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Oma Watts and Oma Jones

11/9/2015

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here is a terrible picture of us being omas
Pictureand one of how mist-y it was this week :)
Yet another transfer come and gone, and Zr Jones and I are staying here in Lelystad! It's really exciting, and I am so glad that we're staying together here.

We had a great week, and I am just so grateful for Lelystad. Last P-day we went to Amsterdam eventjes in the evening after Enkhuizen and it was so fun! We got Falafel and walked around. I love going back to Amsterdam :) Zr Hopkin is staying with Zr Ramirez in Amsterdam and is going to be our STL so I'm going to get to go on exchanges there!!!! Ah I'm so excited. Also exchanges with two of my old companions. :D Sorry. I'm just really excited.

It was super misty this past week. The fall is really here and it's been so cool to see. It's my favorite season for sure. The leaves and the colors and the cozy feeling. It's just lovely.

We had a lesson with our investigator and she is just making so much progress. We had to move her baptismal date so we've all been praying this week and we'll pick the new one. It was cute, after the lesson we walked with her to pick up her kids from school and scheduled the next appointment, etc. When we got to the school, her daughter asked "Mom, when can we go to the church?" It was so cool :) We're hoping they will come soon. She is an incredible person and we love her so much!

That night we had an awesome dinner appointment with some members. Their son is on a mission in Nebraska and the mom is just so cute and misses her son so badly. They are both just the most Christlike people, and I was just really struck with how grateful I am for the examples of the members here. Lelystad is amazing.

At district meeting last week, we talked about goals and looking forward, always making progress. I really like this quote from Anthony D. Perkins: "You will experience greater progress in life when you wholly commit to your decisions and strive to excel in your current circumstances even while you have an eye open to the future." I think being on a mission has just really opened my eyes and helped me see how much the gospel helps us live our lives on purpose. To truly live aware of all our actions and why we are doing the things we do. I'm really grateful for those lessons I'm learning here.

We have a new investigator this week. She is an artist and is just a lovely deep thinker. She came to the branch activity on Friday and was just talking to all the members on her own. It was incredible. She's so cool :)

The Friday activity was so fun. We did a halloween themed activity. At 5 it was the primary activity, and then at 7 the branch activity. Zr Jones and I dressed up as Omas (grandmas). We put flour in our hair, wore button up shirts and put a piece of paper over "zuster" on our nametags that said "oma" it was so funny and a member let me use his cane. I really got into it and at one point one of the cute little girls in our ward was saying to me "geef het op! Ik weet dat je gewoon een zuster ben!" haha (give it up! I know that you're just a Sister!)  It was funny. :)

We went to our cute South African friend again this week, and watched President Uchtdorf's talk from women's conference with her and her mother. It was the cutest talk ever! I've been thinking about that topic a lot this past week, and it was just a lovely talk. I really like when he said "Now is part of Eternity. Forever is composed of nows. I don't want my life to be composed of sad nows." (paraphrasing) But it really touched me. I think that was kind of a theme this past general conference: that happiness and joy are for this life also, not just the next life. It was so good. I'm going to definitely listen to/read it again and again. I also loved it because it reminded me of storytelling :) Love you mom :)

I hope you guys remember to choose to be happy this week. When you find yourself becoming upset, think of a hymn or your scripture you're ponderizing for the week ;)

Loves
Oma Watts

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hey november, I'm pretty sure you're early

11/2/2015

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Halloween is already come and gone! Crazy. We switched our name tags for our costumes ;) It was entertaining and our investigators loved it haha

We had some super cool wonders this week, 

First of all, we delivered cupcakes to the Relief Society sisters for pday last week with our RS president, and it was so fun :) She is the daughter of the Relief Society president in Amsterdam, so it's been fun to know them both. They have the same laugh and it's adorable. :) She's a really cool member and is just so motivated! She's a big example to me of magnifying callings.

We had interviews this week, and I just love President and Sister Bunnell! They are always so good and helpful and inspiring. It's just so cool to see how God's hand really is in the work and I know it's not just coincidence that they're our mission president and mission mom right now. They're wonderful. :)

We had burritos for district lunch :) thanks mom for the wonderful package! There was so much that we just had to share. The elders had fun with the hot sauce and seeing how much they could eat.

