More May

Desi visited the sisters Panilakova, Moses and Stout in Amsterdam.

We then caught Sisters Welch and Davies before one of their appoitments.

We had enough time to go for a ride in the woods by our house. Desi got to experience the tunnel of trees.

We discovered this bunker that you could look into.

The walls are about 4 feet thick. This picture is taken from the entrance. I would not go in but I went in enough to get a big spider web nest caught on the back of my neck. There is a room to the left but it cannot be very big. You cannot stand up right. Clostrophobic!

This is the Stake President's son Sijmon de Jonge. He was visiting Utrecht with his parents on Mothers Day. The mothers were asked to go to the primary for a special presentation. After the presentation, Sijmon gave Sister Everton a cupcake. He said he had seen her before. Sister Everton made oreo cookies for Sijmon and gave them to him the next time we saw him. He is a sweet little boy.

We had a party put on by the Young Women of which there is one - Abigale den Dulk. Abigale planned most of the event with the help of her leaders. It was held at the church and the feature was foods and customs from other lands. This is Abigale's mother Ann and Sister Roberts.

This is Abigale with her borther Benjamin and Sister Rachael. Sophia de Witt is sitting on her lap.

We were in the Arnhem Area working on the apartment. One evening before we left we drove to Osterbeek to the cemetary and outlook point over the river. We also found this castle with a very old tree in the courtyard. We will have to make a return visit to see the inside.

We went on a walk in a park in the Merwelanden. There were some real old knoted willow trees. Peter says these tree can be more than 100 years old. The inside of the tree is rotted out but it still lives.



Peter and Soule had to have a picture with them and the tree.



Papendrecht is in the back ground. It was a wonderful clear evening.

This is Elder Jones and Nish. We inspected thier apartment. They were very proud of how clean they got the stove.

We were riding our bikes in the old part of Dordrecht and found this bike. We thought it would be perfect color for Sarah.

Peters Birthday

We celebrated Peter's birthday. He said it was the first time he had celebrated a birthday like this.

The sisters in Amsterdam gave Peter this flag for his birthday. He said that all he wanted for his birthday was a real American flag.

The Saldons gave Peter this colored pencil set. He loves to draw cartoons.

After Peter's birthday we visited the Van Willigen family. They are our neighbors. The youngest girl is Anna. She came over to visit Desi at our apartment in December. The invited us to visit them when Desi returned. The oldest (far right) daughter is Mirjam. She rides her bike to school in Rotterdam everyday. I takes 1.5 hours. She takes the train in the winter. Ester is in the middle. They are a beautiful family.

After all this we drove to Breda to get a desk and bed for Palinkova who was transferred to Amsterdam. It was hard to get everything in to the car including Desi.

Delft Haven

Before going to Delft Haven, we had district meeting in the old building which houses the Dordrecht Church.

Things got out of hand when the District decided to throw Elder Bjork over the rail.

Sharon Stuip took us for a tour of the historic harbor where the Pilgrim left the Netherlands to sail to England and then to the new world.

This is a cool shoe and dress shop that Season would love.

After Delft Haven we have a few minutes to relax. It is so nice to have Desi with us.

Het Loo Castle

We visited this castle the way to Utrecht for YSA. This is the entrance. We could go in the lobby but it we missed the last tour.

This the front steps.

Here are some of the out buildings

The grounds were lavish.

The trees were still in bloom.

We will need to return to see the inside.

Peter At Dinner

We had Peter over for dinner and invited Sisters Rich and Schwab. Sister Rich was going home and ending a 9 month assignment in Dordrect.

Desi was there so she got to say good bye to Sister Rich too.

Best Friends

Sitting by the river. We read on the tiles "WAT BLIJFT KOMPT NOOIT TERUG". Translated this means what stays never returns. I am not sure this means it is a good or bad thing to venture away from home.

Keukenhof with Desi

Desi came to visit us. We drove through the tulip fields on the way to Kuekenhof.

Sister Everton walked out to this fields to take this picture of a farmer and his two kids running this machine to cut the tulip flower off the plants so the bulbs will be stronger.

Desi by the orchids.



Desi said that there was someone behind us with a BYU sweater on. I turned and saw the man and said tjonge jonge (chong a jong a) which means WOW in Nederlands. This is Roy Ward who was in my LTM (MTC) group in 1972. We hugged. I shead some tears. Last time I saw him was at a BYU football game when ben was maybe 8. The week before we got a call from another Elder from our LTM group who met our missionaires at Keukenhof. It is a magical place.




I blew this photo. You should be able to see the full reflection of Desi and Sister Everton in the water. They are still beautiful.