Shocker of all Shockers

From e-mail dated December 7, 2009

So, we got the news about transfers. And-- you'll never believe it-- I'm-- staying in Amsterdam--as is Zr. Fritz. Yeah, crazy, but super good...
We have some SUPER EXCITING news this week. Are you ready for this? Drumroll please--- KIM IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!! Yesterday in church she told me that I couldn't get transferred because I had to be here for when she gets baptized. We joke around about baptism a lot with her, but we can't really push it because she told us that if she is pushed to do something, then she runs away. Well, when she said that, I said, "Oh, so you're getting baptized, huh?" "Yeah, I've already got a date in mind," she said. But then she wouldn't tell me when--she said we had to find out first whether or not I was staying in Amsterdam. But, at the end of church she just couldn't hold it in anymore and said she wants to get baptized on February 28! That is her grandfather's birthday--and he passed away a while ago (he was a very active member of the church)--so she feels this is a good way to give him a present. We are SO EXCITED!!!
This upcoming week is going to be pretty crazy--we'll be spending a day in Brussels and a day in Antwerpen for the Christmas choir. Then next week we'll be going to Den Haag (The Hague-- ew-- the English way of saying it is so ugly!) and Rotterdam next week. It should be exciting.
This week we went to the temple and it was AMAZING. I miss it. I love the temple so much! The spirit there was amazing and I wish we could have spent more time there. I'm definitely looking forward to weekly temple attendance when I get back.
After the temple we had Zone Conference, which was great! Then we had a choir practice for the mission choir concerts-- that took FOREVER! We usually have to be home at 9:00, right? Well, we didn't even leave the church until about 9:30-- If we had had to travel home to Amsterdam, we wouldn't have even gotten home until midnight-- so instead we spent the night in the Den Haag Zusters apartment--which meant 7 sisters in one apartment. Whoa buddy. It was pretty insane.
Then Saturday was Sinter Klaas. Zr. Fritz ended up putting vegetables in my boots (apparently I'm known as the mission health nut--). I ended up putting some of the chocolate from one of your packages in hers (so, I got one of the Christmas packages, but not the other. And don't worry--I didn't look at everything in the package--I just needed some chocolate for Sinter Klaas and knew that I would find some in there).
Anyway, I have to get running. But I love you so much. Things with the rest of our investigators are pretty much the same. Not too much to report. Pray for Kim and keep praying for the rest of them.
I read President Packer's Conference talk today and it was amazing! I definitely suggest it. One thing that really stuck out to me was his story about the little girl who prayed that her brother's sparrow trap wouldn't catch any sparrows and then she went and kicked it apart. It got me thinking about how prayer is also a principle of action. God is watching over us and He will answer our prayers, but we have to take action and do something as well--there are many things He has given us on this earth to help us, we can't just wait for a miracle to happen--the miracles are all around us and we need to take advantage of them (i.e. medicines for health, etc.)

I love you so much!
Have a wonderful day!
Zuster Fowler