Amsterdam - Week 54

Hey guys!! This week was pretty good, it went by fast. Some highlights from this week:

- On P-day we went to this old dutch canal house and also the verzet (resistance) museum, which was incredible. I can go on and on about how awesome the Dutch Resistance Museum was. 

- We had district meeting on the 4th of July, and Elder Packard showed up with American Flag glasses, american socks, and the american flag itself draped across his shoulders. There was a lot of American pride. 

- We met with this lady named Judith, who at the end of our appointment cried and said that we had brought peace into her home. 

-We had a super awkward appointment with our less active... Super awkward... Where she would just stare at us blankly and somewhat hostilely as we tried to help her make spiritual goals in crappy Dutch. 

- We tried to look up a less active but they did not want us to come into their house, so we did some bell ups around it. We decided to just do five and then go to this next place, and we do each bell up in which no one answers until - as it always go - the last bell. And this British guy and he says we can totally come in. So we go up and proceed to meet a very interesting person. This is Dave in a nutshell: he has three sphynx cats (those naked egyptian ones), and we come to find out that he's extremely religious and has a strong testimony of God (he goes to church every morning for a seminary class despite work, and has been going to church regularly for the past year and everything), and he is also gay and been married to his husband for 20 years. And we talked to him for over an hour and had a really good discussion with him about God and peace and the Book of Mormon. He was honestly really cool. He has no interest in investigating but we'll be dropping off an english Book of Mormon for him soon. 

- Yesterday we showed up to our dinner appointment and then all of a sudden our ward mission leader and the Amsterdam Elders also showed up... Turns out our cute old lady had accidentally double scheduled or there was some confusion when Sister Gilbert scheduled the appointment... But Zr Groot was fine with all of us there and she was just like "Just all of you come!" So we did...  

- We were sitting by the water by Amsterdam Central Station, writing a note for Dave in the Book of Mormon we were going to give him, when all of a sudden these annoying boys chuck a water balloon at us and it explodes all over me. -_- I wasn't that mad, it was mostly funny. 

Good Quotes from the Week:

Sister Jansen (our cute Dutch senior couple lady): (translated into english) "Once when we were young, Broeder Jansen carried me over this hill, and he told me that he would carry me over every hill from then on. Now he can't, I'm too heavy... But he does it still, just spiritually" 

(After the elders show up to our dinner appointment)

Sister Gilbert: "Ugh this always happens to me everytime I make an appointment!" 

Elder Tanner: "Wow Elders always show up? That's kind of weird..." 

Sister Gilbert: "I thought the flowers smelled really good, but it was actually just my arm" 

I love all of you guys!!! Have a good week!!! 

Amsterdam - Week 53

Hey everybody!! This week was good. A little hectic, as usual, and it was one of those weeks where everything seems to go wrong, haha. Some highlights:

- On Monday we went to Anne Frank House (but we had to wait in line for two hours... it was so worth it!). That was an incredible experience, I´m really grateful that we had the chance to go. 

- We had zone conference this week, and I got to see Zuster Dixon, Zuster De Moors, and Zuster Fordiani! And a huge cluster of our MTC group was there :) 

- Zuster Gilbert's chain fell off of her bike on the way to IJburg so we pulled over and were trying to fix it when this older guy came out of his house to see what was up, and ended up completely repairing her bike, including shortening the chain and everything. 

-We had an amazing appointment with Crystal and Tom! And Crystal ended up coming to church and loved it :D 

- Sophia was baptized in a lake. 

Hmm, some funny quotes for the week: 

When choosing someone to lead the Dutch birthday song at Zone Conference:

Zuster Merz "If they choose me, I'm going to punch someone in the face"

2 seconds later

"Zuster Merz!"

-_-

Zuster Gilbert: "Do you like to read?"

Paris (11 year old member): "Does reading the subtitles on TV shows count?"

Zuster Gilbert: "... No"

Paris: "Hmm then no"

Hmm yeah that's about it. I love you guys!!!

Amsterdam - Week 52

Hey everyone!! Another week has gone by! We've been melting to death out here. There were several days of building heat and then last Thursday it all built up into this humidity which resulted in a gigantic lightning storm while we were at a less actives house. We barely missed it on our bikes, it began the moment we walked inside. Miracles! Although I'm not going to lie, I wouldn't have minded biking through a lightning storm... I love lightning. 

We weren't able to meet with any of our investigators for the majority of the week, which was pretty frustrating, but we had some other really good moments, such as: 

- We helped two women in the ward visit teach their less active who is bed ridden. We came by and the look on the less active's face when she saw them was really special. She was so happy. 

- Last monday we went to the maritime museum. 

- Zuster Gilbert and I ran to catch a water bus and on the way, Zuster Gilbert's ballet flats caught the ground and she fell over and scraped her knees really badly and there was a lot of blood. Luckily I had a big band-aid in my purse because a small one wouldn't have been enough. 

- I felt prompted to bring something by two investigators we used to have, even though they haven't been wanting any visitors because of the court case they're in the middle of for custody over her kid, but I stopped by to just drop by some flowers and a letter I had written for the mother. She ended up letting us up and venting to us for an hour. I nearly cried when I saw her. She is so exhausted. 

- We had a dinner appointment with Roos, who lives in this really beautiful little greenhouse. 

- We have now collected nearly ten plants.... Our house looks really cute now. 

- We had stake conference on Sunday and a huge portion of the ward took a bus out to it. Ward unity! And I got to see many of my loved people from Den Haag, and also Daniella gave a talk in Stake Conference. I was so proud of her! 

Amsterdam - Week 52

Hey everyone!!! This week has been good, beautiful weather and we've found a lot of potentials. I had to say goodbye to one of my best friends this week though, which was really hard, but Zuster Gilbert is amazing and I'm excited for all of the good work we will be doing this next transfer!!! There's nothing particularly interesting to say, but here's some pictures!!!

Amsterdam - Week 51

Hey everyone!!! Another week has gone by! This past monday for P-Day we went on an Amsterdam bout tour with the zone. Here are some pictures.

Some highlights of the week:

- We found out that our investigator from Mongolia actually had a lot more contact with the missionaries in Mongolia than we had thought, and we learned that she had even served a mini mission for a week there... Crazy!! We were really shocked.

-We got rain dumped on us, literally felt like we were taking a cold shower in our clothes, outside, on our bikes. When I walked, my shoes made a spongey sound and brown water would bubble out through the holes in my shoes. Super gross. 

-We got transfer calls. Zuster Thomas is leaving :(( She is off to Heerlen and I will be getting Zuster Gilbert here. 

Well I love you guys!!! 

 

Amsterdam - Week 50

This was an awesome week. Our investigator Karlijn was baptized in the sea, which was amazing. Here is a fun video! I also hit my year mark, and we got sushi and ice cream to celebrate. We also got two new solid investigators this week. P-Day is today because yesterday was Pinkster. This is the last week of the transfer! I love this city and I hope I stay here for another transfer. I love all of you guys!!! Have a great week!