Jan 29-Feb 4, 2023

 SUNDAY

Today at Church President Fred and Sister Yvonne Brandenburg of the Den Haag Temple visited our ward and spoke. I was especially impressed with Sister Brandenburg's thought about covenants. She said, "just as more strands in a rope make it stronger, the more covenants we make with God will strengthen our bond with Him". I love the thought that our covenants bind us closer to God.

The 5th Sunday in the Utrecht Ward also means a Ward Potluck after church. It seems every time more and more people stay and enjoy food and socializing. It is so important to connect with the ward members, especially here where the boundaries are so large and people simply do not see each other except for Sunday. There is another returning family that has been to church a couple times now. Mark is the dad, his wife was sick and stayed home with two kids today, but he had his little daughter, Liara with him. They have lived in the Netherlands for 3 1/2 years now. They came from South Africa and moved here to give their kids a better chance. He speaks Dutch but his wife is English only....I know she and I will be great friends!😉

We love spending time in studying the Come Follow Me material. This year studying the New Testament will undoubtedly help us to know the Savior and His attributes more. The GC talk from Oct 2022 by Jonathan Schmidt reminds us to seek the names and titles of Jesus and what attributes we can acquire by taking His name(s) upon us at baptism and with sacramental covenants.

MONDAY

We spent the morning in the office and then headed to Zoetemeer to deliver a shelf and pick up three bikes, then on to Leiden for two more bikes. With transfers this week, we need to get the bikes where the missionaries will be. It's not far, but some debris on the freeway caused quite a delay. No problem though, we had some beautiful music to listen to and some gorgeous scenery  to watch as we drove.

TUESDAY

Arrivals and Transfers!

We drove to Amsterdam this morning to meet the five new missionaries, 3 Sisters and 2 Elders. The Amsterdam building was also the gathering place for those who were being transferred. They came to meet their new companions and start another six weeks. One fun fact: one of the new missionaries, Sister Wadsworth was assigned to serve in Emmen with Sister Stewart and Sister Perry. All three were in the MTC together! But because Sister Wadsworth has come from a reassignment in the US, the other two can train her! They are so excited!

Sisters Kiera Wadsworth, Megan Perry and Charlie Stewart

WEDNESDAY

Doug got a message from Elder Adrian Blodgett who is currently serving in Gent, Belgium here in the BNZ. He was looking through some documents online searching for his great-grandfather who served in this mission in the late 1940's. This picture had the name 'Glauser' printed under the man in the center, so Elder Blodgett asked Doug if he had any relatives that served in the Belgium Netherlands Mission in 1949. Of course he did! Doug's dad, Kenneth Glauser served here from 1949-1951, and sure enough, this is a picture of him!!

Imagine our delight when Elder Blodgett sent the link to the document and we found several other pictures of his dad. What a treasured find!

Departure interviews were held at the office this morning. We always love getting to spend a few  minutes with each of the missionaries as they prepare to go home tomorrow. 

Marcia, Julia Hyer, Doug, Nefi Regalado, Rafe Baldwin, Harrison Wright

THURSDAY

Our Thursday dinner is always a good time! The three Sisters in the office now come every week along with Elder De Jong. Today we had four more join us. Elder Wright is a 'departing' Elder, but will stay around for another week until his family comes to get him. So we had his Quad come for his last dinner with us before he goes home. They had just come from doing some service so they were a little casual 😁 How we love these Elders and Sisters!

Nathan De Jong, Tess Flake, Elise Conlee, Kamryn Doyle, Atticus Snow, Izaak Bevell, Harrison Wright, Johan van der Put, Doug.

FRIDAY

We took a little road trip today to Sint Niklaas, Belgium to exchange some bikes. While driving, we listened to a BYU Speeches Podcast by President Kevin Worthlin, The Power of Prophetic Promises, given 11 January 2023. It is a powerful message of promises, especially promises from God given through His living prophet. One of the promises is that we will be blessed with miracles as we learn to see them. I know this is true as we see miracles often...even in the Office. Some are so small, that unless we are looking, we will miss them. 

We had arranged to exchange to three bikes in Sint Niklaas (which all need repair) for two that are in good shape, Only two Elders are there now, but they use the bikes All The Time. It is a huge area, with public transportation sometimes unreliable. We love to take these opportunities to take the missionaries to lunch and learn more about them.

Doug, Marcia, John Flitton, Dinis Santos

We went to a little cafe Elder Santos had been to once with a member in the neighboring village of Temse. When we parked, we looked around for the Zone Code (as it is called for paying for parking) but didn't see anything. We planned to ask the cafe owner, but got distracted and forgot to ask. When we came back to the car an hour later, what do we see?? Right next to our car was the pay station!! Where did it come from? Well, the Vehicle Coordinator and his companion will likely have a parking ticket for this one!

SATURDAY

Because Sister Brandenburg talked about the village of Oudewater on Sunday, and it is so close to Gouda, we spent the afternoon and explored this charming place. The VandeWal's and Black's joined us. We had lunch at the Hex cafe. The mustard soup sounded so intriguing and was also recommended by the waiter. So good!

We asked about the Rope Museum and soon found our way there but to our disappointment it is only open from July to November. We will return! 

Gerrit and Norma VandeWal, Doug, Tom and Cindy Black

We then walked the short distance to the Waag Oudewater, an interesting museum about witches in the 15th and 16th century. people (80% were women) could be accused of anything and if they could not prove they were not a witch, they would be killed. Since witches were said to be 'light as a feather', one way the authorities used was to tightly bind the hands and feet of the 'offender' and throw them into the water (canal, lake). If the individual floated, they were a witch. Another way was to weigh them on a scale. If they were too light, they were a witch. We stepped on the original scales from 1482 and received a certificate to prove we were not witches. Whew!😅

It's hard to see, but this is a photo-op on a witches broom

The  Weigh Scales

We spent another hour exploring this little town with these good friends. The church was amazing, the narrow alleyways were interesting (notice the brick wall on the right...not straight at all!), and just the overall charm was delightful. Definitely worth a return visit!