I will boast of my God!

Well how did I get here? Time is such a funny thing. It really is true that when you are having fun time flies much too fast. This is my last email as Zuster Adams. The last 18 months has changed me and I am so grateful for what the Lord has brought into my life. But before I get all nostalgic...I'll go over this week. 

Funnies: 

1. My companions bought helmets for the half-way point. They took pictures with them! It was awesome. They are so excited :) 

2. While we were knocking doors this week, we saw a spider...it was MASSIVE!! We threw water at it and tried to get rid of it. It is a good thing Sister Hanny was in Antwerpen. She would have freaked out. 

3. Funniest moment of the week...So this guy that served his mission here about 35 years ago was in church with his son that just got off his mission. After sacrament, I went and talked to them for a second. I wanted to find out where the guy had served. Well they asked about me going home and what my plans were. I said that I was going to BYU and his son said he was going there too. Then his dad told his son to get my info so we could go do something when we get to Provo. So the kid added me on Facebook...looks like I have a date when I get to Provo. So weird!! It was pretty funny. Real life has started. 

This week was amazing!! We taught some awesome lessons! We taught a first lesson to a member referral and they came to the baptism. They are excited to take the lessons!! We had really good conversations with people while knocking doors this week. We taught a group lesson about the Holy Ghost. It was probably one of the coolest lessons I have ever taught. We had everyone share a spiritual experience that they have had in the last few weeks. It was amazing!! The spirit was so strong. There were non-members and members there and everyone was uplifted. I love teaching this gospel! The baptism was amazing! Eline looked so happy. She already has a calling in the Young Women's presidency. I am so proud of her and I love her a lot. I am going to stay in touch with all these people. I had a good talk with Nathalie this week. We promised to keep in touch and help each other stay strong in the gospel. It has been really cool to see all these converts making progress! The gospel changes people. My companions and I had a lot of fun this week. I am going to miss them. 

Well I want to take the chance to explain a little bit of what my mission has done for me. When I came out on my misison, I wanted to learn to trust in my Heavenly Father. I can say that I have learned that. It has been an 18 months full of ups and downs. Heavenly Father has pushed me to the edge of my boundaries and past that. He has streched me and refined me. I have truly been clay in the sculpture's hand. It is interesting how you come out on your mission with a fire to change the world. I came out firey and with a faith that I could do anything. I knew that Heavenly Father was hastening his work and that if we had faith in him, anything was possible. Have things gone exactly according to plan, no. But my journey has been so much more fulfilling because I let the Lord guide it. Sometimes, we fight what the Lord wants because we think we know better. Or we want our blessings now. It doesn't work like that. We have to have faith in his timing and his plan. I have learned that every moment and miracle is known by the Lord. He will make his work progress. We have to be willing to act and be patient. I truly feel like the Sons of Mosiah after their mission to the Lamanites. "And now, these are the words of Ammon to his brethren, which say thus: My brothers and my brethren, behold I say unto you, how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we ^astarted from the land of Zarahemla that God would have granted unto us such great blessings? And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell? Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in thedarkest abyss, but behold, how ^amany of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made ^binstruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work.Behold, ^athousands of them do rejoice, and have been brought into the fold of God. Behold, the ^afield was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the ^bsickle, and did reap with your might, yea, all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of your^csheaves! And they shall be gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted." I passed through trials and hardships but the field was ripe and the Lord has given me sheaves upon my back. "But Ammon said unto him: I do not ^aboast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my ^bjoy is full, yea, my heart is brim with ^cjoy, and I will rejoice in my God. Yea, I know that I am ^anothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will ^bnot boast of myself, but I will ^cboastof my God, for in his ^dstrength I can do all ^ethings; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." I do not boast in my own strength but I boast in my God!! It is through Heavenly Father that I have accomplished everything that I have. The Lord truly has blessed me and it is through him that all things are possible. Miracles are possible. If we have faith and believe that God will provided, he will!! I know without a doubt that this gospel is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he truly did see God the Father and Jesus Christ in the grove of trees. Everytime I share that story, the spirit testifies to me so strongly that it is true. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me with a love that is unimaginable and that he loves each of us in that way. I know that the Lord's work is hastening and that we are truly in the last days preparing for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must thrust in the sickle with our might. The Lord will bless us and give us everything we need to accomplish if we keep his commandments and trust in him. I am so grateful that the Lord called me to his work. This last 18 months have been the best months of my life. This is just the beginning of my life in the service of God. I am excited to see what is in store for me. Never forget that the Lord is mindful of you and has an intricate and unique part for you to play. I know that that is true. I will boast in my God because as to my own strength, I know I am weak. 

