Aug 21-27, 2022
SUNDAY
Lots of visitors at church today. Corrine and Johan from Sacramento, a family of eight from Salt Lake and a friend of Sam's from Brazil ( I can't remember her name). Johan is Dutch and Corrine is from Idaho but they are living in Sacramento and have started a business there serving fresh stroopwafels. They even went to Gouda for some training so the wafels would be authentic. Next time we're in the area we plan to visit them at Midtown Farmer's Market.
We were asked by Sjoerd to come help at the JoVo Conference this week. Our part would be to help out at the dance on Saturday night. The JoVo's gather in conferences all over Europe to help each other find support in numbers with other Young Adults. This one is for The Netherlands and Belgium but others are welcome as well. It is being held in a hotel out in the farming area south of Hengelo, about a 90 minute drive for us.
MONDAY
Regular day at the office. Doug took another car into Van Loon's for repair, I paid bills. We had the weekly Office Meeting which is very helpful for coordination and a means to 'return and report' on various aspects of the Mission.
TUESDAY
Typically on Tuesday we try to visit someone from the Utrecht Ward, but this week the Sister we wanted to visit did not answer or return our calls or texts. But interestingly, it turns out that Sister Wilcox, a new missionary that arrived last week, needed to take her driving test and Tuesday evening was the best option. So we met Sisters Wilcox and Morrise at the office around 19:00, gave them a little dinner, and then Doug gave Sister Wilcox her driving test with Sister Morrise and I in the back seat. We drove around Gouda so she could get the feel of the small congested city streets, then drove to the Mission Home about 30 kilometers away for some freeway driving.There the Sisters will spend the night and come with the Watsons to Orientation tomorrow. Sometimes our good intentions don't work out so we will be available to do something that could only happen at that time. It is another small miracle, but I am so grateful to be able to recognize these things and see how the Lord is guiding His work...even is something as small as a driving test.
WEDNESDAY
Orientation meeting for the eight new Sisters. Also invited are their companions, the Sister Training Leaders, APs, Office Elders and Elder Hanks and van der Put, Special Assignment in language training. Norma and I make lunch and try to get an accurate count so we can plan the food accordingly. We didn't know about the STLs or the Special Assignment Elders and worried that we would not have enough food. But, not to worry! There is always plenty and to spare!
THURSDAY
There are four Office Elders this transfer because Elder Boyer and Henrie are training Elders Thomas and Doxford to take their places. So our regular Thursday dinner for a few weeks will be with all four of them. We absolutely love having them in our home! I had made mashed potatoes for part of the meal and Elder Thomas couldn't get enough. He said he had not had mashed potatoes since coming to The Netherlands and was so excited. Oh, the simple pleasures! Elder Thomas is from Woodland Hills, UT and has done some sport shooting near West Mountain so we grew up in the same area. He had actually been through Benjamin and probably driven past my childhood home. Elder Doxford is most recently from Layton, UT and is an amazing pianist. We hope he will play the piano often while serving in the office so we can enjoy his talent and love of music.
We got word today that a group of JoVo's traveling to the conference were in a car accident and one of them did not survive. Stoney had received his mission call to St George UT and would have left next month. It creates a different feel at a gathering when you see how fragile life can be.
FRIDAY
All week I have been a little cranky about the JoVo Conference. It is a long way from our house and we will be there most of the day and until the dance is over at 23:00. Then the long drive home late at night when we will be tired. But today, as I was thinking of others and their situations and trials, this became so insignificant and I felt a little embarrassed that it had been bothering me. It was so good to feel that change of heart!
SATURDAY
Early this morning we got two phone calls that changed the day for us. Sister Hannah Hammer called to say she had felt poorly when she went to bed but this morning she was having trouble breathing. These sisters only have bikes so I didn't want them to try to get to a doctor on the bikes, so I called the ZLs, Elders Adams and Vellinga and asked if they could help out. As it happened, they were on exchanges and actually had two cars today. So they drove the 10 minutes to the Sisters apartment and dropped off a car. Sisters Wyss and Hammer were unable to find a doctor's office that was opened on Saturday and Sister Hammer was not having the breathing problem any more, so they ended up staying at home, resting and by the evening she was feeling much better. I am so grateful for the Elders that changed their plans to help out and for Sister Wyss who watched over her companion all day and supported her.
The other call was from the Hegelo Elders. The Hengelo apartment has no lock on the back door, but has a gate to the backyard that can be locked. Elders Ross and Jones unwittingly left the gate unlocked and during the night, while they were sleeping, someone came into the apartment and stole their backpack with both their wallets, including bank cards, MSF cards, IND cards and train cards. They also stole the car keys...but did not take the car.
Doug did not want the car to stay in Hegelo for fear the person may come back and take it since they had the keys. So we changed our plans of going to the JoVo conference and instead contacted the Den Haag Sisters, picked up their car, drove back to the office to drop off the van, and drove to Hegelo to switch cars with the Elders. The Sisters were so gracious about losing their car for the weekend.
When we got to Hengelo, it was clear Elders Ross and Jones were a bit shaken. They had realized they had been protected during the night and no harm had come to them, but they still had a door that would not lock. So we spent the next couple hours trying to change the old lock, but without the key it is impossible to remove the old cylinder. Doug called a locksmith, but it being the weekend he would charge 165 euros to come out. Instead, we bought an L-bracket and Doug secured the door temporarily. It will be a little inconvenient for the Elders to not be able to use the door to the backyard, but they can sleep tonight knowing the door cannot be opened.
We still went to help at the JoVo dance, but were quite sure we had missed dinner so we stopped at a little restaurant near our destination. It was delicious!! If it wasn't so far from home, we would eat there again!
Finally about 20:00 we arrived at the hotel and began to help out with the refreshments and ongoing clean-up. About 80 Young Adults attended the conference and appeared to have a good time. The VandeWal's have the calling in our ward to be advisors to the JoVo's and we had planned to drive with them, but with events of the morning, we drove separately. They picked up Juliet from Utrecht so that she could attend as well. We also met the Area YSA Advisors, Elder and Sister Foote, who had come from Frankfurt.
It was still late at night and we were still tired, but realized our many blessings as we drove home. We have many and varied experiences while serving our mission and are grateful for it all!
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