One More Week Till Conference!

Dear Family,

Hurray for General Conference week!! Can I get a "wahoo!!"? Haha ok so I'm a conference nerd, but I fully accept it. I am so so excited for this weekend. We have a lot of people coming and it's going to be great. I'm so grateful for the prophet and apostles. And I have a real testimony of going to conference with a question, and then listening to the Spirit and the speakers for the answer. That's actually something we can always do at church, we don't have to wait till conference to do it. We've been giving a lot of our investigators a card during the week and telling them to write down a question on it, and then to go to church and pray to receive the answer. Elder Kopischke told us we could PROMISE them they would get an answer. It's been wonderful to see a lot of sincere people get answers that way. This past Sunday I was really struggling with something, and I took my own advice and went to church with a question. And I got my answer, exactly in the personal way that I needed. I love that.

So things here are going great! We are still busy and doing our best to get everything done. There is so much work to be done here in Amsterdam. Investigators, members, inactive members. We're blessed to get to work with a lot of great ward leaders and they help us a lot. I really encourage all of you to go teach with the missionaries -- they need you; I know it!

This past Tuesday we had a great zone training. We learned a lot about measuring success. I love President and Zuster Brubaker. They are the best.

So one of the miracles of the week – We've been teaching this amazing 21 year old girl named Jennifer. She's actually from the Dominican Republic and speaks Spanish (and a little English). So, thank goodness for Zuster Kremer's language skills, we teach her in Spanish. We have to do a lot of translating, but thanks to the Spirit it works. (I want to learn Spanish as a side note.) My comprehension is actually pretty ok. And Zuster Kremer has taught me to pray in Spanish, so that's cool! Very simply. Anyway, on to the miracle. Jen has been coming to church, reading from the Book of Mormon, all of that. And she has friends back home who are members, and they have been encouraging her to keep meeting and praying and everything. She knows it's all true and she wants to be baptized. Her concern though has been that she never wants to go inactive, so she really wants to take her time with investigating. And I really respect that. Everyone has their own timetable that it takes them to join. So at this last lesson we were talking about baptism and she started talking about how she couldn't be baptized because she already had been and the Bible says one baptism. I was sitting there and all of a sudden this scripture popped into my head about people in the Bible being baptized more than once. The thing was I could NOT find it. I was praying a praying though and all of a sudden I just opened me scriptures and there it was! Acts 19. Thank you to the Spirit!! We shared it with her, and her face lit up and she started laughing and said, “This is it! This is my answer!” It was such a beautiful moment because I saw the enlightenment just come. She wants to get baptized, and I know it's going to happen. She's amazing.

Funny story of the week. Because Amsterdam is such an international ward we have to do English translation every week. We have a translation booth, and usually one of us missionaries will go back, and then everyone who needs translation will wear headsets. So this past Sunday I was translating. And then one of the Spanish members got up to give a talk, and so another woman went to the front with her to translate it into Dutch. So in my head I'm sitting back there thinking, okay cool, there's already translation, and I understand it so everyone else can too. So I'm just sitting there. And then I see people with headsets turning and looking at me, and then someone knocked on the door and said, “Umm... you still need to translate too.” I felt so silly. Haha -- oh well it ended up working out.

Well dears, I love you all. Thank you for your faith and love. Keep doing the small and simple things, and you will see miracles. I looove you. :)

Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein

Kies De Goede Weg

Dear Family!

Your emails this week made me so happy. Really, I loved hearing the story about William, and seeing the pictures of Hairspray. It looks like everything is going great! Oh and Julia, the pictures of Rhett are adorable. It's so crazy -- he really looks like you! It's still hard for me to believe sometimes that you have a kid -- haha. John, what did you think of Duke? I'm sure you will make the right choice. And yes -- 2 weeks till General Conference!!!! I am above and beyond excited. Temple and conference are two of my favorite things. We should actually be going to the temple again soon as a mission, sometime before Easter.

Spring is FINALLY coming here in Amsterdam! I'm almost afraid to type that, I don't want to curse it -- haha. But really, today is beautiful. We rode our bikes up to Central Station, and I even got to take my hat off; it's not too cold. That's a miracle. It's making a big difference in everything.

So this week was great! I'm so happy to be staying in Amsterdam, I love this city with all my heart. We have been so busy! We've been having to skip studies in the morning to be able to handle all of our appointments, and we actually had to leave early and have one this morning even though it's P-day. But hey, we're not complaining. :) This is the way I like it.