Thank you to all of you that have supported me and loved me! 

Tot ziens en blijf sterk in de heer! 

Zuster Adams

 
            
                Lokeren during the Lokerse Feest

Sint-Niklaas church building. 

Jo and Linda Buysse! 

Anuschka Buysse and her awesome kids! 

Zuster Hanny & Huber are sad I am leaving. In front of the last door I knocked. 

Live like you were dying!

July 26, 2015

Wow, we have had an
incredible week full of hilarious moments and miracles! 


Funnies: 
1. In Dutch they have two different words for Orange the fruit and Orange the color. So we were in a lesson and my companion was telling an analogy about an Orange. She used the word for color
instead of the fruit. It was hilarious when we all realized what she was talking about. The 

investigator thought it was pretty funny. 
2. Sister Hanny is deathly afraid of spiders and grasshoppers. We saw quite a few this week and 

she made the funniest noises. She just about died. No worries, we protected her. 
3. I got a flat tire this week but thankfully all it needed was to be pumped up.

4. We got stranded in this little tiny village and Sister Hanny needed to go to the bathroom while 

we were waiting for the bus. So we knocked a door and she peed in a random man's house. 
5. I was trying to scare Sister Huber the other night. I tried. to crawled in her bed after it was dark 

in the room. She thought it was my arm so she smacked me. It was my face. She felt so bad
but I thought it was pretty funny. I learned my lesson. Don't scare Sister Huber in the dark. 
6. Our ward mission leader cursed in our gospel principles class. He was teaching. It was so bad 

but pretty funny. We keep it real here in Sint-Niklaas ward. :) 
7. We biked from Sint-Niklaas to Lokeren in the rain yesterday. It is about an hour bike ride. We 

were worried because we hadn't brought jackets. Our wonderful investigators gave us a big 

umbrella and a poncho. Sister Hanny had the poncho and Sister Huber and I shared the umbrella.We biked side by side and with the umbrella covering the both of us. It was incredible!! It can be 

done!But we did crash right before getting home...I am okay. :) Don't bike side by side on small 

paths. 


Well this week was full of miracles! We were knocking doors on Monday and met a lady. She let 

us in and we have a follow-up appointment. She is really incredible and is looking for the truth.
Our recent convert, Suzette, her mother is now taking the lessons and wants to get baptized. We have taught her 2 lessons and they are going really well!! We went to teach Benjamin and Kayla 

this week and decided to invite the whole family to listen to the first lesson. They all listened and 

now Benny(the father) is going to take the lessons. They all were in church on Sunday. Benjamin 

came with a white shirt and tie too. It was amazing! I love that family!! We went and saw an 

inactive 

lady this week. Before she had gone to Spain on vacation we gave her a Conference Liahona to 

read. She read the entire thing!! She said that in every talk she read exactly what she needed. 

She said that she had been changed and wondered why she has taken 10 years to come back.
She was in church on Sunday and stayed for 2 hours. It was amazing! I really love her and am so glad I followed a prompting to give her the Conference Liahona. We were knocking doors another time and I felt strongly that we would find someone. The first door we knocked was a young man. He accepted the Book of Mormon and said we could come back!! It was awesome! Our big 

miracle this week was Eline! She has been taught for a while and is very ready to be baptized. 

She has been waiting for her boyfriend to get reactivated so that he could baptized her. Well it hasbeen a process and her date has changed a bunch of times. But on Monday we were talking 

about a new date. Her original date was this coming Saturday. She had told us that it wasn't going to happen because they were going to fast on that day for a new date. I told them that they

didn't have to wait until then to fast but that they could fast this weekend. They decided that they 

would. We fasted with Benjamin and Eline! Sunday, we talked to them and they still weren't sure. Benjamin needed to talk to the Bishop if he was ready to baptize. After church, we were just 

socializing when we hear the Bishop announce over the pulpit that it was just decided that Eline
will be baptized on Saturday!!!! It was amazing! I felt so much joy come over me. Eline and 

Benjamin just radiated joy. I am so excited for them! Plus, it will be my last weekend as a 

missionary and I get to see her get baptized. I can't think of a better way to go home. In the 

mission field, we say that when someone goes home they are dying. So this week I had the 

country song stuck in my head "Live like you were dying." This is my last full week on being a 

missionary. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. I feel very blessed to have been able to serve my Heavenly Father. And I will leave this week with no regrets! I will put everything that I 

have left on the table. I will live like I was dying! I feel like the Lord has blessed me a lot! I can't
wait to see what this week entails. My companions and I are determined to have lots of fun and 

get me ready for real life. Missions are incredible and I feel much more prepared for real life! Can'twait to see Eline baptized! It will be amazing. 


