The time seems to be flying  by for Sister Hill and I here in the Netherlands.  It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the end  of winter (February was over) and now it's mid-May.  Holland is beautiful in the spring.  We started seeing daffodils and crocuses growing in lawns and in parkways between the city streets in early March.  They were everywhere and seem to flourish here like our weeds do back home. You can buy flowers in the open-air markets all year round. They were selling bouquets of tulips in January and they are still available today, although roses seem to be the more popular cut flower now. However, at the markets you can get about any kind of cut flower you can imagine.

April in Holland is tulip month. They actually have flower farms in Holland where tulips are raised and cross-bred and grown for their bulbs.  Then the bulbs are exported all over the world. The sale of tulip bulbs is a big business in Holland and they export millions of tulip bulbs each year.  In mid to late April you can drive through tulip growing areas where the fields are full of beautiful flowers . . . strips of yellow and pink and red and purple covering acres and acres. They have a beautiful garden on the west coast near Amsterdam called Keukenhof ("kitchen garden" in English).  It's open to visitors for about six weeks in the spring.  The tulip growers contract for spots in the garden to plant and show off their flowers. Buyers come to the garden to see new varieties of flowers. Hundreds of thousands of visitors come to the garden every year to see the gardens and enjoy the flowers. 

We spent much of April visiting Keukenhof with family and showing them this beautiful country we are serving in. As senior couples we are given a lot of leeway to travel in the mission and see the country and as family or friends come to visit we can spend time with them.  Our daughter Angela came to visit with her family (husband and 4 children) on March 25th and stayed for two weeks although they spent a few days in Amsterdam and Belgium on their own.  Then on April 9th, our daughter Amanda and her husband arrived and spent 8 days touring the country and visiting with us.  On April 16th our daughter Lindsay and her husband arrived and spent some time with us also.  While it sounds like we just partied for a month, we did take care of our missionary responsibilities while our children were here and they attended some of the missionary events and activities with us but once our responsibilities were taken care of we did go and do a lot with our children.  It was great fun.

 

In addition to having leeway to spend time with family or friends as they come to visit, senior couples can also talk to their children as often as they want.  We are not limited to calls only on Mother's Day or Christmas like the young missionaries are.  With modern technology we can Skype or Facetime and actually see and talk to our children and grandchildren as often as we want and as often as we can get hold of them. With an 8 hour time difference their nights are our days and vice versa, so it isn't always easy to reach one another. We also have fun communications with our children through a program called "Whats App."  

Because our apartment here in Deventer is actually a "Young Adult Center," it is quite large and nice.  It is two stories with a nice living room area, a large eating area, a kitchen, a "smart" TV, a piano and a small bathroom.  Upstairs we have a master bedroom and bath plus three additional bedrooms, another bath and a small area with desks for study and business. We also have a washer and dryer upstairs.  As you can tell, we are not really "roughing it."  

As a YA Center we hold meetings and classes here. Each Monday night we have a family home evening for the Young Single Adults and if possible with friends or investigators who will attend. We hold an institute class every Thursday evening.  On Tuesdays, the missionaries in our district hold their district meeting here and have lunch following their meeting. Once each month Susan prepares a meal for them and on the other weeks the missionary companionships rotate bringing food and preparing lunch for the district here. We recently have been encouraging the Elders here in Deventer to start teaching English to foreign college students that live here in Deventer and go to school here. The classes at the college in Deventer are taught in English as they are at several other colleges and universities in the Netherlands.  The tuition costs are also very reasonable and so many foreign students come here for college.  There are quite a few Asian students living here and going to school.  We have been told that in the past Elders have had good success meeting people and finding contacts by offering free English lessons to those interested students.  We designed and ordered business-type calling cards advertising free English classes for the Elders to hand out.  The Elders are excited to try it and last night they held their first English class here in the Young Adult Center. While they only had one attendee on their first night, we understand it takes a few weeks for the word to spread.  In the past Elders have had as many as 20 students attending each week.  We are hoping it will be a wonderful way to make new friends and have more opportunities to share the gospel.

In addition to the missionary responsibilities mentioned above, we try to visit with members in the Ward, both active and inactive, including the young adults.  We also have visiting teaching and home teaching assignments.  We have also been encouraged by our stake leaders to visit other near-by wards (there are 3 other wards within about 35 miles of Deventer) to meet their young adults and try to build relationships and encourage them to attend our institute whenever possible.

The members here in the Netherlands are wonderful. We love them and love the young missionaries who are serving here.  Sister Hill is popular with the missionaries.  I'm not sure if that's because of her great personality or because she cooks wonderful "American type" meals for them.  I do know that her chocolate chip cookies are becoming "legend" not only with the missionaries but also with the young adults who come to our meetings just to get her "treats."  We love the gospel and are grateful for the privilege we have of serving a full-time mission.  Know that we love and miss all our friends and neighbors from back home and think of you often. May the Lord bless each one of you. Tot Ziens.

Elder and Zuster Hill