We've been finding a lot and our teaching pool is getting big. It's taking a lot of good planning and making sure we're on time for everything. Percy and William are doing great; we had a really powerful lesson on Saturday night about reading the scriptures, praying, and coming to church, and how those are the big things that will help us to stay strong and be able to "conquer Satan." And then after we all sang “How Great Thou Art.” It was a very spiritual experience.

Charlotte is also doing really well! She came to church yesterday and told us that she has been reading from the Book of Mormon every day and she loves it because she can find answers to all her questions in it. She's also been praying every day which is making a big difference. She's had such a hard life -- unbelievable, but the atonement of Jesus Christ is really helping her to see what God has in store for her.

Keep praying for the people here and for your own missionary experiences. I read this morning the talk by Elder Nelson from last conference's Priesthood session, and I was really hit with how important it is to be an example of the believers. People look at us, and if we do our best to follow the commandments, and keep close to the Spirit, they will be able to see the light in our eyes. People tell Zuster Kremer and me that all the time. It's a very real thing, the light that comes from us when we live the gospel. Everyone has the light of Christ in them, we just need to help them realize it.

I love you all! Kies de goede weg.

Met Liefde,
Zuster Holbein

Happiness

Family, family, family!

I have news -- very surprising news. We heard about transfers this morning and .... I'M STAYING IN AMSTERDAM. With Zuster Kremer. Crazy! That'll be 5 transfers here that's a loooong time. Haha luckily I love Amsterdam and I love Zuster Kremer. I really thought I was leaving though. Everyone did. The ward was like giving me gifts and saying their farewells. Haha -- so crazy, but I get to stay! I'm very happy. :) Another 6 weeks in this beautiful city. The work is really going well too. There are a lot of people I am excited to continue to help. This is a blessed area.

I'm glad to hear things are going well at home. William, good luck with Hairspray! Sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. Please send pictures! I can't believe it was 70 in Kentucky! It's definitely warming up here but dang -- that's warm. Spring is definitely coming though, we're already seeing signs of tulips here and there.

So the miracles of the week. Wow, I don't know where to begin, it's been a great week. We have such a big teaching pool right now. Wednesday night when we went to go eat dinner at Jennifer's house we were introduced to her friend Charlotte. She's 21 and has just seen how Jennifer's life is and her example and the peace that she has, and she wants it too. We taught her about the love of God and how she is a daughter of God, and she was really touched. She is willing to learn and she came to church yesterday! I'm excited to teach her and help her progress to baptism.

Thursday we had an amazing appointment with a man named Ramcil who we met going along doors. He had actually met missionaries a few years ago, but had never been able to find the church. He said that he knew that it was a sign that we knocked on his door. So he is awesome as well.

Everyone else is doing really well. Percy, William, everyone is progressing and reading and growing and yeah...what could be better?? Baptisms are coming soon. :)

I guess the biggest miracle of the week was yesterday. Yesterday we had stake conference and it was really special. It was the 50-year mark of the first stake here in Holland. Elder Kopischke from the Area 70 came as well and the Spirit was powerful. We had 4 investigators who were able to come, which was great considering it was a bit far away. We all met as a ward and took a big bus up. That was fun.

I love this ward. I love being able to work with the members here. I really have come to realize this past week how perfect this mission is for me. I love the Netherlands. I love Belgium. I love Dutch. Really, honestly, I do. The Church is small here. Dutch is a totally random language. But I really feel like this is where I was supposed to come. That's a nice, peaceful feeling to have.

The theme of the conference was "Kom tot Christus" "Come unto Christ." Every talk, alles, focused on the Savior and his atonement. I think that's why the Spirit was so strong. One of my favorite things that was said was in Elder Kopischke's talk. He was talking about why we have hard times, and he had us read Mosiah 24:13-14. He talked about how we have hard times so that the Savior can deliver us, and then we can testify of his healing power. I was so touched by that because I have experienced that. I know the Savior can heal us. I don't always know exactly how, and maybe I can’t always understand it, but I know that there is a healing power that is more than what the world can offer. It cleans us from the inside.

There is a Dutch name for Jesus Christ that doesn't really have an English translation, but I love it. The word is “Heiland.” I guess “Savior” would be the best translation, but it means more like healing, making something whole again. And I love that because that's what Christ does. We are all broken. From sin, from sadness, various things, but we all need the Savior’s healing power.

