Week 51 - Zoetermeer

 St. Patrick's district meeting!

We cooked- the beans weren't green but the rice was (:

 Pancakes by Zuster Faa on St. Patrick's Day

All the zusters, at Zusters Conference 

(Eliza is in the back, to the right of the raised arm)

Reunited! Dang I didn't get a pic with my other "daughter" Z. Castro- we were too busy talking a catching up. But she made it in the back of some of these phew

With Zuster Robinson

hoi!

Lieve Familie Riley, Alles goed? Hopelijk wel. It's been a great, busy, miracle-filled week here in the land of the tulips in the season of the tulips. On Monday we went to gezinsavond at Familie Kaaijk's house- Rens was recently baptized and his wife and daughter were recently reactivated and they are so strong and hilarious and sweet. Two stories I never tire of hearing are conversion stories, and how couples met. 

On Tuesday I went to Den Haag on exchanges, and while we were looking people up, Zuster Bradley felt like Ethlyn (a recent convert beloved by any Zuster who's served in Den Haag- I've heard so many great things about her from past companions and had met her briefly)- anyways, she is so sweet and easy to talk to and really needed and appreciated the uplifting visit.. we also helped tidy her house- and she even bought me a spice grinder thingy with lots of spices because we bonded over liking seasonings and she gave it to me as a surprise at Zusters Conf.!, so sweet and I'm so glad Z. Bradley followed the prompting to visit her. 

Speaking of Zusters Conferentie, it was so great- definitely a theme of being courageous and caring vs. competitive and critical. I spoke for a few minutes to the sisters about true conversion (all the STLs were to pray about a topic) and I read Alma 17:2 adjusted to me- "Therefore, Sister Riley did rejoice exceedingly to see her sisters Marquie Meier, Andrea Wood, Tahira Koulen, Jenny Stevens, Megan Aston, Karly Hansen, Ashley Castro and Jessica Faassavalu, and what added more to her joy, they were still her sisters in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were women of a sound understanding; and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God." I talked about how I wanted to see all of them beautiful and good ladies 20-30 years from now and have this joyous reunion (and I realize that in order to take part in that I have to be searching diligently and waxing strong in the knowledge of the truth myself, which is why I'm deciding now to always stay worthy of a temple recommend. I gave them all a few minutes to write a letter to their future selves (10 yrs from now) and ah it was just so great seeing past companions and everyone and being uplifted and encouraged. Speaking of following through, remember that ''stopping at 3rd base adds no more to the score than striking out''. Bam. Ha. 

So on Thursday, Zuster Doxey (serving in Lelystad) and I were getting off of the train at Den Haag Centraal and a man stopped us and told us that he wanted to thank us- just from the way we were interacting with each other and having such a friendly conversation, he felt really good and it inspired him to send his wife a happy and encouraging email. He noticed our tags and said that he'd been wanting to get closer to God this past year, and gave us his business card (he works with Dutch agricultural protection) so we can meet again. And later that day we biked over an hour somewhere in Pijnacker to look up a less-active and her former investigator 13-yr old daughter who the Sisters have been trying to get in contact with for a few months now, and she let us in and was so friendly and cool and we're going over there Wednesday night for a dinner appt. and to teach her daughter and she wants to come back to church (and yoga).. almost a repeat of what's happening with Zuster Kluft! So cool. 

Also, we had a Gaastendienst in wijkzoetermeer yesterday and Z. Rol, a sweet member, brought a friend and she loved it and read the inleiding of the Book of Mormon during sacrament meeting and wants a book and we're all going to meet to teach her more soon. And now that we are officially assigned to the English-speaking wijkwassenaar (who meet in this building as well), we have a lot of less-active sisters to work with there- and even two investigator referrals from friends. Wow, good things are going on here! And we are pretty excited for the zone training we've been planning for Wednesday which will include singing "Let it Glow" (the Spirit) and a silent lesson.

I love you all!

Liefs,

Zuster Riley (:

Sweet Zuster Lemmich

We do this all the time here haha! Bikes and escalators go together like peas and carrots.