Another good week in Haarlem. Engelien is doing fabulously. On Monday
we taught here more of the Plan of Salvation - apparently she'd had time to
really disgest what we'd taught her earlier, and she was literally shocked
and elated at the concept of a Pre-Existance and the Spirit World. "NOOIT
wist ik!" ["I never knew that!!!"] I seriously was wondering where the
camera crew from preach my gospel was hiding - it was so good it felt like a
set up. =) She loves reading in the Book of Mormon, and on Thursday we
brought Zr Kroese (another Surinamer) and watched Finding Faith in Christ,
which she loved. Unfortunately she didn't make it to church, but she's been
a little sick lately, and we're going to see her tonight, so things should
work out.
Milene's also doing great. She was out of town, but this Saturday we're
taking her to a baptismal service in Den Haag and she'll be at church the
next Sunday. Please pray that she'll have the news to talk to her very
religious mother about her upcoming baptism and that it'll go well. =) I've
never taught someone so ridiculously solid.
We also had a fun return appointment to Jessica, a Nigerian single mom
of two who is beginning to grasp what this crazy Book of Mormon is and what
the heck Joseph Smith is all about. =) I love watching people open up
through the Spirit.
We had a really fun contact on Tuesday night. We made the
seemingly-mistake of tracting through a wealthy neighborhood during dinner
time, but one woman said to come back another time during the afternoon. We
took her up on her word, came back a couple days later, and had the most
marvelous conversation about religions and God and the Resotration. Like
many educated Dutch people, she's got a pretty pan-religious approach (which
I'd probably be if I'd grown up here) but really was interested to read The
Proclamation on the Family. Towards the end of her conversation, she said
she'd have invited us in but her husband was sick - turned out he'd had a
heart attack while they were in vacation in the States 6 months ago. After
we prayed with her and asked Heavenly Father to bless her husband and family
in light of his health problems, she hugged both of us. Oh, fruits of the
Spirit. She'd love to talk again but not make a fast appointment... it'll
come. =)
We had a hard time finding new investigators this week but were blessed
to look up 3 old ones who are willing to meet with us again. So it goes!
Also something funny... my bike totally broke down while biking to our
finding spot. My bold companion Zr Fowler would not be deterred, so when the
first Dutch woman opened the door, looked at our nametags, and told us she
wasn't interested before we could even open our months, Zr Fowler jumped in
and said, "Actually, we're having some bike problems... do you have a
screwdriver we could borrow?" The good woman brought us a tool kit, rag, and
a cushion to kneel on while we put the chain back on my bike. It was pretty
funny. (Hopefully my bike will last till the end of my mission!) It totally
reminded me of the Catholic priest in Argentina that yelled at Dad and his
comp, only to very graciously let them borrow the ladder they'd come to ask
for. People are good. =)
So the work goes on. I love you all.
Zr. Baxter
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
gefeliciteerd! (or, as translated, congratulations!)
So another pretty great week! We were the only sisters who didn't get
transferred, so it was weird to have a normal week (without a zone
conference or interviews or exchanges). But good things happened. Marc
actually came to a Young Single Adult activity, and that was great. He knows
what he needs to do to really know if he knows that the church is true and
if Christ is his Savior - he's just not really at a convenient time in life
to get down on his knees and pray and come to church. But hey! He came to a
JoVo activity! So baby steps. =) We set a baptisimal date with Engelien for
June 20th. She is so amazing. She brings the Book of Mormon with her to work
to read on her lunch breaks and has been talking to her friends and family
about the church. If we don't contact referrals from her by the end of this
week, we are horrible missionaries. ;) She came to church for the second
time in a row, and the sisters did such a wonderful job of walking her to
Relief Society and fellowshipping her. Haarlem is a great place to be.
Milene also came to church again, and this week we had dinner with her
at Frank's house (her friend that introduced her to the church) and Linda,
another member our age. We talked about the apostasy and restoration and
following the prophet. Milene is hilarious - she follows up with us on her
commitments ("I prayed about the Word of Wisdom like you asked me but still
have no answer...") and at the end of our lesson talked about Nephi and
Laman and Lemuel, and commented that we all need to be a Nephi, but often
it's easier to be a Laman or Lemuel. She sounds like she's been a member for
years! She is just so great. I absolutely love her. Please keep her in your
prayers that she'll get a testimony of the Word of Wisdom.
