Anterwerpen - Week 3

Hey everybody!! It's been a long week, but it also doesn't feel all too eventful. Here are some highlights: 

Monday: We ran around the centrum. Look at a cool picture!! (the first one) 

Tuesday: We headed out to district meeting, but the buses weren't running so we had to walk 40 minutes in the pouring rain to church. Classic. 

Wednesday: We had a funny dinner appointment in which this funny old dutch man was very adamant about strange theories. I'll include it in the quote section below, haha :D 

Also, my bike has been super broken which has been very inconvenient. I just need it to last three more months!!! And I was ready to bring it to the shop buuuut money and also the elders told me that it was probably something pretty simple. You just need to move the wheel thing back... I don't actually understand anything so I don't know how to describe it, but one of the elders told me how to do it so Sister Smith and I went out and bought a wrench and then we did it... ourselves. No Elders helped us. No member helped us. No bike man helped us. We did it! And now it's fixed!!!! We feel very accomplished haha. 

Quincy is getting baptized next Sunday!! We are so excited for her!!! It's been very hectic getting the program all ready but it's going well and she is so ready and prepared. We love her!! :) The ward has been so awesome fellow-shipping her this past sunday. 

Today we went to Gent for P-Day. It's one of the most beautiful cities in our mission, and I've always wanted to go there! We did a boat tour and then Sister Smith and I went to their old medieval castle. I'll include lots of pictures. 

But that's it for our week. We are SO excited for Quincy to be baptized!! :) 

I love you all!!! 

Quotes of the Week: 

Funny Old Dutch man (in dutch): "To make a bonsai tree is to break the law of chastity because your cutting their roots and stunting their growth and changing the way they were meant to created!!" 

Me: "Hmm... kay" 

His Wife: "We avoid bonsai trees if we ever come across them." 

Funny Old Dutch man (in Dutch): "When you cut a rose it cries. You are cutting off it's legs! Would you want your legs to be cut off??" 

Me: "Uhh... no" 

Cute American girl on the train trying to give her friend a belgian waffle: "I know you're on a diet but I want to give you just a little bit of sugar!! If you eat it you can even sit by me." 

Anterwerpen - Week 2

Hey everybody!! I had a good week. We had an appointment with Quincy on Tuesday. She is this really cute Belgian lady who is incredibly prepared and getting baptized in a few weeks. She is amazing. But on the way home from her appointment, the ocean decided to dump on our heads. It was raining SO HARD. SO HARD. And we had no jackets at all. We had to sprint through it to our tram, and then from our tram home. 

 

Here is some of the end results. 

Of course I wore my long skirt that day. 

Here's a random picture of the bread vending machines. They are amazing. It's fresh made bread that you can always get from the vending machines and use all of your annoying coins. 

We also had exchanges this week. But this was an interesting day. It first began with the normal studies, where Zuster Smith and I were doing comp study. And my Dutch grammer book fell through the crack between my desk and the bookshelf that it's next to. So I decided to move my desk a little closer to the bookshelf. And as I do that, I suddenly hear something above me begin to fall... and before I know it something very large has hit my head and shattered all over me. I'm totally taken aback and I just stand there completely still, before looking down and seeing that I'm covered in millions of pieces of shattered glass. 

The thing that fell on me was this giant picture frame, one of those really big and kind of heavy ones.

Zuster Smith and I both laugh at first, because it's just like so weird that I was hit on the head by this giant thing and now I'm covered in giant shards of glass and I'm not bleeding at all. I just have a couple of scratches on my arms and legs and the worst is just that a couple of pieces got stuck in my fingers and my pinky is bleeding a bit. But that's it. 

Like there is giant shards of glass everywhere. 

And I was hit on the head by a heavy frame. 

But I'm totally fine. 

Blessings!!! 

It took us only forever to clean up all of that glass, but it was all clean and safe before the sisters came over for exchanges. They had a sleepover here in Antwerpen and that was pretty fun. 

My bike was (at the time) finally fixed, and so for the first time ever I went biking in Antwerpen with Zuster Pond on our exchange. 

And I swear everytime I move I say "oh wow, biking here is so much  different and harder than the last place I've been in! I have to pay more attention!". But that's about to happen again. 

Biking in Antwerpen is a million times more insane than even biking Amsterdam. 

Imagine the same amount of traffic, people running around, trams, cars, traffic lights, buses, mopeds, motorcycles, everything. Now remove the bike paths that Amsterdam has, add cobblestones, add more trams and imagine yourself biking next to the tram rails and the cars and the buses, directly on the same road. 

Belgians wear helmets, unlike the Dutch, and there's a reason. Lets be said that I won't be biking in the centrum of Antwerpen ever again and that was a one time experience. 

But we survived, and here's a picture of Zuster Pond and I in China town! Although it was actually really scary and we watched a drug deal happen two feet from us and I don't think I will be willingly returning there if I can help it. 

