"A Beautiful Moment"

Hello family!

Well, after reading all of the sweet e-mails I get from all of you, I really have to make these e-mails short. Sorry.

We had two baptisms this week. My first two since coming here actually. They were amazing. The spirit was so strong as Lenneke and Andre were baptized and made their first covenants with God to walk in His path and follow him. It was a beautiful experience, and one which I will never forget. I was sitting next to one of our investigators (a 21 year old turkish man) and during one of the songs in the program, he had tears in his eyes. It was so beautiful to see how Heavenly Father touched him through the beautiful hymn "a poor wayfaring man of grief". That song will forever remind me of that beautiful moment I shared with one of God's loved children.

As for what I see and experience everyday, I'm not sure what to tell you- I teach people from literally all over the world, which is very cool. The Dutch people were originally extremely scary for me to contact because they are so totally blunt and honest. For example, the standard response when we knock on their door is "geen interese" (no interest) and then they close the door. Now, however, I have learned to love contacting the dutch people themselves. Most do not have any real belief in God, and it is so interesting to talk with them and follow the spirit to ask them questions and get them to open up and talk to us about our Heavenly Father. What a great country this is! Mostly, native dutch speakers are just really impressed at how fast we learn the language. Our accents are immediately recognized as American (or sometimes British for me...) and they are always impressed that we have taken the effort to learn dutch when everyone pretty much already speaks english. The Lord uses everything to accomplish his work here- even strong accents. I have had more positive conversations with athiests than ever before just because I have a really, really strong accent :)

As for my new companion, she is awesome! Her name is Sister Whitney Kriser (Heather, she was on your dance team at BYU-I) and she is in her last transfer. She is so sweet... actually a little bit intimidatingly sweet... and she is such a good example of how to be an AWESOME missionary. I have learned so much from her already. She comes from Utah by way of BYU-I and Florida and is an elementary ed. major. She, Sis. Wieland, and I are having a great time!

My health is still great. The Lord is so merciful and loving! Ok, my times is up, but I love you all so much! I pray for you every day and hope all is well.

Love,
Zuster Cherie Gulliver
Tot ziens!