Transfers

Just heard about transfers. like ten minutes ago.
Elder Pimentel is leaving. He's going to Belgium. so far south he's basically in France. He's gonna be polishing up his French skills
'So I’m left here with an elder named Larson. Don't know niks about him.
Scared. Cause now I’m the one who knows everything about Almere
YAAAAAAAAA right.
I might run screaming like the biggest shown nerd you could ever imagine.
 prbly.
likely.
...................................
life might go on.
................
maybe...........


it's ok, cause the work here is gonna get Really good. I believe it. We have been setting stuff up this week with members, and we have a ton of appointments. We're gonna call Iris in a few days and get meeting with her again. Naphtali (nine years old, son of a less active lady, and they’re friends with Magnolia and William) is getting baptized this Saturday. We are hoping that this will spur his mom into activity again.

I’ll let you guys know how this week goes. I’ll bet you more then anything that I’ll have some stories to tell.

I'll be going now. I keep praying for you guys, 
I know I’ve been protected. I've only fell once on my bike, and that's cause I wanted to see what would happen if I hit the brakes hard while cruising down a street covered in ice (true story lol and not a good idea) (you fall)       (hard;)

Doi!
Elder Chantry

Another Week in Almere-Stad

Hey everyone,
Truth of the matter is,  you all will never know how good my Dutch is. It’s kinda funny and sad at the same time. heh... I understand more more (and still a chief lard I don’t) but that's ok |:) cause I still have a long time.........

So i hear next week if E. Pimentel stays (everyone thinks he's gonna leave, but i warned him that weird stuff happens around me :) heh so you never know...
  
There's a whole ton a snow here. Again. The weather was gonna make up it's mind, then it was like ehhh naa. I’ll be a random slan instead.
Iris got busy this week and won’t be able to meet for a little while :/ we'll keep praying for her.

I've learned a few things about Dutch people. They won't trust you right at first, but when they do, they like to talk, and for you to show interest in them by asking questions. They don't like you to tell them they HAVE to do something. And a lot of times you can't just go in preaching gospel right off the bat. You gotta work with them, show them you love them, and that you care. When that is built up then the time may come that you can invite them back.
It's tough to know a lot of times, but I have learned to Listen a lot. heh, I’m not such a huge long talker like I was. Speaking in  another language, and being in another culture really can quite mess you up lol...But I’m working now to better speak when it's needed, and apply things to them....

Thank you all so much for your letters :) it means a lot

Another Good Week

This transfer is only 5 weeks. So we hear about changes on like the 17th. And then the next transfer is like 7 weeks. My companion feels like he's gonna go. He’s been here over 5 months now, (he kinda wants to go lol)......I think I’ll stay (I REALLY hope I stay). I think it would be good to just stay in this area one whole year :) I would be fine with that. It’s an awesome area! And then I would really know my way around lol........but ya

This week, Ivan was Baptized :D and he was confirmed on Sunday then he bore his testimony and what he said, about never giving up faith, and how much he loved the church, so cool. The spirit was there. Ivan has had a hard life. He was a political prisoner in his country, and his wife had to sell his small business to get the money to send him here. He's living in like an apartment complex for people who are trying to become citizens of the country. He's not allowed to work, and he\s been sick a lot lately........But he's been so much happier since he started investigating. :) and hopefully his wife and kids in Uganda are taking lessons from the missionaries.
Iris is super cool. She studies a lot, and she has so far agreed with all we've taught her. We meet again on Tuesday. Pray for us! Cause we really want this next lesson to have the spirit there strong.
All in all, the work here is goin good :)

So I thought maybe I’d tell about kinda what it's like to be here. Just to kinda give you a feel..........(did i say kinda enough?)

Here, the weather changes like hyper speed. There was snow for the longest time, and it was super cold, then, one day and the snow was gone and it was too hot to wear a scarf or gloves. Then, my companion and i were running one morning, it was like a blizzard. but by the end of study it was sunny and warm, blue skies. Then 4pm came around and it was so cold and windy my fingers and face were numb (and of course I had no scarf or gloves cause it was Way to hot that morning lol).........it was fun :)

The wind here really does mean business. It’ll blow so hard that when your biking your in low gears gasping and wheezing pushing hard as you can and your still going walking speed lol.........
The time here is all military time for the trains and busses. so i\m always having to think extra to try and figure it out heh...
We did the math one day. They sell gas here in liters, but the prices here, converted is over 5$ a gallon for gas. So ya, dang pricey heh.


Everything here is sold in small portions. like, alles. And when people give you desserts they give you a little bit, and a tiny little sized fork or spoon. lol I think the idea is, since the portion is so small they have to make the silverware small so that you can pretend like it's more then it actually is lol

Oh, you know one really good way to describe the Netherlands? Water. lol they have a ton of it. Raining, snowing, Canals everywhere, humid air, ya. just a lot.

Elder Chantry

I Love Almere

So,
It’s been a little while. heh. Kind of not very good at emailing timely and all that.
But, be that as it may (and prbly forever will be) i have a cool story(ies)

 There’s been some awesome stuff happening here. This has probably been one of the best (prbly The best) week on my mission yet. 
Ivan, (ugandan) is geting baptized Thursday (:D)
And we met a lady (19) named Iris who went online and asked for the missionaries to come to her home. We came and set up an appt. then came again, and she already had a Book of Mormon. She had bought it in a second hand store and read it thinking it was a novel. Then she realized, hey. this is like scripture and stuff. So, naturally, she read it again to understand it better :D. . . she was telling us and i was like 
............0.0..........then .....8D..........(then realize that i should be saying something, heh)..........
But it was so cool. And she had even prayed about it. And said she had got a warm feeling and believed that it was true! Then she came to church the next day and was super social and friendly and two different people volunteered to go joint teach with us to her, lol. It's so cool. The Lord has So blessed us.

