glorious september days

So in this week's edition of the fabulous goings on in Rotterdam, we havethe Death of Zuster Baxter's Snobbery, An Exciting New Fiets, A DisgustingAmount of Lekker Amerikanse Brownies, and A Baptism! We'll start with themost glorious of those three happenings first, Irene's baptism. It waspretty much wonderful. She is very very much prepared (this woman inhalesthe scriptures and I can't wait to get home and mail her some Hugh Nibleyand such), and a recent convert, Sharlon, got to baptise her. It was a trulyblessed event. Zuster Knoelk and I sang the General Young Woman's theme songfrom one of these past few years, Daughter of a King, at Irene's request,and that went over pretty well. I like watching the Spirit make people weep.It's pretty fun. =) So Irene got confirmed Sunday, and she's very very happyto have made these decisions. There were many recent converts (and soon tobe converts) at her baptism, and it was just beautiful to see. In less eternal matters, my bike utterly and completely broke thisweek. So I bought a new one. All I can say is that is is FABULOUS to ridearound Rotterdam without drawing attention from passers-by wondering why onearth your bike is making that atrocious klunking noise. It's also nice notto be lamely slower than your comp on the fiets. Good times. But the sameday my bike died we set a baptisimal date with Monik, so you know. That waspretty amazing. Monik is the 33 year old from Rwanda we've been teaching. Her bigstruggle will be overcoming smoking. Both her parents were killed in theward in Rwanda, and she immigrated 15 years ago here to Nederland, so Idon't know if she came right before or right after all that madness wentdown. Her Dutch and English are okay. She's come to church the past month.And she's incredible. It is quite humbling to meet people who've gonethrough such difficult trials and who, by all my old shallow standards, arenot very noteworthy in the world's eyes - and yet who know their HeavenlyFather and depend on Him from day to day in a way I had never fathomed orcomprehended before my mission. So I hope I never forget hearing Monik sayover breakfast on Saturday, "You have to just keep on running and keep ongoing until you find God." Another incredible person is Andre. He was broken after his wifeleft him, and the Book of Mormon healed him. He wants to get baptised inMarch or February, but as of this week he's learned all the big commitments,and this blessed, incredible man's reply has simply been, "I will certainlydo that. Don't worry." He has stopped smoking before but he'll need to soagain, naturally, so please keep him in your prayers. I really just can'texplain how humbling it is to see someone learn about tithing, or the wordof wisdom, or the law of chastity, and simply accept it wholeheartedly. Noreservations. What a beautiful person. I wish you could all meet him. We also pulled Operation Brownie on our ward this Sunday and gavebrownies to everyone. It was pretty fun for Zuster Knoelk to announce inWard Correlation that we needed the first five minutes of every class andauxiliary, and then explain why - so we could bombard them with love,American-style. So that was pretty positive. The new Relief Society president liked the song we sang at Irene'sbaptism so much she asked us to sing it the next day in ZHF (Dutchabbreviation for RS). This time the American 2nd counselor in the ZHRPresidency pretty much sight read the sheet music. It was a little rusty,but the Spirit and grace of God covered us, and we made even more womenweep. You should look up the words - Daughter of a King by Jenny Philips. Iguess we all just need a reminder sometimes of where we come from, and whoare Father is. Saturday night after the baptism we had dinner with Eunice, a recentconvert who's actually in the other ward but comes in Joint Teach with usall the time. She's a Surinaamer who speaks perfect Dutch and English, whoteaches English to middle schoolers ( I think that age group) and who's flatwas so ridiculously cute Katie would have been drooling. It really was justa tender mercy to eat incredible Surinaamse food with two fabulous women andjust talk about life, missionaries, and the Gospel. Just so good. And the moment you've all been waiting for, the finishing touchto the Death of My Snobbery. As my family knows, I've often been a bit of anelitist as far as aesthetic things go, and coming on a mission, I wasreluctant about Sister Missionary cliches. Well, I've officially spent apday making brownies for the ward, and I now sing Jenny Phillips songs inchurch functions. But the final kiss of death came Thursday, as we wereleaving love notes in the mailboxes of members who needed a little TLC. Yousee, an American couple with an adorable 6 month old baby moved in a fewdays ago, and so I had an idea of photocopying my MTC Dutch phrasebook forthem - just the page with phrases for praying in Dutch so they couldcontribute more in the ward. And then we bought them Snickers so they'd havesomething to remind them of home. We wrapped the snickers in the photocopiedsheets with a nice handscrawled note of welcome, and then sealed it tubestyle with a sticker of a Simon Dewey painting. So I know give peoplelanguage help and chocolate sealed with stickers of the Savior. And it wasSO MUCH FUN! So I'm pretty sure I can't even reputably mock country musicwhen I get home. There's probably someone just too fabulous who adores it. In all seriousness, I really like what I'm doing, and I really lovewhere I'm at. Today we had a zone PDay in Den Haag and I got to bowl with acouple dozen missionaries, and then play a little beach volleyball, and Ireally don't think life gets any more positive than this. Thank you all foryour prayers and letters. You're amazing. This gospel is amazing. God is ourFather, and if we keep on running and keep on searching, we will find Him -and probably recognize that He knew right where we were all along. Love, Zr. Baxter