Feeling the Love of Christ

So Christmas time was active for us. We went with the other two Elders in our ward (who we do a lot with btw) and we went caroling to members, less actives, investigators etc... Was really cool....

I don't have time for all, but I want to share a story of someone we visited Christmas day. It is a good example of what I'm learning about true Christmas spirit. And of just plain Christ's Spirit.... here goes:                     (I copied what I shared to president, cause I like the way I put it)


"This Christmas week went well. In that we were able to go caroling to many different members, less active members, investigators etc. I enjoyed being able to be out and active on Christmas day. I agree with what was said, that it's a time to come closer to Christ.
When we were visiting people we thought of a member who has recently starting coming back to church. We visited her and when she opened the door we just starting singing a Christmas hymn. She loved it, and at the end she started to cry and had to go back in her house a minute before we could come in. She told us that she was home alone for Christmas. That her son who was with her (adult aged) left to spend the day with her daughter, and she couldn't go along because relations were strained, and it would be too much for her daughter. It was really sad to hear. But she was very glad we had come by.

While we were visiting and watching a Christmas video with her Elder W. thought to call the members that we would eat dinner with later that night. He explained her situation and asked if she could come along. The members were very gracious and invited her warmly. When we told her she was invited her face lit up and she was delighted. She expressed her gratitude that night at their house, that she was able to come, and that her lonely Christmas turned out to be a great one.
I am eternally grateful for Christ's ministry. Cause it's not just his teachings of good things. It's His actions of love that we can learn to follow and make such a difference in someone's life.
I saw other similar experiences these last couple weeks, and I am again grateful for this Christmas season, and for the chance to be a part of allowing others to feel the love of Christ.
Cause that, in my opinion, is what Christmas is all about."

I love you all.
Happy New Year. don't get too crazy. (We have a great view of the city, so we'll get some Great firework showage. We have to go in at 4pm and stay in ‘til the next day. They go hardcore with fireworks here on new years)

Fijne Jaar wisseling!!

Elder Chantry

Prettige Kerstdagen

So the conference with Texiroua or something, was great... We had it on Thursday, and then on Friday the zone leaders and sister leaders met in the mission home and had another training with him.
It's kinda like having a really hard core workout. You feel beat up and sore as heck, but you know your gonna get stronger from it.

He did a great job of raising the bar. Pushing us to work harder, and to achieve more. He said that as leaders, we are not supposed to sustain the status quo. In the parable of the talents, that's what the servant with one talent did. And look what he got. As leaders we are to stimulate growth and progression. . There's really no point to a leader ship position, he said, if your not going to make a difference with your stewardship.
                I'll admit I felt pretty small.. heh... But I appreciate the push. He's very much right after all. The Lord's work is hastening. And now is not the time to put the talent in a drawer to "keep it safe'" ..

We're shooting for the stars here. And if we miss, at least we get the moon eh? (I heard that somewhere)... I'm excited to implement what I learned and then help the zone do the same.

That's the main highlights for my week. We made a Christmas tree out of those long thin foldy balloons one night :).. It's kind of losing air though, so we might have to get a replacement using some other material....looks cool though...
  
Merry Christmas to you all. I'm really loving the Christmas time. Elder Tex. (something) said that we need to make the most out of the Christmas on our mission. It's a really special chance to get closer to Christ. That's my goal. I mess up my goals from time to time, but I'm still trudging through towards them. If I stop and mourn my mess up too long then I don't get any farther....

Love you again...
ik ga nu einde. 
Prettige Kerstdagen!!

Elder Chantry

Tis the Season

So let´s see what´s worth saying,,,,

We were fairly busy this week... I was on exchanges for two of the days. One day with one of the elders in Utrecht, and the other with one of the Assistants to the President. That was fun. That day was Sinter Klaas. Meaning, everyone does gifts for each other and they play games and eat pepernoten etc, and have a jolly time. I went to Amsterdam and we did it at a member’s house. All the elders and sisters came in the area (with a onderzoekster as well) and we ate what they call ´gourmet´ which is basically where you get a bunch of raw meat on a plate, along with random other things and there´s several grills on the table, and you all just grill it up, talking all gezelig, and it´s great fun.. I got to see Elder S., he´s serving in Amsterdam now. Great day...

We got to eat at many different members’ houses, although I was gone for several on exchange. We went to Antwerpen Monday to pick up Elder T.´s wallet. someone found it and turned it into the police station (he lost it there a couple transfers ago when he was there). . So then after that we went to Brussels with some other elders and saw some cool sights and churches. 

We made many cookies and cards for members :) we´ve been giving em out to spread the good cheer weet je wel? tis the season... That´s been fun. 

This coming week is the conference and then leader council with Texieroua or however you spell it. Everyone is excited for that. It´s gonna be good. They come into the mission, and he doesn´t have already what he´ll talk about. He interviews the Pres. and the assistants, goes finding with random companionships, and then he, does the conference for two days in a row, then the mission leader council and then a few more things and leaves. Just by talking to people he decides what we need to be taught. It´s really intense actually. 

I say. I´ll put some pictures up now. Love you all. Tis the season!!! Remember that =D

pic 1 an awesome view of the water and factories en alles en ook wat on our way back to Rotterdam Monday.
pic 2 the outside of a church in Brussels. 
pic 3 that´s the inside of a church. That´s where the preacher would go to teach. Super intense artwork. And you can see other statues of saints and stuff on the pillars (Belgium used to be Very catholic)

Elder Chantry!!

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Rotterdam

Well, busy is what I’ve been. 
You know, when you get transferred to a new area then things get crazy trying to remember all the stuff. And all the details. maar ja, valt wel mee hoor. 

I heard that Mel ate horse meat! So did I actually! They have it for sale here like sandwich meat style. Normal to eat it here. heh. Funny right? Tasted pretty good.
I´ve been wearing the Grinch shirt I have. Christmas spirit weet je wel? the appartement we have is real nice. Another score. I haven´t had a bad one you know? hehe I’m sure sure sister Russia loves me for that. 

The district is big that I’m in. 12 people. And then the other district we have is like 11 people. So that´s the zone give or take. We´re always running around. Cause we have our work we do, and then helping the other missionaries out, and just busy. ..
I´ll send some pics soon. We have a sweet view from our windows in the appartement. Today I don´t have it with me cause we came straight from an activity with part of the zone and also a meeting with the district leaders to start off the transfers..

