Wow,
if the time keeps flying like this past month, we will be home before
we have our bags packed. It seems like we just start a Monday, and a new week, and it is Monday
and another new week before we know it.. Guess that is what keeping
busy does. The office is training two new Elders and we are preparing
for the arrival of twelve new Missionaries this Tuesday.
WE DID IT!!!!!!! Six apartments found and furnished. We do have to go
back to Groningen and Leeuwarden, the two most Northern apartments this
coming week to take some beds, as President Robinson is putting three
Missionaries where we thought there would be two, and some 'extra' items
needed in an apartment we thought was furnished with everything. But,
pat on the back for what we accomplished. Now we can almost take a
breath, as we only have four apartments to furnish, we have them under
contract, before June 10th. Then another big push, as eleven have to be found and furnished by July 23rd.
You think we know our way around the grocery store. You should see us
at IKEA. Stay out of our way! This past week, the Mission Office has
looked like a 'mini IKEA', and finally yesterday, it again looks like a
Mission Office. With so many Missionaries arriving, there is no room at
the Mission Home, so the new Missionaries will stay at a Hotel right
across the street from the Mission Office. Something new, and it will be
interesting to see how it goes. With us working in the Mission Office,
we are sure we will be involved in some way. The new OFFICE couple will
arrive this Saturday....YAY......and
we have been asked to help get them settled into their apartment, and
show them a few things around Rijnsburg, where they will live. We are
SOOO happy they are finally coming. We think we have done a pretty good
job at keeping things going. We laugh when the phone rings and a
question is asked, and we DO know the answer. I even got to call SLC the
other day, and talk to someone at Church Headquarters. We still don't
know what will happen for the next two months with our calling. We think
we will still be helping with apartments, along with our JoVo calling,
and hope we can stay in the apartment we are living in now. Another
Senior Couple will arrive the middle of May, and it is still undecided
where they will go. I am starting to clean, just in case we are asked to
relocate. Never a dull moment for sure! Friday when we came home, dad took a two hour nap, and I was in bed at 9:00,
just from pure exhaustion. Dad has pulled a muscle in his leg from
lifting heavy refrigerators and washing machines, and can hardly walk.
I hope we get home without having to be wheeled off the plane in
wheelchairs :) We know this is the Lords work, and we are being blessed.
Dad made the comment the other night, that we are going to have some
adjusting to do when we get home. Maybe we will have to dig that hole in
the backyard for the swimming pool. We give thanks to the other Senior
Couples serving here, as they have been such a great help. When we know
which apartment needs to be furnished, we give them a call. They in turn
get members of their Ward or Branch to meet us, help carry all the
things purchased, and put all the IKEA items together. The Elders have
been so great to help as well. They help with the heavy lifting and
disposal of containers. We could NOT do this all by ourselves.
The
weather this week has been beautiful. FINALLY the trees are starting to
show signs of green. The plastic has been taken off the Tulips, and the
fields are a blaze of color and beauty. As we drive through the
country, there are little lambs everywhere, and tiny ducklings following
their mothers. The stork on the the church steeple, we think, has had
her eggs hatch, as she stands on the edge of the nest and looks around,
like she is trying to look for juicy bugs to feed her babies. The cows
are once again back in the fields, and they can't but help enjoy being
in the fresh air again. The Netherlands is a beautiful place.
Queens
Day is alive and well. I told you last week how everything was turning
orange. Well, you should see this place now. Everything IS orange. FHE
has been cancelled, because the JoVo's have to come from Central Station
in Amsterdam, and Monday night people are getting drunk already, preparing for Queen's Day Tuesday. They don't want to even come close to Amsterdam. The Missionaries here have been asked to be in their apartments by 4:00 Monday afternoon, and NOT to go into large crowds Tuesday. All bus and Trams do not run on Tuesday,
so if people want to go places, they walk or ride their bikes. Several
other Centers are not having FHE because of the same reason......too
many crazy people out. We will be welcoming the new Missionaries Tuesday, and we are going to tell them that the celebration is for them :)
We
were happy to see pictures of Corey with his 'cap and gown'.
