Monday, January 26, 2009
What a crazy, crazy week. Being a missionary has several uncanny parallelsto dating. Let alone the area book and referrals and other oddly applicableterminology, it's ricidulous how much scheming and matchmaking goes intothis process. Like deciding who would be the absolute perfect joint teach /eternal companion for your investigator. And then there are those horribletimes when you just get dumped. So Marja, this older Dutch woman in her 50s,felt a little too pushed and decided she was done. She truly loves Zr.Kriser (I only met with her once here) but it's true - she wasn't reallyready to act on anything (even reading out of the Book of Mormon) and Ithink combined with her bad experiences with JW's in the past, she decidedshe should back out for now. That was pretty sad, but I know the Lord has aplan for her. We had interviews on Tuesday with our mission president. HE prettymuch told me I'm in Gouda for a reason - to help build the ward (which is arecently combined ward and branch) and to really use this time to build myown spirituality. He said he sensed I've spent a lot of my life developingmy intellectual capabilities, and now it's time to really expand upon myspiritual foundation. So two questions for all you wise and experiencedreturned missionaries and members: 1) how exactly does one go about buildingthe faith of members? (as we've been specifically told that this is not thetime to badger them for referrals) and 2) what has helped you to build yourown spirituality? We had a really interesting experience during finding. Gouda is very,very Dutch, and thus finding here is a lot like the Bible Belt - a lot ofreligious families who really aren't interested but polite. And then a lotof Dutch people who are really tired of JW's and sometimes yell at us forwho we are not. Which really isn't that big of a deal. But occasionally youmeet someone who is just celestial. Like Anne, this Dutch woman in her late50s who talked to us very kindly and openly on the door. It was rainy reallyhard, and the wind totally broke my umbrella while we talked, so she invitedus in for tea. Turned out she'd talked to Mormons before, though she wasquite happy with her own church. But she was just so entirely positive andopen about her spirituality and so encouraging of us. She openly respectedus for what we were doing and let us share a scripture with her out of theBook of Mormon (which she already has in a shelf upstairs somewhere) andthanked us for bringing sunshine to her day. Then she told us to keep onknocking on doors, no matter how many grouchy Dutch people said no orslammed it on us. =) It was pretty funny. I really can't explain thegoodness of that woman. I'm pretty sure we'll hang out a lot in thecelestial kingdom. Saturday was as good an example of missionary work as any. We tracted ina smaller town outside of Gouda that hasn't been so burnt out, and got tomeet a cool religious man who LOVED Teach Me To Walk In The Light, and is soexcited to let us come back next week with more church music. So positive.We were quite favorably compared to JW's by a couple Dutch people, andmostly everyone was pretty nice to us (I really don't know what JW's havedone in Holland but is never ceases to amaze me how much people dislikethem. =/ ). Then we went to Alma, a woman who's had two baptisimal dates butalso a rather anti-preacher from her old church. We watched the Testamentswith her and talked about the importance of the Sacrament and coming tochurch and it was one of the best teaching experiences of my life.Unfortunately some pretty awful and random opposition kept her home the nextday, but it'll come. She will come. Then on the bus ride back God totally put an awesome girl on the bus Icould easily talk to. I asked her what she was listening to (LoreenaMcKennitt) which prompted a whole conversation about folk music, wicca (whatshe believes), Christianity, spiritual gifts, JW's in Holland, etc. etc. Itwas SUCH a cool conversation, and while she certainly wasn't looking, shereally respected that I as a Christian would have no qualms talking to aslightly gothic wiccan. Which of course I don't. I think she''ll really digthe Plan of Salvation pamphlet I gave her. She also could apparently see myguardian angel the whole time we talked (a middle aged man with light brownhair, who she guessed was probably one of my ancestors. I figure I've gotenough grandpas and great grandpas who served missions, and heaven knows Ineeded a guardian angel that first transfer on a bike, so whatev's =) ). Then we went to Anton, who also totally dumped us and broke my heart.He says he can't reconcile himself to the God of the Old Testament. Wetalked alot abotu God as our loving Heavenly Father. I'm pretty sure hisreal problem is that he can't bring himself to openly, sincerely pray. Evenat the end of the discussion he said he's waiting until he can really actand not hold himself back. I absolutely know I was supposed to meet him. Ashe talked about good and evil, binaries and dualities and social constructs(I asked him if he'd read Derrida and he hasn't, but it's ridiculous howmuch lit theory at BYU prepped me for this man), I could just see myself inhim. Someday his need to know will overpower his fears. And it's so funnyhow he sees us, and our experiences with prayer. He's in a funny way quitejealous of the trust we have in God. And he said he wished he coulddisqualify the trust and spiritual strength there is when we prayer, but hecan't. So you know. I really can't explain what it was like leaving andbiking to another appointment. Because I absolutely know the Lord is notdone with that man; so you cry a little bit on the bike and then the Saviorlifts you up and you go on to teach other people. Later that night we taught Elon the law of chastity with Sharlon (fromRotterdam! Who drove over to Gouda to come on joint teach). Sharlon wasbaptised 10 months ago and is now the second counselor in the Elder'sQuorum. I LOVE that man! He simply shines with goodness. I think it was themost powerful, simple lesson on chastity I've ever been part of. Elon was sosurprisingly down with it. Now he just needs to quit smoking... and come tochurch. Step for step. And the family who'se wife we visited a couple weeks ago, who decidednot to leave her husband, was in church yesterday!!! Miracle! Oh, that mademy heart happy. I also had my first appointment with JW's. We totally were unwillingto fight about anything, and I think the Spirit actually touched the wife(She was totally confused by how we teach people and expect them to come tothe same answers we do in prayer. She said, "How do you convince people?"and we answered honestly that we don't. We just ask the to pray about it,and trust they'll get the same answer we did.), though the husband had a funtime throwing out Bethlehem versus Jerusalem scriptures (I am totally notbothered by that anyway. I figure in Jospeh Smith wrote the BoM himself, hewould have been smart enough to get Bethlehem right if he could copy so manychapters of Isaiah word for word.). Anyway, I still think JW's are prettydecent people all in all. I got a Christmas letter from the Fullers, which was really awesome andfunny. I also was a little sick with a slight cold, but thanks for theinsane amount of Vitamin C Alisa mailed to me (Ï've been ingesting HallsVitamin C Defense cough drops a the rate of a chain smoker this week) itdidn't interfere with the work and I'm not fine. Thank you thank you thankyou! Gosh, I really love you people. And I love Gouda and Holland. Thegospel really is the most beautiful thing. It does nothing but good inpeople's lives. Prayer is such an elemental beautiful gift; don't take itfor granted that there really is a God who loves you and listens to youprayers (and will even answer them) - teaching Anton has taught me howabsolutely magnificent that prospect is to those who can't fathom it. I knowthe Holy Ghost really does lead to truth, and there are answers to all ofour questions if we simply keep on searching and asking and working forthem long enough. The work goes forth. I LOVE YOU ALL! =) zr Baxter
Monday, January 19, 2009
Gouda cheese (because that's where I live!)
