It's hard to be clever in Dutch, dangit!

My goodness. I am pooped. All the pooped. So much pooped the only word I can think of for pooped is pooped. Today was kind of an odd day, because it wasn't P-day. That was supposed to be on Saturday, but that also wasn't really P-day. Then our Sunday schedule was also really weird, so I'm a little thrown off. You get so used to a very set schedule as a missionary. I hadn't realized how used to it I was until it got thrown off.

Before I get to today's craziness, let me talk about the rest of the week. Elder Moomey and I taught. And oh, did we teach! Did we teach? Yeah, we did teach. Granted.... not all of the lessons went as well as others. For example, one was an absolutely wasted man in a refugee camp. I'm talking three sheets to the wind. We had to wake him up when we showed up for our appointment. BY YELLING AND SHAKING HIM. He was gone. Yeah, we didn't stay very long.

Another one was a 93 year-old man that lived quite a distance away and wasn't actually all that interested in hearing our words. He could have easily told us that earlier, before setting an appointment with us. Once again, we didn't stay very long.

However, for the first time in a very long time we had an investigator at church! She hustled out pretty quick afterwards, but I think she had a good experience. We have another appointment, so that's a good sign! The work moves ahead.

Okay, I have two things I still want to talk about. One is my day today, and the other is the guys I'm with. I'm going to do the guys I'm with first, because I'm sure you'l find that interesting, and you'll also be looking forward to the thing at the end!

The first fellow to speak about it Elder Bishesar (Pictures will be in order). He is a little older than the rest of us and comes from Suriname. He's a super genuine guy and is very funny, sometimes without meaning to be. Normally without meaning to be. He is also a very good cook! So we enjoy a lot of good food!

Next is Elder Yocom. He's a very sarcastic and fun Elder that just got out of the office. He's super organized and likes to have things clean. Really clean. It's nice, because the apartment is always tidy, but he never freaks out at people or anything. His cleanliness is the type that just seeps into everyone, so we do a good job. He tolerates my humor very well, and is a lot of fun.

Then Elder Moomey. He's my companion. He's a missionary on his last transfer. Sometimes things make him really ready to go home. (Cute dogs.... he misses his a lot) However, he keeps in there by being one of the most well-rounded people I've ever met. He can get along with just about anyone and knows people well. I have a really good time working with the guy. He is absolutely hilarious as well, and he knows it, too.

Okay, my day. We had the King's Day today. It's a celebration of the King's... birthday or coronation or something. Basically it's a huge party over the entire country where people get super drunk! Then, on certain streets people have this big yard sale. Really, you can just try to sell all your old junk. And EVERYONE comes out to do it. So, we set up a stand there and gave away all kinds of stuff! A ton of BoMs and pamphlets in a ton of different languages. I also went and found a guitar to play to draw people over to the stand! And it totally worked! It was great. Okay, actually, I have to cut short the story about it so I can have time to load up my pictures. Okay, here we go.

Das Moomey!

King's day!

Elder Bishesar

Elder Moomey! (This is a packet of anti material we received in the mail)

For you board gamers

Groningen goats

Groningen CAT!

Okay, I'm done! I will talk to you all next week!

Elder Shaw

Ik wil alleen blanke Elders

If you just translated the title, you'll understand soon enough.

Ahem! *activate morning news announcer's voice* Good morning loved ones. It's another beautiful day in Groningen. We're looking a pleasant day filled with low winds, lots of sun, and a 100% chance of crazy college students. Throw on your funky high tops and get outside, everyone! There's slacking to be done, hazing to be taken too far, and parties full of loose co-eds.

As you may have guessed, Groningen is a college town. And I love it. It feels so much like Austin that it's a little strange! I love the crazy things you see people do. It's just a rippin' good time for everyone involved.

Transfers went pretty smoothly. It basically involves throwing ridiculous amounts of luggage and bikes onto trains and praying that the doors don't close while you're either loading or unloading. It happens every time to at least one person. But that's just how it goes. 

My new companion is Elder Moomey. He's on his last transfer, so I will be "killing" him. Luckily, he's as focused as all get out! We have been out and working super hard already. The other two Elders in the apartment are Elder Yocom (said like it's spelled) and Elder Bishesar (he's from Suriname). We all get along super well! It's great.

