September 28, 2009
We received this short e-mail from Chantelle this morning. Apparently she experienced an e-mail malfunction. I will post her letter as soon as I receive it, which from previous experience could arrive in a few days or a couple of weeks. - GRF
So-- I didn't send my letter and it just exited out-- I'm sorry. I'll send a real letter. The computer's going to turn off in less than 30 seconds. I love you.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Mijn groentje is geweldig!
From e-mail dated September 21, 2009.
Hoi!
So, this week has definitely been an adventure, to say the least. Going from junior companion to senior and trainer in all one jump has been a bit overwhelming, but it's been good. But, before I go into that, I'll start with what happened at the beginning of the week. My bike got stolen. Yup. You heard me right. Stolen. We walked out on Monday to go meet our joint teach and head to our appointments to see that my bike was gone...
But, Heavenly Father works miracles. We called our joint teach, and she came to meet us at our place. She then rode achter op to our appointment and then after our appointment she told us that she has a bike that I could just have. It is an old bike, but at least it is a bike. Then, the next day I was making phone calls, trying to see if I could work anything to get a cheap bike for my greenie, and instead I got two free bikes--one for me and one for my greenie. Yeah, miracles. Heavenly Father knows what he is doing.
Now to let you know about my greenie--I am serving with Zuster Jillian Fritz. She is the one who wrote on my blog a few months ago, and she followed my blog up until she entered the MTC. Random, but super cool. Anyway, she is AMAZING! Her Dutch is wonderful, she is a super hard worker, and she is just an absolutely amazing person. She is definitely overwhelmed right now--but she's adjusting well. She and I get along super... She is a wonderful missionary and we have already seen so many miracles! This transfer is going to bring so many more miracles, I'm so excited for all that's ahead of us!
Marijke is doing wonderfully--the ward has really taken her in, and it's so wonderful to see. She is getting baptized on Saturday, and I'm SO excited for her! She has changed so much since we first met her, and the gospel has just brought so much light to her life. I'm so excited for her to get the gift of the Holy Ghost and to see how that affects her. She is so excited to get baptized, and even more excited to be able to be sealed to her husband in the temple in a year (he passed away a number of years ago). I'm definitely already trying to think about whether or not it would be possible for me to come back for that.
Saturday, Zr. Fritz and I saw an amazing miracle. We have decided that Amsterdam needs more opstraat and less langs de deuren. We felt really good about going to the park to find and as we were walking along, we saw a young woman who had just gotten done jogging. We felt like we needed to talk with her. We talked with her about God’s love and told her about how we could receive more of his love through the Book of Mormon. I shared with her Alma 26:27 and an experience about how it really touched my life. We then asked her if she’d be interested in learning more. She started to cry and said yes—she’d recently begun wondering how she could strengthen her relationship with Christ and she told us we were sent by God to talk with her. We have an appointment with her this week. She was definitely prepared to meet us and I know that Heavenly Father sent us there for her. The spirit in our contact was AMAZING!
I love you all, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that the gospel is true. Tell Chris thanks for his letter...
Well, I've gotta get running, but know that I love you. The gospel is true, and the spirit can change peoples' lives. I've seen it--both in other peoples' lives and in my own. Please keep praying for Marijke and for the rest of the people we teach (some specifics are Ani, Vili, Dadson, and Familie Todorovic--they could really use your prayers right now). I love you!
Zuster Fowler
Hoi!
So, this week has definitely been an adventure, to say the least. Going from junior companion to senior and trainer in all one jump has been a bit overwhelming, but it's been good. But, before I go into that, I'll start with what happened at the beginning of the week. My bike got stolen. Yup. You heard me right. Stolen. We walked out on Monday to go meet our joint teach and head to our appointments to see that my bike was gone...
But, Heavenly Father works miracles. We called our joint teach, and she came to meet us at our place. She then rode achter op to our appointment and then after our appointment she told us that she has a bike that I could just have. It is an old bike, but at least it is a bike. Then, the next day I was making phone calls, trying to see if I could work anything to get a cheap bike for my greenie, and instead I got two free bikes--one for me and one for my greenie. Yeah, miracles. Heavenly Father knows what he is doing.
Now to let you know about my greenie--I am serving with Zuster Jillian Fritz. She is the one who wrote on my blog a few months ago, and she followed my blog up until she entered the MTC. Random, but super cool. Anyway, she is AMAZING! Her Dutch is wonderful, she is a super hard worker, and she is just an absolutely amazing person. She is definitely overwhelmed right now--but she's adjusting well. She and I get along super... She is a wonderful missionary and we have already seen so many miracles! This transfer is going to bring so many more miracles, I'm so excited for all that's ahead of us!