Hoi familie and vrienden,
Today was zone PDay so we got to play soccer and volleyball in theRottderam church building, and now I'm e-mailing from Blaak Library, rightin sight of the Willem's Bridge I used to bike over all the time... It's funto be back, even if for only a few hours. =) But things are pretty muchrocking in Gouda. This week we found a lot of new investigators, includingthis amazing family of a Dutch woman named Ilse and her 9 year old son Fabioand 10 year old daughter Manoek. Let's just say that these kids have abetter grasp of Adam and Eve and the Fall than some people I've seenbaptised - and they are hilarious! Ilse let us in, we watched a 6 minute DVDcalled Finding Happiness (I don't know if stateside missionaries ever useit, but if so, you should totally ask them to see it. It's amazing.) andthen talked about the plan. We get to go back next week.
We've just been finding crazy characters during finding. There was aMuslim woman in her 20s who actually let us in out of curiosity, though hersister was so devout and suspicious of us we really didn't get to explainmuch of what made us different from other churches. About 10 minutes laterwe met Joris, definitely the most interesting person I've met on my mission.He was slightly stoned at the time, but we prayed with him and he was reallytouched by it - commenting that we had a surety he wished he had. So we gavehim a Plan of Salvation pamphlet, and when we walked by his window (he livedin the ground floor) we saw him reading it at his desk. I also saw guitarsand a book about the Fin de Siecle era (so of course I was super curious).We stopped by the next day - his flat is like a cross between Nick Drake andthe main character from A Beautiful Mind - I've seen anyone with so manycassettes. He had stereolab and U2 and Smiths albums and CDs, a messy arteasil, two acoustic guitars and a piano, and sheet music from Mahler toSchumann. We set up an appointment to talk to him about God and the meaningof life at the church building (decidedly a better sphere). He reminds mesoooo much of my highschool boyfriend, but way more hazed out via drugs.It's amazing how being a missionary totally changes how you see people -because despite his interesting circumstances, Joris is undeniably a son ofGod. So we do what we can and keep on moving forward.
As far as people we've been teaching, Elon accepted the Word ofWisdom and is working on quitting smoking. I learned this week he's halfSurinamse, half Dutch, and his birth parents gave him up at age 2 becausethey were too instable because of drug use. So he was adopted and is nowstudying to do social work. I love people. I love those who make the best oftheir circumstances and just move forward with such positivity. We had anamazing lesson with him and our current bishop (who also is a convert andhad to conquer smoking) and it was so good. Now we just need to get him tochurch on a steady basis.
We also committed Lisette, a 22 year old Dutch girl, to baptism. She isso sensitive to the Spirit and is just awesome.
Right now Gouda is in a bit of a crazy situation - it used to be avery tiny branch, but was recently combined with the majority of the CapelleWard - so instead of a branch being incorporated into a ward, it's about 80people coming to a new (much tinier) building with a new bishop and newleadership in the works. It's all a bit crazy, but our bishop and his wifeare amazing - any woman who says, "Would you like to know when I'm availableto come on joint teach?" is pretty much a major blessing to sistermissionaries. =) And then there's Selina Wilkins. She was the Relief SocietyPresident from the old ward. We met with her to talk about how we can buildup Zion in Gouda, and it was truly inspiring. She has so many incredibleideas and perspectives. Nearly every strong member of the church I know inHolland is a convert - I love these people so much. Selina is such a rockstar member missionary. Furthermore, she told us to come see her Friday andshe'd drive us to visit women in Cappelle to we could get to know membersbetter. We had three incredible visits, one with a recent convert family,one with an inactive member (who's agreed to let us come over and teach herthe missionary lessons again), and one with a woman from Georgia (Russiastyle, not peaches) who's been a member for a few years now. It was amazinghow much a difference it made to have a member with us as we met thesewomen. What a blessing. People like her inspire me to strive to always beclose to the missionaries for the rest of my life.
Um, Saturday night we met Anton, who's pretty much the coolest personI've met on my mission. He used to be a devout Atheist (and yes, many peopleare quite passionate on that point here) but was always fascinated byreligion and met the elders a few years ago. Contact was lost when thesisters transferred in to the area, but Zr. Kriser found him a few weeksago. He is, simply put, jealous of the trust faithful people have. He's readALL the standard works AND Jesus the Christ by Talmage, but has had only afew powerful experiences with prayer. Everything with him is theory - actionis so difficult for him. I've never met someone so carefully compassionate.I really feel like lit theory and objective philosophy prepared me to beable to relate to this man. I'm excited to get to know him better.
Aaaand in other news, I got hit by a moped this week! No worries - itwas a pizza boy at a stop light who didn't look and knicked my bike tire.Both our bikes fell but there was no damage and I stayed on my feet thewhole time. And then we continued biking to our appointment! So thank myprotecting angels. =)
It's super fun working in a threesome, and I love this ward here. Ilove you all too! I've learned through Anton not to take prayer for granted.There is something magical and beautiful and supernal about knowing thatwhen you pray, there is a God who listens. And even answers. I love thisgospel.
