Hello all,
Well, we still are not meeting as many people as it seems to me that we used to in Strasbourg. It’s sad that I keep on comparing Belgium to Strasbourg. Not everything was great there! Not by a long shot. But the more time passes, the more it will probably seem like it was just perfect.
Anyway, the sisters took us on a visit to a lady who seems as sincere as I have ever seen anyone. She kept nodding positively as they made their presentation. Admittedly, she said she would come to Church, and then didn’t make it, but I think it was for a legitimate reason. People are coming back from vacation, and there truly were quite a few people at Charleroi last Sunday (Aug. 24). I gave the Priesthood Lesson and had 80% of the chairs filled (probably 16 people). . . not bad for the mission field. It was usually about like that in El Centro, and often smaller.
I have just given you an example of a terribly written paragraph! Each one of the sentences has little to do with the other four. So I’m going to re-write it.
Here it is again:
Anyway, the sisters took us on a visit to a lady who seems as sincere as I have ever seen anyone. She kept nodding positively as they made their presentation. Admittedly, she said she would come to Church, and then didn’t make it, but I think it was for a legitimate reason.
People are coming back from vacation, and there truly were quite a few people at Charleroi last Sunday (Aug. 24). I gave the Priesthood Lesson and had 80% of the chairs filled (probably 16 people). . . not bad for the mission field. It was usually about like that in El Centro, and often smaller.
* * * * * *
Two weeks ago, the stake executive secretary, Yvan Leonard, invited us to dinner for Aug 24, and we went and had a great Chinese dinner (yes, in Belgium). Wow, did he talk a lot! And asked us a lot of questions about the Church in Utah. His son was a missionary in Ogden, and even a zone leader. But while there he heard a lot (lots!) of people who said, “Why does anyone want to go to BYU? You should go to U of U, not BYU!” We told Yvan (the dad) that in Utah we now have “ La Sainte Guerre” (the Holy War) which is BYU/U.U. football rivalry, and which can get pretty serious!! He also heard about gun-totin’ racists in southern Utah! Yup, that’s what he heard about! You know, the big question of immigration! What surprised him most was that SLC is less Mormon than other areas in Utah (certain suburbs, Provo, etc.). It sounds like the European press/media picks up more of crazy things than a person would think, especially about the FLDS. Today, we even learned from some Belgians that the CIA and FBI have found some skin-heads planning to bomb the Democratic Convention. We haven’t heard or read about that yet, but maybe I will tonight after I finish this.
Among other things, Yvan Leonard told us is something we have sensed for a long time, and that is that the Church leaders in Europe seem to be a lot more strict than in the US. The current stake president in Brussels is (is!) an American, however, and he is trying to help the bishops and high council to be a little less harsh. This is interesting to me, because I think that in El Centro, the person who was stake president most of the time we were there was pretty “hard line.”
A letter from the European Area Authorities was read in Charleroi’s Sacrament Meeting, in which it was stated that Bern Temple has an urgent need for more senior couples. So we are going to do all we can to get ourselves called to go there next year. You’ll hear more about that project as we get our plans firmed up.
Today we had a (quite) enjoyable lunch with two retired couples who are members of our community choir. Both families are native Belgians, but spent many years as young marrieds in Congo (Africa). They even served us a Congo dinner (well, the main dish): first, soup, second, rice covered with chicken in a yellow sauce, and dessert, ice-cream. The only really Congo part of the meal was the rice and chicken with sauce. It so happened that the host showed us a new kind of can opener which opens the can so that there is a kind of “cap” to the can, and we happened to notice that it contained the sauce for the rice! (I was surprised, but didn’t mind it.) So this “African” meal is apparently well known in Belgium, since it’s sold in grocery stores in cans!
I was surprised how much these two couples (80’s and 70’s) shared with us! About the only time we could talk about the Church was when we talked about our kids and their travels, and not drinking alcohol, coffee or tea. But they, on the other hand, told us their “life stories!” We haven’t experienced anything at all in comparison to them!! Of course we encouraged them to write their experiences, and they admitted that they should. They seemed to appreciate us, because the hostess invited us to “drop in” on her at any time. We probably won’t, but I’m still amazed that she would even say it, because these people are really quite “protective” of their space and time. Twice before, when I’ve called the host, and his wife answered, she lied to me that he was not there, and then admitted, after she knew it was me, that she had lied, because so many telemarketeers call them.