Elder T. He´s from Bountiful Utah. Cool guy. He has 2 transfers left. ouch. But he´s teaching me a lot. I for sure need his help. There´s a lot to know.
WE go on the 13th to a meeting with all zone leaders and sister training leaders. Should be awesome. We get to go to the mission home in Leiden, and the member of the seventy is coming. I mentioned him to mom....

I´m sure ill punch myself later for all the new things fIorgot to mention. But that´s to be expected....

Met de grootste aantal liefde die ik ooit kan voorstellen,
Elder Chantry

Heading Off!

So I'll send this before reading anything, to make sure I get it off in a timely manner

I'll be to the point about things. I heard last night that I'm getting transferred. I'm going to Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, to be a Zone leader with Elder T.
It's funny cause, ZL''s have a car. But idk if i ever mentioned i went to get my license (you give your US one, and they give you a Belgium one in exchange. They have all the DL's do that here), and after some time of having it, they wrote the office back saying they couldn't switch it cause it says, 'intermediate license' on the front and they think that means it's temporary. Silly, cause it's not. it's just cause I'm not 21 yet. The Utah one's don't say that, so they never have a problem usually. silly. But not unfavorable :) I'm so glad i don't have to drive heheh. I would die. (there's a slim chance i could get a license, from Netherlands  but that you have to take a test for, so might not happen)

ANYWAYS, boring stuff.
Basically, I'm gonna miss Elder P. and this area. I love it here. I've met some of The Coolest people here. Mom talked to one of em :)
She made the best thanksgiving dinner away from home i could EVER have. She's so awesome. She stuffed the turkey and everything. I'll attach pics...


Also, on thursday we had a zone dinges, and we dressed up as characters from Daniel 6. I got to be one of the plotting presidents that wants him dead. Best role play ever. (reminded me of the veggie tales with the song where they're singing about what they need to do to get Daniel:) so fun. And it taught a really good lesson. Plus, I got to be thrown into the lions den at the end :D fun indeed....

Wow, I feel like this area is my home. I'm kind of not sure about leaving. I don't really know how different life will be. Rotterdam is a zone I've never worked in. :) here we go again eh?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well I have not so much time this week, but I’ll talk about a few things,

We had stake conference this week. And it was so cool cause I got to see a lot of members I knew from Breda. Also R., who was baptized when I was there :D. And her boyfriend I., was ordained to the Melchizedek priesterschap, and I got to stand in on that. Such an honor. .

Also, remember Y.? He was the Chinese student that we taught when I was in Breda. Well he was baptized! And at the conference. Got to talk to him. So awesome..

What else? Did several exchanges this week. Stayed busy, it went good. We had a turkey bowl today, and ate soup and stuff after :) real fun...

Can you believe this coming week is the last of the transfer? So next I’ll know if i go or stay. I swear, transfers are every two seconds.

We get to have a Thanksgiving dinner this Thursday with some members :) 

Something that struck me in stake conference. We had Elder Adler from the seventy come, he's German, and he had some great stuff to say.
One thing, he talked how before this life, we were with God. And we were prepared to come down here. And he said that God talked to each of us, before we left and told us it wouldn’t be easy, that we would have trials, but that He wanted us to return to HIm. And if we held fast to the commandments, then we could. 

It struck me, that we all were, indeed, prepared before we came. The challenge is to remember that, here on earth. We all had faith in our savior, Christ. But we just forgot. And perhaps, we were scared, before we came, that by forgetting, we would never remember that again. But Our Father knelt down next to us before we left, and He promised us, the Holy Ghost. He is the key to remembering, that faith, we already had. 
Work with HIm guys :) He will never lead you astray. 
It's hard work, but hey, we wouldn't learn much if it was easy.

I love each of you, 
Have a great Thanksgiving, this week or next (whenever it is)
Elder  Chantry!

A Fine Honorable Week. Yes Indeed.

I say. The world is good.

True, the world is not perfect. And many parts of it aren't good. But if you look at it thinking about how Christ made it for us to live on and have joy, then the world is quite good :)

In district meeting, we talked about how real faith is necessary in order to avoid being held back. And I talked about Mel’s story :) how a lot of times what holds us back is not God, but really just our lack of faith. 

I mean, we're all given things we have to accomplish in life. Often times we do the right thing and we pray for God's help. Funny thing is though, we often don't really think anything will happen. Especially when we think it's too small or unimportant a thing for God's care.

For example, when I was in Breda, transfers ago, we wanted to look up a referral, and we couldn't find her address that was on a piece of paper. Now we were just gonna say bummer and leave, but I got to thinking. We just taught an investigator the other day how when we pray with faith, believing we'll receive, we will. So why could we not do the same, right then, for a piece of paper? After all, we have the most important message in the world to share, and she needed it. So I suggested we pray to find it. Elder S. and I did. And guess what? We found it.
Sure, we can say it's coincidence, or that we would've found it either way, but come on. How much more obvious can God make it?

We taught the plan of salvation (of het heils plan. in het Nederlands) And, it went great. Elder Pugh led it, and it was so good. He had on this piano music in the background that played different hymns and stuff. I'll tell you what, if you play pretty piano music in the background, it soo can invite the spirit. I recommend it.

I'm gonna, run. As in, do something else.
  
Love you all!
Elder Chantry

In Brussels

Halloween and Pumpkin Pie

Good people!

So I’ll run through the week.

We had a zone Halloween thing this Monday. Here in Belgium they do some stuff for Halloween. Just not as much as in the states. Same basic ideas. costumes, candy, trick or treating (although not that much). haunted walks and stuff. Basically they get the stuff from the states and they implement it to varying degrees.

But ya we played tons of games and I owned at the donut eating one. totally fastest :)
  
But on other news,
We had a great district meeting :) probably the best I’ve led. We had a role play where Elder P. pretended to be a friend of his back home and each companionship took turns teaching for a few minutes and switching off. I paused it every so often to talk about how it was going and what he needed.
It was so cool. Cause see we wanted to set a district goal for the transfer, but at the beginning nobody had ideas. I did, but I wanted it to come from all of us. So we had the meeting and the teaching activity. And after talking about what he needed and how that applied to people we taught we came up with an awesome goal. :) I'm excited to see what it can do for the district.

We had more pumpkin pie :) even better then the first. heheh :D I was so happy.

On Halloween we went bowling with the branch. It was awesome. Guess what? I got three (count em) strikes in a row at the beginning of the first game. First bowl, strike, second, third, all strikes. haha. Funny thing, I only got like one maybe two more the rest of that game and the next. Couldn’t do it again. Frustrating! I scored 147 the first game. 81 the second. Go figure heheh....