De tijd is zeer kort, 

Zuster Adams


Pictures: P-day in Gent! 

Trusting in the Lord

July 20, 2015

This week was a wonderful week! We had Zone Conference with our new mission president and also had 2 baptisms and 4 confirmations! 

Funnies: 

1. We found out at Zone Conference that our mission has to wear helmets now. People were not happy...I have permission to not buy one because I only have 2 weeks and they are expensive. My poor companions were sad though. They had us sing "Nephi's Courage" afterwards...it was so funny. "The Lord gives us commandments and asks us to obey. Sometimes I am tempted to choose another way. When I'm discouraged, and think I cannot try, I will be courageous, and I will reply: "I will go; I will do the thing the Lord commands." 

2. We roasted marshmallows in the rain under umbrellas at the Bishop's house this week. We looked pretty funny. We had some good marshmallows though! 

3. We had one mishap at the baptism...our investigators mom(is a member) brought Ice Tea to the reception after the baptism. We will have to teach the Word of Wisdom again...I had told her before but apparently I didn't explain it well enough. It was pretty awkward and funny. 

4. We had a lunch appointment this week. It is the cutest family! They have three kids under the age of 6. They said that after we ate they had a surprise for us. After lunch we went outside and they all had waterballoons. We then had an awesome waterfight with the kids! It was so much fun! 

5. Our investigators have a Parrot. They let it out of its cage this week and it flew all over the house during our lesson. Sister Hanny about died and the bird almost hit us multiple times. It was crazy! 

6. I got sick again...this time I had a sore throat and felt sick to my stomach! I can't seem to be healthy anymore. I honestly just laugh about it. My companions tell me it is because I am old. I guess they have a point. 

I don't have a ton of time to write today but I will write the important things! We are seeing a lot of miracles!

Usually when there are so many baptisms the work slows down. The work isn't slowing down. I feel like we are as busy as ever! We keep getting referrals. Also, the people that were baptized have family that want to take the lessons. It is really incredible. Nathalie and Suzeth are doing amazing! Suzeth's mom wants to take the lessons now. Our first appointment is on Tuesday. I am excited to teach her the lessons! The baptisms this week were amazing! Benjamin and Kayla are so cool! A ton of people came to support and it was a really good service. They were both beaming afterwards. Right after the baptism I talked to their Dad who is not a member. I jokingly said "well you can be next." He laughed and then said to his daughter Amelia "We will be baptized together." I looked at him surprised and he said "I promised her that." It was a beautiful and very tender moment. He is an incredible man and I am excited to see what happens. All four of our baptisms got confirmed on Sunday. Wow, it was incredible! All the blessings were amazing and exactly what each of them needed to hear. Nathalie said that she felt so much warmth and love. Benjamin is 20 and has thought about maybe serving a mission. His blessing said that there would come a time when the Lord would call him to serve a mission! We were so excited!!! I could hardly stay composed. He will be a wonderful missionary! We have a lot planned for this week too! We set two more baptismal dates this week so we are hopeful that they will go through. We have made it a goal to find a lot of new people to teach in the next 2 weeks. I love teaching the first lesson and hope that we can teach it a lot! My companions are great! We have a lot of fun. We laugh a lot and tease each other a lot! Zone Conference was really good! It was the last one on my mission. I had the chance to give my testimony. It was a strange moment to be standing before all those missionaries and to say what I had learned on my mission. I have learned a lot. I have changed a lot. But the thing that I have learned more than anything else is to trust in the Lord and to seek only to do his will. I have gotten pretty good at that. I am a long ways from perfect but I feel much more confident in my trust and faith in the Lord. I hope that the young missionaries keep strong and let the Lord change and mold them. The Lord knows who we can become and knows what we need to go through to get there. It is wonderful! I love being refined and changed. It isn't easy but it is so worth it. I feel so blessed! The gospel is true and it changes lives! The new mission president is really good! He is perfect for the mission at this time and I am excited to see the changes that the mission will have in the next 3 years. It is weird to be on the tail end of such a significant chapter in my life. I remember always seeing others hit this point and thinking they were so wise. I can't say I am wise but I definitely have more knowledge than before. I am grateful for what I have learned. I am not slowing down. We have so much to do!! I can't wait to work hard this week! 