Marijke is doing wonderfully--the ward has really taken her in, and it's so wonderful to see. She is getting baptized on Saturday, and I'm SO excited for her! She has changed so much since we first met her, and the gospel has just brought so much light to her life. I'm so excited for her to get the gift of the Holy Ghost and to see how that affects her. She is so excited to get baptized, and even more excited to be able to be sealed to her husband in the temple in a year (he passed away a number of years ago). I'm definitely already trying to think about whether or not it would be possible for me to come back for that.
Saturday, Zr. Fritz and I saw an amazing miracle. We have decided that Amsterdam needs more opstraat and less langs de deuren. We felt really good about going to the park to find and as we were walking along, we saw a young woman who had just gotten done jogging. We felt like we needed to talk with her. We talked with her about God’s love and told her about how we could receive more of his love through the Book of Mormon. I shared with her Alma 26:27 and an experience about how it really touched my life. We then asked her if she’d be interested in learning more. She started to cry and said yes—she’d recently begun wondering how she could strengthen her relationship with Christ and she told us we were sent by God to talk with her. We have an appointment with her this week. She was definitely prepared to meet us and I know that Heavenly Father sent us there for her. The spirit in our contact was AMAZING!
I love you all, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that the gospel is true. Tell Chris thanks for his letter...
Well, I've gotta get running, but know that I love you. The gospel is true, and the spirit can change peoples' lives. I've seen it--both in other peoples' lives and in my own. Please keep praying for Marijke and for the rest of the people we teach (some specifics are Ani, Vili, Dadson, and Familie Todorovic--they could really use your prayers right now). I love you!
Zuster Fowler
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Well... transfers definitely brought a surprise...
From e-mail dated September 14, 2009.
Hoi!
So, I guess I'll start off with the big news about transfers. Definitely surprising--and overwhelming--and great--and well-- everything-- I have A LOT of mixed feelings. I'm training. Yup. You heard right. Training. So, I don't know who my companion will be quite yet because there are two sisters coming in and President will interview them when they come in and then decide who goes where. So, it will definitely be an adventure. Pray a lot for us both--and if anyone was ever a trainer and has any training tips, they would be appreciated.
So, I'll be staying in Amsterdam with a groentje (greenie) and Zr. Miller is going to Dordrecht to work with Zr. Driggs. I'm excited to see what the faith and ideas of a greenie can bring to Amsterdam. It will be amazing!...
Brussels was definitely an adventure. We had had Zone Conference with Elder Kopishke (the Area President) on Friday in Den Haag, and it was AMAZING!!! His knowledge of the scriptures and ability to listen to and follow the spirit was eye opening for me. I learned so much from his example and received so many answers to prayer and so many ideas about how I can help the people we are teaching and the work in Amsterdam move forward. Then, because Zone Conference ran later than planned, we ended up missing our train to Brussels, so President gave us special permission to ride with the Appeldorn Zone Leaders in their car. That was definitely weird, just being with two Elders in a car-- but we got there safe and it was a good time. So, Saturday Zr. Miller went to Zone Leader Council with Soeur Rideout and Soeur Gagon and I did some work in Brussels. It was fun. I can still understand French, I just can't speak it. We had some amazing experiences talking with people who were so open to hearing about the gospel, and I got some great new ideas from the way that the French sisters do things.
Saturday night we got back in time to make it to a baptism in Amsterdam of one of the Elders' investigators named Roland. The spirit there was AMAZING! That's the strongest I've felt the spirit in a while. He has TOTALLY changed his life around--he used to be on drugs and all sorts of other things, but he learned about the gospel and left it all behind. The atonement works miracles! He told me on Sunday that the feeling he had as he came up out of the water was the best feeling he's ever had in his life and he is so happy that he left everything else behind him.
Marijke is doing well--still on the track to baptism. She is officially stopped with smoking for a week and doing so well! She received a blessing to help her, and the spirit was awesome! I love the power of the priesthood. Every time I am able to see someone's life affected by the priesthood, a feeling overcomes me and I can't deny that the church is true. I love it!...
I've got to get running before the computer shuts off on me--but know that I love you all so much! You are constantly in my prayers. I'm definitely looking forward to spending eternity as a family. I know the gospel is true--I know it with all my heart.
Veel liefs,
Zuster Fowler
Hoi!
So, I guess I'll start off with the big news about transfers. Definitely surprising--and overwhelming--and great--and well-- everything-- I have A LOT of mixed feelings. I'm training. Yup. You heard right. Training. So, I don't know who my companion will be quite yet because there are two sisters coming in and President will interview them when they come in and then decide who goes where. So, it will definitely be an adventure. Pray a lot for us both--and if anyone was ever a trainer and has any training tips, they would be appreciated.
