Leeftijd is maar een nummer.

First thing I'll say is thank you for all of the birthday wishes, and special thank yous to Mike, Marian, Nana, and Grandma and Grandpa Shaw for your VERY generous gifts. You're all far too sweet!

In interesting news, we now have no investigators! This last week both of our investigators left the country. One is just to take care of her ill mother in Nicaragua and the other was Kris, who finally made his way to Ireland! Yep, transfers again, so we get another "restart" this transfer.

Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention transfers. Elder Conatti and I are staying, so no worries there. However! They are making our quite small apartment... into a four-man. I have absolutely no idea how we're going to do it, but we'll manage. ADVENTURE! The mission is certainly full of it. 

We were traveling in Eindhoven this week. It was very fun, and I had the opportunity to work with Elders Steenblik and Parr! It was fun seeing them. Appointments went well. No serious drama... Initially. Just a good time! Then on Sunday we went and sang in the Breda Ward. It was a little odd. This ward has been asking and waiting for us for a VERY long time. We felt like The Beatles, except that the average age of the audience was closer to 85 than to 15. No complaints from me! It was a great time.

Okay, here's where things get a little weird (as if the transfers weren't odd enough). We were staying in the now vacant senior couple apartment in Eindhoven during our work there. One day, Elder Hunter noticed that two pairs of his pants were missing. Then, on Sunday, Elder Conatti found that his suit was missing. Then we also realized that two of our coats had gone missing. We rummaged through the house searching for it all, but found none of it. Now.... We don't know what's going on, but we intend to get to the bottom of it. No matter what it takes.

Well, that's my week. I'm 20 now, and while I can say that I feel like a different person than when I turned 19, it certainly has nothing to do with my birthday! It has been an intense year.

I have some pictures.

Trying to get ready for travel always ends up looking something like this.

I just chilled and let Elder Connati do the work. ;)

Ain't he cute. It's just so easy to take pictures of him!

Translate this. It was an advertisement in a grocery catalog. Odd!

Have an awesome week!

Elder Shaw

Have Opel Corsa, Will Travel

I. Am. Beat. We had our performance in Apeldoorn on Saturday. Then the day after we had to be down in Eindhoven for church. Elder Muller wanted a break from driving, so I ended up doing most of it, much to the dismay of the other passengers. I didn't think I was bad at driving, but apparently....

It was a service week for the mission this last week, and we were able to do some service projects on Tuesday and Wednesday. It felt good to just go and do some work to help other people. I have a new appreciation for service since being on a mission. It did mean, however, that not much normal work was done in Schiedam this week.

Heck, the work here in Schiedam itself is just strange. I'm here so rarely that I feel like I still have no idea what's going on in my own area. I mean, we do have things going on and people to teach, but I always feel a bit lost when I'm here. I'm trying to stay focused on it though, because it's very important. It's really easy to be like "Oh, we worked so hard while traveling. We can take it a little easy this week." It's about getting past that and realizing that you have more to give. I hope that by the end of my mission I can say I gave it everything...

Elder Hunter got bounced around again by the medical system, so we won't really know what's going on until October. Yeah, I know. But there's nothing we can do about it right now. Luckily he's in way less pain, so the fun can continue!

Oh, funny story about the concert on Saturday. Elder Muller was SO sick. He had been feeling awful the entire day, and it became progressively worse throughout the day. It may have been nerves; I dunno, but he really felt crappy. Just before we began he went and threw up.... twice. We were (naturally) worried about him, but he made it through just fine and felt way better by the end of the night. 

Then, during Sacrament Meeting on Sunday an older lady fainted. She wasn't on the stand or anything, but she stood up to exit the room and just turfed it. Luckily the members sitting around her were very quick to action and managed to keep her from hitting the ground. The lowered her down and took her out to help her. I never learned what happened, but it was a tad surreal. I feel like we see more of those sorts of things than most people... Just part of being a missionary.