This evening we met a less-active family with kids aged 15 and 11. The mother is Peruvian, the father half-French/half-German. They met in Cuzco, Peru, and had only English in common. They (probably) married and (for sure) moved to France, then Belgium, probably 15 years ago. All four of the family are listed on the ward records, but seem to have almost no interest whatsoever. However, the mother, Roxana, volunteered to us that several of her family are members, still living in Peru. She even has an active sister in SLC! It’s interesting how some people hold on and others simply do not! Why is that? I’m baffled!
Thursday we get to play “slow ambulance,” driving a member from Charleroi to a hospital Brussels and back. (C’mon, learn some geography! Look at a map of Belgium on the net. Charleroi is about 30-35 miles south of Brussels, but sometimes it feels further.) Charleroi has hospitals, but this member needs some specialized help, I guess. I don’t know what she’d do if we didn’t help her. Members here are a little less helpful during the week than what we hear is the case in Utah. Since we have not lived there for decades, we really don’t know!
That’s about all for now. I don’t write often, and when I do, it feels to me like I don’t really say anything of very much importance. We really have not been able to re-activate anyone, or be really involved with someone’s baptism. But a few of the Strassburgers remember us (and write us to thank us for having been there ) and maybe that’ll happen here too.
Alice just reminded me that actually, we have provided real missionary support than we ever did in Strasbourg. The missionaries need rides, because the distances are greater, surprisingly. We spend a lot of money on gas!
At least you know we think about you.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
26 Aug 2008
Following are pictures of Yvan Leonard and his wife Dolores. Funny story: Both members of the Church since childhood; married each other, divorced each other, then re-married each other a second time! Wow!
They have a big (!!) acquarium. Gold fish and. . . purple fish! Yvan claims they are smart! And jealous (of their territory). He spends 2 or 3 HOURS per week cleaning and maintaining his/their (the fishes') acquarium.
The "bulbs" hanging from the tree are Kiwis. The kiwi tree is in the Sadzot yard. She's the lady who was baptized in 1962 in Nice. Alice arrived in Nice in 1963, after the lady had left Nice.
Pictures #2 and #3 show two of the FOUR fishponds they have built in their yard. Very attractive (any little boy would have trouble resisting trying to catch those fish with his hands).
Backyard. This picture does not do it justice. It is green, green, green!
They have a big (!!) acquarium. Gold fish and. . . purple fish! Yvan claims they are smart! And jealous (of their territory). He spends 2 or 3 HOURS per week cleaning and maintaining his/their (the fishes') acquarium.
The "bulbs" hanging from the tree are Kiwis. The kiwi tree is in the Sadzot yard. She's the lady who was baptized in 1962 in Nice. Alice arrived in Nice in 1963, after the lady had left Nice.
Pictures #2 and #3 show two of the FOUR fishponds they have built in their yard. Very attractive (any little boy would have trouble resisting trying to catch those fish with his hands).
Backyard. This picture does not do it justice. It is green, green, green!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
I think that most of you know that Alice took RyanAir from Charleroi to Madrid last weekend, where she met up with Stacy. They had a nice time.
Saturday, Alice and I went to Brussels because Stacy had told us about the display of flowers at the Main Square of Brussels. It’s kindof a long drive to Brussels (about 30 miles) and so we decided to take the train. We got off at Central Station and walked down the hill to the Grand’Place (Big Plaza). There were lots of foreigners there (can’t imagine why!), mostly Italians and Spaniards. (In Europe, vacation is BIG! People in the north go south and vice-versa!)
New subject:
We think that the “long” summer is drawing to an end, and hopefully people will be coming back to Church. Attendance was a little better the last couple of weeks than before.
This morning I happened to see a story on the web about something crazy going on at an LDS chapel in London. I’ll give you the site: http://abev.wordpress.com/2008/08/17/too-much-excitement-for-sunday-or-on-burning-down-a-mormon-church/
The second half of the story tells about the allegedly crazy guy had cuts on his hand, and when asked about it, he seemed to admit, by his body language, that he was guilty of the arson. This reminds me of Helaman 9:24-41, which you might want to re-read.
