Church in Dutch

I was sure looking forward to going to church on Sunday!  A chance to see new things, meet new people, sing to God in a different language, and listen to a solid hour of Dutch.  Well, I didn't understand terribly much of the sermon, but I got the basic gist of both the morning and the afternoon sermons.  When I say overall I mean really basic.  I understood what they were about, but none of the smaller details.  I'm determined to understand the sermon much better by the time I return to Canada.  I've got five months to learn as much Dutch as I can! 

I was worried that church would be horrifically different from Canada, but it wasn't bad at all.  The dress is a bit more casual, and the songs and Bible passages are on a projector screen. The morning sermon had points on the projector screen as well.  I felt a little bad, but I found it really helpful because I could look up a few words in my Dutch-English dictionary and understand the sermon much better because of it.  About half the songs were the familiar Genevan tunes, which was nice too.  I love singing in a foreign language, although I did feel a bit deprived because for many of the songs I knew verse one in English by heart.  I missed being able to know half or all of the lines by heart.  Still, church went very well.  In the morning Kim and I sat with Tante Joke (Oom Gert Jan sat up front because he's a deacon).  In the afternoon Tante Joke went to visit her mother in a sort of hospital and watch a live video feed, so then I sat by Uncle Larry and Tante Hanneke.  Oh yes, and the other difference is that there are two collections per service.  One for the deacons, and the other for mission work.  In the morning I dutifully took out two coins, but then when the first bag came I accidentally put both in out of habit, and then the second one came a few seconds later so I didn't have time to get a different coin.  Oops!

Renee and Jan Kees and family came over briefly which gave me a chance to give them all presents from Canada.  The kids were quite happy with their hockey jerseys (and a dress for Elisabeth, although not the one she's wearing in the picture) as well as toys, Costco LED headlamps, and life savers.

 

And this is a random other picture of a typical breakfast. 

Oom Gert Jan left with Kim and I fairly quickly after the second service because we wanted a good parking spot by the Laurenskerk for a Sunday evening concert/worship service.  We listened to a very talented organist and the most incredible choir I have ever heard.  It was beautiful, and the acoustics in the building are incomparable with anything I've heard in Canada.  It just rings.  The ladies in that choir could sing so high I could hardly believe it, and it was all so beautiful and professional.  There was also a small orchestra.  It was very weird watching an orchestra tune.  Normally I'm the one up on stage tuning.  I miss orchestra, but at least the Macleans have a piano.  So yes, I had to opportunity to watch a lovely organ concert in the famous Laurenskerk (and there was also some audience singing and a small sermon as well).  Well, the sermon I wasn't too sure about.  With my limited Dutch understanding I was pretty sure the first part was a plea for donations and explanation about what wonderful music it was, and about the organist.  But then later on the dominee, or priest, (or whatever the preacher guy was) talked about the five loaves and two small fish.  So I'm not sure what exactly that long period of talking was.  But it gave me an opportunity to marvel for a long time at the fantastic pipe organ!