So, I'll be staying in Amsterdam with a groentje (greenie) and Zr. Miller is going to Dordrecht to work with Zr. Driggs. I'm excited to see what the faith and ideas of a greenie can bring to Amsterdam. It will be amazing!...
Brussels was definitely an adventure. We had had Zone Conference with Elder Kopishke (the Area President) on Friday in Den Haag, and it was AMAZING!!! His knowledge of the scriptures and ability to listen to and follow the spirit was eye opening for me. I learned so much from his example and received so many answers to prayer and so many ideas about how I can help the people we are teaching and the work in Amsterdam move forward. Then, because Zone Conference ran later than planned, we ended up missing our train to Brussels, so President gave us special permission to ride with the Appeldorn Zone Leaders in their car. That was definitely weird, just being with two Elders in a car-- but we got there safe and it was a good time. So, Saturday Zr. Miller went to Zone Leader Council with Soeur Rideout and Soeur Gagon and I did some work in Brussels. It was fun. I can still understand French, I just can't speak it. We had some amazing experiences talking with people who were so open to hearing about the gospel, and I got some great new ideas from the way that the French sisters do things.
Saturday night we got back in time to make it to a baptism in Amsterdam of one of the Elders' investigators named Roland. The spirit there was AMAZING! That's the strongest I've felt the spirit in a while. He has TOTALLY changed his life around--he used to be on drugs and all sorts of other things, but he learned about the gospel and left it all behind. The atonement works miracles! He told me on Sunday that the feeling he had as he came up out of the water was the best feeling he's ever had in his life and he is so happy that he left everything else behind him.
Marijke is doing well--still on the track to baptism. She is officially stopped with smoking for a week and doing so well! She received a blessing to help her, and the spirit was awesome! I love the power of the priesthood. Every time I am able to see someone's life affected by the priesthood, a feeling overcomes me and I can't deny that the church is true. I love it!...
I've got to get running before the computer shuts off on me--but know that I love you all so much! You are constantly in my prayers. I'm definitely looking forward to spending eternity as a family. I know the gospel is true--I know it with all my heart.
Veel liefs,
Zuster Fowler
Monday, September 7, 2009
Sorry, een beetje kort...
From e-mail dated September 7, 2009.
So, my email this week will be a little short because we are now sending our President's letters via email and it took some time to figure out how we could get it saved and everything-- and the library only allows you to use internet for half an hour a day (so even though President has extended our email priveleges to 45 minutes so we can email him, it doesn't change anything for those of us who have time restrictions in the place we email).
Something I forgot to mention in my email last week is that Sister Brubaker (the mission president's wife) is doing a mission blog. It is belgiumbrusselsnetherlandsmission.blogspot.com Enjoy :)
Also, Zr. Miller said that if you want to send my birthday package with her mom, her mom will probably be coming back to the Netherlands before my birthday. She's going to email her mom and ask, and then I'll let you know if that's an option. (Her parents live part of the time in the Netherlands and part in Utah).
I also thought of something I would like for my birthday--it is a CD called Worship by the group Octapella. Zr. Miller has it, and I'm going to miss it when we aren't companions anymore.
Speaking of which, transfers are next week. Crazy! We'll see what happens. I feel like I still haven't done what the Lord sent me to do in Amsterdam, so I feel like I'm staying, but we'll see.
This week the Elders in Amsterdam had a baptism. There is a woman from the Philippines who they reactivated, and her kids got baptized on Saturday. It was such a neat experience. It really reminded me of when I was baptized. I still have vivid memories of my baptismal day--being afraid that I'd have to be baptized more than once (like Justin Turner who went before me), the weight of the hands on my head when I was receiving the Holy Ghost, banana splits at the house afterward, etc. It really is such a great experience--and such an important one. The spirit at the baptism really reminded me why we do what we do, and that even the hard times are more than worth it.
We also had exchanges again this week. I worked with Zr. Erickson in Amsterdam and we had a great time. Working with her really helped me in a lot of ways--just being able to talk with her about some of our mutual issues and talking about how to help the work improve in our areas. She's such a wonderful missionary!
Oh, so funny story. On exchanges, Zr. Miller and Zr. Driggs were also working in Amsterdam and they went to look up an old investigator. The investigator (Vili, from Bulgaria) was home and they had a lesson with her and her daughter Ani and her son Yanko (who is actually a member). Well, Ani said that they had some friends from Austria who wanted to talk to us, and we were like, "Sweet! Referral!" Anyway, we went back for our appointment on Friday, and Ani told us that her friends wanted to talk to us--but they were on Skype. We asked how we were going to talk to them since we don't know German, but she said that they speak English. Anyway, we sat down and looked at the video on the computer--and it was Sister Missionaries! They are teaching Vili's sister in Austria. It was really funny, and a good time.
