Ik ben een kind van God

From e-mail dated 20 July, 2009

Wow. Sounds like you are off to another fun week, dad. Don't kill yourself at scout camp, okay?
I still haven't gotten the package-- hopefully it comes soon. It actually will probably be better from here on out if you just send them to the office--that way there is always someone there to receive it and we don't have to worry about it getting lost in the Bijlmer (I guess I may have forgotten to mention that the Bijlmer is the ghetto of Amsterdam-- the part we live in is safe, but it's still not exactly the most reliable types of people when it comes to packages being delivered and such). I'm sure it will come--hopefully sometime soon.
I did end up getting Michelle and Renee's letter. Renee must have written a different one she sent with Mom's letter--the Michnee letter came on Thursday of this week...
So, this week has been a little rough. I'm learning a lot about how important it is to have your Heavenly Father's trust and about how agency affects more than just yourself... I keep praying that Heavenly Father will accept my work as the best I am able to do under the circumstances and I keep reminding myself that I am a child of God (as the title of the email says) and that He loves me.
Anyway, our experiences this week have been interesting, to say the least. Friday we had an Amsterdam Blitz, which means that all of the District Leaders and their companions in the Zone as well as all of the Zusters in the mission came to Amsterdam to work for an afternoon. We went on exchanges for the afternoon and I got to work with Zuster Erickson. It was great! She is a wonderful missionary. The area we were assigned to was the closest area to the church, so we ended up walking the whole day. It was really interesting to walk instead of be on the bikes. I felt like I was in a different country :). We had planned out our afternoon with an order of how we would do our assignments. As we were walking along, we walked past a street we were planning to hit up on the way back from the church to look up an old investigator. We felt like we should go there now. We went and no one was home. But we both felt like we should stay on that specific street. We didn't have a map because I knew the areas we were supposed to go to well enough... so we said a quick prayer that we wouldn't get lost, and we kept walking. At the end of this really long street we ran into a young man named Clarence and started talking to him. We had a super long conversation with him and he was really open. He was really interested in the Book of Mormon and wanted to learn more. We set up an appointment, and then he said (in Dutch, of course), "You know, I never take this street to go where I need to go-- but I felt like I should today--" Wow. Both of us led by the spirit so we could be in the right place at the right time. It was a great experience. It's amazing how inspiration works!
We also had an appointment with Familie Todorovic this week (the family from Yugoslavia)--but the parents weren't there when we got there-- so we ended up teaching the kids (they are all older). Only one of them speaks Dutch, so it was interesting to have to have him translate everything. By the time we left, they asked if they could come to church--we were shocked because we hadn't even been able to communicate much to them. They didn't end up coming to church this week-- we aren't sure why-- but the fact that the spirit reached them enough even through broken messages and translation was amazing.
Other than that, this week has been full of cancelled appointments, people who are drunk at our appointment, and finding.
Well, I'm almost out of time.
Know that I love you and pray for you often. How are my grandmothers doing?
Okay, for a short spiritual thought--I know that God hears and answers prayers, and that he loves us-- man, I've gotta go or I won't get this sent off before the computer shuts down in 25 seconds.

Love,
Zuster Fowler!