"Christmas children peep into Christmas windows..."

This week has passed! I´m actually a little bit glad that it´s done. The holidays are wonderful, and getting to celebrate the birth of Christ is wonderful! However, the work here sucked. Straight up. People were just grumpy and we had trouble getting appointments set up with anyone that was not an active member of the church. It led to a lot of time where we just had no clue about what to do. We were frustrated, but full of food. So I guess it wasn´t all bad!

I want to thank everyone that wished me a Merry Christmas! And those of you that sent me stuff! And especially Mike, Marian, Gma and Gpops! Keeping the missionary pockets laced with dough. I really do appreciate everything that all of you do for me!

Well, I managed to do a lot of caroling this week. Tuesday and Friday were spent caroling in Eindhoven-- we gave out some cookies, shared some love, and I had a ball. Like I do. 

I have many pictures for the peoples!

This is Elder Serra jokingly trying to find an uncomfortable position to sleep in.

This is Elder Serra genuinely just tuckered out.

Exchanges with Elder Parr! Big kids on campus ya´ll!

Ain´t he a cutie. I take a lot of pictures of him. He´s very photogenic.

"In the ghetto....." -Elvis

Cookies I made. We were on a train to Eindhoven.

Artsy sunrise picture. It´s cool, you can see the reflection of the train car I´m in. Art.

CAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This last one has a bit of a story. Elder Serra and I locked ourselves out of our apartment. We spent an hour and a little bit more removing the door from it´s hinges with the help of Rudy, our building handyman. After forever we finally got back inside. Yeah, we´ll do better at remembering our keys after that ordeal. Yep.

Sorry there wasn´t a ton to talk about this week! But at least I had a lot of pictures!

Loves!

Elder Shaw

Hola, soy El Shaw!

I´m trying to learn how to say "Hello, I am The Shaw" in as many languages as possible for when I answer the phone. People find it pretty amusing. Since I first started calling myself "The Shaw" in Haarlem it has spread through almost the entire mission. Cool, eh?

Well, I´m in Den Bosch! My companion is Elder Serra. He´s Portuguese but has lived in England for a long time. He´s a great time and I love working with him. We have a lot going on for us here in Den Bosch. A baptismal date, a good pool of investigators and potentials, and a wonderful ward! I think I´m going to enjoy my stay here!

I do have two little stories to share from the week:

First-- We were attempting to commit someone we´re working with to read the Book of Mormon everyday. He´s a prankster and likes to push buttons. He said he wouldn´t commit unless Sisters asked him to do it. I think he thought we would just push him until he said yes, but what did I do? I immediately picked up the phone and called the only Sisters in our zone. I put it on speakerphone, explained the situation to them, and then had them ask him to read the Book of Mormon everyday. He begrudgingly agreed. Boom! That´s how we do!

The other one is that we had to find our way to a train station one night after a dinner appointment. We were in a tiny little town, it was ridiculously dark outside, and we had no idea where we were going. After walking for about 40 minutes, we figured we were going the wrong way. We went over to a house on the side of the road, and asked the woman who opened the door if she could direct us to the station. Initially, she didn´t listen to us and, seeing our name tags, said "Nee nee nee". I asked again, and when she finally figured out what we wanted, she gave us directions. It turns out we had walked the wrong direction for more than twenty minutes! We finally reached the station and had missed two trains, so we had to wait a long time. It was one of those nights...

I have a few pictures!

This was the violinist's music from our Christmas performance. I about died when she put this together.

This is the new companion! Ain´t he a looker! I love this kid!

Love you all!

Elder Shaw

"Kip is a good man."

Oaky (yes, oaky). First things first, I´ll be transferred to Den Bosch! --with another Portuguese speaking companion. Apparently there´s something I need to work on. I´m excited!

This week was the most intense, emotional roller coaster. The concert went as well as can be expected for never having done a run through. And yeah, it was crazy! I don´t have any stories from the week, really. It was a lot of practicing and stress and freaking out and then going to bed and doing it again the next day. 

Saturday, after the concert, we went to sing in a retirement home with the district. It was a lot of fun. I played guitar for a few songs. We had a good time and I think the old people got a kick out of it!

Sunday we had the Stake concert, which we sang for again. Yeah, I´ve been singing a lot. That went okay. It was really long, but we had a good time! Then we got transfers and I haven´t gotten enough sleep any night this week. I have some pictures though, then I gotta cut it off.

Never mind. I´ll have to try and upload pictures later today. This computer is busy uploading someone else pictures!

I love you all!

Elder Shaw

Yodododododo Yododododododo!

If you couldn´t tell, that´s the violin part to "For Unto Us a Child is Born"!  MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Okay, getting ready for the Christmas concert is in full swing. We´ll be using almost every day of this week to get ready for it. Yeah, I know. I´m a little stressed, but hey, a little stress is a good thing, right? RIGHT!? Yeah... whatever.

This week was cool. We ended up back in Belgium; more practicing. Just intensity all around. One cool little refresher from the craziness of these few weeks is that a family in the ward invited us over to do an early Sinter Klaas (Or Sint Niklaas, you´ll see it spelled both ways) celebration. It was a fun little cultural experience and they gave us some gifts and we sang songs together and it was just a ton of fun and I was quite happy! (What sort of sentence is that?) You know, I´m realizing something interesting. When you come on a mission and learn Dutch from English, you go home not knowing how to speak either of them. Or maybe I just suck....

We have really been practicing a ton, but this concert promises to be incredible. I want to give it my all... It´s what´s really expected of us. I spoke to Elder Conatti about it this week. The Lord doesn´t ask much of us, just everything...It´s an interesting thought, but it´s true. Food for thought. Mull that one over a bit.

I don´t have a lot to say really, but I would like to remind everyone to focus on what´s important this Christmas. Remember, it´s not about just receiving, but it´s also not just about giving. It´s about the reason we give. If you´re not sure of that, go read the last verse of "O Little Town of Bethlehem." I´m not just going to give you the answer. You have to work for it. Also, thank God for your many blessings AND trials. It´s hard, but gratitude is a part of humility. I´m all over the place today. Sorry, have a good week, everybody.

This is my one picture--those with whom we celebrated Sinter Klaas. The De Jonges. Wonderful people!

Bok bukawk.

Elder Shaw