I thought I would tell you I
did not have time to send an email this week.....April Fools:) Dad has
gone to Priesthood Meeting so I will take this time to send the email to
you. Yesterday, Saturday, we went to the chapel at 6:00 pm
to watch the Saturday 10:00 am session of Conference. I got a twinge
of 'home sickness' as we saw the Conference Center. Dad made the
comment: " Our family is watching this at the same time only MANY miles
away". The Conference Sessions are Translated in Dutch, but many of
those that were in attendance, which was not many, listened to the
proceedings in English with the ear phones because they like to hear the
voices of those who are speaking. It will be interesting today...."take
for granted moment".....Priesthood at 11:00, Saturday Afternoon session
at 2:00, Music and The Spoken Word at 5:30, then the Sunday Am Session at 6:00 pm.
Remember that MOST members DO NOT have cars, have to come on public
transportation...be at the chapel ALL day, just to watch Conference. I
am wondering what families do that support the Priesthood coming in the
morning....do they stay all day? What about lunch? And we just sit in
our front rooms with our Pj's on munching popcorn. When Senior
Missionaries were mentioned everyone looked at Opa and I and gave us a
'thumbs up'. We are so blessed to be with these members that sacrifice
SO much trying to be good members of the church. I will let you know the
answer to my questions when the day is over.
A couple of funny things....here in the Netherlands
you can purchase cough medicine with codeine OTC but have to have a
prescription for 1% cortisone cm. There are ambulances for animals. I
have mentioned before at how many dogs there are....'animal rights' is a
big thing here. So, because no one has cars, your animal gets sick and
needs to see a Vet, you call the Dierenambulance,,,Dieren is animal, and
they will come and pick up your pet and take it for medical care.
These ambulances look like "people" ambulances, flashing lights and
all. April is when the Tourist season starts so the Netherlands really
goes all out. The tulips are not quite ready so we just keep waiting for
the first burst of color. In Alkmaar, there is a 'Cheese Festival'
every Friday in April from 10:00 am to noon.
Alkmaar is about 45 minutes from here so we hope to go see that. The
Alkmaar Branch is in our Stake so we have several JoVo's that said they
would take us to the Town Square where this is held. Last week the
President of the JoVo's sent out a notice on Face book, reminding the
YSA's obout Institute on Wednesday
Evening. He made a comment about Sister deLeeuw cooking...when I go to
the Face book page I have it translated into English. I laughed when I
read the comment....because in English it translates that "the Lion"
will be cooking.....deLeeuw in Dutch is the Lion. We really laughed and
told the JoVo's that....so now the Lion cooks:)
I made a carrot cake for Institute. The oven we have in the
apartment does not bake like I would hope..having to bake so much.
Anyway, I thought the cake was done, even stuck a toothpick in it to
make sure...put cream cheese frosting on it...looked yummy for sure.
When I went to cut the cake, I found that the middle was just raw cake
batter..I served the outer pieces first and then as the kids started
seeing the middle they all went crazy. They thought that was the
BEST...instead of cake it was pudding. They told me that next time just
make the batter, put frosting on it and let them eat it that way.
These kids love anything with sugar.
We have enjoyed a couple of weeks with warm
temperatures, blue sky, short sleeve weather. Then, we wake up two days
ago with clouds, wind and rain. Sound like Utah? I had put a couple of
our sweaters away, but they are being worn again.
We spent Tuesday
in Emmen again getting the apartment ready for the Elders. We still
can't believe what they do to these apartments when they move out. Dad
and Elder Pankratz had to put the glass shower stall back on the wall.
Light fixtures, flooring, window coverings. Opening a new apartment
for the Missionaries is a BIG deal and lots of work. The new Senior
Couple that is coming on Tuesday
have an apartment in Den Haag. We helped with that this week as well,
but only had to put away dishes and make the bed. Elder Pankratz was
able to find an apartment that did not need to be put back
together...blessings. Dad is the 'fixit' man here and repaired the floor
in the Sisters apartment this week. He can only go in when the Sisters
are gone, so had to plan his work around that. He is filling out the
'Quartly reports' and that is a BIG process....I will do cooking
anytime. We laughed the other day as we were coming out of the grocery
store. I told dad when he retired that I would not make him go grocery
shopping with me. What does he do several times a week.....go grocery
shopping, bag the groceries and carry them to the car then into the
apartment. Hey, at least we can laugh. When we were driving home from
Den Haag we saw something I wished I could have taken a picture of. A
women was riding a bike....with 3 children sitting in a basket on the
front of the bike....another child on her lap and a baby carrier
strapped on the back. 5 children and mom on ONE bike:)
Tuesday
after we came home from Emmen, we were tired from sitting in the car
for two hours, so we took a walk. We went on a path that we were
unfamiliar with and it was getting dark. A darling young couple were
walking in front of us so we asked where the 'trail' would take us. They
were so cute and offered to walk with us to make sure we knew where we
were going...we asked where they were from because they spoke such good
English. They are from Peru and have lived here for 4 years. They
speak Spanish and English and have a hard time with the Dutch language.