In other cool news of Wijk Haarlem, Sjaak (a recent convert of about 15
months) just got his mission call to South Africa Johannesburg, English
speaking. He leaves in September and is so excited! Zr Fowler correctly
guessed where he's going, so he gave her a pretty funny reward for guessing
right. A little background is needed to get this one. So Zr Fowler is indeed
a lovely, wonderful, praiseworthy, and fabulous missionary who exemplifies
the 13th Article Faith in more ways than one. Unfortunately she tends to get
hit on by older foreign men, who more often than not are Muslim. Sjaak knows
this and finds it pretty funny, so as her reward he gave her some cookies he
made and... a printout of the Ensign article "A Mormon Perspective on
Mohammed" and a postcard of Egypt with some scribbled lines from the Koran.
Funny one! But the joke was kind of on him since his handwriting is so bad
that we literally thought it was Arabic for the first couple of minutes.
Anyway, I absolutely love to Young Single Adult group here and they're
pretty much amazing!
On Wednesday Aunt Roberta and Uncle Larry came to Haarlem and I had my
mission president's permission to go to lunch with them. It was pretty weird
to be sitting out on a terrace cafe by the Oude Bavo Kerk (the big cathedral
here) and being a tourist instead of contacting them - but also pretty fun!
=) They treated me and Zr. Fowler to a delicious lunch (thank you!) and we
had a great time talking about missionary work here and in New Zealand
(where they served a mission a few years ago) and some of the
church-sponsored well-digging projects they'd been on in Africa and other
places. Mostly it was pretty surreal seeing the family resemblence between
Roberta and Mom (in a good way! I promise I'm not homesick =) ), even in
their mannerisms and the way they laugh - but it was fun seeing family
again. Also, I've come to the conclusion that my ability to make small talk
in English has totally disappeared, and if I'm not teaching and testifying,
I don't even know what to talk about. Should make dating in 6 months pretty
interesting! ;)
There's really not much else... I mean, there's plenty of things I
find great andfascinating, but probably not so much for you people. =) We
did find some pretty cool people finding this past week that I'm excited to
meet with again this week. My favorites were Bianca, a young woman who said
on the door that she'd gone through too much to believe in God. When we
asked her what she'd experienced, she told us she can't believe in God when
so many of her family members have passed away in the past few years. If God
is so loving and good to others, why not to her? We shared a scripture and
prayed with her (and, to be perfectly honest, teared up a little with her),
and when we asked if we could come back and teach her more about God's plan,
her answer was en emphatic yes. Please pray that our appointment tom will go
through. I love seeing peopel changed by the Spirit.
The other miracle as Didi. It was raining pretty hard but we stopped as
she walked by, only to find out she moved her from Bulgaria 8 years ago, and
as she recognized our name tags, that she'd met with Elders in her homeland
when she was younger. She was SO excited to realize we were from the same
church and teared up a little as she told us that those elders were her best
friends. She'll be in A''Dam for the next 6 weeks but said when she's back
she'd like to meet with us again. The woman bore her testimony to us about
how much she loves God and is searching for him. What a beautiful
experience.
Well, I love you all. The work is going forward. Thank you for your
prayers and support.
Veel liefs,
Zr. Baxter
transferred, so it was weird to have a normal week (without a zone
conference or interviews or exchanges). But good things happened. Marc
actually came to a Young Single Adult activity, and that was great. He knows
what he needs to do to really know if he knows that the church is true and
if Christ is his Savior - he's just not really at a convenient time in life
to get down on his knees and pray and come to church. But hey! He came to a
JoVo activity! So baby steps. =) We set a baptisimal date with Engelien for
June 20th. She is so amazing. She brings the Book of Mormon with her to work
to read on her lunch breaks and has been talking to her friends and family
about the church. If we don't contact referrals from her by the end of this
week, we are horrible missionaries. ;) She came to church for the second
time in a row, and the sisters did such a wonderful job of walking her to
Relief Society and fellowshipping her. Haarlem is a great place to be.
