More Christmas, More Pictures, More good stuff.

So, one of the investigators that sister raun and I found in Lelystad, the one who read all those chapters of second nephi? Was baptized this past week. 

(This is from her email on 8/26/2013:

We also taught the investigator, who we found door to door, who was a former investigator of the elders months and months ago, but he never progressed and read the Book of mormon on his own. Well, this week in the lesson, he told us that he had read 10 chapters out of 2 nephi. 10! That's not even the best book in the Book of Mormon.  It was super exciting for us. Then he testified to us about Joseph Smith and the Restoration, and then was like what do you think ladies, doesnt it make perfect sense that there needed to be a restoration of Christ's church. And we're like uh yes. Clearly. It's great. He's really awesome. )

That's really awesome. It's good to know that you made a difference somewhere, even if you weren't the one that baptized him. Anyway, it made me really happy. 

 (This picture was taken on Christmas night; they went for a walk with the family who had them over for dinner and skyping.  FYI, sunset is around 4:15 pm.)

The people we spent Christmas night with were really nice to us, and got us a bunch of presents. It was kind of awkward because we didn't know what to do, we're not used to people giving us stuff. And we were sitting there and she's like okay, im going to pick the first present and then whoever gets picked has to pick the one after that and we're like okay. So the first one was for me so I opened it and then went to get another, but I picked up another present for me and I'm just like oops and picked another one. and shes like oh thats okay, theyre pretty much all for you guys, we never do this for eachother. And we're like oh.... Anyway they got us some really cool stuff, and some like souvenir touristy stuff so that we can bring that stuff home. It was really nice. Theyre a great couple. 

On Dec 26, it's second Christmas here, so they had us do a service project with the zone. They sent us to this old folks home to sing christmas caroles, and it was awful. oh my gosh. It was a little embarrassing, and by the end we were just laughing with the old people because it was soooooo bad. But that's okay.

We set another baptismal date this week with our french speaking investigator, and she wants us to teach her son too, so that's nice. She's actually really cool. But i'm sad that I won't be in this city when she and the other guy get baptized. that's a little annoying too, but whatever. As long as it happens.

Sister Rigdon and I were both sick this week, and we lost our voices yesterday, and we had to teach a couple lessons to investigators, and the gospel principles class, and they had us say the prayers in church. My voice was like squeaking, and it was awful, but we just laughed about it later.  Oh, the baptismal date who is a guy, the one who wants to immigrate to canada, he's in love with sister rigdon. It's hilarious actually. I dont know why this happens so much to us but whatever. He even told the elders that sister rigdon gave him a hug, and she was furious. She's like "Ew! I did not!" But he's pretty convinced.

Tomorrow is New Years, and we have to be in the apartment at 4. Personally, I'm excited.... (She told us on Christmas that their New Year's Eve plans include a nap,  food, and waxing their legs.)

A member gave us some money at church yesterday because they can't invite us over for dinner ever, and they felt bad, so we decided to use it to buy food and candy for tomorrow night to celebrate. Speaking of dinners.... This week we are going to have a lot of eating appointments because we are talking to the members and we're like oh, can we come over this week and theyre like oh we're so busy with the new year and preparing to go back to work and school and blah blah let's make an appointment for next week. And then I'm just like, oh, this is my last week in Leeuwarden, so we can still do it next week, but I wont be here. And theyre like okay! You have to eat with us this week. So that's nice, considering we are super poor right now, and now we don't have to buy as many groceries.

I think that's all for this week, but love you and miss you! Happy New Year. Have a good week.

Love,

Karoline 

And here are some pictures from Christmas Eve/Christmas morning.  Sister Rigdon and Sister Western did their own nativity play.

 They were shepherds

and Sis. Rigdon was a donkey,

and Sis. Western was a camel (notice the camelback water bottle)

 

and they were wise men

And, of course,  "Pregnant Mary and Proud Joseph"

And then, on Christmas morning,  they opened their presents/stockings.  Karoline's very talented dad made their stockings.  

