Veilige Feis!

Veilige Reis! (Have a safe trip!)

Dearest Family,

It is with deepest heartfelt emotions that I receive this news about my dearest obi. He was a good fish. A little depressive (given his suicide attempts), but in the end, he lived great, and he died great... at least his last moments were comfortable-ish. Thank you for wrapping him in a paper towel- it beats a toilet bowl burial any day :)

Anyways, it’s been another week of the highest highs and the lowest of lows with the work here in Dordrecht. My companion was struggling a little bit staying positive this week, which made it a little bit harder to keep her, and myself, motivated, but we worked really, really hard and had quite a few awesome moments this week. We had three investigators at our pioneer day bbq this last week, and it was awesome! The branch did such a good job accepting them and answering their questions. It was great to see our investigators just being enveloped by the branch. It was a really high point of the week. Yesterday, we came home for dinner break, and our host father said "sister, you look tired". I just looked at him and smiled and said "yah, but it was a great week". He just laughed and said that he remembered what that was like from his mission here. I have learned to appreciate black circles under my eyes as a sign of hard work- something only a missionary could appreciate :)

Aside from the black circles that have found a permanent home under my eyes, my health has been really good. I eat plenty every day (our Dutch host mom makes sure of that :)) and I have been really enjoying running every morning. Our neighborhood is Dutch farmland, which makes morning runs really beautiful.

We had a hilarious experience this week. Dutch doors are funny in that they all automatically lock behind you- its just a part of the culture or something. In addition to the automatic lock, there is a deadbolt that locks with a key from the inside and also outside for extra safety. Because of this, it takes Dutch people a long time to open their doors when we knock, because first they have to find their keys and then open the door, which is really funny if they end up shutting the door immediately after spending 10 minutes looking for their keys. Anyways, so we were in the church after the services Sunday, and we were eating a little bit of lunch before heading out to work. We were the last ones in the building, and as we were leaving, we realized that the branch president had locked the deadbolt from the outside, and we didn't have a key for the inside lock, only the outside one. Yes, its true- we were locked INTO the church. After checking all of the windows and finding them all barred off, we finally found a little window next to the door that was close enough that I could reach my arm through the bars and unlock the front door from the outside, freeing us from the church building. It was a hilarious experience!

Family, I hope you have an AWESOME time in China- I will miss hearing from you next week, but I know you will be having a great time. Stay safe! I love you family! Take care of yourselves, and write me when you have time!

Ik hou van jou!
Love,
Zuster Cherie Gulliver