More August

We were invited to dinner with our friend from Suriname Lucia. She showed us how to make a delicous drink.



Lucia has great faith. Her son has returned to Suriname after serving a mission in the East Indies mission. She is working on getting permission for him to come to the Netherlands to finish his school.



This is the Utrecht Bishops son who recently returned from a mission in London.





We had a Senior Missionary Conference at the mission home with President and Sister Robinson.



Tony on the back row right was baptized August 17th. The Ampens and Sisters Tanner and Schwab.



Tony brought his fish. He overcame tremendous addictions to be baptized.

Sisters Gallego, Nielson, Tanner and Schwab

This is our dear friend Anja. She has a beutiful view from the 12th floor of her flat. She always treats me to a Maxum choclate sandwich bar.



Here I am spotlighted with other missionaries with birthdays in the month of August.

On my birthday we needed to go to Brugge to pick up keys for the new apartment. The realtor's office was next to the old city so we put 30 minutes on the meter and went for a walk. We had forgotten how charming Brugge is. The building behind me was constructed around 1610. The man to my right is playing an accordion. The woman is playing a percussion instrument that is carved from wood and looks like a monkey clicking his teeth. You just have to be there to smell, hear and see everything going on.

We were eating at our favorite Italian restaurant in the old part of Antwerpen. This little girl was drawing on the sidewalk while her mother and grandmother eating dinner. She is cute enough to be one of our grandchildren.



When we left Antwerpen, this man was playing in front of the old cathedral. The sound reflected beautifully off the walls of the cathedral.

We went to the farewell sacrament meeting in Hilversum for the Sladens who served two 18 months missions with a few months in between. I was apprentice to Elder Salden during thier second mission. I assisted them with apartment and bike repairs.

Giethoorn

We were returning from buying curtains from a terrible smoky second-hand store in Assen which is in the North part of the Netherlands. We decided to stop in Giethoorn which is a community of homes accessible only by water. We drove through the town and thought this is not special. Then we stopped and found a path that lead to the homes.



We walked for maybe 10 minutes passing beautiful homes before we reached this home near the end of the path. A man came out dragging his garbage can. He rolled it 10 minutes to the road where it will be picked up in the morning



The area is surrounded by lakes. This house is located with access to the lake.

We are partial to homes with red shutters.



The church in Giethoorn is accessed by the canal.



Edam, Hoorn and Enkhuizen

We had an afternoon free and were in the Amsterdam area so we decided to drive up the west coast of the Ijsselmeer which is now fresh water but used to be saltwater. First stop was Volendam which we found to be very touristy so we moved on to Edam. It is a charming dorp famous for its cheese.

I was waiting by our car for Sister Everton who was exploring and noticed this couple on the bridge. It turns out they are on vacation from France and have been to Bountiful.

Next Stop was Hoorn which is an old fishing village. This is a beautiful location located next to the old harbor.

This is an antique boat parked in the harbor.

We saw these old sailing ships on the lake as we approached Hoorn in our car. By the time we found the harbor they were coming in.

We then drove to Enkhuizen. It was a beautiful summer evening. There was a man playing a guitar and singing for the patrons.

Water seems to surround the homes.

An eclectic bicycle.

We were tired and hungry. We found this cafe serving middle eastern food that is run by Egyptians. After a wonderful dinner, we drove home by going across the Ijsselmeer on a dike. The bugs around the dike were hitting our car for 30 minutes (this is a long dike) like snow.