Russell and Eileen's Church Missions: TEMPLE TRIP-BIKING THROUGH THE TULIPS

We returned home from Romania this past Tuesday. Spring apparently hasn’t sprung to all of Europe yet. When we departed from Cluj early Tuesday morning the temperature was only 28 degrees. All the doors in the airport were open to allow passengers to board buses to their planes. We were both quite cold. It was a reminder to always bring warm clothes, even when you don’t think you will need them.

Thursday afternoon we traveled with some senior missionaries to the Netherlands. We are blessed to have permission to attend the temple and visit other sites within 500 km of Frankfurt. There are currently 3 temples within that driving distance and once the Paris temple is dedicated there will be 4 temples. All take about 5 hours to drive to. We determined that we would attend the temple in The Hague and also visit the tulip fields nearby. I had looked online before our departure and realized that the 26^th of April is King’s day in the Netherlands. This would be equivalent to July 4^th in the U.S. with huge celebrations being held in Amsterdam and other locations through the country. We arrived Thursday evening to find everyone closing up after the day’s parties. The stores and restaurants were closed. This was a little challenging as we had assumed we would eat dinner on Thursday evening and then buy food to eat for breakfast for the next two days. We finally found a restaurant that was open and very crowded. The manager reluctantly allowed us to stay for dinner, for which we were very grateful.

Friday morning we left our hotel very early and were one of the first cars to arrive at Keukenhof when it opened at 8 a.m. Keukenhof is one of our favorite places on earth. During the spring months it is known as the Garden of Europe and has more than 7 million spring-flowering bulbs and more than 800 varieties of tulips. It is indeed beautiful. By 11:30 the park was packed and we went outside the park and rented some bikes. The weather was pretty nippy at under 50 degrees with a cool breeze, but we were fortunate that the expected rain never arrived. We rode the bikes 20 km through the flower fields and nearby towns. It was most lovely. In addition to seeing the beautiful flowers, we rode by a lake and were passed by a caravan of old-time cars which were probably from the 1930s or 1940s. It was sad to see that many of the fields were being topped off. Even though the flowers appeared to be in full bloom a cutting machine was being guided through the fields, lopping off the colorful flower heads and leaving the stalks and plants to wither. This is all part of the tulip’s growing cycle as the plant then diverts its energy to the still-living bulb underground, which will bloom again. The bulbs are harvested in mid-summer and sold to growers for planting in the autumn.

Saturday we went to the Hague temple. We love going to the temple, but we especially seem to have had very spiritual experiences in this temple. It is a small temple, we have always been personally greeted kindly by President and Sister Van Dam. They are the temple president and matron and have served in many different locations throughout the world for our church. We attended two endowment sessions on Saturday. On one of the sessions there was a young man whose mother was Mexican, however she was living in Germany. He had just been called to serve in the Jakarta, Indonesia mission. This is where we served our first mission. I was very thoughtful throughout the session thinking about the journey we have taken through 3 missions. I have been concerned about some of my family back home and wishing I could so something to help them with their challenges. The thought came to me “Do you think you can do a better job with them then I can?” It was humbling to be reminded that God is aware of my family and their needs. We will continue to pray for them and keep in contact with them. I must keep in mind that they are His children too and he is indeed watching over them.