We
think that fall has arrived in the Netherlands. All of a sudden it was
September and it turned off very cool. The warmest it has been is 20
degrees Celsius, which is 68 degrees Fahrenheit. The locals say it will
stay cool now, and then comes winter with all the wind and COLD!!!! I
guess we should have enjoyed those 5 days of hot and humid a bit more.
Here in the fall the leaves don't turn colors, they just get brown and
fall off the trees. Dad made the comment that with all the trees, and
all the leaves, he wonders who gathers the leaves all up. Here in the
Netherlands we have noticed that no one take responsibility for
anything, so maybe the leaves just stay where they fall until next
spring. We will let you know:)
Today we attended church in Alkmaar. We have 7 very
active JoVo's in that Branch and it has been several months since we had
visited them. Dad bore his Testimony and told the people how our family
had encouraged us to serve this Mission. Sister Westra, a sweet Sister
in the Ward, who with her husband are the Ward JoVo representatives,
turned to me after dad's Testimony and said: "dank je kleinkinderen for
letting you come to Holland to serve this Mission". (Thank your
grandchildren). So thank you familie!
This has been yet another very busy JoVo week, and
next week will be even that much busier. Elder Kearen, of the Seventy,
will be visiting the Belgium/Netherlands Mission this week, so there is a
special Fireside Wednesday evening in Rotterdam for the JoVo's, investigators, and recent converts. Wednesday and Thursday will be Zone Conferences, Monday FHE, and Saturday
we are having the two young men that were at JoVo camp that are taking
the Missionary Lessons, here for enchiladas and games, along with 4 of
their roommates. Party time all around! We will have the Elders as well
to add some "Missionary flavor' to the evening.
Monday
I placed my first Book of Mormon:) Juan, a man who works at Jumbo, one
of the grocery stores we visit often, is always so kind and always has a
smile. Each time we have gone through his 'kassa' line I have asked a
few questions getting to know him. He is from Mexico City, has lived in
Sweden, Denmark, and has lived the last 22 years in Holland. He has
never married, and he told me he loves classical music. Music? Well,
what more beautiful music is there than the tabernacle Choir! SO, I
called the Mission Office and got a CD of the choir, found the history
of the Choir on Google, got a Spanish Book of Mormon, and wrote a note
to Juan. I told him I hoped he found Joy and peace as he listened to the
music, and also found joy and peace as he read the book. I wrapped it
as a gift to present it to him. He was so happy when I gave him the
gift. He was at work and could not visit much, but as I was leaving, he
was throwing kisses my way. Yes, he knows I am married:) He was going
to Austria for the week to a music concert, so I am eager to visit Jumbo
this week and see what his reaction was to the CD and book. We are told
to look for every opportunity to share the Gospel. Grocery Shopping IS
my opportunity:)
Tuesday
we had Fabrina, the girl from the Ukraine that is taking the Missionary
Lesson, here for a Birthday Party. The sisters from Haarlem, who are
teaching her, brought her to Amsterdam as they came for District
Meeting. I picked her up at the church and we went shopping, while dad
and the rest of the Missionaries had their meeting. Fabrina hates
birthdays because all of her life she was told by her parents, they
wished she had not been born. She was not wanted, and the pregnancy was a
mistake. Wow, can you even imagine. Fabrina does not like to talk to
her mother because all her mother does is tell her how worthless she is.
Well, we wanted this birthday to be different for Fabrina. When we went
back to the church to get dad and the Sisters we had the Missionaries
sing the Dutch Birthday song to her. Dad had purchased some flowers to
be presented to her. We came to our apartment which I had decorated with
party hats, balloons and party plates and tablecloth. Fabrina fixed
some soup and salad that is a Ukraine tradition dish...lekker! I had
made cupcakes and had ice cream. We sang Happy Birthday to her, and gave
her a couple of small gifts. Her reaction was amazing. She told us she
was 'stunned' by the goodness. We told her we hoped this was a Birthday
she WOULD enjoy, and we were so glad she was born. When we took home she
was all smiles and told us this WAS the best birthday she had ever had.