Milene also came to church again, and this week we had dinner with her
at Frank's house (her friend that introduced her to the church) and Linda,
another member our age. We talked about the apostasy and restoration and
following the prophet. Milene is hilarious - she follows up with us on her
commitments ("I prayed about the Word of Wisdom like you asked me but still
have no answer...") and at the end of our lesson talked about Nephi and
Laman and Lemuel, and commented that we all need to be a Nephi, but often
it's easier to be a Laman or Lemuel. She sounds like she's been a member for
years! She is just so great. I absolutely love her. Please keep her in your
prayers that she'll get a testimony of the Word of Wisdom.
In other cool news of Wijk Haarlem, Sjaak (a recent convert of about 15
months) just got his mission call to South Africa Johannesburg, English
speaking. He leaves in September and is so excited! Zr Fowler correctly
guessed where he's going, so he gave her a pretty funny reward for guessing
right. A little background is needed to get this one. So Zr Fowler is indeed
a lovely, wonderful, praiseworthy, and fabulous missionary who exemplifies
the 13th Article Faith in more ways than one. Unfortunately she tends to get
hit on by older foreign men, who more often than not are Muslim. Sjaak knows
this and finds it pretty funny, so as her reward he gave her some cookies he
made and... a printout of the Ensign article "A Mormon Perspective on
Mohammed" and a postcard of Egypt with some scribbled lines from the Koran.
Funny one! But the joke was kind of on him since his handwriting is so bad
that we literally thought it was Arabic for the first couple of minutes.
Anyway, I absolutely love to Young Single Adult group here and they're
pretty much amazing!
On Wednesday Aunt Roberta and Uncle Larry came to Haarlem and I had my
mission president's permission to go to lunch with them. It was pretty weird
to be sitting out on a terrace cafe by the Oude Bavo Kerk (the big cathedral
here) and being a tourist instead of contacting them - but also pretty fun!
=) They treated me and Zr. Fowler to a delicious lunch (thank you!) and we
had a great time talking about missionary work here and in New Zealand
(where they served a mission a few years ago) and some of the
church-sponsored well-digging projects they'd been on in Africa and other
places. Mostly it was pretty surreal seeing the family resemblence between
Roberta and Mom (in a good way! I promise I'm not homesick =) ), even in
their mannerisms and the way they laugh - but it was fun seeing family
again. Also, I've come to the conclusion that my ability to make small talk
in English has totally disappeared, and if I'm not teaching and testifying,
I don't even know what to talk about. Should make dating in 6 months pretty
interesting! ;)
There's really not much else... I mean, there's plenty of things I
find great andfascinating, but probably not so much for you people. =) We
did find some pretty cool people finding this past week that I'm excited to
meet with again this week. My favorites were Bianca, a young woman who said
on the door that she'd gone through too much to believe in God. When we
asked her what she'd experienced, she told us she can't believe in God when
so many of her family members have passed away in the past few years. If God
is so loving and good to others, why not to her? We shared a scripture and
prayed with her (and, to be perfectly honest, teared up a little with her),
and when we asked if we could come back and teach her more about God's plan,
her answer was en emphatic yes. Please pray that our appointment tom will go
through. I love seeing peopel changed by the Spirit.
The other miracle as Didi. It was raining pretty hard but we stopped as
she walked by, only to find out she moved her from Bulgaria 8 years ago, and
as she recognized our name tags, that she'd met with Elders in her homeland
when she was younger. She was SO excited to realize we were from the same
church and teared up a little as she told us that those elders were her best
friends. She'll be in A''Dam for the next 6 weeks but said when she's back
she'd like to meet with us again. The woman bore her testimony to us about
how much she loves God and is searching for him. What a beautiful
experience.
Well, I love you all. The work is going forward. Thank you for your
prayers and support.
