Where on earth did March go?

On March 1, an old friend, Max Wood arrived from France for a short visit.  I knew Max when he worked at Salford University in the UK many years ago and we have kept in touch over the years.  He retired after working for eight years in China and found a reasonably priced home in France.  He is now living the retired country gentleman lifestyle.  It was fun to catch up.

On Thursday, March 2, we drove with Max to the Eisa Eisinger Planetarium in Franeker.  It was an hour drive away.  This model of the solar system is the oldest functioning system in the world and was built between 1774 and 1781.  While his profession was as a wool carder, he had long studied mathematics and had compiled a lengthy book on the mathematics of the solar system.  An article by a local clergyman predicting that the rare conjunction of the planets on May 8, 1774 would result in the Earth being hurled from its orbit and thrown into the sun inspired him to begin constructing this model in his living room.

The scholars at the local university heard of his model and skeptically came to examine it and the mathematics behind it.  They were astounded by what they found and wrote a book about this marvel.  King Willem I visited in 1818 and decided to purchase the planetarium for the state with the stipulation that Eisinga would live there rent free and receive an annual stipend to explain the planetarium to the visitors.  It is an amazing place to visit and we are grateful to Elder and Sister Fletcher for telling us about it.

Max Wood enjoying the technology

After visiting the planetarium, we drove about 10 minutes to Harlingen to visit the tile factory there.  Sister Ingrid Leusink has worked there for 19 years.  She gave us a wonderful tour and we really enjoyed seeing the artists at work in this traditional industry.

Ingrid at work

One of the painters who has been there for 27 years

Only the tiny part of the brush is used, the other bristles are simply to hold the paint

On March 3, Max van der Put showed up to take pictures of the electrical service in our apartment.  Max is also a friend from long ago.  He served as a stake president in the Netherlands and lived for a time on the same street we did in Eagle Idaho (after we had left, however).  It was great to spend time with him again.

On Sunday March 5, we not only discovered that in addition to charging for parking from noon onward on Sundays, the town was now removing the three parking places in front of the building.  The good news is that we now have a yellow brick road (or at least path).

We had another big group for Family Home Evening on Monday, March 6.  On Tuesday, we held district class and then drove with the Leeuwarden Elders to home teach a sister in the area.  After dropping the Elders off and inspecting their apartment, we visited another sister and attended the branch council meeting.  It makes for a long day.  The Leeuwarden Elders did a bang-up job of cleaning their apartment.  Even the bathroom was sparkling.

On Wednesdays Bonnie has been working with Sister Beryl Gout on a quilt.  They seem to have a lot of fun together.  During the quilting session, Bonnie mentioned that we were going on a Norwegian cruise in June of 2018.  Beryl told Buddy that she wanted to go and Buddy drove to our apartment to figure out the arrangements.  They are now booked into a cabin two doors away from ours (we think Gordon and Jessie are in the one next to ours).  This is on the brand new Holland America Koningsdam, so it should be an adventure.

On Thursday, Bonnie had to cook for institute and this is largely an all-day affair.  We did start the missionary apartment inspections in the morning by visiting the Elders in Assen.  They were very colorful and we had to take a picture.  Elder Groesbeck heads home in a couple of weeks and is one of the favorites in the mission.  He doesn't leave the apartment looking like this.  He did it just for us.

On Friday, we continued our apartment inspections with visits to Kampen, Zwolle and Emmen.  All were in good order.  This is our last round of apartment inspections since they are only done once a quarter.

Also on Friday, the Groningen missionaries plus the Assen Elders participated in a service project at a not-for-profit riding club.  It made a big difference for the club.  In the Netherlands, they have two days called Nederland Doet (The Netherlands Does).  It is a brilliant idea and well organized.  We found this project for the missionaries on the web site.  Sister Merz picked the project, organized the missionaries and wrote up the public relations story.  Since they provided eight of the nine volunteers on the project, they made good friends.

The sisters got the high skills project of mucking the stalls

The Elders got to clean spider webs

The happy crew

On Saturday, we finished up the apartment inspections with visits to the Groningen Elders and Sisters.  We headed off to Leeuwarden to do the service project for Nederland Doet with the Leeuwarden Branch.  Sister Fia Brandenberg had arranged this project and the Branch was well represented.  This is a luxury nursing home where the patients have lovely apartments, but also have caregivers as needed.  The project was to provide assistance in cleaning or other chores that the residents needed.

