Giant Donors and "They even had a Book of Mormon that they had been reading and they didn't know what church they needed to talk to about the stuff inside!!"

HALLO IEDEREEN!!!!

Ik hoop dat jullie allemaal een geweldige week hebben gehad!!  Ik hou van jullie zo veel en ik mis jullie ook!!!  Het klinkt zoals het een leuke week was met Matt en Becca en hun gezin in Colorado!!!  Ik hoop dat ze van Garden of the Gods en Red Rocks hadden genieten!! 

What a crazy week it has been!!!  I am tired of being transferred already!!!  It is so not cool to have to lug all of your stuff with you onto the trains here in Belgium and the Netherlands.  Try having a bike too....it's ridiculous!!  So, last P-Day was just hectic.  We all had to pack all of our stuff and do all of our laundry...it was a little ridiculous.  I had to be packed by Tuesday morning because we were having district meeting in Turnhout....so I just took all of my stuff with me there so that I didn't have to deal with it on Wednesday. 

For our districts last lunch...we all got giant donors from the giant donor place in the middle of Turnhout!!  I was the only sister to be able to take on the challenge!!!  Just look at the pictures....It's huge!!

 And, since Zuster Brown and I are training, we had to both be in Leiden by 9:30 in the morning on Wednesday.  We...in order to make that work from Genk, we had to go and stay the night in Breda!!  I got to stay one more night with my favorite trainer in the world!!  Zuster Nielson goes home in three weeks and I am really not excited about that!!  I may just cry!! She is my best buddy!!!  I am going to have to find a new one...untiI get home that is!!  

So on Wednesday, we welcomed 29 new missionaries into our mission.  To put that into perspective...that was half of the mission just a few years ago.  So for us to have that many people come in at once is plain ridiculous!!  I am not sure what we all are going to do!!  Zuster Robinson told us all that by September, more than half of our mission will be on transfer 4 or less....I was just starting to feel like I knew what I was doing on Transfer 4...so you can imagine how hectic things are around here!!  

I am loving the new branch already!!  I followed familie Vankerckhoven from Genk all the way here to Turnhout!!  On our first night here we ahd a dinner appointment with the Van Gijsel familie!!!  They are super cool!!  She is the Stake young women's president and he is the stake young men's president!!  They have three boys and a daughter who is on vacation for two months with friends of theirs in the USA.  It was so nice to feel welcomed by that familie!!  They are super fun and love music and sports so there is always plenty to talk about!!  

On Thursday night, we had the opportunity to eat at the Arts family house!!!  Zuster Arts is the Relief Society President!!  She has two little boys and I just love their familie!!!  The coolest miracle happened right before we got to their house.  We were contacting families that day...and there were like none on the street!!  But just a few doors down from the Arts, there was a familie right outside.  Zuster Clement went right up and just contacted them, we had an appointment yesterday and talk about people who were ready for the gospel!!!
They even had a Book of Mormon that they had been reading and they didn't know what church they needed to talk to about the stuff inside!!  That was so cool!!   Also that evening, we were invited to the Relief Society activity and we were super excited!!!  We were talking about it ever since we came into the town just to find out that it was a movie night....I think that the members need a talk about what the missionaries are allowed and not allowed to do :)

My new companion is Zuster Clement.  She is from Lindon Utah and studied at BYU for Biology.  She doesn't enjoy all of my Utah State stuff, but has come to accept that it is a superior school ( I think that she is afraid that if she doesn't agree with me as her trainer that something really bad will happen)  She is really tall.  She used to play basketball, sometimes I ask her how....like when she falls down the stairs in our apartment :)  She is really excited to share the gospel and tries her best to talk with people on the street even though she can't understand most of what they say back.  I hope that this transfer with her will be a good one.  She is having a rough time adjusting to the life here just like every missionary does but other than that, everything is going well.  

Well...there has to be at least one thing that goes wrong while I am starting up in a new city.  Den Haaf, I got lost the first day.  Dordecht, my companion lost me again!!  Genk...well that was just a nightmare on the train and not having keys to our apartment or foode.  In Turnhout, our washer is completely broken.  I have no idea how or why but it is...  So Zuster Israelsen is hand washing things.  We have tried to find a laundromat today....there isn't one.  So we have to wait until Wednesday....Hopefully I can make it through the next few days!!  

Mom....I unfortunately do not really have any ideas of how to learn a child's prayer.  If I was there I would teach it to them in Dutch.  Dad, tell President Toombs that I am doing well even though I have been bnished to Belgium!!  Tell him that he may be dissappointed in my Vlaams accent when I get back!!  

I love you all and I miss you so much!!  I hope that everyone stays safe!!  Jake, that means no more battle wounds no matter how cool they look.  Rachel, don't do anything crazy while you are driving and trying to keep people safe at Water World and Elizabeth, that means do not get any older!!!  

Ik hou van jullie allemaal!!  Ik hoop dat jullie een goede week hebben!! 

Tot Ziens!!

Love,

Zuster Israeslen