Thursday was exchanges, and I was with our stl Zr Hanny. She's super cool and is studying Graphic Design, so basically after that I'm probably going to study Graphic Design. It was so fun. We had a really good day just full of good lessons and wonders and it was so cool. We were at a member’s house that we visit, and I met Karin's brother! (she stayed with our neighbors as a foreign exchange student back in High School. I've met up with her once since coming here) It was so funny. He and I were both just really shocked and are-you-for-reals?ing 
(I've gotten really bad at describing things if you couldn't tell. My English setting is broken)
Anyway, that was cool.
There was also this little boy this week that asked us "zijn jullie engels?" (are you english?) and then started asking us where we needed to go and offering us help with directions. He was so funny :) It's just cute, because Dutch people are really helpful with directions so it was cool to see a little kid that had already learned that!

On Friday it was this stake youth activity, and we were asked to help with the griezelkamer (spook alley), so I was dressed up as a ghoul and made kids stick their hands in gross things all night, and zr Jones was a witch who "sneezed" on people all night. We were so tired afterwards! 

There's so much I want to tell you guys, but time is a thing... mostly just I love you! I hope you're doing well and that you have a good week.
(how is it November already?!)

Veeeeeeel liefs,

Zr Watts
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Alles voor de veiligheid, he?

10/26/2015

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Hallo hallo 


Another great week here in Nederland that went impossibly fast. 
Last week's District meeting was absolutely incredible, and I think was one of the most impactful meetings I've attended. It was really incredible because it was one of those meetings where you feel like your eyes are being opened and Heavenly Father is lovingly, but firmly showing you ways that we need to improve and change. It was cool because I had read a verse this week in Hebrews 12:5-6 "...despise not thou the chastening of the Lord... for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth..." (The surrounding verses are awesome as well) But I've just realized more than ever this week that the correction that God gives us are actually so lovingly given and we just need to receive it well. 

I've been thinking a lot about the conference talks on "what lack I yet" and ponderizing. I re-read my notes from conference and was writing down my goals from conference, and I kindof had this epiphany moment of how those two talks work together and would help me to achieve my goals that I've made from conference. As we ask God what we lack, He will tell us. As we select scriptures to ponderize, we can pick ones that help us with those attributes we're trying to better during the week, and because you have a verse that is constantly tumbling through your head, it acts as a reminder that helps you accomplish your goal. I'm really excited about this. I am so grateful for General Conference and for all of the inspiration we can get from it. It's soooo cool!
Apparently there's a ponderizing app, that looks pretty cool. A YSA was showing us on Sunday. People are funny :)

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I'm short on time, but I just want everyone to watch the new Mormon Message, Reflections, it is amazing.

We had an incredible super member present this past week, (where investigators come over to a member's house for dinner and a lesson, super cool) We have some investigators that are so close to baptism. Our branch president invited them over this week and we had an amazing lesson and it was just so cool. They're making great progress. I'm just so grateful to the wonderful members here in Lelystad that are so supportive of missionary work in word AND in deed. They really do a lot for us!.

As we were biking along this week with our helmets, there was a little kid that said, "alles voor de veiligheid, he? (everything for safety, huh?) as he biked past us and it was so funny. :) Dutch people are funny about our helmets. We love it :)

It was cool this week, we had lessons with two separate investigators with goals to be baptized soon. They both have problems with smoking, and we've only taught the first 2 lessons so far (herstelling and heilsplan) but they both asked us what we thought of smoking and drinking, and expressed their desire to stop smoking! It was a blessing to be able to address those things. So cool to see the gospel working in them.

We were one of the first people who got to church yesterday morning, and as we opened the door, we saw glass all over the floor and a big rock. Someone had thrown a big stone through the kitchen window! It was so sad. But luckily there wasn't any damage done to the chapel and there was a side door, so we all went in the side door and started sacrament meeting while some of the Brothers called the police and got things cleaned up. By the end of Sacrament meeting the glass was all cleaned up and we were able to have our normal meetings! It was also a blessing that the weather was nice yesterday, because then it wasn't so bad that the window was open and broken. Blessings :)

I'm out of time, but I love you guys so much! Hope you have a good week!

liefs,
zr wattsAlles voor de veiligheid, he?

