Belgium Netherlands Mission

Hoi! 
This week has been INSANE. I can't believe it's already Monday! One week ago we were getting on the bus to go to the airport and now I'm here in Nederland. Life is crazy. 
The flight was awesome and we talked to a lot of people. At the SLC airport we made sure to get our last Cafe Rio meal. I savored that burrito, I'm telling you.

When we arrived in Schiphol (the airport), we met our mission president and his wife, as well as the APs and office elders. We stayed in a hotel that was right by the airport, and it was super nice. The shower head was basically on the ceiling, and I'm sure that Caden and Boston would have appreciated it. Everyone is so tall here, so they make things to accommodate taller people. We had some good training and went to Rijswijk to take our visa pictures and we did some contacting on the train. They let us take a nap, and then we came down for dinner and to open our assignment envelopes. I'm serving in Amsterdam with Zuster Frandsen and Zuster Djoukeng. 

Being in a trio is really fun so far! Zr Djoukeng only has 3 weeks left on her mission! She is from Washington DC and is studying journalism at BYU. Zr Frandsen has two transfers left, so I'll be "killing" her in December. (That means I'm her companion when she leaves haha) She's from Arizona and is studying elementary ed at BYU. So maybe I'll see them both when I get back! They are both so sweet and so good at Dutch! I love it here.

Amsterdam is a little bit crazy.... But it's GORGEOUS

My first night with my new companions, we went to a nice member's house and had dinner with them. The wife is from Bountiful and

the husband is from Nederland, so the entire night was in English, which was a comfort to me :) Half of the people we are teaching are in English, because they're not native to Nederland. Amsterdam is so diverse and I just love it. On Thursday, we taught a lot of lessons, but the most memorable was with Victor. He is from Africa, and is living here now. He's so humble and has so much faith in God. We taught him the Restoration, and asked him to be baptized, and he said he would! The spirit was just so strong during that lesson. 
We talk to so many people here and all of the different perspectives are so different and so interesting. I always have to smile when people talk about how they don't like all the rules in our church, or that they don't think that they need to come to a church, because people just want an easy god who will pat them on the head.

We got my first bike on Friday! Hopefully it's my only bike, but you never know who is going to decide to steal a bike today, weet je? I got a solid lock for it though. It's a cute thin black bike, and I got a little bell for only 2 euro at one of the markets that's close by. I love my bike. 

Funny story that happened last Saturday. So we met our investigator, Alice, at Amsterdam Centraal (the train station) and went to a park to talk and to teach her the Restoration, but there were four of us and only three bikes. The solution is "achter-oping" That's kindof not a real word, but it is in missionary-lingo. Basically one person is the one riding the bike and the  other person just hangs on to the back and sits on this little thing that is over the back wheel. It's illegal in most states in America, but here in Nederland, they're so organized, and it's so flat that it's really safe. So Zuster Frandsen had Alice on the back of her bike. After the lesson, we were supposed to go to a member's house for dinner, and it was a 20 minute bike ride to get there. We were biking along and on our way to Lucky's, when Zr D and I realized that we didn't have Zr F or Alice anymore! haha it was so sad! Zr F had my bike because it's better for achter-oping, and I had hers with her fiets tas (bike bag. it hangs over the back wheel, google it :) which had both her bag as well as Alice's bag. So they had no phone, no way to contact us. Zr D and I backtracked and tried to find them but we just couldn't find them anywhere. We called the APs and the District leaders and the Mission President, and they told us to go to the dinner appointment. 
The elders found them at Amsterdam Central and waited with them while we hurried to get back. It was so funny and so ridiculous, but that's just how crazy fiets traffic is on a Saturday evening in the center of Amsterdam I guess. So funny.

The ward here is pretty small, but so awesome! The language situation is hilarious: there are a lot of english speakers, so in every meeting, they have to have people translating dutch to english and english to dutch and it's just crazy. In Sacrament meeting, one of the APs sits in a booth and translates for the english speakers, and they have headphones for everyone. I hope that makes sense, but I feel like I'm just crazy haha
Everyone's so nice to me and are so encouraging about the language. They have the missionaries that are new to the area bear their testimonies, and after the meeting, I had people come up to me and tell me that they were impressed with my dutch. I could tell they were just being really nice, but it was sweet. 
The members take good care of us here, so don't worry Mom :)

My observations about Nederland so far:
1. The bread and the cheese and the chocolate are divine
2.The train system and the whole traffic system is so so so well organized! There are bike lanes and lights for the bikers. It's awesome
3. People dress so well! They can tell we're Americans by the way we dress. Which is a bit offensive, but it's just really funny.
4. The meat here is freaky......
5. Amsterdam at night is gorgeous! The canals everywhere, the lights, it's a dream.