Veel liefs,
Zr. Baxter
Monday, May 11, 2009
Hello everybody! Well, it's been a super great week, but a little
non-eventful - at least as far as interesting letter writing goes. Azelea
prayed about Joseph Smith and baptism but doesn't feel like she got an
answer, tho she's still working on quitting smoking, and reads the Book of
Mormon everyday. It will come! Patience! Milene still doesn't dig the Word
of Wisdom but is totally down for tithing (I'm always surprised at what
people do and don't find difficult). We brought Zr. Kroese, another
Surinamer, to Engelien's house on Wednesday night, and they LOVED each
other. And talked a ridiculous amount. I love fellowshippers. They are so
amazing. Zr. Kroese totally understands her better than we do too, and used
to be of the same Christian religion Engelien was, so that's pretty much
amazing. Engelien came to church on Sunday and loved it - she was even there
before we were. Hopefully this week we can set a baptisimal date with her
and help her begin quitting smoking. Good times, good miracles.
We all got to go to the temple on Wednesday. My last time in Holland,
at least as missionary. It was wonderful, and I will miss it very much. I
love my fellow missionaries. I also got a junkload of mail at Zone
Conference - thank you all! I especially loved the letters and photos from
Briana and Zack, Peter, and Nate. My FHEbros are still the best! I am
working on writing you all back soon!
And as far as transfer news goes, both Zr Fowler and I are staying,
and I'm pretty excited about that. I still don't know if I've got 3
transfers left or 4. I'm happy either way. I'd still like to serve in Den
Haag (the Hague) before I go home, but Haarlem's great and I pretty much
adore the people we're teaching right now. Milene heard one of us might
transfer and did not like that idea! It's always flattering and rewarding to
see how much your friends like you - especially when they get along with the
ward so well that that's not a concern! ;) And Zr Fowler and I are really
getting into a good groove of working together, so I'm excited to see the
miracles of this transfer.
Haarlem had a big outdoor music fest last weekend for their
independence day (or something to celebrate their freedom after WWII) and it
was funny biking past live music and mobs of Dutch hipsters, realizing how
much I have in common with them and also how little. I am so glad I came on
a mission, and I don't even miss live music much anymore. =) I love this
gospel and I love love love these people. And I love you all. I know
Heavenly Father plays an active role in all his children's lives - to a much
greater extent than we often realize. He'll never force us to make the right
choices, but He'll never stop giving us the chance to do so. The Book of
Mormon is the word of God, and it can change lives. Have a blessed week and
know that I'm happy and loving life, and that I love you all.
Zr Baxter
non-eventful - at least as far as interesting letter writing goes. Azelea
prayed about Joseph Smith and baptism but doesn't feel like she got an
answer, tho she's still working on quitting smoking, and reads the Book of
Mormon everyday. It will come! Patience! Milene still doesn't dig the Word
of Wisdom but is totally down for tithing (I'm always surprised at what
people do and don't find difficult). We brought Zr. Kroese, another
Surinamer, to Engelien's house on Wednesday night, and they LOVED each
other. And talked a ridiculous amount. I love fellowshippers. They are so
amazing. Zr. Kroese totally understands her better than we do too, and used
to be of the same Christian religion Engelien was, so that's pretty much
amazing. Engelien came to church on Sunday and loved it - she was even there
before we were. Hopefully this week we can set a baptisimal date with her
and help her begin quitting smoking. Good times, good miracles.
We all got to go to the temple on Wednesday. My last time in Holland,
at least as missionary. It was wonderful, and I will miss it very much. I
love my fellow missionaries. I also got a junkload of mail at Zone
Conference - thank you all! I especially loved the letters and photos from
Briana and Zack, Peter, and Nate. My FHEbros are still the best! I am
working on writing you all back soon!
And as far as transfer news goes, both Zr Fowler and I are staying,
and I'm pretty excited about that. I still don't know if I've got 3
transfers left or 4. I'm happy either way. I'd still like to serve in Den
Haag (the Hague) before I go home, but Haarlem's great and I pretty much
adore the people we're teaching right now. Milene heard one of us might
transfer and did not like that idea! It's always flattering and rewarding to
see how much your friends like you - especially when they get along with the
ward so well that that's not a concern! ;) And Zr Fowler and I are really
getting into a good groove of working together, so I'm excited to see the
miracles of this transfer.