After the conference Zuster Kremer and I went to a park to do finding, and as we were walking I suddenly just felt inspired to pull out my Book of Mormon and tell Zuster Kremer how much I loved the scripture in Mosiah that we had shared. I pulled it out to read it, and then said to her, “I really want to share this with someone." I said that, and then out of nowhere, a man sitting on a bench who we hadn't seen yelled at us and said, "Jesus Christ? What's the message today?" And so I walked over to him and asked him if he wanted to hear the message. He said he has been addicted to alcohol for years but he wanted to hear it. We read that scripture to him, and then proceeded to have a 45 talk with him about the healing power of Christ and God's plan for us. He changed during that conversation, and I know I did too. I saw him as a child of God, I saw him in white. He accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon, we exchanged numbers, and we made plans to meet him again next week in the park. It was a miracle.

I know that Christ lives. I know that He heals, that He loves us, and that He suffered and gave His life for us so that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father. This life does have to be hard sometimes, but we don't have to do anything alone. I am so grateful for a Savior who stands by me. I am happy to be His missionary and to testify of his delivering, healing power. I am so far from perfect, and I try so hard everyday to improve, but it's ok. I know that I can do all things through Christ.

I really pray that we can all continue to strengthen our testimonies of Jesus Christ's atonement. Let's make it the focus of our lives. Ok, maybe this is corny, but I really feel prompted to ask all of you to pray tonight and ask for a confirmation that Jesus Christ lives and that He is your Savior. I know that you will feel his love, I know it because I've done it, and I feel his love for me every day.

Thank you for your testimonies and your prayers. I love you all!

Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein

So Many Miracles

Dear Family!

It has been such an amazing week! Really, really, one of those weeks when you just look back and think, you know what, that was great. So worth it. We definitely had our struggles this week, but it all has worked out for our good and the good of our investigators. So many miracles seen! I appreciate everything you all have been doing for me. All the prayers and fasting and everything is really working.

And guess what? THE SUN IS SHINING TODAY. :) That gets the miracle of the day award for me. Spring is coming, everyone here says give it another 4 weeks. When I write you next week I'll have heard about transfers. I'm 99.879% sure I'm getting transferred. Who knows where to? It'll be hard to leave. I love Amsterdam with all my heart, and I love working with Zuster Kremer. She's an angel. I'm going to have to start saving up for a trip to Hungary after my mission -- haha.

So miracles. We were able to get back in contact this week with an old investigator named Ger who after our first lesson with him a month ago wasn't too interested, but when we called back he told us that since he stopped meeting with us everything in his life has fallen apart and he wants to learn again. He came to the ward dinner on Wednesday and got a blessing and made a lot of friends with the members. He was a Temple Square referral so we're super excited to start teaching him again. He is uitverkoren.

Speaking of people who are so prepared to receive the gospel, let's move on to Percy. So on Thursday we went to our appointment with William, and when we walked in there was another man sitting on the couch who William introduced as his neighbor Percy. William had given him a copy of the Book of Mormon and Percy had been waiting for us to come and he had so many good questions. He asked us all about the sacrament and going to church and the nature of God, and we were able to answer all of them teaching a first discussion using scriptures from the Bible and Book of Mormon. It was so so amazing. The spirit in the room was astounding! Percy said he had looked all, been to so many different churches, and knew that God was close to him, but he said he just never could find the truth. We testified to him that this was it, and that he could come to find the truth for himself by learning and making covenants with God. He totally committed to a baptismal date and to preparing! William is getting baptized on April 23rd and Percy on April 30th. Such a miracle. He came to church yesterday and he got up and bore his testimony that on Thursday when we walked into the room that he saw light streaming out from us. He said that he knew he had found the truth he has been looking for. It was such a powerful Sunday. I felt the spirit so strongly testifying to be that well, the church is true! And missionary work is great.

Next miracle -- on Saturday we went to go and have an appointment with Vili, our Bulgarian speaking investigator who speaks a little Dutch.
Every lesson really is a gift of tongues miracle; I don't know how we communicate. Anyway, we went and she had her brother’s wife visiting from Bulgaria who doesn't speak any Dutch, but who wanted us to pray for her because she is having a really hard time. So we all knelt to pray and I said the prayer in Dutch because yeah, I can't speak Bulgarian. I really prayed silently before we started that I could be led by the Spirit and that Tanya, the brother’s wife, would feel the Spirit. After the prayer I looked at Tanya and she was crying. She said, Vili translated, and that as I was praying she felt so warm inside and almost like she could understand what I was saying, even though she doesn't speak Dutch. We had a powerful lesson reading from the scriptures about Christ and the atonement. They also both came to church yesterday.

There are so many miracles happening here. God is so aware of all of his children.

Well because of crazy situations I have to go. We are actually locked out of our house -- a LONG story. So time to go figure that out.

I love you all!

Met liefde,
Zuster Holbein