Amsterdam - Week 49

Hey everyone!!! This was just another week. Nothing tremendously exciting happened. I got to go on exchanges with Zuster Wahlquist which was awesome, I haven't seen her since my third transfer. Here are some pictures!! I love you all!

Amsterdam - Week 48

Hey everyone!! I don't have a lot of time to write an email so here are some pictures... I'll be better next week. 

Amsterdam - Week 47

Hey everybody!! Zuster Thomas and I had an amazing week full of miracles. I've finally noticed some improvement in my Dutch, which was really nice. I translated from English to Dutch and Dutch to English in an appointment for a visiting teaching visit between two members, and that was the first time I had done it. Of course it wasn't perfect or anything but communication happened, haha.

This week we also kept on making the mistake of eating before going over to Lazlo and Szulamitt's, and they are the cutest people ever and always trying to make us feel at home and feeding us SO MUCH food that we don't want! We were very sugared out. 

May 4th was Remembrance Day, a day dedicated to all of the people who died during WWII. It's a really big deal here and we are asked to refrain from proselyting and also encouraged to attend the Remembrance Day Ceremony in our local areas. And I was very fortunate to be able to attend the one in Amsterdam, and we also accidentally got there an hour early and were near the front. The King and Queen attend the one in Amsterdam, so I got to see the King and Queen walk right past us! It was a really beautiful ceremony and I felt so lucky to have been able to attend. 

We got to do a lot with less actives this week and we also have a solid new investigator that we met yesterday and she is so cool!! It's been really good, and I love it here. 

It's been a crazy good week!!! I love you all!! :))

Amsterdam - Week 46

Hey guys!! Zuster Thomas and I had a pretty fun week, there was a lot in general happening, like Konings Dag (Kings Day) where everyone dresses up in Orange and all of Amsterdam becomes a giant yard sale. We set up a booth with tons of Book of Mormons in a ton of languages and we handed them out for free and met a lot of drunk crazies.

Last P-Day, Zuster Thomas and I went to the Rijks Museum, where I got to see a ton of paintings that I've always wanted to see, like Rembrandt's Night Watch and some of Vermeer's work. There was also a giant old library that we were obsessed with. 

The highlight of my week though was Christina's baptism. I have been waiting for this day for my entire mission and it's finally happened, and it was amazing. Her baptism was in Rotterdam and I got to see a bunch of members from my baby city, Sliedrecht/Dordrecht. That was a weird experience, meeting a bunch of people from my greeny days when I couldn't say anything and now I can suddenly understand them all and actually have a conversation with them. I also got to see Joyce again, who was baptized last November, and she gave a talk in the baptismal service. It was so cool to see how much more she glows and how much she's progressed in the past seven months. Her husband was always listening in with all of the discussions, and he decided to pray on his own and find out if it was true, and got his answer and asked to be baptized as well! Joyce is SO excited, and then in a year their whole family will be sealed together. 

I loved seeing Christina again and talking with her. She is so special to me and has a really special place in my heart. She is adorable and wonderful and golden.

It's been a good week and the transfer is now over!! Zuster Thomas and I will be staying together another transfer, thank goodness!! I adore her. This next transfer is going to be a good one! I hope that we can do a lot for the ward. 

I love you guys!!! 

Amsterdam - Week 45

Hey everybody!!!! This has been a very fast week, and I can't believe that it's already P-Day again. We also get transfer calls this next Saturday. I feel like I blinked and then the transfer is now basically over. Crazy! Next transfer I will reach my one year mark, which sounds way too old!

Last P-Day we got museum cards and went to this awesome War Museum in Amersfoort with some other missionaries. There was a lot about different periods of time in the Netherlands, and also a lot of tanks and planes and artillery from different wars. I got to ride in a WWII jeep thing and I died. That was my favorite part probably and I nerded out a lot. 

This week we had a lot of appointments and look ups but the highlight was probably going over to Szulamitt and Laszo to meet them. They are two investigators of the zone leaders who are from Hungary and were getting ready for baptism. Szulamitt is fifteen and we went to go get to know her before her baptism and we clicked with her and her dad really quickly. They both speak only Hungarian and pretty good Dutch, and they are hilarious. They banter all of the time with each other and they are both really witty and we loved being with them. Then the next Sunday (yesterday) was their baptism! It was a good thing that we got to meet her because when her baptism came around she got really nervous and it was perfect that we'd already established a good relationship with her.  We helped her get over her nervousness and all went well. She is adorable and her baptism was amazing! One of our investigators on baptismal date came to church and to the baptism with her mother and her mother's boyfriend and loved it! 

Oh yeah, another highlight from this week. We ran out of food.... And the stores were closed... And the elders found out so they made dinner for us and homemade tea and then doorbell ditched it at our door. It was so sweet and made our week!! We have really kind and wonderful missionaries here in Amsterdam. 

Other than that everything has been same old missionary work :) The weather has been beautiful lately and Amsterdam is an amazing city! 

I love you all!!! 

Amsterdam - Week 44

Hey everybody!!!

This week was crazy! Last Tuesday the Amsterdam Zone and the Rotterdam Zone had a zone conference and then we all got to go to Keukenhof together, which was really fun. I got to be reunited with my trainer, Zuster Parker, who I adore. We took tons of pictures together and it was a really fun day. I also went on exchanges this week with Zuster Cluff in Haarlem. We have another investigator on baptismal date, which I am really excited for!! We now have two and they are both solid and I'm super excited for them!

Also, Christina (from when I was in Sliedrecht) is finally getting baptized!!!! On April 30th, and I am pumped. Her date kept on getting changed but now it's apparently really solid, so I'm pumped to see her again and be there for such an important experience. 

On Friday we brought one of our investigators to the fireside in Zoetermeer.... Guess who the speaker who.... ELDER UCHTDORF. It was SO cool and our investigator loved it. I also got to see all of the people I love from Den Haag, like Ethlyn and Kate and Daniella!! I miss my people from there. 

Those were my highlights from this week!!! Also here's a ton of pictures!!

I love you all and I miss you!!! 

Amsterdam - Week 43