Conquering the Area Book... Blessings!

Soooo I am pretty sure I spelled the word Conquering wrong. I can't spell anymore....

This week we took a solid couple of hours and attacked the area book. We had 2 of them and everything was super unorganized and there were lots of past investigator's and potentials that needed some attention. Zuster Romney and I went crazy organizing and calling people and making a plan for getting in contact with EVERYONE. Haha

We hopped on our bikes to contact a past investigator from a year ago that just needed a break. We decided that a year was long enough and we left a note in her mail box because she wasn't home. We got a call later that night, and she wants us to come over! We have a lesson this week and we are pretty pumped. She speaks French and not the best Dutch so we'll fit right in with her :)

Also.... we had 2 solid joint teaches this week. The first was with Petra. We brought along a member from the branch who will be leaving on a mission at the end of this week, and she helped out sooo much. We learned a lot more about Petra and her struggles with learning more about the gospel. We talked about Prayer, Scriptures, and going to Church- which we call the Big 3. Her struggle right now is coming to Church because she is not much of a people person, but I think the lesson ended really well. Her 15 year old son is still pretty interested too and they both have really good intents of learning more about the plan that Heavenly Father has for them. We visited with Petra twice this week- one was a surprise visit to pick up the 3rd wall painting she gave me for my Birthday!- and we had a really cool talk with her about how she is in a really good point in her life to learn more about the gospel. If she had met us a few years ago she wouldn't have been ready. But she is so ready now!

Birthday Present from Petra!

Our other lesson was with Kemal. His wife is a member but he is still looking for a religion. He's had a hard time finding time to read in the Book of Mormon, so we read a really good talk by Richard G. Scott from the past October's Conference. I can't remember the name of it but it has 4 things we need to be doing in our lives to have a good foundation. Pray, Read the Scriptures, Family Home Evening, and Visiting the Temple. The lesson ended really well because Kemal basically told us that he knows we don't come over for water, tea, and a good time. He knows he needs to be keeping commitments, and he even said the paragraph about scripture reading was just for him. Alsooooo.... I got this guy to pray. He always says no because he's nervous but I- Zuster Bush- was bold and firm and told him we'd teach him how to pray if he would pray at the end. He did it and we were all super happy for him.

We are finding lots of people to work with right now which we are really excited about. I seriously believe these blessings are coming from treasuring the resources we have and organizing the Area Book... as silly as it may seem. We are excited though! We have a lesson with a new investigator this week that I'll keep you updated on. Our Zone leaders contacted him on the street last week when they worked with us in Leeuwarden and we gave him a call and he's super interested in meeting.

Alsooooooo.... Happiest news ever.
I got a call a few days ago from the Antwerpen Zusters which, just that alone I was super excited about, but the person on the other end of the phone was Agnes! She told me that she just passed her baptismal interview and is getting baptized next Sunday! I am soo excited for her. When I left Antwerpen she had a goal for baptism but we weren't seeing much progression in her with keeping commitments. It is amazing to know that she worked so hard and is ready to follow the Savior's example and be baptized. I was so happy that she called me.

Also.... really quick. I gave a primary talk in Church on Sunday! The topic was Verlossing door Vergeving which means Redeeming through forgiving. The text was from Luke 5:17-20. It was really fun to do because there was no stress in it whatsoever. Also I got to stay and conduct the music for primary so that was a plus. I started off giving my talk to Z. Romney, the 2 teachers, and a 2 year old, but luckily an 11 year old walked in at the very end. Being with the primary made me realize how important it is to teach our kids when they are young. I'm super grateful for the chance I had to be in primary and young womens and I wish I actually would've taken it more seriously than I did. It's important!

From Emmett and Norah... Love you!

Knock! Knock! Knock! Then Run! Run! Run! 

This week is VALENTINES Day!

Thank you so much for the Valentine cards and packages!
I wear the bracelet practically every day!

And Mom I LOVE what you said about Sunshine in my soul. 

That has become my favorite song on my mission.

Well I better go... I love you all and I'm grateful for your support and prayers. Words of advice this week... Become someone better than you were yesterday :)

Liefs,
Zuster Bush

P.S.  I HIT MY 6 MONTH on FRIDAY! Whaaaaaaaaaaaat. Crazy.