Beproevingen zijn een cadeautje van onze hemelse vader, 

Zuster Adams 

The Lord will fight for you!

July 13, 2015

This week was crazy and really long!! We were so blessed this week though! Sister Huber is now with us and we have so much fun together! 

Funnies: 

1. We went and watched the Tour de France in Antwerpen and we were on International Television!!! The members here watched it and recorded us on tv! Missionaries are famous! 

2. We took the bus and Sister Hanny didn't make it out on time. Sister Huber went and found her at the next bus stop. 

3. We were walking through the centrum and all of a sudden a felt a burning on my foot. I flicked my shoe off and whatever was on my foot. I looked and realized that I had kicked up a burning cigarette butt on my foot...I have officially been burned by a cigarette! YEAH! 

4. Two little girls that we are teaching brought their pet bunny to church on Sunday. I have seen dogs in churches but never a bunny! 

5. Sister Huber and Elder Paur got up to share their testimonies because they are both new in the ward. They broke the microphone...so they had to find another mic and it looked pretty funny. 

This week was incredible! We saw a lot of miracles and were at peace with a lot of things! The first half of our week was a little odd. We had a really good lesson with Eline! She is so ready to get baptized! Her answers are incredible. I am so excited for the first weekend in August! Wednesday was a bit strange. I went to the airport with all the elders going home. I spent the whole day with them. It was really fun to talk to all of them. They are like my big brothers. I am going to miss them. I met the new mission president and his wife. They are incredible!!! They are some of the nicest people I have ever met in my life. I know that they are supposed to be the new leaders of this mission. I am bummed I will only have a month with them. We had a testimony that night and it was really wonderful. The spirit was so strong and it was cool to see how much all the elders had grown. Thursday was a bit crazy. I had to meet back up with my companions who had spent the day in Amsterdam with the sisters there. We met back up, caught a train, and headed back down to Belgium. We then had about 5 back to back appointments. It was crazy! We made it though. We had Suzette and Natalie's baptismal interviews! We were a little worried that they wouldn't pass but it all worked out. They got baptized yesterday. It was incredible to see my first baptisms on my mission. I couldn't have been more happy. I felt a lot of peace too. I have been having a lot of doubts lately about everything. It has been really hard and confusing. But after seeing the baptisms and seeing how happy Natalie and Suzette were I remembered that the gospel is wonderful and that I do know that it is true. Sometimes we get so caught up in the details of life that we forget to stop and smell the roses. Yesterday, I stopped and smelled the roses. Natalie said that she has never felt so much love and peace in her life. The walls that were surrounding here were gone and she felt free. It was amazing. When we choose to believe, that is when peace and reassurance comes. We had another miracle this week. We were knocking doors and taught a man the restoration on his drive way. He took a Book of Mormon and wants us to come back. He was so cool and realized after our conversation that he does have faith and does believe. It was so cool! Benjamin and Kyla are getting baptized this saturday. We have been planning a lot and getting a lot of things ready but I think it will all work out. They are all so prepared and ready. I also really love my companions. We laugh and have a lot of fun! It is fun having 2 companions. It is a working progress with teaching but it is really fun! It is interesting, my investigators were going through a lot of opposition this week and I was experiencing it too. Satan does not want us to feel joy or happiness. He wants us to be scared and confused. Those feelings do not come from God. I realized this week that I want to believe. I want to trust more fully and completely in my Heavenly Father. He has a plan for me and he will make sure that it works out. He will fight for me! And as I realized this, I realized that God fights for all of us. If we submit to his will and trust in him, he will fight our battles as we exercise faith! I know that the gospel is true and I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. His grace is real and it will save us! I feel so blessed to be serving here in Lokeren. It really is incredible what is happening! I couldn't be more happy and at peace! 

Vergeet nooit hoe dicht bij onze hemelse vader is! 

Zuster Adams

Opposition in all things....

July 5, 2015

Well this week was really good! We saw a lot of miracles and are just working hard. We found out yesterday that we will be getting a third companion, Sister Huber. I have served around her before and she is great. It will be fun to be her companion. 

