February flew by as well. March will likely be even busier.

Another month has flown by and now we have less than nine weeks left on our mission.  We cannot seem to stop the time from flying by.  February started off with a somewhat quiet day to catch up on business issues, car washing, etc.  Senior missionaries still get to worry about bills at home and filing income taxes.  Bonnie has also been teaching Beryl Gout how to quilt, so they have been spending some time together.

Thursday we had 17 people attending institute, including an investigator.  Bonnie and I took turns working with one of the sister missionaries and Yenny Mok (a member baptized in June), so that they could teach him the restoration lesson.  He is a bright fellow with a masters degree from Cambridge and another from Groningen.

On Friday, February 3, we had a film night with the De Jonges, the Mok sisters and the new convert family, the Koekkoeks.  We watched Fiddler on the Roof together.  We were fortunate to have found a copy with Dutch subtitles.  We ordered several "classic" movies from Amazon in Germany to use for this purpose.  We all enjoyed this amazing film and none of the younger folks had seen it before.  It was originally released in 1971.

On Sunday, February 4, we brought Carston and Aubrey de Wilde back with us from Leeuwarden to spend the afternoon.  They are a fabulous young couple and make such a difference in the branch.  Bonnie and Aubrey had a great time making music together.

On Monday, February 6, we held family home evening and had many in attendance.  Since this was the week of transfers, we had a good crop of missionaries there to say goodbye to new members and investigators.  Elder Meister is leaving us and we hate to say goodbye to our resident Canadian.  Sister Lucero is also leaving and we will miss her.  Since they had the week off from school, Fi Yen and Yenny made dumplings.  They were fabulous!

Yenny and Fi Yen Mok with Sister Lucero

Bert and Coby Koekkoek with Sister Lucero

Your choice of fried or steamed dumplings

On Tuesday, February 7, we held district class at our home and then joined Buddy Gout and the Rusthuis (rest home) Zinn to do a program.  Buddy has some popular old tunes and handouts with words that folks enjoyed singing and the missionaries tried to sing as well.

Lunch after district class

Saying goodbye to Elder Meister

On Wednesday, February 8, we drove to the Schiphol airport to pick up David and Anna Thackeray.  They were easily pleased visitors and did not even complain about the cold and windy Dutch weather.  Straight off of the plane, we picked up the HEMA rookworst and then drove to the Zaanse Schans.  They enjoyed the short and windy visit and then we headed to Volendam to have our pictures taken in Dutch costumes and enjoy the Dutch version of fish and chips (called kibbeling).  We drove across the afsluitdijk (enclosure dike) and returned to Groningen.

This is how they make wooden shoes

Too much Dutch food causes this condition, especially if you visit Volendam

A cold and windy Afsluitdijk (enclosure dike)

Anna and David generously brought the violin for Aubrey Robbins De Wilde from Salt Lake.  Carston and Aubrey married a few months ago and moved to Leeuwarden for work and to help strengthen the Leeuwarden Branch.  Aubrey served a mission here and was released a year ago.  We were fortunate to have served in the same district down in Belgium.  Aubrey loaned her violin to the sisters in Groningen so we could have two violins for a number to be played for zone conference.

On Thursday, we drove to Giethoorn only to discover that everything was closed up.  We salvaged the day by returning to Groningen in time for lunch at the Hooghoudt restaurant on the square.  They seemed to enjoy the authentic Groningen mustard soup.  Bonnie had to prepare the meal for institute and that meant cooking for 24 this week.  That is a record during our time here in Groningen.  Folks were happy with Bonnie's cooking (as always) and Buddy Gout taught a great lesson.

Two very cold Sisters Vandenberghe and Merz

Giethoorn takes February off to go to Spain

On Friday, we headed to Vesting Bertagna, a star fort on the German border and then (with permission from the mission president) visited the Meyer-Werft factory where they build the world's largest cruise ships.  We have sailed on the Celebrity Equinox and Silhouette which were both built there along with the enormous Royal Caribbean and most recent Disney cruise ships.  The Norwegian Joy is in the final stage of construction and will soon be taken along the narrow Ems river to the sea.  The shipyard is only 45 minutes from Groningen, so we didn't stray far from our mission boundaries.  The tour is given only in German, but it was still fascinating and we had a good time, especially with David and Anna.

Saturday morning we took Anna and David to the train station after discovering that instead of the train taking the normal two hours on a direct train, they would now take three hours and have to change trains at least once.  This was due to construction on the main train line that was happening on this particular weekend.  We purchased the tickets and walked to the first train.  As the train pulled in, the conductor announced that the train had a technical fault and would probably not be leaving.  A few minutes later, she announced that it would definitely not be leaving.  At that stage, we decided to cut our losses and drive them to the airport.  The Dutch train company quickly refunded the money and off we drove.  It was nice to have a couple of extra hours with Anna and David anyway and the traffic was not bad.

On the way home, we drove through a number of snowstorms, but they abated as we got about an hour away from Groningen.  It was amazing how dry things were in the north compared to the west coast of the Netherlands.

