mission dreams coming true...

Hallo familie! And vrienden!

This week has been so many awesome mission dreams coming true. Lastweek we got tracted into by JW's (who were absolutely wonderfully sweet andas of yet I seriously don't understand why so many RMs are so antagonistictowards them - although it does get tiring to be called a JW multiple timesa day) and that was pretty awesome. This week I got to place an Arabic BoMinto the hands of an Iraqi who formerly fought with and translated for theAmerican forces in Iraq until he got injured, and is now living in Rotterdamwith his 3 sons. He's basically an elapsed Muslim who sees good in allreligions, but was definitely willing to read the BoM. So good! And he toldus he'd come to church before we even invited him. So that was pretty muchamazing. Pray with Riam!

And later that night my second mission dream came true - I got to eatAfrican food with my fingers! Wahoo! We headed over to Danny, a recentconvert from Cote D'Ivoire, who speaks French and a little Dutch. He made usthe most amazing couscous with fish and spicy vegetable sauce. Um, I lovebeing a missionary. =)

I also got to go frolick in a Dutch knitting store this week. We'dbeen talking for weeks of teaching Monik how to knit so she'd have somethingto keep her hands busy besides smoking, and last week Irene (a recentconvert) pointed out a knitting store to us. So we picked up some gorgeousyarn and needles and got Monik started on a scarf - she's a natural at it,but said it gave her a headache after too long. But it was really fun! Inever thought I would use that random talent as a missionary.

We also got to see Halloween celebrated in the Netherlands. There area few American women (or Dutch women who've lived in the US) getting theirneighborhoods involved in trick or treating, but the funniest thing is thatwe saw parades and people out trick or treating on Saturday night...November 1st... so I guess they Dutchified it and made it a two day event,just like their Christmas and Easter!

As far as actual missionary work goes, things are FABULOUS here!We're so busy... we don't really have much time to stop and eat... Let'sjust say my mission is totally not like The Best Two Years. At all. Andre isdoing fabulous, and Saturday we showed him the Restoration DVD with twowomen from the church there. After the DVD they began getting to know himbetter, and it ended up being more like a group therapy session thananything, with Andre spilling his life story, Zr. de Grote her conversionstory, and the two 22 year old American girls looking on in bemusement. Itwas so so so good for this lonely man to be able to express (to people withmore life experience than us) how it feels to be abandoned by his family (hewas orphaned at 14 with 8 younger siblings and no social welfare system inSuriname, then his wife left him 12 years ago) and then discover a newfamily at church. That was an awesome awesome miracle. It's also amazingseeing how these new converts are taking care of each other. Sunday afterchurch, Sharlon came up to me saying Irene told him about Andre's situation,and saying he (Sharlon) would be sure to get to know him more at church andmade sure he got more attention. I love these people.!!!

We had a fabulous first lesson withShehera, a Surinaams mom with two kids. She's been searching for the rightchurch for a long time and just loved the Joseph Smith story. She got sickand couldn't make it to church, but totally accepted a soft baptisimalcommitment. I'm so excited to go back and teach her.

Alisa asked about the Kastijn's (sounds like cost-stines) - we keep onhaving scheduling problems but we're due to finally go back and teach themWednesday night, so that will be fabulous. I have a really, really goodfeeling about that family. Sherryl is still MIA after her dad in Suriname getting sick - pleasecontinue to pray for her. She is the most ridiculously prepared woman I'veever met. Knowing her, she's probably met the missionaries in Suriname andhas a baptisimal date there.

In other awesome miracles, we got Sofi and her three (veryhyperactive) girls to church!!! Sofi is our Ethopian investigator with a bitof a language barrier problem. She told us months ago that she could nevermake it to church with all her girls, so this was quite a miracle - and nowI see why. Between the three of us vs. her three girls, navigating one busand one metro line, it was still absolute madness getting them there - butthey LOVED it. Sofi said if she had a car she'd come every Sunday. Wahoo!Even cooler, in Sacrament Meeting, her 4 year old Heeuwan saw a painting ofthe First Vision in the chapel and asked me if it was Joseph Smith. So good!Even if things don't work out with their mom because of the languagebarrier, I know these girls will meet sister missionaries again.

I just absolutely love being a missionary in Europe. It'sgetting cold, but that just means awesome delicious Christmas food, sowhatev's. =) Saturday we went with Irene to a gorgeous private maintainedpark in East Rotterdam. We biked through gorgeous older houses (most of theolder beautiful architecture in R'Dam was bombed out during the war, so thiswas quite the treat) and got to wander around a beautiful Dutch Park in thefall, talking about the gospel. I love what I do.

It's still hilarious and wonderful being Zr. Knoelk's companion.She's so delightfully out of the political scene because she's been here thelast 16 months - as she was asking me about the presidential election (whichI really don't know that much about) on our bike ride home, the quote of theevening was - "Oh, Obama's black?" I love my comp. Her family is alsorabidly repuclican and I was amused to see in the e-mail from her mom thesentiment that if the democrats win, our nation is going in Satan'sdirection, and the government truly will hang by a thread. That should makeAlisa happy! ;) But Zr. Knoelk's pretty happily ambivalent about it all -who cares about politics when you get to share the gospel with the coolestcountry ever?

Life is good, I love you all, and I'm so happy to be here. Some ofyou (namely Mom and Erica and Alisa) have questioned if I really am as happyas I sound - the answer is, on preparation days, absolutely! The rest of theweek - pretty much! There are indeed hard days, but they're much fewer andfar between than I thought they'd be. The gospel is true, so not much elsereally matters. Have a fabulous week, and know that Heavenly Father reallydoes hear and answer prayers!

Liefs,
Zr. Baxter