These were lovely people and we all enjoyed serving.  We were assigned to a lovely and lively lady who kept her home in meticulous order and needed help sorting through a closet and getting her patio cleaned.  I scrubbed the patio and Bonnie worked with her on the closet.  They became great friends and she presented Bonnie with a lovely painting that she had done.

Elders Mostoller and Gleve.  I made them wear the orange hats for the picture

The crocuses were in bloom by the sisters apartment

Elders Henrichson, Williams and Mohamad Ahmad by the nursing home

The happy crew after the projects

On Sunday, March 12, we attended Church meetings in the Groningen Ward.  We don't often do this because of our assignments in Leeuwarden.  With the addition of the Assen Branch, this is now the largest ward in the mission - just surpassing Den Haag (The Hague).  There were about 175 in attendance and the Assen folks bring even more strength to this already large ward.  The missionaries performed a musical number that set the tone for the fast and testimony meeting.

Saying goodbye to Elder Groesbeck since he leaves on March 22.

On Monday, we held the usual Family Home Evening and had 20 in attendance with some attending to see Brent and Suzanne Romig.  It was wonderful to have this great couple with us for a few hours.

On Tuesday, we held district class and had interviews with President Bunnell.  We also had the zone leaders in attendance.  The sisters prepared a delicious lunch.

Dining at the church building in Groningen

The Elders in action

Sister Merz laughing at the picture she captured of Elder Gleave on his camera

Bonnie went to Beryl Gout's on Wednesday to sew quilts and I did a deep clean on the car since we were informed that we were to switch cars with the office elders on the weekend.  These are the last two Opel Corsas in the mission.  I guess they are now Peugeots due to the sale of Opel by GM.  Our car has about 93,000 kms and the office elder car has about 78,000 and they both get switched in May.

On Thursday, we had about 16 at institute with a fine lesson taught by Hans Noot.  His lessons always prompt deep thoughts and discussion and this one was particularly impactful as it discussed higher laws overruling lower laws.

On Friday, the Elders came for lunch and the Sisters came for dinner.  Sister Lechtenberg and Bonnie practiced numbers to get ready for the rest home program for the following Tuesday.  Bonnie wanted to take advantage of having two violinists in the district at the same time.

On Saturday, we drove 2 1/2 hours to the Leiden chapel for a senior activity.  The topic of discussion was 72 hour kits.  Very few missionaries have these in place.  President van der Put discussed the situations that we should be thinking about and then Sister van der Put modeled the stylish back pack they thought would contain some of the emergency supplies.  Elder and Sister Fletcher demonstrated the food supplies they thought would work as did Elder Christensen and the van der Puts.

President Bunnell talking to us

Buddy Gout discussing the Jovo program

We enjoyed a lovely lunch prepared by the various couple and the sisters left to attend a Relief Society 175th anniversary celebration for the sisters from across the Dutch speaking area.  We stayed behind to clean up the Leiden building and then we headed off to an amazing automobile museum in Den Haag.  The museum was specially built for the cars.  The collection was exquisite, both in terms of the uniqueness of the automobiles and the way they were displayed.

My first car (the white one) an NZU Prinz.  It was a piece of junk.

The Citroen two horse (or ugly ducking)

The famous Izetta three wheel car

President van der Put with a Porsche used by the Dutch Highway patrol

The Astin Martin from the James Bond film Goldfinger

A swan and cygnet car from India.  Only driven on the estate and automatic brushes to clean the mud from the tires.

The only original green Ferrari in the world, formerly owned by Prince Bernhard 

Kaiser Wilhelm II's Car

On Sunday, March 19, we attended the annual branch conference in Leeuwarden.  Brent and Suzanne Romig attended the sacrament meeting and were enthusiastically greeted by the members there.  I snapped this picture with Brother Stein, Brent Romig and President Brandenberg.  We then left with three Young Single Adults to attend the fireside and sacrament meeting in Gouda (about 2 1/4 hours away).  It is always a treat to see the great young people from across the mission and also the senior couples.

