Pre-Christmas

Dear Family!

Merry almost Christmas! It's crazy to think that by the time I write my next email we will have already spoken.

So it's been quite the week. Actually, being honest, kind of a hard one. We got dropped by our 2 investigators progressing to baptism. And that was hard. This past week was transfers, I'm staying in Amsterdam with Zuster Kremer which is such a blessing. Zuster Fritz went home which was weird, and also Zuster Pierson had to go home this past week. That was the hardest thing. She's been suffering some pretty serious health issues for awhile now and they sent her home to get them fixed. Please pray for her, I know this is almost killing her more than the health issues. Also please pray for Zuster Fritz. Her bag was stolen at the Brussels train station and it was the bag that had her wallet, passport, camera, and every single mission and study journal she had ever written. Oh it just breaks my heart to write that. I know that happened to you Mom. Maybe you can call her? If you look her up on Facebook it's Jillian Fritz. I know she would love to hear from you. So yes, that's kind of the difficult things of this past week. But the wonderful thing is, looking back it has been more of a week of joy than anything. I have seen so many miracles and really felt a confirmation of the Lord's love for me and his approval of my mission and the work I am doing.

Zuster Kremer is also struggling with her health, but even that is bringing blessings. On Wednesday we were out and we stopped in a pharmacy because she had to buy medicine. I was just looking around while she was buying stuff and all of a sudden one of the workers stopped me. She asked about my name tag and said she had seen other people with it before but had never talked with them. I was able to talk with her for about 15 minutes about the Church and being a missionary -- it was great! I gave her a card our mission uses on prophets and she was really interested. She wouldn't give me her number and didn't want to make an appointment because she said she was so busy, but I really felt the Spirit when I talked to her. So we left. The next day we were getting ready to go to an appointment but our investigator called off just before. So we were getting ready to go off somewhere else but before we left we got a phone call... and it was the woman from the pharmacy! She said she had been really thinking about what I said and wanted to learn more. She asked if we could come over right then, and as it turns out we happened to be in the area where she lived already. And because our other appointment had cancelled we could. Haha geen toeval! We went over and had a beautiful first lesson with her. Her name is Afsaneh. She's from Iran but has lived here since she was 17. She doesn't believe in God yet, but is very open to learning. She is praying about the Book of Mormon and invited us back. It was such a miracle. She's totally going to get baptized. :)

Funny moments of the week have all come because of the horrible snow. Tjonge jonge we have soo much snow! They actually cancelled church yesterday because it is too dangerous to go out. Many lessons have been learned. One -- no matter what you might think, don't try and go out with your bike, you'll either fall, which I did MANY times, or you'll just end up having to push it. We've basically been walking everywhere. It's great fun. Zuster Kremer and I have also been working on the "what to do if one of us falls in a canal plan." Haha which is quite funny (and won't actually happen; don't worry).

I'm excited to talk to you all. I love you so very much. I am so grateful for this time of year to reflect on the life and birth of the Saviour. I am so so grateful for Jesus Christ. I know He lives! I love the message of the restoration. I love studying the scriptures and coming to know my Saviour more. I love being a missionary this time of year. Wat ben ik blij! Ik hou van jullie.

Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein