Quick Return to Holland

We determined in March that we wanted to return to the Netherlands for the Open House for the newly remodeled church in north Rotterdam. The date was set for the 27th of May. We started making plans. Financially we did not see that we could do it, but then we started thinking about one of the privileges we have as retired military, space available travel. As time went on we learned more about the process and started making plans. We finally determined that we needed to drive to Travis AF Base near Sacramento to catch a plane. We left Bountiful on Sunday the 16th of May and drove 11 hours to Travis. We arrived at the flight terminal at 7 pm and were told that there was a flight at 9:30. We were excited and I went to park the car in long-term parking. The flight ended up being cancelled, so we went to the base hotel and got a room. We were told that the next flight was at 0530 Monday.

We started in Sacramento trying to catch a military flight to Dover, Delaware on Monday the 17th of May. We hoped to get another flight to Germany Thursday.

At Travis AFB in Calif. we had two cancellations, but it looked good for 3 pm today to Dover. There is a flight tonight to Ramstein, but some airports in Europe are closed again from the ash.

We finally took off for Dover at 9 pm Tuesday and flew in a large C-17 cargo plane. There was no cargo besides us and our baggage. The inside of the plane was like a big open warehouse with seats along the outer walls. The seats were made of nylon stretched over aluminum. They were not too comfy. As the time went on it got colder inside the plane. I laid on the floor for an hour or so and tried to sleep. We arrived at 2 am PDST or 5 am EDST on Wednesday. We had three possible flights today to Germany, but all had problems or took no passengers. At 5:30 pm a retired Colonel asked if we would be inters ted in renting a car and driving to Baltimore to try and catch a chartered flight. Thirty minutes later we were on our way with another couple and a young mother and child in a truck, with some of our bags. We made it in time and checked in, only to be told that Kae's military ID had expired and we could not go. The other couple boarded, but were them "bumped off" due to the plane load being too heavy. We were already 30 min. down the road towards my sister's when they called and asked us to return to the airport. We picked them up and then arrived at my sister's at 1 am. We had a good night's sleep and then called McGuire AFB in New Jersey and Dover to check on flights. Dover had a surprise flight in the afternoon, so we headed back there. We made it in time, but flight after flight was canceled.

As you can imagine, we were weary of waiting, but were excited to finally hear that a plane was repaired and ready to go. We we were scheduled to board at 1:40 am Friday, which meant lift off at about 3 am. That translated to departure about 9 am European time. The flight probably would take 9 hours, so we would land about 6 pm in Spangdahlem. We didn't know after that, whether we would drive to Rotterdam (4+hrs) or get a hotel room. We would love to be in Rdam2 meetings on Sunday. Keep praying for us - WE WILL MAKE IT!!!!!!

Well, the plane mentioned above was also canceled and reassigned to go to Spain. We were all devastated. We spent the night sleeping in the chairs of the terminal and when morning came we decided to take a plane to Charleston, SC. We flew down there at 10 am and then the wait started for planes fo Germany. Flights were canceled or full and so we slept in the terminal again. We walked a mile to the dining facility the next day to eat. Then when we saw that there were not going to be any flights until 1:30 am Monday, We were quite optimistic, but were again disappointed when there were not enough seats for us. We called the base hotel and got rooms there. We got to our room at 3 am. It was great to be in a bed again. Monday was spent wondering when we may be able to fly out and making contingent plans to fly back to Utah if necessary. At about 9 pm we were convinced that we would have to wait out the day Tuesday for a flight, because we would not be able to get a seat on the 3:30 am flight. Then a miracle happened at 10 pm, it was announced that there was going to be an extra plane with 30 seats available that was also to leave about 3:30. That meant that there would be 73 seats and we thought there were about 60 of us needing to fly. We were excited and hopeful, until some soldiers walked in (and they are the top priority). Thankfully, at 3:40 am we were called to check in. We were excited, but nervous that something may spoil our chances. We were uneasy until the moment that the plane wheels left the ground. We then said silent prayers to thank the Lord that we were finally underway. Ten hours later we landed in Ramstein AFB in Germany. Two hours later we were falling asleep in the deluxe military hotel at the base. We were still amazed that it had taken us 9 days to make the trip. The Lord did look out for us and all was done on his time frame. There were reasons for us to take so long so that we could befriend the Schillers and the Stoddards and others.

Then on Wednesday we drove to Holland in a rental car. We stayed with our friends the Ponds. It was great to see them again. We had a nice day visiting friends here in Rotterdam. They were so surprised that we were here again. Tonight was the open house at the new Young Adult Center in the renovated church. The building is beautiful and the center is very nice. We had such a great time visiting with the many Young adults again, and they were glad to see us. It was so great to be with them again. There have been less than 10 YA's showing up the past few months. Tonight there were 26!! The program has a new life tonight, and we know that we felt so good to see it take hold again. It should really grow now. The whole trip was worth it, just to be here tonight!!

We spent Friday and Saturday making surprise visits to friends. We had a great time seeing the surprised look on their faces. We ate with the Winters family on Saturday night. On Sunday we went to church and enjoyed being with the members again. On Sunday we were able to attend meetings in the Rotterdam South Ward again. It was so good to see the many members and the new bishopric, with Charles Croese as Bishop. The whole trip has been well worth it. We will drive to Germany on Tuesday afternoon to catch a flight on Wednesday.