Funnies: 

1. We were biking home the other day and there were about 8 ten year olds playing soccer in the street. As we biked through them I said "veel plezier" which means have fun. This little ten year old yells back "dank je wel schaat." That means thanks cutey. Oh it was hillarious. It was a Sandlot moment we decided. I may not have other men trying to hit on me but I have ten year olds :) 

2. Sister Hanny has a pirated version of photoshop at home that he dad has. Anyways, somehow we found that out this week in one of our many conversations. Well we were sitting in Sunday School and our ward mission leader is giving the lesson. The lesson was about lying. He starts naming off examples and he stops with photoshop and talks for about 5 solid minutes about how terrible it is to have pirated photoshop. Oh man, Sister Hanny and I were dying. We tried so hard not to laugh but it was too much. Sister Hanny felt pretty guilty. It was so funny. 

3. Sunday morning we were studying and our neighbors had really loud music on. I remarked that we had background music to our studies. Sister Hanny looked at me really weirdly and said, Pack Rat Music? She thought that I had said Pack Rat music. It was really funny. We have decided that all background music will now be referred to as pack rat music. 

This week was really good! We saw a lot of miracles and also had some opposition. Monday was really fun! We went to the beach and saw professionally made sand castles. It was so cool. We had an appointment with Eline that night and she told us that she wants to move her baptismal date to my last Sunday!! I am so excited! She is going to be baptized on the 2nd of August. She is incredible and so ready. Tuesday, Benjamin and Kyla (brother and sister) decided they want to be baptized on the 19th of July! They are both amazing and very ready. Tuesday night was a little crazy. We were sitting in Correlation and the doorbell rings. Jarno looked out the window and said that Nathalie was there. We were so confused but then realized that she probably thought our appointment for wednesday was actually on tuesday. Jarno thought really fast and decided we would just go along with it. He told his wife to come down and we would go outside while the Elders finished correlation. We hadn't prepared a lesson and we weren't sure what to do. We all just pretended that our lesson was supposed to be that night though. It is a miracle we did. Nathalie was having a ton of doubts about if she should get baptized. She was very worried about tithing and callings. She was doubting everything. Sister Hanny and I followed the spirit and it was a very powerful lesson. We all just testified of the blessings she would receive and that she needed to trust in the Lord. By the time she left, she had decided not to call her baptism off and she was feeling a lot better. It was so stressful and afterwards, Sister Hanny and I were so grateful that Jarno played it cool and let us just teach the lesson. By Friday, Nathalie was back to her normal self and confident in her baptism. Everytime someone decides to be baptism there is opposition almost immediately. I anticipate it. Whenever a baptismal date is set, you have to stay on your toes because the adversary will work harder on the investigator. She is doing good though! Sacrament meeting was awesome. All the members testified about baptism and encouraged her and Suzette to keep going. It was fun on Wednesday we were biking through the centrum and I hear from the car I am riding past "missionaries rock!" I looked surprised to see a member. They offered to give us water and it was great! I love running into members. We met with a lady that is less-active and had a really good conversation. She has decided to start praying again. It was a big step for her and I am hopeful that it will lead to more steps. This week was CRAZY hot!! It was so humid and sticky. Thursday night a member called us and asked if we had any fans. We replied that we had none. Within ten minutes, we had a fan! It was truly a miracle. We slept so much better that night. Although, we have been sleeping with the window open to keep down the heat and now I have about 20 mosquito bites!! Yeah!! Opposition must come with blessings. Saturday we stopped by a reception at the church. It was a couple that has no family here so the entire ward came to help and support. We stopped by to support because the member had asked specifically that we come. She only speaks english and we are her friends here. We stopped by and it was really fun. It was weird to be at a wedding reception but it was really good to support the couple. Elder Bosco goes home this week so we were harassing him about how he will be the next one to have a reception...:) not really but it is fun to harass missionaries that are going home about marriage. Sunday we were taking a train to one of our appointments and we met two girls from Utah. It was a tender mercy and really fun to talk to them. We met with Suzette. She is getting baptized on Sunday. We had a great appointment. Her mom sat in on the whole thing and told us that she felt something in church today and wants to take the lessons! We were so excited! While we were at church, a member came up and told us that they have a number for a family that wants to be taught in Lokeren!!! We were so excited!! We are being so blessed!! We have 5 baptismal dates and two referrals! I feel very blessed. I have decided that I don't really care if I have trials in the coming weeks. We are being blessed so much that it is logical that Satan will try and get us down. It won't happen! We are going to have so much fun in these coming four weeks!! I am so excited to get our new companion. I will be spending a whole day with all the elders going home because the mission president wants me to experience a testimony meeting with other people rather than just myself. So I get to stay in a hotel and chill for a day. It will be so weird!! But don't worry, I have no time to think about August 5th. I love this work and the miracles that I have the privelege of seeing. I can't begin to express my love for these people and for the Lord. I never want to leave!! 

