Eli Mail 11/24/14 (Zaandam, Netherlands) Letter 19

Last Monday night we taught a Plan of Salvation lesson to a sort-of-new investigator, Danny. He's about 40 years old, single, and very willing to hear what the Mormons are all about. We started the lesson with the typical exchange of normal small talk and then delved into the lesson after a prayer. I had just refreshed myself about 20 minutes before, and I rehearsed the flow of the lesson the whole bike ride there, so I was very confident in my teaching skills that evening. Elder Toole and I both taught very well, and Danny spent most of the time listening and taking in the information. It all seemed well until we explained kingdoms of glory to him. He just got very upset, because he felt like he could never know for sure if he was going to heaven or not. He felt like you could live a good life, but you could never be 100% positive. I suppose he is right to a very slight extent; we technically don't know until we stand before the judgment seat. I was reminded of the hymn “Keep the Commandments.” It’s one of my favorites, and at one point they sing the phrase, “keep the commandments, in this there is safety and peace.” So clearly, by just simply doing what we’re supposed to do (keeping the commandments, and so for), we just feel comforted that things will really work out. As much as we tried testifying and explaining, Danny just couldn't get over his own trapped mindset. So, it was a sort of a sad conclusion, but it got me thinking a lot, and perhaps one day he'll change his mind.

Hope it isn't getting too cold in the States. This sure has been my mildest fall season I've experienced. The weather has been going back and forth a lot lately. A majority of cloudy, typical Europe overcast days with the occasional rain storm, and about one or two days with sun. If I had to describe this week in one word, I would say drowsy. Drowsy, because of the busyness of normal missionary work and getting home late a few nights in a row. For those who don't know, the Zaandam Elders are typically known for a lot of travel. And we do. If we have an activity at the church on a Friday evening we can expect two hours, round trip, of travel, not even including the activity itself. So, if the time is creeping past 8 o'clock in the evening, we can already expect to be home past 9 pm. That's not necessarily a bad thing, just the life and circumstances of a missionary. One last quick note about time (perhaps I've mentioned this in a previous email), but the darkness is creeping up fast. We are in complete darkness now just before 5 p.m., and the sun doesn't rise till about 8 a.m.  It's so sad to see the sun setting at about noonish, but oh well, just makes us work smarter when we plan.

This week was our annual Turkey Bowl! It was fantastic. We arrived at Vondelpark in Amsterdam at about 10 a.m. on Saturday. It was just the Amsterdam zone, so about 30 or so missionaries in total. We had a lot of fun. We broke up into four different teams and battled it out in some good old American football. I spent most of the time receiving and enjoyed weaving in and out of the crowd. Our mission president even joined the fun, too. He loves and encourages the Turkey Bowl every year, and it was awesome seeing him getting very into it. Just a good overall day, and the Amsterdam Elders with my companion and I went and had some Suriname/ Chinese food. Speaking of food, there are annual food stands that go up about this time of year for “oliebollen,” these deep-fried bread balls covered in powdered sugar. They are way better than I imagined, with a perfect mixture of a crispy outside and a warm, doughy inside. The sprinkled powdered sugar is just icing on the cake, so to speak, and you can also get them with raisons.

The weeks are really flying by here in Zaandam, and I hope everyone enjoys Thanksgiving and Black Friday! We have plans for a dinner at the church on Thursday, so not to worry – we have a place for some sort of Thanksgiving meal. Love you guys. Have a great week!

BULLETS – Here are a few of Eli’s comments in some emails on 11/24/14:

·         Had another busy week filled with a variety of activities, and another busy one to come.

·         I don't have a lot of respect for dogs anymore. Dutch people are very much dog and cat lovers, and we hear a lot of ferocious dog barking at a lot of doors we knock. Not to mention that all of my dress pants basically just attract dog hair like a magnet. But that's not to be pessimistic – just my current feelings on dogs right now.

·         Dutch people have no idea who their neighbors are, unlike most of us Americans. I know that made Elder Nye really sad last transfer; we would knock doors and ask for referrals, but people barely had a clue that they even had neighbors. I guess Elder Nye was used to Utah living, where you get to know your neighbors, I suppose.

