21-27 August 2010

We heard about the "biggest flea market in Belgium" in the little town of Temploux, about 24 minutes from Brussels, so of course, we had to go last Saturday. This is the road leading into the little town - we had to park way far away and walk into the town. The flea market covered 6 kilometers (3.2 miles) of streets!! Booths everywhere! We wandered around for a while and had a good time.

Of course the only thing we bought was candy and pastries!!! This is one of the candy booths - we looked at lots of other things but weren't really interested in antique plates, old record albums, and everything else you can think of that they were selling.

After the flea market we drove to the town of Namur. This is an old citadel up on a hill in the city that we visited. It was originally built in the 1200's by the Spanish, then destroyed, then rebuilt in the 1600's by the Dutch. It has been considered a strategic point for two thousand years being on a hill at the confluence of two major rivers.

There were some pretty incredible views of the city of Namur from up on the citadel. This is one of the two rivers running through the town.

We took a little train ride all around the citadel where they explained things first in French, then Dutch, English! We tried to watch a movie about the history but unfortunately, it was not in English.

Another cool view of the city from the citadel.

This is about the only thing left standing from the original citadel built in the 1200's.

This is the outside of the Royal Palace in Brussels - it's huge, bigger than Buckingham Palace. We were with five elders - they were all scrutinized pretty carefully by security as we went in. They let me right through without a thought, but not all the missionaries in white shirts, ties, and name badges.

You can't see this very well, but this is a room in the Royal Palace. This chandelier and some big ceiling panels in this room are covered with the wings of 1.4 million Thai Jewel Beetle wings. They are an iridescent green color and really amazing to look at. The wings are about 1 1/2 inches long and 1/2 an inch wide.

Another view of the Royal Palace. once a year they open the palace for about five weeks so the public can walk through and view it. The rooms are huge with intricately inlaid wood floors in each room, each with it's own unique pattern. There was an ACTUAL Louis the 14th footstool. Not a copy, the actual thing. Another room had a Persian carpet about 20 feet by 40 feet. Cameras weren't allowed so no pictures.

This is actually a picture we found in a guidebook but it gives you a little better flavor of the magnitude of the palace.

After the palace, we went to St. Michael's Cathedral - this is the inside, it's pretty huge and ornate.

You can kind of get a feel for how huge this cathedral is here. Construction was started in the 1200's and finished 300 years later.

A gold angel killing a dragon on the side of the cathedral.

Cool architecture with the flying buttresses, arches, etc. As you walk around the cathedral, there's always something different to see. The cathedral is only about a five minute walk from the Grand Place, but the feeling is totally different.

We walked around the whole cathedral and in the back of the building, the street was empty, and laying on the sidewalk was a 20 euro bill! I told the elders it was a sign from heaven and from St. Michael that we needed to get gelato! It was a hot day and the elders all agreed, so we did.

This is a little ferry boat that we drove onto with the Langevelds to cross a river in the little town of Goudarak (Howda-rock), in the Netherlands. They took us there to look at their plate factory place they always go to to order things for the missionaries - kind of along the lines of Deflt blue ware, but about a third the cost. As we drove to this little town, we were driving on a dike that was barely tow cars wide. On one side was the water held back by the dyke and on the other side, and about 20 feet lower were all the houses and little farms. Over 1/3 of the country is below sea level.

Here we are inside the factory, checking out all the neat things they handpaint for people to buy. It was a really fun trip. We were supposed to be back to Rotterdam by noon to help serve lunch to 16 missionaries who had a meeting (we had all the food heating up in the Rotterdam apartment near the church). We got lost coming back with the Langevelds and ended up a half hour late for bringing them lunch, but it all worked out. It was a meeting for any of the missionaries and the senior couples who are involved with the young adult outreach centers. We did end up on three different ferries, driving our car on and then driving off on the other side of the river. The Netherlands countryside was beautiful.

14 - 20 August 2010

Last Saturday, we went to the Grand Place in Brussels for the "Carpet of Flowers". This is the town hall (built in 1444), one of the many cool old buildings in this town center - it's pretty tall!

This carpet of flowers is about half the size of a football field (20,000 sq. ft.). It was really incredible. They only do this every 2 years and it lasts 3 days (that's about as long as the flowers will last). It was packed with people. I don't have any idea how many thousands of people were there. I've never seen the Grand Place so packed.

A center view of the carpet of flowers with the guild house in the background. This guild house belonged to the baker's guild and was built in 1696. This is pretty typical in all the cities in Belgium. The different guilds built their houses around the main square or along the major canals and harbors.

