Geen Meer Vlaams:(

Goedemorgen!!!

Hoe is it met jullie?

Pictures From members in Gent...

It is just great here but you can probably tell by the title of this letter that I have some news for you all...but don't worry...I am not going to get into that until later.(Smirky face)

This week was great.

We had Zusters Conference, and Zone Training...so we were extremely pumped up this week. haha

Zuster Bunnell is so cute, and made the Conference so amazing. We did service because of our awesome mission theme: Hearts to God, Hands to Serve, Love the One.We made quilts and blind-sewed tiny blankets for premature babies, it was great. She also got each of us a letter from our mothers, and it was so sweet, everyone was crying of course...because duh girls. 

I felt so uncomfortable in a room with 40 Zusters haha. I think I got too used to just Elders. But it was nice.

Shout out for Birthdays:

Katelyn!! Sorry I missed it, I hope everything is going well with school love and miss you.

Aunt Jen and Aunt Annette: Thank you for all you both do for me, you deserve the best day ever!! I love and miss you both so much!

also quick shout out to Broeder Van Workman at my home ward...hoping all is going well, and I cant wait

to be able to come back and speak dutch with you!

I hope you are all just as excited to watch General Conference as I am...I didnt take advantage of it, as much as I wish I did when I was home. I love reading passed talks now in the mornings for study.

Broeder Goethals was super excited for this weeks letter because we went to his house for dinner. They wanted to make sure I put all the wonderful topics in the weekly update, so of course I am not going to let him down.

Where to Begin: 

Mom I use that butterfly you sent me in lessons and everyone loves it, but what is funny, is I have never really been able to get it to work as well as it should....well the Goethals got a really good kick out 

​Zone Training. So sad to be leaving all my buddies. 

of this and they were trying to figure it out themselves...so Jasper looked at the butterfly and read the instructions: who know, they put instructions on those things...haha. Well it said to rewind it 40 times and they tried it and it worked perfectly....'TUURLIJK...(of course).

They thought that was pretty great. 

We also talked about becoming Gods and how Broeder Goethals was going to kill all of the flies, and said he cant wait to become a God "because it will be so fun....your dead, you drowned" haha pointing to Zuster Robbins and Jasper. 

He also talks about how I was in a pageant all the time, and made me talk about it this time, haha he loves to make people feel uncomfortable, and it is great. He reminds me so much of you Dad Alex. Cant wait for you all to be able to meet them.We had a lesson before The Goethals with Jelle at the church...and we were running late because of our other appointment, but we had to run home quickly first. So we did and then we ran to the church, and there is this fence that you can usually sneak through and it cuts the time in half. Well we get there and they closed it off again, so we snuck around the side to get through it as well, and me going first I put my leg in a big bush of stinging nettles...haha of course. Made me think of England though and all of the good times with nettles there as well. I saw Conkers as well on the ground here. It is so beautiful here.  Anyways we made it to the appointment of course but my leg was stinging all that night into the next morning, haha silly Tate.

SOOOOO....  

what the title means is: No more Flemish. Because we got transfer calls last night. 

Not gonna lie I was really confident that I was going to stay in Gent, but actually no. I am leaving. AND....I am going to GRONINGEN! which means super north in the Netherlands where they speak super thick gutteral g dutch...so yep no more Flemish for me. I am super sad actually because I love Flemish and I was getting really good at it. 

I cried like a baby last night, silly me. I am really sad to be leaving all of these amazing members and our awesome investigators. I love them so much. They are so extremely kind and incredible. But I guess it just means I am going to have to come back later. You would think I would be used to having to move so much, because of how much I moved at home, but wow this is going to be hard. You love people a different way on your mission, and it is a completely different feeling. I also didnt prepare myself well at all because I really believed that I was staying and Zuster Robbins was leaving...but nope. 

My new companion will be Zuster Carlson or Karlson haha. I met her at Zusters Conference, for like a second, and talked to her about volleyball, because she used to play as well.

We wrote on papers with Zusters names on them and said nice things about each other, and I wrote on hers..."hopefully we will be companions one day so we can kick butts in volleyball." well I jinxed myself for sure. haha But I am really excited. It is hard to leave this amazing place full of yummy chocolates, frites, and amazing people. But this will be so good for me, and I can already feel a fantastic challenge coming. Something to step up to, and I am ready and willing to accept. The Lord has a plan for me, I know that for 

sure. I can only trust in His will, because really a mission isnt for me anyways.

I love you all and miss you so much, but last night helped me realize that I really do love this place, this difficult language, and tough nut people. This is a once in a lifetime chance and I am so grateful that I chose to be here. I would be so devastated to have to leave so soon!!

Ik hou van jullie,

fijne week verder!!

Groetjes,

Zuster Stewart-Chester

​The Goethals...also he is holding a sign over my head that says..."read the instructions..40 times" haha

Anna Buysse, Flynn's future wife.....and Brother Goethals tongue in the background....ha ha

The Goethals....he is spinning his head in circles, ha ha,
but I captured him perfectly!!