(We were instant friends). They asked what brought us
here....Missionary time!!!!....they noticed our name badges and we told
them about being Missionaries. The man said he had a friend that went
to SLC and saw the 'Church". We so wished we would have had "Pass along
cards" with us. We WILL carry some with us now. They told us where
they lived, but with all the apartments here there is no way we knew
which one they pointed to. We pray that maybe if one day the
Missionaries knock on their door they will remember the 'old couple'
from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from SLC:)
We have been praying extra hard for Levi. She has 7
sisters and 4 daughters...all but one of her daughters told her they
would 'disown' her from the family if she were to be baptized. Can you
even imagine. She told the Elders that she IS going to be baptized, and
in the meantime, her oldest sister that lives in Surinam had a dream
that the family was at Levi's baptism so felt it was OK. Does the Lord
hear prayers:) Levi is going to tell the Elders today who she wants to
Baptize her.....keep her in your prayers cause we know who does NOT want
her in the waters of Baptism. I will take a picture of her this week so
you can see what a beautiful lady she is. She has such a sweetness
about her you can feel of her goodness. Friday
night we went with the Elders to visit Janette and Daniel. This is a
young couple from Hungary that were contacted by the Missionaries some
time ago, then moved, and were found again. Janette is expecting a baby
girl in May and is so excited. They are not married but we could feel
the love they have for each other. It was so exciting for Opa and I to
sit, listen and watch while the "Plan of Salvation" was being taught to
them. Janette just giggled when the Elders told her that we could be
together as families even after death. I showed her our family picture
and she started counting you grand kids...she was amazed at how many
were in our family. She said this is what she wants!!! We are SOOOO
blessed to have this knowledge, and it is wonderful to share this with
others. Opa bore his Testimony about families and how the Lord loves us
and wants everyone to be happy. It was an amazing hour. Once again I
can't explain the living conditions these people live in. A tiny
apartment with a dark narrow hallway leading to the door. No yard,
window looking out on a busy street, just a sofa and TV in the front
room. We had to travel about 25 minutes to get to the apartment...and
they are in the Amsterdam Ward Boundaries.......How do the Saints here
do what they do! We tell them we can walk to church. There are churches
every 2 to 3 blocks...two Temples right in Provo. We have homes with
yards....have several vehicles to drive, and bikes we DO NOT ride. They
have a hard time realizing what we have...and are we any happier? This
Mission has been a wake up for us to realize our blessings.
As I close I want to bear Testimony of how prayers
are heard. When we were filling out our Mission Papers I was really
worried about having headaches. Opa gave me a beautiful blessing asking
the Lord to bless me to be 'headache' free. When he got finished with
the Blessing he told me, with tears running down his cheeks, that the
blessing did not come from him but from the Lord. He was just the mouth
piece. I have only had to take 5 of my strong headache medication in
the almost 3 months we have been here. Opa and I each day give thanks
for this blessing alone...one of health. We still will all have trials,
but think of the Blessings we are receiving. We again express our love
to you for the support you are giving us as we serve the Lord.....we
will never regret this 18 months, although some days are hard! Enjoy
your day.....I will send some pictures when I take a picture of Levi.
We love you.
Opa and Oma deLeeuw
Elder and Sister deLeeuw
PS:
We went to the Temple Yesterday to be with the YSA's as they did
Baptism's for the Dead. For several of them this was a first time
experience...and the excitement they expressed in doing this ordinance.
There were so many, that they were waiting up to 2 hours to have their
turn to be baptized. Dad and I did an Endowment session. There are
seats for 40...20 men and 20 women....and the room was full:) Dayna
Lee, I put Sister Tidwell's name on the prayer roll here. We will have
the opportunity to attend the Temple again this month with all the
Mission, as Zone Training will be attending the Temple. The Missionaries
are so eager to attend!!!
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