Liefs,
Zr. Baxter
Today was zone PDay so we got to play soccer and volleyball in theRottderam church building, and now I'm e-mailing from Blaak Library, rightin sight of the Willem's Bridge I used to bike over all the time... It's funto be back, even if for only a few hours. =) But things are pretty muchrocking in Gouda. This week we found a lot of new investigators, includingthis amazing family of a Dutch woman named Ilse and her 9 year old son Fabioand 10 year old daughter Manoek. Let's just say that these kids have abetter grasp of Adam and Eve and the Fall than some people I've seenbaptised - and they are hilarious! Ilse let us in, we watched a 6 minute DVDcalled Finding Happiness (I don't know if stateside missionaries ever useit, but if so, you should totally ask them to see it. It's amazing.) andthen talked about the plan. We get to go back next week.
We've just been finding crazy characters during finding. There was aMuslim woman in her 20s who actually let us in out of curiosity, though hersister was so devout and suspicious of us we really didn't get to explainmuch of what made us different from other churches. About 10 minutes laterwe met Joris, definitely the most interesting person I've met on my mission.He was slightly stoned at the time, but we prayed with him and he was reallytouched by it - commenting that we had a surety he wished he had. So we gavehim a Plan of Salvation pamphlet, and when we walked by his window (he livedin the ground floor) we saw him reading it at his desk. I also saw guitarsand a book about the Fin de Siecle era (so of course I was super curious).We stopped by the next day - his flat is like a cross between Nick Drake andthe main character from A Beautiful Mind - I've seen anyone with so manycassettes. He had stereolab and U2 and Smiths albums and CDs, a messy arteasil, two acoustic guitars and a piano, and sheet music from Mahler toSchumann. We set up an appointment to talk to him about God and the meaningof life at the church building (decidedly a better sphere). He reminds mesoooo much of my highschool boyfriend, but way more hazed out via drugs.It's amazing how being a missionary totally changes how you see people -because despite his interesting circumstances, Joris is undeniably a son ofGod. So we do what we can and keep on moving forward.
As far as people we've been teaching, Elon accepted the Word ofWisdom and is working on quitting smoking. I learned this week he's halfSurinamse, half Dutch, and his birth parents gave him up at age 2 becausethey were too instable because of drug use. So he was adopted and is nowstudying to do social work. I love people. I love those who make the best oftheir circumstances and just move forward with such positivity. We had anamazing lesson with him and our current bishop (who also is a convert andhad to conquer smoking) and it was so good. Now we just need to get him tochurch on a steady basis.
We also committed Lisette, a 22 year old Dutch girl, to baptism. She isso sensitive to the Spirit and is just awesome.
Right now Gouda is in a bit of a crazy situation - it used to be avery tiny branch, but was recently combined with the majority of the CapelleWard - so instead of a branch being incorporated into a ward, it's about 80people coming to a new (much tinier) building with a new bishop and newleadership in the works. It's all a bit crazy, but our bishop and his wifeare amazing - any woman who says, "Would you like to know when I'm availableto come on joint teach?" is pretty much a major blessing to sistermissionaries. =) And then there's Selina Wilkins. She was the Relief SocietyPresident from the old ward. We met with her to talk about how we can buildup Zion in Gouda, and it was truly inspiring. She has so many incredibleideas and perspectives. Nearly every strong member of the church I know inHolland is a convert - I love these people so much. Selina is such a rockstar member missionary. Furthermore, she told us to come see her Friday andshe'd drive us to visit women in Cappelle to we could get to know membersbetter. We had three incredible visits, one with a recent convert family,one with an inactive member (who's agreed to let us come over and teach herthe missionary lessons again), and one with a woman from Georgia (Russiastyle, not peaches) who's been a member for a few years now. It was amazinghow much a difference it made to have a member with us as we met thesewomen. What a blessing. People like her inspire me to strive to always beclose to the missionaries for the rest of my life.
Um, Saturday night we met Anton, who's pretty much the coolest personI've met on my mission. He used to be a devout Atheist (and yes, many peopleare quite passionate on that point here) but was always fascinated byreligion and met the elders a few years ago. Contact was lost when thesisters transferred in to the area, but Zr. Kriser found him a few weeksago. He is, simply put, jealous of the trust faithful people have. He's readALL the standard works AND Jesus the Christ by Talmage, but has had only afew powerful experiences with prayer. Everything with him is theory - actionis so difficult for him. I've never met someone so carefully compassionate.I really feel like lit theory and objective philosophy prepared me to beable to relate to this man. I'm excited to get to know him better.
Aaaand in other news, I got hit by a moped this week! No worries - itwas a pizza boy at a stop light who didn't look and knicked my bike tire.Both our bikes fell but there was no damage and I stayed on my feet thewhole time. And then we continued biking to our appointment! So thank myprotecting angels. =)
It's super fun working in a threesome, and I love this ward here. Ilove you all too! I've learned through Anton not to take prayer for granted.There is something magical and beautiful and supernal about knowing thatwhen you pray, there is a God who listens. And even answers. I love thisgospel.
Liefs,
Zr. Baxter
Monday, January 12, 2009
Happy January 12!
Hoi iedereen!
So I'm now writing you from the lovely Gouda. It's about 20 minutes
away from Rotterdam, but a much smaller city with an entirely different
feel. This area used to have the reputation of being rather slow as far as
cities with sister missionaries go, but lately the work has been going
incredibly here, and with the division of the Capelle Ward, the branch here
has become a proper ward, so there's lots of exciting things going on here.
My companions are Zr. Kabenda, the Surinaamer I served with in Rotterdam 6
months ago (it is so gratifying to be able to understand almost everything
she says this time around - and she's a pretty funny one, so it's good) and
Zr. Kriser, a ridiculously positive and sweet person from Utah. I'd been on
an exchange with her before and loved working with her so much I was pretty
sure we'd never actually be companions. So our companionship is definitely
one of the funnest I've been part of.
