Week 45: Forget 100 dollars/hour playing violin on the streets, how about 100 euro a door porting in Lux!

Happy New Year!

It was wonderful to talk to all of you for Christmas!!! I hope that it was just as special for you all as it was for me! According to Stephanie we only have 133 days or 4 months and 13 days till we can skype again! ha its not too far off!

Thank you again for all the gifts and cards that i have received this Christmas season: I felt so overly loved and blessed! thank you so much for the out pouring of love that I received!!

So this week we found a new investigator who used to assist as a young girl to church. She had really amazing feelings of church and that was a testimony to me that the spirit touches people no matter their age. She had a really great attitude and she can go a long way i think: Her name was Stephanie and she reminded me a lot of you Steph.

Then before we went to Christmas eve dinner we did some porting and we were given lots of cake and offered lots of money. we were let in and were able to pray with some people.

We spent a wonderful Christmas with the Gilstraps. we were able to watch "It's A Wonderful Life" and I cried but was also so awkwardly uncomfortable with the like one time someone kissed. Ha I didn't think that I was becoming awkward, but I now know that I'm already awkward. We ate together and had some delicious real hot chocolate and played a game where we splashed water in each other's faces it was so fun ha; Other than during the movie I held myself together pretty well till the dad had to share a gospel message after reading Luke 2.... it just reminded me of all that Christ has done for us and our family: they were happy tears.

Gilstraps on Christmas

Christmas was spent with the Turners that you were able to meet. They fed us a delicious Christmas lunch and we got to watch a Disney movie, "Despicable Me 2" who the maker is Mormon by the way, and TALK TO YOU GUYS! it was wonderful and so nice to wake up and just spend time making a yummy breakfast and not worrying about time.

Thursday Adélia took us out to sushi and it wad DELICIOUS. I'm so sad that shes working all the time. i just wish she would realize what its doing in the eternal realm of things with her family!!!

We did some more knocking and we were let in and prayed with this cute family. They offered us money again but we gladly accepted chocolate instead. I tried to get them to let us come back to do a family home evening.. They didn't really like that idea ha. We also were let in by this old cute couple who just talked and talked; She loved that we sang for her and wanted to give us a hundred euro: when we didn't accept she tried to give us 50... ha of course we didn't take it but we got a good kick out of it. if you every need money come caroling in Luxembourg!

On Friday we did some planning and running around trying to pay some bills since the mission office can't pay ours; that took forever and was frustrating cause we didn't finish. but we taught Jennifer the law of tithing and she completely accepted it. All she needs is her interview and she is ready for her baptism on Sunday; my last day in Luxembourg. Pray that all goes well.

Tunnel that we walk through every day to get to the Street Car

Then we had an awesome Family Home Evening with Miriam and her inactive son victor: he is 19 but was way way into the object lesson. we taught them about what an Family Home Evening is and why they are important; Victor agreed to give the lesson next week so that is cool! Miriam also told me that she wishes that her daughter can one day be like me, I thought that was such a great compliment and I just felt so honored. I love her and hope that I can make her proud my whole life. p;s; the apartment that she got that we fasted for is BEAUTIFUL.

On Saturday we taught Adele and her daughter who we have only seen one time before but is now in Alma 32! Cynthia came to church and accepted everything about the restoration! were seeing her again this week and I won't be surprised if she gets baptized while sister Henson is serving here.

On Sunday i was feeling AWFUL but we went to church and two different visiting american families showed up; one of the boys just got home from his mission but we had classes together at BYU in 2010 in the mechanical program. I recognized him right away and it was really weird to see him in Luxembourg ha. But I wasn't feeling well and thy had me translate and it was really hard and I was so shaky from being so weak :I feel better today though. We also did visited some less actives that night who both showered us with food and really good and expensive pastries. I'm gonna miss those. We did some more knocking and was let in by the funniest family. I sent a picture to you of them. None of them accepted a specific return visit though :(

Well this will be my last week in Luxembourg and the start of 2014!!! WAHooo that's so crazy crazy! I love the Lord. I had some really cool personal revelation this week and I know He answers are prayers and that we are enlightened as we study his scriptures.

I LOVE YOU ALL AND à la semaine prochaine! (see you next week)

oh i will be transferred next Monday so if I don't email you on Monday don't freak out ha, I'll probably email you another day.

Love 

Soeur Kohlert

Week 44: Hello President ... Uh huh Im listening ... Yes President

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well this week has simply been insanity, but not missionary insanity. I'm so tired. We started off the week by going to Paris for the Christmas Conference. IT WAS SO WONDERFUL! The President and the office did such a good job. I felt the spirit so strongly and they did SO MUCH for us I was just overwhelmed by their love. It was amaizng.  Ha but on the way home we literally had to RUN through the Paris metro system with Christmas packages and our stuff that we used to stay the night... IT WAS SOOO HEAVY and we made our train by like 30 seconds. I was exhausted after.

Sister Finneran and I at the Christmas Conference

Christmas Conference in Paris

Then Wednesday came along and we hadn't had time yet to practice for the concert at the school... so we left early to go to the church to practice... and thanks to mom we had music to play. But on the bus i saw this woman and i just knew that i needed to talk to her.  So i did and she spoke like half french half spanish... which is SUPER common here by the way. But I couldn't understand everything she said, but she was telling me that just yesterday night she was talking about her friends about how they could find Christ here in Luxembourg... and then there i was talking her to about Christ. she wanted to know how she could learn more and she was just so so excited. Because she only speaks spanish we ended up passing her to the elders who said that she just felt like christ wanted her to stop smoking and drinking... so she did! Pretty cool! Maybe Yudri was inspired to have us play at the school so that we could find Georgina, because we would have never been on that bus that early if it wasn't for the concert.

