Week 76: Christmas Time!!

November 25, 2014

Geliefde Familie:

  

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS IN LOKEREN!

Happy birthday Madeline!!! I can't believe you’re going to be 14! Mom, if she doesn't see this, make sure to tell her I love her and I'm thinking about her. Really all of those cute Pfortladies. 

This week has been good. We rode a lot of buses and talked to a lot of Muslims. WE HAD AN INVESTIGATOR AT CHURCH! And I heard from Christiaan that they had SIX investigators at church in Lelystad this week, so I was SO happy to hear that. 

Comfort. She is so cool. She's 11 and I think I've told you a little about her. She lives with her mom here and she got permission to come to church with us! So we got picked up to go to church and Comfort just rode with us. She lives on our same street. She is really smart  I really think she is getting it! She's so sincere and wants to do what's right. Zr Mashburn just stuck with her while I was in ward council, and when I got out, she was just talking to all the members. They love her and she loves them. A fairly recent convert, Angela, who is 17, just really took her under her wing. It was so good to see. After church, Comfort was like, "I want to come again!" and we were like, "Yeah, next week!" And she was so happy. She turns 12 on Saturday and she might be going to an activity with the YW in Brussels--to a war museum or something. If she goes, we can go too! We have another lesson with her tonight. Woo!

Let me just brag about how amazing my companion is for a moment. First off, she's adorable. She is good at sports and loves animals and is just so sweet. She also is AMAZING at sports. Soccer, basketball. She dominates. The elders love it that there’s a sister that can actually hold her own. This is what it was like With Zr A too. She's SO smart, too. Goodness. Her Dutch is fantastic and she just really needs to see that she is doing SO well. I hope that in these next two weeks I can really help her build her confidence. She’s amazing. I love her. She's so funny and cute and we get along really well. 

Mom, you asked if I want people at the airport. Sure, why not. Especially Alex Self. 

So Muslims. Basically, twice this week we thought we were entering a situation where we'd be doing the teaching, but both separate times, they have dominated the conversation. They completely don't see the need for a savior. It was so interesting to me. I kept asking them questions about heaven and if we need to be perfect to get there and how we can become cleansed from sin, and they just believe that it's like a balance. As long as you help enough old ladies cross the road, you'll be saved. They don't see that no matter how much good we do, we all need Christ. I love how the Book of Mormon is so plain about that. People are constantly chastised but it’s all so that they can become clean. God gives us so many chances to accept Christ, and I'm so grateful for that. I know that we distance ourselves from Christ every time we make a mistake, but we are so blessed to have a plan from our Heavenly Father that allows us to repent, become clean and to come closer to Christ. I've seen it a lot on my mission--people coming closer to Christ. And they’re so much happier for it.

Went on an exchange to Gent and we saw some really cool miracles. A 16 yr old kid really wanted to learn more and he gave us the information of his girlfriend too. we were waiting for his mom to get home so we could share a lesson, but she wasn't there by the time we had to leave, but it was cute, the kid kept sticking his head out the door to see if his mom was home. We went by to say that we had to go and he was like, "I looked on the website!" he loved it. I hope that's going well. Then that night I finally got to eat fu fu. It's this African food that's actually really good. Everybody kept telling me you either love it or hate it, and so I tried it and I really liked it. Mission bucket list item checked off.

Awful picture, but I ate fu fu finally!!!

This week I have my last zone conference. Weird. And a member of the 70 is coming, so that'll be cool. We have to go to the Netherlands. I am excited, but the trains have been so weird recently because of riots...idk why.

Our WML is in the hospital right now. He had to get surgery yesterday on his liver and he has two more operations this week. He's such a great WML so we are really praying he gets better soon. He makes our lives go so much smoother, especially at church. He and his wife are really strong. We had a lesson at their house last night--a referral they gave us. Eline. She is soooooo cool. Such a golden investigator. She loves learning about the gospel and about the Plan of Salvation. I love seeing her get it. She's coming to church on Sunday! YES!

IK HOU VAN JULLIE!

I can't wait to see you. Cannot believe it's actually soon. I can count on my fingers and toes the number of days...what. 

Liefs,

Zuster Katherine Heilner

P.s. thanks for all the letters. You guys are champs. <3

Got to go see Ethlyn on the way to Rijswijk. She made me Indonesian food probably for the last time.

Adventures with bikes