16-22 July 2011

We drove down to Belgium last Saturday to switch cars with the elders there. Here they are, getting ready to drive off in their new (not brand new) car that had a stick shift - and they hadn't really driven one much!

After we left them, we drove to the base to do some shopping - another 1.5 hrs. We're not nearly as close to the base as we used to be. This is a really cool chateau we passed on our way down - the French part of Belgium has a very different feel to it.

This was another cool house with lots of pretty plants on it down in the French part of Belgium.

On our way back to the Netherlands we had driven right past Anya's house so we had set up a visit with her family. It was so good to see them again!

Here's the family minus Djamil who was in France. We had a great time. She, of course, made us some wonderful food, and we had a great gospel discussion with Aziz with Anya translating. There's a very good spirit in their home. Anya has been so happy since being baptized and Aziz is now very supportive and positive about the church.

Aziz and Loel have always had a special bond.

A beautiful garden we pass as we walk along the canal in Rijnsburg.

We also passed this man sculling in a shell on the large canal near our house.

We had a wonderful baptism on Sunday in the Wassenaar Branch - Quentin, the young boy, was baptized by his father, Jackson, who had just been baptized himself a few weeks earlier. It was a beautiful service. So now the father and two sons are in the church. Their mother comes from Kenya in August and we're excited to meet her, too.

We got 9 new missionaries this week - 4 sisters and 5 elders. They all looked so great. Here we are in the office, having them fill out forms, etc. We then fed them lunch and then took them home to the mission home for a nap. They had been flying all night.

Later we walked with them into downtown Leiden where they did some contacting and then we had dinner at a pannenkoeken house. These are two of the sisters showing off their huge pannenkoeken dinner! The one on the left is Sister Herring, who's from California and is the granddaughter of my old bishop who called me on my mission when I was younger. Her family is good friends with my brother, Phil's family, in Danville, CA.

These are the dessert pannenkoeken's we all enjoyed! We shared them.

We just get all the new missionaries off to their new areas with their trainers, when the departing missionaries then arrive at the office. Here they have their final interview with the President, weigh all their luggage, get rid of lots of stuff, and they can talk to me about school and careers if they choose. This is Elder Matthews, one of our great friends as we served together in Antwerpen. I'm holding up a pretty interesting purse that a missionary didn't have room for. She was also trying to give me all the clothes that she couldn't fit in her suitcase - so I also have one of her jackets on that was way too small, but the elders and sisters kept insisting that the jacket and the purse looked great!

Here's Sister Holbein, who was one of the missionaries leaving. She got here a little before we did and we loved serving together in Antwerpen. I hated saying good-bye.

She also gave me this winter coat, which I think I may keep!
It was a wonderful evening at the mission home where we had our final dinner and then testimony meeting. I love listening to these missionaries' thoughts as they share things they've learned, how they've changed, their testimonies, etc. It's always a very emotional and spiritual meeting. Now when we have to say good-bye, the missionaries say, "Hey, Sis Tibbitts, we'll see you in a few months in Provo!"

This is our ward mission leader in the Wassenaar Branch. He rode this bike with the kiddie box on front with his little baby to our meeting. This is how he and his wife get around here. They don't have a car. It's the coolest thing.

Here's his cute 2 month old baby asleep inside. You can see the other two little kiddie seats inside. We've seen boxes like these that hold up to 7 or 8 little kids!

These are the Brobbey's, a wonderful member family in our branch who invited us to dinner. The meal was fantastic and we had such a nice evening with them. She's from St. Martin and he's from Ghana. Sister Brobbey teaches at the American School here in Wassenaar. They have three beautiful daughters.

Here's our three office elders who also were invited to dinner with the Brobbey's - they invited all 5 of us to dinner! Here they are, patiently waiting for dinner. The one on the right is a new elder in the office, Elder Alexander. He's training to be the new secretary and he's very good with computers.