We had to do most our preparation day stuff Saturday. Cause we have 4 appointments scheduled for today. heheh. Going to be busy.
I'm gonna go. I love you guys!
heb een geweldige week eh?
tot dan!
Elder Chantry

Goodness

Why?
Well we got to go to the temple this week. It was great to go there.

We had two investigators come to church this week, super cool. Heh, during sacrament, one of their phones went off. Super loud and all that. it wasn't 20 seconds after she got the sound turned off that the other investigators phone went off. Funniest thing. It was great :)

We had a member make us pumpkin pie this week, and it was divine. It was her first time making it, and she did a great job. We have a great branch here. I love em.

We have a pet spider. We named him manier spin :). We feed him gnats when we catch em. We’re gonna start teaching him this week. See if he's interested heheh
  



We’re leaving to a Halloween party thing for the zone, so I gotta go. 
Elder C

My District Before Transfers.

I am now starting a 3rd transfer in an area. The first time since the beginning of my mission. heh... I'm so happy about it too.

We have great people here we're teaching. We taught a lot this week, although not all became new investigators. But that's cool. I had some really interesting discussions. And learned a lot.

Elder P. is learning quick :) it's weird to see in comparison how much Dutch I’ve learned over a year. It's sooo much easier now. But still working on it. Not perfect yet. echt niet.

Maar, I hope your halloween is fun. We're doing a district Halloween dinges next pday. Sisters are putting it on.

 But ya, we ate dinner at this Wok plaza restaurant place, with these people from other churches. They’re all young, around my age, a little older. And they were real cool, invited us to eat with. The food was so good. You got to take all the raw ingredients from this buffet bar, and then give it to the dudes and they wokked/grilled it right in front of you. SOO lekker :)

Love
Elder Chantry

Reflection Photo

2nd Verse Same as the First

1. How are we?

So with joy and happiness, I stay in Genk. So does Elder P. :). The district is all staying the same except for one sister (the one from my mtc group), she's moving, getting a new sister....

But mostly we get to have another transfer here! :)

We have several investigators that we are hoping to set baptism dates with this week. We are finding more people to teach, and so is our district. They've found a lot actually. As a district this last week we found 12 new investigators :) super cool.

Funny story, we were walking through Genk Saturday, and it was super busy in the centrum area. There were people performing on the street and stuff. We saw this guy who was dressed so that a saxophone was on his head. No joke. He had like eyeballs on it and a top hat on top. He wore a suit, held an umbrella, and walked around playing it as if he was talking from it, following people and being hilarious.. Sadly I didn't have my camera, but it was soo cool. Elder P. thought it was the creepiest thing ever lol.

We also saw people running in some huge run thing in Hasselt. We had to wait like 10 minutes for everyone to pass, so we could cross the road...

Next week we get to go to the temple. I'm looking forward to that :). This transfer will include Thanksgiving. Makes me think of you guys. I hope everything is on plan for Christmas. You know when November starts, so does the Christmas season. (That’s how it should be in my opinion). We are cold here. It got cold all of a sudden. Scarves gloves and coats already. It happened quite quickly actually.
  
I'm gonna run. (sorta kinda)

Love you!
Elder Chantry

Genk at night.

This, That and The Other Thing

So I’ll start with This:

We watched conference in the stake center in Antwerpen. Super cool. Although we haven't seen the very first or last sessions. Learned a lot. And two companionships from the district had investigators come to watch some with us :) how cool is that?? Plus I gave a baptism interview to one who, if all goes well, will be baptized this coming Sunday :) We’re looking forward to it.

That:
We were running around all over the place this week. Staying over night in Geel, and then exchanges with them, and then in Antwerpen for conference, and the zone p-day the next day. It was still a great week though. Got to meet with P. and A., and we had interviews with the president and his wife. Great to talk to them. It was actually the best interview I’ve had with him ever :)
I also went to Brussels (again) to get a Europe driver’s license. They are having the district leaders do that, so that if they need to drive a car in the future they can.

And the other Thing:
I don't get how our transfers come so fast. I swear neither S. Mel or  S. Rach or anyone has transfers as fast as us. 
We have transfer calls this coming Sunday and Monday. Both Elder P. and I are crossing our fingers to stay. We feel like we have more we can do for this area and the people here.

I'm praying for you all, and I hope you had a great conference. 

I love you 
Elder Chantry

Helping the Relief Society President move.

7 Days That Rocked

I decided this Monday that I was going to have a good day each day this week. Monday was a great day, and I felt that I could have a good one each day this week, if not a great one (I know, sounds like the slogan to the Roxy theater).
But I really did, it was a great day each day of the week..

Let me lay it Out:

Tuesday on exchange with the Zone Leaders we had a cool lesson with a less active church member, he's a writer, writing a fantasy book. I told him I want a copy when it's done :) sweet guy...
Then, we met a guy named A. on the street from Cameroon who said he would meet with us cause (several reasons) but he was impressed that young guys like us would go around doing what we do. Also he felt that if he had done more with religion then it would have helped is family... for sure........We met on Saturday and he's willing to keep meeting. 

On Wednesday, we had our zone dinges, and I learned some great stuff. My grandpa E. Andrews (trainers trainer) is going home at the end of this transfer, in a few weeks. He is a zone leader in the new zone. I don't know if I ever mentioned to you, but when I first came here there were four zones. Now, we've grown, and we have 6 zones. And the goal is to build a 5th stake here in the Netherlands :)

Thursday we met up with a former investigator who was super happy to see us, and we're gonna meet with her some more. See if she's ready now to go further...

Friday we met again with A. and K. They're doing great, but still waiting till they get a place to stay permanent.

Saturday, we met with P. again, and he was saying some of the same things again. That he was waiting for God to tell him which church he should serve him through. So, I told him, set a date for baptism with us. And tell God that it's your goal, and that if you find out this church is true by that time, then you'll join it. He agreed, and we had a kneeling prayer at the end, in which he prayed and really seriously asked God to know the true church. If he keeps asking with sincerity, he'll get that answer :)

Sunday we had a great day with the members, and they had a great presentation on family history websites etc. The church is really doing great making deals with other organizations to share and spread around info for everyone. I love it
After that, we walked around the city looking up former investigators. We probably walked like 9 kilometers or so :) we were tired when we got back. heheh

So cool though, cause we did numbers last night, and the district did a Great job this week :) they're on a role. This week was great.

