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