NOTEWORTHY WOMEN OF THE NETHERLANDS

Last Saturday morning we got up early and drove four hours to Utrecht in the Netherlands. Fall vegetation was spilling over the walls along the highway.

We attended a four-stake Relief Society Conference. (Three stakes in the Netherlands and one from Belgium). Hundreds of women gathered to be spiritually uplifted, to listen to speakers and beautiful music, take classes and to serve their communities.

These remarkable women found five NGO’s to work with. 500 women’s hygiene kits were assembled to be distributed through the Red Cross, 200 kits will be donated through Armoedefonds, 75 more will go to Moviera- a foundation that supports women and children who have escaped domestic violence, and 100 hygiene kits will go to women in shelters sponsored by the Huize Agnes foundation. Used children’s clothes were sorted for distribution through Stichting Babyspullen. This organization helps supply needy mothers with clothes and bedding for babies. One in every 13 babies in the Netherlands is born into poverty. Materials were also donated for 600 warm bed kits that include a blanket, sheets, and a baby sleeping bag.

We were blessed to attend this conference with our in-field couple Elder and Sister Snyder who live in Paris and serve as welfare & self-reliance missionaries for the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, and French speaking Switzerland. Rachelle School, the service activity project coordinator, worked for months to coordinate this activity. Elder and Sister Bingham, serving in Brussels as government relations representatives, also spent the day with us. It was a memorable afternoon.

We attended the Utrecht branch Sunday morning. It was a sweet experience to meet with the saints, especially the dear Relief Society sisters.

Our hotel in Utrecht overlooked a canal. Utrecht is a lovely town.

We spent the afternoon at the Kroller-Muller Art Museum. This national art museum and sculpture garden is in the Hoge Veluwe National Park. Between 1907 and 1922 Helene and Anton Kroller bought over 11,000 works of art: one of the largest private collections of the twentieth century. Helene fulfilled her dream of opening her own ‘museum house’ on their estate in 1938. Today it houses the second largest collection of Van Goghs in the world as well as masterpieces by Monet and Seurat.

Le Chahut by Georges Seurat. His paintings were built up out of countless, meticulously applied dots of paint. This one captures a glimpse of Parisian nightlife.

Vincent van Gogh:

We really enjoyed getting to know the Snyders. They were both English professors at BYU. Sister Snyder also taught Women’s Studies.

We spent Monday and Tuesday meeting with different NGO’s exploring possibilities for future projects that the Snyders will manage. There are so many good people in the world doing good things!

We ended our Netherlands trip in Delft. We toured the last remaining Delft Pottery 17^th century factory. Delft Blue is a unique Dutch product that has been created in this town since 1653.

Delft is a charming town with narrow canals, picturesque buildings, and hundreds of cyclists.

We wandered around the town and found a gouda cheese store. There is a Dutch cheese for every palate and artisan cheesemakers cater to them all.

Traditionally enjoyed with a hot drink as a snack, the Dutch place their stroopwafel on top of their warm beverage for a few seconds to slightly soften the caramel center.

We finished up the week with three busy days in the office preparing for our trip to Türkiye next week. Two couples visited our office this week. Elder and Sister McKinnon serve in Poland. Sister McKinnon is the sister of one of my dear college roommates- Roxanne Hendry Webb. And then we had a blast from the past as Elder and Sister Brough walked by. They have been serving in Albania and are on their way home. We were neighbors in Gilbert, Arizona 25 years ago! What a wonderful small world!

Our Friday night date with Elder and Sister Petersen. They arrived on their mission on the same day as we did and support young single adult groups all over Europe.

At 8:00am Saturday morning we were back at the office with fellow Cougar fans to watch the recorded BYU-Oklahoma football game. In this nail-biting game BYU took the lead with 11 seconds remaining in the game! The combo of sourdough pancakes with buttermilk syrup and another victory for the Cougars was the perfect combination! BYU is 7-0 in the Big 12 Conference! Go Cougs!

We received our German ID cards this week so guess we are official now! Auf wiedersehen!

With love, Elder & Sister Lamb (aka Ed & Debbie, Mom & Dad, Pop Pop & Tu Tu)