20-25 June 2010

This is a baptism we attended last Saturday in Eindhoven, Netherlands. We like to attend baptisms when we can and this was the only one in the mission last week. It was about 1 1/2 hrs away and of course, we got lost. We thought we may have missed it, but when we got there 15 mins late, it was just starting. We love going to baptisms. I was able to download a picture for Sis Brubaker to put on the mission blog along with the story that Elder Matthews, above, wrote. Of course we got lost on the way home, too, since the GPS kept trying to put us back on a freeway on ramp that was closed.

This is my new toy - a little notebook computer. I really love it. Now Loel and I don't fight over who gets the computer. I love it, also because I can fit it in my purse and I can take it with us when we have to drive and I can work on my journal, etc. I've taken it to zone conf and took notes on it - later Sis Brubaker asked me for my notes so I was able to quickly send those to her. I can download pictures on to it quickly and put them on the blog or send them on. I'm becoming really high tech!

This is an apartment the church rents near the office that the elders call "The Spy House." It's like something out of a Jason Bourne movie. Even the neighborhood feels that way. It used to be used by a public relations couple to oversee European Union family issues, but now it is empty. The Pankratz stayed in it until just last week when they moved up to Amsterdam. It's quite interesting - you can see that it's very narrow - yet it's 5 stories high so it's straight up and down. It even has a cool address - 7 rue Fulton. As you enter there is a basement office and bath down a flight of stairs, then it goes to a landing with a living room and parlor, then another flight up to the bathroom, then up to the kitchen and dining room, then a half flight up to the bathroom, another half flight up to the two bedrooms and a ladder to a loft.

Loel went there today to do an inspection and to water the plants, which we have to do once a week. This is what you see when you first walk in the front door - it has about 13 or 14 rooms in it, so it's a good size, but very narrow and tons of stairs. I wouldn't want to live there, even though you do have lots of space - too many stairs!

Just another picture of this interesting apartment - kind of typical of European places. When the Pankratz moved a week ago, we volunteered to help them. Loel helped Elder Pankratz load the van and I vacuumed and dusted all 5 floors! It took me two hours.

This is a basement room, 6 stories down from the main floor (we're on the 8th floor, so it's quite a ways down from our office) called "The Cave." Cave (kahv), in French, is cellar, and this definitely feels like a cellar. It's where we store all of our mission supplies, so I frequent this place a lot. Behind me are lots of Book of Mormons in many different languages.

We have so many different languages, as seen here - many that I had never heard of before. Not only do we have many Books of Mormon in lots of different languages, but also lots of pamphlets, pass-along cards, etc.

This is another view of all the boxes of Books of Mormon and other supplies in the cave.

This is the view of the cave as soon as you open the door. Loel has to start cleaning all this junk out and he's not real excited about it! There are kitchen supplies, beds, frames, tools, microwaves, sheets, old mission records, you name it, it's here. Today he found 7 huge boxes of braille Books of Mormon! (Straight back with the tan tape on it.) He's not looking forward to this project as he barely finished cleaning out our garage before we left.

I had an interesting experience last Saturday when I got my hair colored - I went to a little shop in our apartment building, and of course, the lady spoke no English. She was very nice, but we had to decide on color, etc, all with gestures and a word here or there that I understood. I told Loel that I hope I don't come back with purple hair - he said, "I hope you come home with hair!" It really turned out okay, but was a little nerve-racking.

(Loel) I went shopping for a new cordless drill (the last one was left in France when the mission split) and some car stuff (windshield washer fluid and oil). this doesn't seem like a big deal, but I had TWO sales people (one at the hardware store and one at the auto parts store) willingly speak English and wish me nice day as I left. Paula was talking to one of the French elders in the office, about customer service. He's currently working in Brussels and he said Brussels is pretty nice. He said he served in Paris and customer service in Paris is really bad. We see a huge difference between Belgium and the Netherlands and between Flemish Belgium and French Belgium. President Brubaker was talking about how public transportation is the best way to meet people. (We were in Flemish Belgium at the time.) He said the Dutch (and Flemish) want to talk to everyone. It's easy to start a conversation. The French think your literally crazy if you try to talk to them.