Christmas Card, Christmas Newsletter, Christmas Skype

So,  this year we got to Skype with Karoline on Christmas.  First, it was our first ever Skype experience; so great!  Loved being able to see her, how beautiful she is, how happy she looks and to know that she really is ok.  Some of us were more emotional than others, that's ok.  

Today (12/28) we got her Christmas card.

We also got her Christmas newsletter.   So proud of her; my companion, Sister Heidi Richins, and I did this together in 1986. I still have it. 

Dearest Family and Friends,

We can't believe the year has already come and gone.  We must say, time does fly when you're having fun!

This year is exciting  because it's our first Christmas together.  :)  We must tell you what's going on in our lives!  Life is pretty great right now.  Western and Rigdon are currently working the same job serving the Lord.  Some of our hobbies are talking to random people, speaking different languages, eating too much food, making friends with strangers, saving souls and getting to bed no later than 10:30.

Western is now on her third partner with an "R" and is almost to her halfway mark! 
Rigdon's children are all grown up and moved out on their own and she is currently in her last area having sporadic freak outs.  

The Western-Rigdon clan is quite content with one snother.  We hope and wish you a very wonderful Hannukuh, Kwanzaa, Sinter-Klaas and holidays.

Viel Liefs,

The Western-Rigdon Clan 


We enjoyed our skype time and I think the girls really enjoyed having a few minutes to  be themselves with each other.

 Katelyn took Karoline, via her laptop, on a tour to show her the snow, the Christmas trees, her room, etc.  Karoline got a little dizzy!

All in all, it has been a great Christmas.  

A Great Week, Some New Investigators, Skype

Hopefully, I wont be skyping any time earlier than 8 your time. But it should be around there sometime. Maybe even 830 or 9. That's about as specific I can get with the time, sorry. We have appointments on Christmas, so that's actually what we're doing all day, because we have to travel to them. so, we are having a German Christmas with one family for lunch, and then having dinner with another family, and that's when where we are skyping. They have a really nice house.... Anyway, Katelyn made a new skype account for me  because I couldnt remember my info, so you'll have to talk to her to make sure she got it all worked out, and that her computer is okay to skype with. :)

this week we found this guy on the street, he's from Iraq, and he's been Christian his whole life. Anyway he has a baptismal date for the 12 of January. I'm not quite sure he understands everything, or what. He also still thinks he can be baptized in every country.... sooooo. yeah. But he also likes to meet with us everyday. Oh, I was actually a little concerned he was going to ask me to marry him, but so far so good.

We also met this African lady on the street, she speaks Dutch, but prefers French, so I spoke French with her, and then we set up an appointment for later this week, so that should be interesting. I'm not sure how much dutch she understands, and it's not like I know how to teach the lessons in French, so yeah.

Yesterday the branch had their little Christmas program thing. They asked the missionaries to sing an English hymn, and the other missionaries, in turn asked me to sing the English hymn.  So we sang It Came Upon the Midnight Clear. And then I had a solo and a duet with one of the Elders, and then everyone sang some parts. Anyway, I'm pretty sure we were the best musical number. We do have a ward choir, made up of the 4 missionaries, and 4 branch members. I can't say that was spectacular. I dont know what it is, but Dutch people cannot sing in Dutch. they can only hit notes when the words are in English. I dont get it, but that's the way it goes.

Oh, ha, this is funny. We had this referral way out in the middle of no where this week, so we found the bus that was suppose to go there, but we get on the bus and the little display telling us the stops was broken, so we ended up missing the stop, and then rode it to the final destination, and all the way back to the Leeuwarden bus station. Pretty sure the guy thought we were crazy. Actually I know he did because he told us so. He did not get it. We couldnt get the stop on the way back because we had an appointment. but thats okay, it kept us warm and dry on a bus for an hour and a half.