Wednesday night we went to the church to teach Elon, a young man in
his 20s who has a baptisimal date in February. They've taught him a lot
about the Restoration, and he had two friends who were interested in talking
about Christ and came along for the discussion. The ward mission leader,
Douglas, and his wife Marielle (they're in their early 20s) also came along,
so it was quite the party at the church. One of Elon's friends, Valmir, was
a pretty cool character - he comes from Kosovo and was raised Muslim but
converted to Christianity. We had wanted to share Joseph Smith's story with
them and the message of the Restoration, but as soon as Valmir caught sight
of the Book of Mormon, he got really suspicious and started asking some
really pointed questions. Once he realized we believe in scripture other
than the Bible, it quickly turned into a one-sided bashing session. It
really was almost funny how utterly unwilling to listen this young man was.
It taught me a lot about how not to teach. About 20 minutes into his tirade
we realized there really wasn't anything we could do, so we very honestly
told him we had to go so we could be home on time. He was pretty annoyed we
could only meet for 30 minutes (the normal length of appointments) and
implied we were pansies and couldn't answer any of his questions and were
just taking the easy out. It was quite a crazy funny situation. =) It was
interesting to see Elon telling him he just needed to open his heart and
listen about Joseph Smith and his experiences with God. Anyway, by the end
of his tirade he also had the grace to add that, according to the Bible,
woman can't teach in the church anyway (thank you Paul!) so... at that point
it was just funny. We asked if we could pray before we left, and he seized
the opportunity, and prayed for at least 7 or 8 minutes. Whew! It was almost
funny how absolutely absent the Spirit was. But I sure learned a lot about
how not to bring the Spirit into lessons. And Elon didn't seem to really
share any of Valmir's opinions. So kind of a crazy experience, but all's
well that end's well.
Luckily the next day we met Jennifer, an awesome Dutch mom the sisters
in Amsterdam met. We set a baptisimal date for her in February, and it was
so cool to see the Spirit teaching her - at the beginning of the lesson she
was saying how she wants to follow God but her life is just crazy busy and
there's so many conflicts going on right now. By the end she was saying, "I
guess there's never an easy or convenient time to follow Christ." I love
people, and I love how the Spirit can teach people so much better than we
can!
Gouda is a ridiculously big area, since our proselyting area
covers a lot of smaller villages in the area. On Friday we biked more than
an hour out to one area. It's absolutely beautiful though; I'm so excited to
be here for spring. It's also been ridiculously cold - the canals froze over
and everyone's been ice skating. Having your feet go numb while tracting
(despite boots and multiple pairs of socks) is not the pleasantest of
experiences, but it was a blessing in surprise - since everything had frozen
over, Elon's soccer game was cancelled and he could come to church! Anywho,
it's gotten warmer today (I've never been so excited to see ice melt) and
things are going good.
Church was pretty fun, especially with the new ward. I was this close
to having to teach Young Woman's with 12 hours notice, but luckily the Stake
YW President was there and showed a talk on her iBook (I was only slightly
drooling) from the New Year's Eve broadcast Jeffrey R. Holland and other
church leaders gave. So she translated the talk as he gave it, and it was
pretty cool. Irene, a recent convert from Rotterdam, actually came to Gouda
to see me and Zr. Kabenda, so that was also incredibly positive! It really
did my heart good to see her.
We're teaching a lot of people here, including a couple families from
Angola, which makes for some interesting translation problems, but luckily a
counselor in the Stake Presidency and his wife are from Portugual, and
they're now in our ward, so that helps tremendously. It's really cool to be
teaching families.
And last night on the way home from an appointment, Zr. Kriser felt
like we needed to drop by an inactive family. Only the wife was home, and
was proceeded was a crazy tug-of-war with the Spirit. She took forever to
answer to door, then insisted she needed to go meet her husband somewhere.
Zr. Kriser very kindly and firmly kept on asking her if she was all right,
if we could share a scripture with her, if we could pray with her. Her story
kept on changing; eventually she suggested we come inside, and opened up to
us about a lot of family problems she'd had with her kids and husband. We
learned she'd been thinking very seriously about leaving him. The Holy Ghost
really guided us to share certain scriptures and ask certain questions. By
the end of our talk, she was saying, "I guess it really won't help to run
away. That won't fix any problems." We all testified to her that her family
and marriage are worth saving, and that they can be saved, through the
Atonement and through the efforts of her and her husband. Right before he
came home, she looked me in the eye and asked me, "Sister, do you really
believe that? I mean, do you really believe that we can be healed?" And we
said yes. It was a really interesting experience. She's from South America
and the common language between us was English - Mom always comments it'd be
cool to have gone foreign speaking on a mission because then you'd have to
rely on the Spirit more. But I must admit, the times on my mission that I've
most felt like the Spirit was working through me was when I was talking in
English. I know Heavenly Father guided us to go talk to that family.
So... good things are happening in Gouda! Thank you all for your
continued prayers and support. And of course letters. =) I love this gospel
and I love the way it changes people's lives. And I love you! Have a
wonderful week. =)
Liefs,
Zr. Baxter
So I'm now writing you from the lovely Gouda. It's about 20 minutes
away from Rotterdam, but a much smaller city with an entirely different
feel. This area used to have the reputation of being rather slow as far as
cities with sister missionaries go, but lately the work has been going
incredibly here, and with the division of the Capelle Ward, the branch here
has become a proper ward, so there's lots of exciting things going on here.
My companions are Zr. Kabenda, the Surinaamer I served with in Rotterdam 6
months ago (it is so gratifying to be able to understand almost everything
she says this time around - and she's a pretty funny one, so it's good) and
Zr. Kriser, a ridiculously positive and sweet person from Utah. I'd been on
an exchange with her before and loved working with her so much I was pretty
sure we'd never actually be companions. So our companionship is definitely
one of the funnest I've been part of.