Speaking of the BoM (Book of Mormon), I have found a site which I really like. It’s a very detailed commentary on the entire Book or Mormon, by an LDS named Brant Gardner, who sometimes publishes in the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Study at BYU. http://frontpage2000.nmia.com/~nahualli/commentary.htm
Here’s more about this man Gardner, and about the many other active LDS who are doing scholarly research on LDS themes: http://farms.byu.edu/authors/?authorID=78
I continue to have problems with our blog site. It rejects my password every time I use it, so I have to reset the password every time I want to post something new to the blog. That’s a real hassle. I have written down the username and password very clearly, and know that I’m not putting in something weird. If anyone has any ideas on how to get around this, I’d like to know.
Because of my problems with the blogsite, I’m not able to post the pictures until later, when I have 2 or 3 hours to work on it.
Luv, Dad/Gerry
If I am able to get back to his blog site later, I'll do that. Meanwhile, here's the commentary that you can read before you see the pictures (if I can ever get them up).
Regarding some of the pictures : when I push the button, the camera beeps 3 times. I keep thinking the first beep is when the picture is taken, but after looking at some of the “pictures” (junk, really), I’m beginning to think the picture is taken only after the 3rd beep, and sometimes by that time, I’ve lowered my hand holding the camera.
You see 2 or 3 pictures of a bunch of old people, dressed mostly in blue or green tops. I’ll explain.
We’ve joined a singing group. . . they’ve been nice to us (because we are pretty good singers). On Saturday, the group sang at the wedding, in a local Catholic church. The pieces we sang were all in French (no Latin) and were almost “folk songs.” We sang with them, of course, but didn’t make the sign of the cross when they did. After the wedding, the group of singers went down the street “to have a glass” . . . (of anything). The placed was called “Taverne de l’Amitié.” English speakers all understand “Taverne.” Well, maybe not. In England, they would call it a “pub.” And in the US., we might call it (at least people of our age would) a “beer-joint.” So the translation would be “Friendship Beer-Joint.” I thought that was funny. I wanted to get a picture of the name of the place and tell you how it would come out in translation, but Alice said, “let’s photograph the group too.”
We had Sprite, while most everyone else had a Belgian beer.
I’ve struck up a friendship with one of the other basses. I asked him some questions and he told me some interesting things about “State-religion” connections. All the churches are kept in repair by the government. If we see a church that is not in repair, it’s because of a government problem (funding, etc.). Even more amazing, all priests, rabbis, ministers, etc., even Moslem clerics, are “state employees!” They come under the supervision of the Minister of Justice! (Maybe it’s because they are supposed to help keep “order in the state!”) I don’t know why I have never picked up on this in the past. It truly is amazing to an American to learn of this, and yet it is probably the norm in almost all the world (Europe, south America, much of Africa). In Asia it might be entirely different! I don’t know about Canada, but I suppose Mexico follows this norm, which may explain why the Mexican govt. for many years wanted to “own” all LDS chapels. All this helps explain why certain people are so anti-religious. . . I’ve known for a long time that the Catholic hierarchy and the royalty worked hand in hand to “keep the people” in control. Now it’s even more obvious how this worked, even though most European countries are democracies (even if they have a king). So. . . only in American could you find such a tenuous link between the “established church” and the govt., that a young man like J. Smith could come along. In any other country, the governor of Missouri or Illinois would have had even greater power to quash an “upstart” religion, and especially one which viewed itself as “the kingdom of God.” Kinda makes you think!
Saturday, Alice and I went to Brussels because Stacy had told us about the display of flowers at the Main Square of Brussels. It’s kindof a long drive to Brussels (about 30 miles) and so we decided to take the train. We got off at Central Station and walked down the hill to the Grand’Place (Big Plaza). There were lots of foreigners there (can’t imagine why!), mostly Italians and Spaniards. (In Europe, vacation is BIG! People in the north go south and vice-versa!)
New subject:
We think that the “long” summer is drawing to an end, and hopefully people will be coming back to Church. Attendance was a little better the last couple of weeks than before.
This morning I happened to see a story on the web about something crazy going on at an LDS chapel in London. I’ll give you the site: http://abev.wordpress.com/2008/08/17/too-much-excitement-for-sunday-or-on-burning-down-a-mormon-church/
The second half of the story tells about the allegedly crazy guy had cuts on his hand, and when asked about it, he seemed to admit, by his body language, that he was guilty of the arson. This reminds me of Helaman 9:24-41, which you might want to re-read.
