Week 35: mijn spieren zijn dood

Goede Morgen,

Ya, it does [feel like summer is over], it is finally getting into the temperatures that I like and I can wear long sleeves somedays! Oh wow, it is still really hot there! I bet Jake enjoys that for football.

Oh ya that is cool, I always wondered that! [Emmen sits at 52 degrees north latitude, Lethbridge at 49 degrees]. Wow, I didn't realize I was that north! It is nice that it is cooling off but kinda sucks that the days are getting shorter because people don't like to talk when it is dark outside!

Ya, the Dutch is better now haha, also shorter! Ya honestly, in my BOM reading lately the words KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS have stood out a lot and I realize that everything we do depends if we keep the commandments. Also, if we do we have so many blessings and amazing things promised to us. So, ya, obedience is very important.

Well I had a real crap day on Tuesday, we had district meeting which was good. But then we had to travel a bunch and then travel to this far away dorpje to see an investigator. When we got to his door he wasn’t home and so we called him and he thought the appointment was for the next day. Lesson learned, ALWAYS call beforehand. Anyway, so then I remembered a potential we had found in the city and got his number. So I decided to call him. We had texted him a few times but never responded. He answered the call and said he would love to meet us and that he has time right now. He didn’t text us back because he didn't have the phone credit. So he gave us his address and we set out to find it. We were in a little dorp so I thought we could find a street called Stationstraat easy enough but let me tell you, we couldn't. We called him back a few times and his instructions were awful. We tried finding the street and asking people and they all pointed in a different direction. So after an hour and a half of walking in circles with no success we had to give up and look it up on the computer another day. At the end of the day we were doing some studies and this family in the ward calls and tell us how we were supposed to come over for dinner an hour ago.... I felt so bad after that, great way to end the day. Anyway, this person from Eindhoven called and he is an old guy who met Elder Nielsen. So he called me to tell me about it and it was a really nice chat. It was a great way to end the day.

On Thursday I think it was, I got to go on exchanges with Elder Geddes who is pretty cool. He came to Emmen for the exchange with me so that means I haven’t left Emmen for more than a few hours this entire transfer but I don't mind. On our exchange we didn't have anything to do and ended up looking up a few referrals we were assigned to look up. We biked from Emmen to a dorp called Emmer Compasscum to a place called Barger Compasscum and then back. It was a large triangle and was 32 kilometres, most of it into the wind. I enjoyed it though cause it was a good view and EG and I had good convos during the biking. When we got home I told him “mijn spieren zijn dood” with a laugh [my muscles are dead]. EG is a great missionary and in a group above others in his obedience!  He is a very good example for the rest of the district.

We also had the opportunity to do service for T again. We helped screw a fence together then took it to her garden where we made a path with tiles and sand. It was a big job!  I am glad dad taught me those skills! Also, she made us dinner, a soup. I loved it, it was full of veggies from her garden.  Missionaries cannot be picky eaters, it is important to learn to just eat the food. People say the gift of tongues is more than just languages, it’s also the ability to eat weird foods, haha.

Last thing. I gave my second talk in the transfer yesterday in church. My first one I felt like people weren't paying attention and I wanted them to this time. So I decided to tell a story and relate it to trials. It went well. It required some hard vocabulary but I did it okay. I was really nervous but all was well! I felt comfortable up there. People thanked me for my talk after which they always do, but it was nice.

Questions for the week:
1.  Did you talk in church recently? What was the subject and how did it go (did you shorten it from last time, jk)?
2.  Let me know when you have Zone Conference and if you got your parcel!
3.  How is the language coming along?  How did your goal go to speak Dutch this week?
4.  How is the training going?
5.  Did you go on splits this week?
6.  What did you learn about Dutch people this week?
7.  What did you learn about the Gospel or missionary work this week?
8.  I’m going to send you a birthday parcel in September sometime so that you will hopefully get it by your birthday. If there is anything specifically you’d like from home let me know.

