Nov 27-Dec 3, 2022

 SUNDAY

After church today we were invited to have lunch with Travis and Heather Lybbert. They are from Davis, CA but are here on a six-month sabbatical. Both their son, Rockwell and their daughter, Hannah are serving missions right now. Hannah will be released from her mission in France in January and will join her parents for the last few weeks of their stay. It was a delightful time getting to know them better.

MONDAY

Mondays are always busy at the office. Besides checking on everything that came in over the weekend, we have our Mission Zoom call at 10:00 and the Office Staff meeting at 13:30. Today was no different. There are arrangements to be made to pick up the new cars in Gent, BE, medical issues to deal with, getting a bike for the new Elder coming tomorrow, paying the bills, reimbursing the missionaries for extra travel, etc etc. It's good to be busy!

TUESDAY

We started the day by driving to Den Haag, picking up Elder and Sister Black and driving them to Schiphol Airport so they can fly to Chicago for Elder Black's brother's funeral. We had a good visit with them and appreciate all they are doing working in the National Archives in Den Haag. It is a very different mission than what we are serving and we realize the Lord can use us in so many different, useful ways.

Back to the office to meet our new missionary, Elder Jared Yuyes. He is from Aruba and speaks Papiamento, English and some Dutch and Spanish. We look forward to getting to know him!

Tonight we had our neighbor Benjamin over for dessert and to see his pictures from his trip to Sweden. He and his brother flew into a city in the north of Sweden, then hiked south about 250 kilometers over 2 1/2 weeks. His pictures were amazing! Beginning their journey above the Arctic Circle, there were no trees. As they hiked further south, the small trees began to be seen. One night, a fellow hiker, woke them up to view the Northern Lights. The pictures were beautiful and we had a lovely evening getting to know Benjamin. He comes from a family of six kids, his parents live about 10 kilometers from here and he bikes there every Sunday to attend church in the Dutch Re-Reformed Church. We talked about our religious beliefs and he accepted a Book of Mormon. We hope to have him come for dinner soon.

WEDNESDAY

  

This morning we met Elders Thomas and Doxford at the office and the four of us drove to Gent to pick up two new cars for the mission. It may be a temporary situation as we are waiting for final word about getting more cars. But for now, it sure helps to get all the missionaries to Brussels for the Mission Conference on Friday.

 Doug drove one of the new cars, Elders Doxford and Thomas drove the other one and I drove the mini van back to Gouda. From there the APs made assignments for travel arrangements for the Conference.

THURSDAY

After 'putting out a few fires' at the Office, we headed out with the VandeWal's to Brugge. Since we have a Mission Conference in Brussels Friday, we decided to take an afternoon and see the city that so many people recommend. And it did not disappoint! Brugge is a beautiful city! This time of year, it is decorated for Christmas and there is a big Market with lots of food and gifts.

Saint Savior's Cathedral

Eating our way through Brugge!

We enjoyed Belgium chocolates, Belgium Waffles and Hot Chocolate

The Basilica of the Holy Blood. Tradition says that Joseph of Arimethia cleaned the body of Christ and part of the cloth with the Savior's blood has been preserved and is in a vial at this Bascilica.

Even though it is highly unlikely

this is true, it was a very reverent

environment. The young Priest 

that displays the vial was very 

respectful and solemn.

From Brugge we drove to Brussels and stopped at the Neuhuis Chocolate factory. They have free samples of many, many chocolates! Of course it made us want to purchase some to take home. Doug bought an Advent Calendar. Every day from Dec 1-25, you can open a 'window' and find a piece of chocolate. Delicious!

FRIDAY

The Mission Conference was a wonderful time for the entire mission to gather. Since there was a train strike in Belgium, the logistics of getting everyone there was a bit of a challenge, but the APs worked it all out.

We began the day with the Senior Missionaries, the Service Missionary Couple and Mission Presidency and their wives talking about traditions, memories, stories, poems etc. We had asked our kids what they remembered as Christmas traditions and shared some of those. We had the missionaries raise their hand if their family did something similar. There were many that had the same traditions each year as our family. Making treats and delivering them to the neighbors, Mexican Fiesta for Christmas Eve dinner, singing Christmas carols around the piano, mom blasting Christmas music from Thanksgiving on and acting out the Nativity were just a few mentioned. Only Elder Ornelas remembered going to his grandma's in Mexico and eating Pazole (same as Joanna!)

President Watson shared some thoughts about making room for Christ in our lives:

No Room?

December 4, 2022

Ｎｏ ｒｏｏｍ？

We had an incredible Christmas Conference in Brussels on Friday with our entire missionary force.

They are certainly a force to be reckoned with!

It was a wonderful experience, a real delight to be with everyone and one of many highlights of 2022.

Although the chapel was tightly packed, we had enough available room to spare for everyone to gather and sit comfortably.

During the course of the conference, I shared a verse of scripture from Luke 2:7…

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was 𝐧𝐨 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 for them in the inn.”

Sterling W. Sill commented on that verse as follows:

“For His entire thirty-three years on earth, this cry of “𝒏𝒐-𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎” almost became a theme song for His life. With many people there was no room for His teaching. There was no room for His miracles, no room for His doctrines, no room for His faith.

Even in our day, with the judgment of time shining upon his life, we are still re-enacting the ancient scene of Bethlehem by crying, “No room, no room.”

We make room for gifts, but often we have no room for the giver. We have room for our own commercialism of Christmas and our pleasure seeking on the Sabbath day, but we have no room for worship. No room for service, no room for righteousness. The reason there was no room in the inn was because all of the available space was already occupied. And we are only following the ancients when we fill our lives so full of other things that we have no time or space left for the Light and Life of the world.”

Pause for a moment.

Look around, the annual commercialisation of Christmas is now well underway – again.

Christmas is what each of us make it.

Despite all the distractions, it is up to each of us to choose to put Jesus Christ at the very centre of our celebrations.

“Finding the real joy of Christmas comes not in the hurrying and the scurrying to get more done, nor is it found in the purchasing of gifts. We find real joy when we make the Saviour the focus of the season. We can keep Him in our thoughts and in our lives as we go about the work, He would have us perform here on earth.” – Thomas S. Monson

I hope that as we start to count down the days to Christmas, each of us will remember the light that Jesus Christ brings into our lives’ and always remember to make room for Him.

What room are you making for Christ in your home this Christmas?

After a delicious lunch, the missionaries put on skits they had prepared as Districts. Doug was asked to be the MC for the skits and did a great job. He had Elder Doxford play Jingle Bells with a ragtime flare as he came on the stage dressed as Santa. The Elders and Sisters loved it!

  SATURDAY

We spent a fun (and very cold!!) afternoon with our good friends Henk and Alja Schuur and Norma and Gerrit VandeWal. We went to a Christmas Market in the village of Soest where Alja and Henk live.

Roasting mini bread loaves

Gerrit, Alja, Marcia, Doug, Henk

After exploring the shops we went to dinner at De Smickel, a pannenkoekenborderij. It was so fun to watch the chefs make the pancakes!

Doug, Marcia, Alja, Norma, Gerrit, Henk

It's hard to see in the picture, but the chefs use a industrial-sized sprayer to put butter/oil on the pancakes. Here the chef is having some fun with the oil and the flame! 😳

Then back to Henk and Alja's for dessert. It was a really fun afternoon and evening with good friends!