Hallo, Ik bin Elder Taggart.

 I have a very funny story. Elder Taggart and I went to go contact a referral from a facebook campaign they are doing here. They have this little script they want us to use with it, so I went to try it. The bumble sounded something like this when the door opened (except in Dutch):

"Hi.... uh, hello. I´m Elder Taggart, and this is my...... Oh wait! He´s Elder Taggart, and I´m Elder Shaw! We....." And yeah, I was very embarrassed about it. Thus, Elder Taggart and I have been making jokes about us both being him.

Okay, Elder Taggart is getting transferred to Heerenveen! Which is up north and very cold. I´m staying and going to be companions with Elder South. I haven´t really met him yet, but I´m excited.... And very nervous to take over the city. You know my issue with navigation and directions......

[In response to a question I asked him about a Dutch word--Mom]

 I´m guessing the word was koekje? Which is cookie. Or kokje? Which would be...... little chef, or chefy. They minimize EVERYTHING here in conversation. If you know what it meant, I probably know the actual word.

 I got two pairs of VERY European pants which I maybe shouldn´t be allowed to wear, but am. And a pair of casual shoes. I still have a lot of money to use; I need more socks and a raincoat--still. But I´m doing fine without them right now. 

Yeah, we went to the temple! It was fun.

Yeah, I don´t have pictures today. Sorry!

Elder Shaw

Rotterdam--Week 11

Artsy

The mission moves soooooooooooo fast. Like, wow. Lets see, Elder Shaw´s weekly interesting crap.

Julia is back in town! It´s great to teach her again, because she´s so willing to accept all the aspects of the gospel. We taught the word of wisdom, and she was very positive about it, almost excited. Also we took her to a baptism a few weeks ago and since then she´s been trying to practice the movement. Elder Taggart and I tried so hard not to laugh at that. It´s just so funny. 

I don´t remember if I told you much about Ignisious, but we´re actually teaching him now. It took awhile, but he´s a very nice guy. It´s hard to get appointments because of his schedule, but we keep trying. 

Oh! So, Tim, a member in the ward from China, taught us to make spicy Chinese chicken the other day. It was very spicy, and afterward one of the Sisters promised me a batch of brownies if I would lick the plate the spicy chicken was on. The fire poops will hopefully be worth it? We´ll see if I get the brownies; Sisters are notorious for not following through on their treat promises.

Transfers are next week! No clue whether I or Elder Taggart will stay. Probably me, but we´ll know by next Monday!

I don´t know what I want for Christmas..... IT´S OCTOBER, DANG IT! DON´T RUSH ME BETWEEN HOLIDAYS! 

The best thing about serving a mission is the people that slam that door in your face. The people that yell at you on the street. The two Moroccan guys sharing a Vespa that drive by and call you homo. Why the heck would that be the best thing, other than the irony of the Vespa drive by? Because you know it comes because you are doing the right thing. That´s Satan`s way of trying to keep you from doing your work. And you know--every time you don´t let it get you down you´re pushing Satan down in the dirt, spitting on him, and God gives you a "high-five" of blessings as you both walk away laughing. Then, all of this opposition becomes worth it-- when you see someone you teach start to smile as they understand the message of the gospel you bring them. Or when you see someone cry when you share the story of the restoration with them. These are the things that make a mission worth it.

Well, that's it for this week. I miss you all!

Elder Shaw

Say, "WEEKRY PRANNING"

Elder Cooper and yours truly!

IK MOET NIEZEN

 I'm not sure what to say about the week. It was..... something! I don't know what though.

One story from the week, I guess. I went on exchanges with one of the ZLs, Elder Krebs. We had a really good day of contacting and stuff. Then, as we were getting ready to drive back to the apartment (being in a car again was weird) we got a call from some other elders in the zone. One of them was not feeling good at all and was afraid it was appendicitis. So we drove all the way over there, picked them up, and took him to the hospital. When we got there, it was already technically time to be in the apartment. Well, we got to sit in a Dutch waiting room for a VERY long time--even though there were only a few other people there. Yeah, sorry people. I'm not convinced this socialized system works!

Well, they finally told us they wanted to keep him over night, so we went home. We got there a bit after midnight. I was very tired the next day. Actually, no one has told me yet what happened with him. I hope he's okay, but I'm so out of the loop!

Party on Garth,

Elder Shaw

Picture of the hair. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?! GOODNESS PEOPLE! It's just a normal haircut!

Um..... picture! Elder Krebs and Elder Bean (my DL) and...... Rakka? I think that's the birds name, but I can't remember.

Rotterdam, Week 9

Conference was yesterday. It was actually all we did. Yay? Not yay. It felt SUPER UNPRODUCTIVE. But the talks were good. I'm glad I got to hear them, but I wish there had just been more time in the day for things that weren't conference and eating.

All the clothing you sent is great! I actually wear a sweater pretty much every day, just because it looks way better than a baggy white button down.

Our only progressing investigator was out of town this week, so we did a lot of unsuccessful contacting. Not a single potential out of it even. Oh well!

One interesting and embarrassing story: we went over to this inactive guy's house, Ron. He's super cool, always playing video games when we get over there and he's a really good guitarist. Well, he made us a very delicious and very Dutch meal of mashed potatoes, meat, and red cabbage. Now, my appetite since getting out here has been way smaller. Staring in the MTC, I just no longer needed as much food to keep me going. Because of that, I often don't even finish a first helping of food. Well, I apparently decided to eat a ton of that meal that Ron made. Then he announced there was desert. Vla. It's super good, look it up. Well, he made Elder Taggart and I both huge bowls of it. And...... I just kept eating it 'til I felt sick. I finally decided I needed to stop because I felt sick. So I did. But it was too late. I sat for a few minutes while Ron and Elder Taggart made fun of me for how sick I looked and how much I'd eaten. It wasn't more than 5 minutes before I was in the restroom throwing back up all that delicious food that tasted no where near as good the second time.

I felt terrible, but Ron thought it was hilarious, so that's good I guess.

Love you all! 'Til next week!

Elder Shaw

We balanced a chair!

Conference!

Elder Kemp, Lydia, Elder Conatti, and Tahira

More conference!

Elder Taggart and Aaron(or Adam, it's hard to tell with the Dutch accent)