1. Yes, haha, I did shorten it. Although it is really hard to stay under 10 mins. I ended up going I think 12.

2. Zone conference is this week on Thursday in Zoetermeer. It is the Elder Sabin conference so I am so excited, also to get my package!

3. Pretty decent, no I did and at my goal. I only did it a few times but I set the same goal for myself this week so I will try harder.

4. Ya, it’s alright.

5. Ya we went on exchanges, splits is with a member of the ward. Exchanges is with missionaries, but anyway, yup. The elder from Suriname is really cool as is the elder from Peru, they are comps and are both really good at soccer.

6. They have a really good ear for accents, like really. They always know that I am not from America when I speak English. I have been told so many times that I speak differently than my comps from America. It's so cool, I feel like American and Canadian English is pretty much the same but nope.

7. Ugh that’s a long question, I need to prepare in advance for... uh well preparing my talk I learned a lot about trials and found some good scriptures in the Bible. Just know that they are for our good and when you realize that it makes them easier to enjoy.

8. Sounds good about the package. I can’t think of anything I’d like... but I can start looking, haha.

The word of the week is Zoetermeer, which means sweet lake. It's also funny because it is where the temple is. So instead of the Salt Lake Temple we have the Sweet Lake Temple, cool.

Long letter his week! Love you lots.

Elder Fernhout

Week 34: Time is flying by in Emmen

Ya, this past week also went by really fast. I am feeling pretty good here in Emmen now. It starts in 3 weeks, I think [school in the Netherlands]. There was like 20 people in church yesterday; everyone is gone, a lot of people are in Germany. But even though there was no one in church we got a loooooot of dinner appointments. It was awesome. Ah, I remember going to that restaurant in Nevada like forever ago [Blue Iguana]! I loved it! Ya, driving 11 hours you could go to so many places here! They think that 3 hours is a really long drive then I tell them how far we drive and they are surprised, haha.

Ya, I made it really quickly to all four countries, it’s awesome. No, no passports [are required] at all [when crossing borders]. Thanks for the pizza dough recipe!

We met with a less active this week from Scotland and he is so cool. He told us a bunch of stories from his life that I really enjoyed hearing about. He said he’ll have us over and make us a meal soon. On the way to his house we biked through really nice country side around Emmen, I took some pics.

Just the usual questions this week:
1.  Can you take some photos of you and your companion out and about in Emmen?
2.  What Dutch church materials do you use to prepare your talks?  Does the Liahona come in Dutch?
3.  How is it going teaching your other investigators?
4.  Did you have many dinner appointments this week?
5.  What was the best thing about your week?
6.  How is your Dutch coming along?
7.  How is ER doing?
8.  Where/when is your next Zone Conference?  (maybe you will get your parcel!)

1. I did take some more this week.

2. Whatever we can, Liahona and scriptures and Preach My Gospel mainly. Ya, it does.

3. Great, Tea is getting into the BOM and has some questions. We just got another investigator and his mum. They are refuges and want to be baptized and are so cool. I can’t wait to go back. They made us a huge lunch and they didn't even know us. Just super nice, humble people. I don't have much time now to write but I will tell more about them later.

4. This past week was alright but next week is gonna be great. I haven't had stamppot yet though.

5. Probably those new investigators, they were referrals and like I said really cool.

6. Pretty good, my weekly goal is to only speak Dutch. The hard part is remembering to speak only it.

7. Decent. Dutch is slowly coming and he has a great knowledge of things which is helpful when our investigators ask us super deep doctrinal questions.

8. It is next week I think on Thursday, not quite sure though.  I think it'll probs be there.

Okay well word is trekken, which in its singular form is trek.  I think it’s funny because trek in English is like what the pioneers did when they pulled their handcarts and trekken means to pull in Dutch. It’s pronounced the same.

