18-24 September 2010

Here is Anya and two of her boys - they are the family from Russia that we have gotten to know and love. She came last Saturday to Brussels to do some sight seeing with a big group of us - there were 9 missionaries as well as Julie and a friend.

Here are Anya's 3 boys. The family is so welcoming to us whenever we come over to visit. We had a really fun day doing lots of walking all around some of the main historical places in Brussels.

Of course we had to get Belgium waffles - my favorite is with hot chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Before that, we all sat at an outdoor cafe and had fries, of course. Two very Belgium favorites - fries and waffles! (All low cholesterol.)

This is a monument to the Belgium soldiers in World War I and II.

A cool church we saw as we walked around that day - pretty impressive statues. The detail of the statuary on the churches and cathedrals is amazing. Then you remember that they did this all in the 13th-15th centuries, with primitive tools..An old puppet organ grinder thing on the Grand Place - this is a picture of the lady who operates it, plus Julie, the sister missionaries, and me.

Here are the Andersons, our new senior couple! We picked them up at the airport last Tuesday and spent the next 3 days with them here in Brussels, helping them to get acclimated to Europe! On the 4th day we took them up to Rotterdam in the Netherlands where they will be working as young adult outreach center leaders. They will be wonderful! They are from near Spanish Fork and are very hard working, willing missionaries. He served as a young man here so he knows Dutch and she's learning it. They were happy to let us drive them around as they didn't like the thought of driving in Brussels! The traffic is too wild.

The very night they arrived, we took them up to Dordrecht in the Netherlands for a senior couples dinner. This is the restaurant we went to - it's surrounded by really cool gardens where they make everything from what they grow there - very fresh and good. We had a really nice evening with all 6 senior couples and the Brubakers. I couldn't believe the Andersons stayed awake as long as they did! In the background is an old water tower converted to a hotel.

This is a cool midevil castle called Gravensteen, in Ghent, Belgium, built in the 12th century. We had to go look at an apartment here so we took the Andersons with us and stopped to visit this castle. Ghent is only about 45 minutes from Brussels.

This shows the knight's armour worn back then. They weren't very tall.

A big fireplace in the castle. They are huge, as you can see. The rooms are large, so they would need a roaring fire in the fireplace to heat the rooms.

Going up one of the many dark, steep staircases in the castle. There's another circular staircase that's steeper than this one. There's a rope all the way up to hold on to as you climb.

One of the views from the top of the castle. Ghent is a city of many canals and bridges, and churches, as shown here.

This is a guillotine that I'm looking at. This castle is actually called 'the gloomy castle' because of all the different instruments of torture it shows! I wouldn't let Loel take pictures of any other torture instruments besides this one. The castle was originally built like the castles built during the Crusades in Syria. This one was originally a Duke's castle and then later converted to a prison. It was during the years as a prison that the torture and executions took place.

More of the inside of the castle.

More of Gravensteen.

And another view. The castle was torn down after the 15th century and later rebuilt using the original stone. There are a few walls that go back to the original building in the 11th century.

While in Ghent, a street vendor was selling these cone shaped candies that I've seen a lot in Belgium. Sister Anderson bought some and we thought they were just okay so brought them back to the office elders. Elder Van Doesburg, next to me, is from the Netherlands, and he verified that they are a national favorite - kind of jelly like stuff inside. They actually kind of grow on you.

We spent two full days at zone conferences this week, leaving early in the morning and returning late at night. This is a picture of three of our missionaries singing a number - notice Elder Osmond (Donny's son) on the right.
We were in charge of lunch for 19 people at the leadership conference the first day. We did a potato bar and it was a big hit. The second day a member made a wonderful Indonesian dish called Nasi Goren that we all enjoyed.

This is Sister Hamblin sharing her final testimony at zone conference before she goes home next week.
This was a really wonderful two days of training with Elder Steeri, an area seventy from Norway. He gave really great counsel and advise to our missionaries on more effectively planning, dealing with discouragement and not being too hard on yourselves, and about the importance of knowing if you're doing everything you can as missionaries, being obedient, etc, the rest is in the Lord's hands. We don't "convert", we "invite" people to come to Christ. He talked about effective finding and how there are those individuals who are prepared or are being prepared for the Gospel and our job is to find them. It was excellent counsel.
We had a very busy, full week. Saturday we drove the big office van up to Utrecht with 4 missionaries with us, then on the way home, brought Sister Brubaker home with us. It really poured hard on the way home - winter seems to be coming as it's raining more and getting colder. We stopped in Antwerpen for a baptism of a nice man that the Assistants have been teaching. It was a very nice service and we loved it, of course.