·         I don't know if I have had any adventures on bikes. I just take control of the road when I'm on them, because you can do that here. I want to get a little speedometer though. My bike had one, but it got lost a few transfers ago, so it'd be fun to keep track of miles and my speed. Metric system, though, of course.

·         Oh yeah, lots of thievery. One of the sisters in Amsterdam just had a bike stolen the other week. She didn't lock it, but still. There are gangs who go around in black vans apparently and snip locks off of bikes in Amsterdam. Scary stuff. Bikes are just easy money, but I think mine is safe here in Zaandam.

PHOTO CAPTION: Aerial of Vondelpark, Amsterdam. 

Eli Mail 11/17/14 (Zaandam, Netherlands) Letter 18

Hello everyone! I know you haven't heard from me for a while, but rest assured I am very much alive and well here in the Netherlands. I haven't explained too much about Zaandam and my experiences, so I'd love to dive in a little bit. I may have mentioned our proselyting area, but it mainly consists of Zaandam; a bigger neighborhood city called Purmerend; a few small towns; and North Amsterdam. Because of the lengthiness of travel, Elder Toole and I generally prefer to stay in Zaandam. It's a very unique and interesting town. Part of the city is divided by a couple bigger canals, and occasionally we'll get stuck waiting at a bridge because they lifted it up to let a big boat go through. Factories. There are quite a few factories in Zaandam, a number of which are chocolate factories, which makes for a very hungry bike ride if we end up passing one. Everyone I've talked to who has served in Zaandam has mentioned the smells. A strong scent of blueberry muffins lingers around in certain places, too. That is something I don't really understand, but either way it keeps Zaandam very refreshing to be around when you're out and about all day.

One big change that I'm loving a lot is the OV chip card. Every missionary gets one, and they don't work in Belgium, so I've loved using them here. Whatever public transportation you want to take – bus, train, tram, or whatever – is accessible by the wave of a blue credit card. That's another great thing about this country, too. How efficient and accessible it is to travel from city to city. The trains are very nice, too; another sharp contrast between the two countries. But I suppose that's another benefit of crazy high taxes. And for those who are wondering if I've had the chance to stroll around Amsterdam: yes, I have. Super cool city; there are always a ton of foreigners. And whether it's a cold Monday morning or a clear Friday evening, Amsterdam is always nuts and sometimes results in the occasional headache. Other than that, the only unique thing about Zaandam is the amount of windmills. There's a very famous windmill place called Zaanse Schans about a 25 minute bike ride from the apartment.

Now, what have I done in the past two weeks? Who have I taught, and where have I been? Well, I don't know where to start so I'll begin with Thursday, November 6th. We had a normal morning of studies, and we just weren't sure where we wanted to go that day. After lunch we came to the conclusion of just getting on the bikes and to start looking around for a good place to find. After about 40 minutes of biking, we ended up somewhere in the middle of a little town called Wormever. We followed a big canal all the way up to the city, not really sure where to go. Eventually we realized we didn't have all day and just went down a couple streets and parked our bikes. The day had been very cold and windy, but in this neighborhood everything was very quiet and calm, and suddenly I didn't even feel as cold anymore. We only had time for seven or eight doors to knock, and to our pleasant surprise we had nice, healthy conversations with about five or six people. We didn't end up getting any potentials or even a lesson on the door, but we just were able to share our message with them and had a gospel-orientated conversation. It made a world of difference, because most days we can knock about 50 doors or so and about 35 of them will almost immediately close the door when they see our name tags. Elder Toole told me later that he had prayed that we could talk with more pleasant people, and it happened. So, that was really special to see his prayer answered.

Another day I was on an exchange with the district leader, Elder Besendorfer. We had just gotten home from district meeting and were at an investigator's house when we learned about a holiday that was going on that evening. Apparently, in North Holland they do a version of Halloween, but the little kids have these little, bright homemade lanterns. They carry them around door to door with a sack full of candy and sing a little Dutch tune, and the people at the door put candy in their bags. The name of the holiday slips my mind, but I know it has some Dutch roots to it. So, with a little time left in the evening we knocked a few doors, and we had some very surprised people who did not expect fully grown guys at their door with white shirts and ties on. But it was fine. We even got a couple of bars of chocolate from people. It was a good evening.

