Inspecting Missionary Apartments

This week, in addition to our other duties, we began inspecting missionary apartments.  In our mission, we only have one office couple - Elder and Sister Robison.  They are responsible for all of the cars, the apartments, the telephones and the business of the mission.  We figure those jobs would be done by three couples in most missions.  To make it work, the senior couples do apartment inspections on a quarterly basis.  In the past, there was only one senior couple (the Butlers based in Eindhoven) to cover the two zones in the south.  This put quite a burden on them.  We have been assigned to cover the apartments in the Antwerpen Zone.

We decided to start with our district -the Turnhout district since we see the missionaries each week in district class.  As we began the process, we could quickly see the wisdom in this effort.  These days, most Elders come out at 18 years of age and have never lived on their own.  They often lack the basic skills in maintaining an apartment.  A common thread in visiting the Elders apartments was the need to mop the floors.  Most floors here are covered with tile and could be easily cleaned.  A second common problem was keeping bathrooms clean.  Some didn't have the most basic cleaning supplies and it was obvious that it had been many months since showers had been cleaned.  Other problems included clogged or slow drains, broken lights or light fixtures and no covers on duvets (the mission uses duvets for all of the apartments).  The older Elders generally did better than the younger ones, and the Sisters apartments were in good shape except for a few repairs.

We were also impressed with the quality of apartments that the mission has found.  The worst apartment was quite nice (except for ancient furniture badly in need of replacement).  The apartments are roomy and comfortable.  Of course, there is no air conditioning and this week, with temperatures reaching almost 100 degrees, some have been quite hot (ours included).  While it sounds nice to have a "penthouse" apartment like we have on the 6th floor (5th by European measures since they don't count the ground floor as 1), it is quite hot.  The missionaries with ground floor units are much more comfortable in the heat.  The Church has quite an investment in maintaining the European missionaries and we feel grateful to be working here and with these young missionaries.

We also had the opportunity of working with a couple of the companionships this week as they teach and we have enjoyed those blessings.  In general, I would say that they know the principles of the Gospel fairly well and are very effective in teaching from the scriptures.  I have also been impressed with the boldness they use in teaching obedience to commandments, particularly the Law of Chastity.  If I were to recommend training to improve things, I would recommend more emphasis on Chapter 10 of Preach My Gospel.  Of course, it is hard to get 18 to 20 year olds to notice what is going on in the lives of investigators and then to notice how to help them apply Gospel teachings in their lives.

On Thursday evening, July 2, we had a visit from the local police representative to verify our address.  This is an additional step required by the Mechelen city government.  We had to pay about $45 to fund this activity.  It took them about three weeks to get around to us.  The next step is to wait for an invitation from the city hall to make an appointment for the next step in the registration process.  If we are lucky, we will get our Belgium ID cards sometime this month.  It only took about two weeks to get our cards for the Netherlands.  Belgium delegates most duties to the community because of the political difficulties between the French, Flemish and German speaking populations.  Belgium is about 60% Flemish (Dutch speaking), 30% French and 10% German.  Of course there are also many immigrants here these days and the missionaries seem to have the most success among these populations.

Saturday morning, July 4, Sister C attended a truffles and praline workshop at a local boutique chocolate store.  It is run by a husband a wife.  The man has been making chocolate for 40 years.  It is considered the best in Mechelen and one of the best in Belgium.  The name of the shop is Sjolaa.  It is less than five minutes from our house by bicycle.  She had a great time at this three hour workshop and hopes to do another one when they start having them again in the fall.  The shop is only open Wednesdays through Saturdays and they take a two month vacation in the summer.  It goes to show what focusing on a premier product does for a small business.  I certainly enjoyed the fruit of Sister C's labor upon her return.

Sister C at the amazing Sjolaa workshop

The Young Men of the Leuven Ward conducted a car wash and food sale (pannekoeken, etc.) on Saturday to raise money to help support the six youth in the ward who want to attend the Church camp.  It costs about $150 per youth and one of the families has four youth, so this would be quite a burden.  The car wash was a great success and the food sales even more so.  Belgium and the Netherlands has been hit with a heat wave, so this was quite a sacrifice for the young people to do the car wash in the heat.  We actually hit 39 degrees C (about 102 F) on a couple of days.

Our little Opel getting washed.  They did a thorough job.

The YM President getting help from his younger sisters to wash the family car.

Sister C with one of her students

Sister Caldwell started teaching some of the kids in the ward piano lessons this week.  They are very cute, enthusiastic children and she is thrilled to start the teaching process.