Wednesday night we went to the church to teach Elon, a young man in
his 20s who has a baptisimal date in February. They've taught him a lot
about the Restoration, and he had two friends who were interested in talking
about Christ and came along for the discussion. The ward mission leader,
Douglas, and his wife Marielle (they're in their early 20s) also came along,
so it was quite the party at the church. One of Elon's friends, Valmir, was
a pretty cool character - he comes from Kosovo and was raised Muslim but
converted to Christianity. We had wanted to share Joseph Smith's story with
them and the message of the Restoration, but as soon as Valmir caught sight
of the Book of Mormon, he got really suspicious and started asking some
really pointed questions. Once he realized we believe in scripture other
than the Bible, it quickly turned into a one-sided bashing session. It
really was almost funny how utterly unwilling to listen this young man was.
It taught me a lot about how not to teach. About 20 minutes into his tirade
we realized there really wasn't anything we could do, so we very honestly
told him we had to go so we could be home on time. He was pretty annoyed we
could only meet for 30 minutes (the normal length of appointments) and
implied we were pansies and couldn't answer any of his questions and were
just taking the easy out. It was quite a crazy funny situation. =) It was
interesting to see Elon telling him he just needed to open his heart and
listen about Joseph Smith and his experiences with God. Anyway, by the end
of his tirade he also had the grace to add that, according to the Bible,
woman can't teach in the church anyway (thank you Paul!) so... at that point
it was just funny. We asked if we could pray before we left, and he seized
the opportunity, and prayed for at least 7 or 8 minutes. Whew! It was almost
funny how absolutely absent the Spirit was. But I sure learned a lot about
how not to bring the Spirit into lessons. And Elon didn't seem to really
share any of Valmir's opinions. So kind of a crazy experience, but all's
well that end's well.
Luckily the next day we met Jennifer, an awesome Dutch mom the sisters
in Amsterdam met. We set a baptisimal date for her in February, and it was
so cool to see the Spirit teaching her - at the beginning of the lesson she
was saying how she wants to follow God but her life is just crazy busy and
there's so many conflicts going on right now. By the end she was saying, "I
guess there's never an easy or convenient time to follow Christ." I love
people, and I love how the Spirit can teach people so much better than we
can!
Gouda is a ridiculously big area, since our proselyting area
covers a lot of smaller villages in the area. On Friday we biked more than
an hour out to one area. It's absolutely beautiful though; I'm so excited to
be here for spring. It's also been ridiculously cold - the canals froze over
and everyone's been ice skating. Having your feet go numb while tracting
(despite boots and multiple pairs of socks) is not the pleasantest of
experiences, but it was a blessing in surprise - since everything had frozen
over, Elon's soccer game was cancelled and he could come to church! Anywho,
it's gotten warmer today (I've never been so excited to see ice melt) and
things are going good.
Church was pretty fun, especially with the new ward. I was this close
to having to teach Young Woman's with 12 hours notice, but luckily the Stake
YW President was there and showed a talk on her iBook (I was only slightly
drooling) from the New Year's Eve broadcast Jeffrey R. Holland and other
church leaders gave. So she translated the talk as he gave it, and it was
pretty cool. Irene, a recent convert from Rotterdam, actually came to Gouda
to see me and Zr. Kabenda, so that was also incredibly positive! It really
did my heart good to see her.
We're teaching a lot of people here, including a couple families from
Angola, which makes for some interesting translation problems, but luckily a
counselor in the Stake Presidency and his wife are from Portugual, and
they're now in our ward, so that helps tremendously. It's really cool to be
teaching families.
And last night on the way home from an appointment, Zr. Kriser felt
like we needed to drop by an inactive family. Only the wife was home, and
was proceeded was a crazy tug-of-war with the Spirit. She took forever to
answer to door, then insisted she needed to go meet her husband somewhere.
Zr. Kriser very kindly and firmly kept on asking her if she was all right,
if we could share a scripture with her, if we could pray with her. Her story
kept on changing; eventually she suggested we come inside, and opened up to
us about a lot of family problems she'd had with her kids and husband. We
learned she'd been thinking very seriously about leaving him. The Holy Ghost
really guided us to share certain scriptures and ask certain questions. By
the end of our talk, she was saying, "I guess it really won't help to run
away. That won't fix any problems." We all testified to her that her family
and marriage are worth saving, and that they can be saved, through the
Atonement and through the efforts of her and her husband. Right before he
came home, she looked me in the eye and asked me, "Sister, do you really
believe that? I mean, do you really believe that we can be healed?" And we
said yes. It was a really interesting experience. She's from South America
and the common language between us was English - Mom always comments it'd be
cool to have gone foreign speaking on a mission because then you'd have to
rely on the Spirit more. But I must admit, the times on my mission that I've
most felt like the Spirit was working through me was when I was talking in
English. I know Heavenly Father guided us to go talk to that family.
So... good things are happening in Gouda! Thank you all for your
continued prayers and support. And of course letters. =) I love this gospel
and I love the way it changes people's lives. And I love you! Have a
wonderful week. =)
Liefs,
Zr. Baxter
Monday, January 5, 2009
HOI!
So, on the exciting news side of things, I'm getting transferred toGouda! My new mailing address will be:
Zr. Baxter
Gloriantplantsoen 60
2805 XD Gouda
NEDERLAND
I'm pretty excited, all in all. I'll be serving with a Zr. Kriser (an incredibly positive and purely good Idaho-an) and again with Zr Kabenda, thesecond sister missionary from Suriname ever (also the one I served with withZr. Knoelk here in Rotterdam 6 months ago). Gouda is a good deal smaller andcovers a lot of smaller villages around it, so there'll be fewer Surinamersand fewer people speakign Dutch as a second language - so add that plus Zr.Kabenda, and it's time to rock the Nederlands and improve my languageskills. The branch there also recently became a ward as Cappelle got splitbetween Gouda and Rotterdam I (my current ward), so it's an exciting time tobe there.
This past week has seen a lot of cool things, not the least of whichwas New Years. For a country that makes it illegal to be outside withoutgovernmental ID and requires you to sign in and out of cities you live in,they are RIDICULOUSLY lax on fireworks. Last year Zr. Matos got roman-candlefired-at just biking through The Hague (literally sweeping fireworks off herskirt) so she'd totally built up this image for me of New Years as a time ofpanic and mayhem. Luckily the mission required us to be indoors by 6 PM thisyear, and while there were lots of fireworks throughout the day (tractingvaguely resembled a war zone in terms of smoke and explosions), it wasn'treally until midnight that we got woken up again by all our neighbors goingoff. So you know. That was fun, overall. =) The canals have also beenhovering right around freezing, so often biking through Rotterdam you cansee families out ice skating, which is pretty charming and picturesque. Ishould have taken pictures.