So, ya
That was my week.
I hope to have another like it :-)
Love you guys
Elder  Chantry

Time Flies

I say,
The week goes fast.

We had district meeting this week, and I was all in charge of it. Man. different ... Still gotta perfect that :)
But Elder P. and I made these notecards for everyone that has like our transfer motto on it (ya, I came up with it) and then I drew a very accurate stick figure of each person. We added some funny stuff on the back and I dare say they were awesome. Yes, I’m biased, but we had fun. .

We met with some people as well, but to be honest not a lot. We struck out on a lot of appointments. We looked up a lot of formers, and found out when we gotta meet with G.. But we're hoping for a busy week this coming
.
We have a zone dinges this Wednesday, should be good. And we are going to get some new investigators. That’s faith speaking

The district is doing great. They all have people with baptism dates that they're teaching, and they're working hard.

|I asked elder P. what we learned this week. And he said that we learned how to accept defeat graciously. Rough lesson but we learned it well lol. :) We're looking forward to a bright week this coming 

I'm at a blank for things to say, so I’ll stop before what I say starts to become unintelligent (ah, too late)

Tot zients!
Elder Chantry 

The cards for district meeting.

Exceedingly Fast First Week of Transfers

It's always like that. The thursday--sunday at first are SUPER long. But the first full week flies by. Like this week. So fast. We have some cool appointments for this coming week set up. Like two kids from a less active family. one is ten and one is eight. They're soo cool. They want to be baptized cause they aren't yet. And so we're meeting with em so they can.

Elder P. and I are having fun. For reals. He's so funny, and we have so many running jokes :)
He has lots of good insight about what we could do to improve our work, or have better insights etc. I don't think he realizes how much he helps. He's struggling with his dutch, and he sometimes thinks he doesn't do much. But he keeps a positive and humorous attitude and it helps a lot.
The same applies for us in our lives a lot actually. Sometimes we don't think we have much to offer cause we can't do this or that. But we don't always notice what we do do well.
     
  Anyways,
 The district did well this week. Especially one city called Leuven. They set three baptism dates in one day. Sweet huh?? :D I was so happy for 'em. They were busy the whole day, and have a great group of people to teach now. All three of those people they got dates with are people they found on the street. They followed the spirit on that for sure.
That's somehting me and Elder P. are convinced of. We want to make sure to follow the spirit more in finding. Even when it's awkward or hard. And we will :) I'll tell you guys how it goes, next week :)

I'm gonna run. when I say run I mean something entirely different. But you get the idea....

love you guys :)
Elder Chantry

Having a Blast

So like hi :)

I got a new comp. As you know.
Boy, for only a few days we've had a blast.
We, to explain:
Didn't have the baptism with N. :/... he needs marriage papers before he can. It's a complicated situation...

But in good news we had some referrals we were looking up and we got some potentials...Get this. We were looking up a guy named G. And we had the wrong address on the street so we couldn't find him. I was like dang. Then Elder P. said: hey look, there's a car with a license plate that says G. on it. I was like, no way.  That’s just too convenient.. so we didn't stop there. But on the way back he mentioned it again and I was like why the heck not. So we knocked there, and of course, G. lived there.  So he was so right. And I was so proud of my son. Wiser than yours truly heheh

We had some drunk ladies (who were having some bachelorette party) stop us and try to convince us to spend a euro and buy some booze from ‘em. They were just on the sidewalk and they got in front of us. I was trying to tell them no but they wouldn't listen. Then they thought we only spoke English, then I spoke in Dutch so they were like ok. And kept asking us. Oh man, you should've seen Elder P.'s face when the drunkest chick put her arms around us both and continued to try to convince us. He was so scared... I laughed so hard for like hours after that. So funny....:) (Don’t worry we didn't buy any booze)

Dudes, Elder P. is great. I love him. He's so funny, and so much of it is my kind of humor too. :) Working great.

I love you guys! Gotta go. Looking forward to district mtg tomorrow.
Elder Chantry!!

Changes and Testimony

Well I thought id start emails today with just plain old me.

I know right, humble as all get out.

But not just me, Elder K.

Elder K. is getting transferred up north east into the Netherlands. I’m gonna miss the dude. He's a cool guy. He doesn't want to leave the people we know here, but he's accepted it. He's ready. He’s going with someone who’s on his 3rd transfer now, so they're gonna learn a lot :)

As for me, I'm staying and training another greenie. And I’m gonna take Elder P.’s place (he's going to the office to be legality elder) as District leader.

                                                                                          

 And ya, quite a change. But I know the Lord'll help me. Cause it's not for me, it's for the district. And the Lord zeker  (certainly) wants to help them. I want to be able to help more, and I’m gonna try my best to live up to the calling.

We had an awesome stake bbq the other day and A. and K. went. They liked it. We had fun.

We also had a zone pday today that rocked the world. We had a Nerf war. Not just that, but we fought zombies. Can you imagine, 20 some missionaries, defending with Nerf weapons, all slowly turning into zombies? :D childish? Yes. Hence me loving it hehee. We have some awesome Zone leaders. They organized a great one.  

We have a baptism Sunday for N. :) so cool. Assuming all goes through, it's gonna be great. We had a great appointment with him the other day. After church yesterday we had a lesson and the branch president sat in. We were teaching the first lesson in the gospel principles book (which, btw, has become one of my favorite books ever. no joke) And we started talking about how we can know our Father better. President H. shared the story of how he was baptized and it was so powerful. And it really invited the Spirit. I asked N. something, and he began to share his story of how he came to know the church was true. As I listened I could almost see things as if I had been there. I could imagine the steps and the struggles he had to gain that knowledge. He said something that meant a lot to me. And I’ve been thinking about it a lot.

He said that he had been looking for a church that he could be a part of. He wanted to know where God wanted him. And he shared how he had met the elders one day and then soon there after read in the Book of Mormom  like the elders had asked, and then he went to bed. But he couldn't sleep. He kept thinking that he needed to pray. They had told him to pray. So he got out and said a normal prayer like usual, saying the same old things, and went to bed. But still, he couldn't sleep. The thought kept running through his mind: ''you read the book, you want to know if it's true, then why don't you ask God, REALLY ask Him, if it's true. Why don't you do what it takes to receive that answer?''  He, said that he got out of bed and prayed again. But for reals this time. Praying Humbly to know if this was what he was looking for. If He had led them to him.

