Beste Familie and Vrienden,

What a crazy blessed week! So on Wednesday morning I headed to Den
Haag to meet my greenie, who happens to be none other than Chantelle Fowler!
I'm pretty sure we met at least once as freshman, and have just about a
billion friends from BYU in common, so it's super funny. She is just
fabulous. Her Dutch is incredible, and her drive and determination are
practically celestial. =) It is such a delight being able to work with her,
and we've definitely seen miracles in the past few days. On our first day we
were talking to a woman on the bus and her grandson. She asked us if we were
actual sisters, and then told us we really just radiated care and positivity
for those around us. I love the fruits of the spirit! It turns out her
husband didn't want us to come by when we called her later to see if we
could make an appointment, but just that interaction alone was pretty
incredible. I love people.
On Saturday we felt particularly led to a certain street by Azelea
(whom we taught later) and in 90 minutes taught 3 lessons, got let in for
two of them, and found a wonderful new investigator named Margret. We began
talking about eternal families on the door and she invited us in. Her
bookshevles were covered by everything from Salman Rushdie to Khalil Kibran,
so of course I want to be this woman's best friend. We taught her a first
lesson, and as we talked about how it really is God's plan that families can
be together forever and not just through this life, she began to cry. She
told us she'd had a feeling a few days ago (here i couldn't quite follow her
Dutch but this is what I got) that she'd get a message soon. She asked me to
repeat what I'd said about eternal families so she could write it down, and
began to talk about her divorce 4 years ago and how she still wants to patch
things up with her ex-husband. We were so crazy led to her. She found Joseph
SMith's experience pretty incredible and valid, but wasn't so sure about
that continuing through to today and a living prophet. She herself is way
into a sort of Cherokee mysticism (gosh I love Holland the crazy panopoly of
philosophies and faith here) but was open to us coming back and teaching her
more about the Plan of Salvation. Please please pray for her, that the
Spirit will open up her heart even more.
We also set a baptisimal date with Milene!!! That was such a
miracle! We were teaching kind of a follow-up first at her friend Frank's
house. We'd talked a lot about authority and she understood it conceptually
but I wasn't sure what her thoughts were or if she understood the
implications. I asked what questions she had, and she said, "No, I get it, I
think. But it's strange - I find this really moving. I don't know why but I
have goose bumps right now! That's funny, because my mom always says that's
how you can tell if God is with you." The woman felt the Spirit testifying
of priesthood authority. Gosh I love the Holy Ghost! And when we committed
her to baptism, she was so delighted - "Really, I can do that now?" So we
explained not exactly, there's a lot to teach her, but that's what we're
here for. =) So we've got set appointments with her until her date for June
6th. She could be ready before then, but we'll see. What a stinking miracle.
She's so perfect for this ward too, since there's a great YSA group here.
Conference was pretty great as well. Unfortunately Jay cancelled on
us and we can only go to the Saturday mornign sessions (with the time delay
that's Saturday night for us here in Holland) with an investigator, so we
only got to go to the Sunday sessions (technically Saturday afternoon and
Sunday mornign sessions - nobody catches the Sundya afternoon broadcast at
the church buildings here). Conference felt pretty short because of that,
but it was definitely wonderful. I really loved President Monson and Elder
Holland's talks, and Milene also got a lot out of it.
So things are going pretty fabulously. It's a little hectic being a
trainer, but I absolutely love it. Zr. Fowler is possible even more overly
apologetic and non-confrontational than I am, so it's definitely a very nice
transfer - but there's nothing wrong with that! =) I'm excited to continue
working with her. I love you people. And I really love this gospel. It was
made even more clear to me in conference how much we just need to trust in
our Heavenly Father, for our own sakes and for those around us. He really
teaches us as we are wiling to learn.

Liefs,

Zr Baxter