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HOLINESS TO THE LORD

10/19/2015

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This week was just incredibly full of amazing revelation and wonderfulness. :)

We went to the temple on Tuesday and that was just amazing. I can't believe that was my last temple conference of my mission :( The temple in Dutch is just so amazing and I love the insights I get. Dutch is just such a cool language. In the celestial room, I was sitting and praying and pondering about a LOT of things, and after a little bit I grabbed the Bijbel and read Proverbs chapter 3. (my plaque scripture is Prov. 3 5-6)  I don't think I've read the whole chapter in a while, so that was really cool to do. It was just choc full of revelation that seemed just tailor-made for me. I liked it a lot :)
The peace and love that I feel in the Temple is unlike any other place on earth. It's indescribable, and so wonderful. I want to go all the time when I get home! 
And of course the conference was awesome. We had some great presentations about reaching our potentials and stepping out of our comfort zones. I love our inspired leaders! So good.

It's cool also to see how random people can be the answer to our prayers in totally unexpected ways. On Friday, we had an appointment with this less active man in the library. It was a really difficult appointment, and to be discrete I won't share all the details, but a lot of hurtful things were said, and we were doing our best to keep the spirit there with us. It was the most sincerely (desperately?) I think I've ever prayed in my mind for guidance of what to say and asked for the words we needed. We did our best to help him see the positive side of things, and after the appointment I just felt really crummy. I definitely cried a little.
But the great miracle-part about this whole thing is that right after the terrible appointment, we had another appointment with a different less-active man, and we had the most uplifting discussion and a lot of the things he said put my heart to rest. It was funny because I wanted to cry again, but this time out of gratitude and joy at the mysterious ways that Heavenly Father works. I just know that Heavenly Father is there. It's so cool too, because even in the midst of insult and hurt during the first appt, I could feel love for that man, and see his potential. I think this is just a rough patch that he really can come out of, and I truly believe that Heavenly Father was helping us and putting his love in our hearts so we could see that man the way He sees him.

I just want to also share a few quotes from my planner (someone made me a nice planner with cool quotes on every page) because they've been amazing this week:

Monday: "If you are helpless, he is not. If you are lost, he is not. If you don't know what to do next, he knows. It would take a miracle, you say? Well if it takes a miracle, why not?" -Boyd K. Packer

Tuesday: "God cares about you. He will listen, and He will answer your personal questions. -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Wednesday: "Every attempt to reflect upon the Atonement, to study it, to embrace it, to express appreciation for it, however small of feeble it may be, will kindle the fires of faith and work its miracle towards a more Christ-like life."- Tad R. Callister

Thursday:  "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith" :)

Friday: "Believe in miracles. I have seen so many." Jeffrey R. Holland

Saturday: "You may sometimes be tempted to say, 'will my influence make any difference? I am just one. Will my service affect the world that dramatically?' I testify to you that it will. You will never be able to measure your influence for good." Thomas S. Monson

Sunday: "Dedicated missionary service returns a dividend of eternal joy which extends throughout mortality and into eternity." Thomas S. Monson

today: "If someone only changes his behavior while a missionary, then, when he goes home, he will be the very same person he was when he left, subject to the same problems that plagued him before. But if someone changes his nature, he will go home a new (wo)man, with the power and discipline to conquer his old Goliaths." Tad R. Callister

Anyway, just wanted to share those. I love you guys so much. Missions are a refiners fire, but they're also FULL of joy and love.

I woke up yesterday with a cold, and at church I ran out of my kleenexes just in 1st hour, but this super cute member gave me some hello kitty scented kleenexes and it was magical. I love her :) People are so goooood!

you lost the game

proverbs 3: 25-26 "for the lord shall be thy confidence"

Have a good week!!!!
Zr Watts

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"Ik Ben Geen Bad People"

10/12/2015

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Zuster Watts & Zuster Jones
PictureMy family just happened to ask me about huge spiders in Nederland so I sent them this one.
​The rest of General Conference was just incredible! Every year they seem to just give the most amazing thoughts and I am reminded again and again of how grateful I am for the gospel. I loveeed the "ponderize" talk :) I wondered how they would translate that into Dutch. That seems like it would be hard. But really, the idea of "ponderizing" was a really good thing. This week we're going to ponderize Moroni 10:3-5 as a mission. :)The talk by Elder Holland made me think of all the mother-figures that have just blessed my life, and I had to think of my mom and grandmothers, and even some of my companions! You are all such a powerful testimony to me of the love of God. I loved what he said, "Have faith. You're doing it better than you think." :) You are all amazing.
You too Marley! :) You'll be a great mother someday. 