Speaking of the BoM (Book of Mormon), I have found a site which I really like. It’s a very detailed commentary on the entire Book or Mormon, by an LDS named Brant Gardner, who sometimes publishes in the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Study at BYU. http://frontpage2000.nmia.com/~nahualli/commentary.htm
Here’s more about this man Gardner, and about the many other active LDS who are doing scholarly research on LDS themes: http://farms.byu.edu/authors/?authorID=78
I continue to have problems with our blog site. It rejects my password every time I use it, so I have to reset the password every time I want to post something new to the blog. That’s a real hassle. I have written down the username and password very clearly, and know that I’m not putting in something weird. If anyone has any ideas on how to get around this, I’d like to know.
Because of my problems with the blogsite, I’m not able to post the pictures until later, when I have 2 or 3 hours to work on it.
Luv, Dad/Gerry
If I am able to get back to his blog site later, I'll do that. Meanwhile, here's the commentary that you can read before you see the pictures (if I can ever get them up).
Regarding some of the pictures : when I push the button, the camera beeps 3 times. I keep thinking the first beep is when the picture is taken, but after looking at some of the “pictures” (junk, really), I’m beginning to think the picture is taken only after the 3rd beep, and sometimes by that time, I’ve lowered my hand holding the camera.
You see 2 or 3 pictures of a bunch of old people, dressed mostly in blue or green tops. I’ll explain.
We’ve joined a singing group. . . they’ve been nice to us (because we are pretty good singers). On Saturday, the group sang at the wedding, in a local Catholic church. The pieces we sang were all in French (no Latin) and were almost “folk songs.” We sang with them, of course, but didn’t make the sign of the cross when they did. After the wedding, the group of singers went down the street “to have a glass” . . . (of anything). The placed was called “Taverne de l’Amitié.” English speakers all understand “Taverne.” Well, maybe not. In England, they would call it a “pub.” And in the US., we might call it (at least people of our age would) a “beer-joint.” So the translation would be “Friendship Beer-Joint.” I thought that was funny. I wanted to get a picture of the name of the place and tell you how it would come out in translation, but Alice said, “let’s photograph the group too.”
We had Sprite, while most everyone else had a Belgian beer.
I’ve struck up a friendship with one of the other basses. I asked him some questions and he told me some interesting things about “State-religion” connections. All the churches are kept in repair by the government. If we see a church that is not in repair, it’s because of a government problem (funding, etc.). Even more amazing, all priests, rabbis, ministers, etc., even Moslem clerics, are “state employees!” They come under the supervision of the Minister of Justice! (Maybe it’s because they are supposed to help keep “order in the state!”) I don’t know why I have never picked up on this in the past. It truly is amazing to an American to learn of this, and yet it is probably the norm in almost all the world (Europe, south America, much of Africa). In Asia it might be entirely different! I don’t know about Canada, but I suppose Mexico follows this norm, which may explain why the Mexican govt. for many years wanted to “own” all LDS chapels. All this helps explain why certain people are so anti-religious. . . I’ve known for a long time that the Catholic hierarchy and the royalty worked hand in hand to “keep the people” in control. Now it’s even more obvious how this worked, even though most European countries are democracies (even if they have a king). So. . . only in American could you find such a tenuous link between the “established church” and the govt., that a young man like J. Smith could come along. In any other country, the governor of Missouri or Illinois would have had even greater power to quash an “upstart” religion, and especially one which viewed itself as “the kingdom of God.” Kinda makes you think!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Aug. 16, 2008.
I don't normally forward internet addresses, because of the possibility of viruses. But I feel comfortable posting this one. http://www.eurobru.com/visag040.htm It's about a "carpet of flowers" which is "laid down" in the Main Square ("Grand Place") of Brussels. We have not yet seen it, but hope to today, tomorrow or Monday (Aug. 16-18). Stacy told us about it. If you prefer to simply look for it in Google, just type in "tapis de fleurs" and "bruxelles" and it should come up. The commentary will be in French. Sorry about that. If you write "flower" "grand place" and "brussels" in Google, you might find the same thing in English.
We'll add to this a little later.
We'll add to this a little later.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
A pretty good day.
Well! Today has felt like Strasbourg. By that I mean, I feel like we had a “good day,” the kind we had quite often in Strasbourg. We haven’t had them anywhere near as often, so we’re thankful for this one today.
