Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Andre Rieu Concert, Many apartment inspections

On Saturday, July 9 the Leeuwarden Branch Relief Society held a workshop on kitchen herb gardens led by Bonnie.  She had spent weeks preparing and growing plants and the workshop was a great success.  The sisters also prepared fresh food for lunch.  I helped the two Leeuwarden elders do the clean-up.

On Sunday, July 10 we attended Church in our old Leuven Ward in Belgium.  It was wonderful to see so many friends again.  We still understand and love the Flemish dialect.  We stayed for two nights at a hotel in Brussels and attended the Tabernacle Choir concert there on Monday night.  Lest folks think we were just goofing off, we scheduled a fair number of missionary apartment inspections for Monday.  We have been short of senior couples in the mission, so we have to pick up a few more than normal.

With Bruce Rigby and Rob Gerlach before the Brussels concert

Sitting next to Bishop and Sister Dixon from the Leuven Ward in Belgium

Leuven Ward members

Ryan Murphy

After the concert with Ryan Murphy.  He had lots of relatives there.

We bought the tickets for the Brussels concert when we were living in Belgium.  We also bought tickets for the Rotterdam concert because we planned to take non-member friends with us to that concert.  Unfortunately, due to an illness in the family, they were not able to attend, so we gave the tickets to Elder and Sister Oliver.  (We had also had two new members scheduled, but they couldn't make it at the last minute).

The Brussels concert was lovely, but the venue was a bit too small and it was not air conditioned, so it was quite hot.  We were able to meet two friends from the Choir as well as Ryan Murphy and give them boxes of Sjolaa chocolate from our favorite boutique chocolatier in Mechelen.  They didn't have any time to speak of in Brussels, so it was good we were able to give them the treasures.

On Tuesday, we did more apartment inspections and went to a hotel in Rotterdam, where we also stayed two nights.  We were joined by Elder and Sister Hill.  On Wednesday morning, the two sisters embarked on the most popular activity in Rotterdam - shopping.  It appears to have been a success and Elder Hill and I found seating near the dressing rooms where we could wait for our wives.

Part of the results of the shopping excursion

With our nephew, Randall Maxfield

The Hills

Sarah de Wilde - a recently returned missionary from Ohio.

The Olivers

The whole bunch of us

An amazing group of missionaries going home the next day.

With Bruce Rigby and Rob Gerlach

We also ate a delicious lunch in the famous Markthal.  This is an amazing building that opened in 2014 and has 228 apartments, a huge amount of retail space and a large open area in the middle with many restaurants and food booths.  This is in the architectural innovation area of Rotterdam and is quite spectacular with lots of variety and reasonable prices.  The choir members were given a few free minutes after their soundcheck and we were able to direct them back to that area for snacks and pictures.

That evening, we enjoyed a sell-out performance of the choir in a more comfortable venue.  The choir ended the concert by singing "God be With You" in Dutch.  That was an inspirational moment for most in attendance.  They couldn't do this in Brussels because of the Flemish/French divide in the city.

Thursday morning (July 15), we headed down to Margraten and Maastricht.  Margraten is a US World War II cemetery and it is always amazing to visit and walk through the graves.  We all stayed at the Hotel Groot Welsden, introduced to us by Brent and Suzanne Romig.  It is now the top rated family hotel in the Netherlands.  They treat you like long, lost friends.

We went into Maastricht for dinner and the Andre Rieu concert.  Andre Rieu is a native of Maastricht so the concerts there are extraordinary.  This concert went on for about two hours (including the intermission) and then they did about 45 minutes of encores.  It is definitely an event.  His concerts here typically sell out in a few minutes.