But the concert went well, we ended up just being like background music and we had some really good family contacts, maybe something else will come of it... who knows.

On Thursday we had some good rendez-vous and then Diana called and wanted to meet with us: she wants to get baptized so badly that she was wondering if a worthy priesthood holder AND her husband could baptize her... like the priesthood would transfer from the worthy man through her husband to her.... ha shes so sweet but we said no. She really wants him to be worthy enough to do it. She wants the family to be TOGETHER... which is great but frustrating at the same time. But the gospel is about families.

Yummy goodness at the Metz, France Christmas Marché

Then on Thursday night right before we got on the train to go to paris AGAIN, for the second time that week, we got a text message from President. Sister Emily Anderson, who lived across the hall from me at BYU my sophomore year, was going into emergency brain surgery to remove a cyst on her brain and that it was a very delicate surgery and that she needed our prayers NOW. So we got out of the car and prayed. And that was all they told us... we were worried sick. President NEVER texts the whole mission and he did... well then we had an extremely long trip into Paris to start our exchange.

The exchange was going fairly well. We found out that Sister Andersons family was on there way and that they would be spending christmas here so we all, meaning the whole mission, wrote them christmas cards and the sisters started a fast for her. Then we get to this lady's house to do service and the phone rings with an unmarked number. I answered and this is how the conversation went:

me:" allo?"

bonjour soeur kohlert

ah bonjour president

(small talk as i am trying to figure out why in the world hes calling me...)

president: so i heard you have room in your appartment for a third sister...

me: eh i can arrange that..

president: Well sister henson, sister andersons companion will be coming up to lux tomorrow morning. youll be a three some.

me: ok president

(the companion on my echange was figuring it all out in her head and like mouthing words to me and im trying to shush her)

president. souer kohlert are you listening?

me: yes im listening

president: but only for 15 days

me: ok, where is she going after that?

president: Shes not leaving. You are.........

So he is sending me mid transfer to white wash St Quentin in France on the 5th or 6th. Another sister, Vance, who was in the MTC with me is with a visa waiter who leaves on the 5th so well go in and take of sister henson and anersons work down there. Apparently its amazing.

Sister andersons 7 hour surgery went perfectly and her family was able to see her after. shell go home after she recovers. We picked up sister henson on saturday morning after preparing for her all night and morning and ran around and did missionary work all day to keep busy. soeur henson saved andersons life. its a crazy story that i can tell on wednesday if youd like.

Souer henson is awesome and we all get along great. shes ready to not be in the hospital anymore though ha. She is from north salt like and is a crack up i love her. But im sad to leave luxembourg in 2 weeks. President said that i least i know my transfer 2 weeks in advance. Im just glad that i get to stay here for the holidays. he could have easily moved me before.

We had an awesome nativity fhe with a family and helped miriam moved into the subsidized housing that she fasted for and got.... god always answers fasts and prayers. Her ex husband also randomly showed up at church and said that he wanted to change his life around.... so well see about that

Jennifer decided to not be baptized until the 5th of janurary.... hopefully i can be there and dont get transfered that day!

I LOVE YOU ALL AND I CANT WAIT FOR WEDNESDAY!!! Merry Christmas and I hope that you can all help someone come closer to Christ in the next few days!

here is my new address. REMEMBER THAT I WONT BE THERE TILL THE 6th of January.

Soeur Kristy Kohlert
32 rue Raspail

02100 St Quentin

FRANCE

Week 43: A Bunch O' Random

Happy Birthday MOMMY. You really are the greatest mom ever and Im so blessed to have you as the one to guide and lead me!! Thanks for all of the support that you give me!

Well half of this week went SUPER fast and half of it went SUPER SLOW. Ill share some of the hilights:

Well maybe well start with a lolight.. IT WAS FREEZING! It was SO foggy, but it was more like hoovering snow. Ha we were soaked after one night of porting in it. Just humid and cold, weird combo.

OKAY SO THIS IS AWESOME!!! One of the girls that I found in Rennes is getting baptized!!! How cool is that hah? Wanna know how i found her? I asked her if she wanted to go get crepes with us.... and we did.... ha and voila. I think that thats pretty cool. Her name is Sofie. I talked about her a bit while I was there if you remember. Shes a Chinese exchange student.

Last week we vistied Miriam, our recent convert who is just soooo strong. I shared a scripture from DANDC 121 with her about JSMITH and she just LOVED IT. Her sister has gone inactive lately and she decided to write her a letter and in that letter she felt prompted to put the scriptures that I shared with her in them. Well because of the letter she has decided to come back to church. Its amazing to me how Heavenly Father uses his children to bring His lost sheep back. Im just grateful to be a part of it.  Miriam has soooo many problems its ridiculous. She talks to me about the problems with her son as well and Im so sorry that I was the teenager I was ha... I probably cause you tons of grief... Sorry! Ill be better, promise. I told Miriam that my mom is grateful for her because of what shes teaching me. Anyways she didnt want to come to church because she didnt sleep and had a billion things to do. She decided to come anyways and she learned more about fasting and it was exactly what she needed. We went over to help her with something on Sunday and she fed us and I passed her her plate and she looked at it and gave it back to me and said IM FASTING, I just know that I need to. Ha she is so amazing. Id love to be like her one day.

We met a really awesome albanian family on the bus. The little son translates for me. We didnt have time to teach them a lesson but we stopped by and gave them cookies.. I cant wait to go see them again. Its sad, they are here because the mom is "big sick". The boy cant speak english super well so thats as good as he can describe.

Jennifer is all ready to go for her baptism this sunday, well we need to teach her tithing and have the interview but i really dont think there will be a problem. We have to do it in France, so we may end up pushing it back one week so we can do it here, well see. Shes the funniest and most opinionated character ever. There is no way to describe her to you.

