Sep 11-17, 2022

 SUNDAY

After church, we went to our friend's Alja and Henk Schuur home. Alja has been in a cast for six weeks now and has been unable to come to church. We have certainly missed seeing her! We enjoyed lunch and spent the entire afternoon visiting. It was good to be with our good friends and strengthen our bonds of friendship and love.

MONDAY

Since we were gone from the office so much last week with Zone Conferences and visiting with family, we had a lot of catching up to do today. The Mission Monday Zoom meeting is in the morning and a great forum to get announcements and updates, spiritual messages and hear about the miracles of the week.

After the Office meeting in the afternoon, President and Sister Watson talked to us and the VandeWal's about a missionary with some worsening mental health issues. He was exploring the possibility of having her stay but not be a proselyting missionary. He will talk to her Stake President, parents, bishop and the Area President before making a decision. Our prayers are with him as he decides what will be best for her. I can only imagine how difficult this is. The direction and revelation from the Lord is essential. 

Immediately after that meeting Doug and I headed out to Zeist where the car from Saturday night is parked in a carpool parking lot. Since there is no spare tire, he used the sealant and compressor as instructed and pumped up the tire. However, the tear or hole in the tire is big enough that it immediately lost air again.

We drove less than a kilometer to the tire repair service. By now it was close to 17:00 and they close at 17:30.  Doug explained the situation to the worker, they both hopped in his van and started off to fix the tire. 

As they were driving out of the parking lot, Sister Doyle called to report that she and Sister Anderson had been in an accident. While making a left turn, a MoPed ran into the driver's door of their car. Thankfully, no one was hurt. They filled out the accident report form and took pictures. They called the police but were told just to exchange insurance information with the MoPed driver.

Back to the tire story....After a couple trips to get the tire, come back to the shop, put a new one on the rim and take it back, the car was ready to go. Oh, the things a Vehicle Coordinator can do!

TUESDAY

President Watson called this morning and asked me to contact Dr Boom to see what kind of psychiatric help is available here in regards to the missionary we heard about yesterday. Dr Boom said the first step is to see a General Practitioner who will then refer the patient to a psychiatrist. The wait is at least 2 months, could be up to 6 months before seeing a specialist. That is not an option in this case. We will wait to see what can be worked out.

In the meantime, it is quieter at the office on Tuesdays. Doug and I are usually the only ones there. So it is a good time to get caught up after our busy week last week.

About the time we were getting ready to go home, we got a call from Elder Zarges, one of the APs. They had been at a MLC P-day and Elder Vellinga had been kicked in the nose while playing soccer. They were concerned that it might be broken. We told them to go to the ER to have him checked. 5 minutes later, Elder Zarges called back saying Elder Christensen had rolled his ankle and was also going to the ER! When we got home, we got another call this time from Elder Kempenaers needing a BSN number for Elder Vellinga. So Doug headed back to the office to locate the number. In the end, the ER would not treat either of them---reasons still to come.

Never a dull moment!

WEDNESDAY

Doug left about 6:30 this morning to drive a car to Breda and switch with them. He has had so much movement with cars the past few weeks as he has arranged for damage repair and replacement keys. I don't know how he keeps it all straight but he does!

During my morning prayer I had a sweet experience. Every day we pray for our kids and grandkids, sometimes in general but often individually by name. This morning I prayed for Elliot, that he would be understood and get the help he needs. I told Heavenly Father that I loved him and I got an immediate feeling and thought that the Lord loves him too. Even more than I do. I know our Father hears our pleadings and is aware of us. All of us. I was moved to tears. Grateful tears. I know that my prayers are being heard and I have a loving Father in Heaven who cares about me. I needed that today.

Mid afternoon President and Sister Watson called to report on the missionary we have been concerned about. They have been in Belgium for the past two days, talking with her and her companions and exploring every possible option. It has been determined that she must go home and they were wondering if we would be able to accompany her to Salt Lake next week. It is still to be finalized, but we are starting to plan as if we will be gone for a few days next week. Hopefully this sweet sister can get the mental and emotional help she needs.

I have been sending pictures that I took at Zone Conference last week of some of the Elders and Sisters to their parents along with a short note expressing our love for these good young missionaries. It is so fun to get the responses form the parents. They all love seeing their missionary and appreciate hearing a little about their son or daughter.

About 21:30 we got a phone call from Elders Fowler and Andersen. They are on exchanges today but could not find their apartment keys. They called Elder Snow but he couldn't find them either. So they went back to the Office. They just wanted us to know the situation. They found some air mattresses and sleeping bags. Doug told them where to find a couple toothbrushes and toothpaste. And they will spend the night there. We love so much that the missionaries know they can call us for ANYTHING. We love them so much!

THURSDAY

We have heard from President Watson and received our itinerary to escort the missionary home to Salt Lake City. We will travel with her on Monday, spend Tuesday in SL and return back to The Netherlands on Wednesday, arriving Thursday. We are grateful to be able to help her and hope she receives the counseling and treatment she needs.

The Office Elders came for their regular Thursday dinner with us. Elder De Jong, our Service Missionary was able to come as well. We love these good young men. They are dedicated and are thinking of ways to improve the processes in the Office. The best news today is that it seems the Drivers License problem has been solved. We have prayed and fasted for this and are grateful that the Lord has opened doors to allow our missionaries to continue to drive while on their missions. The tender mercies and miracles happen every day!

Elders Landon Thomas, Dallin Doxford, Nathan De Jong, Marcia, Doug, Elders Aiden Henrie and Landon Boyer

FRIDAY

A busy day at the office as we anticipate not being here next week.

It has been raining off and on all day. When we go home we noticed a double rainbow! Doug got a great picture of it with his camera but I couldn't resist getting a picture of him as he stood in the rain to capture the rainbow.

SATURDAY

We spent some time at the office finishing up some things. Then delivered a bike to the Den Haag Sisters and picked up the bike that needed repair. As soon as we got back to the office, Doug got some tools and had the fender fixed in just a few minutes.

We heard from two missionaries with health issues today. One was Elder Vellinga concerned about his nose injury on Tuesday. He ended up going to the ER today. They told him it was probably broken but there was nothing that could be done until 10 days post-injury. So I'll get him set up with an appointment for next week.

A Sister called with symptoms consisted with an Upper GI bleed. She went to the local General Practitioner who didn't do any tests or offer any diagnosis so I had her go to the ER as well. Sure enough she was diagnosed with UGI bleed. She was given a Rx for medication and should be fine. We are so grateful to be able to offer a little direction and advice to these missionaries.