Zone Conferences with Elder Dyches and Stake Family Day

Monday morning we had Elder Walker and his new companion, Elder Silva with us for their P Day.  It is also an opportunity for us to coordinate our efforts in serving the Leuven Ward.  Together, we have sought out more than 200 members who have not been visited for years.  While most have not lived at the addresses we have listed for years, we have found a few and the Elders picked up an investigator at one of the addresses they visited.

Elders Walker and Silva

We were quite busy this week with ward issues since both the Bishop and 1st Counselor were out of town on vacation.

On Thursday, August 27 we attended a special zone conference for training from Elder Timothy J. Dyches of the Seventy and in the Europe Area Presidency.  We had about 80 in attendance from three zones:  Antwerpen, Den Haag and Amsterdam.  Senior couples really look forward to these conferences because it is a chance to see the Elders and Sisters who have been transferred.  We also get to help feed the missionaries.  Sister Kleyn had organized the meals for both days and we contributed dessert and chips.  It made our job easy.

As we arrived, the weather was decent, but threatening so the missionaries decided to have their picture taken before the meetings began.  Fortunately, I brought a decent camera and tripod and ended up being the group photographer.  The Zoetermeer chapel is in a suburb of Den Haag (The Hague) and close to where the temple is located.  The temple was actually built on the site of the previous chapel and the saints had to wait for many years to get this beautiful new building.

We visited the Zoetermeer Ward two years ago when we were on vacation and at that time they were meeting in an office building with very difficult parking and access issues.  This is also the building we came to our first day in the mission field (straight from the airplane to sacrament meeting).

Zone Conference with Elder Timothy J. Dyches of the Seventy.
This session included the Amsterdam, Den Haag and Antwerpen Zones

Elder Dyches was a master at keeping the meeting moving and engaging.  He also has great personal warmth that inspired and uplifted the missionaries.  As we ended the meeting, we got hit with a huge downpour and the missionaries bravely went out into the storm to return to their areas of labor.  It is interesting that in Belgium and Netherlands, the missionaries thrive on bad weather.  Somehow they are proud of their ability to deal with adversity.

The downpour and the cheerful missionaries.

On Saturday, the Antwerpen Stake had a very successful family outing at a lovely recreation area.  Since the Antwerpen Stake includes a number of units in The Netherlands as well, we had missionaries from two zones together as well as hundreds of members and investigators.  The weather could not have been more perfect.  They had lots of fun activities for the children, lots of athletic activities for the young adults (and missionaries), and lots of opportunities to visit for the older folks like us.  The Stake provided drinks and ice cream and everyone brought their own lunch.  It was fairly low maintenance and very successful.

Three lovely sisters from the Leuven Ward Relief Society

Elders Walker and Silva with Sister C

Elder Bernier our Zone Leader and Sister Vos, the Sister Training Leader

President Boom and his family (our stake president)

Elder and Sister Butler (We will certainly miss them when they leave)

The old folks enjoying the sun.  Since the first of September, the weather has cooled.
This was probably the last gasp of summer. 

With Elder Paur, one of our favorites who is heading home soon.

Elders Paur, Silva and Walker

Elder Paur and Sister van Achten.  She baked the best homemade bread.
The Elders kept coming back.

President Leman and his family (1st Counselor in the Stake Presidency).