Though I Walk Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death

On Monday, I briefed everyone on the arrival of two Surinamese elders on Wednesday and on transfers next week. I made sure that everything was ready for them and the greenies next week. Still no sign of elder Loorbach.

At 12 on Tuesday, we drove to Eindhoven and then to Apeldoorn to drop off orders and mail for the missionaries. I saw elder Roemer (my district leader for one week during my mini-mission in Gent) in Eindhoven. 

On Thursday, we went to read from the scriptures with Sister Silveira and then in the evening we ate at the Shurtliffs. And before we left, brother Shurtliff played Jarrod Radnich's arrangement of the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack. It was cooool!

Friday, we had zone training in Amsterdam and it was gooood. I really learnt a lot and felt the spirit. Elder Cooper talked about the mission preparing to enter the digital age. Where we would no longer waste time contacting, but instead, go from referral to referral. I'm so excited to be part of that change. In the evening we ate dinner at the Nieuwvelds and taught Gaby about the commandments. We should only teach her once or twice more before her baptismal interview and then hopefully her baptism in 8 days. We all felt good about the appointment and were able to assist in giving her a priesthood blessing.

This morning, we played football and it was fun but also tiring. I think I am getting a bit better at it and I made some helpful intercepts while defending.

 

military or police of some sort. By the side of the A44, because of the nuclear security summit in Den Haag

 

military trucks near the A44

 

 more trucks.

 

...It was the worst of times

                                                                                                                                                       22/3/14

...But not this week. This week was pretty good. We got plenty done on Monday, when meeting with President and Sister Robinson, though elder Cockbain had some issues with the payment system, so that was quite frustrating for him. We had a good time with the Howells and Markhams in the evening. But still no sign of elder Loorbach, so one of the members sent him a facebook message. We read about fasting from Preach My Gospel, with them.

 

On Tuesday, we went to district meeting, and I was asked to speak about virtue. Elder Cockbain was trying to get bills paid that were not sent through on Monday, so he did not stay in district meeting for long. We ate pizza afterwards and had some fun playing ping pong while waiting. That evening, we had our first teaching appointment, with G. (the 13 year old niece of a member). Our first investigator!! She wants to get baptised! (Technically, she wanted to get baptised first, and then her aunt told her that she needed to follow the missionary lessons first, but it's awesome). But the tricky thing is that she is on vacation here in the Netherlands for a few weeks, and her mother is inactive, so we don't know if she will be able to be baptised when she goes home, unless her grandfather can get that arranged...

Wednesday, we continued with preparations for the upcoming transfer and new missionaries. We had no appointment and so we ate at the office.

 

We went to visit sister S. and read from the Book of Mormon and the Bible with her, on Thursday. It always feels so good going over there, so she has some company during the week and can also hopefully feel the spirit as we read. In the evening, we went to eat some pizza with brother Moore and two of his daughters (well, they had already eaten, haha) and he got us each a can of Cream Soda (it's goooood, though a better name would be caramel soda, hahaha). We had fun there too. Brother Moore is really cool. And Canadian.

We were out of the office by 9:30 on Friday, heading for Brussels and we walked around a bit in the centre, until our appointment at the town hall. We got back to Leiden around 4:45. And the carpet had just been cleaned, so we had to walk around the office in our socks (and they got wet). Later, we went to eat dinner at the Brobbeys. And that was also very fun. Brother Brobbey is very energetic and we had a very lively discussion about politics, but it was all in good fun.

 

This morning, we played football for an hour or so and then went to help with a service project at the ASH (American School of the Hague) in Wassenaar, where we scraped paint off of benches. We also so a tonne of police, fire department and military vehicles on the frontage road of the A44 (which will be partly closed for the upcoming nuclear summit in Den Haag.

Brussels - City Hall

 

Victor Hugo's old house

 

Stamps!! (Many thanks to Kimberly Stigter for these :p They belonged to her grandparents and she made sure they got to me, because she knows I collect stamps)

 

Some statue everyone rubs in Brussels

 

That's a lot of gold

 

Moroni?

 

 City hall again

 Elders Bitters and Kartodirjo

 

Grand Place

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was the best of times...

A shorter message this week, as I am not feeling very verbose at the moment, nor did anything particularly interesting occur.

Monday was fun, as always. I got called into President's office to discuss some additions to the transfer protocol. As Sister Robinson said, this coming transfer will be big learning experience. And the time after that will be even better. I brought up the heavier traffic and closed roads during the upcoming nuclear summit in Den Haag, which falls during the week of zone trainings. President Robinson simply switched Antwerpen and Amsterdam around, which would make it all work out better. In the evening, we went to family home evening with the Howells and the Markhams.

District meeting was interesting. It was mainly about asking questions and knowing which are the right questions to ask. We did some roleplaying to try it out, and see how we would approach it with an investigator, if they had a concern. On the way back, we dropped by the Ikea to get a wardrobe for elder Lind, since his current one is falling apart, literally: it was held together by tape. We ate at the Brobbeys in the evening: it was great. Brother Brobbey is so enthusiastic, and certainly about missionary-work.

Nothing particularly of note happened Wednesday or Thursday, except for an awesome dinner appointment at the Roberts' on Thursday, where we ate enchiladas and had an overall fun time.

On Friday, we again went to Brussels and I was able to practice my French a little, when we went to exchange driver's licenses of Elder Cockbain, Robbins and Lyman. We ate a doner place and I don't think it was good for my stomach.

This morning, we played football and it was really fun.

Onesies we got from sister Stigter. (Except elder Lind's, he already had his.

Some Belgian government building

Elder Ames

Elders Lyman, Bitters and Robbins

A gate :p

Military vehicles near the palace

The Royal palace  

food!! :p

We Are All Enlisted

Somewhat less busy this week. Except for p-day. 

On Monday, I got a new assignment, during correlation meeting: as of now, I am in charge of the organisation of transfers. That means that I'll take care of all the logistics of transfers, leaving the training, presentations and other legal/financial stuff up to the assistants and my companions. I will make sure that everyone and everything is in the right place at the right time. And before transfer week, I'll make sure the office staff are ready for the arrivals and departures and prepare any necessary material. I'm basically the supervisor ;) hahahaha. In the evening we went to the Markhams.

Tuesday, we went to district meeting with our new district leader and it was all in Dutch (it's apparently taalweek). It was a good district meeting and I participated in a roleplay with elder Lind (as an investigator) where I shared a scripture with him, to show the importance of using scriptures in lessons. From district meeting, we drove down to Rotterdam to deliver the new Dutch Mormon.org cards to the Rotterdam zone leaders, so that they can distribute them to their zone. Back at the office, a package from my mother was waiting, filled with goodies and, um, spices :p In the evening, we went to eat at the Mules, or rather at brother Mule's cousin's house. It was a good appointment, and also sad, because brother and sister Mule are moving to Vienna soon.

Wednesday and Thursday were fairly usual office days. With a dinner appointment on Wednesday at the Shurtliff home (where we discussed the flaws/traits of Americans and other peoples :p ) and macaroni carbonara on Thursday at the office.

At 9 on Friday, we set off with 5 other elders, to Brussels, to pick-up/activate residency cards and to exchange driver's licenses. In between the latter and the former, we went into the centre of Brussels to find food. We also visited some souvenir shops. By the time we got back to Leiden, it was almost 5 o'clock and almost time to head to the Nieuwveld's for dinner (American pancakes!).

Today, p-day, we played football in the morning and in a few hours, we'll be in Almere to play paintball! Sounds... exciting :p hahaha 

Everyone was rather...

...tired. Except elder Lind. He was knitting.

Some gallery in Brussels

Package from home! :D