Jennifer and I in front of the Gare Train Station

Oh on monday we went to the christmas markets here. I sent home a picture of me at it. They are german and i ate schnitzel and some mini churro like things. IT WAS SO COOL; Not sure why we dont have those in the states. We also had the ward christmas party this week and we had TONS of less actives and investigators there. THe tables were full and they ran out of food. They ended up getting pizza hut to feed the last people ha. 

We taught Adele about geneology this week... it was way cool because she had a question about how she can know if her family accepts the ordaninces that she does for them or not. Of course I told her that most of the time we dont know but I shared dads experience in the temple.. AND just the night before we were visiting with a member who had told us another story about how she knewher aunt accepted the baptism. I shared that with her as well, I know that we saw that member the night before FOR adele. She also brought her mom and granddaughter to the chirstmas party. Adele also said that she was praying for someone and just felt this overwhelming love for them like she had never before felt. It was a good testimony confirmation for her.

I also am learning so much for a member in our ward named Melissa Elenes. She is so cool. She served a great mission and she really knows how to help us! We made a goal with her to have an FHE at her house 1 a month and she would invite the people; this is a bid deal because she has 4 little kids and 2 with autism and her husband works till like 10 everynight. shes amazing

We taught Diana a bit more in depth about the Plan of Salvation. She said that she knows that we lived with God before because she misses it. She misses the feeling of being close to god when she doesnt pray and come to churcn and how can you miss something that doesnt exist? Somewhere that youve never been? I thought it was a pretty cool thought.

The yw made us cookies to give to our investigators. We went all together to give it to a non active yw and she said shed come to the activity on Friday. pretty cool.

Well this week will be insane. Were in paris for like 4 DAYS BLAH. Ill let you know how it goes.

How can you give a gift to Christ this Christmas?

I LOVE YOU ALL SUPER MUCH!!!

HUGS AND KISSES!

ME

Week 42: Good morning Luxembourg..... Im so confused

Dear family and friend,

Yesterday Adele received the gift of the Holy Ghost...It was wonderful, and her daughter and granddaughter came too. Her daughter has been reading the Book of Mormon every night and we are going to start teaching her too. 

.....Well, I just got some crazy transfer news.... I was TOTALLY expecting to be transferred from Lux because I've already been here for 3 transfers and Sister Denning and I have already been together for two transfers and I have NEVER heard of missionaries in our mission being together for more than 2 transfers... but... you ready for a story?

So last week we were at the Stake Presidents house and his wife said... I received some inspiration, you are going to play your violin at my sons school and its going to be a great experience ha... she had already asked the teacher and everything. I asked when it was and she said the 18th, I said well I'm really sorry but I don't think I'll be here, I think I'm going to be transferred. Ha... and she was like don't you worry about that, my husband is the Stake President! Ha so, he sure did email the President and asked him to keep me here....

....AND PRESIDENT DID...

So I will be here for another 6 weeks! I will have spent almost a year of my mission before I even get to my 3rd city..... so crazy and unheard of.

The funny thing is is that we have our Christmas Conference on the 18th in Paris, so we won't even be here to play at the kids school.......

But I'm excited, i love Lux and I've gotten really close to the members and I'm excited to be able to spend Christmas with people that i know.

As for this week, on Monday we got to go to Germany, we did our grocery shopping and it was much much cheaper than Lux; apparently lots of people do that. We also could see France and Lux all at the same time. it was cool.

Then on Tuesday we had a district meeting where I said goodbye to everyone... ha embarrassing. Fun anyway.

So I told you last week about a family that we had an Family Home Evening with and I was way scared right cause the husband was so closed and cold? Well, we fasted for them and then on Thursday we were invited over for dinner. At the end I was super nervous and I asked if I could share a message, and the wife was scared because of her husband, but she gave me a hesitant nod. Then i taught them about the 2000 Strippling warriors and the dad was SOOO attentive. He was holding the little daughter who started throwing a fit and he even got up to put her in his room. He loved it. I shared also this week about how mom is an example to me of faith and how she was a missionary for me when she came. Then I asked them if we could come every week for a Family Home Evening and he said YES! We're excited.

We have another Family Home Evening with another family tonight, so that should be cool.

We spent lots of the week teaching and saying goodbye to people... ha ya. It's going to be embarrassing to see everyone again. Oh well, I would rather say goodbye and not leave than not say goodbye and leave. Ha, this girl just loves me in the ward cause I play the violin.  She asked if she could could play in church with me, I said yes, but we had to this week because I was leaving... ha, well we did, and it was great, but I'm not leaving.

We had some finding time this week, so I played the violin in the street while Sister Denning passed out cards and talked to people. It was actually really successful. My violin case handle broke though, and now its a pain to carry around.

Well I guess I better go.... another 6 weeks to parcourir here in Luxembourg!!!

LOVE,

Sœur Kohlert

Week 41: A Thankful Heart for Another Beautiful Baptism... and Thanksgiving of Course

Hey Fam Wam Bam Thankyou Mam,

So Monday was a good relaxing p-day. Loved it. At night we went to go visit an old investigator. It was hard to be there at her place. She works nights on the streets and lives with a bunch of other African woman who do the same thing. It's so sad that their lives have lead to that and that men do that. I just felt so blessed for my family and the knowledge I have as well as for all of the material things God has given me. I'm not sure why I'm so lucky.

Tuesday we had a wonderful lesson with Adelia and Fatima. They were in the picture that I sent to you guys: Fatima still hasn't decided to be baptized... but she is getting there, I just know it, After we went to see a less active who actually ended up needing help moving so we waited there forever for the elders to get there so they could help us. Then we ate RACLETTE, that potato and meat stuff that we ate at that lady's house in France where you melt the cheese on the table. Anyway, it was sooo good and Seour Denning's first time eating it. The family that gave it to us has such a strong testimony and the converts that I meet purely amaze me.

