October 26, 2009: Zone Conference and a New Companion!

How exciting to check my e-mail and see that Carter is here! Congratulations Brooke and Derek! He is soooo cute! Big baby too! I haven't read any of the other e-mails but I hope that everything went well with the delivery and all! Tell him that I love him and keep me posted with pictures! Ohhh! Give him tons of hugs and kisses for me! I wish I could smell the new baby smell right now! My week was really great! Things were really busy this week because Friday we had Zone Conference in Amsterdam! Zone Conference was amazing and so uplifting. President Brubaker focused on following the example of the Savior in teaching and asking great questions. President and Sister Brubaker talked about having a change of heart and about having love for everyone. So much that I needed to hear and that is already helping me in the work. It was so great to gather together with so many missionaries in one spot! It was especially great to see Zuster Fritz, Elder Johnson, and Elder Matthews! They are doing so great too and we had a fun time catching each other up with our experiences in the different areas that we serve in. I also got to meet a lot of the sisters in the mission so I was anxious to find out who my second companion would be this morning. This next transfer I will be serving with Zuster Wieland! I don't know her to well but I am sure that she will be great. She only has 2 more transfers left in her mission so this will be her last city. I am excited to have a new companion but I am actually more nervous than I thought I would be. I am so comfortable with Zuster Baxter and we work so well together that I hope that all goes well this next transfer....I am just too much of a worry wart! I KNOW it will be good! At Zone Conference Sister Brubaker focused a lot on cleanliness and how it invites the Spirit and I seriously almost wanted to stand up in the middle of the meeting and say AMEN! She asked us to focus on cleaning up our apartments and making them more organized and I am so excited about that! I started really taking the time to get things done in our apartment while Zuster Baxter did some packing and we even bought some rags at the store! It was my favorite purchase of the day! Zuster Baxter just laughs at me...that I get so excited about cleaning...but it really does invite the Spirit! I have to admit that I miss being able to do more cleaning. When I get home make sure the house is a mess so I can make up for all of the time I missed out on! This week we didn't do much with our investigators because they were all busy and appointments fell through but we had some great finding time doing surveys on the street and knocking doors. We have a lot of potential investigators and I am excited to see where they go! We spent a lot of time working with the members this week, less-active and recent converts especially. I have a goal this next transfer to visit every member of our branch atleast once. I have prayed about it and thought about it a lot and I think that it would help the work so much here in Zwolle if we got all of the members involved. We also had correlation meeting with Brother Knarren and Brother Ajubi and we are talking about doing a musical Christmas program and making fliers for it to hand out as we go tracting. I think that it will be great! Anyway, I love you so much and I am praying for you! I literally feel your prayers and appreciate them so much! Hope that you all have a great week and enjoy Halloween! I LOVE YOU!Love, Zuster SharpPS-Thank you for the package mom and kelly! So awesome! You will hear more about it in my letter home! AWESOME!