I saw in my mind, at this point, myself. Living the years I have. Always hearing about how if you pray and ask God and all that, you can receive a witness  ==and that that witness can strengthen and help you when it gets hard to see the truth==

But I am ashamed when I think of the times I didn't do what I needed to, to receive an answer. A confirmation.

                

  I want to tell you all: There should be nothing holding you back from doing what N. did. Whether it be about the Book of Mormon, the church, life decisions, guidance, comfort, help, or someone to listen to you. Kids, there is no age limit to when you can receive answers from God. He gives to EVERYONE. Who ask in Faith. That means you believe you’ll receive it. And with Real Intent. That means you really are willing to act on what He tells you. No matter what.

Don't let Satan convince you not to pray. Remember the scripture--'but the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, But teacheth him that he must not pray''. It seems obvious, but I have seen that again and again in my life, as I look back on my few years.

You don't have to struggle through everything in life. God wants to reach out and touch you. But He can't. Not until you cross that last bit of distance between you and Him. I know it's hard. Prophets themselves said that real meaningful prayer, is difficult, hard work. But I can promise you with every ounce of certainty that I have, that it's worth it. You will Never regret it. And it can shape your life in the future, and support you in the Now.

I'll stop.

I love you all so much. I hope you can feel it. Please let me know if I can help any of you in any way.

Thinking of you all,

Elder Chantry

Picture of us after the battle today. yes, I did jump over the top of everyone in this pic. And yes, I did make a shield out of pizza boxes and duct tape. and yes I did use a foam sword whilst all others used guns.

And yes, it did make me awesome, and epic, and have a spectacular time

een week van voetbalzone dinges, Slovak, en wat dan ook (a week of football zone thingy, Slovak, and whatever)

If I write the title in Dutch, do you understand it?

Seriously though,
Things have been happening here,
I gotta get a move on to fit it all in

I forgot to mention last week. We had a run in with a bloody man. Kinda like Rachel did. But things didn't go as smoothly for us heheh.
Why?
Cause Elder K. saw someone in their car slumped over the steering wheel with blood on the side of their face.
He was certain, that he was dead.
I told him (being reasonable and more experienced) that he was not dead, but sleepeth. But when I went back up, and actually looked in the window, I ran back from the sight of blood and was quite a lot more certain that he very well could be dead. (Please realize that we were not bloated chickens, but seeing the blood on his face through the not so clear glass of the car, gave the mind powerful creative liberties, which it utilized quite well in the making of an all around terrifyingly horrid image)

Well, after an embarrassing few minutes where we talked to an old man to help us figure it out (he didn't even look in the car he was so unconvinced)
And then calling the zone leaders for advice on what to do in case of dead men in a Kia, (there advice, uuuh wow. call the cops if he's dead I guess)
We, after pondering it awhile I worked up the nerve to knock on the window and talk to the possibly deceased fellow
==========Now please note, it was I who wanted to try to talk to him. So as all of you laugh at our cowardice, just remember that it was I who said lets talk to him before calling the cops (all Elder K. wanted to do was take a pic of him (so he could have a crazy pic) and then call the police. lol 
I knocked on the window, several times, he sat up. He opened the door to talk. It smelled strongly of alcohol. (in Dutch) I asked him if anything was wrong. He like just stared, uuuh no, he said. Ok, we just saw like, blood all over your face and thought that, you know, you were dead (I actually didn't mention the dead part)... he mumbled some response we let him be and left.
We didn't call the cops.
Turned out dead guy wasn't dead.
Go figure. Just got drunk as a skunk and clobbered a good one apparently

Anyways,,, heheh

Weird area. I love it :)
A few more things, before I go.
~We had an awesome zone dinges. And the zone leaders did an awesome job. Our zone leaders are awesome.
Our district is awesome. We got to play soccer and ultimate frisbee today and eat buffet pizza hut!! SOO great!!

We also taught the Slovakian family and they had read clear into 2Nephi since last week!! They love it and want to be baptized!
And we started teaching her mom too!! (btw, please pray for her mom. her name is E. She is having some rough times in her life. Pray that she can have peace, and understand about the truth of the church. Thank you:)

We are gonna baptize N., not this week, but the next. Sadly, we had to postpone.
But we are excited for it. He’s legit. He came to church yesterday.

Wow. Gotta run. It’s late here. We got back at different times from soccer, so we had to switch things up.

I love you all. 

And hope that life stays,,,classy ;D

TOT later eh?
Elder Chantry

Busy Life

So I think I’ll give some info of what's going on over here. 
(Imagine that, me, doing what I’m supposed to!)

We had some cool happenings, though none quite as dramatic as losing my companion :/ sorry about that Mel. Like you said though, all for a reason right?

We went to Brussels on Wednesday. Went for legality stuff for Elder K. Hard to believe that it was over 7 months ago that I was down there for my legal stuff                      .....weird.....

We went the next day with the branch to an activity. It was called a 'blotefoeten pad' which, being interpreted, is a 'barefoot trail'
We got to walk along this trail, on and in all sorts of different stuff, barefoot.  So much fun! Talk about legit. The zone leaders were there for the day, so they gotta come along. We had a blast.

We also got back in contact this week with some peoples that we were teaching. Really cool story, a missionary who just served in this mission got back and is now living in the Netherlands. She is originally from Slovakia, and I called her up cause we met a family from there (or rather the sisters did, and we started teaching em), and we wanted to see if she could come along. She agreed and met with us. She is gonna come along to our future lessons, every week on Saturday. The family loved her :) its awesome, cause they speak a little Dutch, but not a lot. Also their mom wants to hear from us, so we're gonna get in contact with her too :D... Things are busy here

We also met with N., and he wants to be baptized by the 1st of Sep. So we're gonna keep meeting with him. He's busy with moving still, and working. And his wife just had a little girl (his girls are cute as heck)

A. and K. are still doing good. Although finding an appartment is not going so well :/ ... they're still trying...

~We have more people, but I don't think you’ll be able to keep all the names straight ...so suffice it to say :) we're busy.

It’s week 4 of this transfer now. Next transfer 30 elders are coming in. Which is huge. And this place is gonna keep pumpin...

Rachel, i was so happy to hear about the people in your last area who got baptized. :) To know that you were able to play such a big part in their journey to follow Christ and that they continued on with that is the greatest thing. You've done good work. And even though you had to leave, Many remember the work you've done. Not the least of which is Him who remembers perfectly each effort you make ...


I’m glad the ward picnic was fun :) hopefully you didn't get another gang of verhuising bees who decided they just couldn't leave a good thing alone ;

I think that's all I have to say. But ill mention again my love for you all. want het is er nog steeds :)

ttfn!
(That’s tigger speech. I use it quite often)

Elder Chantry!