I love you all so much

doei
zr watts

Amei ("Oh boy" in Flemish--the dialect of Nederlands they speak in Belgium)
This time next week I'll be in AMSTERDAM. What is life.

Before I talk about that, I should tell you about last week.
We had the new Swedes and Nords come in last Wednesday, and our zone is HUGE. We have zone prayer every night in the hallway of the building where we have classes (9M) and we fill the hallway. There are so many of them! We've had quite the week, trying to learn everyone's names and trying to help the new sisters as much as we can. It's a learning experience for sure. I don't think I've ever been more aware of how imperfect I am! There's always more we can do, always more love we can give, always more selflessness to have. It's so obvious to me how much Heavenly Father loves these sisters. I'm not usually one to get attached super quickly or to love people before I get to know them, but for some reason I just instantly and honestly loved all of these sisters. They are so wonderful.
It's funny, they all think that Zuster Bush and I are older than them, when I'm younger than most of them by a couple months! They all say that we just seem older, and we just laugh.

Last week we were sitting in the temple on p-day, and Zuster Bush leaned over to me and whispered "one month from now, we're going to be in the temple in Nederland!" Can you believe that!?
Next month is General Conference and we're going to be able to go to the temple. We have the best timing ever. I don't know if I've said this before in my letters, but I like to say that "the temple is a big hug from Heavenly Father."
If you're ever feeling unloved or lonely, if you ever forget who you really are: GO TO THE TEMPLE. You will get a very good sense of who you are and how much God loves you. He will bless you every time.

Last Friday we had an amazing lesson by our teacher, Zuster Juchau. She has been back from our mission for only 4 months and still has the fire burning inside of her. She is wonderful. We talked about our mission president's goal: the 5th stake. Currently, there are 4 stakes in our mission, and his goal is to build up the members and the converts so we can form a new stake. I think she said there are only 300 baptisms left to go. Now that probably sounds terrible to some of you and you might be thinking, "it's not about the numbers!"
Well you're exactly right. The numbers aren't the point of the 5th stake. The point is that the people in the Netherlands and in Belgium face evil every day. There are so many things that are legal there that make it really difficult for the members. Zuster Juchau bore the strongest testimony that the people of Nederland and Belgium need a fifth stake. They need the strength of eachother and of the church. 
It was just such a cool moment and it got me so excited to go out and work my hardest. I think that any time I get down or discouraged, I'm just going to think of the power of a fifth stake in Nederland. I know that the gospel is what everyone needs. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the gospel--that's why I came on a mission in the first place. I know it is true.

Our first Fast Sunday in the MTC was super fun! It's funny because even if you wanted to eat, you couldn't. The cafeteria is closed! We had so many good conferences and talks this week, but I don't have time to type up all of my notes or even an overview, so that'll have to wait for another day. (I know you don't like to hear that, Mom, but it's just the truth ^_^ haha)

We got our flight plans on Friday, and we'll be flying through Detroit and then on to Amsterdam! We leave Monday morning and arrive in Nederland at 8 am Tuesday.

It is insane how quickly the time has gone by here in the MTC. I am so grateful for all of the experiences I've had here. Not all of them have been easy, but they've been so worthwhile and I've learned so much! Sometimes I feel like a sponge that has soaked up water to its capacity, but there's just too much water and my brain is going to explode and dutch words & scriptures are just going to go flying everywhere. 

I think I like Dutch more than English.... It's just such a cute little language! Every word is super bouncy and adorable. I even like the "g" sound. Maybe I've gone a little bit crazy here haha I don't know.

We are teaching our last MTC lessons today and tomorrow. It's cool how much we've improved and how much we've learned. I know I have a long way to go--especially with my conversational skills--but it's just a lot more fun if I don't focus on that.
One of my friends said this about her mission, but I'm going to apply it to mine because I totally agree: Nederland is ready for us. We might not be ready for Nederland, but Nederland is ready for us. I'm so excited to go there and go contacting on the first day and meet my new companion and it's just going to be so hard but so good!

Het is moeilijk, maar 't is mogelijk!

I love you all so very much and I can't wait to talk to you on Monday, mijn familie!

Doei, amerika!

-zuster watts