Congratulations on your graduation, and with high honors. One chapter of
your life closed, now another BIG chapter opens! Shelby, your music is
beautiful. You should make your own CD. Thank you for sharing on
Facebook so everyone can enjoy. Cameron for his award. Holywood
next???We are anxious to hear news of the birth of Lincoln.....it will
be so fun to have a 'little one' in the family. So many hugs waiting to
be given. We love you ALL, for all your talents. We could just keep
going mentioning everyone.
Well,
with the Netherlands turning Orange this week for the Queen's Birthday,
and a new King being crowned, or whatever they do......we LOVE the
color of white. This past Thursday
dad had the blessing of Baptizing Fabien. She is the young lady from
the Ukraine that we have helped love and teach the Gospel. She loves
dad, and said that IF she were to be Baptized, dad would be the one she
would want doing the Baptism. When we arrived at the Haarlem Chapel,
Fabien was so nervous, and I was afraid she might back out. She had
purchased her own white clothes, and when we finally encouraged her to
get dressed, she came out of the dressing room looking like an angel.
The clothes she had purchased were so her style. She had asked me to
give the talk on Baptism, and what a privilege that was. The Sisters
have been teaching her for over a year now, and two of the Sisters that
have transferred out of Haarlem, were able to be come and be in
attendance that night. The four of them sang "Teach me to walk in the
light." Fabien told dad to keep her under the water for a long time, so
she would know she was clean...and she did have to be Baptized twice, as
her hand came up the first time. After the Baptism, dad told her to
just stand there for a minute, and feel the Spirit. The room was full of
that Spirit! After she had dressed, and came back into the Chapel, her
comment was: "I feel so different, soon as I came out of the water, I
felt different. I feel calm." She has had some struggles in her life,
and she told us, "I want to start a new chapter in my life, a clean
life." Amazing what the Gospel does in people's lives. After a talk was
given on the Holy Ghost, the Bishop asked Fabien to say a few words. She
stood at the pulpit for some time without saying anything, then
expressed again how she was feeling. She thanked the Sisters who had
taught her, and then turned to dad and I and expressed her love for us.
She said she felt like she was our daughter, and she looked at us as her
Father and Mother. Kleenex moment!!! Her dream IS to come to Utah and
stay with us. The Sisters wanted to give her a gift. They had called me a
week before and asked if I knew where we could get a small statue of
the Christus. Would you believe that we had just such a statue here in
our apartment, that we had found in an apartment left behind. I wrapped
it and we all wrote in a card for Fabien. When she opened the gift she
just gasped...."Oh this is beautiful, just what I wanted to have in my
apartment." She just sat and looked at it, turning it from side to side.
Her whole countenance had changed, from when we came to the church, to
her 'Gospel Glow' after the Baptism. She asked that dad Confirm her as
well, so today we attended the Haarlem Ward, and after Sacrament
meeting, she did not want to be confirmed 'with so many people
watching,' dad confirmed her and gave her a beautiful blessing. After
days of shopping, driving from city to city to get keys and meet
Realtors, cooking, cleaning, wondering if we can make it another
day......we have a sweet experience of seeing what Missionary work is
all about. It is hard to express the feeling of seeing someones life
change. To see them so happy. We are so very blessed to have the 'Gospel
Glow' ourselves. Now share that 'glow' with someone who does not have
it! 1 Peter 2:9 " Ye are a chosen generation, a royal Priesthood, an
Holy Nation, a peculiar people." Aren't we a happy 'peculiar' bunch :)
As of right now, our release date is still July 9th. Our plane tickets home can come earlier, we have been told, but as of TODAY, July 9th is the ticket time.
We love you, we asked that you keep all the Missionaries in your prayers, as the Lord is Hastening his work. Have a GREAT week.
Hugs and Loves,
Opa and Oma
Vader and Moeder
Elder and Zuster deLeeuw
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