This week has also seen some nice missionary progress. We'd sloweddown a bit with the holidays, although even though we weren't finding hardlyanyone through tracting, we totally were blessed through good sincere peopleto teach through referrals and old investigators randomly calling out of theblue. Anilda, the Portuguese woman who investigated a couple years ago,happened to have a friend, Jose, over not once but twice while we wereteaching her. He asked us for a Book of Mormon after sitting in for the last5 minutes or so of the Restoration DVD, and happened to be there a coupleappointments later, so we were able to invite him to church (he came! Shestill hasn't!) and teach him last night. What an awesome blessing. Hedoesnt' speak much Dutch, so between Zr. matos's Spanish and Natalie, an aupair from Peru, we get by. I mostly nod and occasionally bear my testimonyor something. But it's all good.
Lenneke is doing AMAZING. We taught her Tuesday about obedience withLuid (her co-worker through whom she's made contact with the church), andThursday about the Ten Commandments with Eunice (the amazing 27 year oldSurinamer who got baptised about 8 months ago and is just on fire. I loveher.). She also came to a baptism from a yougn Chinese student the elderstaught named Wei Wei. At the baptism she commented that it was as scary asshe thought it might be. She also said that in a periodical interview at herinternship, her superiors have noticed really good things in her and herrelationship with people around her - so she's noticing others noticingchanges since she's been coming to church. Last Sunday she made up her mindafter church that if anyone called, she would just be brave and mentionshe'd been to church - and her mom, coworker, and cousin all called. Her momis becoming more positive about this whole church thing, and before we eventaught her the Ten Commandments she decided to start sporting (working out?)on Saturday instead of Sunday. I LOVE HER! She's just so entirely... normaland good and seeking for truth. She now talks about baptism as somethingshe's seriously considering doing. So I'm sad to be leaving, but Gouda's nottoo far and maybe we can bring some investigators to her baptisimal service,should she make that choice.
Wei Wei's baptism itself was pretty fun. We missionaries sang "I StandAll Amazed" with the last verse in (I'm sure absolutely butchered) Chinese.Hilarious! He loved it though. It reminded me of my old roommate Kristy Lu(from whom I recently recieved a letter) so that was quite positive.
Other fun miracles include Irene, a recent convert, calling us up on NewYears Day and inviting us over to meet a friend of hers whom she wanted tohelp accept the gospel. He'd come over to help haul away some old junk inher basement - once he figured out we were from that new church she'd joinedhe was preeeetty quick to make his excuses and leave, which was almostcomical, but it was AMAZING that she was so proactive about helping herfriends have exposure to the church. I love new members! So we read D&C 122(maybe 123?) :17 about doing all things in your power cheerfully and lettingGod work the miracles. Love it. We also were blessed to recontact Edna and Paulo, the Cab Verdiansefamily we've intermittently been teaching over the past months. She was soexcited to see us and asked us when we were coming over again, so now Zr.Matos and her new comps can work their charm and help that family becomeeternal. =)
In ZHV (=relief society) we welcomed 7 or 8 new sisters from the otherward that had just been split, and Zr. Verhoeven gave an AMAZING talk onunity and sisterhood. We were asked to again sing Daughter of a King, andwere blessed to really bring the spirit in. I love this ward so much. Somuch. I'm glad I'll still be able to see them at Stake Conferences and GenConference and the like.
We also found a family during finding yesterday, and the contact wasjust so normal and natural I felt like we could be ina Preach My Gospelreality TV show. Good times. Families are always miracles, especially whenthe father is the interested spouse.
So things keep on keeping on. 2009 is off to a grand start, and in4 days I'll hit my halfway mark as a missionary. Absolutely nuts. I reallylove you all and am so thankful for your support and mail. I'm really gonnamiss Rotterdam, but Gouda is a really different area and it'll be good forme to better my Dutch, and fun to serve in a slightly more scenic place. Iknow Heavenly Father answers our prayers. Have a wonderful week!
Liefs,
zr. C Baxter
Also please pray for Monik and Ingemar who've both started smoking again.It'll come good for them eventually.
So, on the exciting news side of things, I'm getting transferred toGouda! My new mailing address will be:
Zr. Baxter
Gloriantplantsoen 60
2805 XD Gouda
NEDERLAND
I'm pretty excited, all in all. I'll be serving with a Zr. Kriser (an incredibly positive and purely good Idaho-an) and again with Zr Kabenda, thesecond sister missionary from Suriname ever (also the one I served with withZr. Knoelk here in Rotterdam 6 months ago). Gouda is a good deal smaller andcovers a lot of smaller villages around it, so there'll be fewer Surinamersand fewer people speakign Dutch as a second language - so add that plus Zr.Kabenda, and it's time to rock the Nederlands and improve my languageskills. The branch there also recently became a ward as Cappelle got splitbetween Gouda and Rotterdam I (my current ward), so it's an exciting time tobe there.
This past week has seen a lot of cool things, not the least of whichwas New Years. For a country that makes it illegal to be outside withoutgovernmental ID and requires you to sign in and out of cities you live in,they are RIDICULOUSLY lax on fireworks. Last year Zr. Matos got roman-candlefired-at just biking through The Hague (literally sweeping fireworks off herskirt) so she'd totally built up this image for me of New Years as a time ofpanic and mayhem. Luckily the mission required us to be indoors by 6 PM thisyear, and while there were lots of fireworks throughout the day (tractingvaguely resembled a war zone in terms of smoke and explosions), it wasn'treally until midnight that we got woken up again by all our neighbors goingoff. So you know. That was fun, overall. =) The canals have also beenhovering right around freezing, so often biking through Rotterdam you cansee families out ice skating, which is pretty charming and picturesque. Ishould have taken pictures.
