These are the Boegaerts - a really nice family in the ward who had us over for a wonderful dinner on Christmas Day, with Danielle. Their son is Micheal, who is a very stalwart 17 year old. The Young Adult program is a really big deal in this part of Europe and receives attention right from the Area Presidency. The Boegaerts are over the Young Adult Outreach Center in the Antwerp Stake.
Guess where we are? Since we're in Belgium, we HAD to take advantage of this Fed cup tennis tournament with Belgium's darling, Kim Clijsters, who is #1 in the world. The Assistants noticed a poster, got permission to attend, and so we went last Saturday on our P-day!
We got tickets on the 18th row; the closest I've ever been in a professional tennis match.
Here's Kim, getting ready to receive a serve.
It was a USA vs. Belgium match. This is Melanie Oudin, from the USA team who was playing Kim. She's only 19. Brad and I saw her play in the US Open a few years ago when she was 16.
Of course Kim won, to the delight of the home crowd. 6-0, 6-4. Here she is being interviewed afterward. The Elders translated the interview for us as she was speaking Dutch. We actually watched another singles match first of a different Belgium and U.S. player. Belgium won that one, too. Some of our Belgian friends told us it was too bad that the Williams sisters are injured right now. The U.S. was pretty badly outclassed in this match.
We drive by this sports palace every time we go to church in Antwerpen so it was fun to actually attend something there, and especially to attend a tennis match. The Assistants said they'd rather go to a tennis match as it's much calmer than some of the soccer matches here. Andy Thomas, our new convert, is a very good and avid soccer player and he told me on Sunday he didn't want the missionaries going to a soccer match because the fans are so rowdy and the language is so bad.
Last Monday it was in the 50's and sunny, so Sis Brubaker had to get a picture for what she called, "The first day of spring!"
This week we celebrated the President's birthday - we made hot fudge brownie sundaes.
Here are the Assistants, after teaching the Zone Leader Council on Thursday and on Friday, the District Leader Council. They were both in Leiden and we made the main dishes for both days' lunches. We spent both days and nights up in our new apartment in the Leiden area. That was nice not to have to drive back and forth to Brussels. I went for walks both mornings there, kind of discovering the new town we will soon live in. It was so picturesque with little roads, canals, bridges, cute little townhouses, big churches, lots of bakeries, shops, etc.
On our way back to Brussels, we stopped in the town of Gouda, where these two sisters are in the process of moving to a new apartment. The Pankratz were up there, installing things, cleaning things, getting them a new fridge, etc. This is the church right across the street from their new apartment. You would never know it was a church other than by the sign - it just looks like a regular apartment building along the street. The sisters are so happy to have a new apartment so close to the church. They've been traveling about 45 minutes, by train, to get from their old apartment to church.
These are the Boegaerts - a really nice family in the ward who had us over for a wonderful dinner on Christmas Day, with Danielle. Their son is Micheal, who is a very stalwart 17 year old. The Young Adult program is a really big deal in this part of Europe and receives attention right from the Area Presidency. The Boegaerts are over the Young Adult Outreach Center in the Antwerp Stake.
Guess where we are? Since we're in Belgium, we HAD to take advantage of this Fed cup tennis tournament with Belgium's darling, Kim Clijsters, who is #1 in the world. The Assistants noticed a poster, got permission to attend, and so we went last Saturday on our P-day!
We got tickets on the 18th row; the closest I've ever been in a professional tennis match.
Here's Kim, getting ready to receive a serve.
It was a USA vs. Belgium match. This is Melanie Oudin, from the USA team who was playing Kim. She's only 19. Brad and I saw her play in the US Open a few years ago when she was 16.
Of course Kim won, to the delight of the home crowd. 6-0, 6-4. Here she is being interviewed afterward. The Elders translated the interview for us as she was speaking Dutch. We actually watched another singles match first of a different Belgium and U.S. player. Belgium won that one, too. Some of our Belgian friends told us it was too bad that the Williams sisters are injured right now. The U.S. was pretty badly outclassed in this match.
We drive by this sports palace every time we go to church in Antwerpen so it was fun to actually attend something there, and especially to attend a tennis match. The Assistants said they'd rather go to a tennis match as it's much calmer than some of the soccer matches here. Andy Thomas, our new convert, is a very good and avid soccer player and he told me on Sunday he didn't want the missionaries going to a soccer match because the fans are so rowdy and the language is so bad.
Last Monday it was in the 50's and sunny, so Sis Brubaker had to get a picture for what she called, "The first day of spring!"
This week we celebrated the President's birthday - we made hot fudge brownie sundaes.
Here are the Assistants, after teaching the Zone Leader Council on Thursday and on Friday, the District Leader Council. They were both in Leiden and we made the main dishes for both days' lunches. We spent both days and nights up in our new apartment in the Leiden area. That was nice not to have to drive back and forth to Brussels. I went for walks both mornings there, kind of discovering the new town we will soon live in. It was so picturesque with little roads, canals, bridges, cute little townhouses, big churches, lots of bakeries, shops, etc.
On our way back to Brussels, we stopped in the town of Gouda, where these two sisters are in the process of moving to a new apartment. The Pankratz were up there, installing things, cleaning things, getting them a new fridge, etc. This is the church right across the street from their new apartment. You would never know it was a church other than by the sign - it just looks like a regular apartment building along the street. The sisters are so happy to have a new apartment so close to the church. They've been traveling about 45 minutes, by train, to get from their old apartment to church.
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