Then we looked up more people, and kept biking around when all of a sudden, I'm going downhill and my bike chain falls off, and I nearly ride straight into oncoming traffic. Luckily I leaped off in time and had to hard break with my feet before anything bad happened. But now we're stuck in the middle of Antwerpen with a messed up chain. Luckily this really sweet African guy stopped by and fixed my bike!! Yay! 

Unfortunately the chain fell off again two days later on the way the church. We put it back on, but then on the way home the same thing happened. I'm going to need to get it repaired somewhere. 

But yeah it was a good week!! This city is crazy! Kind of ghetto and pretty insane. But it's good!! I hope you enjoyed the weird stories! Sadly no quotes for this week :/ 

I love you guys!!! 

Anterwerpen - Week 1

Hey everybody!! There's not a ton to report for this week. Only that I've been running around everywhere and it's been hectic and not going to lie, a little bit stressful. Belgium is different! 

I had a famous belgian waffle. Yummy!!

And we made hot chocolate made out of Belgian Chocolate

In front of centraal!

Some highlights from the week: 

- On wednesday we were on public transportation, as usual, (I feel like I am constantly on a tram or a bus... aghh biking here isn't a thing... and mine is currently broken anyway). It was a normal tram ride, until we heard the driver ring his warning bell all of a sudden very rapidly. And then our tram collided with another car. And it couldn't stop immediately and had to slow to a stop, and it scraped the entire edge of the car up as it did so . Luckily no one was hurt, it wasn't a T-Bone or anything, but the tram stopped and we all had to get off and randomly catch this other bus that pulled over for everyone. 

- I went to my first MLC, which is when the sister training leaders and zone leaders get together with the APs and President and come together at the mission home and we talk about the mission and things. Usually, since i'm down in Belgium, I would have to sleepover somewhere but since there's three sister training leaders in this zone, we got to drive up with the Zone Leaders up to Leiden, in the Netherlands. Road trip!! That was fun.

I got to see a lot of people that I dearly love!! Like Sister Thomas and Sister Dixon :) 

We were in MLC all day. It was nice to be in the Netherlands again for a day.
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And now it's P-Day! Yay! 

I will send some pictures of P-Day from last week. We just wandered around the centrum and got lost. So nothing too exciting. I don't think anything will ever beat my P-Days in Amsterdam. 

I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Amsterdam - Week 57 Part 2

And then it was my last day in Amsterdam. We had District Lunch at Vapianos. ​Look at this group: 

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Then the next day.... transfers happened.... 

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Transfers are insane. 

Three very heavy suitcases (two of which are very broken, the wheels don't turn anymore, but I will make it to the end of my mission with them, I swear!!) and one bike with a flat tire. And one missionary with only two arms. Crossing a country. 

So we begin with traveling in a pack to centraal station. There are six of us, but three of us are leaving, so multiply the above by three. Luckily that's an okay arm to baggage/bike ratio. 

Then we get to Centraal, and the elevators are broken, and bikes HAVE to go up elevators, so we have to take the other ones on the other side that lead somewhere else. Luckily I've done this already like a million times, so I'm a pro. 

This involves 3 people, with 3 bikes, with 3 suitcases, all squished into one tiny dutch elevator. And you have to do it twice.Because there's two elevators. It's pretty much tetris. There were suitcases on bikes, people sitting on suitcases, and everyone was crammed. it was great. I'm officially a pro at elevator tetris. 

Then we all succesfully make it to Centraal with all of our luggage. That is always the scary part. With trams and metros, people and luggage can left behind and separated from the group, which almost happened. 

But all was well. 

Then we all in our pack at Amsterdam Station. I buy my fiets ticket and my international ticket and my travel plans are suddenly rearranged and I have to switch trains TWICE. One time within five minutes. 

Three pieces of luggage. One bike. Two arms. Different train. Five minutes. 

I'm a little nervous. 

But I get to my first train and I'm waiting for it with Sister Gilbert. When Elder Hunter shows up to help with my stuff. And he's telling us that he just helped two people arrive in the station, Sister Walman and Sister Parker. 

"Wait what?" I say. "Sister Parker" Sister Parker is my trainer. My Mission mom. And one of my best friends. And she's just about to go home to America, and this is the last time I will be able to see her in a REALLY long time. And I had no idea that she was coming through here. 

And she's downstairs. Somewhere. 

Elder Hunter realizes how important this is to me, and he's like "crap, I had no idea. I would have told her. Crap. Is there time??" 

But just at that moment the train pulls in. And I have to get on immediately. My heart is sinking and I actually feel terrible. I'm starting to pull my stuff toward the train when all of a sudden I hear a very familiar: 

"SISTER HAYNIE"  

AHHHH. I turn and see Sister Parker has just SPRINTED up to my platform to say goodbye to me, and she's panting, and I legit want to cry as we hug. I LOVE HER SO MUCH. She has done so much for me and has always been there for me and is one the most sincerely good people I have ever met in my life. 

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She helped me get my stuff on the train. 

I LOVE HER. 