Also, we're working with this super cool part-member family. The dad was baptized as kid but went inactive at 16, and his wife and son have not been baptized. We have weekly lessons with them, and it's super cool to see how much the gospel has changed them. Before they were meeting with the missionaries and coming to church, their marriage was falling apart and they just weren't happy. Since they've been keeping commitments and praying together they've been able to work out their problems and they're a lot happier now. The wife loves reading the gospel principles book, so teaching them has been super spiritual and interactive. The dad realized and know how important it is to get back on the right path, and he's working to get the Priesthood now. I love  teaching families, and it's cool to see how the gospel brings families closer together like Preach My Gospel says. The wife's baptismal date is in late December, and I'm excited to be able to take part in their progress.

I don't have too much time left, but I hope these few experiences will do for now. The hours of sunlight during the day are shortening fast and winter is soon upon us, but all is well here in the Netherlands. Christmas decorations are coming up and everyone is getting into the spirit of the holidays. Hope everyone has a good week. I know Thanksgiving is coming up, so I hope everyone is getting into the spirit too, love you guys!

PHOTO CAPTION: Zaanse Schans (image found on the Internet) 

Eli Mail 11/10/14 (Zaadnam, Netherlands) Letter 17

EDITOR'S NOTE: Eli is happy and doing well in his new area of Zaandam, Netherlands with his new (third) companion, Elder Toole. Eli promises a letter is on the way via snail mail. To tide us over, here are some bullet points compiled from emails back and forth with Eli during his weekly online session.

·         We were out and about this afternoon and decided to email in the Amsterdam church and hang out with the A'dam Elders.

·         No worries about food, we are sitting just fine with that.

·         Last p-day we were just walking around Amsterdam, and we went through this huge flower place. You can buy those wooden shoes, tulip bulbs, all sorts of tourist stuff. So, if you want me to buy some of that stuff and send it for Christmas, let me know.

·         I also think it would be cool to just send over a load of different Belgium chocolates to you guys. If you want to pay the shipping, though...

·         Elder Toole got a Christmas package from relatives before Halloween. That was weird. But if President says to send packages now, well then I guess that's the best idea.

·         I've had it great with all my companions; no problems with any of them. It was just a little annoying after a while being in a four-man. Elder Toole is great, though. Elder Claflin had been his companion, and he told me some funny stories about them two, so it was cool when I found out I was going to be his companion. He's got a big heart, and we are very sarcastic all the time in the apartment. Makes it light and fun.

·         A church member here in Amsterdam goes to Germany and can get 95 "Pick-Up" German chocolate bars for 15 Euro. So, I’ll probably take advantage of that and get some to you guys. It's a pretty good ward. I kind of miss the small branch [in Belgium], but Amsterdam is cool. There are always Americans here on Sunday, so after Sacrament meeting they pass a mic around and introduce themselves. Pretty interesting.

·         Dinner appointments aren't very ideal for us Zaandam Elders. We get about three a week, because it takes an hour for us to usually get to an appointment in Diemen (Amsterdam).

·         Last Monday evening at a McDonald's with a member we saw a mouse running in and out of its little peep hole. I managed to snatch of a few photos of it, too, I’ll upload them to Dropbox. So nasty!

·         It's a 10-minute train ride from Zaandam to Amsterdam Centraal, but we have to take a tram that stops all the time to go to the far end of Amsterdam, Diemen, where the church is located. It makes for about 50 minutes of total travel to church. The life of Zaandam! But we ride bikes a lot in our own town, so I'm not traveling insanely like in Belgium.

·         The biking is soooo awesome here. I love it. I haven't experienced anything that crazy yet, but I have total right-of-way on my bike. It is very safe here biking, despite no helmets, with all the bike paths and everything.

