Week 61: Wij Fietsten naar Amsterdam!!!

Well last week on  pday we did indeed bike to Amsterdam from Alkmaar. It wasn't actually very nice weather at all.  It was rainy and a bit windy too. Of course it was against us the entire way. Well we set out anyway, without a map, however we knew that the bike paths are clearly marked and we would be fine.  So we left and eventually we were biking through the countryside going from one dorpje to the next. It was very pretty and nice. We went to Zaandam and when we got there we went to the elders apartment to surprise them. They were so confused to see us with our bikes haha. We chilled with them a bit and then left to Amsterdam centraal. We wanted to bike to the middle so that's what we did, the signs were super easy to follow and we only got lost 2 times! It was so easy, we took a ferry to cross a big kanaal. It was so fun and then we ended up at Amsterdam Centraal! we felt very accomplished.  We took some photos that I will include. Inside the station I saw a tourist with a Canadian flag so I asked where she was from and she said Toronto but she was traveling with 2 other people from Calgary.  I told them I was from Lethbridge and they were like “hey a ‘berta boy!!!"  So that was fun haha. We took the train back to Alkmaar.  The trip was 48 kilometers total and if we didn’t stop in Zaandam it would have taken us an hour and 50 mins.  So not too bad at all!  We weren't even sore. We want to go further next time haha.

During the week we had some good lessons.  Mainly with M.  He is on plan to be baptized on March 24! He also came to church today and he wore clogs!!! So funny.  What's better is during the week I saw someone biking with clogs on and I took a photo.  Little did I know that that person was our investigator who later wore his clogs to church haha!  He liked church though and wanted to know who he should pay.  I told him he doesn't have to pay anybody and that he actually gets free food today because it was potluck day so that was probably nice for him.  We had another appointment with someone and we put them on baptismal date for June 17... he is quite positive.

Saturday was a great day, we had a lunch appointment, a dinner appointment, and then we had volleyball that night, with like 13 people. It was very fun! The dinner was with fam M. They are going on vacation to Sweden. We always have a good time with them. Also, they have a cute dog which I got to pet, which we don’t get to do that often as missionaries. Sunday was great cause we had an investigator in church and he wore klompen!

Questions of the week:
1.  Did you travel this week?
2.  Is Zone Conference this week?
3.  How did teaching go this week?
4.  Did you have many dinner appointments?  Did you eat at the M's?
5.  It sounds like you are biking a lot!  Did you bike much this week?
6.  How is church? Have you spoken in church recently?
7.  Do you do anything for service in Alkmaar?  (The elders here carry a shovel in there cars to help people shovel there driveways, though I know that won’t work in your mission)
8.  How has the weather been?
9.  How are District Leader duties going?
10.  Did you try herring yet?  Have you eaten any new foods?

1. Amsterdam a few times and just the other normal places
2. Soonish. I think it is next week actually.
3. Great I'd say.
4. Yes, haha. Sister M's husband took us to vollyeball and stayed to play with us. That was cool.  This week we don't have many...
5. Oh yes, since we got the bike computers we have gone 540 kilometers. I love biking though, very relaxing. I like my bike a lot too, although it always sucks to go into the wind...
6. I haven't spoken in church since Emmen! I did have to teach YM’s last week. Other than that we don't do much.
7. No I wish. We help this one lady in her house sometimes but not much else.
8. Sunny and freezing, like really cold. It would be the Canadian equivalent of negative 20.
9. Great! We are coming up with fun challenges and things. Last transfer we did a challenge and Zaanda, elders lost so they had to do a punishment which was singing in Amsterdam centrall. I got a little video of it haha.
10. No but Sister M said that she is going to get it for us...

Dutch word I thought was funny is vooruitgang.  It means progress but literally translated means forwards out go.

That is all,
Elder Fernhout