Nicholas Fernhout in the Belgium/Netherlands Mission: 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!