i have arrived

Blog!

Im Here!
1st area: Gouda, Netherlands (yes like the cheese)

I made it to Gouda last Wednesday afternoon and immediately got to work!  It is such a beautiful area and we have what they call the best appartment in the mission! we live across the street from the church, a 2 min walk to the train and a 5 min walk to the center of town.  It is your typical fairytale small dutch town.  Old churches, cobblestone roads, bikes everywhere, cheese shops and bakeries.. windmills all around.  ya i cant complain.  my trainer is zuster gardner.  she is from san diego and i LOVE her! she is super hard working and so much fun to be with! we are going to make an awesome team!
I unfortunately wont be able to upload pictures for a little cause we just go to a local library to email.  I also cannot receive emails anymore.. so letters are the only way of communicating for now.  Ill leave my address at the end.  dont have much time today but here are some random moments and things i have been doing:

Funny moments:
-riding achterop (on the back of the bike) and falling on the side of the street
-running to catch a train in the freezing cold with my companion who has a broken toe
-talking loud on a train with my mtc district only to realize that we were in a silent train.. we got yelled at. maybe not so funny. from now on i will pay more attention to my surroundings.

other activities:
-we eat with members almost every night. so far i have had delicious indo food, tacos (a first i guess for my comp) and two traditional dutch meals that i loved! im already starting to collect recipes! last night we ate with an older man and he has a tradition where the missionaries come over and he teaches them how to cook tradational dutch foods.  it was delicious and so fun to cook even though i didnt understand what he was saying most of the time haha 
-we are outside no matter what the weather is so i have enjoyed being wet and cold many days :) i put on a few layers of tights and sometimes two or three jackets everyday to keep warm  but it hasnt been too bad at all.  my favorite so far was riding bikes in the pooring rain at night we a pretty strong wind.  we just laugh the whole time and pray we dont hit any cars.   

We have 4 good investigators right now and one baptismal date so the work here is moving great.  i still cannot believe i am a missionary.. talking to people on the streets about the gospel is definitely different but im learning to really love it.  once i get this language down it will be easier.. right now i can only ask the questions and my companion does the rest.  its pretty funny pretending like i understand what is going on!

ok i have no time left but i will try to have more stories and make better use of my email time next time! 

Crabethstraat 5
2801 AL Gouda
Netherlands 

Love you all!
zuster jones