·         It may only be 4C at times, but it feels even colder. Something about the index of moisture in the air just freezes you to the bone. Much more different than Wisconsin. Our apartment is loaded with hand warmers, but I don't think they all work too well. But yes, hand warmers are nice.

·         Oh yeah, I bought a winter coat for 40 Euro. I thought I was getting a great deal 'til all the buttons started falling off. I think I can still make it work though, but maybe my thriftiness will come back to get me.

·         President loves Turkey-bowl, and we have that going on in a couple weeks, so that's exciting. No thanksgiving meal, I believe: just football. But we'll see, though.

·         They don't do any thanksgiving of any sort, sadly. But a member will be having us over, not to worry. That's all the time I have. Forgive me, I forgot my journal so I couldn't write an email about this week. Expect a written one for sure, though, in the mail!

PHOTO CAPTION: Here are Google street view screenshots of Eli’s new ward building in Dieman. The satellite dish gives it away.

PHOTO CAPTION: Here is some street Eli took a picture of and uploaded to Dropbox. He probably wanted his Mom to see the Christmas lights.

Eli Mail 11/3/14 (Genk, Belgium & Zaandam, Netherlands) Letter 16

Hello everyone! Hope everyone enjoyed their American Halloween back in the States! I've had a pretty crazy couple of weeks here, so I’ll just jump right in. I'll begin with 22nd of October, the Wednesday evening we were having the baptismal interview with our baptism hopeful, Jozef.

All four of us went to Hasselt because Elder Elkins had to be in there alone with Jozef, and it just worked out better that way. So, we entered into the building, rang the buzzer, and all squeezed into the cramped elevator, and everything was pretty normal thus far. As soon as we stepped out of the elevator and opened the door to our right to enter into the hallway, a guy had his head poked out of doorway at the end of the hall. Not really taking notice, we walked a little ways down and knocked on Jozef's door. Elder Elkins entered in, greeting Jozef, and the three of us were left standing quietly in the hall. As soon as the door closed in front of us, the guy at the end of the hall started talking to us. Not just talking though – more like yelling. He questioned what we were doing, demanding that we either leave or go in the room – all sorts of gibberish and nonsense. Bugged, Elder Nye took a few steps closer and started talking back to him. After a few minutes of quarreling the guy finally closed the door, and we were left in silence once again. After about five minutes I realized Elder Nye and I needed to make phone calls, so we walked back towards the door that led to the elevator. As soon as we had opened the door, a lady and an old man appeared right on our tails. It was super weird; I didn't hear them come down the hall or anything or even hear their door open. The old lady glared at our name tags like all Dutch people do and started demanding that we leave. She was very rude, and the quarrel ended with her closing the door in our face. Annoyed and rather confused, Elder Nye and I left the apartment complex to make calls while Elder Clement stayed in the hallway while the interview was being conducted. About six or seven minutes later, both Elder Elkins and Clement popped out of the complex, and I was super confused at this point. Long story short: during the whole interview Jozef was doubting himself hardcore and didn't feel good; everyone was telling him not to get baptized. Then, some time during the interview someone was banging on his glass window over his balcony and the old lady was banging on the door, demanding Jozef open it. It turned out that the angry guy had climbed over like four balconies, five stories off the ground, and was now banging on Jozef's window. After realizing the situation, Elder Elkins felt something weird inside, and decided to stop the interview and leave as fast as possible. Why did this all happen? I don't think any of us knew for sure, but the adversary was sure working hard to keep Jozef from being baptized. I had never had problems with his neighbors before that night, and the fact that the world was just collapsing on Josef on the evening of a very important interview seems like too much of a coincidence. We called Jozef the next morning. He felt a lot better, wanted to set a new baptismal interview, and everything ended up going through with the baptism that Sunday.