Elder and Sister Hill

All three couples 

Waiting for the fun to begin 

The stage is set 

Skaters waltz with the winter Keukenhof background 

The Maestro 

Breakfast at the Hotel Groot Welsden 

With Lucas and Sijna

On Saturday, July 16 we were blessed to participate in a Leeuwarden Branch Primary activity to visit the Aquazoo.  This is a relatively small, but very friendly zoo.  There are not the typical large animals like elephants, giraffes, camels, etc.  There are lots of smaller, friendly animals and they sell food to feed them.  The children were particularly fond of the lemurs and the kangaroos.  There was also a section where the kids could take boats on a small lake (no extra charge).  The first counselor in the presidency also carried a large supply of treats for everyone and that made the day go by quickly for everyone involved.  The last show of the day was a session of sea lion demonstrations.  This was not a typical show, but was educational about the care given to the sea lions.  The animals seemed very anxious for the show to begin.

Leeuwarden Primary + one deacon 

The ring tailed lemurs were a big hit

The boats were free

Lots of activities for kids

The kangaroos were also a big hit 

Sister Ingrid brought lots of treats

On Sunday, July 17, we attended the Groningen ward so that we could make it to the Gouda young adult service on time.  In general, we are supposed to attend the Leeuwarden Ward most of the month, but the Groningen Ward on the third Sunday.  The Gouda service includes a fireside, a light meal and then a sacrament meeting.  The stake presidencies of the four stakes take turns presiding over the meetings and the four stakes take turns serving the meals.

The following week, we spent two more days inspecting missionary apartments in the Den Haag and Leiden areas.  These apartments were in good condition and it made the visits pleasant.  It is also nice to see missionaries we have served with before.  Now that we have been out for 14 months, so many missionaries we knew have already gone home and we are feeling a little "long-in-the-tooth".  We are now the longest serving senior couple in the mission and the only ones signed up for the full 23 months.

On Friday, July 22 we were blessed to attend the temple sealing of Michael Dorreman and Nisa Wanga.  Michael is a recently returned missionary from the German Alpine mission and lives in the Leuven Ward.  Nisa is a member from the Spijkenisse Ward (near Rotterdam).  They are a phenomenal couple and it was fun to watch their romance develop.  She is a nurse and he is studying engineering.  It is another great Belgian/Netherlands couple.

On Sunday, July 24 we were blessed to hear from the Den Haag Temple President Van Dam and his wife.  They gave very interesting talks and are amazing people.  President Van Dam attended Dutch schools in the 1950s for four years when his father served as mission president.  He then returned as a young missionary.  He served as mission president in 1982 and they sent their six children to Dutch schools.  He and his wife were serving a senior mission when we arrived and were then called to serve as the president of the Den Haag Temple.  We really love and admire this wonderful couple.

President Van Dam told of the last king of the Friesians (now the northwest Dutch province), King Radbod who ruled from 680 until 719 AD.  The story is told that he was ready to convert to Christianity, but refused baptism at the last minute when he was told that his ancestors would be in hell because they hadn't been baptised.  President Van Dam reported that he asked the Family History Department if the temple work had been done for King Radbod and they told him that they were certain that it had.  He asked them to check for sure and after 30 minutes of research, they discovered that it had not.  He got permission to do the work for him and his ancestors.  It was certainly an impactful story to be told in the Leeuwarden Branch, the capital of Friesland.

A tapestry depicting the legend of King Radbod refusing baptism at the last minute

We continue to hold a family home evening at our apartment on Monday nights most weeks.  Attendance varies greatly, particularly over the summer, but it is always an enjoyable opportunity to interact with a variety of young people and we always feel inspired to select topics that will be helpful to them.  On Monday, July 25 we watched the Pioneer Day program from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it and it presented a great opportunity to talk about the pioneer phase of Church history.

On Wednesday, July 27 Bonnie drove to Leeuwarden to participate in a baby shower.  She ended up with acute knee pain as she was simply sitting down.  She has been suffering from pain in her left knee as she walks for several weeks.  We were able to get her into the doctor on Thursday afternoon and she was given medication to help reduce the swelling and pain.  She knows that she is facing replacement of this knee when we return, so this is just a stopgap measure to keep her going.  She is doing better now.  Still, at our age, things like this can be scary.

We are off to the Young Single Adult camp (Jovo Camp) on Monday and we'll do another update when we return.