Week 39

Beste Familie, 

it was so so so good skyping you guys (well, aside from the sort of singing Stille Nacht in Dutch.. if a video of that ends up somewhere public haha...)!!! Seriously though, it was such a good Christmas (and 20th Birthday).. visited Tommy, Mia, Crazy Mady, ran into Abdel, spent the evening with Familie VanGijsel (where I got to talk to you guys).

So, last Monday I got an email forwarded from Mom's email from a Kathleen Vanhouten and I wasn't sure if it was a prank or a miracle.. it was from a Dutch lady with small children who is looking for something more in this life and wants to get a hold of a Book of Mormon and has seen us in the neighborhood lots.. and today she emailed me her address (which sure enough does exist) and phone number and I will keep you guys posted with what happens!!! So cool!!! Turns out she got Mom's email from my public blog.. can't wait to look her up tomorrow!

Tommy is getting baptized this Saturday which is really exciting, and we had a wonderful lesson with Ermon's family and Brother Lolas (a member who happens to know Ermon from when they both lived in Antwerpen 11 years ago!), and Attila said a really sweet prayer thanking Heavenly Father for us helping him understand what the atonement of Jesus Christ can mean for him (after a really cool lesson about repentance), and Isaac came to the Christmas party potluck (he even brought food- he's a professional chef and even cooked for Mohammed Ali at the Hilton once.. but when people complimented his salmon and artichoke lasagna, he casually shrugged and said "it's just a hobby" haha) and will have more time to meet this upcoming week finally, yay.

We've been running into a lot of people who we talk to on the street who have met with Sisters/ even Elders months or years before, as well as people we recognize from recent street contacting who we run into in i.e. the store.. one of the perks of being in a small town for 3 transfers. 

I'm gonna attach some pictures of our recent change of environment (which, btw, we do bike in and haven't slipped yet!), love you!

Veel liefs, 

Zuster Riley (: 

Proof that we bike in this ice/ snow!