Biking through the beautiful countryside of Emmen 

Biking by the Scotsman

Dorpje of Ter Apel

Choose Jesus 

Some of the missionaries in the zone

Week 33: Goeie Dag

Okay, so we had a pretty slow week but still had cool things happen like they always do on a mission. Emmen is famous for its zoo but what's cool is they used to have it in 2 parts. They decided to make it all into one part so the old part is in the centrum and is called the Oude Dierenpark now, which just means old zoo pretty much. So we went to check it out and it is now just a park you can walk around and it is really cool because all of the exhibits are still there but just without the animals. You can go into the lion pit and walk around the cool monkey area. A lot of people are always there so we try to get in some good street contacting. Probably the best thing that happened this week was I saw a puppy and not just any puppy, a super cute one. We were walking down the street and just in front of us was this puff ball of a dog and it looked like a young Porter so I asked him if it was an Alaskan Malamute and he said yes! He has only had it 3 days but it is a few months old I think. It was so so so soft and playful and just a happy dog. So I had to take a few photos with it.

On Tuesday we got haircuts by a member of the ward. They also fed us. Then they fed us again yesterday and then again this week. They are so so awesome! Anyway, the mum cut our hair and did a great job, it was getting quite long. We also went on exchanges this week. I stayed in Emmen with Elder Robinson from Boston, he is a greenie. And Elder Rytting went to Zwolle with our district leader Elder Geddes. It was cool, Elder Robinson is really chill and quite.  We did service for an investigator. We worked in her garden for a few hours, digging a trench to put tiles in it so the frambois roots don’t go everywhere. That took a while but I really enjoyed it!  It feels great to do some physical work. The investigator is also really super nice.  She’s an older lady who loves her garden! We borrowed a trench digging tool from another neighbour and he came to check the progress. He saw my Canadian shirt and asked if I was from Canada. I said yes and that I'm from Alberta. He told me he had a brother living in Lethbridge! I was so surprised, I was like, ya well that’s right where I am from. Haha, it was crazy so we talked a bit about Canada. It was awesome to have that connection, so weird too because both cities, Emmen and Lethbridge are so small!

Anyway, the best lesson we had this week was with an investigator we have and her 19 yo daughter.  They both want to be baptized and are well on their way to being gedoopt.  We went over for a lesson and they had lunch for us. After lunch I went to pull out my BOM for the lesson and they were like yay! a lesson! because the other elders only really came over to talk and eat and be friends which they said was nice but they also really wanted lessons and knowledge! It was really cool to see how much they wanted to hear our message. We had a great lesson and they asked a lot of good questions. We have another lesson with them today actually.

The word of the week is bloem, which means flower. I like it cause it is pronounced bloom, which just makes me think of a flower. It is a pretty word.

Questions for the week:
1.  How is the missionary work going?
2.  Did you speak again in church today or next week?  What do you do at church?
3.  Have you gotten to know the members at church better?
4.  Any dinner appointments this week? Is Dutch food different than Belgian?
5.  Are people nice to you generally?
6.  What do you do for service in Emmen?
7.  Any gospel insights or thoughts you have had recently?
8.  How is the training going?
9.  Any interesting cultural insights?

1. Decent. Asking for referrals and doing street contacting, but we work a lot with the people we know and a few less actives.

2. ER did yesterday, I will next week. Yesterday I was able to just sit and listen to all the classes without having to teach. I went to Sacrament meeting and then Sunday School and then Priesthood.

3. Oh ya, it is going great. Although it is vacation season and usually the ward is 2 times as big so I only know about half the members.

4. Ya we do, a few actually it'll be a good week. Yup and yup but both have different things that I like better. We did manage to find my favourite Belgian sauce here in the Netherlands though!

5. Ya they are, people in Emmen like us.

6. Last week we just helped out Tea in her garden, we usually do that once a week for a bit.

7. Good, better and best. This is something hard about being a missionary. At home you are on the right path and feel good about yourself when you choose good over bad, but as a missionary you feel bad when you choose good because you should be at better and it is really easy to choose good. But I feel bad when I know I can being doing the best out here. So lately I have been trying to take things to the next level to get to the BEST.

