Rotterdam District & Fall Leaves

Tuesday was our last District Meeting with of this group of missionaries. Wednesday was transfer day and Elder Borgholthaus moved on to Essen and Elder Bell arrived from Rexburg, Idaho (look for him in a future picture). We really enjoy our association with all of the missionaries. They have been instrumental in teaching many people and baptizing several. They continually inspire us. They are from left to right, Elders Tilleman, Borgholthaus, Gish, & Berry, Sisters Servoss, Knoelk, & Baxter. The middle picture shows the size of a maple leaf (we told you that the trees really grow big here). Then you see a view of the fall leaves from our apartment window (which view is behind the group).

Fall in Rotterdam

Joys of Teaching in the Netherlands

Another week has flown by and we are now approaching the six month mark of our mission. Every week is filled with varying activities. The week started by going on a joint teach with the elders to a man who is from Ethiopia. He speaks English and has been investigating for about a year. He enjoys having the lessons but just will not put forth the effort to gain a strong testimony. On Monday we took a member, who was a missionary here last year, with us to teach a young couple who are less active. The next day we were asked by the sisters in Gouda to join them for dinner and a joint teach with another man who is also from Ethiopia. We had some interesting African food (it was hot and spicy) and enjoyed the discussion with him (it was also in English). On Thursday we went to dinner at a member's home and then went to the Rotterdam North Ward to attend and support the Institute class. My wife had to fend for herself with the Dutch as I was asked to translate for a Spanish speaking young woman from Ecuador. The class members loved the oatmeal, raisin, chocolate chip cookies that Zuster Servoss had baked. They are great young people. Then on Saturday we went on a joint teach to a small village about 15 miles away. The elders had met Cebia at the train station in Rotterdam. She is from Columbia and was very receptive. Her sister was there visiting. Cebia speaks Dutch and Spanish. Her sister speaks Spanish and English. So, the lesson on the Book of Mormon and the restoration was taught in Dutch, with pauses for English translation and a chance to read verses in Spanish. Cebia had tears in her eyes as she heard about Christ visiting her forefathers in America. The spirit was so strong there. We have invited her and her sister to come to our apartment for another discussion this Wednesday. The work here is so amazing. To end out the week we drove 70 miles to Almere to attend a Parenting Workshop. We will be attending for the next 5 weeks and then will be prepared to teach it in the Rotterdam area.

Sisters Matos & Kriser, Servosses & Kirkmans

Gouda: Cheese, Floor & Baptism

You have all heard of Gouda cheese, well it comes from a city here in the Netherlands by the name of Gouda (pronounced like gow-dah). You saw the pictures of Sisters Matos & Kriser while they were painting a wall, well we returned to their apartment on Wednesday with another senior couple, the Kirkmans. Elder Kirkman & Elder Servoss installed a new laminate floor. The sisters all worked on painting the door frames. These pictures show the result of our efforts. On Friday night we returned for the baptism of Shu Hang (one of the sister's investigators). It was a great baptism. Se was baptized by Raymond Ng from Rotterdam. He and his family have been mentioned on our previous blogs.

Elder & Zuster Servoss at Kinderdijk in August

General Conference Watching in Holland

We were able to view all sessions of Conference here via computer or by visiting the Stake Center. We went to the Stake Center on Sunday morning at 11 am (3 am in Utah) to view the recorded Priesthood session from the night before. Some of the sisters went to the Relief Society room and visited during that time. At 2 pm we were able to watch the Sat. afternoon session, also recorded. We had watched both Sat. sessions over our computer in our apartment, (at 6 pm we watched the 10 am session, and at 10 pm we watched the 2 pm session), but went to the Stake Center for the repeat because we had an investigator with us. Then instead of staying up until 10 pm Sunday to watch the last session, we watched it on Monday morning. We were also able to view the special on the Panama Temple. We viewed some on lds.org and other things on ksl.com. It is so amazing that we have those options. Today as part of the District Meeting we were able to play the talk about reactivation by the Seventy from Peru. What an amazing church we have and what great inspired messages were shared with the world. Another side note was our joy at hearing about the 5 new temples, especially the ones to be built near Kansas City and Rome. The brethren always choose the best locations. We look forward to the announced sites. We learned so much from the talks and can't wait to get our Ensign next month. We will also get the Liahona in Dutch. We hope that you all had the chance to watch the sessions and recommend checking out the sites mentioned if you missed any.