we had a bunch of people at church yesterday. About 80 instead of the usual 30, so that was nice. We had 6 investigators in church on our end, and the elders had 6 as well. Except only 1 of our six is someone we actually are teaching. The other five are people that the members we are working with invited, so that's still nice. President and sister Robinson came and spoke in church, and President Robinson looked at me, and I just knew he was going to want to interview me. Sure enough he did. i suppose he just wanted to talk to me. He said the zone leaders said that they were thinking that I was struggling, and then hes like so why are you struggling? and I said, Uh, I wasn't aware I was struggling. I haven't even talked to the zone leaders during the three transfers Ive been up here, they just talk to my companion, so not really (sure)why they would say something like that. Then president was like oh good, because Ive always been impressed with you and your work, so I was hoping you weren't going to be one with problems... nope, no problems. He also told me that I will be getting transferred this coming transfer, which I already knew, because I knew sister Rigdon had to stay here since next transfer is her last one. Then he asked me If I had already served in Belgium, and I said no. So maybe I will get to go to Belgium next transfer. I think it's prettier there, but it's dirty. And the work is a lot harder, so we will see. 

I think that's about it for this week. Except that one night right before bed, I got up after my prayers to go the bathroom and Sister R jumped out of her bed and hid in my bed, and it scared the heck out of me when I got back in it. So, that's how things go. She scares me, I scare her back, she scares me even worse. It's a lot of fun.

So, I will you see you on Wednesday!

Love you, miss you!

Karoline

Christmas Zone Conference, A Visit to the Most Remote Island in the Country, and a Christmas Tree

Hello,

So we had zone conference this week. We are in the Apeldoorn zone, the conference was in Amsterdam, which is actually pretty cool, because we were able to see Amsterdam in the Christmas time with all the lights up. Pretty. The conference was pretty good. Elder Texiera is a pretty good speaker, although the conference lasted forever. He gave us some advice on how to find some people. We've been trying it, and we have had nothing come out of it. Basically, it's lke when you go to pray in the lesson, you ask them for something specific you can pray for, and specific people, and then you ask them if you can visit those people. We haven't had anyone name anyone for us. Just themselves, or for our own family. Also, he said something funny. He was talking to President about how he was in England, and the Zone leaders had to travel 2 hours by car to get to the conference. And he's like it's not like it is here president, they have to travel to get to zone conference. Then Sister R and I laughed because we had spent over 4 hours on a train getting to the conference. But that's not that bad. It's just one of the things you get to do when you live at the top of the country. Train travel isn't the worst though. 

We had a really cool experience this week when we went to the island. We met with the family we had the referral for, and they are absolutely amazing. It was one of the best experiences I have had yet. It took us three hours to get out there, but it was totally worth it. They were just super open with us, and we just answered a bunch of questions for them. We were also at her house for four hours... but it only seemed like 30 minutes. Also, theyre the nicest people I've met here. Like, while we were drinking some tea with them, the husband is like would you guys like some cookies to go with your tea? And we're like oh no, that's okay, and he kept insisting and then he's like um, actually you guys have to eat them because we don't eat sugar and we bought them just for you. So he comes back with all these things of treats, and then they had us take them with us when we left. They also made sure we wrote a personal message to them in the Book of Mormon we left them. The wife, even took a picture with us, she liked us so much. they're just awesome. 

(The name of the island is Vlieland.  It's very remote, in her area but as you can see, it takes a lot of time to get there.  It's interesting to read about so here's a link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlieland

The problem is that we aren't really sure that we can teach them, because it took our whole day going out there, and the ferry is so expensive. I'm pretty sure we'll be eating rice cakes and peanut butter until we get our reimbursements. so anyway, we have to talk to president about it, because they are ready for the gospel.

Also, let's talk about the ferry we got to take. On the way there, we took the regular service ferry, and it was a couple hours. but it was sooo cool. And the seats are so big and comfy and they recline super far back. I wish all seats on public transit were like that. The ferry coming back was a giant speedboat and it was under an hour to get back to shore. some people even had to wear seat belts on that boat. Oh, and on the island we had to eat lunch, but there arent any places to eat in our price range, so we got some sandwiches at the grocery store, a bottle of coke, and thing of bugles and ate them on the side of the road.  Also, the people leave their keys in their doors, and bikes and everything. We could have broken into so many places that day.