Dad told her he wanted to Baptize her, so she had better read the Book
of Mormon and gain a Testimony. He told her to read Alma 32, about
'planting the seed'. We will keep you posted. Even if she is not
baptized we hope she knows we love her, AND are so glad she is our new
friend.
Wednesday
evening was the 'Kick off' for Institute. The JoVo's wanted to have a
'pot luck' dinner......yea, I did not have to cook:) We were a bit
nervous as to what would be brought, but it turned out OK. we had a
couple of salads, quiche, fruit, garlic bread, lemon cake, and dad and I
bought a couple of Domino's Pizza's to have 'just in case'. We had
enough for everyone to get full....'the loaves and fishes'. Elder
Pankratz, our Institute instructor, gave an introduction to the New
Testament, which we will be studying this year, then we had a trivia
game with questions about the New Testament. We had taken two bags with
clothes, towels, robes...just things we had here. We had two groups and
they were given a bag of clothes, and they had to dress up and prepare a
short skit of a parable or story from the New Testament. They had 15
minutes to prepare. It was so fun to see what they came up with. One
group did a skit on the "Good Samaritan", and the other group read the
Scripture of the birth of Christ and had the group as the Nativity.
Everyone seemed to have a good time. There were 18 in attendance, so we
were thrilled! The JoVo's seem excited to be studying the new
Testament.
Thursday
we went to Lelystad. This is a small branch we thought we had no
JoVo's. At camp we met Chaim, from Lelystad, and he and dad became
instant friends. He is the one we had dinner with last week. The Elders
working in Lelystad are teaching several young men, and asked if they
would come to the church and have FHE, or an hour of dinner and fun. Thursday
we picked Chaim up at his apartment. He loves to cook, so had made
some pasta sauce and salad...I made cookies. There were 3 young men that
came, along with the Branch President and one of his Counselors, and a
member of the Relief Society Presidency. We ate, then played a 'get to
know you' game. We had a blast. We asked what they wanted to do next
time,and the three that were there told us they would come again, and
they wanted to play ping pong and chess. One of them even offered to
help with the meal. WOW. The Branch President was so happy. We hope the
numbers grow, and if they do we will go to Lelystad every week. Now we
go the 2nd and 4th Thursdays. We are so excited! Dad said,"wouldn't it
be great if these young men would be baptized because of us going to
Lelystad, working with the Elders, and showing them the love of the
Gospel." Have we mentioned how great Missionary work is! We are being
blessed.
The other day dad and I drove through a small
village just a few kilometers from where we live. A treasure right in
our back yard. A typical Dutch village, with narrow streets, small
shops, and a large church right in the middle of town. We were in a
hurry so did not stop to walk around, but we will go back. As we have
mentioned before, the beauty of the Netherlands is hard to describe.
There are so many boats going up and down the canal by our apartment,
that we have to stop frequently as the boats go by and the draw brug is
up. The other day we waited as 7 BIG boats went under the bridge. We
enjoy walking to the canal and watching the boats. The other night there
were 6 boats that were moored for the night long the canal. There are
two swans that have taken up residency in the canal as well, and that in
itself is a beautiful sight. The sunflowers are blooming in the fields,
cows and sheep grazing, small ditches...it is amazing.
We sign off for yet another week. Can't believe how
quickly the days and weeks are whizzing by. We have lost another 15
minutes of daylight since we wrote last week. It is now dark at 9:00 pm.
We LOVE serving the Lord. We know what we are doing is what we are
suppose to be doing at this time. We are so thankful for our health that
allows us to serve. We are thankful for you, our family, that are
praying and supporting us so we can serve. WE LOVE BEING MISSIONARIES:)
Love, Opa and Oma
Elder and Zuster deLeeuw
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