We (along with the Hills) were asked to give a short report on successes we had enjoyed in working with the Young Adults on the mission.

Brothers Stein, Romig and President Brandenberg

The Scherfs, Hills, Caldwells and Sister van der Put

Two of our favorite JOVOs, Leonie Stein from Leeuwarden and Javier Alejandro from Antwerpen

Monday, March 20, the vernal equinox blew in with high, gusty winds and pelting rain.  We took Elders Gleave and Mostoller to Makro for their first shopping adventure there.  I was surprised to find a type of cheese there never before spotted in the Netherlands:  Manly cheese or cheese for men.  It contains chili pepper, jalapeno peppers and garlic.  I don't know exactly what makes this manly, especially since all of this stuff is embedded in young Gouda cheese.  It works out to about $6 per pound, so it is not exactly expensive either.

In the evening we held family home evening again.

Sister Vandenberghe and FiYen

Elder Gleave is being transferred to Den Haag as a Zone Leader so this is a goodbye picture with FiYen and Yenny Mok

On Tuesday March 21 we held the last district class of this transfer.  Bonnie served a lovely lunch and then we headed off to the Rusthuis (Resthome) Zinn to do a musical program.

The Groningen District plus the two Apeldoorn Zone Leaders

We are thrilled to have two great violinists in the district and they are staying for another transfer - Thanks, Pres. Bunnell

On the way home from the rest home, we passed the elders on the bicycles and invited them to dinner at IKEA.  Bonnie loves the salmon there, so it wasn't hard to talk her into it.  We will certainly miss Elder Gleave after the many months he spent here.  That makes Sister Vandenberghe the longest serving young missionary in our area.

Wednesday was transfer day.  These days are always full of excitement and sadness with the comings and going.  This will be our last transfer before our release and it seemed to have flown by faster than ever.  We will certainly miss Elder Williams in Leeuwarden as well.  He has been here for a good long time as well.  With this transfer, the two elders in Assen will now be in our district since the Assen Branch was dissolved and put into the Groningen Ward.  We won't notice much change for a couple of weeks since next week will be a zone training class in Zwolle instead of our regular district class.

On Thursday, Bonnie had to cook for the Institute class.  She served her famous lasagna with a gourmet dessert of flourless chocolate cake served with ice cream and a tart raspberry sauce.  Needless to say it was a great hit.  She will have to serve one more dinner next week and then we will be through with this assignment.  The Institute class was taught by brother Thies De Jonge.  It is certainly easy to tell who his parents are by his energy, intelligence and good sense of humor.  It is nice to have different teachers each week of the month.  Each brings a special spirit and teaching style.  It is a great blessing for the young people in the ward here.

On Friday, we had an investigator over (along with the Sister Missionaries) to watch Meet the Mormons.  We purchased a multilingual version and this one also had Chinese subtitles, so it really helped.  At least it helps the investigators to know that Mormons are not weird people and that their faith means a lot to them in their daily lives.

On Saturday we attended a baptismal service for one of the eight year-olds in the Groningen Ward.  They really do things well here.  The talks are pitched for the age group.  The kids get to stand near the font to see the baptism and the refreshments and notes written to the baptised child make things fun and memorable.  One of the highlights were the KGW (CTR) cookies.

On Sunday, March 26, we celebrated by waking up an hour earlier.  Daylight savings time begins in Europe on the last Sunday of March.  I attended my last branch presidency meeting.  Bonnie was released as primary president (along with her counselors).  We also greeted Elder Robinson as the new missionary in Leeuwarden.  He gave a great talk in sacrament meeting and immediately won the hearts of the members.  He served in his native Jamaica for seven months while awaiting his visa to come here and obviously continued to study the Dutch language during that time period.  He will be a great blessing to the Leeuwarden Branch.  There are a number of members and investigators from Caribbean.

Elders Henrichsen and Robinson

After the meeting block, we headed towards Zeist (near Utrecht) to attend a farewell party for Elder and Sister Hill and us with the other senior couples in the mission.  Since we were a couple of hours early, we headed to the best preserved medieval fort in the Netherlands - the Muidersloot.  It was a beautiful day, but still a bit windy and cool and we really enjoyed the fort.  It was filled with children and families.  It was definitely a fun activity.

