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
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