It was hard for me to leave my mission. I miss the land and the food and the culture, but most of all I miss the people. I am so blessed to still have so much contact with many that I love so much! However, today made me really, extremely, overwhelmingly mission sick! Singing Christmas hymns, watching the Christmas devotional, smelling the wonderful fragrances of Christmas really made me reflect on the last two years when I was able to celebrate Christmas in the Netherlands. You have to understand that I wouldn't choose the Netherlands over home or home over the Netherlands, I just love them both sooo much! I wish I could experience them both at the same time! But since I can't, I thought I would just do some remembering of my Dutch Christmas through these photos. The people made the holidays so special for us! It was amazing to be a missionary at Christmas time and spread the joy of the life of Christ. I loved being able to focus 100% on the true meaning of Christmas. I will cherish the memories made during the Christmas season in Zwolle and Den Haag forever!
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| Okay, so this really isn't a Christmas picture but a Sinter Klaas picture! One of Tineke's cute little boys all dressed up! Sinter Klaas is actually tomorrow! Yay! |
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| Me and Esme Spijkerman dressed up in her Zwarte Piet costume! |
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| Debbie and Joelle with the wonderful gift that they made for us! We spent Sinter Klaas at the Spijkerman home and they made it EXTRA special! Two Zwarte Piets even showed up! After scaring us to death they surprised us with gifts! |
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| The beautiful Christmas tree and ornaments my Mom sent me. She made the ornaments with a picture of everyone in my family and in the back of the ornament was a note from that person along with their favorite scripture. Best Christmas present hands down. You bet I bawled my eyes out when I received this in the mail! |
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| Tineke allowed Zuster Wieland and I to help her and the boys set-up the Christmas tree. It was so much fun! |
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| As a little Christmas project we organized a blanket tying activity. It was so special and really brought the spirit of the season! |
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| Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Both winters we got a lot of snow and were blessed to have a white Christmas! |
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| At the Zwolle branch Christmas party Santa showed up and brought the two of us a big bag of goodies as a present from all of the members! It was so sweet! I really couldn't believe their generosity! |
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| This was one of the 11 Christmas appointments we had in just 6 days...you better bet I was sick by the end of that marathon! But it was so wonderful to spend time with such amazing people! I love Sue-Haina and Zuster Walle! |
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| I definitely was not lacking when I opened my present Christmas morning. "Santa" made sure I was taken care of! |
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| This picture was taken right after I got off of the phone with my family on Christmas day. Can you tell by my red eyes that I had been crying? Don't worry, they were happy tears! I think that the 30 minute phone call home is one thing I am really going to miss this Christmas! We were only allowed 30 minutes, which went by really quickly, but those were the best 30 minutes ever! |
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| 2nd Christmas (yes, the Dutch celebrate Christmas for 2 days...GENIUS!) we ate with other ward members at Familie Knarren's. It was an atmosphere of love and friendship. |
Now on to my second Christmas when I was serving in Den Haag!
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| Caroline, the RS president, asked us to do something to motivate the members to do missionary work during the Christmas season. These chains are what we came up with and they were a success! Because I need to focus more on missionary work now, I thought I would do the chain this Christmas. I typed it up. It actually starts tomorrow if you want to join! |
25 Days of Christmas
4: Play or sing Christmas hymns (Psalms 98:4-9)
5: Read the Christmas story in the Book of Mormon (Helaman 14:1-6)
6: Send a Christmas card to a loved one (Mosiah 18:21)
7: Greet everyone you see (D&C 109:9)
8: Pray to be blessed with the gift of charity (Moroni 7:46-48)
9: Give a Book of Mormon away as a Christmas gift (Moroni 10:18)
10: Fast to know how you can share the love of Christ this Christmas (Alma 6:6)
11: Watch “Joy to the World” with someone (Alma 5:50)
12: Look for opportunities to serve those less fortunate than you (Mosiah 4:26)
13: Read or watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional
14: Share a Christmas treat with a friend (Isaiah 58:6-8)
15: Keep a smile on your face (D&C 112:4)
16: Use one of your talents to bless or serve others (Matthew 25:14-29)
17: Take the time to listen to and help a loved one (Mosiah 18:9-10)
18: Hold a special Christmas Family Home Evening (Mosiah 4:14-16)
19: Pray for an opportunity to share your testimony (D&C 62:3)
20: Do a secret act of kindness for someone (Mosiah 2:17)
21: Write in your journal five things you are thankful for (D&C 78:19)
22: Call someone to with them a Merry Christmas (John 13:34-35)
23: Read the Christmas story in the Bible (Luke 2)
24: Express your love to those around you (John 4:7-11)
25: As you partake of the Sacrament, ponder on the blessings of the Atonement (3 Nephi 18:1-14)
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| We had a RS Christmas breakfast and it was absolutely wonderful to be together with so many sisters! These are two of my favorites, Jolanda and Mary. |
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| One of my favorite traditions at home is acting out the nativity. After searching the apartment, I gathered enough materials for costumes. We did a family home evening with Familie Broekman and some non-member/less active family and we had the kids act this out! It was seriously one of the highlights of the whole season! |
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| Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without sugar cookies! We frosted and decorated these cookies with Melissa and Naomi so that they could give them away to their neighbors. We also tasted a few too! |
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| Our Christmas tree in our apartment. Not too shabby, eh? Once again, I was spoiled by my family on Christmas! |
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| More Christmas cookies that we made with Familie Scherf:) |
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| Okay, so my Grandma Sharp was so thoughtful and instead of sending me a gift for Christmas, she deposited some money into my account and told me to use it to bless people who might not have a Christmas otherwise. There was a less-active family in our ward that wasn't going to have a Christmas. We put this little box together for them full of goodies and toys for the children. It was so special to be a sub for santa. Thanks Grandma! |
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| Christmas we had dinner with Familie Koot. It was always wonderful to be in their home because I really felt at home. Once again, we acted out the nativity. Don't you love Elder Hawkley's donkey ears? |
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| On 2nd Christmas morning we had breakfast at Familie Scherf's! They had a breakfast spread like you have never seen before! |
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| Since it was Sunday, after breakfast we all walked to church together. I love this family! |
That was quite the long post! It is definitely time for bed!
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