Kids can schedule a birthday party at the castle.

Bonnie kissing the frog prince.  Nothing happened, so I guess she will have to stick with me.

At the party, we were given a lovely book from the mission and selected by the Van der Puts.  We also got our commemorative Delft blue plate with the dates of our mission on it (we pay 40 Euros for this, but it is a bargain).  It is a bit like attending your own funeral.  We are the only senior couple who served under President Robinson and who were already here when President and Sister Bunnell arrived.  We really enjoy associating with the other senior couples and have come to appreciate the unique talents and skills of each.   We know what a sacrifice it has been for each of them to be here.

Elder and Sister Hill, President Van der Put and us

On Monday, we finished shopping for the lunch for Tuesday's Zone Training and Bonnie cooked another dinner for family home evening.  This time we had 12 in attendance including three investigators.  This time we watched the Glen Rawson video on the restoration of the priesthood and folks seemed to appreciate the history and the lessons taught.

On Tuesday we left early in the morning for Zwolle and the Zone Training.  Bonnie and Sister Hill prepared a light lunch with sandwiches, chips, carrots and dessert.

Sisters Caldwell and Harris

Sisters Hill, Caldwell, Harris, Wilkinson and Ibrahim

Zone Conference about to begin.

Sister Hill preparing her gourmet special.

The Elders about to dig inn.

After the Zone Training we headed to Apeldoorn and a visit with a family Bonnie had taught on her first mission - the Kloosterboers.  They are amazing people whose children and grandchildren have served missions.  We enjoyed the visit immensely.

That evening we drove to Hilversum to eat dinner with the De Bruijns.  He was the Branch President when Bonnie served in Utrecht and shortly thereafter served as the district president.  They served a mission in Frankfurt and also have been long-term workers in the Den Haag Temple where he serves as a sealer.  Their daughter lives in Groningen.

On Wednesday March 29 Beryl and Buddy Gout treated us to a wonderful dinner at their favorite Indonesian restaurant in Groningen and then we all went to hear a concert presented by the Grootkoor Stichting (Big Choir Institute).  This amazing organization was started by a couple of choir directors.  They send out CDs and music books to the members and then hold only four rehearsals in six different cities (all in six different provinces as well).  Their mission is to give people a chance to find joy through singing in a choir.  Most members were well over 50 and the women outnumbered the men by about 90%.  The few men did sing very enthusiastically, however.

Buddy and Beryl Gout

A very fun bicycle with the front part to carry a kid.

The Grootkoor (Big Choir) of Groningen

Buddy Gout with a member of the ward in the choir

The choir with the young soloists

The concert also featured a number of young artists including an amazing pianist and flutist.  They also had an oboist, soprano and trumpet player.  Several of the numbers also featured these young artists performing along with the choir.  The concert was performed in a 60s style protestant church building.  Because of the Calvinistic heritage, protestant churches in the Netherlands are quite sparse, but always feature a pipe organ.  Because church attendance and membership has dropped so significantly here, the three main branches (Dutch Reformed, Dutch Rereformed and the Lutherans) have combined into a single Protestant Church of the Netherlands.

On Thursday I had the winter tires on the Opel Corsa replaced with the summer tires and we went grocery shopping for the dinner Bonnie has to serve to the institute attendees tonight.  This is her last time of cooking for institute, but she will continue to cook for folks coming to our home for family home evenings on Monday nights.  Institute attendance was a bit smaller than the last few weeks.  Brother Thies De Jonge gave another great lesson.

Friday March 31 dawned bright, warm and sunny.  We spent most of the day cleaning and declutterin the apartment.  We were invited to dinner with Sister Diny Wijsbeek Bakker.  She is an amazing lady and her father was the first counselor in the Branch Presidency of the Groningen Branch when I served my first mission here 49 years ago.  She is also an amazing artist and her home was filled with beautiful crafts.

Now we are in the final 30 day sprint to the end of our mission.  There are so many things on our schedule, we have no clue how we will get them all done.  22 months ago, we were doing so many things for the first time and now we are doing them for the last time.  All we can say is that we are grateful we signed up for 23 months instead of 18.