Dunkirk

We were doing some painting in Kortrijk Belgium and had a few hours to kill while waiting for the first coat to dry. We decided to drive to Dunkirk, France which is out of our mission. We drove through the country side of Belgium. We saw a few windmills but they are different from the Dutch ones.

Dunkirk was not as nice as we had expected. It was cold with a strong wind. We had hoped to see England but it was not clear enough.



On the way back we stopped at several churches to take pictures. Each had grave stones in the front.



January Events

This is Tim from China. He will be baptised by Lee who was baptised a few months ago.



This is Yenette. She is from Venezuela. Elder Bensen on the left speaks Spanish. They met her at a bus stop and gave her a pass along card. She called them back and learned about the Book of Mormon. She loves to read it.




This was a birthday cake for Elder Bensen.



We were in Lueven Belgium. I was working on an Elder's bike. Sister Everton could see this church and started walking down the narrow streets to find it.

There are so many beautiful sights to see.





This picture is for Desi. She worked with all but one of the sister missionaries in this picture.

This is Elder Hawkley. He is a Marine on leave. He said his mission was much harder than boot camp. Pray got him through it. Prior to his mission he could do 400 push ups and a 4:06 mile. Now he can do 100 push ups.

Some fine missionaries including Harry who is over 80 and works almost every day with the missionaires. He was a full time missionary two 3 weeks during the Christmas holiday when we were waiting for new missionaries to arrive.

We had a birthday party for Sister Larsen at Soule's house. Sister Everton made a desert with a layer of ice cream in between layers of chocolate cake.

Leeuwarden

This is a bridge located in Bartlehiem which shows all the people who have completed the 199 KM 11-City skating race. The race starts and ends in Leeuwarden. The race goes through 11 cities in Friesland. The race is dependent on the weather which must be cold enough to create 6 inches of ice. There have been 15 races since 1909. The last race was 1997. The fastest time is 7 hours but depends on the weather. The worst conditions occurred in 1963 when the temperature was -20 C and only 69 of 10,000 entrants completed the course. Today, the entrants are limited to 20,000. Winners get a medal.

Here you can see the pictures of each racer that are on delft blue tiles. Elder Wilcken and Maughan are standing with Sister Everton.



Elder Wilcken is trying to point to the tile with the picture of Prince Willem-Alexander of the royal family who in 1986 entered and finisthed the race with an assumed name.



This is a monument to commemorate the first baptism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Netherlands. Last October there was a commemoration for the 150 year anniversary. Sorry I look so cold, the temperature was 20 degrees Fahrenheit with a strong wind.

This tree is full of Mistletoe.



This is a something that you see only in Friesland. The swans symbolize a married couple because they mate for life. The wood between the swans is the makelaar (mediator).




We saw many beautiful homes as we traveled the country side.



On the way home, we went over the Afsluitdijk. It was nice to see the sun.

New Years Day





This is Hans and Matilda Ampen Ghana. They are investigators and  have been coming to church regularly for several months. Matilda's dress is hand made. She wears a different one each Sunday.

We had lunch with Janet. She is from St Martin. She fixed a wonderful meal of Indonesian bami noodles with seafood.



Anthony was bapatised on New Years day. He is a good friend.





After the baptism we had the sisters over for a dinner of left overs from Janet. They wanted to visit Desi one last time before her departure.



After dinner the sisters had to ride thier bikes home in the rain. Desi wanted to ride with them. When we started the rain was not too bad but soon it was raining hard and there was a strong wind. We got to the middle of the bridge and stopped to say good bye. Desi gave them hugs in the driving rain. When we got home we were soaked. My shoes were full of water. The last time I fet this wet was 40 years ago as a green Elder in Amsterdam after my first bike ride to church.

On the way to the airport we stopped at the mission home so President and Sister Brubaker could meet Desi.