Haarlem had a big outdoor music fest last weekend for their
independence day (or something to celebrate their freedom after WWII) and it
was funny biking past live music and mobs of Dutch hipsters, realizing how
much I have in common with them and also how little. I am so glad I came on
a mission, and I don't even miss live music much anymore. =) I love this
gospel and I love love love these people. And I love you all. I know
Heavenly Father plays an active role in all his children's lives - to a much
greater extent than we often realize. He'll never force us to make the right
choices, but He'll never stop giving us the chance to do so. The Book of
Mormon is the word of God, and it can change lives. Have a blessed week and
know that I'm happy and loving life, and that I love you all.
Zr Baxter
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
So we saw some amazing things with investigators this week. First off,
Azelea's husband Yannis is back from Greece and actually sat in on a lesson
with us! He said he'd read the Restoration pamphlet too. Definitely progress
since the last time I saw him 2 months ago, when he said he was a Christian
but definitely didn't espouse radical religions. ;) We watched the
Testaments with the whole family (Azelea, Yannis, and their 6 year old
daughter Catherine (aka Belina) ) on Thursday, and Azelea loved it. Even
referred to the Book of Mormon as fact. Always a beautiful thing. =) And
then she and Catherine came to church on Sunday! They've only lived here 7
months so she doesn't speak much Dutch, but between translation on my part
and English Sunday school, I think she really enjoyed it. People were pretty
welcoming, especially Bishop and Stella, the Nigerian woman we bring on JT.
I love Haarlem. And I love Azelea and Catherine.
Things are also good with Milene. We saw her on Friday and had an
amazing 3rd lesson with her on the steps of the gospel (Faith in Christ,
repentence, baptism, enduring to the end). She is reading a chapter out of
the Book of Mormon every day, and if she misses a day, she tries to read two
the next. As we explained the Holy Ghost to her, she said she's feeling that
more in her daily life, especially after coming to church. Even her friends
are noticing it - a friend of hers who's technically atheist had been asking
her questions about God, and Milene told her she's welcome to meet with us,
the missionaries, if she likeds. The woman is like getting referrals for us!
Oh, so good! Her big question - so what commandments am I agreeing to keep
when I get baptised? Good one! =) So we talked a little about the Word of
Wisdom. She got sick Sunday morning and didn't make it to church, but now is
leaning more towards coming every week. On Sunday we taught her the Word of
Wisdom. She doesn't like the idea of giving up the occasional glass of wine
or fruit teas - she was raised on the idea of everything within reason, and
this commandment is rather surprising, after all - but I'm pretty sure as we
keep on helping herunderstand the Restoration it will fall into place. She
seriously is like the Preach My Gospel test case scenario. I love her so
much. It's amazing to see people gesture to the Book of Mormon and comment
about "our church."
We also got to finally visit Engelien, the Surinamer woman who
approached the elders in A'Dam because of their name tags and wanted to
learn more about their church. She's willing to meet with us for 3 times a
week for 30 minutes, and said she'd come to church this Sunday. There are
two crazy strong Surinamer sisters in the ward around her age, so it really
has amazing fellowshipping potential. And we visited Laticia, a former
investigator who's about 20 and from St. Martins. Teaching her totally
brings me back to the Bible Belt and Louisiana. She's pretty sure she'll
never believe in Joseph Smith, but loves that we're trying to bring people
in Holland to Jesus Christ. What with all the rampant agnosticism and
atheism and all. ;)
We tried to have a DTR with Marc... when we asked him if he actually
does want to know if Jesus Christ is his Savior, he said, "Well, yes,
otherwise I wouldn't be meeting with you!" It's kind of ashame because he
and Esther broke up, and she was actually keeping more committments them him
at this point - on Monday she'd read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and Alma
42 and really found the pre-mortal existance pretty interesting - apparently
nobody else teaches that. I'm hoping we can still teach her when she moves
out... we'll see!
Things are still going great with Zr. Fowler - so good that I'm pretty
sure one of us will be transferred next Wednesday. ;) We'll see. I still
don't know if I'm staying 11 transfers or 12. I'll be happy either way. This
Wednesday we get to go to the temple in Zoetermeer for the last time on my
mission. I'm incredibly excited.
