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
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