TRANSFERRED!

Ahoy my wonderful friends and family! So I've got a crazy surprise... I've been transferred! After only one transfer in Gouda, I'm now headed off to Haarlem (which means I can go visit Cory Tenboom's house on PDay if it's open on a Monday, so that's pretty cool)! We had exchanges this week, and I had a feeling I'd leave Gouda, but I thought I'd go to Amsterdam. Whatev's. Anyway, this transfer has been amazing. I've never had a companionship so exploding with unity or love, and I will very much miss Zr. Kabenda and Zr.Kriser. I also really appreciate the ward here and like our investigators alot... but it's much easier to leave after 6 weeks than 6 months. This also means I'll be too far away to go to Lenneke and Andre's baptisms in Rotterdam, but! In Haarlem I'll be with another trio of sisters, so that'll be lots of fun.

Lisette is doing AMAZING. We taught her the Word of Wisdom andTithing this week, and she readily accepted both of them. Finally someone on my mission who doesn't smoke and isn't obsessed with coffie! I was amazed byhow willing she was to pay tithing. She came to a Relief Society activityduring the week, and she's beginning to dress more modestly and take bettercare of herself. It's so awesome to see people changing as they accept the gospel.

We had another lesson with Joris which was pretty scattered - wecouldn't tell if he was slightly high or if he always really is this spacey.But he came to church again, this time in a suit (circa 1994 by the looks ofit)! It was hilarious! And he'd trimmed his hair! He was so proud ofhimself. So positive. The ward really reached out to him and some wonderfulmembers talked to him a lot. I think he'll come again next week. We chatteda bit about music - he's more in the Nick Drake / U2 end of the spectrumthan Sigur Ros or Sufjan Stevens, but I have successfully aquired his postaladdress and will definitely be sending him mix CDs post mission. I lovemissionary work. =)

We had such a cool conversation yesterday during finding. We talked to this Muslim Iraqi man on the door for a bit - we realized a conversationwouldn't really go anywhere, but Zr Kriser asked him if we could sing forhim. So he invited us in (I love being in a threesome) and after we sang and talked for a bit more about God and the Book of Mormon (which he wanted inArabic) his Christian Iraqi friend came over. We proceeded to talk about theRestoration. Faris, the older Muslim man, was so amazing. He's been inHolland for 11 years or so. He said when he was younger he got involved in Communism, and none of his friends believed in God. When he was 17 years oldor so, he got a girlfriend. He said she was so beautiful, just such alovely person, that when he looked at her he could not believe that she camefrom nothing, that there wasn't a God. So his belief came from the beauty of the girl he loved when he was 17. Amazing. I wish you could hear the beautyof Arabic-accented English. My mission has taught me to love English spokenas a second language. There is a haphazard grace and awkward loveliness toit that's entirely lost when you speak it fluently. And his youngerChristian friend, Fadi, agreed to meet with us again next week, soooooo thatwas pretty positive.

We also had a hilarious interaction with 2 young Dutch guys lastweek. They were in the middle of moving, and when we asked if we could help they found it hilarious that we were actually serious. There ended up notbeing much we could help with, but Mike (the owner who was moving) made ustea (herbal) and we talked about God. Zr Kriser asked if we could sing forthem, which was pretty hilarious considering neither of them have been in achurch for a while, but it was cool. We gave them both pass a long cards.Later that day Mike called to say he really appreciated that we had come by.That almost NEVER happens - someone you just give a card to actually callingyou on their own volition. So now we have a return appointment to visit himand his girlfriend in their new house. Wahoo! Too bad I won't be here for any of this, but that's okay.

And ILSE CAME TO CHURCH! With both her kids! It was so fun!Unfortunately one of her kids had a less than positive experience inPrimary, but I think it'll come good. So that was really exciting.

On Thursday night I headed up to Amsterdam for an exchange. I workedwith Zr Warren who's in her second transfer, so it was pretty funny beingthe older companion. I really enjoyed working in a big city again, but themass transit was pretty crazy confusing at times. Luckily an 18 year oldalmost-convert (still working on smoking and coffie) came with - Iesha washer name. It was really cool getting to know her better. We visited a woman who got baptised in Ghana and is now living in Holland, and wants herdaughter (who's 13) to learn about the church and get baptised. This woman(Kate) was like a walking gospel principles manual - she had such aknowledge of the gospel and the plan of salvation! It was so cool! Afterteaching her daughter she came with us to another Ghanaian investigator -her words were, "This is the gospel. Everybody needs to volunteer!" What asaintly woman. Amsterdam has some beautiful buildings, and I also got tocatch up with Zr. Bennet a bit, whom I knew from BYU, so that was prettypositive. Zr. Warren is also heading to Haarlem with me, so the exchange wasa fun preview of what's going down next transfer.

So... another crazy week! I'm excited to go somewhere new. It'salso weird realizing I've only got 5 transfers left and that this could bemy last city. Here's the mailing address for all my adoring fans (meaning the family members that still feel obligated to write me ;) ):

Prattenburg 371
2036 SM Haarlem
NEDERLAND

I love you people! The gospel is amazing, and I love what I'm doing. Everytransfer just gets better and better.

Liefs,
Zr. Baxter