Sister C enjoying her new keyboard at home.  She is doing great at keeping her skills up.

On Saturday evening, Bishop Dixon invited us, the Elders, the Pushnoys (1st Counselor in the Bishopric) and a couple of his American neighbors to a BBQ at his home.  The bishop and his wife did a great job with the BBQ.  The young couple he invited were charming young people who had just finished up masters degrees in theology from the University of Leuven.  They are devout Catholics and we had a wonderful visit with them.  It was a lovely evening.

Sister C with Sister and Brother Pushnoy (1st Counselor in the Bishopric)

Bishop Dixon in action on July 4.  It was so delicious!

On Sunday, we attended our first Fast and Testimony meeting in the mission.  The Sunday we arrived, the Soetermeer Ward held their unit conference instead of the regular Fast and Testimony meeting.  The testimonies were sincere and pure.  We felt blessed to be there.  After Church we went with the elders to visit an inactive member, but were stood up.

On Monday, July 6, we had a visit from Elders Besendorfer and Clukey (from our Leuven Ward) and Sisters Maughan and Goodman from Turnhout to enjoy Preparation Day together in Mechelen.  Sister C made American style pancakes with Bisquick we had purchased at the American store in Antwerpen and with Canadian maple syrup we had purchased from Makro in Brussels.  She also made her famous Apple Syrup.  The pancakes seemed to disappear at a good clip.  The Elders and Sisters used our computers for their weekly email contact.

An American pancake breakfast on Monday, July 6.
Sister Goodman, Sister Maughan, Elder Clukey and Elder Besendorfer

We left our apartment to go into the center of Mechelen to visit the St. Rumbolt's Church Tower.  This tower is over 300 feet tall with about 525 steps, two carillons and a clockworks.  the external clockworks are no longer there, but were once on four sides and larger than Big Ben.  Today, the carillon chimes every 7 1/2 minutes.  It was a thrilling place to visit because you got quite close to the bells.  Once we reached the top, we could see for miles in all directions.  It was easy to spot the Atomium in Brussels and the landmarks of Antwerpen in the distance.  By the time we reached the bottom again, Elder and Sister C were quite weak in the knees.

Happy missionaries at the Grote Markt (large market) of Mechelen

Elders Clukey and Besendorfer loading up on frites before the ascent. 

Sisters Goodman and Maughan tasting the frites

About halfway up the 525 steps.

The carillon room

The carillon and part of the clockworks.  Very impressive when
you are standing in the small space.  We were there at 1:30 PM.

The clockworks.  It's like a giant, programmable music box.

The "young lovers" hanging out in the bass section together.

On top of the world (or at least Mechelen.  You can see Brussels and Antwerp.

The Brussels skyline with the Atomium easy to spot.

The tired climbers awaiting waffles.

The waffles begin to arrive.

More waffles.

Elders Clukey and Besendorfer with Jumbo

The star attraction, about one week old.

We treated the Elders and Sisters to fresh Brussels waffles at the carnival booth that happened to be on the Grote Markt (Great Market) this week.  The sisters had to return to Turnhout, but we took the elders to visit the Plankendael Zoo.  We have driven past this zoo many times in our stay here, since it is in the outskirts of Mechelen on the road to Leuven.  The zoo was well laid out and was well attended (even on a Monday afternoon).  Elder Clukey had a list of animals he wanted to see including the new baby elephant, the baby giraffe, the kangaroos, koala, penguins, etc.  It was quite a walk, but we found everything.  The zoo is on a large piece of property so the animals have a lot of room to roam.  It was certainly worth a visit.

This week is also transfer week.  There were a number of missionaries leaving and 19 new missionaries coming in.  We had met one of them who was just starting at the MTC when we were there.  Elder Besendorfer is returning home on Wednesday.  We will certainly miss him.  He is a spiritual giant.  Elder Clukey is being made a trainer and will be receiving a new missionary.  Elder Johnson (our District Leader) will also receive a new Elder.  Elder Cook is being transferred to Deventer to become a district leader.  Sister Maughan is being transferred to Antwerpen and will be a sister trainer.  Elder Paur will also be going to St. Niklas, Belgium and will also become a trainer for a new missionary.

It is amazing how attached you get to these young missionaries in a short period of time.  Time these days seems to be measured by transfers (every six weeks to match the MTC completion times).  Today (Tuesday, July 7) was our last district class together.  We all enjoyed working together and enjoyed a fair amount of success.  It was a spiritual, wonderful class and Elder Johnson shared some special experiences that set a nice tone.  We feel very blessed to know and work with these great missionaries.