And then I left.  It was really sad saying goodbye to her and also to Sister Gilbert. I really love them. 

Transfers after that were good. Luckily I was iwth another missionary on that train, and we both had to do the five minute train switch together. So there was 6 bags and 2 bikes and 2 very stressed missionaries throwing all of their crap onto the next train, one bringing the stuff to the other person who waits by the doors and puts it into the compartment and makes sure that the train won't leave without the missionary or stuff, hahaha.

STRESS. 

And then I switched trains again and I got to see Sister Mercer (LOVE HER) as she helped me get onto my international train. 

Goodbye Nederland!!!

And now I'm here, in Belgium!!! In Anterwerpen!!!

It's super ghetto and grimy and awesome. 

Amsterdam - Week 57 Part 1

Hey everybody!!! It's been an extremely hectic, tiring, exhausting week, but it's been good. It was hard saying goodbye to Amsterdam. It's an incredible city and I am very in love with it. I've had some incredible times here, and also the best P-days ever, haha. I have no right to complain about anywhere else that I go. I have been so lucky with my cities, and I'm off to another cool one! 

​For my last P-Day in A'Dam, we decided to go all out. So... we went to four different things. 

2 Museums

1 Memorial

and 

A Palace

We didn't think we would be able to make it through all of them, but we actually did with a couple of hours to spare. 

We first went to the Hollandse Schouwberg, which is this old theater that's been turned into a memorial. It's in the Jewish District, and it's where they held all of the Jewish people before deporting them. :( It was extremely sad, but important to go and remember. It was a beautiful memorial. 

Then we went to the Rembrant House, which was where Rembrant lived. Super cool. :D

Then we biked off to Ons Lieve Heer op Solder, or: Our Lord in the Attic. It's this old church built into the attic of an old Dutch House a couple hundred years ago, during a time when Catholicism was forbidden. It was incredible. (I will send more pictures in separate emails). 

And we took a break and ate by the canals. 

And then we concluded our biking journey through Amsterdam with the palace. 

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Amsterdam - Week 56

That's right. Transfer calls arrived. This was my last week in the incredible city of Amsterdam, and it was a pretty good one!! Here are some highlights:

- On P-Day, we biked with the six other elders in our ward out to the Muiderslot castle, and we took a million pictures. It was SO fun!

 

That evening we had an incredible lesson with our new investigator Patricia. We taught her the Plan of Happiness, and the presence of the spirit was so strong. She wants to get baptized! 

- On Wednesday we got to see Crystal, yesss. But it involved a really intense bike ride through the ridiculous centrum while being blinded as the ocean was dumped on our heads and the wind was shoving us over. But we survived. 

At the beginning of the day I looked this: 

40 minutes later.... 

And our lesson with Crystal was really good. And she fed us Mongolian dumplings. 

On Saturday we went to a baptism in Leiden, and on the way home we got our transfer calls. And I'm off to a new adventure!! I'm moving to Belgium. I will be a Sister Training Leader in Anterwerpen!! So I'm moving to Belgium. I'm pretty excited, and it will most likely be my last area. 

Dus, to quote Nacho Libre,  "So I'm going out into the Wilderness Antwerpen. Probably, to die."

I have loved Amsterdam!! And I'm going to miss it like crazy.  Today, for my last P-Day, we plan on biking around all of Amsterdam to visit 2 Museums, a Monument and a Palace. It's going to be hectic but awesome. I love this city! 

I love you guys!! I hope you all had an awesome week. 

Amsterdam - Week 55

Hoi jullie!!! I had a pretty good week, a lot of appointments fell through but this next one should be a lot better appointment wise. This week:

- On Monday we went to Volendam, an old fishing village, and took a district photo in the traditional Dutch clothes. 

Solid. 

- On Tuesday we had interviews with President. Interviews always come at the exactly perfect moment. 

- I got to go on exchanges with Zuster Leman, one of the funniest humans on the planet and also my beloved MTC comp. 
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- DANIELLA IS ON A MINI MISSION. For two whole weeks in Zoetermeer!! She called me as a missionary from the Zoetermeer phone. She's been baptized for only 4 and a half-ish months. I am SO proud of her!! 

- We had a relief society baby shower, which was pretty cute. 

- Here is a photo of my foot tan....

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Yeah, not much crazy interesting. Quote time!

Quotes of the Week:

I wish I could record everything that comes out of Zuster Leman's mouth, she is hilarious, but unfortunately I only wrote down one funny thing she said, and I relate with it on a spiritual level:

Zuster Leman: "I'm working on my posture... Because one time my grandma asked my parents if I had a chronic back disorder... but I was just slouching". 

"Okay, now we go under the speed bridge. I call it this because of the people doing Speed under it, and we should probably speed through it..." 

Interesting Sight of the Week:  

I almost ran over a man pushing a grocery cart down the busy fietspad (bike path), in the way of everyone, with the grocery cart full of stacks and stacks and stacks of beer. Oh Amsterdam.

Well I love you guys!!! I will be sending more pictures!!!