On Wednesday we got to see Jennifer and she's progressing well. Shes loving the Book of Mormon and the brochures that we give her, and she says that she is starting to understand what we meant when we said that she will find answers to her questions if she would read them. Then we went to the Turner's house....we eat with them just about every week and they showed us their fancy train set that is sooo cool. iIt works with like micro chips, so no batteries and its remote control and goes SO FAST ha i was soooo fascinated. Yes, I was once an engineering student. We stayed up way late that night looking for Sister Denning's ID that we needed to travel to Paris, we never found it.

Thursday was turkey day and we woke up at 430 to go down to Nancy for interviews. Ha, the zone leaders were supposed to organize the food and it was just bad....Ha, they assigned food tasks out and we had way tooo much dessert. I made a pumpkin pie from real pumpkin because they don't have canned pumpkin here, It was way good, just saying. Ha, and then they bought like a ton of rotisserie chickens and two little salads, a little bit of carrots, and 66 pounds of potatoes that they had boiled before hand and put in garbage cans. We had this baby kitchen where we had to figure out how to mash them with soup spoons and heat up all of the chickens in one little oven. Mind you, we only had like 40 people there, so it took us forever to heat everything up and mash the potatoes which we did pretty much by hand and then try to warm all those up in the microwave and everything was cold by the time it was time to eat. We had no time to make the gravy so we just stirred the gravy packets in water and called it good. It was sad, but instead of the normal 1 hour rule of eating, we got 3 hours which most of it was spent preparing the food ha but at the end we were able to play a little bit of speed basketball and that was fun. Then we had a long train ride home that we had to stand on cause there was so many people... I was exhausted.

Friday we thought we were going to go do some service for a less active, but when we got there all she wanted us to do was make ornaments with her... aaha ok. It was pretty fun service if you ask me. Her nonmember husband was there and we shared a message, and he agreed to let us have a Family Home Evening with them next week, so that's good. Then we were running around trying to get stuff ready for Saturday and a dmp meeting that we had that night. We also got to see Miriam and we gave her the scriptures that mom and dad brought from the US for her. She just loved them and was so grateful. So thank you very much for bringing them. We then took her son, who is less active, to a youth activity where we ate some Thanksgiving food with them, then set up the church for the visiting teaching conference on Saturday morning. I was still so tired from Thursday

Then on Saturday we had the visiting teaching conference and Seour Denning and I played a musical number. The conference went well. The sisters really were unified. Then we had to run to 2 appointments, one with Jennifer and her mom in an old folks home. I lugged my violin with us all day and I played for her. She liked it. We didn't have lunch so we spent our lunch time going to this "bizzaro" where there were a bunch of stands from each country. Some members were working at the american stand and bought us a brownie... so good. It had been so long, then we ran to the Stake President's house for a Family Home Evening with my favorite family. We had fasted for Adelia's husband and he accepted to come. I was so scared cause we had no time to prepare and her husband was so cold and scary. I used one the Family Home Evening packets mom sent me, so thank you mom. I couldn't tell if the dad liked it or not, but everyone else did. I also played the violin for them....that case is heavy!

Adele's Baptism

Then on Sunday was Adele's baptism and it was just wonderful. Adele cried during my musical number and there were lots of people there because the bishops son was baptized too. She is so happy and I was as well.

That night we had a real Thanksgiving meal with all the american families in the ward. I almost cried cause I missed you guys so much, but I just had to remember how thankful I was to have all of those friends there to be my family. That was a legit Thanksgiving dinner with an imported turkey and everything, We were so happy!

Well, I'm going to Germany today for p-day!  I'll send you pictures!

I LOVE YOU ALL

Seour Kohlert

Week 40: Baptism in a Kiddie Pool in the Snow... and uhhh i guess paper tastes good?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LAURENNNNN

A break from school and Lauren is officially an ADULT!

Well, I left my notes at home so hopefully this email isn't all over the place and makes sense.

A little vein-like thing popped in my eye and now its all red. It happened after I got food poisoning last week and I think I was super dehydrated. My eyes were a bit yellow too.. I feel like I'm going to come home looking so different... ha and in not a good way. oh wells, maybe those vitamins mom sent me will help?

Sooo at district meeting we did a flan suck... my first one. Its our mission tradition where you suck up a whole flan and it just goes like straight down your throat.  Of course I did horrible and failed miserably.

Mom apparently your like the best missinoary ever ha. We had a Fiesta at Christy's house this week and she just ranted and raved about how easily you shared the gospel with someone while you were with her. Thanks again for doing all that for us.

Ummm Monday we got to see Lena, she was getting all ready to go for her baptism in a few weeks.. but since then she wasn't at her next appointment and she hasn't been answering our calls... so that.s a bummer dot com. We got to stop by a new american family that moved in and they are awesome; He is like this super cool businessman and tells everyone that he's Mormon. That will end up being a huge blessing because in the Lux business world everyone knows everyone, and it ends up that he knows the assistant Duke of Luxembourg who is stationed in SLC. He got to tell him how much trouble the church has been having here getting permission to build a chapel and he said he'd try to help us out. The chapel is completely filled every week and it's a mad house afterward... people and children running everywhere.

