Yes, we went from summer
back to winter in a weeks time. Last letter I wrote how hot and humid
it was....well, yesterday it was 8 degrees Celsius, with rain. That is
48 degrees Fahrenheit. We are back to sweaters and wool long socks. Dad
put the small air conditioning unit we have in this apartment away, and
the fans are back in the loft. But alas, we are sure in the next few
days this will all change again. We feel like we are in Utah....wait a
few minutes and the weather will change!
Yesterday was a busy day for us...another busy day.
We went to our church meetings from 10 to 1, came home and put the
finishing touches on the meal for the fire side, then left for Den Haag
at 3:30.
We had Hot Chicken Salad, I will send the recipe, it was lekker.
Cucumbers, of course, carrotts, and for dessert I had made cupcakes. We
fed 42. It was 10:30 pm when we finally got home. Needless to say we were tired. This week we have FHE tonight, District Meeting tomorrow, Institute Wednesday, a dinner at the Mission Home Thursday to say goodbye to Elder and Sister Bush, going to Alkmaar on Friday with a couple of the JoVo's there to the cheese Festival, then we have "Ring Conference", Stake Conference Saturday and Sunday. We are having a broadcast from SLC so we will go to Leiden on Sunday
because that is the Chapel the broadcast will be in English. Just
wanted to let you know what we do, so you won't think we are just
shopping and cooking:) We will do that also.
Last Wednesday for Institute I made a Jello salad.
The kids here in the Netherlands don't know what jello is, so this was
something unique for them. I made orange jello because that IS the
Netherlands color. Anyway, that night we had two young men that were
at Institute with the Elders as investigators. One is from Nigera, the
other from Guana. When they came to get their food they were sceptical
to take the jello because it was new to them. I gave them just a tiny
bit so they could taste it. One of the young men came back in just a
minutes time wanting more. He said: " Sister,I love your 'jellie',
where can I buy some so 'my people' can taste this." Something we eat
all the time at home, and think nothing of having yet another 'green'
jello salad. We got a laugh out of this anyway. I just have two boxes
of jello left so may have to have someone send me some more.
Remember Daniel and Zsanett from Hungary. Zsanett
had her baby two weeks ago, a beautiful baby girl, and now Daniel and
Zsanett are waiting for legal papers to come from Hungary so they can
get married...then they want to be baptized. They are such a cute
couple and have really embraced the Gospel. Zsanett really wants to
become an 'Eternal Family', and have LOTS of children, so she can have
LOTS of grand children like we have. It is so exciting to see these
sweet people grow in the Gospel. Jenny, our YSA from England will be
baptized on the 16th of this month, so we are thrilled about that. The
Sisters have been teaching her and want the JoVo's from the ward to do
the program for the Baptism. The young man Yassar, that was baptized
last week with his mother, was ordained to the office of a Teacher
yesterday. Yassar has never worn a white shirt and tie. His mother is
so excited for him to have the Priesthood that she bought him several
white shirts and several ties so he could dress properly for church.
The Elders went to their home the other day and taught him how to tie
his tie. He made a comment that he wants to serve a Mission when he
turns 18...the age the young men serve here in the Netherlands.
Missionary work is amazing! When we went with the Elders to visit Levi
the other day, the Elders taught her about Family history and doing her
Genealogy work. Dad gave her a challenge to find the birth dates and
places of birth, for her ancestors that had passed away, and before we
leave to come home, go to the Temple with us and do some Baptisms for
her family. She is really excited about this, and we think this will
happen. Levi is a jewel and we have grown to love her. We keep telling
her she HAS to come to Utah.....and she keeps telling us she will.
We are finally legal in the Netherlands. It cost
900 euros each for us to have a card, much like a Social Security Card
in the US. They are good for one year, then we have to reapply. Since
we will only be here 3 months before coming home when our card expires,
we will be 'illegal' again for 3 months. We figure we have been
'illegal' for 5, so for 3 we should not be put in jail. The church pays
a lot of money for the Missionaries in these foreign Countries. We were
sent a letter telling us where to pick our cards up. We went to the
address in Amsterdam per the notice. My card was there, but they had
dads address in Dordrecht.....how that ever happened we don't know. So,
we had to make an hours drive to Rijnswijk to pick his card up. We gave
the Mission Office a hard time not keeping our records together:) Oh
well, we saw another city we would not have seen. Each day is an
adventure for sure!
Dorthy, our YSA from Poland, has been back in Poland
visiting for the past two weeks. When she returns to Amsterdam she
wants to have her Patriarchal Blessing and wants dad and I to be with
her. We are trying to find a Patriarch that can give her this blessing
in English. She is dating a young man, returned Missionary from
Eindhoven, and things are going nicely. We keep telling her that the
reason she came to Amsterdam was to meet her husband. Dorthy told
Daniel, her friend, that he was to talk to dad if he had any question
about her.....asking for her hand in marriage? IF they were to marry,
that would be the 'jewel in the crown' for us to be able to witness a
Temple marriage of one of our JoVo's:) We will keep you posted. We love
these young people and wish they could all meet someone worthy and have
a Temple Marriage. This is the big challenge here...that is why the
Young Adult Centurms were established. To meet and mingle with other
members of the church.
Well, It is raining and cold once again this
morning. The Sister Missionaries want to go shopping with me because
they can ride in the car. They usually just ride their bikes, but take
an 'auto' ride any time they can. We as Missionary Couples laugh when we
get together as to how many times a week we go to the grocery store,
and that our Neighbors must all think we are running a Catering Service.
We have come up with names we will call our 'catering business' when we
return home. deLeeuw's Deli, Moore's Munchies, Bush's Bread store,
Anderson's Apple pie shop.
We LOVE to hear from home. We know you are all
busy, but we so look forward to emails. Give all our love and hello,
and keep the Missionaries in your prayers.
Love, Opa and Oma
Elder and Zuster deLeeuw
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