Ik ben zo gezegend! De heer is goed! 

Zuster Adams

What are all these red dots?

June 28, 2015

Well this week we had a lot of plans but they didn't end up happening...because of some red dots but I'll explain that later in the email now on to funnies! 

Funnies: 

1. I might have said this last week but we did Bollywood dancing with the Gent sisters last week for p-day. We looked hilarious but it was really fun! Someday, you will see the video. 

2. Sister Hanny is very crafty. This week she decided to cut out a map of the world miniature version and use it on our weekly planners. Well she some how lost Australia and was very upset about it. But no worries, the joy that filled her heart when she found Australia was amazing. She compared it to the Savior finding a lot sheep. She loves her crafts! :) 

Well there would be more funnies but I'll explain why I am lacking a bit in the funny area. We had a wonderful Monday evening after p-day. The elders taught a great group lesson to our investigators and our investigator Eline has decided she wants to be baptized sooner than September now!!! I am so excited for her. We are meeting with her tonight and I hope we can set a date for before I leave! But during that lesson I started to feel a little off. I felt unusually tired. I didn't think much of it and went to bed early that night. The next day we had district meeting. We went to a great appointment with Benjamin(other baptismal date) and I still felt kind of off. We had correlation that night and I said to the members and also my companion that something didn't feel right. I felt a little achy and not myself. It wasn't enough to make me go home just notice that things weren't right. Well Wednesday morning comes and I go to take a shower...when I discover red dots all over me. I had the Chicken Pox! I quickly called the mission president's wife. She was super worried that I would cause an epidemic among the missionaries because I had been around a good portion of them in the last 24hours. Sister Hanny and I were quarantined for the next 4 days...terrible. I have had the vaccine but apparently 20 percent of the people that get the vaccine still get chicken pox...I am in the lucky 20 percent. My ward mission leader lovingly told me that I was sacrificing myself so that others wouldn't have to be in the 20 percent. So we spent all of last week, except for yesterday, in our apartment. We slept a lot. We read our scriptures a ton. We watched every movie that our apartment had and the elders brought us the ones they had. And Sister Hanny made a lot of planner covers. The ward members were so helpful though. They brought us food and medicine. Our ward mission leader gave me a blessing too. It was quite the week. By yesterday, I was really ready to get out. We did some great work yesterday. We met with our two baptismal dates and they are incredible. It is easy to teach them!! Oh man, I am so excited for them to get baptized next week. So this week was odd and not as I expected but it was good. I realized that I want nothing more than to give everything to the Lord. I got robbed 4 days of work to chicken pox. I don't want to lose another. I am going to work so hard in the next few weeks! Being sick made me appreciate the fact that I am a missionary. I love this work! I hope you all have a great week! 

Waterpoken zijn geweldig!! :) 

Zuster Adams

Picture from our bike ride this morning! 

9 Trains

June 22, 2015

Well this week was crazy, wonderful, long, short, tiring, and just good! 

Funnies: 

1. We went to Antwerpen on p-day and we wanted to play volleyball...so we made a net out of sweatshirts and hung them on two trees and played. It was awesome! 

2. We taught a lady this week and she has two little twin babies. They were so active while we tried to teach her. At one point she got up and said "wait...my daughter is eating leaves." It was so funny to be talking about Christ and then worry about a child eating leaves. 

3. There is this wonderful couple in the ward here. We eat with them every monday night. Well last week we were there and they had a picture on the wall from about 10 years ago. In the picture, Jo still had brown hair. So I looked at him and then back at the picture and back at him. And he started saying to his wife, did you just see the way she looked at me. It was funny. Then my sassy side came out and I said "Well you look very good, for an old man." We laughed pretty hard. He has told everyone in the ward and makes jokes about it every time I see them. Oh it is great! They are my favorite people here. 

