SUNDAY
Our plan was to go to church and then to the De Haas' for lunch. I am still coughing too much to be around people although I feel much better than yesterday. Doug went to church and then to the De Haas's with the VandeWal's. I miss gathering each Sunday with the members of the Utrecht Ward. Many have become good friends. And the few minutes set aside to partake of the Sacrament has become a quiet time of reflection and thanksgiving for me. I was still able to read the conference talk that was discussed in RS today but it is so good to hear other comments and contributions to the lesson.
MONDAY
Even though I stayed away from everyone, I still needed to go to the office and get the normal Monday things done. The Financial duties are probably busiest on Mondays and today the rent is due on the 40 Mission apartments. And several of our missionaries are not feeling well. Sister Huber is still trying to figure out what is wrong. She will see a doctor again on Wednesday.Sister Cullumber needs physical therapy for her feet and knees. Elder Vellinga is still trying to get his (probable) broken nose checked. Elder Blodgett has some ingrown toenails. Elder Bigelow has some GI pain that is still a mystery.Trying to get them lined up to see a doctor is time consuming, even with the Aetna representatives helping. We just want our missionaries to get the health care they need so they can feel better. And so their parents won't worry about them!
TUESDAY
Arrival day! Four Sisters and one Elder arrived today. They met their companions at the Office, had an interview with President Watson and met for a short time with Elder Doxford and Elder Glauser. It's alway exciting to have new people arrive!
Today I'm especially grateful for the miracle of healing. Even though I still have a cough, I feel so much better and am thankful that our prayers have been answered.
WEDNESDAY
Today we were surprised to have a visitor from the US come to the office. Jay Garlick and his son-in-law Paulo Bangeter came in. Jay is 93 years old and served his mission in The Netherlands in 1949, the same time as Doug's dad. They actually knew each other as kids. Anyway, ever since his mission, he has come to The Netherlands often to bring Books of Mormon and has an ongoing letter-writing campaign to try to tell the good people here of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the Book of Mormon. They will be here for a week delivering Books to many of the 15,000 people to whom they wrote letters a few weeks ago. He is somewhat of a legend here and it was fun to meet him.
Paulo Bangeter, Doug, Jay (Gaston) Garlick
About the time they were getting ready to leave, missionaries starting arriving. They had decided to use part of their P-day having a Ping Pong Tournament. Probably 30 missionaries came for the afternoon.
Doug got a call from Sister Weaver, currently serving in Leeuwarden. They had just been T-Boned by someone who ran a red light in Gronigen. The four sisters in the car were all OK, just shaken up a bit. Sisters Matalyn Weaver, Averi Hanny, Melody Morrise and Janessa Anderson were on their way to join members of their Zone for P-day. They were about a block from the church so the Elders came quickly to help.
It was rainy, actually pouring at times. A few of the Elders got caught and were pretty wet when they arrived. The worst were Sisters Cullumber and Green. They live in Wassenaar, about a 25 minute drive. But they don't have a car anymore, the train was not running from there and the bus would take an hour and a half. So they decided to ride their bikes (It was sunny when they left for the hour-long bike ride). But before they got to the Office, the rain was coming down hard and even some hail! They were soaked! Thankfully, we have a Kringkloop (the Mission's version of a thrift store) at the office and they could find some dry clothes. We ended up taking them back home at the end of the day so they didn't have to ride the bikes.
THURSDAY
Our regular Thursday dinner with the Office Elders. We are back to two Elders plus one Service Missionary at the Office. Elders Nathen De Jong, Landon Thomas and Dallin Doxford. We look forward to having them each week.
Each Thursday from 19:00 to 21:00 we are in a Emotional Resilience class with about 12 missionaries facilitated by Sister Watson. We are there as support and have really enjoyed being a part of this group. This is the second of 10 sessions. Just before the class finished I got a call from Sister Huber's mom. She is concerned that for the past two weeks her very energetic daughter has not had any energy, has had abdominal pain and has been lightheaded. Sister Huber has been seen by three doctors and had an endoscopy but we don't have a diagnosis as yet. I understand why her mom would be worried. I wish I had more answers to give her. At least I can tell her that Sister Huber is sounding better than she has for over a week and seems to be recovering, even though we don't know what the underlying problem is. Hopefully the tests will give some insight to the doctors soon.
FRIDAY
Another busy day at the office. A group of missionaries have been asked by President Watson to create a Mission Song. They have worked individually and over Zoom but today they met at the Office to collaborate. Matalyn Weaver, Nichole Cullumber, Dallin Doxford and Tyler Hanks are all musically talented and are wiring the music and the lyrics. Hopefully in the next few weeks it will be finished and ready for the missionaries to learn it!
SATURDAY
Because of the car accident on Wednesday and Sister Weaver needing to be at the office yesterday, Doug arranged for her to take back a temporary car to Leeuwarden. That meant the Gronigen car (which they had borrowed to drive on Friday) needed to get back to the Gronigen Elders. So we left early for the 2 1/2 hour drive. It is always nice to visit in the apartments of the missionaries. We were not officially inspecting for the VandeWal's but it was so clean, I had to comment about it. They had deep cleaned earlier in the week in anticipation of transfers and then picked up and made sure the dishes were washed, etc. Doug, Marcia, Elders Zachary Stoner, Matt Anjewierden, Fernando Cervantes and Coulson Rich
Elders Anjewierden and Rich drove us to the train station and we headed back. Gronigen Train Station is a beautiful structure, built in 1896
Maybe some day I will get used to seeing so many bikes, but for now I am still amazed at the sheer number of bikes EVERYWHERE!
Interior of the Station
On the way, we stopped in Utrecht and shopped for a navy blue suit for Doug to wear to Matt and Taylor's wedding in January. The styles are definitely different from the classic look Doug prefers, but we found one that will work and it looks good on him even though it is not necessarily 'his style'. We bought salads at the Albert Heijn near the tailor and ate lunch while we waited for the pants to be hemmed.
Success!
We have been so excited for Mike and Meli to visit and tonight they arrived! We picked them up at the Rotterdam Station. They had taken the Thalys (high speed) train from Paris where Mike has been at school this week. We look forward to a couple of days with them.
Success! 
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