So much happened this week, I'm not sure where to start...
There was this former investigator that we looked up, and she let us in. We had a really cool first lesson with her. She's from Iraq, and is Christian, came here to escape persecution. She loves the Bible and had a beautiful copy in Arabic. (That language looks like magic) She told us about her difficult life experiences, and that every time she thought she couldn't go on, she would get a dream that she was sitting next to Jesus and that he would be telling her, "Don't be afraid"
The spirit was so strong! She is really incredible. We are excited to meet with her again this week.

Another incredible thing about conference was that we were able to use the thought from Elder Christofferson's talk in two lessons the same day we heard his talk. It was incredible, and just totally resolves one of the biggest excuses/concerns I've come across on my mission. It was amazing. I love the modern day prophets. They are seriously inspired.

Funny quote from a less-active Surinamer man we meet with: "Ik ben geen bad people" (the nederengels is strong with this one.) I love when dutch people throw in random english words in their sentences.

We had an awesome lesson with this investigator family, about tithing and fasting and offerings. To illustrate--and to try to get him to participate in the lesson more--we gave the husband a bag of 10 pieces of candy. Then Zr Jones asked him to give one piece back, & he said "yes of course!" Then he taught himself about fast offerings by throwing a piece to me and his wife because we didn't have any. It was like, "ok, the lesson's done everyone!" haha So Awesome. :)

We went out to Enkhuizen, (it's across the dike) for some lessons with our investigators over there. There's this family we are teaching out there, the husband is from England, and the wife from here, and they are just super cool. She loves Halloween, so the house was decked out with decorations. I told her about Mom's ghost tours and she thought that was super cool! They are so awesome.

There's another investigator, who is from Somalia, and he's on date to be baptized in November, but he had to cancel our appointment this week. We were a little bummed, but then on the phone he told us "I know this is true and I am so grateful for this book. I think you sisters are angels God sent to me to tell me the truth." Let's just say that we were smiling after that :)

MOM. I met some real-live South African ladies this week! They were so pleasant and lovely. I liked their accent a lot. :) There's a lady in our ward, who's from South Africa, and this week Zr Jones felt prompted to bring cookies over to her and just share a quick scripture. When we got there, her mom and her sister were there, so we just had a cozy little cup of tea and cake with them. The mom & sister aren't members, but they were all excited to hear that you had served your mission there. The sister lives in Port Elizabeth currently, but the mom and member live here in Lelystad. It was such a blessing. I love South Africans! (also, zr Jones' little brother is going on his mission to South Africa, leaving in December. I will ask which mission)

There's nobody in our branch who plays piano, so everyone was SUPER excited to find out that I can. :) It was funny how excited the Relief Society was when I told them. This ward is awesome, and I'm just loving them so much already.

Temple conference is this week, and I'm just SO beyond excited. To prepare, president asked us to read this article in the Liahona from Sept 2015, called "The temple and the Natural Order of Marriage" IT WAS SO GOOD. Please read it. It will prepare you for the temple, whether you've never been, or have been going for several years now. It was amazing. 

I love you guys so much!

Have a great week!
Zr Watts

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UNDER THE SEA

10/5/2015

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PictureI get to serve with Zuster Jones
Hey hey hey so I'm here in Lelystad now, and I can't believe how much has happened in just one week. Monday and Tuesday were just full of packing and cleaning and writing up a White-wash report for the elders, so we were busy. We had a really great dinner appointment with Shelly and Jona, two members in our ward, and Tuesday we went over to the Jones family's house for dinner and were surprised that they'd invited some other members over as well! They are so sweet and it was so good to get to say goodbye to them. They gave us each a cute gift bag with a MASSIVE bar of milka chocolate and some cute lotions and face masks etc. They're amazing over in Arnhem. I love them.

Wednesday, transfer day, actually went pretty smoothly, considering we had 6 suitcases and 2 bikes to get to Utrecht, then Leiden, and then to Amsterdam and Lelystad respectively. Broeder Van Drogen, our favorite old dutch member man, drove with our suitcases to station and waited with us on the spoor until we got everything loaded on. Then there were missionaries waiting for us at Utrecht to help with all the stuff. Zr Maughan and I sang on the train ride for the last time together. I miss her beautiful voice so much already! So Bittersweet. Also, an investigator called us back while we were on the train! We'd left a message before, but it was good to get the actual goodbye in and officially invite her to accept contact from the elders. God is good.