So we had an awesome lesson yesterday at becoming like a child and this most adorable baby was sitting next to me. oh my word it was so spiritual and so uplifting. i just cant wait to be a momma and hold children and get my limits stretched. If I have learned anything on my mission i have learned the importance of family and it truly is only with in the home and the family that we can become like god. i really cant think of any other way to become more selfless, more loving, more temperate, and more Christlike than as a parent.of course you can go to the other extreme and become frustrated and depressed, but that's what the gospel is there for :)

Jennifer// so uh she got answer to her PRAYERS. She had told us that shes been feeling better now that shes been reading the Book of Mormon but we asked her to pray about it and she got an answer. She said she knows its true. She said that she doesn't want to leave her church though and she's having a hard time because she knows that God wants her to make this change in her life but she doesn't want to leave her friends. I think we did a pretty good job following the spirit and helping her resolve her concerns and she decided to set a date for the 15th of December. Too bad I'll miss that by four days but that's okay. It was cool to see. She's been opening up and we feel more like her friends now.

Adele passed her interview with flying colors. She will be baptized next Sunday.

We helped Miriam move into her miracle apartment which is teensy...holy cow, I'm so blessed. She worked so hard for that apartment and it barely fits her let alone her other 2 sons as well....ne of which is 19 and looks exactly like ENRIQUE.

We also had a lunch with an RM who is just awesome. She explained some of her experiences from the mission that i just was like "I JUST EXPERIENCED THAT"; but really she was telling me how she learned that we can have faith and not be naive and blind and also that those picky 19 year old zone leaders are just doing their best and are being formed by god to be the future leaders of the church. ha she helped me see the bigger picture.

One of our investigators... oh poor girl. We met with her on Friday to decided if she wanted to be baptized this Sunday or in Feburary and her husband was just SO emotionally abusive... and she just took it so perfectly. He was saying the most horrible things about her in front of us while carressing her head while she's shedding silent tears. Sister Denning just got home and bawled; He is Chinese, and i think its part of the culture. We would ask our investigator what she thought, and he never let her speak because he was the husband and he'd speak for her... it was sickening and so weird because the spirit was radiating so strongly from Diana and from us as we were reading Mosiah 3:19 (which was perfect because he asked her to stop acting like a child) yet the contention was also so thick from him. Remind me to pray really hard before i get married okay? she is just the sweetest and most self less person i have ever met in my life. I want to become like her.

We were sitting at the bus stop and the girl next to us had a stack of 2 by 2 paper squares that she was EATING. it was so interesting. must taste good. next time we get low on funds ill have to try that one.

Ahmed's baptism was soooo awesome though on Wednesday. it was in the whites home and it was so intimate and the spirit was so thick. It as snowing for the first time outside, and I played the violin and Sister Denning sang because they didn't have a piano. He got baptized in this little kiddie pool outside, and he was just beaming. The water was freezing, but warmer than in was outside because steam came off of him ha. But it was the most beautiful baptism that I have ever seen. He just waited so long for it!

Ahmed at his baptism

Also we were leaving the church from a lesson, and this lady walked up who had taken the lessons years ago from some missionaries. She said she'd been reading the Book of Mormon and has been interested, but every time she and her husband drive by the church no one is there. Luckily, we were there that time and she asked if she could come to church... or if she needed to get like permission or something. Ha. we said OF COURSE you're welcome and ya... we exchanged info and hopefully more will come of this story.

WELL I BETTER GO

HAPPY THANKSGIVING eat a lot and send me pictures OOTAY?

LOVE
soeur KOHLERT

Week 39: You Can Count the Miracles

Hey there everyone! 

First of all thanks for the amazing package! Its funny how much things from home gets a missionary so giddy and excited! Thanks for all of the time and effort that all of you put in to that!!

CONGRATS TO MORGAN (my cousin)!!   WOOT! WOOT! She'll kill it out there in the Dominican Republic

So I just loved being a missionary this week. It was amazing... and I guess that I'll just have to tell you why! There were nine big miracles weaved in with few other smaller ones that just made me want to be a missionary forever. 

On Saturday I got sick AGAIN..... We went in early Friday night and we were in all Saturday. I had food poisoning and it was a blast... good news is that we had another vacation and I feel super skinny and I have no desire to eat. I had like a hand full of spinach and an orange for food today and I have very little desire to eat more. Unfortunately I know my appetite will come back soon ha....

But here are some miracles that Heavenly Father blessed us with this week:

- The week started off Monday night when we went to a family's house who recently moved here from Spain. The dad is not a member but the mom has Family Home Evening over Skype with her family in Spain every week! It was extremely cool to be a part of that, they think of ways to be better together each week... ha i wish we could have Skype FHEs every Monday! 

- Adelia is a non active that we have been visiting since like the first week I got here... she had a friend move in with her and so we started teaching her friend. She came to church like the 2nd week I got here, but we haven't gotten her to come again yet. Well, I was shocked on Tuesday when during our lesson to her friend Fatima (who is progressing very well and reading daily even tho its hard for her, I'm so blessed that i can read.. and in 2 languages) she told us that they were coming to church on Sunday!!!!!! YAY I was so shocked! and they came! she has such a strong testimony and teaches her friend very well with us.. lots of times we just let her teach! but then on Friday we had lunch with her nonmember husband (the lunch that made me sick) and we talked to him a bit and after we left he told her that she needs to invite us over for lunch more often!! :) its a start! FAMILIES

- Miriam has been looking for apartment closer to Luxembourg City center so she doesn't have to commute so far and can be on time to church and things. She's been living in a home with her youngest son and her other son has been living with a ward member. She moved to the home to leave her boyfriend so that she could get baptized.... well this week the Lord blessed her with an apartment five minutes from down town and a cheap baby care next door. We didn't get to help her move in because I was sick, but she said in church that she was so unhappy with her boyfriend and all of her worldly riches that he gave her, but last night was the first time that her sons and her slept together. She said they had no furniture and they have absolutely nothing, but she had never been so happy in her life! she is such an example. Don't worry tho... the ward is going to help her get some necessities.

