Great Families, Great Missionaries

On Wednesday, we had a dinner appointment with the De Connick family.  He is Belgian and she is Filipina-German.  They met at a young single adult conference a few years ago and now they have three very cute daughters.  Sister De Coninck is the primary president and really does a great job.  Sister C is looking forward to working with her in the primary music calling.  President De Coninck is the Elders Quorum President.  They are certainly a "power couple" in the ward and both do a fabulous job as parents.  It is fun to watch them in action with their three, very active little ones.  They live in a suburb of Brussels.

Today, on Thursday July 30, Sister C took her first spill on her bicycle.  Fortunately, she was making a very slow U-turn and fell over when she turned too sharply.  She was wearing levis since we were out on our morning exercise run.  I think she only wounded her pride.  We also made progress on completing our residency in the city of Mechelen.  We went in to have our temporary permits extended and were informed that our files are now complete and that we can return on Wednesday to process our ID cards.  This will unlock our 50 Euro annual bus passes and other issues we have been dealing with.

When we returned on Wednesday, they scanned passport photos, took our fingerprints and collected our electronic signatures.  Now we have to wait two to three weeks for the cards and PINs to come from Brussels.  Such is the joy of the fragmented governance of Belgium.  Our biggest frustration is that we can't get rid of styrofoam until we get our ID cards and we have to take it to a "container park".  The styrofoam tower in the corner of our study is now getting to be quite impressive.

Still no way to get rid of the styrofoam.  We need to have a Belgian
Identity card.  We have now completed everything, but have to wait
two to three more weeks from it to come back from Brussels.

While we were in the Mechelen center, we discovered this poster that reminded us of Kuwait and Richard and Harriet Bushman.  We used to do a fall "Proms" at the British Embassy in Kuwait.  Here, we would have to go to Antwerp.  We may have to do it, just to stay in the spirit.

Sister C with the Prom poster.  Reminder of the Bushmans and Kuwait.

Sister C loves the gorgeous petunias all over Mechelen

This week, we also got a call from the Rust Huis Egmont (The Egmont Rest Home).  We had approached them about three weeks ago about doing a musical program there and they seemed positive.  With the vacations, it takes a while for things to get going in the summer.  That got Sister C practicing in earnest since they have no piano there and she will need to accompany herself on a guitar.  She has even persuaded me to work on the ukulele chords for "E Ku 'u Morning Dew".  Now she is trying to get me to sing along as well.

We are continuing to visit the less active members of the ward and have now visited all of the areas except for Brussels.  Most of the members on the list for Brussels attend the French wards there.  For the most part, the addresses are long out of date, usually ten to fifteen years.  We found two addresses that were in the middle of a farmer's field.  We have also found abandoned buildings and buildings converted to businesses.  It can be frustrating at times, because the distances are great and we end up driving on lots of interesting streets.  We looked for one address and the GPS decided that it was a cemetery.  As we drove down the road a bit further, we located the actual house number.  Ironically, one of the neighbors reported that both the member and her husband had passed away.

We also made contact with a couple of members who were happy to see us and want further contact with the Church.  It certainly reinforces the value of home and visiting teaching, especially if it is done with the spirit of "watch-care".  So far the members we have found who are willing to have further contact have continued to pray.  At the moment, only 9% of Belgians consider themselves religious, with most now believing in atheism.  Some believe in a force in the universe, but only a minority still believe in God.  It is quite a change from what we saw 45 years ago here.  It also reinforces the inspired nature of "Preach My Gospel" attuned to this generation.  Back then, we started talking about the many churches.  Now we start talking about a loving Heavenly Father who cares for His children and who will help them in making correct choices.

On Sunday, I conducted sacrament meeting for the first time and Sister C led the Primary music for the first time.  Bishop Dixon had prepared a detailed guide for conducting since he is also a non-native Dutch speaker.  It certainly make things easier for me.  Sister C has a long history of doing Primary music and spent the week trying to learn the songs in Dutch.  She thought she had them mastered until she was in Primary with a big group of very active children.

Bishop Dixon showering TLC on the flowers at the entrance to the Church
He does the same thing for the members.

On Monday, we drove to the MAKRO (Costco on steroids) near Brussels to purchase food for the district class on Tuesday.  We also had a visit from the Leuven Elders to check their emails.  There is a non-stop bus from the Mechelen station to Leuven so it was easier for them than the return from Antwerpen where there was a zone activity.

On Tuesday, we decided to surprise the missionaries with a treat of fresh mussels from Zeeland (a province of the Netherlands).  Most had not had mussels before, and they proved to be a real treat.  We bought two kilos of mussels and a vegetable packet to cook with them.  Preparation was quite easy.  We simply put the greens on the bottom of the pot, sprinkled white pepper over the greens and then added the mussels (after rinsing them twice in cold water).  In eight to ten minutes, the mussels popped open and were ready to eat.  We also served them with a delicious sauce.  Everyone seemed to like them.  We were glad that we did that because most would have missed the mussel season this year.  The normal portion is one kilo per person, but the two kilos for twelve people seemed to be about right for an appetizer with the meal.  We didn't take pictures this week, but we did last week.

Elders Thornton, Roberts and Hosea (Back Row L-R)
Elders Johnson, Clukey and Walker

Sisters Goodman and Voss

We make a pilgrimage a couple of times a week to a local bakery.  Once we tasted their bread, we have had a hard time going back to the bread at the supermarkets.  The supermarket bread here is wonderful and baked locally as well, but this local bakery is hard to beat.  We spend about Euro 2.20 per loaf.

Sister C with the amazing bread from our local bakery