I really do love you all. Thank you for your prayers and support. Some
days are hard, some are amazing - but usually one great appointment can make
a whole day just incredible. =) Have a fabulous week and remember that
Heavenly Father really is there, and truly does listen.
Love you all,
Zr. Christa Baxter
Azelea's husband Yannis is back from Greece and actually sat in on a lesson
with us! He said he'd read the Restoration pamphlet too. Definitely progress
since the last time I saw him 2 months ago, when he said he was a Christian
but definitely didn't espouse radical religions. ;) We watched the
Testaments with the whole family (Azelea, Yannis, and their 6 year old
daughter Catherine (aka Belina) ) on Thursday, and Azelea loved it. Even
referred to the Book of Mormon as fact. Always a beautiful thing. =) And
then she and Catherine came to church on Sunday! They've only lived here 7
months so she doesn't speak much Dutch, but between translation on my part
and English Sunday school, I think she really enjoyed it. People were pretty
welcoming, especially Bishop and Stella, the Nigerian woman we bring on JT.
I love Haarlem. And I love Azelea and Catherine.
Things are also good with Milene. We saw her on Friday and had an
amazing 3rd lesson with her on the steps of the gospel (Faith in Christ,
repentence, baptism, enduring to the end). She is reading a chapter out of
the Book of Mormon every day, and if she misses a day, she tries to read two
the next. As we explained the Holy Ghost to her, she said she's feeling that
more in her daily life, especially after coming to church. Even her friends
are noticing it - a friend of hers who's technically atheist had been asking
her questions about God, and Milene told her she's welcome to meet with us,
the missionaries, if she likeds. The woman is like getting referrals for us!
Oh, so good! Her big question - so what commandments am I agreeing to keep
when I get baptised? Good one! =) So we talked a little about the Word of
Wisdom. She got sick Sunday morning and didn't make it to church, but now is
leaning more towards coming every week. On Sunday we taught her the Word of
Wisdom. She doesn't like the idea of giving up the occasional glass of wine
or fruit teas - she was raised on the idea of everything within reason, and
this commandment is rather surprising, after all - but I'm pretty sure as we
keep on helping herunderstand the Restoration it will fall into place. She
seriously is like the Preach My Gospel test case scenario. I love her so
much. It's amazing to see people gesture to the Book of Mormon and comment
about "our church."
We also got to finally visit Engelien, the Surinamer woman who
approached the elders in A'Dam because of their name tags and wanted to
learn more about their church. She's willing to meet with us for 3 times a
week for 30 minutes, and said she'd come to church this Sunday. There are
two crazy strong Surinamer sisters in the ward around her age, so it really
has amazing fellowshipping potential. And we visited Laticia, a former
investigator who's about 20 and from St. Martins. Teaching her totally
brings me back to the Bible Belt and Louisiana. She's pretty sure she'll
never believe in Joseph Smith, but loves that we're trying to bring people
in Holland to Jesus Christ. What with all the rampant agnosticism and
atheism and all. ;)
We tried to have a DTR with Marc... when we asked him if he actually
does want to know if Jesus Christ is his Savior, he said, "Well, yes,
otherwise I wouldn't be meeting with you!" It's kind of ashame because he
and Esther broke up, and she was actually keeping more committments them him
at this point - on Monday she'd read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and Alma
42 and really found the pre-mortal existance pretty interesting - apparently
nobody else teaches that. I'm hoping we can still teach her when she moves
out... we'll see!
Things are still going great with Zr. Fowler - so good that I'm pretty
sure one of us will be transferred next Wednesday. ;) We'll see. I still
don't know if I'm staying 11 transfers or 12. I'll be happy either way. This
Wednesday we get to go to the temple in Zoetermeer for the last time on my
mission. I'm incredibly excited.
I really do love you all. Thank you for your prayers and support. Some
days are hard, some are amazing - but usually one great appointment can make
a whole day just incredible. =) Have a fabulous week and remember that
Heavenly Father really is there, and truly does listen.
Love you all,
Zr. Christa Baxter
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