- On Tuesday night we got a call from the elders saying that our sister training leaders were at the train station waiting for us... ha we never got their text but apparently we were supposed to have exchanges that day. So,  impromtu exchanges! Ha sister Denning and her comp had to run and catch a train and she accidentally took the keys and the phone with her... so me and Soeur Garret had to go to a members to use their phone and bathroom. at first it was a bummer cause we had to wait in the freezing cold for the other sisters to get home but it was a blessing because at that members house we found out some vital information that is helping us help this amazing sister in the ward. Also, the Paris sisters didn't realize how much colder it was up here and didn't bring heavy clothes. Sister Garret pleaded for warm weather; and sure enough, the next day was clear skies and sun. The nicest day we've had since August. The Lord answers prayers. We also got to go on like a 45 minute run in the morning with them to a castle. I was happy!

Soeur Garret and I on our Exchange

- We got an awesome package from our families thanks to mom and a ward member. that was a blessing

- Sister denning on the exchange went to see our investigator Sofia, whose husband sat in and listened to the lesson for the first time. FAMILIES

- Tuesday night we saw our investigator Jennifer who FINALLY started to read the Book of Mormon, and boy oh boy could you see a change. Shes really starting to get it and she said that she has started to feel her burdens being lifted. She hasn't prayed about it yet because she wants to read the whole thing first.. but don't worry, we changed her mind on that one.

- Lena, the Russian girl had an awesome restoration lesson with us at a members over tea and cookies, sugar free of course... duh. ha and she accepted like everything we said and even a baptismal date for December 8!!

-We have to push Adele's date one week later because we didn't have time to teach her the law of chastity nor tithing. I was nervous that she wouldn't accept them, and so I have been unsuccessfully trying to find a strong member to teach with us....but we found out the she ended up eating dinner with the member that took her home.. and guess what the topic of the dinner was? Yup, you guessed it.... tithing and chastity, and they said that they bore great testimony to her and that they think shell accept them!

- The kiddie pool baptism was a disaster..... well, till it got canceled Saturday night at like 10:00 p.m.. The dead Elder Dicatoldo came down for it too. We just got a text saying that it was canceled and not saying why. I was nervous that it was Ahmed who had canceled... but no....sure enough, he walked into church late with a new hair cut and a bright shining smile. Because of complications with the kiddie pool, we are moving it to Wednesday where we can use a bigger kiddie pool ha. It'll be fun. I'll send pictures.

- Quite a while ago I told you guys about this lady that came up to US on the bus...... well guess what? She came to church! She actually missed the bus but she wanted to be on time, so she called a taxi. And she just loved church. She cried the whole time and took pages of notes and asked tons of questions. We had an awesome rendezvous with her after and I have never explained the plan of salvation in such detail so fast in my life. She knows her catholic religion well and loves how Gods plan revealed to his modern prophets just makes sense. She loved it and was happy to hear that we can only have one husband ha! She can't see us for a few more weeks but she already is planning to come to church in two weeks and the visiting teaching conference in a week and a half... We didn't even invite her to it, she just heard the announcement at church and said she was coming ha!

- We played the musical number in church, I played the violin and sister Denning accompanied me. Sacrament meeting was so loud, then when we played everything was silent. Everyone had tears and everyone said that it was so powerful. A girl in the Young Women's group came up to me after and said that she quit the violin not too long ago because she was frustrated. She said she'd been playing for six years. She said she is going to start again cause she wants to be like me. I told her that if she keeps going she can play like me... ha I told her not to give up because I've been playing for 16... ha she said woa... I guess I need to keep playing for 10 more years.

Well I love being a missionary. Ha... this week was wonderful. I hope we can keep up the awesomeness and I am so grateful that the Lord has blessed us. I love Him. He must love me!  And he will do anything for me, just like mom and dad.

love you guys!!!

Soeur Kohlert

Week 38: Um...Anyone Wanna Have a Vacation for a Couple Days??

Well we had a vacation!! Ha it was kinda wonderful not gonna lie.

Except for the fact that I was the sick one and I slept for half of it. We were inside for like two and a half days. Im still strugglin, especially in the mornings, but Im feeling much much better. My lovely companion cleaned the whole apartment, set up a Christmas tree that she found and made lots of baked goods. I think I know all the church movies by heart now in French and English and I read all of great grandpa Jess's history. That was pretty cool.

On Monday my companion was having a rough go. So I was probably the most sympathetic Kristy I've ever been and we just talked about our value, even if we don't feel like good missionaries, God loves us and we may be good at other things and have other talents that God can use. I actually read the last paragraph from mom's email together and we laughed and cried while reading it. Mom has so much knowledge and wisdom it's crazy. She knew just what to say and when!!! Not only did my bio mom help us out, but so did presidents wife. She had a good long talk with sister Denning, where she just told us that all those home sick and worthless thoughts are from satan! sometimes I am afraid of president because I want to make them proud and I know that i don't always live up to preach my gospel standards because i just can't.... but we got to see them this week and they just love us. They really are mom and dad for 18 months. They feel our pains and our sorrows and really would do anything for us. I just felt their love radiating from them. I understand mom and dads love for us better, as well as Heavenly Father's love, thanks to them.

We got to go to france 2 times this week! Once for week two district meeting and then we had one lesson after with Lena, the Russian who is just so cool. Then Wednesday we had a booked day and I made it through about half of our rendez vous and then i just couldn't do it anymore. We went home and stayed in all night in bed. Then on Thursday we canceled all but Adele's lesson since she is so close to baptism! We talked about prophets and she just loves us. I liked Tasi's advice to make sure that they love Christ more than they love us. She's praying to God now but her angels as well and that worries me. Friday i still wasn't feeling well, so we did a bunch of area book work. We had four huge binders to sift through and update and got it down to one.

