Happy Sunday

Hallo! So now I'm no longer hailing from Haarlem... as of Wednesday, Zwolle,
a tiny town north of Apeldoorn (which is north of Den Haag.... or the
Hague.... the basically in north Holland), is my new area. It's just a
smidgeon smaller than Haarlem. I was pretty heartbroken to leave Haarlem,
but it would've been pushing it to stay till the end (that'd be 9 months
straight). Saying goodbye to Azelea and Ade and Catherine was hard, but they
are so excited to see Elder Nelson this Thursday speak in Rotterdam, and
seeing how Ade especially has come to love the Book of Mormon and Joseph
Smith was a wonderful note to leave on. She knows where the LDS church is in
her town in Ethiopia and said she's definitely going to look it up when she
goes home at the beginning of September. !!! I love those people SO MUCH.
It was also kind of a bummer leavign Emerlien and Tom, two of the
coolest member referrals ever. They'd read Alma 40-42 and had questions
about what happens to people who die without accepting Christ. Since they've
been to the Den Haag temple open house and LOVED it, we very tentatively got
into Plan of Salvation and Temple Work stuff. It was SO COOL! As they read
about the celestial kindgom and related it to the celestial room, it was
amazing to see how much of an impact the Spirit of the temple had had on
them. Tom especially said he felt like he was home, and felt such a peace
there, so much like how he imagined heaven would be like, so much like the
presence of God was there. Well.... =) They'll get there. They only meet
with us once every 2 weeks, but it'll come! When I told them that was the
last time I'd see them, they were very kindly disappointed - Tom asked if he
could give me a hug goodbye. If I weren't a zuster missionary! =) They are
two of the kindest, nicest, best people I've ever met on my mission.
Zwolle is pretty cool. I'm now serving with Zr Erickson, one of my
favorite people ever! She's on her 7th transfer and trained twice in a row
like me so I thought we'd never be comps. But we are and it's great! We've
also got Zr Hamblin with us, a wonderful person from Roosevelt Utah on her
2nd transfer. Last transfer Zr Erickson trained Zr Hamblin and whitewashed
this area, so it's been pretty crazy starting over in a lot of ways. But the
members are incredible. Ironically enough there are several families in the
branch with an infertility history and adopted or foster children - I do not
find that coincidental and am so excited to get to know these people better
and learn more about their stories. I can't really explain it but I already
feel like I've been here a long time - I know the branch presidents brothers
from other areas I've worked and other friends of other members. Even in the
city there've been small moments of deja vu. I don't know what's in store
but I'm excited.
We've taught some cool people this week, including Meske, a perpetual
investigator of more than 3 years. We watched the Restoration DVD and out of
the blue he said he's taken James advice to heart, and keeps on coming abck
to this church as he studies it out, and wants to get baptised. That's a
little tricky since he's in a wheelchair, and the church building isn't
realy designed for handicaps, and so he doesn't come to church very often.
So we'll see what happens!
I love you all. Thanks for your support and letters. If you want my
mailing address, e-mail my gmail and my mom will get it to you. Have a great
week!

Liefs,

Zuster Christa Baxter