Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Fear Bound in Amsterdam

AmsterdamWe landed in Amsterdam that morning (Feb. 26, 2014) on our way to South Africa. This was a return to the city that I traveled to when I took my first flight in an airplane. I had just finished teaching my first year at Orem Jr. High in Orem, Utah where I was a Home Economics and Art teacher. 

Every summer for the previous seven summers, I had worked at the Brighton Girls Camp, which I dearly loved. I knew that I would have to find something very exciting to replace my experience there and my choice was a trip to Europe. 

While I was teaching, I shared my desire to go to Europe with my friends and fellow 
teachers.  One day Mr. Zimmerman my assistant principal came down to my room
 and put a piece of paper on my desk and said go apply for this scholarship to study 
abroad. Corning Glass had a sister plant in Orem and was giving the Scholarship
 away to a teacher. I soon learned that there were two of us that applied for it.  
 I suggested that they give half to each one of us but they said they could not do that. 
At the flip of a coin I got the Scholarship to go abroad and study.  I found a program
 in Europe, which started about 3 weeks after school let out for the summer. 

A friend of mine suggested that I go early to Amsterdam where the study abroad 
would start.  She had been there on a mission and thought that perhaps I could 
pay a member family to stay with them for a few days. She wrote a letter to the 
Branch President and I ordered my ticket to go early. 

Weeks went by and no word from the branch president. About 3 days before I 
was ready to leave I got word from my friend that he said that they did not do that
 kind of thing in their country.

I was very nervous to go without a place to stay but the ticket was already ordered.
 I was so excited to go on such and adventure but scared to death to not have a hotel
 room lined up (this was before computers). When I arrived in Amsterdam I found
 a desk in the airport that could book a hotel room for me. I walked up to the desk
 and ask them to give a top rated hotel but there was a run on hotels room and
 they did not have one.   Pretty soon the clerk found a place for me to go to that
 was on the third floor of a typical building in Amsterdam. 

Now my job was to get a cab. It was my first time getting a cab and I was so
 scared that the cab driver would kidnap me rather than delivering me to my hotel. 

I sat in the back seat filled with FEAR. I was so pleased when he took me straight to
 my hotel and helped me get my luggage to the third floor. I checked in and found 
out that my room did not have a bathroom that that I would have to go to the end
of the hall for one. Now my fear began to build that something bad would happen
 to me on the way to the bathroom. 

I arrived to my room exhausted and scared about going down the hall to the 
bathroom. When I was ready to go to bed, I pushed the big dresser up against
 the door so no one could come in the room while I was asleep. I laid on the bed
 with my clothes still on and cried until I was sound to sleep. 

The next morning I was still so afraid that I wanted to stay in my room for the 
next three days until my friends came but I pushed myself to have breakfast
 and then go to the famous Rakes Museum which houses the Night Watch by
 Rembrandt.  

I found my way to the museum and waited in line for it to open. Then I noticed
 two young men with white shirts and dark pants with a small black badge on 
their left pocket. I was so excited as I knew they were missionaries. I went up
 and introduced myself and asked them where they were from. One of the
 missionaries lived in my stake. It made me feel much more at easy to have met
 someone from home. 

I later learned that 92% of the things that we worry about never happen. 
Experience, time, and education help to take away our fears. I am so glad I 
continued to travel and experience the wonderful world that we live in.
ved in Amsterdam I found a desk in the airport that could book a hotel room for me. I walked up to the desk and ask them to give a top rated hotel but there was a run on hotels room and they did not have one.   Pretty soon the 
clerk found a place for me to go to that was on the third floor of a typical building in Amsterdam. 

Now my job was to get a cab. It was my first time getting a cab and I was so
 scared that the cab driver would kidnap me rather than delivering me to my hotel. 

I sat in the back seat filled with FEAR. I was so pleased when he took me straight 
to my hotel and helped me get my luggage to the third floor. I checked in and 
found out that my room did not have a bathroom that that I would have to go
would happen to me on the way to the bathroom. 

I arrived to my room exhausted and scared about going down the hall to the 
bathroom. When I was ready to go to bed, I pushed the big dresser up against 
the door so no one could come in the room while I was asleep. I laid on the bed
 with my clothes still on and cried until I was sound to sleep. 

The next morning I was still so afraid that I wanted to stay in my room for the
 next three days until my friends came but I pushed myself to have breakfast
 and then go to the famous Rakes Museum which houses the Night Watch by
 Rembrandt.  

I found my way to the museum and waited in line for it to open. Then I noticed 
two young men with white shirts and dark pants with a small black badge on
 their left pocket. I was so excited as I knew they were missionaries. I went
 up and introduced myself and asked them where they were from. One of the
 missionaries lived in my stake. It made me feel much more at easy to have met
 someone from home. 

I later learned that 92% of the things that we worry about never happen. 
Experience, time, and education help to take away our fears. I am so glad I 
continued to travel and experience the wonderful world that we live in.

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  3. Interesting how our paths have crossed once or twice. I was a student of yours at Orem Jr High.

    Eventually I married, and within a year of my husband's graduation from BYU, we were living in The Hague, Holland.

    The Netherlands is such a beautiful place and we loved the amazing Dutch people there.

    We were too dumb to be afraid of flying off to another country with young children. We were also fortunate that gracious Netherlanders patiently taught us how to live and enjoy our time in that amazing country.

    Now I see those young church members in the news as they have grown into strong and important leaders.

    And as I read your blog and website, I see how it was that Otto N. ran into you in China.

    It was decades before I realized the famous Dian was the same person as that young bride-to-be who was teaching me Home Economics.

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