The rest of transfer day was fun. There is a jovo member here in Lelystad, Christiaan, that was randomly at Utrecht station so he rode with us the rest of the way back it was so funny and random. I got to see Zr Kimmons, Karlson, Hopkin, Ramirez, so basically all my former companions! It was awesome :) 

I was thinking about it the past couple days, and those 6 transfers that Arnhem was open for sisters were just a wonder. I am So grateful I got to serve there for the 3 transfers I got, and I know it was no accident. I learned a lot there. I will definitely miss those people!

But the people here in Lelystad are also super cool. This place is just booming as far as missionary work goes. Zr Jones is one of the most bubbly, happy people I've ever met in my life, so it's been real fun so far.

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We ran into this random guy who's apparently a less active--he recognized us because of our helmets--and had a good conversation with him. He wasn't interested in meeting, but it was cool to have contact and just know that Heavenly Father is looking out for him and giving him chances. :) We'll probably see him again. Lelystad is the smallest city I've served in.

Fun fact: This area of the Netherlands was pumped out of the ocean in the 70s or something, so it's pretty new and modern. We're below sea level, and there are dikes that Zr Jones said take 2 hours to bike across. :)

We watched a session of conference with these investigators. They made us a super dutch lunch (broodjes) and after conference was over, she said "Everyone needs to hear this!" She loved conference. There were a few times where the speaker would say something, and she'd say "daar heeft 'ie gelijk in" (he's right about that!) and just agree with him, it was so funny and adorable and awesome. She also gave us some cute spoons afterward. Now I know why the sisters have just been calling her Oma. She's so adorable!

I really loved how they focused on the Sabbath day, following the Holy Ghost, where we can gain a testimony, and just being different from the world! It was absolutely 100% what I needed! I'm excited to re read Elder Hales'talk. So applicable for us now. My mission has definitely been preparing me for my future family, that is something I'm seeing more and more, and I loved Elder Nelson's talk, when he said, "raise a SIN-RESISTING generation" :) That was so powerful. I loved that. Also the encouragement to testify with Clarity and to have Courage to speak the truth from Elder Schwitser was awesome. 

I can't wait to watch the Sunday afternoon session and priesthood session and sister's conference session! I'm sure they were awesome as well. :)
I love you guys! 

veeeeel liefs
Zr Watts

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THEY'RE KICKING US OUT

9/29/2015

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Zr Watts & Zr Maughan
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
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Music makes my soul happy

9/21/2015

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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

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God Regelt Alles

9/7/2015

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PictureZr Maughan put on this pink headband she found on the side of the road haha
This week was just full of instances where we really saw God being really good at arranging things and making things work out. It was a fun week :)

Funny things:
-I went outside with cloth shoes on a really rainy night. The minute we walked outside I realized, and it was hilarious.-You know in movies where it suddenly starts raining really hard out of nowhere and you can't help but snicker to yourself that that would never happen in real life? Maybe once every day the rain would just come hard like that and we just laughed. (Tip: Nederlanders love to talk about the weather, it's a good way to start a conversation haha)

-What man in the bible had no parents? Joshua the son of nun. hahahaha

- if you speak Dutch this is hilarious: "Wat is de verleden tijd van komkomer?.... kwamkwamer!" hahahaha (zr maughan told me this one night as we were going to bed and I just died.)

Picturethe bench we sat on with our old friend while we sang him a hymn. *that garbage can said "een schoon park is een lekker park" (approximately: a clean park is a delicious park)
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

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"Crazy Rich Asians"

8/31/2015

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This week was just so packed full of stuff so I'll try my best.

1. We went to this family in our ward on Monday to do fhe and they made this delicious 3 course meal for us! The salad was my favorite: arugula with fresh mint, citrus dressing, feta cheese, nectarines, and a salty meat. It was DELICIOUS. The mother and father in this family were super stars!

2. On the train ride to sleep over in Den Haag (at zr Hopkin's place! :D) the night before zone conference, zr Maughan wrote "Dinsday" in her journal because I was teasing and distracting her. It was really funny. :)

3. On the train ride back from zone conference, we were sitting across from a girl who was Asian, reading a book called "Crazy Rich Asians". We died secretly of laughter. It was awesome. 