8. Good.

9. Not really, just that Europeans like Canadians better than Americans and I am so happy to be a Canadian!

Germany/Netherlands border

beautiful countryside

evening sky over Emmen

Alaskan Malamute puppy

Week 32: Hoi from Emmen

Hello,

Week was good. The ongoing struggle to find a good way to find people in Emmen continues. Usually if you have free time you can jsut go knock some doors but you can't do that here. The town is so small that it's been done so many times already! So we did try to use a banner but it's not very sturdy and the slightest bit of wind will make it fall so we had to hold it up.  Anyway, we are still looking how we can effectively fill extra time. Something that I've noticed about Emmen though is that the people here are really nice, at least compared to Brugge. In Brugge people would never say 'hello' back if you say something to them, a lot of the time they wouldn't even look at you. Here half the time people say 'hi' to us first and they are always smiling back too. I found out something cool yesterday at church. I was talking with the branch president's wife and I told her I was from Canada and she told me somehting cool about Vancouver. So there is a place near Emmen called Coevorden. and a looooong time ago people from that little town went over to Canada and established Vancouver. If you look at the word Vancouver is makes sense because "van" in Dutch means of or from and "couver" comes from coevorden. So cool! That can be the Dutch word of the week.

Oo pizza sounds good, for some reason pizza is really expensive here. We should try making it because homemade is the best. There is decent shopping here but nothing like Amsterdam or even Brugge.

Questions:   
1.  Do you have pictures to send this week? 
2.  How is the training going?  
3.  Did you find a place to get a haircut in Emmen?
4.  Do you cover any small towns?  Have you been to any?
5.  So you are learning the guitar?!  
6.  Is the language very different?  Are you picking up the accent?
7.  How is the ward?  
8.  How are Dutch people different than Belgians?
9.  Let me know what size Lululemon pants to send you and anything else you need. 
10.  Is the food very different in Holland?
11.  What have you learned this week about yourself or the Gospel?

1.  Yup, I included them.  Sorry, forgot the apartment ones again.  

2. Good, ER is doing well. His Dutch is slowly coming and he's got a bike now.

3. I just got off the phone 5 mins ago and arranged one with some of the members, haha.

4. Ya we do, a lot actually. No, but we might check them out this week

5. Yes haha. It's comign pretty good too. I'd say it was Elder Richards because he was really good and it was cool and fun to sing and listen to the songs. One of the elders was dying [mission lingo for going home] and gave it to me for free.

6. Ya it is, but it is a lot easier to understand!

7. Really small right now because everyone is on vacation! The ward here in Emmen is famous in the mission for being really cool and good and it's true they are all aweosme. Usually the elders here are fed every day but with so many people gone we have like 1 or 2 this week. Ya, we help out a bit. I've blessed the sacrament 2 weeks in a row now and besides giving a talk last week I gave the Young Men's lesson yesterday and in 2 weeks will speak again in church.

8. It's hard to explain.  Well this is kinda off topic but it's funny. Yesterday was testimony meeting and this new guy got up to bear his and mid way through he said, as you can already probably tell I am from Rotterdam and the whole ward laughed cause it was just so obvious from his accent that he was from there. I think it's so cool how people just immediatly know where you are from. But uh the Dutch people are different in many ways, one of them is that they bike a lot more. They also really like to out and about, on the streets walking around, just doing stuff.  Belgians are more inside and chilling.

9. Metal collar stays would be nice, uh, i'll have to check my size I forget.

10. Ya the mayo is not as good, haha, and neither are the fries and they don't have as many waffles, like none actually. Well, I have had a bunch of stoopwafels but those are a lot different.  Also, the Vla here is great and so many things actaully, the food is a lot different.  Oh and cheaper here too which is real nice!

11. That it doesn't matter what you say to people when you begin to contact them as a missioanry. If they are going to accept it they are going to accept it. There are people out there searching for the gospel and we are here to find those people, not to convince the people who aren't ready to be converted. But in that process we find a lot of people who are not prepared and are not willing to talk. But that's jsut part of being a missioanry and when you find someine who is ready it makes it all worth it.

Canada flowers

flat, flat, flat

normal day of work in Emmen

countryside

just flat 

nice street