4. So we got to go to Charlie's baptism, which was awesome, but we are terrible with trains and took 9 trains to get there and back...it should have taken maybe 3. We learned our lesson though. :) 

5. We were sitting in an appointment yesterday and I thought I had a bug in my hair but I couldn't find anything. I didn't think much about it. About 5 minutes later it was crawling across my face...it was gross. We laughed with the member about it though. :) 

This week was wonderful, as always! Monday, we had an awesome lesson with our investigator Eline. We all bore our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and she bore hers too. Then we committed her to fasting and picking a baptismal date. She said she would and she did it. We haven't heard what she has decided yet but we are excited for her to prepare to be baptized. We had a wonderful correlation with our ward mission leader and we are getting things prepared for Natalie and Suzette to be baptized! Wednesday, Sister Robbins came on exchanges with me in Lokeren!! It was so much fun to work together again. I have missed her a lot. We stayed up really late catching up but it was worth it. We saw some amazing miracles the day we worked together. We taught 2 of our potentials. They aren't really interested but we had a good conversation. We also taught a recently baptized member. She is amazing and so excited to go to the Temple this month. We taught Natalie as well. We taught the 3rd lesson and it was amazing. The spirit was so strong and Natalie is amazing. We set up all of our appointments until she gets baptized. She is so ready!! She came to church on Sunday and loved it. I also went on exchange with Sister Goodman. I was her sister training leader in Amsterdam. It was fun to see her and catch up too. She told me that I changed her mission and that I taught her a lot. It meant a lot to hear that I had made a difference in her life. She is wonderful. We found two really cool potentials and had an awesome lesson with Suzette. Suzette's parents are totally on board for her to get baptized. Friday was a blessed day. We met with Benjamin, a member's son, and taught him the 3rd lesson and asked him to set a baptismal date. He will be baptized on the 26th of July! My dad's birthday. He is super excited and amazing. Also, his dad came to church on sunday which was a total surprise and shock to me. He had told me that when he was ready to believe he would come to church. Then he came with Benjamin and stayed for 2 hours. The dad told me that he surprised himself coming to church but that he had enjoyed it. The ward did an awesome job of reaching out and talking to him. Friday night, we had an activity for the women from the age of 18-31. We went on a walk in nature. It was amazing and so beautiful. Eline and Natalie came and really enjoyed it. The spirit was really strong too! I love being in Nature! Saturday was wonderful. After our first set of adventures with the trains, we went to Charlie's baptism! It was amazing! I almost started crying during the first hymn. I have waited so long to see her baptized. It was so special! I love her and am so proud of her. It was a beautiful service! I also got to see Sister Mashburn which was wonderful. I had so much to tell her! we talked a bunch and went to lunch. Oh she is wonderful. We are hoping she will get transferred down to Belgium so we can go on exchanges next transfer. Sunday was good. Church was amazing! We had 8 people there!!! I don't even know how that happened. That is definitely a record for my mission. This place is amazing! Sunday afternoon we weren't sure what to do so we went and looked up a member that we didn't know that well. She is married to a non-member that isn't too pleased with the church. She was home alone and we had a wonderful conversation with her. She wants us to teach her son the lessons! We are so excited. She is so strong and is in a hard situation. We got a text this morning from her cousin thanking us for going by and telling us that we were inspired. It was a tender mercy. So often we have no idea if we are following the spirit but most the time we are! It is incredible! 

I love it here in Lokeren! I am seeing so many miracles and the Lord is truly blessing me and my companion. 

Lokeren is wonderbaarlijk! 

Zuster Adams

Goodbyes and Baptisms!

June 15, 2015


Well this past week has been amazing! Weare seeing a lot of miracles here in Lokeren. The ward here is incredible! 

Funnies: 

1. We beat the Elders again in the drawing contest! They were upset. 

2. Elder Bosco did a cool spiritual thought with these see through balls in water. It was about faith. You couldn't see that the balls were in the water. So a member stuck his hand in the water and freak out when he felt the balls. It was so funny. He screamed! Oh greatest spiritual thought! 

3. We lost our phone for a whole night...left it in a members car. We didn't have an alarm so we went to sleep with faith that we would wake up on time. And we did! 