New Mission for the Servosses

Greetings to all. It has been a long time since we last wrote anything. We have been very busy with family, remodeling and church work. We want to announce that we have just been set-apart as missionaries at the main church Family History Library in Salt Lake City. We are just finishing our training this week. We have already been able to help a few people with Dutch translation. This is a great assignment and we will serve 1 - 2 days a week.

We really miss folks in the Netherlands and would like to make a return visit this year. We are enjoying being with our family again, but miss our Dutch "family". We hope to write more on this blog in the future.

Still Alive and Well

Greetings from St. George, Utah. We are off on a short trip with one of our grandaughters, Kessaren. Since Christmas we have spent two and a half weeks in Mississippi with one of our sons and family. While there we took our grandaughter KaeLeigh to Huntsville, Alabama for a little trip. We have a tradition of taking the 8 year old grandchild on a 2 or 3 day trip with us (the grandparents). This has been a very month. We did manage to be home for 5 days inbetween. appreciate all of you that have followed our blog during our mission. Please know that we want to continue to keep you informed on what we are doing. Please look for more entries on this blog in the future weeks. Thanks, Kent & Kae

Temple Square, Kent & Kae, Sister Slingerland

Home in Utah Again

We have now been home for two weeks, and are getting used to being back. Part of our hearts remained in Nederland, and we will never forget those wonderful people. It has been good to correspond with some of them via email and Skype. We look forward to continued close contact with many of them. It is sad to realize that the special missionary spirit and discernment is no longer the same. We are getting caught up in the "normal" routine again. Kent has been enjoying attending the BYU football games with his sons (something that he cherishes). Kae has enjoyed visiting with her friends here again. Kent has had some dental work done, and is happy for that. Both of us are enjoying having our family close to us again. On Monday night, Nov. 30th, we went to Temple Square with our son Lance and family. We very much enjoyed the Christmas lights and feeling that was present there. We also had a wonderful time visiting with one of our former Young Adults from Rotterdam, Sister Ramona Slingerland. She is now serving her mission here at Temple Square. It was so good to see her and to see how happy she is.

The past two evenings we have had family visit us for a "Sinterklaas avond" (Dutch Santa Claus evening). We had a great time giving the grandsons "Zwarte Piet" hats (Sinterklaas's helpers), and Delft blue jewelry boxes to the granddaughters. There were chocolate letters for all, lace table toppers for the women and Scottish scarves for the men. We have had a little snow here and are expecting more snow next week. So far the weather for Utah has been dryer than normal. We are still getting used to the cold here, but look forward to the beautiful snow that will replenish the water supply for the area.

Some friends have asked us what our current plans are. We are trying to take things one at a time. Kent has a new Ward assignment and will be sustained on Sunday. Let us just say that he will be quite busy with the calling. We plan on learning more about the new Family Search program and spending time at the new Family History Library in Salt Lake. We also have the two new area temples to visit. After Christmas we will drive to Memphis area to see our son Brian and family. Then we will make a trip to Orlando to see our foster son, Robin, and family. We will be busy. In the future, when the time is right, we will serve another mission. For now we are happy to be home and are enjoying our family and friends here in Utah. May the Lord bless all of you and help you to have a joyous Christmas Season filled with joy. Merry Christmas from Kent & Kae Servoss

Congelton/Birmingham Area & Lake District

Last Story before our Return

The time has finally come to end this great adventure. We enjoyed our mission so much and have had so many wonderful experiences. It was very difficult to leave Rotterdam and the Netherlands.

Since we were already in Europe we decided to take a trip to trace some of our family roots. We were amazed at how many English relatives we both had. We looked at our pedigree charts and plotted out visits to many of the places that they had lived. We had some wonderful experiences going inside a small church in Litlington, where some of the Webb family lived, another old church yard in Toddington where the Tracey family lived. We also drove through areas where John Burnett, Aurelia Hawkins, and Susan Hunt had lived. We felt a family connection as we traveled through those places.

On Monday, Nov. 9th, we drove to Liverpool and Preston. We enjoyed touring the Maritime Museum in Liverpool and were surprised to see a monument outside of it, which was placed there by the LDS church. It depicted an immigrant family which was typical of thousands who left from Liverpool to sail to America. An hour later we were walking along the River Ribble in Preston, where Heber C. Kimball and other missionaries baptized the first nine British saints just ten days after they had arrived from America. We were able to stay in the temple patron housing at the Preston Temple complex that night. The room was nice and the Scottish members that we visited with were great. They had come down from the Edinbourgh area for a week of temple activity. They were typical of many nice people that we met, and this day was just a sample of what we did. We put a lot of miles on the diesel rental car, and had a once in a life time experience.

Now we are here in Brussels for our last night in Europe (for now). We fly home tomorrow and are very excited to see family and friends once again! Thank you for all of your prayers and support. We hope to see many of you at our church this Sunday the 22nd of November at 11:00 am, 650 E. 2150 S., Bountiful, Utah.