Sherley she is from Nicaragua and is always a party...

Blessing...she trained sister Robbins trainer...so she is my "Grandma" sort of haha

​Antoinette from Ghana who is sooooo strong in the gospel, teaches Gospel Principles and was baptized in April. This is her cute baby Emmanuela. 

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Amy who taught us Bollywood dancing:)

Kimberly Verdegem: she served in our mission and was trained
by the same trainer as sister Robbins...so she is my "Äunt" 

The Symyncks our investigator is in pink:)

The Hall Family, I went to their wedding my first transfer!

This is the Hall family...

​Broeder Van Dendriesche...I hope that is how you spell it...also Jonas Symynck and Kevin Verdegem with peace in the background. 

JAMMER......

HALLO!!!

Sorry this weeks title....doesnt have anything to do with my week. Honestly I couldnt think of what to title this week...it was A PITY: which is what Jammer means. 

p.s. I hope you are all learning dutch words from my emails.

This week...well it was a great one, but then...None are ever really bad.

I got a little sick this week, but I swear the members secretly knew because they always made soup or something that felt so nice on my throat. It isnt anything too bad, still can get up and work so I am doing great.

The members here are so amazing...I dont know if I can ever leave. It is bad. haha But I guess I will just have to come back to visit, ALL THE TIME. 

Monday We went and played sports as a zone, and it was fun, I played soccer for the first time in a long time, and it was great...also football, but we wont get into that haha.

Zuster Young....

I went to Turnhout this week on exchanges with Zus. Young and she is amazing!! I learned so much from her and we had an amazing lesson with a lady in the turnhout ward....I really just followed the spirit and spoke, not worrying about my dutch, and it went so well. Turnhout is such a cute little town, I am going to have to just visit all over my mission, even the places I havent gone.

We had dinner with Mary this week, who is from Nigeria. Her and a couple of her boys joined the church not too long ago. She made us delicious African food, and even promised that she would teach us how to make it next time. So look forward to some delicious African food when I get back everyone!

Turnhout at night....

Our investigator Jelle is super awesome!! We always laugh soooo hard, and he is progressing so much.

We had the most amazing lessons with him this week, and the spirit was so strong. 

(From mum:  A member posted pictures and a video
of Tate Singing on Facebook)  I think I'm beginning
to love these members as much as TATE)

I love my guitar...I bring it almost everywhere and we use it in sooo many lessons, it is such a blessing. It brings the spirit so strongly every time!!

Mary gave us awesome matching pants.......

Went to Brussels this week it was raining so hard!  

Sorry nothing too crazy this week...I love you all and miss you like crazy!!

Ik hou van jullie!

wees veilig!

Zuster Stewart-Chester

I love having Elder Fairbanks in my district....

Zuster Robbins and I...on the train...

Antwerpen Station....Also notice the random camel on the left.  It's my favorite!

PARTY TANDEM BIKES....going to church

Goedemorgen!!

This week was pretty fantastic...but then every week kind of is here in Gent.

We had a beautiful baptism for a cute girl in the ward, and I said the opening prayer. One of the friends of the family was not a member...and he was talking to me after and said that he really thought I was from the Netherlands. Pretty cool. He was super impressed with how we missionaries learn the language so fast...Especially Dutch (everyone keeps telling me it is one of the hardest European languages)...So ya, the gift of tongues is real!!

It was funny we noticed that our days are like CHIASMUS. 

You know how the scriptures are full of repeating things and there is always a center of it? Well our day pretty much went like that. 

We woke up, had studies, planning, taught and took trams and buses, I got a song stuck in my head but it went away. Went to the Baptism(the center), song got stuck in my head again.. trams buses....taught, planned, studied 12 week (which is the stuff we study for our first 12 weeks in the mission field) and then Bed.

My life is like the scriptures...haha pretty cool huh?

Monday we had a really nice relaxing P-day....we just pretty much stayed inside and then went to the church to play board games with the Elders. 

But boy did we have fun...for some reason we have this issue with fruit flies. (I thought I could go anywhere on my mission, but boy am I blessed to be here...because I have realized how much I hate bugs...and I would have died in places with big bugs.)

We had to clean up our apartment...and I was getting real sick of those flies...so we took the vaccuum and went around the whole apartment swinging it around to get all the bugs. haha we were definitely a sight to see I am sure. You will have to make sure you watch that tape of my life in Heaven...haha. We were getting so into it and freaking out a little...but it is better now so that is all that matters right? haha 

We decided though that we are keeping the trash outside...because they live in our walls we think, somehow they always get in even though we never open the windows. We even made those traps for them and they are getting too smart...tricky little bugs. haha

Well enough about bugs.

This week we contacted a referral...boy was he not happy to see us. haha He told us that he felt "100 percent invaded by us knocking on his door and that he felt like we were trying to force our religion on him"...yikes sorry. haha 

But we had time and we were in a tiny little town called Schellebelle (cute eh?) so we knocked a lot of doors...

