Celebrating a Birthday

(This email was received on Monday, November 4th)  

So, (my companion)  had her ultrasound thingy last week. The person said she couldn't see anything wrong... but we have a doctors appointment in a couple of hours to get it read. I am really worried about her, I don't know how she keeps it up. The other night I thought for sure we were going to have to go to the hospital, she looked really bad, but she is really trying. That girl is amazing.

Leeuwarden is pronounced like "Lay-waarden" If you look at the live cam often enough, you might see us, we pass the leaning tower of Leeuwarden all the time ;)  Yeah, thankfully, we did not lose power. We were unable to bike for a couple of days because of all the trees everywhere. Also, a member asked us later if we were still out and about during the day, and we are like yeah we things to do, and apparently theres was like this thing that they told everyone that they needed to stay inside, but no one told us that so oh well.

Still no envelope, so I have absolutely no idea what happened to it. Sorry. I did find out that our December zone conference thingy is going to be around the 10th, So that is when they are wanting Christmas packages in, I think.

Nothing too exciting happened this week... We did do a lot of service this week. The family we eat with every Sunday, they are remodeling their house, so we've been helping them move some things around and reorganize and what not. It was a nice break from the normal routine. They are such a nice family. They are willing to give us a new washer and dryer if we can find a way to get it to the apartment.

This week we had an appointment with the Russian inactive lady in the branch, who is having a really hard time. At least we thought we had an appointment. When (my companion)  called to confirm, apparently she rescheduled, but we thought we were still good to go, so we went. and it was her birthday, so we brought her flowers. She was surprised to see us, but she still let us in. Apparently, none of her kids or her husband or anyone lets her celebrate her birthday, and she was alone and he was super sad about her life and things, it's a miracle that we still came. She just looks hopeless. Anyway, we have a real appointment this week, and this time we are throwing her a bday party. Cake, streamers, balloons. This woman deserves something. There is absolutely no light in her eyes, and it is one of the saddest things I have ever seen in my life. I even called around the mission with the missionaries I know who have a Russian background so that we could have those traditions there for her. (We) are learning the Russian birthday song to sing to her too. It's also really weird.

This week an old investigator called us who we dropped because he simply wasn't progressing. Anyway, he missed us so we went to go talk to him, and we are picking him back up. We talked about it, and basically this kid can be baptized any day he wants, he just has to actually show up to the baptism and do it. but we decided that we are going to bring a calendar we made for him, he's going to pick a baptism date, and then we are going to fill in all the lessons and commitments he needs to keep so that he can see what he needs to do. Then we are going to let him know that we are going to prepare him for that date, but if he still feels scared and not ready for whatever reason, he doesn't have to do it. But at least this way, (we)  know that we have done all that we can.

We also got to go to institute this past week, since it just started up in this branch, finally. We are going to be studying the old testament, and they need one missionary companionship there each time, so we will be switching off with the elders, unless we have someone to bring with us. It's every other week, in this home, and theres about 5 people there. woo.

We don't ha ve too much planned for this upcoming week. We do have another service activity with a different member this saturday, and this lady is super crafty, and so we are going to be painting miniature furniture for her. I'm pretty excited for that actually. One, because we get to wear pants again so we'll be warm, and two because it sounds like fun, and this lady is super nice.

We didn't find anyone new to teach this week, even though we really tried. But that's okay. you just work with what you've been given, and do your best every day. 

I think that's pretty much all for this week. I can't really think of anything else. Hope all is well.

Love you!

Karoline.