Transfer calls came that evening, and my heart leaped out of my mouth a little bit as I discovered I would be leaving my comfort zone of Genk. It was bittersweet to leave, but I became very anxious the more and more Elder Elkins informed me of Zaandam (since he had served there, also). Transfer day was nuts. It was a day filled with waiting for hours in train stations, unloading and loading suitcases, and talking with other missionaries. It was alright in the end, but I didn't make it to the apartment until about 8:00 p.m., which totaled out to about 11 hours of travel that day. I was very excited to have a fresh new start, new area and everything. It felt like a new beginning of sorts. I've really enjoyed my time so far in Zaandam – the insane amount of people on bikes, very clear Dutch, and lots of Dutch trains. The Schipol airport isn't too far away, so I get to wake up and see very low flying passenger jets flying in the distance; it’s quite peaceful. My new companion, Elder Toole, is great. He’s been out for quite a while, my oldest companion so far, and is just a very easy going guy. The work is a lot different here. We’re spending more time doing finding here since we don't have too many solid investigators. We've got one solid family we’re working with, so that's exciting. I love biking around, too. Such a good change of pace. I wish I could take you on the tram ride we take every week to church. Unbelievable. It’s like going on a world class tour through Amsterdam. Super cool! The ward here is cool. Lots of Americans, which is fun. That's all the time I have this week. Love you guys a lot! 

EDITOR’S ADDITIONS. Here is a compilation of Eli’s comments [with editor’s interjections] from some emailing back-and-forth with him:

10/27/14: I'm getting transferred to Zaandam this Wednesday. So, I'm basically going to be in Amsterdam. It’s a town that's basically connected to Amsterdam. Elder Nye is going district leader and Elder Elkins is going zone leader in Den Haag. Crazy! Oh boy, it’s going to be a huge adjustment. I’ll finally have money though; we burn through so much [money] on train passes and stuff. I’ve heard it’s maybe the most clear Dutch out there. Elder Elkins was there during his third and fourth [transfers], so he’s told me a lot of what to expect. I’m really excited. The big old Amsterdam Ward – so cool! Yeah, I did have it – Elder Nye’s and my first baptism. It was very cool. Timid looking fellow, Jozef Goris. [See above.] But very patient and child-like. That was one of my mission goals: find someone myself and bring them along all the way to baptism. So, yeah, baptisms happen here. I'm glad I have my first one out of the way now, too. Kind of broke the ice. It’s a mission rule that members do the actual ordinance of baptism, which I like. Gets the members more involved and builds relationships. He’s a very interesting guy. You’ll hear more about him in the weekly letter [above], but he always says this: I don't want to be 70 or 80 percent Mormon, I want to be 100 percent Mormon. So, that's his motto. I always found that funny.

11/03/14: Amsterdam is a pretty big step up from little Genk in terms of scenery. It’s a pretty stark difference between the Netherlands and Belgium, but it’s pretty cool. The language is just very clear, very understandable. I've noticed they say a few things differently, but it’s not hard at all. The Dutch people are kind of a spray of hot glass in the face; you would not believe how hard it is to get a potential on the door or anything. But I like it – fun challenge working with rude, stubborn Dutch people. But I love ‘em all the same. Still have lots of respect. We go to Amsterdam Centraal like every day, so it’s super cool just being in the heart of the Netherlands and everything. I'm super spoiled, by the way. Got another huge, nice apartment. It’s the building in between the green and brown one. [See below.] So, no: it’s not the super cool looking Dutch one, but our complex is attached to it. Yeah, so Elder Elkins went zone leader and is using a car, now. Bought his bike off him for 50 Euro. Super nice bike, good amount of locks, very new and nice. I scored! We've had a few dinner appointments. Members of the Amsterdam Ward are pretty cool. Every week or so this African guy and his wife will have all the Amsterdam missionaries over. So, that includes the two Amsterdam Elders, two Amsterdam Sisters, the APs [Assistants to the (mission) President], and us. So, eight missionaries in total around this big coffee table. We ate some rice balls that we had to dip in soup and eat with our bare hands. Very messy, but surprisingly good. Um, we had one other dinner appointment with this guy that just made kip [chicken] nuggets and lasagna. Not much to say there!

PHOTO CAPTION: Left to right, Elder Nye, Jozef Goris and Elder Andrew.

PHOTO CAPTION: This is a Google street view of Elder Andrew’s apartment building (between the green and the brown buildings).