September is certainly a chilly month in Holland. Our morning runs sometimestake us by a sign that displays the time and temperature - at 6:20 it's afrosty 8 degrees celsius. The trees are just beginning to change color andit's a beautiful time to be here. Plus we had a whole week without rain -glorious! ;) I never real saw myself on a bike in rainy Nederland as Iworked on my mission papers, but it's all part of the glorious experiencethat is this mission. So the work is going fabulously here. Irene's getting baptised onSaturday! Yesterday she had her interview with our district leader, andafterward he said, "Wow, that woman is amazing!" My response was, "I KNOW!Isn't she incredible? She's read James Joyce's Ulysses in English! As hersecond language!" Elder Berry (of my MTC district, now comps with ourdistrict leader) feigned interested out of sheer politeness and said, "Wow,I didn't even know who James Julysses is." I am such an English major onhiatus. =) But Irene is doing wonderfully. She's really bonding withdifferent ward members and is so ready and prepared to take this next step.Andre, our divorced older Surinaamer, is also doing incredible. I reallydon't know if they come more Golden than him. We taught him three times thisweek and laid down the law about the Word of Wisdom. He is more than willingto stop everything - when we said we'd understand if he needed time to quitwith smoking, he said, "Sisters, I didn't ask the house rules [of thechurch] for nothing." What a wonderful person. And Monik, our Rwandaninvestigator, has been to church three times in a row now and is getting toknow the Young Single Adult group. She's even inviting a friend of hers todinner at her house with us tonight so maybe we can help her too (apparentlyshe has a drinking problem, and Monik felt like we as missionaries couldhelp her get a better perspective on God and life). The language barrier isstill a problem (how I wish we could track down a Book of Mormon inRwandes!) but we're working through it. Something I really love as a missionary is getting to be part ofmiracles besides missionary work. On Tuesday we began talking to a woman ina little neighborhood park - she's from Brasil but married a Nederlander andjust now has a host of problems with a pending divorce, house ownershipissues, a teenage son battling depression, and she just began unloading onus. I had no idea what we could really do to help her, when two woman from acommunity organization called Huis Op Straat (House on the Street,literally) walked by and recognized us as Mormon missionaries. After a fewminutes of each of us discussing what we do to help the community, mycompanion said, "Well maybe you can help this woman!" And they began hearingout the Brasilian woman's issues and telling her who she needed to talk towith the local gov to get things sorted out. I really don't think these twowoman would have noticed our Brasilian friend quietly sitting on her benchif we (with our conspicuous nametags) hadn't been there. God is awesome. Then there's the Curacaoan woman we met who wasn't interested but veryfriendly. My companion yelled up to her window, "Well, can we just come inand sing for you?" "I don't have anything I can give you," she replied."That's okay! We just want to sing for you!" So we did. And it turns outshe's met with missionaries before, and we had a wonderful chat about Godand spirituality and helping our fellow man. And when we left she loaded usdown with fruit and a beautiful canvas bag she'd sewn that she told us wecould use for our grocery shopping. There is a such a sense of hospitalityhere in Europe that just leaves me in awe. She also recommended a friendwho's in a nursing home (I think) and needs a friendly visit and someuplifting words. I love being able to just... help people. It's awesome. Friday we had a lovely dinner with Zr. Hoppen and Danny, aconvert who got baptised a year ago and originally comes from Cote d'Ivoire(who speaks mostly French). We taught him about the temple and are workingon getting him along with all the other recent converts to to temple to dobaptism in a few weeks. So good. At the end, Zr. Hoppen pulled out a slideshow (I think www.mormonchurchtemples.com/slideshow ?) that showed picturesof every temple in the world and when they were finished, in chronologicalorder. It was astounding. I love this work. Just... miracles. Tracting into Sherryl, a young law student who metmissionaries in another city months ago but lost contact with them as shegot sick (the chicken pox! As a 20 something year old!) and moved toRotterdam for school and was all too happy to finally get her hands on theBook of Mormon and get a return appointment. Those missionaries probablythought she was lost - but then the Lord sent us to go find her. I love howpeople are prepared. Or pulling up to a stop light by the church (en routehome from an appointment) at the exact moment as a young single adultlooking for the church so she can go to institute, and being able to showher the way. Visiting one of the old grandmothers from the word and hearingher wonderful stories. Zr. Dettingmeier is like my Sister Papadimitriou(please tell her hello and that I loved her letter!) in Holland. For mybirthday she gave me a beautiful small ceramic windmill and chocolate barsthe next day at church. I swear she can quote any scripture you can thinkof. There are just so many incredible people here. And in my ongoing list of Muslims With Whom I Will Party In TheCelestial Kingdom, the other day we met a family who invited us in. We arevery careful not to proseletyze intentionally to Muslims for politicalreasons (and they're pretty much never interested anyway) but they are SONICE! This family just invited us in, gave us milk and cookies, and we had agezellig little chat about Ramadam. I love this culture so much. So the work is going forth, the Dutch is getting better, and I'm reallyhappy to be here. I pretty much never want to leave Rotterdam. I love youall so much. There are miracles everywhere - just don't be afraid torecognize them for what they are. I love agency - no matter what yoursituation, you can always choose to see the beautiful side of things andstep forward and go and do what you need to to bring other people joy. Ilove this gospel, and I love life. Have a wonderful week everyone!