We knocked a lot of doors this week, and gave out one book of mormon to a guy who wants to give it to his dad for Christmas. The other day we knocked this one door, and the lady didnt even tell us no. She just mumbled mwaa waaah waa while shaking her head and closed the door. That was a first. I hope she wasn't like sick or something because it was funny. 

We also bought a Christmas tree this week.  A real one, for five euros. We were out in this little village, and we saw a sign for cheap trees so we went to check it out and ended up buying one. We then had to take it on the bus with us, and people looked at us like we were crazy.

Yesterday we had to travel down to Apeldoorn for the stake Christmas concert. It was soooo much better than any church christmas concert I've ever been to. Like the people were really good, and talented. And it was just really good. 

Yes, I did get the packages. Thank you very much. :) I opened the one that's not for Christmas, and we are going to be making sugar cookies with an inactive woman who is having a really hard time and her kids. I also got the envelope with the blessings in them, thank you. 

I don't think I will be with Sister R until she goes home. I think I'm getting transferred this coming transfer, and Sister R  will stay. Otherwise they would have to get rid of both of us next transfer, or keep me here for transfer and I dont think they will do that. 

Also, I will be skyping you guys probably at like 7 or 8 ish. Sorry it's so early.

I think that's all for this week. Love you! Miss you.

   (and this one is from a recent trip to Haarlem,where they stayed overnight before Christmas zone conference. It's  the city in "The Best Two Years".

And this one is for Sister Tauna Walker in our ward; who sent all of our ward missionaries Elf headbands so she could have a "missionary Elf on the Shelf" experience!

Karoline

It's Cold. And Hail Hurts. And It's Hard when You don't Have People to Teach.

We had our first snow here this week. It didn't stick around, because it doesn't do that here, but it was still annoying enough to cause us problems biking. Then we got more hail. After that, the temperatures dropped and we weren't expecting it, and we got stuck outside in the storm without layers on. We went back to the apartment that night in tears because it hurt so bad. You forget how much it hurts to have your fingers and your toes frozen. That day we knocked so many doors, oh  my goodness. Our teeth were chattering while we were talking to these people. Funny. Pretty sure I'm going to die this winter.

We didn't really do anything exciting this week. We spent the majority of our week finding. We only got one potential out of it. Hopefully things work out with that, because we are pretty much not teaching anyone, and it's freezing, and dark, and wet, so it's not too fun to be outside all day.

I went on my exchange in Assen this week with Sister H.  Nothing too exciting happened there. They're teaching a lot of people in Assen right now, so I was able to spend the majority of that day inside, keeping warm. :) One of the lessons I went to there was with an African guy, who says that he can read auras. That was fun.

Since Sister R decided she liked scaring me, I got her back this week. Yesterday we were walking to our dinner appointment, and the road is like totally dark, and in the middle of nowhere, just on the side of some guys farm. And Sister R is all scared because it's totally creepy outside and she's like Sister Western, I'm scared. And I''m like okay, just don't fall into the canals and you'll be good. So there we are, walking along, and she's freaking out, so I just scream really loudly all of a sudden. She jumps and sprints ahead of me, while screaming. It was hilarious.

Also, I've learned there is always immediate karma on a mission. Last p-day Sister R and I were in centrum shopping for some Christmas hats, we found them for 0.60 btw. Anyway, she was being weird, and I'm like sister R, you're like the most embarrassing person to shop with ever. And then we laughed. And then five seconds later I ran into a door. karma.

Other than that, nothing has really happened. Except that we are cold all the time, but I suppose that's going to be the norm for the next four-five months or so.

This past week, we received a referral for a lady who lives on one of the islands. Her daughter is studying in Texas, has  found the church, and is getting baptized so the mom wants to know what it's all about. Anyway to get to this island, we have to take a 40 minute train to the port, and then a two hour boat ride to get out there. We're pretty excited. Mainly because it's something new, and we get to take a ferry. that's fun. I expect it to be pretty cold though.

