Monday, April 25, 2016

Ik blijven.

Guess what!?! I´m staying in Den Bosch with Elder Drinkwater for my last transfer. We´re going to keep on keeping on! I am very excited! More exclamation points! More! If you can´t tell I´m quite happy that I didn´t get transferred. This (my last) transfer is actually only five weeks long as compared to the normal six. Five weeks in a new city would not have been ideal.

It was a decent week. Lots of knocking. It actually turned sunny and warm a few days ago, but changed back to dismal, dreary, and downright cold. It happens.

A few cool things. Elder Drinkwater and I did a lot of cooking this week. We baked a cake for our district, baked slutty brownies (yes, wonderful name) for a family, made curry for an inactive member, just.... yeah. I really enjoy cooking. Look out, ladies!

Yeah, I think that´s about it for the day. I don´t feel like typing anymore! You´ll see me soon enough, anyway! Pieces of trash. You´ve just been home doing your garbage while I´ve been here saving the world. I might as well just stay here and make all of you miss me even more as pay back...HAH!

I have a few pictures!

This is my eggie... Todd. I put him in brownies.

Goslings. I named them all Ryan.


I love you!

Elder Shaw

Monday, April 18, 2016

Chicken Poop.

Yeah, it has a story; I´ll get there in a second.

I am feeling more and more tired as my mission starts to draw to a close. I feel like it is impossible to get enough rest. We are as busy as two little beavers could be. It feels good. Maybe I´ll finally be able to sleep on the flight.

We had a trip to temple this week; that was nice. After we were done there, we all went to Keukenhof, that Dutch Tulip-y garden thing. It was very busy, so touristy, and a decent time. I took a lot of pictures of the "show" flowers. Honestly, that was the only thing other than the petting zoo that really interested me. The rest of the gardens are pretty... artificial looking. They just look so pampered and controlled. It was nice, but I wouldn´t go out of my way to go again. However, I picked up a chicken! It scratched my face, called me names, and pooped on me. I think it´s safe to say we´re friends.

I also got really frustrated with some Christians of another denomination. They invited us in and proceeded to tell us off for not following the bible closely enough. Yeah. I was really done with them. Elder Drinkwater was much more patient than I was, and he kept it in control while my temper was flaring like the twin suns of Tatooine. I wanted to hop on out of there, but Elder Drinkwater took care of it all and it ended on a tentatively good note. Even after all this time I still struggle with my anger. We are just human.

One more little story: in the Netherlands everyone has a little luggage rack on the back of their bikes. They use them to carry their groceries and children and best friends. I went on exchanges on Tuesday in Eindhoven. The Elder working in my city accidentally took his bike keys with him. I had to ride on the back of a bike the ENTIRE day. Granted, no one really gives you a second glance here; it´s pretty common, but ALL DAY?! My butt was less than satisfied with the seating arrangements.

Pictures!
Piggy!

Peacock!

Some flowers.​



Oh yeah, Moestuintjes. They´re something from Dutch grocery that they do once a year in the spring. It´s a bunch of seeds and some little pots to plant them in. We can grow our own veggies and herbs. Missionaries go crazy for these.


Pronounced the same as Bossa Nova, but then having to do with Den Bosch. Good name for your boat, sir. I salute you.
Love you all!

Elder Shaw

Monday, April 11, 2016

"Never miss out on a chance to slap your wife´s butt!"

Words of wisdom from a member. Elder Drinkwater and I pretended to be appalled, but thought it was hilarious. My new mantra.

It´s another lovely day in Den Bosch! The weather has been super unpredictable this week. Some days we're bundled up in thermals and coats, other days we're warm and we just want to relax in the sun. It's also impossible to predict. Morning weather is often opposite of how the weather will be for the rest of the day. It´s frustrating, but part of life here.

I have a few good stories. First, Friday night: we went out to have dinner with Timo, at McDonald´s, which is much more expensive here than in the US. It was a nice evening and we had a good talk. Afterward he took us to this beautiful little.... I have no idea what to call it. It´s really pretty though, and just South of Den Bosch. It´s called the Bossche Broek. If you look it up maybe you can see it.
While we were there Timo decided he wanted to race, on foot, not bikes or anything. I thought "Yeah, what could possibly go wrong?" I´m an idiot.

By the way, Timo plays rugby; he isn´t huge. He´s fast.

Elder Drinkwater gave us the signal and we took off. I managed to keep up with Timo through the first five or six seconds, then I ate it. I tried to lean so far forward and take such a long step that I could no longer stay upright. I ate some concrete and slid about six feet. My clothes were fine, my face was fine, but my left arm got a bit scraped up. I´m okay, but I was frustrated and may have let out some choice words...I am my father´s son after all. (He´s going to be so unhappy that I wrote that). Don´t worry, Dad, you´re a wonderful example!

Then I had the chance to sing for a fireside put on by the YSAs of the stake (Young single adults, for those that were wondering). It was an interesting evening. We had a good time, and I was able to see some friends, both missionaries and members. But--it´s weird when all anyone can talk about is how soon you´re going home. I´m so old...

A few other cool things... We had a competition with the district on proselyting hours this week. That fireside screwed us over on Saturday, so we owe the district a cake. Luckily I really enjoy baking, so we win anyway! HAH!

Also, our Moestuintjes are growing well! However, we did have to steal some dirt to keep them alive. I`ll explain that one next week. I need to give you something to look forward to!

I only have one picture from the week; it was a poster I saw while on splits with the Zone Leaders. Elder Wilson and I laughed really hard!

That´s it. Hope you laughed. Party down.
Elder Shaw

Monday, April 4, 2016

SO LITTLE TIME!

Guess what, amigos! We are still busy! I´ll give a little list of things we did:

I made oven mac & cheese for a less active member.

I lifted a lot of furniture and boxes. 

I spent a long time being very frustrated and NOT SWEARING at my bike.

Elder Drinkwater and I cooked curry!

I set things on fire in a district meeting!

And taught a ton of lessons to wonderful people.

I went on exchanges to a little city called Nijmegen. I bet you have no clue how to pronounce that!

I took pictures with cats!

Elder Drinkwater took a full 18 seconds to get a joke!

I played Ticket to Ride with some members.

I watched a lot of conference. It was very enjoyable. I know there are a lot of you that aren't members of our church that are reading this, and I highly suggest going to lds.org to watch some of the talks. They are inspiring and uplifting.

I did not sleep as much as I should have.

I have pictures!

Double rainbow! Look close.


Black and white train tracks!

Black and white Elder Drinkwater!

Kitty!

Also Kitty!

Purty, eh?

Also! Iz a dragon amigo!

A friend came to visit our whiteboard during weekly planning.

Wut.

Also pretty!

Have a good one friends. Do cool things!

The Shaw