More miracles

From e-mail dated March 8, 2010.

So, my new companion is Zuster Reber from California. She's great. She's a really hard worker--and once again someone who was majoring in German, so her Dutch is really good (she just has a REALLY strong German accent so everyone thinks she is German). It's always interesting having a new companion--but especially more of an adjustment when they're brand new! She's wonderful and I'm excited for this transfer. We've already seen a lot of miracles this week and will see plenty more as the transfer continues...
We've had some really neat things happen this week—Friday was a day full of miracles and interesting experiences unlike any other I've ever seen on my mission. We were doing a consecrated hour right before weekly planning, and we felt like we should do it in our neighborhood, just talking to people opstraat. We walked out of our apartment, and the first woman we started talking to was Hindu. She wasn't really interested, but as we were showing her a card with the picture of Christ, another woman walked up and said, "What are you doing here with the Lord Jesus on the street?! He belongs in His house! Come, come with me to the Lord's house!" She then took the card out of our hands held it in front of her and began walking and talking to herself while kissing the picture af en toe. We looked at each other and thought, "Is this woman crazy?!" But then we followed her. She led us to an inloophuis—a place where people could just walk in and talk about God and Christ. She showed all of the people there the picture and said, "Look who I found on the street! The Lord whispered in my ear that they are Mormons. He told me to bring them here and that they have a message for you. You all need to listen!" She then turned to us and said, "The Lord said you need to be here—teach them."And then she turned around and walked out the door. All of the people were sitting there staring at us. This place is on our street and I've never noticed it before! They invited us to sit down and then they started firing questions at us about the church. They were about to close up for lunch, so they didn't have a ton of time—but they all asked if they could have a card and asked us to bring by some information later about family history. Before we left they asked if we could read a part of the Bible and pray together. We asked if anyone would be interested in meeting with us and they said that we were always welcome to come back to the inloophuis, but no one wanted to meet with us one on one. When we all walked out, everyone went their separate ways and we were walking down the street a little awestruck when one of the men who was walking a ways ahead of us turned around and waved us to come to him. He said, "I want to learn all about your church. I want to know what this Book of Mormon is and why you are here. I want to come to church and see what it's all about." He gave us his number and said he would call when he knows his work schedule next week. Sadly, he didn't come to church on Sunday—but we will be talking with him tomorrow. This is one of the weirdest/most interesting/who knows what experiences of my entire mission—but the Lord works in mysterious ways.
We also set 3 new baptismal dates this week with a wonderful family. They are former investigators of the Elders and a few weeks ago, Zuster Robbins and I were in the neighborhood looking up an inactive. The inactive no longer lives there-- but we talked with a man who said that some other people in the building would be interested-- well, they weren't but we asked them if they knew anyone who would be interested and they said no, but a little boy standing next to us said--I KNOW! He told us to bell number 40. We did and she let us up. We started talking with her about her religious background and asked if she went to a church, she said, "Actually, I've been you YOUR church!" We then found out she used to meet with the Elders. She and her son came to church that Sunday. The Elders made an appointment to go by the next week and talked with her about the Restoration again. This last Sunday, Zuster Robbins and I felt like we needed to go back, so we asked the Elders if we could go again and they said they thought it was great. We went and taught her, her son, and her boyfriend about the plan of Salvation and at the end we felt like we should commit them to be baptized and they all said they want to! Their current date is for April 4--the Elders will teach them twice a week and we will teach them once a week. They are super sweet. The big obstacle is going to be the law of chastity-- so we're talking about that one this week. Hopefully their testimony will be strong enough that they will be open to the spirit and follow this commandment so that they can be baptized.
Marvel is getting baptized in 2 weeks--and he's super excited. You've got to love 9 year old excitement and faith!
I love you all very much. I have to get going--but know that you are in my prayers. I'd love to know how things are going with Chris and with the rest of the kids. How's grandma doing as well? I can't believe how fast time flies...