At the Barefoot Walk activity

Mijn Week

Well.
I thought maybe I’d mention a few things that are going down here.

We have two guys, A. (from Togo) and K. (from Ghana). They want to be baptized. The sisters taught them most stuff, and we just finished it off. They're super cool, and funny too. We ate lunch with em after church yesterday, with another member, and we had a blast. They've been looking for an appartment that they can rent together, and they've maybe found something. We’re praying it goes through.

We are also gonna meet with N. The guy who moved here and wants to be baptized. He's awesome. Along with some others were working with, we're staying pretty busy.
I got to go on exchanges with Elder Pimentel this week :) he's my district leader.

You know, while traveling on busses (which we do a TON) I’ve seen tons of corn fields. Apparently they grow a lot of corn in this area of Belgium.
You know what else? A lot of Axe products (the brand) are made here in Belgium. True fact.
  
Elder K. is enjoying things pretty well. He knows a little French, so he can understand some. He really does have good Dutch for how long he's been working on it. He comes from a family of two. He has one older sister. He's done a lot of different work, especially truck driving. We've been having fun together :).

I threw on a pic of a church in this area. Belgium has a lot of old stuff. like buildings and stuff from back in the day.

I am for some reason at a lack of things to say. However, it's great to hear about you guys.

I'll have much more to say next week. I am certain
Love you all!
Elder Chantry

Life in Belgium

So,
We had a bunch of appointments that fell through this week. Although we did power calls and we got a bunch set up for this coming week.

The branch here is so cool. There’s like 15 people who come besides us, but they really wanna see growth. They’re super willing to help us, and they're just all around goed bezig. The people at church when they found out it was my bday were super cool. Some invited us over tonight for dinner to celebrate :)
And others said that at our dinner appointment with ‘em later this week, they'll wear a party hat and everything; heheh 

 Elder Key is settling pretty nicely. We've worked pretty dang good. We gotta go with the ZL's the other day. They worked with us, and that was cool. They’re great guys..

Family is the greatest thing on earth. yaa.......God knows each of us.

I gotta run, but thanks all again for the bday well wishes, I’m planning on having a great week :)
You guys too?
good :)
Try not to get too busy. Swim a little for me eh? I can't really weet je nog? ;

Love you all!

And yes indeed. He does send an email today.

Wow. So much to say: so little time

First; the keyboard here is jacked up!! The letters are in the wrong spot and so I’m like one third speed:::
I feel like I never learned how to type

But I will prevail: no keyboard will conquer me. after all; I arrived in Genk with my greenie (new missionary) at like 8pm. like 7 hours on trains. Get this,
We picked up our greenies at a big old hotel: they had rented the conference room and they had a super legit meeting: did you know the Liahona interviewed the new group and took pics of em outside of the airport. I bet you could find it online: coolest thing is that they’re probably gonna be in the next month ensign so that’ll be worth a good read weet je wel?
Also; on the church website there’s a video about missionary work and there’s people on it that I met, ate dinner with, served in our mission, live here in the Netherlands, and are missionaries here from the Netherlands. Take a gander. It’s legit

So we picked em up (i know, no pics of me or Elder K. on the blog together. lame)
But we headed out. If I went into all the complications of getting here I’d be here all night. Suffice it to say, I tied a plastic sack to my broken suit case stubs, Elder K. used his belt to hook my small suitcase to the big one, we got all the way down to Antwerpen, then my wheels started to break on my other suitcase, but it worked enough to get all the way to the city next to Genk. We had missed the train; and would have to wait an hour. So we called a member. He was awesome and picked us up btw, vlaams is like the same language, but boy let me tell you, the accent is so different, and they say a few things different, and it is HARD work to understand lol)
We got in his car. But he couldn’t fit my bike. no prob (except it was cause it would come back to bite me later)

We get there, thank the heck out of him, laugh a lot, eat some stuff, sleep, and the work has begun...

A few random, cool things, we have two legit Africans on date to be baptized from the sisters. And a guy that is moving here from Brussels and is going to be baptized asap! He is already taught everything and is ready; we meet him tomorrow.

We have another GREAT appartment (rewards of moving into a sister appartment heheh) the branch here is super small, (like 20 people small) but are really helpful in the work and have faith to grow :) its already happening

Oh man. Elder K. is great. We’re having so much fun. He’s from Casper Wyoming and is about as uneuropian as you can get lol: gun toting? conservative who speaks his mind and is funny as heck. He wrestled like a pro and is gonna go into div. 1 wrestling when he gets back. He’s shorter then me and has pretty good Dutch. Though this vlaams accent is makin it tough for him.

Sad thing; my bike got jacked!!
We came back like a day and a half later and it was just plumb swiped. I had chained it up in the bike area but to no avail. Someone wanted it more than me I guess......
Good thing our area is so huge that we mostly use bus anyways heheh (I wept a little though, cause that was my old reliable)

Gotta run! Love you all: 

tot zo!
Elder chantry

The week that has ended with threatening the life of my second suitcase handle

So a few things:

We had pday this Saturday. We went fishing. Off of a dijk :) into the sea. We went with the ward mission leader and the elders te Amsterdam. SOOOo cool guys. Guess what the best part was?
--We didn't catch a single fish!!
hehe! But I did catch a starfish :) which was cool
And the others caught some crabs. Which was awesome. And we threw it on the bbq and cooked em right there on the beach. Then: we ate em! It was pretty tasty. In a ghetto primitive savage type way. heheh we had a blast. So long as it's (at least mostly) cooked I can eat seafood you know :)... That was fun for sure. I got to ride a ferry to the place and saw some cool sights....
  
I Got transferred!!! AGAIN!
But this time I’m goin to another country. Belgium. I'm gonna whitewash the city from the sisters who were there (one of them was in my mtc group) and I’m doing it with none other then 'fresh from the states- greenie'...
I'm gonna train. heh.
And all I can say (besides all the stuff I already said and everything I will say) is that it's gonna be an adventure for us both (that's the word you use when you try to make an insanely ghetto rigged situation sound exciting and sophisticated)

Oh boy. I'm excited :)
I’m sad to leave Zaandam. Cause this place is gorgeous and it's just flat legit. But this'll be fun. Elder King gets to train here in Zaandam, too. So cool stuff. There’s 16 Elders and like 13 sisters coming in tomorrow. So things are gonna go nutso..
I’ll email you guys next week with the news of how the trip went (we’re gonna assume and pray that I can get down there, me And my greenie, both with our stuff, to white wash the area, and NOT break my other suitcase handle)
(I don't like my chances here on this one  o.0 )...