The snow here is melting away, man, there was some arctic sick wind and weather in here for a while. COLD. However, the last two day’s have been much warmer. :) it makes biking more safe. My companion has the baldest tires known to man on his bike so the continuity of his life and good health is always in question each time we ride somewhere (which is every single day lol)

Really though, minus the bumps and bruises, and times of having frozen block toes in the day, things have been perfect. I love Almere, it's a great city. I'm hoping i get to stay here for at least my first year (heheheheh yaaaa). Seriously though. I've started to know the area pretty dang good. And people here are really nice.  Funny thing, here everybody has a house pet. Apparently they have the highest percentage of house pets in the world.  And a good portion of those dogs are bigger then a 12 year old. It’s a good thing their usually always nice cause they could do me serious hurt if they decided they didn't like me heh... there was one that tried to eat me but luckily he was leashed and the kid pulled him back (although the kid was like half the size of the dog so it's a good thing it was obedient or things coulda got pretty ugly).....

Ya things here are great. I have most of a transfer in front of me and nothing telling me I should have anything but an amazing geweldige time. .

Take care everyone
btw, Newport Primary, I got the package of Christmas cards :D a little late yes, but none the less appreciated heheh. Thank you so much. I got some good laughs and saw some awesome artistic skills :)
dank jullie wel
Thanks,
Elder Chantry

Another Post from Almere

Thought i'd tell a little about the people we're teaching. Magnolia, she was baptized, a little while back. along with her son William It's really rough, cause her older son, was living in the US and was killed. So Magnolia is at the funeral in South America. It really is a test of faith, and we've been praying for her a lot.

Ivan, from Uganda, he's really close to being baptized. But he needs to have a firm testimony of priesthood authority. We know he really likes the church but we're not certain on his testimony that it’s the only true church...he's been having heart and liver problems too. So we're praying for him too. And his family that lives in Uganda...these people have hard lives a lot of times. I hope they will recognize fully where they can receive comfort.

It's been snowing here. They don't get as much as we do, but ohhh boy. The wind is arctic evil stuff. It makes it Super cold. Specially on the bike.....

I've been able to understand more Dutch! I can kind of make phone calls without a lot of problems. And I’m starting to understand stories in Dutch !

Het is echt leuk. Ik vind het grapig dat ik kan alles zegga en jullie zullen niet wat het betekent weten. (I don't think that was perfect but ah well lol)

There’s something that I have learned recently. We had to drop our French speaking investigators. They just aren't serious. And things kind of slowed down this last week. But something I learned. Or rather, reaffirmed, the other day. Is that if we pray to God, for help and comfort, he will give it. But a lot of that help will come when we make the steps after our prayer to get up. Make a plan, and continue to report back to him what we are doing, to receive this help, or improvement that we want. It's hard. Cause sometimes, all you want to do is curl up, and not have to think. Not have to work, and to feel so much.... you just want Him to take away the problems. But...what can we learn from that, you know? It really is a two way thing.....

I love you all. I thank you so much for your prayers, and all that you do. I of course, can't write longer but I wanted to thank you for everything. And I hope that you guys stay warm :)

In all honesty and echte leuk-ness,

Elder Chantry

(This is Elder Chantry's mom--the sentence he included in Dutch means....It's really fun. I find it funny that I can say anything you will not know what it means.) Nice huh?

First Transfer

HEY :D

hehehehehehe i have joyous lekker news!

We heard about transfers. And I get to stay!!! Better yet, my companion stays too!!! haha!! i'm eternally happy about that. I was doodbang that my companion would leave and I’d have to remember everything...maar, gelukkig :) he stays. (elder muse's comp is getting moved though. but he's getting someone who's from his home town, so he's not too bad off :)

That made me happy :) we get 6 more weeks together, and things will be legit. we have a dinner appt for the next two weeks. Every night lol. Ivan is getting baptized on the 25th. and we found a few new investigators. :) speaking more Dutch now. More Dutch investigators. Magnolia, the lady who was baptized, lost her oldest son :(. she's going to the funeral now, and we're praying for her. It really is a test of faith. The ward has really been reaching out to help her. It’s really neat....

Another Week in Almere

Hello :)

This last week has been full of goodness :). The fireworks they have are incredible! The whole city lights em off at 12am and it's impossible to sleep. And there's still firework remains all over the streets and hidden away everywhere. It was super cool to watch :).

This Sunday I got the privilege of going on splits with a member of the ward (19 yr old guy named Kevin). We were together about 5 hours and i was like in charge of getting to apptmnts and finding people’s houses and contacted people op straat. (on the street) and knocking doors. Boy, did I feel utterly small. lol funny thing was though, after we got started, things got way easier. I wasn't that scared to talk to people randomly (prbly cause I didn't understand em if they were cussing me out) and we taught an awesome lesson on the Book of Mormon to two new investigators who want us to come back and teach em more :D.....

              It was hard. Specially cause Kevin really only wanted to speak Dutch so that's all I spoke the whole day. I was tired lol. and in church I had to translate for the English speakers (like Don did for us that week) but I did terrible lol. There were many periods of silence and then I would start talking again but it would have nothing to do with what they were saying before lol. Many times i was pretty sure that they weren't saying what I was saying but I had to say something heheheh.................but really :) it was a good experience. and I bet with a few more months I’ll be able to double my measly skills heheh.......

             Ivan, an investigator, is really close to baptism. His family in Uganda should be started with the lessons from the elders down there :)......The work is going great........that's all I have time for now. But I wish you all the best.

Tot snel!

Elder Chantry