This has been the most crazy week so far of my whole mission ever. It went by so fast and I can hardly even believe it!
Last Monday was just super strange, packing and getting the house cleaned and ready for my new companion. We went to a couple markets and got Zr F's family some souvenirs, so that was fun. But it was just super weird.
We met with our friend and taught her het Heilsplan, and it was just a really good evening. She was so cute, and brought out these party hats sinds het was de laatste keer that Zr F would be there. We taught the plan of salvation with party hats on. haha Karlijn is adorable. I love her!
Wednesday was just the weirdest thing. It didn't feel real, but we took Zr F's suitcases to Leiden and met everyone and all of us trainers were just sitting in a room for a couple minutes before they came in and got us. President and Zuster Robinson came in and shook everyone's hands, Zr Robinson hugged us Zrs, and when she got to me, she said something really cryptic like, "Your companion is a real miracle, and we're all going to know in a minute how cool it is that you two are together."
So I was really excited when we finally went into the other conference room and I got to see that my new companion is..... Zuster Karlson!!!! My brother is currently on a mission in Korea, and his current companion is Elder Karlson, the younger brother of my companion. Apparently President and Zr Robinson had no idea or didn't remember that we had brothers on missions, and the transfer
She's 21, from Colorado, and super sweet, so we're having a lot of fun!
The weather has been pretty nice lately, still cold, but clear skies. So that's been a blessing.
We went to our Italian friend's on Thursday, and it was an adventure...
So we didn't have any Italian restoration pamphlets, so I brought the gospel principles book in Italian. We'd hoped that her daughter, who speaks Dutch would be home, but she wasn't, and it turns out that she also speaks Romanian, because her Book of Mormon and her Bible are in Romanian. We just had her read the chapter in Evangelie Beginselen about the restoration in Italian and then I'd try my best to ask her the questions in Italian (just reading from the book) haha it was ridiculous, but it worked! And she said she couldn't come to church (I think) And we're just really hoping that a less active member who speaks Italian and Dutch can come on joint teach tomorrow, because we have an appointment with her on Tuesday. haha It's a really funny situation. But it was good and she gave us oranges and sap and these little jacket things that she put around our shoulders while we were there. She also has a dutch-romanian dictionary, so she's learning dutch! Which is super cool. She's just such a loving lady and I wish I could communicate with her better haha
We had Stake Conference this weekend, and were lucky enough to be here in the Netherlands for when they got a new stake president called. That only happens once every 10 years, so it was a special meeting. It was really good.
Our investigator CAME TO STAKE CONFERENCE! AGH It was the happiest day of my life. I called her on Friday to make an appointment, and she said, "I'm coming to your conference with Liz on Sunday, we'll regel an appointment then, ok?" and I just died of joy. Liz is my new favorite. She's a member that's been driving her to church, and it's just helping so much. We definitely need to make her cookies. :)
Training is hard, man! I'm being stretched and pushed more than I have been so far combined, but it's also just a lot of fun. I'm really excited to see what this transfer will bring. I'm already relying so much more on the Lord and my faith is being stretched and strengthened. "I am Zuster Watts and I can do hard things!" is something that I say to myself often. It helps that I had such a good trainer, and that my baby is really awesome :) The elders are helping a lot as well, and I have so much support, so that's nice. I love being a missionary and it's been so cool the past couple of days to have been able to look back on the growth that I've gone through in 3 months and how much I've learned. I believe in Christ, so why should I fear?
I love you all and hope you have a good week!
Zuster Watts