A Busy Week in Holland

Our first stop this week was for Zone Conferene at The Hague Temple in Zoetermeer. 

 Tuesday we met with the Appledoorn and Antwerpen districts.

Wednesday was with the Rotterdam and Den Haag districts.  Isn't this is a handsome bunch? 

 After the Temple, we visited the tulip gardens at Keukenhof.  The weather was cold and cloudy, but Sister Moore did manage to find herself a new pair of shoes.

Elder Moore thought he would like to copy this pattern in his back yard next year.

Tulip heads as big s cabbages!  Incredible.

And the aroma was as incredible as the view.

This is only a small fraction of what is in the park.  Flowers of all kinds, colors and sizes.  We hope we can go back on a sunny day to see it all.

This year, the gardens are saluting Poland.  This is a flower tribute to Chopin.  (Our camera was not able to get the full picture, but hopefully you get the idea).

"Hey, Corrie!"  It was our friends, the Koldewyns from Bountiful.  It really is a small world, isn't it?  We had a nice visit after we got over the surprise of seeing them there.

"Daar bij die molen, die mooie molen, daar woont een meisje waar ik zo veel van houdt. 

Daar bij die molen, die mooie molen, daar wil ik woonen als zij eerst met mijn trouwd."

Sister Pankratz, Sister Moore and the Koldewyns.

One last shot before we leave the park.  But we'll be back.  We must see the other 90% of the gardens.   Eat your heart out Thanksgiving Point!  It really was beautiful.  On a sunny day it will be even more beautiful and of course a lot more people.

 On Thursdays (donderdag) we meet with the young adult group that come to our YoVo center,  They come from the Leiden Ward, the Zoetermer Ward and The Den Haag Ward.

 For Leiden and Zoetermer that is a 30 minute ride on the train ride each way.  But they love to gather together to share friendships and learn gospel principles.  It is wonderful to see how they participate in the lessons.

 Sister Moore's sloppy joe, salad and apple crisp dinner before the lesson. was a real hit and was appreciated by all.  Some had seconds and thirds.  Yum.

 Every year all the wards in the Netherlands gather in Groningen
 for the annual vollyball tournement. 

 They have 10 vollyball courts and around 300 participants.

It's a round robin tournament and all the teams play each other until a champion is determined.  They have a youth category as well as a men and a women bracket.  It is a three day event with a dance on Friday night,  the vollyball tournament on Zaterdag, and another dance and on Sunday a fireside and Sacrament Meeting.

 This is the Den Haag Womens team.  Most of the players are young adults so we could justify going the 2 1/2 hr drive to Groningen to watch.

 After we had been there for several hours the Senior Couples got hungry and had to go out for lunch.  The Senior Couple in Groningen took us to a very nice Indonesian Rijst tafel near their apartment.

 How can we eat all this food?  I don't know but we sure did, and it was smakelijk.

 We were told to watch for this interesting marker on the way home.    The boat on the top of the house marks where sea level is.  We would be 30 feet under water were it not for the dykes.