Pictures!

Service! We basically sanded this apartment for four hours!

This is Elder Frederico. We did service together on Tuesday. He's actually Elder Conatti's cousin. (no joke) Here he is in a little uniform. Fitting that his first name is Luigi, eh?

Preparing for the concert. They wouldn't smile at me.

Elder Hunter setting up the mics.

Look at him study his music! Isn't he just adorable?

'Til next week!

The Shaw!

Ellos hablan Twi

Okay, down to bweezness. We finally taught one of those potentials this week. It was a half- Spanish, half- Dutch lesson, and I was basically just confused the entire time. By the time it shifted back to Dutch, they had moved topics and I had to try and find what was going on. It was a fun adventure!

Oh, here´s an interesting little bit of information-- last Monday we went to go eat after emailing, and met this awesome inactive lady Taggart and I had met with when I was here before. She came out to have lunch with all of us and we had a good time. Then we went back a few days later and had an appointment with her that was very uplifting. Safe to say, I am totally her favorite missionary and she´s going to come back to church and really enjoy it. Astrid, I know you´re reading this. I hope you enjoyed it. Also, I´ll do my best to fix your mail slot!

Anyway, we traveled a bunch this week. It was so much time in a car, but the appointments we had made it worth it! It´s always a nice experience getting to know so many people, even if it´s super hard to remember names. So many "Van De"s and "Van Der"s and "Van Den"s-- it can get very confusing. I´m sure it´s easier if you´re from the Netherlands, but for an American... difficult.

Anyway, I have pictures!

This is where the GPS brought us once.... there was nothing there.

We thought it fitting that this is a plus size store!

Long drive

This kitty did not like when I tried to pick it up. Luckily we got this picture before that.

We went running with a Greenie in Amersfoort! Isn´t he cute!

Conatti took a really blurry picture of half dead flowers!

That´s it!

LOVES!

Do you ever pretend that your umbrella is a nuclear weapon? Oh, me neither...

Quote from Elder Conatti, if any of you were wondering.

Ah, I forgot how tired traveling makes you! And how difficult it makes it to keep the standard missionary schedule! But we´re surviving. We had some really cool experiences this week.

Let me start with our own area-- we have so many potentials we´re sitting on right now, but we´re having trouble getting in contact with them! It´s hard to find people at home. Our Irish amigo is moving this week, apparently. We´re sad to see him go so soon, but we´ll get in contact with the missionaries up there and make sure he keeps getting some help on his search for truth! Luckily we have some lessons scheduled for the week, so those should go well.

Okay, a little info about the week-- we were asked to sing in both sessions of the Apeldoorn Stake Conference; we had to prepare two songs for it. Thusly, Thursday turned into this frantic practice session of an incredible acapella song called "Gentle Savior." It´s a beautiful Baptist Hymn with really close harmonies. It sounded great when we finally performed it on Saturday night. The Spirit was so strong there, I just wanted to give the world a hug!

Then we sang, "Abide With Me, Tis Eventide", for the Sunday session. Once again, a beautiful arrangement with some tight harmonies. We also had the privilege of singing in between the talks of the mission president and his wife (during which the translator passed out. We were all quite concerned).

Elder Hunter is doing okay. He´s been on some drugs that make him a lot of fun! Luckily, he holds it together for appointments, but once we get him outside or in the car he´s just a little ball of energy with no filter. We actually ended up at a dinner appointment last night with two pretty recently returned sister missionaries from Zwolle and the mother of one of them. It was really cool to meet members that understood all of our missionary problems and could enjoy missionary humor.

Well, I don´t have a ton more to say about about the week. We´re working hard and trying to get things moving! We´re worried about Elder Hunter, but we know that whatever happens will be what needs to happen. We´re so lucky to have the knowledge that God is watching over us.

I think I have a picture! Oh, nevermind. I forget my camera at home. Well, next week!

Love you all!

Elder Shaw