At 10 a.m., we met with Sister Monique SADZOT. A less-active member, she had granted us the opportunity to talk with her about genealogy, and nothing else, about 3 weeks ago, before she went on vacation. When we arrived today, she had her genealogy on the table in several binders, and within 10 minutes, she had pulled out her baptismal certificate, dated July (I think) 1962. We looked at it. She had been baptized in Nice, by Elder Kent Greene. Mom/Alice recognized the name of this Elder Greene! But neither Sis. Sadzot nor Alice remembered each other. But they both mentioned to each other things about Nice at that time period. So we think they should know each other.
We spent 1 ½ hours with her talking about several things, much of them related to genealogy, but not all, and she was almost apologetic for returning to other Church themes. She showed us her beautiful backyard, and we’ll try to remember to get pictures of that the next time we’re there. Her grandson, not a member, was able to recite the names of his paternal line back five generations. How many of all of us can do that?
She showed us several pedigree charts, which included not only her handwriting, but also some notes/writing by someone else, who, she said, was a person at the Family History Center. She was highly offended that he had written on her pedigree charts (!) (in pencil!) and had stopped doing any genealogy thereafter! So it was really lucky (or something else!) that we ended up using genealogy as a way to spend more time with her, back when we first met her a month ago.
I asked her if I could copy some of the info with paper and pencil, and told her I would do some research for her. But she offered to photocopy 4 of those sheets, so I brought them home and looked in Family Search for some of her ancestors’ names. I found very few, but I did find one family (1730’s) of parents and 4 kids, the names of which had been submitted probably by another church member. I’ll have at least a little bit of good news for her when we see her next time.
As we left, I mentioned what I often do, that is, that it’s we who make the visit who profit as much from the visit as do those who receive the visit. She certainly agreed!
We then went to see Sis. LEBLICQ. She had her 11 yr. old granddaughter Estelle with her. We brought the Casio keyboard with us, and sang three songs. At first hesitant, Estelle warmed up a little. (I am amazed at how shy, if not downright distrustful, many people in this country are! We’ve heard Hispanics living in Strasbourg and here complain that these French speakers are not “warm” enough!)
Anyway, we sang 3 children’s songs. We asked if Sis. Leblicq knew of anyone who might like piano lessons, free. We mentioned we could give lessons in other things too, like English, or even reading French. She said she needed help with that. So Alice came home and looked on the Church site for “literacy programs.”
Then we tried again to find a person who has “escaped” us once before (many have!). He is Johnson EDIKU (I’m writing lots of this for myself, as well as for you guys). Our bishop asked us to go find him. He’s married, has 2 kids, non-member wife. He was a little distant at first (yeah. . . of course!) but then his wife joined him at the door and she helped warm things up. Although we just stayed at the door, that was our 3rd good meeting today.
Last, we called up the PIRLET family. The papa had called me up yesterday and said they had to cancel our rendez-vous (appointment). But we called them today on the cell phone (I’m finally starting to us it a little!) and they said they’d let us come. I wanted (like I always do) to stay a short time, and leave them wanting us to come back (instead of staying a long time and having them feel like, “Wow, no more of that!”). Well, we sang a couple of songs with them (I think singing is the best thing we do!! I really do!) and I was ready to go. But then a relative came, then they offered us drinks, then the relative left, then the father told us the long-drawn out story of the tragedy of their second child (born after greast labor on the mother’s part) born with an open space on the top of his head (and water on the brain) who would, had he lived, been a vegetable. I am amazed that the few people who are not shy or distrusting “let it all hang out!”
However Bro. Pirlet is not dumb! Here’s why I say that. He said, as we were leaving, “Your name is not American.” (By that he meant it’s not like the names of most of the missionaries: Smith, Jones, Brown, etc.) “No,” I said, “it’s Swiss-French.” “Oh,” he said, “I thought, until you told us you were Americans, that you were Swiss German.” And he repeated it! Now that. . . that is the highest compliment I’ve ever had! What he’s saying is “You’ve got a little accent, but it’s like a German accent, but not really like a real German’s. So you must be Swiss.” I walked on Cloud Nine all the way back to the car (about 50 meters).
So, when we got home, we realized we had had four pretty good meetings with people today. First time that’s happened since we came 3 months ago!