Okay, you are now going to understand the title. Elders Yocom and Bishesar whitewashed in to Groningen. That means neither of them were here before. It's always difficult, and it causes a lot of funky problems. One such was a former investigator that came into church yesterday. He looked a little untidy and came and sat by me. HE started to speak very loudly but I couldn't understand him. Then, I realized he was saying the word "paper"-- very poorly. I didn't know who he was, but I handed him a sheet and he started to write down his name and that he is deaf. I ended up having to write down all of the lesson that was being taught (I realized I haven't written in Dutch very often). The lesson ended and he asked if he could make an appointment with us. I went to talk to Elder Moomey before committing to anything, because the members seemed quite surprised that he was there. Moomey said that he was a former investigator from the other Elders that were now gone. Apparently, he had called his lawyer and stuff, too, because he was angry that they invited him to be baptized. Apparently a lot of other crazy crap went down, and we just didn't really want to get involved. We thought that maybe we could have him spend time with the other Elders and he'd make an appointment with them. So we had them write for him during Sacrament Meeting.

After church, he comes up to us with his little sheet of paper. On it, he had asked again for an appointment, and that he didn't want one with the other Elders because Elder Bishesar isn't white. Terrible, right? Well, we now have an appointment with him for next week. We'll see how that goes.

Other things... I was sick yesterday. Not fun. But I'm a lot better now. 

Sorry I don't have pictures. I kinda slacked on them this week.

Til next week everyone!

Elder Shaw

Dooi, Haarlem.

Welp! I'm getting transferred. I'll be going to one of my dream cities, Groningen! I'm excited, but it's incredibly bittersweet. Haarlem feels like home now; the streets feel like my streets. I'm going to miss it. I'm also REALLY going to miss Elder Enslow, but the work must go on!

Elder Enslow and I are pretty worn out from the week. Our amount of teaching appointments dropped, but I don't feel like our amount of success did. We were out rocking it!

We did have temple conference this week. It was nice to go to the temple again. It's always a neat experience. Afterwards we went to Keukenhof. It was underwhelming-- pathetic, almost. But, in classic Shaw style, I made a good time of it! I have a ton of pictures so you can get your chuckle on about it.

P-day last week was decent, not because of P-day itself, but our dinner appointment was cool. An Easter tradition here is gourmetting. Basically, it's a little grill that sits in the middle of the table and everyone cooks their own meat on it. (Like the Korean thing we ate at Takarajima in Japan, except the meat isn't as good here. Surprising, I know.)

Well, lets see.... We taught crazy people... I feel like that's most of who we come in contact with here. Only crazy people are willing to listen and talk to us.

Other than that, not a ton happened. Just trudging through the grind of contacting, looking up potentials, getting rejected, and doing it over again. I've come to love the little successes, and not sweat the little defeats.

Here comes a wave of pictures.

Ladies and Gentleman, I present to you.... Tulips. "No, they're there. I promise." "What do you mean it's just stems?" "I.... Oh."

The self-taken photograph of a gathering of people. (I refuse to use the "G" word)

Ooh, pretty.

Couldn't resist, had to jump in. You know.

Whoa! They exist!

Asian tourists! Elder Enslow and I made a game out of getting as many pictures of me as possible also including Asian tourists. I have a ton, but this one's the best.

Smell 'em!

Best picture from the entire day. Yep.

Soccer with the ward. This was the entire turnout. Fun anyways!

Well, that's it my lovelies.

F' everything, (the F is for fabulous! What did you think it was for?!?)

Elder Shaw

Tweede Paas, hoe kan dat, nou?

AAAGGHHHHHH!!!!!! Now that I have your attention, here's what's up--

We taught a decent amount in the past week; it was very nice: one lady with a lot of cats, an older couple, two Muslim men that actually taught us a lot, too. Very cool. Very swag. Not a lot of progress being made there, and no stories really worth telling, but we're trying to keep them moving! Yep.

I got watch all of conference except the last session. It's unfortunate, but it just shows too late here.

OH! By the way. It's Second Easter today. Once again, I don't know why, and neither do the natives. I imagine it is for no other reason than extra vacation. They don't really celebrate anything on it. It's just a day where they don't have to do anything. Culture here is so different.

Favorite thing from the week..... Elder Enslow's parody of Music and the Spoken Word. It went something like--

"As we look across these scenes of Southern Utah, it reminds us of the Lord's country, namely, Southern Utah. It always brings my mind back to my haircut, and how it miraculously hasn't changed for 20 years...." It was quite funny. We actually had some great times getting to know some members of the ward on a more personal level during conference. It will be very sad when we get transfer calls on Sunday. Oh well.

I don't actually have any pictures. I was kinda slaking on the camera work. I'll try and have a bunch next time!

I love you all. Until next week......

BOK BOK BUKAWK!

Elder Shawty

De Stroming

I have tasted the fruits of the Brazilian mission.... and I'm never going back. You'll understand in a second.

Elder Enslow and I worked hard this week, and boy were we blessed for it! We had a bunch of appointments, found some new people, and all around just rocked it!