Another spectacular view - we paid 3 euros to go up to a balcony in the town hall and look down at the carpet. The journey through the old Town Hall was spectacular too. They wouldn't allow any pictures and I don't know that I could do it justice trying to describe it. It was just room after room of paintings and old, grand furniture.

558,000 fresh flowers were actually used in making this carpet. The green is grass.

More of a close-up view of the beautiful flowers used.

Here's the happy couple! The Langevelds were with us up on the balcony, along with two of the four elders.

This is the Greek restaurant where we always take the new missionaries the day they arrive. So of course we have to eat there each time we go. The two office elders are in the middle with the Assistants to the President on the sides.

The Langevelds serve in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, so they were excited to experience some of Belgium with us - they had never been to the Grand Place and loved all of it.

More baptisms! This is Joseph Mendy, a man the sisters taught in Antwerpen (I actually taught one lesson with them a couple months ago). He is standing by Julie, my friend in the ward and a great member missionary. The second time Joseph came to church, it was testimony meeting and he bore his testimony! He hadn't even been baptized yet.

This is Joseph Mendey, mentioned above, and Andy Thomas, a young Belgium man who the assistants taught and was baptized at the same time. Andy has a Joseph on each side - on the left is the one who got baptized with him, and on the right is Joseph Tunde, the member, who introduced him to the Gospel and baptized him.

Elder Relitz baptized Joseph Mendey, and Andy was baptized by Joseph Tunde in the picture. The assistants are on either side. Loel taught a lesson to Andy with the assistants one night and was very impressed with him. Andy has a lot of respect for Loel and asked him to stand in the circle when he was confirmed. He also gave him one of his soccer medals kind of as a momento. It was a pretty tender moment when Joseph, the African and a relatively new member, baptized his friend, Andy, a white Belgium guy - as Andy came up out of the water, he hugged Joseph and just kept hugging him - didn't want to let go.

The sister missionaries had African dresses made and put them on after the baptism. Here they are with a couple of African members, Joseph, in the back, who had just gotten baptized, and the man on the side is an investigator that Julie brought to the baptism. He loved it and is now being taught by the assistants.

A picture of lot of the men after the baptism - Andy and Joseph, the two newly baptized members, are in the middle.

Joseph asked me to confirm him. I didn't know until I arrived at church Sunday morning, so it was quite a surprise. How blessed we've been as we've had experience after experience that we never anticipated when we left home.

After church, Julie invited us to her home for lunch. Her son Daniel was there and a relatively new member (since we arrived), Heidi, was also there. Heidi and her mother were both baptized about two months ago. Daniel served a mission to France and is a mainstay in the Young Adult organization here.

This was my birthday celebration at the office. We always make lunch for the office on Monday and Paula made Chicken Fajitas, with Carrot Cake for dessert. My birthday was actually on Sunday and what better birthday gift can you have than to see two new converts confirmed and be able to be a part of that.

This week we had to say good-bye to 4 missionaries who had completed their missions and were going home - it's always hard to say good-bye. We were with them, the Assistants, and the Brubakers the whole day before they went home. Picking them up a the train station, bringing them in for their final interviews, having a wonderful dinner and testimony meeting together, back to the mission home at night for dessert, and then up early the next morning, bringing them and their luggage to the airport. There were three outstanding elders and an incredible sister who we will miss tremendously.

We were supposed to welcome in 3 new elders on Tuesday but they are delayed for visa problems and are temporarily assigned in Jackson, Mississippi! We were very sad when we found out they weren't coming yet. We hope it doesn't take too long to get their visas.

7-13 August 2010

This past weekend was a "senior retreat" - we have about 4 a year where all the senior couples go somewhere fun for the weekend. I was asked to plan it so I took Elder Salden's advice and we spent the weekend in a little town in southeast Holland called Thorn, the white city. This is a picture of two of the senior couples (there are 5 plus Pres and Sis Brubaker) as we arrived at the cute bed and breakfast place I arranged. They had a beautiful garden with different terraces where we visited as we waited for everyone to arrive.

This is another view of the garden behind our B & B.

These are what the streets look like in Thorn - little, narrow cobblestone streets with all white buildings.

We all met at the church in the center of town to start our "walking tour" of the city. Unfortunately, our tour guide had so much to share about the church that we hardly had time for any walking around town at all. The church was really pretty.

A little cemetary beside the church - it gives a little view of the surround buildings nearby.

More of the streets of Thorn - many buildings were built in the late 1600 to early 1700's after the French invasion. The building on the right has three cannon balls built into the front of the brickwork to signify the end of war. The French imposed a tax on the buildings in the town based on the number of doors and windows. The Abbey was torn down by the French and so the town's people took the rubble from the church and filled in the doors and windows. Then they painted all the buildings white to hide the modifications. The buildings have been white ever since.