I love you all. Have a blast at girls camp. The weather here is now in the 30's. And I melt each day. And they don't believe in AC here. no joke. Not one apartment has it... boo hoo. woah is me.... lol Rachel has bulging cockroach infested floors with ice water to shower. And I’m sweating a little in our middle of the centrum appartment heheh.......yaaaa im blessed :)
Life is good

Tot volgende week!
Jullie zijn Toch het beste :)
    sincerely,
Elder Chantry

That one week where it got hot, and i got sick, and our numbers got better and we ate delicious chicken

Actually the week started great. We meet with several less actives and they like let us in right then and there :) so cool. I've started to see a pattern with a lot of em. Lady is a member. She comes from South America. Married a Dutch man (who is sometimes member, often not) moves here, really doesn't like the church here. Opposite culture, not open/friendly enough, sing way different, too structured, (did I mention Opposite culture?), so they go inactive. Still have a testimony. Just not feelin the church here.
I saw it in Almere and I’m seeing it a lot here. It's a real challenge of their faith. Especially when their husband isn't a member. We're really trying to help them. Right now we're trying to get to know em more, see how we can serve em. It's good work though. They're great people.

I also managed to get a nasty vicious cold that tried to destroy my life. I got it Thursday or so. Still have it. Although it's FINALLY starting to get better. Tjonga jonga

Can you all believe that next Sunday/Monday is transfer calls??? Last week of transfers this one O.O
boy.....
It’s gonna be a great week though. I can feel it

Love you all! 
tot volgende week!
Elder Chantry

Life Goes On

But life goes on...

We've been meeting a lot with less active members and have had really good success with that. We’re gonna continuers that and we're hoping to help people here to brave the LONG drive to church in Amsterdam (which is shorter then we drive to church btw.)  Actually we live in Zaandam. Which is not in Amsterdam but north of it. We just go there for all our meetings cause it's the closest by church...

So this’ll be short. But I’m gonna try to send some fotos. Figured out how. Maybe.
"We went to this place called: the Zaanse Schans and they have tons of cool windmills and museums and stuff so we've had fun today :) AWESOMe pics. I’ll send what I can....

LOVe you all!! Hope it cools down. It got hot up here too finally.....in like mid 20's.....

Week 3 Zaandam

Wow. I never have time for email here. Like at all.
We had a zone pday today. We watched the worldwide leadership dinges. Really cool. I especially loved Elder Packers imparting his wisdom to us. So cool. Like download of sage advice.

It hasn't been that hot here. Been kinda rainy. Although these last two days were really pretty. I hope it stays that way. But not any hotter. Once it gets above 22 then the humidity kills you. Like you’re wearing a plastic sack and then wool on top.... bleck. All you wanna do is chill in cold water (which i did in the shower and screamed and yelled and almost passed out it was so cold) I was desperate to cool off heheh.........

As for the work. Still awesome. We've had some delays this week. We had many appointments set up, but most didn't go through. We're hoping to get em this week.. it’ll happen.

I love the weather cause the days are SOOO long. Really nice. It’s still kinda light when we go to bed at ten thirty....
And light when we wake up too....

I ain't got a lot more time. Wish I could talk about more. I’ll send pics when I’m in a place where I can. Can’t here :/.....
love you guys! keep things strong
(whatever that means)

Elder Chantry

Getting to Zaandam Part 2

Hello everyone,

Let me finish my story real quick,
We realized we had to cross over the station AGAIN. We kind of just laughed the whole time. Not cause it was funny but because it was ridiculously unreally unfair. The paper said it was a 4 minute walk from the station. Ha.
We laughed again when we crossed the road and MY little suitcase fell off. I had to rush everything to the middle of the road on a tiny island thing while I waited for the cars to finish almost killing me. .

Finally getting across the station we started on the other side. SUPER cool  centrum shopping area. Although we didn't fully appreciate it at the time. Due to the super awkward way I had to carry my luggage. Bending over to hold the handle, cause the extending one was broken. SO tiring! My arms were sore for days afterwards. Reason why? We asked a lady if she knew our street. She didn't. Looked it up on the phone. But somehow her map didn't make sense. She asked another guy, who said he was sure it was down the way yonder a little bit. Halfway to yonder spot we ran into another lady who was aunt of the lady with the phone (who was super nice and was walking with us to find it. And carrying my little suitcase that wouldn’t stay on my bag). Talked to the aunt. Just so happened that she worked for the housing department where we were gonna live. She remembered a church renting out our appartment. But she said that was indeed NOT down yonder, but actually about 30 steps from where we first saw the lady who helped us.
Again we laughed. (And you know why)
Walked back. Got through the doors, thanked the lady 50 times (elder King gave her a card), went up the elevators. Our door was the first one, went inside, were amazed by how new and netjes everything was. Shouted and cheered. Hugged each other (in a manly way) and then I collapsed on the floor....

All I could think was, that that was the longest 4 minute walk in my Life.

And about 5 minutes later I realized: my bike is still back at the last station. Already late in the evening. SIGGGHHH
Back out we went. Luckily, we made it back without breaking my bike as well.........


Now really, this area is great heheh.
It might seem otherwise, but it really couldn't get worse than the first day. Things got better since.
Zaandam is a city, but our area includes lots of dorpjes (villages) and also Amsterdam North. Which is kinda like the suburbs (kinda sorta).
We've worked a lot with the Amsterdam elder and sisters already. All members in our area go to the Amsterdam ward. So our mission leader and everything is in Amsterdam.

This area is super cool. Lots of water and canals. And cool areas with old windmills and stuff. We plan on going to some museums in Amsterdam this pday, and all sorts of cool stuff.....