On Monday, February 13, we had another big crowd for family home evening.  Since the next day is Valentines day, we did a presentation on love.  We prepared a fireside on this topic for the Gouda meeting about a year ago and it was popular then.  Bonnie baked heart shaped sugar cookies for dessert.  On Tuesday we held district class at our home and then drove the Leeuwarden elders back to the Leeuwarden area to home teach a new member and we also visited another family after dropping the elders off.  This makes for a long day.

On Wednesday we drove to the Zwolle district to deliver new fire extinguishers to the missionary apartments.  This meant visits to Zwolle, Kampen, Assen and Emmen.  The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed the drive through the Dutch countryside.  We had to go grocery shopping to prepare for institute on Thursday.  We also heard from the mission office that they were requesting our flights home from our mission.  It was a sobering call that we have been dreading because it means that things here are coming to an end and we will have to leave this beautiful country.

On Thursday, February 16 Bonnie cooked for institute, but this time we only had 10 in attendance.  School schedules took a fair number away.  Hans Noot gave a wonderful and impactful lesson.  We feel fortunate to be able to associate with him.

On Friday, February 17, we headed down to Apeldoorn for a fireside for the Young Adults with Elder Adler of the area presidency.  We stayed overnight Friday and Saturday with the Hills in Deventer since I had priesthood leadership meeting on Saturday afternoon and there was also an adult session of stake conference that evening, followed by the Sunday morning session and the regular third-week Jovo (YSA) service in Gouda.  Fi Yen and Yenny Mok travelled with us and were also hosted by the Hills.  We really enjoy associating with these wonderful young ladies.

On Saturday morning, the Hills cooked a real Idaho style country breakfast and we all took a walk through historic Deventer.  The city of Deventer is about 800 years old and was part of the Hanseatic league.  We enjoyed lunch at an Indonesian restaurant a few blocks from the Hills' apartment.  The stake served a dinner for the priesthood leaders who only had an hour break between the leadership meeting and the evening adult session of stake conference.  The soup, sandwiches and yoghurt were very welcome.  The adult session of stake conference was inspiring and enjoyable.

Great products at the local Asian store in Deventer

Shopping for buttons

Showing off sock bunnies

On Sunday morning, we drove to a large theater in the center of Apeldoorn where the main session of stake conference was held.  We arrived just before 9:00 AM.  Fi Yen and Yenny had a meeting with Elder and Sister Adler for recently baptized members and Bonnie rehearsed the missionary choir.  The missionaries performed a 20 minute prelude before the session began and then Elder Adler asked us to sing an intermediate number for the session of conference.

Immediately after the conference session, we drove to Gouda for the Jovo (YSA) fireside and sacrament meeting.  It made for a long three days, but we enjoyed having Fi Yen and Yenny with us.  They are definitely like our granddaughters and they are amazing young ladies.  At the fireside, we also met a professional volleyball player from Payson Utah.  She plays for a team in Denmark.

Sister Miranda Bradshaw from Payson with Bonnie

We had a couple of sobering messages reminding us that our mission is drawing to a close.  The first was a request to schedule our flight home.  The second was to order a Delft Blue plate commemorating our missionary service.  As we spend the last few weeks of our mission, we are constantly reminded of the many things we will miss.  We are deeply immersed in the language and the culture and we have enjoyed learning many more things about the culture and history on this mission.  It has also been interesting to observe the many changes in the Netherlands and Belgium from 50 years ago when I made my first visit here.

On Thursday, February 23 we had our zone conference in Zwolle.  This was our next to last zone conference.  Sisters Caldwell and Hill prepared lunch for about 40 hungry missionaries.  They fixed burritos Cafe Rio style, complete with the lime dressing.  Needless to say it was a big hit.  Elder Hill and I did a presentation on safety.  The next zone conference will be the second week in April, just before our daughter and granddaughter arrive for a visit.

On Friday, we were treated to an Indonesian cooking demonstration by the Keuter family.  They really are artists and results were amazing.  So much subtlety in flavors and preparation.  They graciously shared many secrets with us.  In the evening we went to one of the Weening families for dinner.  Sister Weening's parents were in town and Bonnie had known them well when she first served her mission in Utrecht.  It was fun catching up after all of these years.  The dinner was delicious as well.

Making the wrappers for the loempias

Cooking up the filling

Making rice wraps

Bonnie trying her hand

Steaming meat filled buns (Bun Pao)

The finished product - so amazing!

The amazing Keuter family

With the de Bruins at the Weening family home

This week, the local paper featured the winner of the world championship in cooking snert and stampot.  Snert is the local name for split pea soup.  Here it is made with celery root and is a very hardy winter dish.  All of the grocery stores sell kits with the vegetables in a package.  Stampot is simply mashed potatoes with a variety of things added like Belgian endive, kale (boerenkool), carrots, etc.  It is usually served with a thin gravy.  It is also a wintertime specialty.

On Monday, February 27 we held family home evening again with four recently baptized members, two investigators and two sister missionaries.  We watched Meet the Mormons with Dutch subtitles and celebrated the birthday on one of the new members.  It is always a great activity and we enjoy hanging out with these great young people.

On Tuesday, February 28 we held district class at our apartment and then the sisters opted to have us all go to IKEA (nearby) for lunch.

Ijshoorns (ice cream cones) for all

Sister Mercer trying to decide what to do with her second cone.

The sisters outside of IKEA