This week has also seen some nice missionary progress. We'd sloweddown a bit with the holidays, although even though we weren't finding hardlyanyone through tracting, we totally were blessed through good sincere peopleto teach through referrals and old investigators randomly calling out of theblue. Anilda, the Portuguese woman who investigated a couple years ago,happened to have a friend, Jose, over not once but twice while we wereteaching her. He asked us for a Book of Mormon after sitting in for the last5 minutes or so of the Restoration DVD, and happened to be there a coupleappointments later, so we were able to invite him to church (he came! Shestill hasn't!) and teach him last night. What an awesome blessing. Hedoesnt' speak much Dutch, so between Zr. matos's Spanish and Natalie, an aupair from Peru, we get by. I mostly nod and occasionally bear my testimonyor something. But it's all good.
Lenneke is doing AMAZING. We taught her Tuesday about obedience withLuid (her co-worker through whom she's made contact with the church), andThursday about the Ten Commandments with Eunice (the amazing 27 year oldSurinamer who got baptised about 8 months ago and is just on fire. I loveher.). She also came to a baptism from a yougn Chinese student the elderstaught named Wei Wei. At the baptism she commented that it was as scary asshe thought it might be. She also said that in a periodical interview at herinternship, her superiors have noticed really good things in her and herrelationship with people around her - so she's noticing others noticingchanges since she's been coming to church. Last Sunday she made up her mindafter church that if anyone called, she would just be brave and mentionshe'd been to church - and her mom, coworker, and cousin all called. Her momis becoming more positive about this whole church thing, and before we eventaught her the Ten Commandments she decided to start sporting (working out?)on Saturday instead of Sunday. I LOVE HER! She's just so entirely... normaland good and seeking for truth. She now talks about baptism as somethingshe's seriously considering doing. So I'm sad to be leaving, but Gouda's nottoo far and maybe we can bring some investigators to her baptisimal service,should she make that choice.
Wei Wei's baptism itself was pretty fun. We missionaries sang "I StandAll Amazed" with the last verse in (I'm sure absolutely butchered) Chinese.Hilarious! He loved it though. It reminded me of my old roommate Kristy Lu(from whom I recently recieved a letter) so that was quite positive.
Other fun miracles include Irene, a recent convert, calling us up on NewYears Day and inviting us over to meet a friend of hers whom she wanted tohelp accept the gospel. He'd come over to help haul away some old junk inher basement - once he figured out we were from that new church she'd joinedhe was preeeetty quick to make his excuses and leave, which was almostcomical, but it was AMAZING that she was so proactive about helping herfriends have exposure to the church. I love new members! So we read D&C 122(maybe 123?) :17 about doing all things in your power cheerfully and lettingGod work the miracles. Love it. We also were blessed to recontact Edna and Paulo, the Cab Verdiansefamily we've intermittently been teaching over the past months. She was soexcited to see us and asked us when we were coming over again, so now Zr.Matos and her new comps can work their charm and help that family becomeeternal. =)
In ZHV (=relief society) we welcomed 7 or 8 new sisters from the otherward that had just been split, and Zr. Verhoeven gave an AMAZING talk onunity and sisterhood. We were asked to again sing Daughter of a King, andwere blessed to really bring the spirit in. I love this ward so much. Somuch. I'm glad I'll still be able to see them at Stake Conferences and GenConference and the like.
We also found a family during finding yesterday, and the contact wasjust so normal and natural I felt like we could be ina Preach My Gospelreality TV show. Good times. Families are always miracles, especially whenthe father is the interested spouse.
So things keep on keeping on. 2009 is off to a grand start, and in4 days I'll hit my halfway mark as a missionary. Absolutely nuts. I reallylove you all and am so thankful for your support and mail. I'm really gonnamiss Rotterdam, but Gouda is a really different area and it'll be good forme to better my Dutch, and fun to serve in a slightly more scenic place. Iknow Heavenly Father answers our prayers. Have a wonderful week!
Liefs,
zr. C Baxter
Also please pray for Monik and Ingemar who've both started smoking again.It'll come good for them eventually.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Beste Familie and Vrienden,
Hoi weer! So this past week was a wonderful Christmas in Holland . Tuesday we had district meeting at our chapel and then a combined zone Christmas gift exchange. We played a pretty intense white elephant game, which was especialyl funny since we had drawn names and bought pretty person-specific gifts. Let's just saying seeing Elder Scherbel yelp for joy when he got to snag Zr. Crowther's (a senior missionary) baking molds was pretty hilarious. Gotta love how missions bring out hidden talents. =) Afterwards we carolled by the Grote Markt and Cathedral / Library in Blaak, in the center of Rotterdam . We have a super musical zone, so it was really wonderful, and lots of people were touched and stopped and listened. Yesterday we tracted into a girl who had stayed for 45 minutes or so - she wasn't all that interested, but thanked us profusely for how beautiful we sang. It was nice to just sing a testimony of Christ.
On Christmas Eve we had a ward music night. The American member of the Relief Society Presidency, Zr. Pond, had volunteered us to sing and had taught us a nice fun rendition of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," which was pretty great until they announced they were going to have a more spiritual Christmas Music Night this year. Undaunted by the Dutch reading of Luke 2, we still sang out part and even got smiles out of most of the audience, but it was pretty humorous how incongruous our part was. Nonetheless, I think most people enjoyed it. Funny times.
Christmas day we had a brunch at the church with one of the wards, and then visited Anielda, an old investigator who called us to make an appointment out of the blue. About 18 months ago she'd been investigating but the father of a couple of her kids was also a recent convert (I'm not sure when he got baptized in the whole fathering process... I've never seen him at church tho) and apparently told her some things about the church that don't quite make sense. She now wants to learn for herself, and it's incredible to see how determined she is to really investigate the church and she what's right and what she agrees with. She would have been at church on Sunday but was super sick. We visited her later this week and between her Dutch and English, Zr. Matos's Spanish, and DVDs in Portuguese, I think we can effectively teach her. =) Oh languages.
