awesome.

Sorry that was long, but I just really love sharing what I learned and saw. :) Zr Maughan is a great companion and I'm just loving her so much and learning a lot from her. We're so lucky to be able to be teaching very unified and it's just really energizing right now. I love it!

I love you all! Don't forget that God truly is in the details of our lives. He is aware of you and your situation. And He's busy right now to help you.
"When you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, sleep in peace. God is awake"-Victor Hugo

veeeeeel liefs
Zr Watts