There was a big black out on Friday! It took out like... all the power on the northern bit of the west coast. It wasn't too long. Just two or three hours. We were doing weekly planning/lunch at the time, and were really lucky to have a gas stove! I was able to make delicious Dutch pancakes anyway. Take that electricity. HA!

Okay, now we come to my AWESOME story. Our new WML is from Brazil. He also looks like Justin Timberlake. ANYWAY, I beleive I told you how he doesn't speak very good English and absolutely no Dutch. The first time we talked with him, he said "I know this family, they are good people. I think you should teach them." And teach them we did.

Our Sunday schedule had all fallen through, and we were a little bummed. But we were told during church that the family wanted to meet with us. That night. So we went with Justin Timberlake to go teach them. First, they fed us. Then they asked us to teach them. We taught in English while the father of the house translated into Portuguese for the family members that didn't understand. We finished the lesson and there were tears in the man's eyes. They didn't want us to leave. Oh, did I mention this is the first whole family I've taught my entire mission? It was amazing.

​I have a few pictures!

Zone Training: The most interestingly dressed missionaries in the entire world (rules for suits here are tad different.)

This motorcycle is massive. I'm not sure if you can tell.

My companion is very good at faking a lazy eye.

Someone did the New Testament using Legos. Cool right?

One more week done!

Keep it light; keep it airy!

Elder Shaw

Waarom doe je de deur dicht?

This week went much better than last one! Elder Enslow and I are still working our little tushies off. He's the bomb. Still not a lot of lessons, but that should change this week! We have a lot scheduled.

No, I didn't see the eclipse. I was even outside and doing service during it, but didn't see it at all. I don't know how. That service was actually kinda cool. It was for this little garden place in Haarlem, and they thought it was super cool that we were helping out, so they asked us a bunch of questions and apparently it's going on their website! I'll send you the link if it does indeed happen!

Lets see, we also ended up helping at the stake activity on Saturday. We and a few other companion-ships of missionaries watched the kids and played games with them while the adults did some different workshops. It was a good time. Dutch children are odd. Some of them were really super sweet and others were just little terrors. That's normal; what was weird is that THEY ALL SPEAK DUTCH. It just is weird to hear a child speak! But, seriously, they are very cute.

I did get my relax on last week. It was very nice. Elder Enslow and I just took it super easy when we needed to. Work actually goes better here when you aren't in a huge frenzy to do it. So, keep it swill, keep it casual, and just talk to people. We've been doing that, and this next week is filled with appointments! SO boom, success!

Oh, so it finally happened. They have started locking the church during services, you know, because the church is going to get stormed by terrorists and we're all going to die. C'MON PEOPLE! One, there have been no threats or anything! Two, If anyone really wants to kill us, they'll be able to do it anyway! Three, WE'RE A CHURCH. THAT DOOR SHOULD ALWAYS BE OPEN. People complain enough about how "secretive" the Mormons are, and then you lock the church. Dutch culture is just so different. Enslow and I have talked about it a lot. I could probably write a book about it. No joke.

Well, I have some pictures.

Trash can. Keeping it classy.

Yep! Cat.

Also cat. But this one was REALLY NOT happy when I picked it up.

Elder Enslow, little girl, and the Dutch game Sjoelen! (Pronounced Shoe-luh)

Elder DE Silva. Trust me, the De is important. They hate being mixed up!

Well, have a great week everybody! Have fun!

End of line,

Elder Shaw

Tot het eeuwigheid! en wat verder!

Well, it has been another week in Haarlem. It's amazing how time goes by. This week felt much longer than previous ones, just because.... I don't actually know why. Just was long. Lots of work, still not any visible successes. I know they are there and will reveal themselves in due time, but for now I'm just trying to push through. It's actually been kinda a rough week mentally. I am exhausted and worn thin. I need to do something to just kinda unwind. Hopefully today can provide that. I really do feel just kinda beaten to heck.

Favorite person from the week is Joseph! We met him on the street in the center of the city. He's from the French Congo, and is a super sweet guy. He has a Book of Mormon now, and we're hopeful for some lessons later in the week!

I finally got my bike key and all that jazz figured out. That's nice, but really I don't have stories from the week. Luckily I have a bunch of pictures, because I'm feeling a little short on words. (I know, surprising.)

Demon ducklings! So named because their species is scary looking and very mean!

Me and a cat! mmmm

Foot!....foot?

Missionary on an artsy Dutch playground

Off we go!

I made chicken and waffles!

His name is perfect. (Dhr. is De Heer, or, the sir)

Sisters Twiggs and Goodman being things from horror movies.

I found a koi pond!

Well, that's it for today. Have a wonderful week everyone.

Blah,

Elder Shaw