4. Zone Conference was INCREDIBLE. Elder Dyches was visiting our mission and he was just really inspiring. His wife was in the hospital, but he still came and taught us! The stake president to stake Rotterdam spoke to us, and he said something that really touched my heart: "God sent us down here knowing we'd get hurt, but He also sent His Son to make sure that nothing could go wrong. Do your best and God will do the rest." I love that, because I can apply it to my mission, as well as to just life in general. 
We talked also about becoming "Master Teachers" and it was just full of inspiring advice. So cool.

5. After getting home from zone conference, we had dinner and then about an hour to do some work, so we went just spontaneously by an investigator, because we hadn't heard from her in a couple weeks. It was really cool because she told us she had needed us right at that moment, and we had a cool talk about the plan of salvation. She's doing well. I love those random little "coincidences" (toeval bestaat niet)

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6. Another investigator is going on vacation for the whole month of September... so that's just really sad.:( But we sent him with a job: to pray daily for ways he can do service for others, and write down his experiences, so when he gets back we can all share our experiences. We're going to be doing it too. Hopefully that will help him stay focused while he's gone. He's so good. 

7. MLC was amazing as well. Elder Dyches is a very smart man. He showed us a video clip from a movie where it's this high school football team, and there's a kid on the team who at a practice says that they've got no chance to beat the other team that weekend. The coach calls him up and asks him to do the death crawl to the 50 yard line, with a 160 lb kid on his back. Also, he has to do it blindfolded. Just before this scene, the team was doing it to the 10 yard line, so this seems impossible to him. But he promises the coach he'll do his best and give his all.
As he's crawling, the coach is cheering him on and telling him he can do it. "Keep going brock, you promised me your best!" 

At one point Brock asks, "am I at the 20 yet?" and the coach says " never mind that, you keep going. You give me your best!"
A little while later, Brock yells out in pain that he can't make one more step, but coach keeps cheering him on "only 20 more steps, you keep going! you keep giving me your best!
When he finally is told he can stop, the coach takes of the blindfold, and Brock realizes that he's in the endzone,. and the coach says, "You are the most influential player on this team. If you give up, so will they. I need you to give your best."
 I. had. chills. It was so cool!
Elder Dyches pointed out that when he thought he couldn't move one more step, he was at the 75 yd line.
I loved that story. Sometimes we put ourselves under limits (in our mission we call them "self-limiting beliefs) and we think we can only make it to the "10 yd line", when really, if we do our best we could make it across the whole field. 
Our attitude makes a lot of the difference, but also having people cheering us on. We always have the Holy Ghost to cheer us on.
I feel like I didn't do the story justice, but you should somehow find the movie clip and watch it because it was good. And that means a lot because I really don't like football movies normally haha

8. He also talked to us about positive attitudes, "you're going to find what you look for". love that

9. Friday night we were with the Singing Elders, and we went to visit this member lady, who is a single mother and has lots of health problems. We showed up at her house and she had invited her neighbor, a man from Turkey. It was the coolest evening ever and I totally don't regret getting home late, because he is a GOLDEN investigator! We talked about the restoration and the book of mormon and he was just basically explaining it perfectly back to us after every point of the lesson. I loved it! And then the elders sang "Ik ben een kind van God" (I'm a child of god) and the spirit was so strong. One of ours basically bore his testimony of what he had felt that night and it was just amazing. 
I am especially grateful for that experience because it was a reminder of why I'm here on a mission. We don't get those types of investigators a lot here in Nederland, but when we do find them it is such a tender mercy. (sorry mom, your favorite phrase ;)

10. There were just so many experiences this week of small miracles and ways that God showed us that He was there, like our second bus coming late so we could make it to church on time, otherwise we wouldn't have made the overstop, and help with a musical number that a member gave to us last week, and just too many to list. I know that God is involved in the details of our lives. You'll see it in your life if you keep your eyes open for it :)

I'm too lucky to be here on a mission! I can't believe how wonderful it is. 

Love you guys!
zuster watts

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    AUTHOR

    Belgium Netherlands Mission: Sister Aubrey Watts is serving an LDS mission in the Belgium/Netherlands from  Aug 2014 to Feb 2016.
    This blog includes her weekly letters as well as contact information & pictures!

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