A New Phase

So this week I (Judith) will be writing the post, for no other reason than that Phillip asked me to. So this week will be just a small summary of his week.

This week not much happened than the normal stuff. Monday they met with the president and the assistents as usual and Sister Robison made a delicious meal. Tuesday was district meeting, it was very interesting and he learned a lot during it. After the district meeting he and his companion went to visit a member of their ward and had dinner there. Friday they celebrated Elder Yocom’s birthday. After that they went for dinner to another member of the ward.

Saturday of course playing munchkin and had an appointment to play some more games with some members.

It was a fun week, he started to do lots of research for family history and all other stuff.

"He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty." - Samuel Johnson

A Plutonium Dragon

Another good week, but nothing really exciting happened. I wonder why I am even writing this blogpost, hahahaha.

We did have a great member present lesson with our good ol' South Korean investigator. Though short, we were still able to talk for a bit and then show a bible video, and "Because of Him". It was really good, and it showed me again how great it is to have members present during lessons. It's a big help to investigators (and to us, also). I am very grateful for what members do to help missionaries and will do my best to help the missionaries when I'm done here: the work must go on, I just will not have a name tag anymore.

No Brussels for me this week, so I just worked on a few projects instead, and got a lot of work done. This week was very productive, but not at that busy or stressful. The next months will be getting busier all the way until July. But it will be very exciting, I am sure.

As usual, we will be playing Munchkin and eating Domino's today, our standard p-day tradition. We have even more cards now, so it should be exciting.

"Work is not an end in itself; there must always be time enough for love." - Robert A. Heinlein

Feed my Sheep

Things are moving forward with the "travelling band" and early this week I worked together with the members of the group on the posters and invitations and ordered them via Vistaprint. They turned out surprisingly well and when they arrived, they were almost as good as they looked on the computer. It is always surprising how much you can do with certain graphics tools and what a simple picture can turn into. I would never be able to do something like that so quickly (or at all) with pencil and paper, haha. 

We had a fun trip to Brussels for driver's licenses and other legality. After getting lunch, we looked around some chocolate shops and ran across a member that worked at one of them. We had a brief conversation and it seems that she was baptised about 3 years ago in Brussels. Then she gave us some chocolate to taste. 

There seem to be worryingly few missionaries that have their calls to arrive in May. We may have to close a number of cities and/or apartments in May. I just hope that there is a larger group in July and then another in August so that the numbers are only down for a month or so. But yeah, maybe the mission numbers have peaked and will now shrink to a stable number around 120 or 130. 

Today, after e-mailing, I am going to go buy another Munchkin set and then we're going to play. I am very excited to see what sort of new cards we get. 

"Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some." - Charles Dickens

Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!

It's been another good week. As you may have noticed, I am past my year mark, and have almost a year to go. It's an interesting feeling. But yeah, a year is a long time, so it'll be plenty of time to do what I need to. 

On Friday, we drove down to Brussels once again. It was a fun ride there, a great opportunity to get to know my fellow missionaries and get some food in Belgium, haha. Maybe one of these times I will get a waffle or chips. :p The trip went smoothly and there were no riots or crazy events this time. Too bad, haha.

We had some good lessons with our few investigators, and we have a Surinamese investigator we want to introduce to our favourite Surinamese member, haha. Most of our investigators told us last week to call them two weeks later, so I would imagine that next week or the week thereafter will be somewhat busier. Which is always good. 

I am currently working on a poster and invitation for the new travelling band that was just formed. I also am working on the pictures of former mission presidents and for that I get to do fun research online on such sites as ancestry and familysearch. It is annoying that I cannot find all of them, but I am glad I found a few. I would imagine that more will pop up eventually.

"You will do no greater eternal work than within the walls of your own home"

Let Those Who Worship Evil's Might

The appointment with our South Korean investigator at the temple on Thursday was wonderful. President Kleijweg showed her the open house video, gave her a pamphlet about the temple and explained to her what he could about the temple. Elder and Sister Robison drove her to the temple and shared their testimonies about temple work and how it is such a wonderful place to be. They told her about how they were married there and their children too and that the spirit there is always so beautiful. She seems very interested in doing work for her deceased ancestors and asked if she would be able to do it for her biological and her adoptive family. She also expressed interest in and talked about the importance of temple marriage, as it is explained in the teachings of President Benson. This second time that I have gone to the temple with an investigator, and it really is a great experience for them (indeed, for everyone).

Transfers was uneventful, really, this week. Six new missionaries arrived (4 from the Provo MTC, 1 from the Madrid MTC and 1 from Apeldoorn: he's waiting for his visa so he can go to the MTC and then his mission in New York). No one left this transfer, which is unusual. It was my "privilege" to do travel plans for transfers this time. And for the most part, things worked out according to plan, so I guess they were good plans, haha. I spent some time at the station on Wednesday, helping out with transfers and stuff, since I was not needed at the office anyways. While waiting, a friend of mine stopped by on her way to catch a train and we talked for a bit. Advantages of serving close to home ;)

Today, we planned on going to the antiquities museum in Leiden, but I am not sure, because Elder Bosco, who replaced Elder Alston as AP, really wants to play Munchkin. So I guess we will see.

"For Pony!"