Zone Training and a Visit from the Andersons

On Tuesday, January 12, we fed the missionaries from our zone at the regular zone training class.  Sister Caldwell decided to do her famous Hungarian goulash.  After a couple of experimental batches of homemade noodles, she decided that we should look for egg noodles instead.  We were fortunate to find pappardelle noodles at Makro (Costco on steroids) and the meal was well received by the missionaries.  We continue finding shortcuts as we find more local products that we can use.  I suspect we might actually know what we are doing by the time we leave.

After the meal, we were pleasantly surprised as one of our zone leaders, Elder Harrop took charge of the cleanup.  We were impressed with his organizational and leadership skills, but most of all his work ethic.  He ended up working late to ensure that the church building was spotless before leaving.  We feel so blessed to serve with these amazing young people.  Elders Lott and Harrop (our zone leaders) also invited us to dinner on Friday night as we inspected their apartment and they gave us treats to take home as a thank you for preparing the dinner for zone training.  (I should also add that their apartment was clean and orderly).

Elders Lott and Harrop serving us a lovely enchilada dinner.  They are the best!

As usual, some of Sister Caldwell's piano students are running out of steam.  Many people start with great enthusiasm but give up when they find out how much work it is.  My mother used to say that teachers have to be friendly slave-drivers.  Very few kids come wired with the drive to master things.  Through the generosity of the Harmon Foundation, we were able to get keyboards for her students, but they come back to the mission if they don't finish the courses.  Since Sister Caldwell gives the lessons for free, they are often not valued and some students and parents are not as committed.

We continue to work with many inactive members and some come out occasionally.  It is hard to get people back into the habit of regular church attendance.  If these folks came back regularly, the ward would certainly be stronger and the service loads could be more easily handled.  Of course, the blessings in their personal lives would multiply as well.

On Saturday, January 16, I attended Stake Priesthood meeting and sat next to two old friends, Wilfried DeCoo and George Tuffin.  Wilfried was a young (24 year-old) branch president in Antwerpen when I served my first mission.  George is the eldest son of Victor Tuffin who was the district president at the time.  We had a great time catching up.  George has written the history of the Church in Flanders and is now working on a second volume.  We were fortunate to have a few pictures of our time here and I suspect they will show up in the history since George indicated he had no pictures from that era.  I had scanned our pictures during our US stay before our mission and I am glad that we had the scans with us.  We will also meet with George later so he can interview us about our memories of that era.

That evening we were invited for a lovely dinner at the home of the first counselor, Victor Pushnoy.  He is from the Ukraine and works for an automobile paint company.  His wife is from Georgia (in the former USSR - not the USA).  They have three active boys who are charming and cute.  We enjoyed their company immensely.  As we returned home and were pulling into our parking spot, a warning light came on in our car indicating a fault with the electronic ignition.  The car would only run on a rough idle.  I turned it off and back on and the fault seemed to go away, so we thought that it was maybe a temporary condition.  The next morning as we left early to go to Church, we drove it out of the garage and onto the street and the light came on again.  We limped back into the garage and explored alternative ways of getting to Church and notified Elder Robison in the mission office.  He told us to come to Gouda that afternoon and they would have another car for us to borrow.

We discovered that we could not make it to Church using mass transit in time to catch the train to Gouda for the other meetings.  We also discovered that it is impossible for members in Mechelen to use public transport to get to the Church meetings on Sundays because of the reduced schedule and late start for the system.  We are not sure that this fact was considered when the members were asked to go to Leuven.  It also explains why some of the members here go to Brussels and Antwerpen instead of Leuven.  It was a valuable lesson for us, but a bit frustrating not to be able to make it to our regular church meetings.  We did, however, attend the Young Single Adult sacrament meeting in Gouda that evening.

Our district meeting was moved from Tuesday to Wednesday and from Leuven to Turnhout so that President and Sister Bunnell could conduct interviews.  That meant an early start with the food for lunch.  The Elders from Leuven took the bus to our house and rode with us from Mechelen to Turnhout.  Fortunately, the traffic through Antwerpen was light so we arrived in plenty of time.  After the interviews, all 10 missionaries in the district returned to our home in Mechelen where they blitzed (tracted and contacted people in the area), ate dinner and then at 6:00 PM we watched the Worldwide Missionary Training together.  This is the first training of this kind in ten years.  Our instructions were to watch it as a district.  Needless to say, after spending the day together and then watching the broadcast together, we had great unity in our district.

Elder Bishesar showing the district how to eat rambutan.

Sister Doxey diving right in.

Taking notes at the world-wide missionary training broadcast

On Friday afternoon, January 22, Vicki and David Anderson along with two sons, Dallin and Jacob arrived for a three-day visit.  We all hopped the train to Brussels and had a great time together.  They are very adventurous and appreciate the subtleties of Belgian chocolate (and PDQ Bach).  David served as stake clerk when I served as stake executive secretary so we have a long association.  Vicki and Bonnie also share a love of music and primary.  Sister Caldwell persuaded them to prepare a special musical number for sacrament meeting and it went very well.

The slightly soggy Andersons by the Manneken Pis in Brussels

The direction finder in Mechelen showing how they tried to extinguish the moon in the 1600s.

The Andersons trying to decide if Luikse or Brussels waffles are the best.

