May 16, 2011

Dear Family,

Gooie Dag! Het is uitstekend fine dag, vandag! Ik bin heel blij en entusiast om jullie met te spreken! It is a lovely rainy day in Amsterdam and we have much to do. We plan on visiting the Anne Frank house, The Rembrandt and Van Gogh museums. I recently bought a card that admits me into every museum in the country so I hope to use it quite often! I am really happy to hear that you received my pictures. Sorry there weren't very many. I had had to snap a few within an hour before I mailed it. There will be more on the next card, I promise. If you could dump the pictures on the card and send it back that would be great! That way we don't have to spend money on new cards. Ok so the missionary life... Yes, mom. I actually do my own laundry :). I have been very good about that since BYU haha. Our dinner appointments were very great. Nelson, from Sri Lanka, cooked a traditional dish from his home country. Very spicey and it rocked! The next day, we went to William (from Aruba) and he cooked a dish from there. They were both awesome meals and I wish I could spell, let alone pronounce the names of the meals. Things really went well this week! We finally are getting the hang of the city and we spent a TON of time contacting people on the streets so we have a lot of appointments this next coming week. I am incredibly excited for that! We are working with only 3 investigators right now that are progressing but we are really looking forward to this coming week.  Because we live with the Assistants, they do the shopping for us. Their P-day is on Saturday. This opens up time for us to roam the city and see different things. We go to different museums or stay home and clean, do laundry, attempt to write letters. Writing letters is incredibly difficult haha. I find myself trying to write while on the bus or walking towards different destinations.  We shop at a store called Albert Hijn. It is very similar to Aldi's and its very nice! I have not tried raw herring yet but I am bound and determined to try it soon. We take turns cooking and we actually eat really healthy.  Two of the elders are very health conscious haha. That's probably a good thing for me. I have lost 15 pounds since the mtc. I am weighing 83 kg or whatever they measure in which is a little over 180 pounds. The surf board... Not exactly sure why there is one in our apartment, but quite a few people go to the beaches on the coast and surf. Paige! I'm so excited for you! It sounds like you are having a great year in softball. Keep working hard. James, you stud. Never cease to amaze me. congrats on that 51.7 That's the fastest that northwestern has had in awhile. get under 50 and qualify for state! There is something else I would like from the States. Could you send me some ink cartridges for G2 pens. Black and size #7 That would be perfect. I'm running out of time so I better leave. Hope all is going well. Dad and mom, great job with the exercise! Keep going! I love all of you. Oh and tell Amanda I said congrats on the award. It didn't suprise me one bit. She totally deserves it. Tot Straks!

love, 

Elder Schulte