Quiet week

Dear Family and Friends,

I say it has been a quiet week because I got dad's cold, and you know what happens when I get a cold.....no voice. When we went to FHE on Monday and Institute on Wednesday we told the kids we were being reverent and they had to whisper, and they did:) We laughed and told them the real reason Zuster deLeeuw had no voice....but they were so obedient.  They haven't caught on to my humor yet. All is well now and hopefully both of us are on our way to full recovery.  

Tomorrow being the Queens Birthday lots of people at church today were wearing orange. Ties and scarves were the orange fashion today.  For the closing song we all stood and sang 2 verses of the Dutch National Anthem. Seemed really strange.  There are 17 verses to the song, so 2 verses were great. Tomorrow we are taking the Sisters and meeting the Elders at De Zaanse Schans.  It is a village about half hour from here that has several windmills, old shops, wooden shoe making...we are trying to stay away from Amsterdam.  Sister Hill is going home next transfer and Elder Larson will be transferred to another Zone, and transfers are next week, so they want to see something local before they leave.  It will be fun for us as well.  The weather this past week has been COLD, rainy and windy, and the forecast for tomorrow is sunny...Happy Birthday to the Queen! Tomorrow night we will have the Elders and Sisters here for an 'orange' dinner.  No Missionary work is done on the 30th of April in Holland, so we will have 'our kids away from home' here to spend the evening with Opa and Oma deLeeuw:) We are having orange jello with mardarin oranges, carrotts, orange chicken and orange Tompoes, a Dutch dessert, and of course orange juicel  The Dutch sing a real 'funky' B-day song we want to learn before coming home...so we will sing that.  Missionary work IS GREAT!

We had a funny experience today that has us still laughing.  We and Elder and Sister Pankratz's were invited to a birthday party for one of our JoVo's.  He is turning 24 and is really excited because he is filling out his Mission Papers. He was 'point blank' with us at Institute and told us to bring him something for his Mission as a gift.  He is darling.....I will send a picture.  He has had many struggles in his life so going on a Mission is something that he is REALLY looking forward to.  His family lives in Almere, which is about 20 minutes from here.  The Pankratz's had lunch with us after church and then we all drove to the 'party'.  Of course the 'home' is an apartment, but what greeted us was a surprise. When we knocked at the door we were greeted by 2 barking dogs.....then when we entered the apartment, Nikkie's mother greeted us. Oh My!  She suffers from MS so sits in a wheelchair.  On her lap were 5 RATS!!!!!!!!! They were crawling all over her. She was kissing them and calling each by name.  They crawled down into her neck and around her back, then came and sat on her lap again.......then to top it off they had 4 cats!  Everywhere there was pet hair so we did not want to sit down.  The mother played with the rats and them started fixing the treats for the party....NO HAND WASHING!!!!  The 4 of us just stood there not knowing what to do...we DID NOT want to eat.  She was fixing 'deviled eggs' with the 5 rats sitting on her lap.  Sister Pankratz is allergic to pet dander, so her throat started to close up and she was having a hard time breathing.  The cats were jumping all over the food tables and the dogs were barking as more people came in. We needed to get out of there and fast before Sister Pankratz stopped breathing.  We were asked by the Elders if we could go on a 'joint teach' with them tonight, so I told Nikkie's mother we had to go for that reason.  We had been there about half an hour, so we HAD stayed long enough.  We got in the car and just laughed at what we had just witnessed. It took awhile for Sister Pankratz to breath normally and for me to stop laughing. 5 rats, 4 cats and 2 dogs. A party we won't soon forget:) 

We are having a young lady who is investigating the church, here on Tuesday night with the Sister Missionaries.  She is from England and is working in Amsterdam for 6 months.  While she was in England the Jehovah Witness Missionaries came in contact with her.  They mentioned the "Mormons" and told her NOT to listen to them.  Well, that just peaked her interest,so she went on on the Internet and started finding out about the "Mormons".  SHE contacted the Missionaries when she arrived here in the Netherlands, has read the Book of Mormon, Gospel Principles Book, and had set a Baptismal Date for Mei 20th. WOW, Every Missionaries dream.  She, Jenny, has been to Institute a couple of times, and asks and answers questions right along with the JoVo's.  It is her birthday this week so I baked a cake and we will have a little party for her while the Sisters teach her a Missionary lesson. The joys of living close to the Elders and Sisters:)  We get to be part of REAL Missionary work!

I will close with how the Gospel changes lives. You have been following the path of Levi.  Elder deLeeuw went with the Elders this week to visit with her.  She, as you remember me telling you, smoked Marijuana for 43 years, spent 50 euro a day on this habit, but prayed and asked for someone to answer the questions she had about living a 'better life.' And, the Missionaries were walking right beside her at the time of her prayers.  She is a hairdresser, and has many customers. Levi told dad and the Elders that people have commented on what a change they have noticed in her....and are asking what she has done.  She now studies the Scriptures on her break at work and wants the Elders to get her the DVD on the "Restoration" so she can show it in her shop.  Her oldest sister who was so against her Baptism was visiting when dad and the Elders went the other night, and she was very warm and hospitable to them.  Just one member of the family, doing what she knew was right, changing her life for the better, others noticing.......LEVI IS THE MISSIONARY NOW!!!! She also wants several Books Of Mormon and knows how she can give them to certain people she has in mind.  She LOVES the story of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the Gospel.

We are so excited to see the Harpers this weekend. You won't be getting the Sunday letter next week because we will be spending every minute we can with the Harpers.  We only have 4 short days with them.  You will receive the letter on Tuesday....I will tell you all about the Queens Birthday Celebration.  So far this evening things are quiet here in Diemen. I guess the party starts early and goes late into tomorrow night.  The Senior Couple that live in Den Haag, where the Queen lives, called tonight and said that the city is full of tour buses.  The Queen rides through the City tomorrow in her Gold carriage and we have heard it is amazing.  We will just wear our orange Boa and hat and eat orange jello.  We will be happy with that:)

We love the Lord. We love being Missionaries.  We love our family!!!! and friends.  

Love, Elder and Zuster deLeeuw