It turned into a busy month

 When this month started we had only one sealing scheduled and nothing planned further into the month.  We received an email from the temple laundry department telling us that we needed to check the baptismal clothing for problems that happen when clothing with                                                  elastic in it sits without being

washed and used for long periods of time.  They suggested we wash everything while we examine the items for problems and then report back to them.  Our thoughts were that this would give us something to do that is related to the temple while things were so slow.   It only took us a few days to finish that and get our report submitted.

 Then the phone calls started coming and we received requests to come speak in zoom meetings and at the church.  We spoke to our ward one Sunday morning,  we have given two firesides per zoom, we have recorded talks for the Stake Conference in Antwerpen that will be aired on the 17th of April.  This coming Sunday we are speaking in the Rotterdam Stake Conference.   

 We have also participated in numerous zoom meetings both in regards to the calling of the temple and in ward and stake activities.  We have also had a few appointments made for own endowments, one of which is on Saturday the 27th of this month and then a few in April and May. 

We are excited about the future but, as for our temple here, it is unfolding very cautiously and slowly because Covid is still a big problem in a few parts of the country and in parts of Europe.  We are still not able to go shopping freely and the curfew is still in place.  It has been altered to start at 10 pm instead of 9 pm.  This weekend we go into daylight savings so it only makes sense that they would make that change on the curfew.  

The vaccinations are barely moving and we keep hoping that will pick up soon.  President vanWermeskerken who is in the 75 to 80 year old bracket, was excited to report that he received his first dose this past week which makes him feel like he can move about a bit more freely.  When compared to how rapidly the vaccinations are going in the states we feel a little behind the

         times. 

Otherwise, Spring is here!!  We see blossoms and flowers everywhere with trees full of buds and new leaves, the birds and geese and swans etc are making all their excited noises and we love having our windows wide open to let in the sunshine and warm air (on some days).  Yes, springtime also means rain but that's so normal that we don't even worry about it anymore.  

The sunshine brings out lots more people and we need to be careful about the distancing but we are happy to be out too.  We were out biking near the lakes just north of Zoetermeer and, although it takes the old bodies a bit to get back into the biking mode,  it felt great!

We went to explore Rotterdam while visiting some missionary apartments and came across these awesome bridges.  Rotterdam is located where two large rivers converge so there are many harbors with all kinds of boats that come in from all over the world.  In this part of Rotterdam much of life involves the rivers so there are some really big and amazing bridges and businesses are lining the water's edges all up and down the rivers.

Because so many businesses are along the rivers    they use  River Taxis and River Buses.  We enjoyed just hearing the sounds and watching the hustle-bustle that goes on along the rivers. 

In this picture you see one of the small river taxis that is racing across the water.  There are several of these zipping back and forth to get people to where they need to be quickly.  They go so fast that it sometimes looks like they barely touch the water. 

 Above this taxi you also see a river bus.  It is the boat with the dark bottom and it's heading in to the bus stop seen just in front of the two white boats.  

We took this picture while on the triangle shaped bridge seen in the above picture.