So later we visited this American family from the South with the elders (they wanted us to come along and carol) and that was funny to have such a long conversation in English with someone not wearing a name tag. =) The wife is totally a dry Mormon, and it was fun hearing a Southern accent again. On the bike ride home next to a beautiful Dutch lake and windmills the family called! So we got to the church and then I got to talk to everybody at home, which was delightful. The only drawback to having so many wonderful siblings is how short 30 minutes becomes divided up between everyone. Please tell Dan I was just feeling exceptionally grateful for all my family and I hope he's not weirded out that I told him I love him (along with everybody else). =) I really do have great brothers-in-law.
That night we ate with Andre and Monik and Andre's ex-wife and son. Apparently he hadn't seen her in 13 years, but the whole evening went along really happily. She was a lovely, gracious woman. I hope they can continue being amiable.
For second Christmas (that's right - they have two of them here, just like hobbits and breakfast) we visited a lot of people and carrolled and gave them fudge. We also ate with Helen Nooitmeer, a recent convert from Suriname . Ingemar got to come, and it was good helping him get to know more members.
Lenneke is still doing great. Sunday Andre invited her to come eat dinner with us (he's learned if he invited a third woman we can come over... I think we're going to be fed by him a lot more frequently now. I've never known someone so grateful to the missionaries.) and to our surprise it was an absolutely lovely time. I love seeing the random people the gospel brings together. We had a nice lesson on eternal marriage (one of Andre's questions, but Lenneke had already read the Proclamation on the Family online because she's just like that) and it was good.
Things are going well. If I transfer, which I suspect I will, I will leave next Wednesday (not two days from now but the next), so please mail accordingly. And thank you for all your letters. They really mean so much, even though I often don't have time for meaningful replies.
And today our district went to Kinderdijk, a lovely water area with 15 or so windmills. So now I'm officially a Dutch missionary. =) Anywho, you should google it, because it really is a lovely place.
I love this gospel and the way it brings such light into people. It's getting pretty cold again, but I'm staying warm and I'm happy here. Please know I love you all and am thankful for your support and prayers.
Love,
Zr. Christa Baxter
Hoi weer! So this past week was a wonderful Christmas in Holland . Tuesday we had district meeting at our chapel and then a combined zone Christmas gift exchange. We played a pretty intense white elephant game, which was especialyl funny since we had drawn names and bought pretty person-specific gifts. Let's just saying seeing Elder Scherbel yelp for joy when he got to snag Zr. Crowther's (a senior missionary) baking molds was pretty hilarious. Gotta love how missions bring out hidden talents. =) Afterwards we carolled by the Grote Markt and Cathedral / Library in Blaak, in the center of Rotterdam . We have a super musical zone, so it was really wonderful, and lots of people were touched and stopped and listened. Yesterday we tracted into a girl who had stayed for 45 minutes or so - she wasn't all that interested, but thanked us profusely for how beautiful we sang. It was nice to just sing a testimony of Christ.
On Christmas Eve we had a ward music night. The American member of the Relief Society Presidency, Zr. Pond, had volunteered us to sing and had taught us a nice fun rendition of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas," which was pretty great until they announced they were going to have a more spiritual Christmas Music Night this year. Undaunted by the Dutch reading of Luke 2, we still sang out part and even got smiles out of most of the audience, but it was pretty humorous how incongruous our part was. Nonetheless, I think most people enjoyed it. Funny times.
Christmas day we had a brunch at the church with one of the wards, and then visited Anielda, an old investigator who called us to make an appointment out of the blue. About 18 months ago she'd been investigating but the father of a couple of her kids was also a recent convert (I'm not sure when he got baptized in the whole fathering process... I've never seen him at church tho) and apparently told her some things about the church that don't quite make sense. She now wants to learn for herself, and it's incredible to see how determined she is to really investigate the church and she what's right and what she agrees with. She would have been at church on Sunday but was super sick. We visited her later this week and between her Dutch and English, Zr. Matos's Spanish, and DVDs in Portuguese, I think we can effectively teach her. =) Oh languages.
So later we visited this American family from the South with the elders (they wanted us to come along and carol) and that was funny to have such a long conversation in English with someone not wearing a name tag. =) The wife is totally a dry Mormon, and it was fun hearing a Southern accent again. On the bike ride home next to a beautiful Dutch lake and windmills the family called! So we got to the church and then I got to talk to everybody at home, which was delightful. The only drawback to having so many wonderful siblings is how short 30 minutes becomes divided up between everyone. Please tell Dan I was just feeling exceptionally grateful for all my family and I hope he's not weirded out that I told him I love him (along with everybody else). =) I really do have great brothers-in-law.
That night we ate with Andre and Monik and Andre's ex-wife and son. Apparently he hadn't seen her in 13 years, but the whole evening went along really happily. She was a lovely, gracious woman. I hope they can continue being amiable.
For second Christmas (that's right - they have two of them here, just like hobbits and breakfast) we visited a lot of people and carrolled and gave them fudge. We also ate with Helen Nooitmeer, a recent convert from Suriname . Ingemar got to come, and it was good helping him get to know more members.
Lenneke is still doing great. Sunday Andre invited her to come eat dinner with us (he's learned if he invited a third woman we can come over... I think we're going to be fed by him a lot more frequently now. I've never known someone so grateful to the missionaries.) and to our surprise it was an absolutely lovely time. I love seeing the random people the gospel brings together. We had a nice lesson on eternal marriage (one of Andre's questions, but Lenneke had already read the Proclamation on the Family online because she's just like that) and it was good.
Things are going well. If I transfer, which I suspect I will, I will leave next Wednesday (not two days from now but the next), so please mail accordingly. And thank you for all your letters. They really mean so much, even though I often don't have time for meaningful replies.
And today our district went to Kinderdijk, a lovely water area with 15 or so windmills. So now I'm officially a Dutch missionary. =) Anywho, you should google it, because it really is a lovely place.
I love this gospel and the way it brings such light into people. It's getting pretty cold again, but I'm staying warm and I'm happy here. Please know I love you all and am thankful for your support and prayers.
Love,
Zr. Christa Baxter
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