We have zone conference on Wednesday. So tomorrow we are spending the night in Haarlem, which is the city the Best two Years is set in. I wish we didn't have to over night it anywhere, it's always so annoying. For zone conference we are having that one guy from the 70 is the area president for europe come speak to us. They gave us a whole bunch of rules about it. Like, we have to wear super nice clothes, be over an hour early, and we can't wear any bright colors. Sometimes it feels like a mission is just an extension of high school. Especially with the people who just barely graduated and they haven't matured at all yet. Yeah.

I think that's all for this week, because I can't really think of anything else...

Have a great week.

Love you, miss yo

Thanksgiving Continues, Transfers and Sinter Klaas & The Zwarte Piets

We are having another thanksgiving dinner tonight. They're planning on having several turkeys. I don't know how we are going to eat that much. You have to order turkeys here, you can't just go to a store and buy them,  so usually you order them for the whole year. Interesting.

It is soooo cold. Also, my jacket doesn't have a hood on it, so I'll probably get pneumonia at some point or another. My hair froze the other day when we were caught out in the rain. Fun times.

We do not have a christmas tree. Wait, that's a lie. There is the miniest of mini christmas trees on our coffee table. It's about the size of a mug. And they're expensive, so that's probably all we'll have. Maybe we will make one out of paper or something. 

Transfers were good, but it was definitely hard to say goodbye to Sister R. So, how they work here: everyone in our zone, who is transferring, has to meet at one central train station. For us, it was Utrecht.Which is about a two, 2 1/2 hour ride away from us depending on the train route. So yes, I got on the train with Sister Rosenlof. We had to be there at about 10 but got there at 11 because you actually can't take bikes on the train until after 9. Anyway, then the zone leaders have the travel plans for everyone and they pair you up with whoever else is travelling to a different zone. And then eventually everyone gets going. I got to wait in the train station all day with the zone leaders because Sister Rigdon was coming up from Belgium, so she obviously was going to take the longest to transfer all the way from the bottom of the mission to the top. But it wasn't too bad. There was an Elder who left a suitcase. stupid. So the zone leaders had to split off with one of the elders waiting and take a suitcase to a city a couple hours away. Sister Rosenlof almost died on transfers. We were on the train platform, and she had heaviest suitcase and her bike. Anyway something happened, she and her bike started tumbling backwards down the escalator, with her suitcase dragging her down. Scary.But I had the rest of her things, and the Elders had all of their things, so we're like what the heck do we do? But she saved herself. So that was good. 

 

Sister Rigdon: She's from Kaysville Utah. She's tall and blonde. We're the best pair ever. We would have beautiful children.We are pretty similar.  We have the same personality, as in we are both weird. We talk to each other in weird voices, and she jumped out and scared me, the poor thing has no idea what she's getting into. She's really creative, so I'm sure we will be teaching with a lot of object lessons. But I like Sister Rigdon, she's a great sister.

We didn't really have too many things this week. The other day we went finding in this little village, which was a long bike ride away, and we saw a lot of sheep. But that's not important. Have I mentioned sinter klaas before? It's this week, and it's like christmas, because you dont give gifts on christmas, you just do it on sinterklaas. Anyway we're in this village and everyone who answers their doors are like uh hello guys, sinter klaas is coming in 10 minutes i dont have time for this. And we're just like what? So we walk to the centrum type area and theres like weirdo music playing and all these decorations are there and i'm like uh I think we just walked into the intoch of sinter klaas to this little place. So we're standing there, and all of sudden a bunch of Zwarte Piets start jumping out of everywhere. Swarte piete is kind of like santas elf. Except so much scarier. He's supposed to be from Spain. And he's black, and he kidnaps bad children and puts them into a sack. So weird. So these white adults dress up in costumes and pain themselves black. Then throw these candy type things at everyone. Anyway then sinterklaas comes in a big old boat down the canal and the place goes crazy. It was pretty exciting.

Oh, this is random, but our mission got an Elder from Finland this week. That's exciting. I also got to experience biking in the hail for the first time this week. If you are wondering if it was fun, it definitely wasn't. It hurts and stings pretty badly.

so that's about it for this week.

Love you! Miss you!

Karoline