This next week is going to be INSANE! We have Zone Conference on Friday in Den Haag with Elder Kopishke from the Seventy--and we have been told that it is going to last from 10:00 in the morning until 6:00 or 7:00 at night. Then we are headed straight down to Brussels because Zr. Miller has a meeting in Brussels on Saturday, so I'll be going on exchanges with one of the French sisters in Brussels. It'll be a good time.
Well, I've gotta get running. I love you. I know that the church is true. Marijke is doing AWESOME! I love her so much! And seeing how excited she is about the gospel and about her baptism just makes me excited every day. Keep her in your prayers. The power of prayer is amazing--it really is communication between us and our loving Father. I've never prayed so much in my life--and I hope I only keep praying more and more. My testimony of prayer has grown immensely over these last couple of transfers--it definitely gives strength and power.
I love you so much!
Zuster Fowler
So, my email this week will be a little short because we are now sending our President's letters via email and it took some time to figure out how we could get it saved and everything-- and the library only allows you to use internet for half an hour a day (so even though President has extended our email priveleges to 45 minutes so we can email him, it doesn't change anything for those of us who have time restrictions in the place we email).
Something I forgot to mention in my email last week is that Sister Brubaker (the mission president's wife) is doing a mission blog. It is belgiumbrusselsnetherlandsmission.blogspot.com Enjoy :)
Also, Zr. Miller said that if you want to send my birthday package with her mom, her mom will probably be coming back to the Netherlands before my birthday. She's going to email her mom and ask, and then I'll let you know if that's an option. (Her parents live part of the time in the Netherlands and part in Utah).
I also thought of something I would like for my birthday--it is a CD called Worship by the group Octapella. Zr. Miller has it, and I'm going to miss it when we aren't companions anymore.
Speaking of which, transfers are next week. Crazy! We'll see what happens. I feel like I still haven't done what the Lord sent me to do in Amsterdam, so I feel like I'm staying, but we'll see.
This week the Elders in Amsterdam had a baptism. There is a woman from the Philippines who they reactivated, and her kids got baptized on Saturday. It was such a neat experience. It really reminded me of when I was baptized. I still have vivid memories of my baptismal day--being afraid that I'd have to be baptized more than once (like Justin Turner who went before me), the weight of the hands on my head when I was receiving the Holy Ghost, banana splits at the house afterward, etc. It really is such a great experience--and such an important one. The spirit at the baptism really reminded me why we do what we do, and that even the hard times are more than worth it.
We also had exchanges again this week. I worked with Zr. Erickson in Amsterdam and we had a great time. Working with her really helped me in a lot of ways--just being able to talk with her about some of our mutual issues and talking about how to help the work improve in our areas. She's such a wonderful missionary!
Oh, so funny story. On exchanges, Zr. Miller and Zr. Driggs were also working in Amsterdam and they went to look up an old investigator. The investigator (Vili, from Bulgaria) was home and they had a lesson with her and her daughter Ani and her son Yanko (who is actually a member). Well, Ani said that they had some friends from Austria who wanted to talk to us, and we were like, "Sweet! Referral!" Anyway, we went back for our appointment on Friday, and Ani told us that her friends wanted to talk to us--but they were on Skype. We asked how we were going to talk to them since we don't know German, but she said that they speak English. Anyway, we sat down and looked at the video on the computer--and it was Sister Missionaries! They are teaching Vili's sister in Austria. It was really funny, and a good time.
This next week is going to be INSANE! We have Zone Conference on Friday in Den Haag with Elder Kopishke from the Seventy--and we have been told that it is going to last from 10:00 in the morning until 6:00 or 7:00 at night. Then we are headed straight down to Brussels because Zr. Miller has a meeting in Brussels on Saturday, so I'll be going on exchanges with one of the French sisters in Brussels. It'll be a good time.
Well, I've gotta get running. I love you. I know that the church is true. Marijke is doing AWESOME! I love her so much! And seeing how excited she is about the gospel and about her baptism just makes me excited every day. Keep her in your prayers. The power of prayer is amazing--it really is communication between us and our loving Father. I've never prayed so much in my life--and I hope I only keep praying more and more. My testimony of prayer has grown immensely over these last couple of transfers--it definitely gives strength and power.
I love you so much!
Zuster Fowler
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
