Timor mortis morte pejor

Transfers are getting closer again. That's always a fun time. Though this next one will be a small group leaving and a small group arriving, the groups will be getting bigger from now until the end of the year, when we get 20 new missionaries, and lose as many. In total, we will see a net increase in the number of missionaries, if all goes well. Which is to be expected, and shows that the Missionary Department still has faith in the mission, hahaha.

I think we had a record number of people at football this morning: 16 by the end. It was pretty fun, though I only really got into it towards the end of the game. Afterwards, we went to visit a member who lives in Wassenaar (where we play football) and then back to shower and shop. After emailing, we visited a castle near Voorschoten.

The week was a good one, I managed to get a lot done and most of the "fires" have been put out. It seems that the large number of problems caused by opening a whole bunch of apartments about a year ago, have been almost entirely resolved. Nowadays, we usually have to solve or fix some minor problem with an apartment or get some other thing sorted out with a certain city.

We taught somewhat less lessons this week than the last, but we did some finding in Wassenaar (which has the most millionaires in the country) and saw some really cool houses (and cars). We knocked on the door of the Thai embassy. We definitely will be going back there some time.

"Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." - Sir Winston Churchill

bortaS bIr jablu'DI' reH QaQqu' nay'

The week started well, but towards the end, the temperature shot up to beyond the reasonable temperatures. Of course, the morning we play football, it was up around 30° by the time we stopped playing. And yesterday was pretty toasty too.

On the plus side, we had a good week, and were able to go down to Brussels for another legality trip after a long time not having gone. We took a full van and met several others in Brussels. It was a good group and we had fun in the van on the way there and back.

I may have mentioned it before, but we have next to no Dutch investigators. We do have investigators from Curacao, China-Beijing, China-Taipei, Suriname, Burundi, Aruba, Ghana and formerly Brazil and Nigeria. But I suppose that can simply be explained by the secularism of Europe compared with the very strong religious groups outside of Europe. But this means that a number of our investigators do not speak any Dutch. Too bad that the Wassenaar branch is too far to bring them there.

The office really is the best place to be in this weather. Because even though it gets pretty warm inside, we do have some cooling and we don't exactly do much in the way of physical activity in the office. 

Something I read in a talk recently: Obedience is better than sacrifice. Sometimes we should do what we have been told by our leaders, rather than not do something to give another the chance to do it. Naturally there are times when it does not really matter who steps up, but at other times, *you* are the one that needs to do the task at hand. You have been called, not your friend or your brother or sister or the neighbour, but you. Others may be able to do it too, but sometimes you have what it takes to do it the way the Lord needs it done. 

Additionally, I would like to encourage you to do your genealogy. If nothing has been done, then start with your parents and grandparents. If your tree has been traced back 10 generations, don't despair, there is always more information to find. Just as Elder Andersen said, you can find your cousins too. And now it has become so much easier, with several websites becoming free for members of the church with a familysearch account.

Semper Verum

Late last week, we received permission to watch the Netherlands vs Argentina, in the semi-finals of the world cup, so on Sunday, we told the members in Leiden, and were invited to watch it with the Jongkees family. On Wednesday, we went over there just before 22:00. It was a long game, with extra time and a penalty shoot-out, because neither team had been able to score at all during the game. But in the end, it turned out that my choice of a sky blue tie had been correct, as the Albicelestes beat Oranje 4-2 in penalty shoot-outs. By the time we got home, it was almost 2:00. The next night was also a late night, as we had to drive the Amsterdam elders home after exchanges. 

We had a good time during exchanges, and we taught some really good lessons. We have one investigator from China, that is really really positive. She will not commit to being baptised yet, because she wants to be sure that she will be dedicated once she is baptised, and not divert from the path or fall away from the church. But she has never dropped an appointment, and is excited to learn more. For someone with no background with religion at all, she is really progressing well. Hopefully, she will get baptised before she goes back to China this summer.

Football was cancelled this morning, because people were going to be playing some sort of golf on the field we normally use. But that was ok, because a new sister missionary arrived this morning and we had to go and get stuff taken care of for legality and finance.

Sayonara

Id est quid est

During district meeting (our first with the new district leader), which was about branding season, we had interviews with president and sister Robinson. It is always good to talk with them. They really are concerned about all the missionaries in the mission. 

Later that day, we were able to take the once elder Li (somewhat of a legend in this mission for his remarkable service) on joint teach to the 2 Chinese students we are teaching. He speaks Mandarin too, so he was able to clarify a bunch of stuff they had difficulty understanding. And he could also understand where they are coming from, since he too is a convert to the church.

A few days later, a Chinese member from the ward in Leiden came with us, though she spoke Cantonese. All the same, her participation and presence was such a great benefit to the investigators, I think.

Yesterday, I went with the other Leiden elders to the Stigters. We set off to the station to take the train, but it turned out that all the trains were stopped between Leiden and everywhere else. So we took a bus and ended up taking a bus that got us to a village in the middle of nowhere, with no other buses to anywhere but back to Leiden. The solution was for brother Stigter to come and get us, but he was late home, so we stood waiting for a while. While we were waiting, the son of the 2nd counsellor of the stake presidency accosted us and asked if we were missionaries. It turns out they lived right across from where we got off the bus. They invited us inside and gave us something to drink. Since brother Stigter was later than expected, the members there drove us over to Nieuw Vennep. We had a fun time at the Stigters, as always.

The week has been really busy and we have had a lot of lessons. So that's good.

Have a good week!