Becoming a Part of the Culture

President Brubaker has encouraged our missionaries to learn about the culture where they are serving. He suggests using some time on P-Days to experience and learn about the way of life and the history of the Netherlands and Belgium. Holland and Belgium are filled with a vast amount of art museums, old churches, open-air museums, and architecture dating back more than 700 years. To have a greater understanding of the culture and history of the Dutch and Flemish people whom they share the Gospel, and work with in the wards and branches, our missionaries can become more knowledgeable of the European ways as they learn a little about their history.

Volendam in the early 20th Century

Originally, Volendam was the location of the harbor of the nearby Edam, which was situated at the mouth of the river IJ. In 1357, the inhabitants of Edam dug a shorter canal to the Zuiderzee with its own separate harbor. This removed the need for the original harbor, which was then dammed and used for land reclamation. Farmers and local fishermen settled there, forming the new community of Vollendam, which literally meant something like 'Filled dam'. In the early part of the 20th century it became something of an artists' retreat, with both Picasso and Renoir spending time here. The majority of the population belongs to theRoman Catholic Church, which is deeply connected to the village culture. Historically, many missionaries and bishops grew up in Volendam.

Volendam is a popular tourist attraction in the Netherlands, well-known for its old fishing boats and the traditional clothing still worn by some residents. The women's costume of Volendam, with its high, pointed bonnet, is one of the most recognizable of the Dutch traditional costumes, and is often featured on tourist postcards and posters (although there are believed to be fewer than 50 women now wearing the costume as part of their daily lives, most of them elderly). There is a regular ferry connection toMarken, a peninsula close by. Volendam also features a small museum about its history and clothing style, and visitors can have their pictures taken in traditional Dutch costumes.

Zuster Ekstrom, Zuster Fritz, Zuster Fowler, and Zuster Robbins have a little taste of the culture

as they don these beautiful traditional costumes. Don't they look stunning in their high pointed Dutch bonnets?

Missionaries in the Den Hague and Amsterdam Zones enjoy a cultural P-Day together.