We biked to Haarlem and it was beautiful and so wonderful, but then we got our bikes after going to the cathedral, and Zr Frandsen's back tire was kapot, so we went to the Haarlem Centraal station to get it pumped up, but turns out the inner tube was broken. We had to take the trains back to a'dam. To get to the train platform though, you either have to take an elevator (which always smell like urine) or just walk it up a ramp, which takes arm strength. Zr F is a lot stronger than me so she was just powering up the stairs while I was doing my best. She got on the train and turned around to help me, only realizing that I was still coming up the stairs, and she yelled, "meet me at ...!" as the doors closed. It was so so so funny! Don't worry, I caught the next train to ... and we took the metro home.
I don't remember if I've told you about our turkish opa (grandpa) yet, but one day we were with the elders walking to the tram and we saw this old man waving to us out of his window, so Zr F and I went there a few days later and found out that his Dutch is not so good and his english is nonexistent, so we ordered a turkish Book of Mormon and brought it by the next week. He mentioned that he fixes bikes and we didn't think much of it. But then, Zr F's bike broke on Monday and we thought we'd bring it to him. We went by to ask if we could bring it on Thursday morning and he said it'd be fine. So we got there thursday morning and he was waiting in his back yard with his jacket on! The bike was fixed within an hour and he even gave her a new kickstand. Zr F asked how much he wanted and he said only 5 euro! She tried to just give him 10 but he gave her a 5 back. It was the sweetest thing ever and now we call him our Turkish grandpa/ guardian angel. There's a language barrier that makes it hard to communicate, but he said something along the lines of "I read your book with my family and we liked it." So we're going to see what we can do!
(Apparently I look like a turkish person, according to Elder Tjong-Ayong.... Not sure what that means, but you decide. haha)
Another of our investigators is doing well. She said she couldn't make it to church when we met with her on Saturday, but then when I walked into the chapel on Sunday, who did I see sitting there? Our investigator! Zr F had left her camera by accident, and so a member that lives close by, who knows her, was going to just pick it up. But when the member went by to get the camera, she was all ready to go to church and came along with her! They also picked up another minder actief lady, so it was just a great day! After sacrament, this super cool guy, who's only been a member for about a year came over and talked to her, and I was just so grateful for how eager he was to fellowship her and make her feel welcome. I love the members here in A'dam!
Heavenly Father definitely is doing all the work, not us! haha Sometimes it feels like I'm just here along for the ride. I love being a missionary!
On Friday we ate FUFU with all of the missionaries with a family! Not sure how to spell it, but it's a Ghanian food that's.... interesting. It's like this potato but it's the texture and consistency of playdough and it's rolled into a ball and they serve it in a soup. You eat it all with your hands and swallow it without chewing. It was super fun. And then the next day we went to our appointment with this a past investigator, and suddenly he said, "I will make fufu and we will eat it togetha" in his cool african accent, and we were like "wait what?" And before we knew what was happening we had fufu in front of us again. It REALLY made us appreciate the Zuster’s fufu. We just prayed that Heavenly Father would help us eat the fufu. It was a painful couple of minutes haha, but we did it! I thought of Boston on his mission saying, "I'm Elder Watts and I can do hard things" and then I went for it.
Thanksgiving was this week and it was super fun! A member threw this big celebration at the church and he invited all of the missionaries and some american families in the ward along with some of his friends from work, so we even got some potentials out of it! He is from Germany and his wife is Dutch, so it wasn't quite the typical Thanksgiving (we had chicken instead of turkey), but it was so wonderful! We just had a fun time together. I don't know if I could have asked for anything better.
The holiday season is starting here in Nederland! We've got Sinterklaas this week and yesterday at wijk raad they were talking about the Christmas plans, and I just really really hope I don't get transferred! I love Amsterdam and the ward is just wonderful! :)
I finished reading in Mosiah this week and can I just say that I love that book! It's so amazing. There are so many people who get baptized and who become children of Christ and it's just so interesting to see their various paths and journeys getting to that point where they are converted to Christ. You have the people of King Benjamin that are taught and accept it. Then the people who followed Alma and were baptized were put in bondage, but kept their faith and because of it were blessed, and then the people of Noah/Limhi that were humbled and brought to believe after they were put in bondage. It is so interesting to see those patterns. I love the scriptures!
Go watch a mormonchannel.org message about Christ and be happy you're not freezing in Nederland. I'm up to 3 pairs of tights now. haha
I love you all and I hope you have a great week! Stay safe :)
Zr Watts