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