Khalid is the Newest Member in Leiden

Khalid Abdalla Babeker- March 31,2012 in Leiden

Elder Thueson, Khalid, and Elder Mortensen

Khalid was sitting in his house and got the feeling that he needed to look outside. He looked out the window and saw President Sterri (Wassenaar Branch President) who had ran out of gas and was trying to push his car to a nearby gas station. He ran out and helped push the car to the gas station and afterwards disappeared. President Sterri decided the next weekend to send the missionaries over to tell him thanks and give him a Book of Mormon. From that moment on Khalid began to meet with the missionaries and read in his Arabic Book of Mormon. He began to take the lessons and gain a testimony of the restored gospel. He has entered in through the gate of baptism and is excited to proceed down the path of righteousness. Written by Elder Mortensen and Elder Thueson

Bart and Anje Handenburg Are the Newest Members in Leeuwarden

Bart and Anje Handenburg, 30 March, 2012

Leeuwarden

Elder Mathis, Antje and Bart Handenburg and Elder Pelaquim

Bart has had a rough childhood, but that has made him who he is now: A man with strong faith. He and his wife, Antje, have a son together named, Horst. Horst has some special needs, which made it possible for them to meet Sister Niemeijer (a member in Leewarden that works with kids with special needs).

Bart felt impressed to ask Sister Niemeijer why she is like she is. We were all invited for dinner, when we met them. After that, we started teaching them. Bart always tell us that he felt so welcome in the church, everyone welcomed him. They decided to get baptized then. We met twice a week for a couple of months and they were baptized!
They are awesome.

Ernesto Is Surrounded By a Happy Ward Family

Ernesto is blessed to have all the advantages of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as he is surrounded by people in the ward who care and want to help him feel loved and accepted. What a beautiful feeling to see the Gospel in action~

Welkom in Nederland! Totziens Onze Beste Zendelingen!

Our oldest daughter, Tiffany and her family arrived in Amsterdam today! We were so happy to see them! They came in the middle of transfers! Both Tiffany and Jacob served in the Italy Milano Mission.

We had our very own professional Italian cooks make dinner for the departed missionaries!

Multo buono delizioso!
A very wonderful memorabilia of their mission!Elder Crittendon, Elder Fullmer, and Elder Brownell loved their mission!
The picture is not complete without Sister Kremer!

Au revoir.....tot ziens.......ciao......!

God be with you til' we meet again. Wij houden van jullie!

Week of Transfers!

We started our week of transfers with Elder Andrews and Elder Mickelsen coming to the mission home for dinner after all fasting together. We receive 11 new missionaries this week! Our mission is growing younger with each new transfer! There will be many decisions to be made with this transfer. Our missionaries are having to grow up fast! We have 11 new trainers anxious and willing to help the new missionaries learn and implement our culture and have a great start to their mission!

We have lots of help at the office with the young teaching the young at heart! Elder Jones, our legality secretary is so kind and helpful! The office elders learn lessons of life from Elder Pankratz! We love Elder and Sister Pankratz! They have so many responsibilities! Just to name a few........mission cars, opening and closing apartments, referrals, ordering and providing supplies for our missionaries, baptism stories for the mission blog, helping with senior couples, and much much more!

Elder Mickelsen and Elder Andrews are all smiles on Monday morning! The transfer went smoothly, and now they are onto sending a Harvest report to all of the zone leaders to let them know how the week went! It was a great week! Our new investigator key indicator almost doubled!

We will miss you Elder Mickelsen! Good luck in The Hague!

We are sad to say good-bye to two of our permanent fixtures at the office! Elder Benson will go back out in the field! He has kept in perfect order all of the $%$%$% of the mission! The car will stay at the office, so he is getting his bike all fine tuned for his new assignment to Amersfoort.

We will miss the beautiful music.......you have touched our hearts!

Sister Pankratz is so kind to make us lunch every Monday! We enjoy sharing miracles, finding out how the mission did, and this week preparing for transfers.

Now that Elder Klippel has been expertly trained by Elder Benson, the baton is now passed onto him to know all the ins and outs of the mission!

Elder Jones will receive his trainee soon! Elder Calkins will be the new legality secretary, and will come on Wednesday. Elder Jones has been an amazing secretary! There is no task too big, no hurdle he cannot conquer! He is always asking sincerely, "Sister Brubaker, is there anything I can do to help you?"
Ready......Set.......Go! With everyone's help we are ready for tomorrow!

Missionaries Experience Their First Day in the Field!

Eleven New Missionaries arrived early this morning, the 27th of March! Elder Andrews was the first to greet them...with open arms! We are always so happy and relieved for a safe arrival! Welkom in Nederland! What a handsome group of missionaries!The new missionaries worked with Elder Jones and Elder Klippel on their legality and becoming financially prepared for the rest of their mission!
We all worked up an appetite! We treated the missionaries to their first authentic 'pannekoeken'.

Elder Armstrong and Elder Nish decided to share a dinner and a dessert pannekoeken. When they saw the size they knew they made the correct decision!
Elder Theuson and Elder Stanley were excited to be the first to taste these amazing pancakes!
Elder Farmer appropriately ordered the "Boeren" pannekoeken, which means 'farmer' in Dutch!Elder Armstrong and Elder Nish decided to share a dinner pannekoeken and a dessert pannekoeken. When they saw the size they knew they made the correct decision!Elder Stanley, Elder Christensen, and Elder Benson were all happy with their choice!
Elder Andrews shared his knowledge of the best pannekoeken to order with Elder Huff, Sister Nielsen, and Elder Harvey!

Elder Harvey, Elder Hansen, and President Brubaker are ready to eat!
Elder Mickelsen and Elder Andrews, and Elder Benson, Elder Jones, and Elder Klippel divided the missionaries into groups and they could hardly wait to have their first contacting experience!
It was a sunny, warm day in Leiden! Perfect weather for contacting!Sister Nielson, Elder Stanley, and Elder Andrews carrried on a positive gospel conversation with a woman who was very interested to learn more!
Elder Jones was able to arrange appointments with all the missionaries today to sign in to the country of the Netherlands. They are all now legal! But it made for a very long day! As soon as they arrived at the mission home, they looked so relieved when I said, "Nap time!"

After dinner the missionaries were anxious find out where they will be serving and who their trainer will be!
Elder Stanley is going to Kortrijk, Belgium and will be trained by Elder McCarlie!
Elder Armstrong is white washing a city with his trainer Elder Li! They will be in Emmen, the Netherlands! Members and the senior couples have been working for weeks to get their apartment ready for them!Elder Hansen will be serving in the city of Utrecht. He will be trained by Elder Guanuna!
Elder Farmer is going to serve in Lelystad. He is being trained by Elder Merrill!

Elder Christensen will be trained by Elder Wait, and will serve in Assen, which is in the beautiful northern part of the Netherlands.

Zuster Nielson is going to Belgium! She will be trained by Zuster Welch and will be serving in Antwerp!
Elder Huff will be trained by Elder Bickham! They will be serving in Spijkenisse!
Elder Harvey is serving in Groningen with Elder Pitchforth! Groningen is in the furthest most northern part of our mission! He might pick up on a little Gronings language!

Elder Thueson will be serving in the Wassenaar branch with Elder Mortensen!
Elder Sanderson is going to Belgium! he will be serving in Turnhout with Elder Leach as his trainer!
We feel very blessed to receive this strong force of missionaries that has come to our mission! We enjoyed hearing their testimonies and their righteous desires to serve God with all their hearts, might, mind and strength!

"Love is the Key."