Brother Chaston

Sister Chaston

Saturday we went down to Nancy again for stake conference. There were so many missionaries there, it was fun to see them all. We also got to visit Brother Chaston, a couple missionary that we just love and had a heart attack a month ago and just got out of the hospital. He calls his wife his babe and said that shes been his girlfriend for like 48 years and they've been married for 46. Ha, I think that they are just so cute. He said he felt the taste of death and just shared his experiences with us and how we will have a host in heaven praising us for the work were doing. I hope I can be like him when I grow up.

Sisters that We Stayed With In Nancy, France

Sunday we were still in Nancy and this cute little family with no dad asked us to eat with them after. Everyone had brought food and everyone just ate in the cultural hall after the meeting before we all drove for a couple hours home. They were sooo happy to share their food with us and to have SISTERS be with them. There are only elders in their ville. I felt like a celebrity. They only had bread ham and a banana to give us while everyone else was eating quiche and chocolate moose... but i was so grateful to be eating crappy white bread and a slice of ham with them instead because I saw what it meant to them. On the bus ride home I sat by a 16 year old girl from the same ward who just was awed by me. I felt so humbled. we talked about her desire to go on a mission and how even in Utah there are trials for the youth to hold their standards. She thought everyone was just perfect in "utat". ha we exchanged cordonnées.

Well I best be going! I love you all loaaaddss and I hope all is going well

God lives and loves us!

LOVE

Sœur kohlert

Week 37: I Think People Just Simply Like Canceling on Missionaries

Well hello hello hello again......

Hey Everyone!!

It was great to hear from all of you this week! Thank you!!! I'm glad to hear that everyone had a very Happa Halloween!!

I got to help Miriam this week write start writing her talk. Its her first assignment since being baptized and its really pushing her and I'm really excited and happy for her.  The topic is on adversity, at first I thought that it was way too hard of a topic for her for being such a recent convert, but it is going to end up being such a perfect and inspired topic for her. I am so excited to hear it.

So this next week should be fun!! We get to go to France twice, I'll have to let you know about the adventures

Ha, so on Tuesday we got to teach Adele who is still going strong for her date on the 23rd. We taught her with her daughter at a little café. Ha we taught them the word of wisdom as they were drinking coffee. It was pretty ironic, if i can say so. But she took it really really well actually. She doesn't really understand why she can't have coffee but she said that if God wills it, she will do it.  So that's pretty darn cool. and she doesn't pray to her angels anymore!! Awesome right? She prayed to God and it the name of "Thy Only Beloved Son, Amen"... needless to say, I'm pretty darn proud of her.

We also went to visit the same less active that I was bold about with tithing. This time my comp promised her that she would find new work hours if she came to church four times in a row. Ha, when she made that comment I looked at her like WHAT? Ha, but she was told by the spirit to do so, so I support her!!

We had an awesome lesson with Sofia on the plan of salvation. she said that it is too good to be true. We used the Book of Mormon lots as we taught it and I think she is starting to finally see why we need the Book of Mormon because she said for the first time that she needs to start to read it!! Uhh... yeah ha we agree!!! i hope that she actually does.

The elders have an investigator that is a refugee so he can't leave the country, He turns 18 in a week or 2 and will probably have to be baptized in a kiddie pool that we fill up with water cuz we can't use the pool right now and the river is too cold and there is no font in Lux... hah so this will be interesting.

Well, this week was boring I'm sorry.

Everyone canceled on us so ya... it wasn't a very fun week, but we did get to find a cool lady that was staying in Lux for the weekend. She seemed really interested and we tried to act all casual, like we weren't excited that she was excited. We asked her if she'd be interested in the Paris missionaries visiting her since that is where she is from... she couldn't hold in her excitement and said OUUIIIII Like squealed it and clapped her hands at the same time. She was super cool and super cute and I hope that the mission down there can get a hold of her.

Well, that's all folks!

Love you and talk to you in seven days!

Love

Soeur Kohlert

p.s.  sorry, no pix this week

Week 36: The Rollercoaster of a Mission

EY EY EY everrryyyone,

I am officially over the hill as of yesterday. Starting the 7th of 12 transfers today.. pretty darn cool.

Well the week started off on Monday with a real good lesson with a cute family who has two nonmember children ages 18 and 16. I really want to work more with them. 

Then on Tuesday we had our LAST district meeting. it was so sad. It was Elder Esparza's 22nd birthday so we made him a really good german chocolate cherry cake. Unfortunately we couldn't eat half of it because his companion shoved his face into it as some sort of Equadorian:Peruvian tradition. Way fun though. We also got to go visit a non-active with the Relief Society President. She got a job and doesn't have much time now to see us and what not but that's okay. We still love her and her testimony is so strong. I wish we could get her to come to church!!

Last District Meeting Before Transfers

Wednesday we found a new investigator for the first time in two weeks... so that was refreshing. She is an African mommy of 4 and is a little skeptical of this whole Mormon guy (Joseph Smith) but she wants to follow the way of Christ. She lives like infinitely far away so that doesn't help. We taught Hayate and Sofia on Wednesday as well. Hayate wasn't getting it and she ended up dropping us yesterday... but Sofia on the other hand was totally uplifted by the member that we brought with us. She said shed start to read now and really pray to know its true. She has so much going on, but she really wants her new born to be on the right path.

