Hooi familie and vrienden! So things are going great in Rotterdam other thanthe fact that I'm sick and managed to infect my new comp as well. Whoops! Somuch for the perks of companionship unity. ;) But it's just a cold, so otherthan power naps during language study time and not going out running in themorning in the cold, it hasn't held back the work any. Well, that and that Itold an investigator the wrong hour for Sacrament Meeting, so she only cameto the last 30 minutes. Yammer. That spacey head feeling is totally a drag.But luckily I found some sudafed this morning, so things should get better.
So yes, I'm now serving with the fabulosu Zr. Matos. She's the sisterwho was friends with my roommate Amalia (from my junior semester). Duringtransfers I also found out that Stacey Owens, a girl from my freshman wardin French 201 class, also is now serving here in this mission! So betweenher, Zr. Matos, the friend of Mike Sheflo, and Zr. Bennet (still don't knowwhen she's coming), I feel like the Kevin Bacon of the Nederland missionuniverse. It's fun having so many random connections. Zr. Owens was quitethe surprise, but it was really cool seeing a familiar face. Plus her frenchwill totally help her out in Gouda. Zr. Matos is pretty the bee's knees. Shemajored in anthropology at BYU and is a kindred spirit in a lot of ways -it's fun working with someone with a similar sense of humor and who isn'tthrown off by words like post-modernism and hegemony. Hopefully the Lordwill help us not feed off each other's slightly snobbish tendencies in booksand vocabulary. ;) Overall, it's really easier to feel like I'm working asan equal, so that's fun. I'll miss Zr. Knoelk and her strengths as acompanion, but change is essential to growth, so it's all good. Transfersthemselves were a little crazy, involving a sleepover in Den Haag with 5sisters in one apartment, but it was really fun seeing my trainer, Zr.Barkume again. Departing missionaries always fill me with a greaterdetermination to carpe diem it up and make every minute count.
Andre continues to do well. He is currently obsessed with True tothe Faith (a church dictionary of sorts specifically for new members andyoung adults). We decided when he texted us with a question over the ChurchDisciplinary Council that perhaps he's a little too excited about all thatinfortmation... but he's doing just fine overall. Found out he's alreadyread the Book of Mormon all the way through. He's just happy - and if you'dseen him 4 months ago, you'd understand what a miracle that is. I love thatman.
Ingemar is also doing pretty good. He still needs to quite withsmoking. Sharlon invited him to a young single adult FHE last night - wewere supposed to have an appointment with him after church, but we wantedhim to have the fellowship so we rode the metro out to the member's houseand retaught the WoW as their spiritual thought. Let me tell you, it wasweird being at a YSA activity again. Defintiely a reality check for thereadjustment that will come when I go home - "What? You want to engage inconversation about something other than the worth of souls and eternalprinciples of happiness? How passe!" Nah, it'll be good when the time comes,but it was fun seeing how happy I really am just being here. It's funny hownormal it is to be on a bike in a huge winter overcoat, gloves, boots, andscarves. I love Holland, and I love being a missionary. Monik is continuing to do well. Her house smells so much better nowthat she's done with smoking. It's fabulous.
So Thursday we had a Thanksgiving meal in Swijndrecht at therestaurant of the Dutch man who got baptized the same day as Monik. It was asuper fun gathering of missionaries with slightly Dutch-ified Thanksgivingfood. I love hanging out with missionaries. Our whole district had quite theshakeup in transfers, but it'll be fun getting to know all the new elders,especially our new district leader who likes throwing in Japanese duringdistrict meeting. Oh, languages.
Later on Thursday we got invited to eat second Thanksgiving withYeaji, a South Korean BYU grad who served in the New York South mission andis now here studying violin. She invited her dancer housemate to the dinner,so it was fun doing member missionary work and assuring him yes, Mormonsreally are happy living celibate alcohol and drug free lives. Afterwards weheaded to Salar, a Kurdish man who was actually a referral from Greece thatwe met by chance (i.e. God) on the metro coming home from Zone Conferenceback in September. He'd been out of the country for a long time, so this wasour first real appointment with him. He's amazing. Mostly we had todetermine if he was permanently in Holland or not (because if he wasn't andhad Muslim background, we can't teach him if there's a chance he'll getsent back to Iraq). He has political asylum here, so he's safe to teach. Healso has a lot of bad feeling against Iraqi Muslims (as a Kurd, I don't knowwhat his history is - I know his wife was killed in some sort of conflictthere). He's just a very, very good man, and although Kurdish is differentfrom Arabic, he kept his Arabic copy of the Book of Mormon to give to afriend, and this week we're coming back with an English copy he can read. Ilove love love meeting people from all over the world here. Everybody has astory.
Our other crazy awesome miracle of the week is a Dutch woman in herlate 20s by the name of Lenneke. Her coworker, the stake president's youngerbrother Luit, has basically been a rock star member missionary. I don't knowwhat sparked her interest, but he's very informally answered a lot of herquestions and brought her to various church activities. He gave her ournumber, and she called asking if we could meet with her. We verycoincidentally (i.e. Heavenly Father has a plan!) had a gap around 5 o clockthe next day, so we were quite happy to come. It was the most brilliant,clear 1st I've ever taught, thanks to how much Luit had already done. She'sread THE ENTIRE Book of Mormon! And seen the Restoration DVD! She basicallyhas no religious background other than what she picked up in school, and isjust wanting to learn more about God in her life. It was incredible teachingher. She was busy that Sunday but said she'd come this (she's already been,and to other YSA Activities). She's just amazing; I'm excited to teach herthe Plan of Salvation this week.
Oh! And I got the forwarded e-mail from Ron Hyte, the returnedmissionary who'd served here in the late 50s. It was delightful to hear fromhim - please tell him the e-mail address for the Mission Office is2015900@ldschurch.org (that's the mission's unit number) and he can e-mailthe office with the information of his friend he'd like to have contact withthe missionaries. I was very flattered to hear his comments and I'm glad myblog could help him make contact with the missionaries.
I also need current addresses of Ryan Nelson and Ashley Woodward, ifeither of them still read this blog. Thanks!
What else can I say? This work is amazing. It literally ishappening at a faster rate this year than it has before. The Lord isblessing Holland. I am so grateful for prayer, temples, scriptures, andmodern day revelation. Have a wonderful week, all.
Liefs,
Zr. Christa Baxter
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