From e-mail dated January 10, 2010.
So, things here have been INSANE! Where to begin with only 15 minutes left to email? AAAH! Okay, well, I'll begin with some SUPER exciting news! One of the Elders' investigators (and we've taught him a couple of times as well) got baptized!!! His name is Kwame and he is from Ghana. He is AMAZING! Here's his story--one day after church the Elders were sitting around making phone calls and in walks Kwame. Kwame had seen a speech by Mitt Romney where he talked about his religion (I think it's the one from when he ran for President) and he was really touched by the spirit--he said he knew then that the church Mitt belonged to was true, and he began to search for the church. He finally found it, and when he walked in, he told the Elders he wanted to be baptized. Well, that was about 6 weeks ago, and on Saturday he was baptized. It was AMAZING! Sadly, he still hasn't received the Holy Ghost because church was cancelled on Sunday due to the weather (really, the weather was NOTHING compared to Utah weather, but what can you do--they just aren't used to it here).
(Okay, I magically got more time on my computer--I'm not sure how-- but since I still have more time on my email, I'll use what I can get--yay for miracles that give you even more than 15 minutes on the computer).
But, maybe I should tell you what happened that day BEFORE the baptism. It was probably the CRAZIEST day of my entire life! (Zr. Fritz is being really creative with how she is emailing her parents about this--and I would love to copy her-- but then I'd feel dumb, so you can read her blog if you want to see how this is told in creativity.)
So, we didn't have a whole lot of appointments Saturday--they all got cancelled (seriously, people can't do anything when there is snow on the ground here)--so we decided to look up some former investigators and inactive members. We hopped in the metro to go look up an inactive member, and I was talking to a man from Africa. Zr. Fritz was sitting with her back to me in the metro. We had a good chat and exchanged numbers so that he can come to an activity at the church. He then called the phone (which Zr. Fritz had) to make sure he had given me the right number. We heard the phone ring, and he (assuming the sound was just coming from my bag) hung up. Well, Zr. Fritz hadn't overheard our conversation, and she saw that she missed a call on the phone--so as we are still sitting there chatting, his phone starts to ring--he looks at it confusedly and says, "Your phone-- it is calling me--" We then started to laugh as I explained that Zr. Fritz had it. It was hilarious.
Then we went walking through the centrum to look up an inactive member--and on the way we ran into some members from Idaho--they took our pictures and are going to email them to you. We walked with them a ways because they were going to the Anne Frank House, which was on the same street as the member we were looking up-- and-- as it turns out-- is actually the same house. Obviously this inactive member didn't want any contact with the church.
Then we went back to a place we had seen on our way to her house to do some finding--we started ringing bells and people just weren't interested. Then all of a sudden, a police car pulls up-- someone had called them to say that two suspicious women were ringing in the neighborhood ringing on people's bells. They told us we should probably avoid neighborhoods in the centrum and took down our names in case anyone ever calls us in again-- whoa buddy--this is my first interaction with the police on my mission.
After that, the day was pretty normal--we went to look up an old investigator and she was SO excited to see us! She is super positive and I'm looking forward to teaching her.
Things with Kim are GREAT! She is as fabulous as ever. Keep her in your prayers. And pray for her dad, too--his name is Eric--I'd really love to see their family be able to be sealed in the temple.
Moses came to church last week... we haven't had an appointment with him that has gone through since before Christmas. We basically told him this week that he has got to take some action of his own and that his baptism can't go through in February unless he decides to pick it up. He wasn't too phased. Sad day.
We had a really cool lesson this week with a woman named Esther. We felt like we should sing 'I am a Child of God’—this was our first lesson with her, and she was a referral from a member—we didn’t know how it was going to turn out—she had investigated the church before and we weren’t really sure why she stopped. We went over to her house and as we sang for her, she burst into tears. She told us that one of the members came and sang that by her husband’s bedside the day that he passed away and that she knew that we were sent from God. She then really opened up to us. She told us why she stopped investigating the church and why she never got baptized—she’s still not sure she should get baptized now, but at least now we can see a little more of the iceberg than anyone has before. It was such a neat experience.
As far as transfers next week-- I'm really hoping to stay in Amsterdam at least one more. I love it so much here. I feel like I'm staying, but we'll see what happens. If I do get to stay, it will be the best transfer EVER--Kim's baptism, I'll get to go to the temple with a new convert (not many missionaries get to with someone they didn't baptize, but since I've worked with her so much, President has given me special permission if I'm still in Amsterdam), and just amazing miracles. Zr. Fritz feels like she's leaving, but we'll see what happens... I don't know. Whatever happens is because God wants it to be that way.
As for a spiritual thought, I just want to let you know how much happiness the gospel brings. I've seen people change because of the gospel--they become softer and more christlike as time goes on. That is the beauty of the gospel and of repentance--repentance is not about guilt--it is about changing ourselves every day to become more like Christ. I read the conference talk this week called 'Repent... that I may heal you' (or something like that)--I definitely recommend it--use it for FHE or something. I loved it!
Well, I'm going to jet. I love you!
Zuster Fowler
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