4. Our ward mission leader listens to french rap on the way to church. It is awesome! 

Wow, I'm not even sure where to begin. MOnday was amazing. We had an awesome dinner appointment with some of my favorite members. Then we went and saw Edison and his daughters. They are amazing. Shauna (15 years old) is enjoying what we are teaching. Hopefully, she will start reading in the Book of Mormon. The twins are so ready to get baptized. Their prayers are incredible. They are ten and know more about the gospel than I do. Edison wants us to wait to make a baptismal date but hopefully it will be soon. We had a great correlation! I love our ward mission leader. Wednesday, we had a really cool lesson about faith with this guy named Peter. He isn't ready to believe in God yet but he understood the logic. I hope he will make the decision to exercise faith. Thursday was really good. We had our last Conference with President and Sister Robinson. They go home in 3 weeks. It is so weird. They gave amazing presentations. I have learned a lot from them. We asked Sister Robinson how she knew Presdient was the one. She told us and then gave us great advice about marriage. My old companions Sister Begazo and Robbins and Sister Hanny were harassing me about dating and getting married. It was pretty funny. I guess that is what happens when you go home. People just harass you about getting marriend. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I'll go slow. I am in no hurry. Friday, I was sitting in personal study half-asleep (continual problem). I had probably read the same conference talk about 7 times...terrible. When suddenly, I heard screaming from down the hall. Sister Hanny had gone to check our phone because we had gotten a text message. She came into the front room and told me that Natalie, our investigator, had texted a member that morning to tell them that she has decided to be baptized on the 12th of July!! I jumped up from my chair and hugged Sis. Hanny. We were so excited!! We haven't even talked about baptism with her! She picked a date herself! It was amazing! I am so excited to meet with her this week. We also found 3 amazing people knocking this week. Saturday, we went to Brugge and found 28 people for the Elders there as a Zone. It was really fun! We also set a baptismal date with Suzette for the 12th of July! She is super cool! I can't wait to help these people make these amazing covenants with Heavenly Father. Lokeren is amazing!! We are working hard and having fun! 

The lord is blessing me a lot here in Lokeren. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve and teach these people. They are prepared and ready to hear the gospel. I am so glad I get to work hard and go out with a bang! 

Ik hou van zendings werk!! 

Zuster Adams

Lokeren is famous for bunnies!

The Belgium Life!

June 8, 2015

This week was amazing! I feel like I am getting the hang of things here in Belgium. People still can't really understand me but thats okay. :) 

Funnies:

1. Correlation is awesome! We have a drawing contest with the elders every time. We destroyed the elders. We drew all the things that we talked about at dinner and Jarno (our ward mission leader) loved it! Apparently, the sisters have winning 9-7! 

2. My companion and I love Saturday's Warriors so we sing it basically every day. It is wonderful. 

3. We got home crazy late Saturday night because of a fireside and the next day we were exhausted. We came home for dinner and literally fell on our couches and slept for a half hour. I wonder if I will ever not be tired...probably not. 

4. This week our power went out and it was out for probably 5 hours. It was terrible but thankfully it came back. 

Belgium is amazing! Everything is old and so beautiful. Lokeren is a cutre little twon. Food here is amazing. Desserts are way better...I love dutch desserts but the Belgians know how tit is done. The ward is amazing . They are so on top of missionary work. 2 Familes said that 1 night a week their homes are open for people to be taught. And every dinner appointment wants us to invite investigators. The ward mission leader is amazing! He has us doing a summer vacation program with the members to help them keep up with their scripture study and temple work. I am so excited to work with the members. He is so on top of things. It is nice being told what to do rather than coming up with my own ideas. We call him every night to check in and to let him know about missionary work. Wow, I love it here. We had a lot of miracles this week! 

We are teaching a members 3 kids. They are amazing! We taught the oldest son the first lesson this week and he really liked it. The husband sat in on the lesson and said that he will come to church when he is ready. It was amazing! I am hopeful for the whole family. We are hoping to set baptismal dates with the kids this week. They also came to the Singing Elders concert and really loved it! The singing elders Concert was amazing! The spirit was so strong and people were very touched. An elder taught the first lesson out in the hallway and invited someone to be baptized afterwards. It was amazing! A member from Sint-Niklaas brought their friend that lives in Lokeren and we talked to her afterwards and she wants us to come over and teach her the lessons in a month. Another member brought this girl named Suzette and she loved it. She came to church yesterday and the girls in young women's set a baptismal date for her in class! It was amazing! She is so excited and wants this in her life. Our other investigator Comfort has a baptismal date again because of young women's! I think this performance of the fireside was the best I have seen. People were healed. There was almost not enough room for everyone in the chapel. There were more people there than people that come to Stake Conference. I am so grateful for the members and that they decided to come. Yesterday during testimony meeting, every testimony was about the fireside and how they had their testimonies strengthened! Amazing!! I learned a lot as well. I kept a note book out and wrote down any prompting I received and I learned a lot! I love this gospel! It is so true! The work here is amazing! We are teaching so many people and the Lord has blessed me so much. I love my companion too. We have too much fun. We stay up late talking and just really get a long. 

Vivian got baptized on Saturday! I heard it went great and I am so proud of him! I got permission to go to Charlie's baptism! I am so excited to see her!! 

I love being a missionary and seeing the work of the Lord hasten! 

De Heer weet wat we nodig hebben! 

Zuster Adams