We recieved the best excuse ever:

"Sorry the police told me that I am not supposed to talk to anyone who comes to my door today"

Definitely the best I have heard yet...

We knocked doors, and then we were getting close to the time when our bus was about to come, but there was just one more house pretty much so we said why not. Well turns out it was the only person willing to talk to us that day, which was awesome. But we laughed because we watched the bus go past in the reflection of the door, It was great. So knocked some more doors until we could catch the bus an hour later. haha 

It was worth it though, because she was very sweet and took a Boek Van Mormon from us!

​Annq B took a selfie at the baptism for me...fantastic right..flynn this is your future wife..Their family is fantastic!!

We see miracles a lot...and it usually does happen when we miss our busses...wierdly enough. haha But it is great. 

I love it here a lot!!

I miss you all. Stay safe. Have fun. Maar niet te veel;)

Ik hou van jullie!

Zuster Stewart-Cheste

I love Gent

Goedemorgen Familie en Vrienden,

Life is fantastic here in Gent...

The city is beautiful, it is starting to get chilly, the members are fantastic, and our investigators are THE BEST!

Knocking Hobbit Doors in Leper

Last monday, we went to Ieper. It is a city that was destroyed in the War, but they rebuilt it all. They also had a really cool Museum about Flanders Fields...funny because it is actually in Antwerpen, but it was cool nonetheless.

We had a ton of miracles that day...I brought my guitar...GOETHAL (i realized I spelt it wrong before..sorry Broeder Goethal) and we had rapped it in a recycle sack to protect it a little. It looked pretty tacky haha. But on the way to the museum in Ieper...one of the Elders goes "Zuster SC quick go into that music store and buy a case"...so I did.

On our way back from the Museum...which by the way, was really fantastic, and it is crazy how there is just a spirit of reverance in places like those....it poured....and we had taken the long way to go on top of the wall that they built around the whole city of Ieper. Well of course I didnt bring a coat...but I did luckily have a case now for Goethal, so he was protected. We were drenched.

We got to the station, soaked, and we were told that the train was delayed and it had been derailed because of issues. Well magically another small train came out of nowhere only a minute later than the other one was supposed to arrive. Which was fantastic, because we had two appointments that night, that we had to get to.

The first was a super member present with Jelle...who is our referral that took us forever to contact...The Verdegem's were awesome enough to let us teach him at their house and bring him for dinner. They are awesome...It went really well, and we didnt teach him what we had planned but instead we taught him what he needed to be taught. The Verdegems went around bearing their testimony of how they knew this church is true. It was fantastic.

Then we were off...and late because we are terrible...to our other investigators house...Shauna. She has a doopdatum. We were late though so we just sang a lot of songs with their family. Which worked out great, because Shauna started school the next day, and wouldnt have been able to focus because she was nervous. But we relaxed her a little with some songs and the spirit was sooooo strong. I could just feel it. 

What is great, is that we didnt teach any of the lessons that we had planned, but they were both lessons that needed to be taught, and to bring the spirit. 

Also I got the best compliment anyone could have ever given me this week: 

Broeder Van Hees told me that I have a Flemish accent!!!! I was soooo happy. I hope I speak Flemish my entire mission. It is soooo beautiful. Plus the members from Nederlands also told me that they could tell I was serving in Belgium. They dont like it, but all well. haha

I can do the gutteral R thing that they do here now...I cant roll my R on the tip of my tongue still though, which is what people in the Nederlands do though...so I have still got time. 

This week we went to the Goethal's for dinner...Broeder Goethal told us the story of how he became converted. 

He said that the first time the missionaries came by he was busy but told them to come back. But when they returned his house was a mess so he didnt dare let them in. He told them this but he said that as soon as he opened the door he was hit with the spirit sooooo strongly...he said it took his breath away. He waited till the next time they came over forever he said it felt like...and they said that they almost didnt come, thinking that he wasnt interested. He was baptized after 3 weeks...I think.

This story hit me soooo hard. 

I really want to be a missionary like those who came to his door. Being able to shine the spirit that can hit someone that hard. I am working hard to always have the spirit with me, through my obedience, so that somehow I can impact someone just like those missionaries did for Broeder Goethal...it is incredible.

I know that this church is true!! Without a doubt in my heart. 

This week we met a girl who didnt believe in anything...not even a power up above. Why???? What joy comes from knowing that we have a loving Heavenly Father who watches over us, and that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to Atone for our sins, and become Resurrected. What a joy to know that we can live with our families forever and ever.

Ik hou van jullie, Ik miss jullie heel veel, maar deze werk is geweldig, en ik hou van mijn Verlosser. Daarom ben ik hier. Om mensen dichter tot Christus te brengen.

Prettige week nog!

Zuster Stewart-Chester

 LEPER is beautiful!!