Groetjes vanuit Groningen!
Beste
familie~
First of all, congrats to my dear
wombmate getting called to preach the gospel in a hummus-filled part of
the world where the original twelve apostles also preached the
gospel! That is so exciting, and missions are so great so I am so glad that my
best friend ooit (ever) will get to
experience one, too. (Her identical twin
sister Madi opened her mission call on Thursday and will serve in the Adriatic South Mission , Oct. 29, speaking Albanian.)
Madi with her mission call letter
So on woensdag, our first
mini zendeling (missionary) came,
and I seriously love her. She is so great, and has us cracking up all the time.
That girl sure can talk- so much for us getting 8 hrs of sleep per night
haha- and sometimes gets stressed and "enters panic zone" but that's
only because she's so passionate and energetic about everything. She is
originally from Suriname, but has lived in the Netherlands (Rotterdam
North now) since she was 16- she's 25 now and studies English Literature,
Language and Culture at the University of Amsterdam (how cool is that!?) and
also works as a full-time nanny. Which explains why she takes such good care of
us, i.e. doesn't let us leave the house without sunscreen (it's been
around 35C).. "skin cancer? Not on my watch!" and makes sure we use facial
moisturizers/ replenishers morning and night.
Zuster Broekzitter, Zuster Wood's new
companion, came last night, and is super mature for her age (she's 16!)
and sweet and cool, but might think we're a little crazy.. last night, I
thought it'd be funny to pull a little prank on her and when it
was time to say nighttime companionship prayer, we closed all the curtains (to
add to the effect), kneeled in a circle (like normal), and instead of praying I
started chanting and murmuring and dancing, and Zusters Wood and Koulen joined
in, and then we ran out of the room, and ran back in, and said
"Welkom in Groningen!".. she was still kneeling on the floor, pretty
shocked and wondering what she'd gotten herself into, and I caught it on camera..
haha luckily she has a good sense of humor. Then, we blew a fuse trying to
plug in an American blow dryer through an adapter for Zr. Koulen's hair
which resulted in freezing showers and no power, but she hasn't left yet so
she's a trooper!
We've been finding people like crazy
and have seen so many miracles this week, and I think the reason that we have
four Zusters here is because there are so many people in this city who are
searching and ready. I'm excited to improve my Dutch living with two
natives- Zr. Koulen speaks perfect Dutch and English, but we only talk
to Zr. Broekzitter in Dutch which is awesome. Also, last night my
bike broke far away from home, and my Good Samaritan (Surinamer to be exact)
Frankie was biking past and said "Zusters, follow me" and with his
brother fixed my bike! I totally thought they were some of the 3 Nephites until
he said if we had to repay him with something all he wanted was a beer..
instead, I gave him a BvM, telling him he'd like it because it was full of
stories of nice people helping others like him. Gotta go because I wanna attach
some pictures!
Veel liefs (lots of love),
Zr. Riley
thanks for the pic emails, I love 'em! Vanessa's haircut is super cute, I love the lego temple, and glad you're all supporting the Oranje!!! (: And so excited for Madi!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(a
sister missionary coming to Netherlands
Well the only experience I've had with a hair
dryer is last night when I plugged one in (for Zr. Koulen, I don't use
them) using my adapter that says it's for hair dryers.. and almost died
and blew a fuse and we are still out of power/ hot water for that side of
the house haha, so maybe just buy one here. And I brought ziploc bags which was
really nice to have.
(When
I told her that a man she met while tracting with the sister missionaries here
in March was baptized this week):
Wow Zuster Eliza! You are having such a great mission! You are truly being blessed and protected. Your mission seems so be going so well, yet I thought missions were supposed to be hard. I love your letters home and the pictures you send. Things are certainly different for the young people who go now than when my children went on missions. It was during my youngest son's mission that the Church started allowing the missionaries to email home. That was a great thing! And digital cameras are a great thing now.
ReplyDeleteI hope things continue to go well for you. I'm sure a lot of your success comes from you having such a perky, positive outlook on life. Your success and protection are always in my prayers.
Love, Aunt Mary