Leaving Alkmaar with a Bang!

Hey everybody!!! I'm glad you all had a good week despite the sicknesses going around. You guys are ALWAYS sick!!! But it sounds like things still went well. So you already saw it from the title of this letter, but I am being transferred. I was super bummed at first. I do NOT want to leave Alkmaar yet. This is my favorite branch, and I have gained really close friends here. I also love serving with Elder Cooper. We've had a lot of fun together and saw a lot of success. No, we didn't see any baptisms, but we were able to help the zone a lot and also gain better relationships with less actives, inactives, and non members. I will explain throughout the email. But you all are probably DYING to find out where I am going, so I guess I will tell you... haha I will be going to Apeldoorn to be a Zone Leader with Elder Alston!! I am sad to be leaving Alkmaar, but I have been trying to focus on the positives, and I actually found quite a few.

1. Elder Alston is a great elder. We were in the MTC together for a little bit, (he is in the group right below me), and we got along really well.

2. Being a Zone Leader in Apeldoorn means that I will be going on exchanges in Hengelo and Enschede! That is my greenie area and I will get to see a lot of people who I haven't seen for about a year! The family I am most excited to see again is J and her family!!

3. I will be elder Toole's Zone Leader. I trained him and he is one of my best friends. It will be cool to go on exchanges with him.

4. I heard the Apeldoorn ward is great, and It will be the biggest ward I have served in during my mission so far. The biggest one I served in is here in Alkmaar and there are about 50 active members here. Apeldoorn has somewhere between 60-90 I heard.

So ya, I am very sad to leave Alkmaar, but I am going to a cool place with new things in store. But anyways. Let me start explaining why I am leaving Alkmaar with a bang!

Last Monday was FHE in Amsterdam and L finally came with us! She is the non member who we have been working with a lot. She came to FHE with her cousin who is a recent convert and she is coming again tonight!!! She is super cool. Her mom is an active member, and I am convinced that she will be baptized sometime this year.

Speaking of the M Family, we had a dinner appointment with them on Tuesday and, again, it was awesome. We had a good time, and after dinner, Sister M asked us if we wanted to play some games with her family. Normally we wouldn't, but her family is all non members, and it was a great way to strengthen our relationship with them so we went for it haha. We played charades in dutch which was a lot of fun and then the oldest son, brought out another game. He explained that it was a kids game, but all the 20 year old kids use it as a drinking game hahaha. Apparently it sold out of all the stores and it got so bad that they don't even sell it in the Netherlands anymore! It was actually a fun game, and I can see how it would be even more fun if you were drunk hahaha. They are a great family though and they can't wait to meet you guys when you pick me up :)

Wednesday was a busy day. We spent a lot of time planning for Zone Training. We met with the sister training leader in Haarlem and went over the whole zone training in detail. It was a long day of planning, but we got even more ideas and it was worth it. After that long day of planning we were able to have an awesome dinner appointment with the H Family. He is the branch president, and he is awesome. I have learned a lot about leadership from him. they invited an inactive, and we were able to get to know him a little bit better through that. We ate tacos (they don't taste the same here), and we all had a good time. They are a great family and one of my favorites on the mission.

Thursday we spent more time planning... Our theme for the zone training was "teach as Christ taught". We focused on five teaching points; 1. Ask good questions 2. Listen and teach with the Spirit 3. Use scriptures 4. Extend Commitments and 5. teach in unity. We thought it would be fun to tie that into kung fu and train them all to become "Dragon Warriors". It was kinda like Kung Fu Panda haha. Me, Elder Cooper, Sister Schwab (the sister training leader), and the two district leaders were the "furious five". We were planning on having rotations for most of the zone training working on those five teaching points. We cut out old sheets and made belts for everyone, and we made tokens that they would earn after each rotation. They would stick the tokens on their belts and once they got all five tokens then they could trade it in for a cool bookmark with a scripture on the back of it. It took us so long to make all the tokens and belts and bookmarks. We lamanated the tokens and bookmarks, but we were too cheap to buy a lamanator so we used an iron haha. It was kind of funny ironing all the bookmarks. We finally got everything ready by 11 that night.

Friday morning was zone training. We left early to set everything up in the Amsterdam church. We didn't have a lot of time to get ready and we left the house quick. Right after we left I got that feeling that we forgot something. I hate that feeling, and I always get it every time I leave the apartment, so I just pushed it aside. While sitting in traffic in Amsterdam Elder Cooper and I realized something... We forgot all the belts, tokens, and bookmarks!!! We were SO MAD!!! haha we had spent almost the whole day before making those stupid things and we didn't even bring them! WE realized that there was nothing we could do about it though, and we just went on through the zone training without them. Luckily, the zone training still went really well. it was on topic and the missionaries learned a lot! It was a big success, and we were happy, but we couldn't get the thought out of our heads that it could've been even better. We decided that we would give them all the belts and bookmarks at district meeting on tuesday though, so that will make it a little better. We got back to Alkmaar after zone training just in time for the branch talent show!!! We were asked to do something as Elders, and us four saw it as an opportunity to win the hearts of the branch. We decided that the best way to do that was simply by making fools out of ourselves haha. I played "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton on the piano, and the other three performed. We all sang, and they had synchronized dance moves haha it was AWESOME!!! The branch almost died laughing. They all thought it was the coolest/funniest thing they had ever seen! We had to perform it two times since then because they honestly could not get enough of it! They all recorded it, and we got it recorded too. haha maybe I will have one of the members email it to you so you can see it. It was a great evening though, and the coolest part about it was that there were about 70 people there! about 20 of them were inactives/non members. It was a great activity for people to come into the church, see that we are normal people, and even make friends with some members. It was a HUGE success.

Saturday we were DEAD tired... We took it pretty easy and got our feet back under us. We did some more planning, this time for ourselves and our area. it was a nice day, and we finished it off by playing volleyball with the branch. L and her sister came too! This branch knows how to get inactives and non members involved. It works best through activities! It was awesome to have so many of them this past week and see a lot of new faces and investigators as well.

Sunday was also a great day to get our feet back under us. I always look forward to church here. This week I was able to do a piano solo in sacrament meeting too. I played "Come Follow Me" and the branch really enjoyed it. That evening we went to The De B Family to eat dinner. They feed us a ton every time, and we always love going over there. We have gotten a great relationship with them these past few months. That night was the night we got transfer calls as well. They were very sad to find out I was leaving. The mom explained to us how big of an impact we have had on their family. She said it was inspired that we came when we did, because their family needed it. I have had some of the most spiritual experiences over there, and it was nice to hear that it really did help them. They told us that they don't offer this to every missionary, but we are always welcome to stay with them if we ever come back. I told them that you were picking me up in December and they said we are more than welcome to stay there for as long as we need to. They are very excited to meet you guys as well! I can't wait for you to meet them too. the De B Family and the M Family are two of my favorite families out here. it was hard saying good by. AS we left their house brother de B said to me, "At least you left Alkmaar with a bang". He was referring back to the talent show haha.

So as you all just read, you can see why I am sad to leave Alkmaar, but I am also excited for the new people I will meet in Apeldoorn. I miss you all so much and hope you get feeling better this week! I also can't wait for dad to get my present this week. You are going to LOVE it! Wees veilig iedereen!