Monday, March 24, 2008

and I LIVE HERE!

Yesterday I took the tram through the city to get to church. While I looked out the window I saw tons of tourists taking pictures... and all I could keep thinking was "and I live here!" I love it! What a great city to live in.

When I got to church (the one I'll be going to from now on) I had a million and one people come up to me and say "oh, you must be Claire." The bishop from my other ward warned them of my arrival. Thanks bishop. They had heard that I served a mission in Brasil and speak Portuguese, and were quite excited I was there. They told me that there's a lady in the ward who is Brasilian and doesn't speak Dutch or English. So for the first time yesterday I became an interpreter. Best part was that I was translating from a translation... I wonder if she got anything out of the meetings. :S Who would have thought I'd be using my Portuguese in Holland?

There are 2 sets of sister missionaries and 1 set of elders in the ward... with a little over 100 members. One set of sisters grabbed me after church to teach a lesson with them. Something I haven't done in almost 3 years. Needless to say, it was quite a busy day!

I then went to the Bishop's family's house for Easter dinner. We had the very "traditional" Easter meal consisting of: nachos and burritos. I had to laugh. It was good though! She had also made chocolate chip cookies (yum) and stuffed us with hot chocolate and ham and cheese sandwiches before the main meal.

To top off the night, she gave me some baking soda! How excited was I?! I have been searching and searching the supermarkets for it, but to no avail. They only have baking powder here, and according to the internet, there is no substitute for baking soda. (However, I did discover that you can make banana bread using 3 tsps of baking powder in place of baking soda and there's not too much of a difference--- just incase you were wondering).

2 comments:

ReL said...

WOW! Isn't it amazing how your missionary skills never seem to get all that rusty? It sounds like the people in your ward are great and it sounds like you had a much easier time finding the ward this time :-) I'm so glad. I bet that lady got a lot out of the meeting because I'm sure the spirit helped.

mike and jenn said...

Hey Claire! It is good to hear from you. You sound like you are having the adventures of a lifetime. I hope you find an apartment soon or at least some place to call your own. Baby #2 is due any day-she should have come about a week ago but we are still waiting. I am anxious to be done with this pregnancy. Everything seems good and healthy though so I am grateful. Check our blog for the latest.
Love,
Jenn