We've had some really cool experiences already. What I’ve noticed most, is all our open time we have. (Because we had no one to teach) we spent tracting, and the Lord put us in the right place in the right time.
Here's a few quick stories:

We were running across the street for a bus that pulls in. A guy gets off the bus (black guy from Ghana). He points at us and stops us. He tells us that he know us. Wé're like,,,uuuhh... and then he said that he went to our church back in Africa but then he moved here and didn't know where to find the church. He later told us he had been praying that God would show him where the church was here in the Netherlands, (he even had a dream about it) and a few days later, he saw us at the bus stop. We almost took a different bus, and wouldn't have seen him. But we were like, eh, lets take a different route. Glad we did. Cause He gave us his info, and he came to church that Sunday. He was super happy and said he would come every week. We missed both busses we could’ve taken, but that's ok. The wait was for sure worth it.  (btw, he lived in Amsterdam so the other elders are teaching him now. Name is David)

More cool stuff:

We were tracting one day. Then knocked the door and a less active member opened it. We had no clue she lived there (awkward moment for a bit) But she let us in. ... we chatted for a bit, and then she said that she had actually just been thinking about how she could strengthen her relationship with God. But then she started watching tv. Then we knocked. hmmm :)
We shared 2nephi 32, 3. And invited her to consistently study the scriptures (and more). Super cool.

We also were walking down the street one day when elder King stopped a lady and started the shpeel. She put her hands up and said: are you gonna talk about Jesus Christ? (In english) so I said back: "well, that was the idea" with a laugh. She laughed too, and we started talking. She said she wasn't religious, but it was funny cause quote "I was just thinking about my family and boyfriend and people I know, how they all believe in something. And I was just thinking how nice it would be to believe in something. Then you guys stopped me" 

Ha. coincidence? Like the biggest heck no ever.
We gave her info and talked awhile about the church (she was from Spain actually)

Amazing week. There's even more. We have new investigators. Just no time now. Next week. 
love you all!!
ELder CHantry 

The MAN in Zaandam (although often a lost man)

AND most often humiliated.

I swear I’ve been more embarrassed in one day than like my whole life combined (or,,,,almost)

Let me explain,

We arrived in Zaandam with our luggage. I already had to leave my bike chained up at the last stop cause it we couldn't move all the stuff (lucky e. king didn't have a bike)
We knew the appartment was close but no clue where. We both have two giant sucker suitcases and a smaller one. Six bad boys in all....
E. King has his small one on top of his big one and it falls off every 30 steps or so. I have my small one strapped to my big one and it comes unclipped every big bump or so.
It’s disastrous. AND, we're in white shirts slacks and ties (whose dumb idea is that anyways??)

We finally get our junk in the elevator to get off the station (cause it's built up above the tracks. the only way to cross the tracks is to go up the elevator, through, and back down an elevator)

BUT, we get to the other side. We think maybe our appartment is one of the buildings across the street. So we cross the street, halfway through (a very BUSY) street, e. kings bag falls off. DANG IT! I think. So I run to the other side, but there's a curb, I think I’m macho and can jump the curb with the bags. Well maybe I could, but the suitcase not. As I hit it I Shatter the handle, cut my hand, and now they're half on the side walk and half off. Lucky Elder King got off the street (he was at the part where the sidewalk was lower), so he ran back got his suitcase and we were back to the relative safety of the sidewalk.

As my hand bled just to add insult to injury.

As I bandage up a little we are looking at the map and street signs, and after asking a few people, we discover that Elder Kings guess as to the side of the station was wrong. WE actually need to be on the OTHER side of the station. So that means back up the elevators, through, back down and then to the appt.
And so we stood there, all the while my hand bleeding.

lol, I have to go cause I’m about to be logged out. But I’ll finish next week and add some cool stories with it.

The work is great. We’re contacting like fiends and I love it
Elder Chantry

Changes

So the weather finally got warm. And it took about one day for it to get too warm. There was like 4 days this week where I was sweating pretty straight proper (ya I just made that saying up).. I realized my supply of short sleeve shirts is woefully inadequate. No thank you old outdated letter they sent about the mission. We for sure DO need short sleeve (although ill admit its not for a large part of the year)
But it´s been nice actually. So long as it stays like 20. Higher then that and you sweat in missionary getup...

But that´s all fine and good. (It won´t stay like that anyways)
I hear you guys have a bike trip too. If I was there I could destroy you all (unless there was too many hills. not much practice for those here)

But I’m gonna get on to what is mostly on my mind right now.
We got transfer calls last night.
Guess what?
Elder Sosa is going to Den Haag to be a district leader there. And Elder Wayman is leaving too, going to Emmen, to finish training a greenie there.

But the most crazy thing, is I’m leaving too!
I got called to open up an area that´s never had missionaries before. Zaandam. near Amsterdam.
But it gets better. Guess who´s doing it with me?
Elder King. My MTC companion. I utterly and officially didn´t expect any of it.
They´re gonna put sisters in Breda, and kicking us all out. Crazy.
We´re gonna be saying by to some people and packing and all that stuff.
It´s gonna be a big change to what I’ve done so far. That´s for sure. I´m excited though :).. We´re gonna be going to church in Amsterdam I believe. Sharing the ward with the missionaries there. Quite different.

Anyway. I gotta be going. I´ve had a great week. Elder Wayman got another flat tire. And we really have enjoyed the change of weather. We had a wonderful meeting with Judith. And she came to church. We also got to go with the familie DeLeeuw and eat at McDonalds (the biggest one I’ve ever been at)

And, Yifu (the guy from China) we met with him one last time. And guess what? We looked up online with him and saw that the church building is like 3 minute walk from his house. on the same street :)... so cool.. He said he was gonna go for sure. And read the book of Mormon. And when he comes back he´s gonna look the missionaries up again. ...
ok. gonna go. I love you guys :)
ELDer Chantry
(show time)

Photos to go with the Post

Epic For No Reason

A Factory in Breda

Eating Marshmallow Hearts

Pre-Transfer Week

Ooooh boy.

We had the great privilege of being accompanied by Akash this week. Who was a mini missionary from a near by ward. 

He was excited to work, and was willing to do almost everything. I worked with him quite a bit; we got the chance to be lost together :) which I was proud of. Cause we biked on this super long country road right outside of the city and we were like "dang, we took a wrong turn" But then there was a lady outside of her farm house so we contacted her, and she was nice but was like "no, go away" So we did, and kept biking, then the road turned to a sand road and it made biking fun (especially for him cause he didn't have a mountain bike like me. 

But eventually it lead back to the city, and after a 30min detour, and 10 or so extra kilometers we got back home in time to meet up with the others to go back for a dinner appointment. Hehheh joy...

They taught the familie De Leeuw and Deborah Postuma, but I was with Akash. So I wasn’t there but they said it went good. Judith is on vacation this week.

 I must say I’m nervous. Mostly cause this Sunday night, or Monday morning we hear about transfers. There's no saying what will happen. Needless to say, and appropriately so, I’m nervous. But we never know. We’ll see next week. Meanwhile, I’m planning on making this week one to remember.