Hayate and Sofia

This week was just fun. We were busy and it was good. We visited LOADS of less:nonactives. One of the members in the ward has two normal kids and two handicapped kids and she is awesome, from Oregon actually so that explains lots. She called us this week and invited us over. When we got there she was asking her kids if they knew why she invited the missionaries over... she said to prepare them to act as if Christ was at the table. She also said that during conference she felt that the prophets were speaking to her when they said to open up their homes to our friends and the missionaries... but because of her autistic children; she is embarrassed to invite people over. So she decided that every week she was going to have us over so that her kids can learn how to act when the missionaries come and eventually she is going to start inviting friends and our friends. Well also we ended up getting talking to her and she is a crazy good member missionary. She has like three families that she's working with and were sure going to help her! Ha, believe us. I thought it was so cool how she took the prophet's council to heart and STARTED ACTING, even if she couldn't do all of it at once, she starting to take steps. I am really grateful for her example and want to be like her.

a

Katia, a Less Active Member, and Her Son

Then on Friday we went to drinks with a member and her friend. It was so natural and easy as we invited her to meet with us to come to church. Ha, she just kept saying yes, yes! And then she came to church and just loved it and she texted US after and just thanked us. She is a 25 year old Russian who is so so cute and looks a lot like me. not that I am cute but she has my hair color and my huge cheeks and face shape..; that was actually the reason why the member thought of her, because I looked like her. 

Friday was also the ward "Trunk or Treat" party which was a hit. Tons of people came, less actives, non actives, and investigators. It was way fun and Sister Denning and I dressed up as missionaries from the 90's, since we aren't allowed to really dress up, with all the old missionary clothes that we found under our bed that the old missionaries left. that was fun. We also made baby cup o' dirts for everyone with chocolate pudding; crushed up Oreos, and worms. We were the hit of the party for sure.  You'd be proud to know i only ate one piece of candy at the party. ya... I'm improving ha thank you very much.

Sister Denning and I Dressed as Missionaries from the 90s

Sunday was soooo cool. it was the primary program and the chapel was PACKED! Litterally. Good thing two of the bigger families in our ward were out of town because they wouldnt have fit. The program was so cute and multi lingual. I definitely cried. Their spirits are so sweet. I cant wait to have my own family. One day right? Ha, so we had five investigators at church which was great. They all loved it. Adele, who has the baptism date just really soaked it all in

Well then life kinda crashed... well it did on a Sunday morning. Long story short, I ended up being chastened infront of all the missionaries and church leaders by the Stake President for a big misunderstanding. It wasnt fun, and it was so hard to just sit there and be humble and take it. It was a good learning experience for me. It was sad to end such an amazing week on such a low, but we live and we learn and we keep going on the ride of the mission.

So Sister Denning and I are staying here in Luxembourg for another transfer!!  We're happy. Ha we like each other. Wellllll, I think that's all folks! love you and can't wait to hear from you next week!! 

LOVE ME

Week 35: A Smoking Miracle and a Sunday Full of Laughs

This week I don't have a lot of time to write, so I am going to tell you the coolest miracles first and then work backwards...

So Anna, our Portuguese amie who is way cool, but busy. anyways we called her like everyday to make sure she was reading... AND SHE DID! but that's not the cool part. The cool thing is that we do our lesson and she was way way more attentive... but then, at the end she said "I have to tell you sisters something" we were like okay what? She said that she quit smoking!!!! She said that shes always wanted to but that she never has found the strength. Then she said that every time she goes out to smoke she just feels sick.. Okay coolest thing about this is that we haven't even taught her the wow yet!! at all! we didn't even know that she smoked and she just said that she felt like she needed to stop! pretty cool right? the BOM is super powerful n'est-ce pas?

Okay so the miracle bus lady texted us like 100 seconds after I sent you that letter last week! She said she would come to church, she didn't make it but at least she told us before that she wouldn't be able to come. I have high hopes for Valentina.

Ok, so Saturday we did something awesome!!!! Not really missionary related but I was like giddy. First of all it was sunny. I like warm. The elders go play soccer Saturday mornings with the ward and we don't normally go cause we gots other stuff we gotsta do... but we ended up going this week cause we got permission from our district leader and we RAN to the field. Then while we waited for the field I ran two miles then we ran home! I was sooo happy. I didn't think that i would get that feeling until I got home!! Ha, it was the best to not run in the freezing cold dark and for more than like 15 min! SOO AWESOME!!!

So here are some funny stories from yesterday during the investigator, gospel principles class:

1) My Muslim investigator (Hayata) thought that when we baptize the dead in the temple, that we literally dig up their corps and wash it and baptize it.... haha we were all dying laughing for a good 3 min,,, ha Hayate included, once she realized what we really do. oh also with her. I asked the bishop if we could play violins in sacrament meeting, I figured he would say yes because normally we just sing a hymn so i told all our amis to come listen to us. Well, he ended up saying no but Hayate was coming to listen to us, so we just snuck up and played the post lude music without telling the bishop we were going to ha..... oops

2) Maria, a recent convert of a couple months, got up RIGHT before the closing prayer and preached to the assembly for like 10 min. the whole entire room was trying to get her to to stop since we were already over time. She didn't listen at all and just kept rambling in Spanish forever ha it was so so so so funny

But we did have another rockin FHE with Jennifer and the stake presidents' family. i mean I didn't even have to teach a lesson.. ha he did it all and it was so so good!! she said shed promise shed read the BOM! AND SHE WANTED to to. shes cool. 

My companion made me do a facial Mask

Well today we went to a sweet castle in this little itty bitty baby city. It was so gorgeous. The castle was ok, but the drive was gorgeous. the colors were so so cool.

Vianden Castle

We have an interesting week coming up and transfers are not this wednesday but next.. so who knows if ill stay or if ill go.

SEND EVERYTHING TO THE MISSION HOME! nothing is getting to me here which is weird cause my comp gets tons... but id rather get it later than never

LOVE
SŒUR KOHLERT