This is the pannekoekken house where we had dinner. Pannekoekkens are big pancakes, almost like crepes with all kinds of things on them - you choose. Some have meat, cheese, onions, etc, and others are dessert ones with berries, white cream, syrup, etc. They are a traditional Holland favorite.

One of the reasons we chose this area to go to was the Passion Play that is only put on every 5 years and so we attended that. This is a picture of about 1/3 of the outdoor stage - it was pretty incredible - the costumes, staging, acting, music, etc. The only downside was that it was all in Dutch!! I had Elder Salden sit in between Sister Brubaker and I so he could tell us what was going on, but the lady in front of us shushed him as soon as he started talking, so I didn't get too much from him. Of course, I know the basic story.

This was the middle of the stage where Christ is being tried.

This is the last supper. The writer took a lot of literary license and had the production begin with Lazarus being raised from the dead, and then he kind of became the narrator of the rest of the production. They had him portrayed as a very tormented individual who couldn't decide if he was still dead or really alive - kept talking about how he knew he "stinketh." I did catch that word, even in Dutch!

Loel and I stayed at a nearby B&B with just this one bedroom. The others stayed at the bigger one that had more rooms. When we went to check into ours, there was a note on the door saying just get the key next door. So we did, walked into this little house and left our suitcases in the living room as we didn't even know which room would be ours. After the play when we returned, still no one was there, so we just slept in this room, the nearest one, which was the right room, thank goodness! The Dutch are very clean, very efficient, and so you don't see a lot of extra stuff in the room. It was very nice and clean.

From left to right, Elder Langeveld, Pres Brubaker, Loel, and Elder Pankratz. This was in front of the B&B the rest of them stayed at.

We all enjoyed a hearty Dutch breakfast - this picture doesn't do it justice! Lots of different kinds of bread and rolls, fresh fruit, yogurt, musli and jam to mix together, orange juice, meat and cheese for the bread, and of course, two kinds of chocolate sprinkles to put on the bread! The Dutch love their chocolate sprinkles!

The dining room was incredible in it's Dutch blue and white plates and decor. We couldn't stop taking pictures of it, it was so beautifully decorated. the owner educated us to "Blue and White". We thought it was specifically a Delft, Holland thing. But he explained that he has dishes from Delft, Mastricht and Poland, just to name a few. His wife said he is the interior decorator and she does the garden.

These are the 5 senior couples, minus the Brubakers who had to leave early as they were speaking somewhere far away. The rest of us headed to Heerlen, a town about 40 minutes away for church - it has a lot of military people in it so it's an English speaking ward! I loved it; I could understand everything!! It was fun visiting with our two elders there; Elder Brockbank from our home stake, and Elder Knutson. They're doing a great job there.

Loel took this picture from our apartment balcony in Brussels of a pretty sunrise. Notice the church tower in the background - this is a very pretty stone church we can walk to in our neighborhood.

This if the chapel in the town of Leiden, in northern Holland. It is the town that we may be moving the mission home to, if everything works out. So this could be our chapel in a few months! We went here for a zone conf this week and really fell in love with the town - canals running throughout it, just a quaint, smaller town feel to it. It's a university town with the oldest university in Holland there.
We always arrive early with boxes and boxes of missionary supplies that I've been collecting and ordering throughout the past month. I set them all up by zones and by companionships so everyone can easily see which things are theirs to take back to their cities. This time we were asked to make dessert for 60 people so we did - as usual, everything got eaten!

Sister Holbein and I in our matching blouses! I bought one and she loved it so much that I picked up one for her, but this time it was on clearance so it was very cheap! She wanted us to wear them at zone conf together, so we did.

Pres and Sis Brubaker couldn't attend this zone conf as he ended up at the hospital with an infection in his toe! (The assistants ran the whole day by themselves and did an amazing job, finding out one hour before that they needed to do so.) So Sis Brubaker asked if I would conduct the 'birthday celebration' they do each zone conf for those who have had a birthday. The older gentlemen helps the missionaries all the time and always comes to zone conf. First they sing a rousing Dutch birthday song with lots of clapping and stamping, then we go into the chapel and we ask anyone who wants to say something nice or that they appreciate about that person. It's always really sweet with great comments and lots of love. Then we let them pick out a treat from the basket that Sis Brubaker asked if I could shop for since she ran out of time. So here we are, doing our birthday celebration.
After birthdays things become much more serious as the departing missionaries bear their final testimonies. This has always been my favorite part of zone conference. It's incredible to feel of these young missionaries strength and spirit as their mission has come to an end. A very bitter sweet time, full of lots of emotion.