On Saturday, we visited the market in Mechelen and then I participated in a Stake Family History Workshop in Antwerpen.  The Andersons visited Sjolaa, our local chocolatier and then climbed St. Rombolt's tower.  The family history workshop was well attended and well organized by Brother Marc Schilts.  This is the second workshop he has organized and it is a great blessing for folks in the area.  I was blessed to work with a couple who have found the names of 130,000 relatives.  The family history work here is amazing.  We finished the day by taking the Andersons on a pilgrimage to Makro where they dove into the delights of northern European cheeses (among other things).

Sunday morning, we all took off for the Church meetings in Leuven.  The Anderson/Caldwell musical number, "And His Name Shall be Called, Wonderful," was well received and the speakers provided inspirational messages.  The Andersons endured the entire block and had limited translation.  Since they have been attending in Metz, France, the transition from French to Nederlands (Dutch) was a bit confusing.

Holidays and starting the New Year

The holidays gave us lots of work in helping prepare the ward Christmas dinner, the Sunday program and visiting families who were struggling with health and financial issues.  Because of privacy concerns, we hesitate to mention details of these situations, but we have a number of families who are really struggling and we have spent many hours ministering to their needs.  We know we helped alleviate some privation and suffering over the holidays.  While there is a decent safety net in Belgium, some needs and issues just fall through the cracks.  It makes you grateful for the welfare program of the Church and for the generosity of members in ministering to those needs.

The holidays can be a little lonely for senior couples.  We have spent six of the last seven Christmases away from our children and grandchildren, although Lee, McCall and Tait visited us in Kuwait and Beirut five years ago.  We did enjoy a nice FaceTime call with each of the kids on Christmas day.  We also had the Leuven elders with us that day as they made their phone calls home.  We finished off the day with a little impromptu carolling at the bus station as they caught their bus back to Leuven.

On the Sunday after Christmas, we watched the First Presidency Christmas fireside for our sacrament meeting service.  Then a number of members visited a rest home where one of our members is located and carolled.  We did so well that they asked us to carol to three different wards of the home.  I guess we have what it takes to form a decent ward choir.

In the last transfer, about half of the district left, including our beloved district leader, Elder Hosea (who became a zone leader).  Our new district leader is from Surinam, Elder Bishesar.  He is a seasoned veteran and hit the ground running.  We also had the two zone leaders with us for our first class.  Elder Lott returned to Belgium as a zone leader and folks were happy to see him, especially the people in the Leuven ward.

On New Year's eve, we travelled to the extreme north of the mission to Leeuwarden and Groningen to meet the other couples serving in the mission, including President and Sister Bunnell. First, we visited the site of the first baptisms in the Netherlands on October 1, 1861.

We then visited a lovely wooden shoe factory and finally went to a spectacular buffet restaurant for dinner.  We were surprised to find a New Year's special of 19 Euros per person instead of the usual 29.  I guess we could describe the place as a gourmet buffet.  President Bunnell started off with a roll-em-up (rolled pickled herring).  He then dug into kangaroo and crocodile steaks and followed it up with a selection of great desserts.  He set a standard that none of the rest of us could match, although Sister Beryl Gout made a valiant effort.

President and Sister Bunnell showing how to fit two into a pair of shoes. 

We had to follow the good example of our beloved mission president.

Elder Gary Romig showing the favorite missionary shoes.

The Romigs finally got as silly as the rest of us. 

President Bunnell tieing into a roll-em-up.  Sister Bunnell is doing her best to ignore him.

Sister Bunnell got very friendly during the dessert phase of the meal.

After the buffet dinner, we all checked into a hotel in Groningen and then went to the senior missionary apartment to watch the New Year's fireworks, enjoy each other's company and eat even more food.  We definitely stayed up too late for folks our age and returned to the hotel after 1:00 AM.  It is such a blessing to serve with these wonderful couples.

Elder Gary Romig presiding over the festivities (or pondering Lehi's dream).

Buddy Gout and Sister Robison playing quartet with famous philosophers.  The cards were in Dutch.

Elder Hill looking on.

Elder Robison trying to look interested.

The sisters showing how teamwork is done. 

A tough game of five crowns.

The next morning, we met at the home of Buddy and Beryl Gout who are responsible for the Young Single Adult program in the area.  We enjoyed a lovely brunch and then parted to go our separate ways.  We journeyed to Almere to see John van Vliet and his daughter Judith (and family).  We had a wonderful visit with them and Judith served us appleflap and oliebollen, traditional Dutch New Year's treats.

The whole gang at the Gout's before departure.

The van Vliets/Fuenzalidas

Life returned to normal on Sunday as we held fast and testimony meeting, helped the elders teach a lesson and then made a mad dash to go to Antwerpen for the Young Single Adult (Jovo) fireside.  We were blessed to have Michael Dorreman with us since he returned from the Alpine mission this past month.  He is a great young man and it is nice to have the Leuven Ward represented with the rest of the Jovos in the stake.

We tried a traditional Belgian dish (vol au vent) on the missionaries at the district class this week and it seemed to be well received with most asking for seconds.  We like to introduce the young missionaries to some of the local delicacies from time-to-time.  I can't say that the foie gras went over as well, although everyone tried it.  No one asked for seconds.  We started the local tradition last summer by serving mussels.  Many had never tried it before and it inspired the Bishop to try them for the first time (after eight years in Belgium).

We also began the process of inspecting missionary apartments again.  We have about 22 to do and we do it every three months.  We do a lot of instruction on basic cleaning, perform basic home repairs, check for carbon monoxide and fire alarms and leave them with a treat.  The apartments have definitely improved with regular inspections.  We also enjoy getting to know the missionaries a little better.