5-10 December 2010

This week's blog is kind of different. We posted late last week, so we included our weekend activity for two weeks. This week is just our weekly activities. No sight seeing. This week was a little different as four Zone Conferences were held in the different zones of the mission and we traveled to all of them. Normally they would be held maybe two a week. But with Christmas and President and Sister Brubaker's desire to have a special conference before Christmas, they were all in this week. The conferences this week included a Christmas program prepared and presented by the missionaries for the stakes and the community, celebrating the birth of the Savior. As a result the conferences went to 8 PM instead of the normal 4 PM. Paula and I stayed in the Netherlands two nights because of the distance we would have to drive each night and the next morning (three hours each way). It was a great week and we have some tremendously talented missionaries. The rest is Paula's narration.

It was Elder Conder's birthday so I made him a pumpkin cake, at his request, for our Monday lunch.

Here we are at our first Christmas zone conference of the week. This one was in Leiden. We had a fondue lunch each day. It was delicious. We helped Sister Brubaker prepare all the things to dip into the cheese fondue. We had peppers, potatoes, pickles, apples, bread, and salami.

At the end of the lunch, we served a plate of cookies that we had made on Monday. I had gone over in the morning to help make them, and then Loel and I returned that night and helped them finish the project. Pres Brubaker is quite the artist and really decorated them well. Sis Brubaker made the fancy heart shaped ones. We had a good time decorating them together.

Here's Loel, getting ready for the second day of fondue lunches in Rotterdam.

This time we sat at a table with two other senior couples and had a nice visit. We actually didn't get sick of preparing and eating fondue each day for four days in a row!

Two of the nights we stayed up in the Netherlands with the Langevelds. Here they are, studying in the morning in their PJ's in their apartment. They were so nice to us, letting us stay in their guest bedroom, feeding us great breakfasts, etc.

Sister Brubaker had me order Smart Wool socks for each elder and we wrapped them as a Christmas gift. Here is Elder Christensen, showing us his socks with huge holes in them as he holds up his new pair! He goes home next week and we will miss his sense of humor.
We asked each senior couple to be in charge of making soup for dinner for the missionaries each night before they put on their program. We made 4 batches of minestrone soup for our zone and it was practically all gone at the end of the meal. As we were serving up the soup, I got a big kick out of one elder who asked, "Elder Tibbitts, were you a cook in the Air Force? Because you seem really good at making big meals for large groups of people?"

Each night of the zone conference, each zone put on a Christmas musical program. This is our zone and the missionary choir they performed in, with Sister Brubaker leading. It was a really nice evening - we saw 3 of the 4 programs over the week. We have some really talented missionaries.

Here are our best friends - the 3 office elders and the Assistants. Two of the five are from Timpview High School in Provo - our neighbors.
The President gave some great instruction to the missionaries at these zone conferences. He told them that this Christmas in the mission field will always stand out as one of their favorites, because they're kind of insulated from the hustle and bustle of the gift buying, etc, and can concentrate on the birth of Christ and sharing His gospel. It made me grateful for this time that we have to experience Christmas in the mission field. We haven't had to worry about the regular Christmas stresses, but have enjoyed serving here.