Last Thursday we drove from Seneffe (near Mons, near Brussels, if you want to look at a map) to Calais (northwest coast of France) in about 2 ½ hours. Then took a ferry to Dover, on the coast of England. We stayed in a bed and breakfast, then took a train to Cantebury Cathedral (the “mother church” of the Anglican Church (Episcopalianism). Guess what the Canterbury Tales are named after? Geoffrey Chaucer, in the 1300’s, wrote stories of Pilgrims wending their way from northwest England to Canterbury to visit the shrine of St. Thomas Beckett, who was martyred in this cathedral.
Friday evening we found Stacy, We ferried and drove back to Seneffe, arriving at 2 a.m., and then Stacy accompanied a small ward choir on her violin Sunday morning. Did I already tell you all of this?
Well, I’ll end abruptly. Things could be better. But they could be MUCH worse too.
Luv,
Gerry and Alice (Dad and Mom).
At 10 a.m., we met with Sister Monique SADZOT. A less-active member, she had granted us the opportunity to talk with her about genealogy, and nothing else, about 3 weeks ago, before she went on vacation. When we arrived today, she had her genealogy on the table in several binders, and within 10 minutes, she had pulled out her baptismal certificate, dated July (I think) 1962. We looked at it. She had been baptized in Nice, by Elder Kent Greene. Mom/Alice recognized the name of this Elder Greene! But neither Sis. Sadzot nor Alice remembered each other. But they both mentioned to each other things about Nice at that time period. So we think they should know each other.
We spent 1 ½ hours with her talking about several things, much of them related to genealogy, but not all, and she was almost apologetic for returning to other Church themes. She showed us her beautiful backyard, and we’ll try to remember to get pictures of that the next time we’re there. Her grandson, not a member, was able to recite the names of his paternal line back five generations. How many of all of us can do that?
She showed us several pedigree charts, which included not only her handwriting, but also some notes/writing by someone else, who, she said, was a person at the Family History Center. She was highly offended that he had written on her pedigree charts (!) (in pencil!) and had stopped doing any genealogy thereafter! So it was really lucky (or something else!) that we ended up using genealogy as a way to spend more time with her, back when we first met her a month ago.
I asked her if I could copy some of the info with paper and pencil, and told her I would do some research for her. But she offered to photocopy 4 of those sheets, so I brought them home and looked in Family Search for some of her ancestors’ names. I found very few, but I did find one family (1730’s) of parents and 4 kids, the names of which had been submitted probably by another church member. I’ll have at least a little bit of good news for her when we see her next time.
As we left, I mentioned what I often do, that is, that it’s we who make the visit who profit as much from the visit as do those who receive the visit. She certainly agreed!
We then went to see Sis. LEBLICQ. She had her 11 yr. old granddaughter Estelle with her. We brought the Casio keyboard with us, and sang three songs. At first hesitant, Estelle warmed up a little. (I am amazed at how shy, if not downright distrustful, many people in this country are! We’ve heard Hispanics living in Strasbourg and here complain that these French speakers are not “warm” enough!)
Anyway, we sang 3 children’s songs. We asked if Sis. Leblicq knew of anyone who might like piano lessons, free. We mentioned we could give lessons in other things too, like English, or even reading French. She said she needed help with that. So Alice came home and looked on the Church site for “literacy programs.”
Then we tried again to find a person who has “escaped” us once before (many have!). He is Johnson EDIKU (I’m writing lots of this for myself, as well as for you guys). Our bishop asked us to go find him. He’s married, has 2 kids, non-member wife. He was a little distant at first (yeah. . . of course!) but then his wife joined him at the door and she helped warm things up. Although we just stayed at the door, that was our 3rd good meeting today.
Last, we called up the PIRLET family. The papa had called me up yesterday and said they had to cancel our rendez-vous (appointment). But we called them today on the cell phone (I’m finally starting to us it a little!) and they said they’d let us come. I wanted (like I always do) to stay a short time, and leave them wanting us to come back (instead of staying a long time and having them feel like, “Wow, no more of that!”). Well, we sang a couple of songs with them (I think singing is the best thing we do!! I really do!) and I was ready to go. But then a relative came, then they offered us drinks, then the relative left, then the father told us the long-drawn out story of the tragedy of their second child (born after greast labor on the mother’s part) born with an open space on the top of his head (and water on the brain) who would, had he lived, been a vegetable. I am amazed that the few people who are not shy or distrusting “let it all hang out!”
However Bro. Pirlet is not dumb! Here’s why I say that. He said, as we were leaving, “Your name is not American.” (By that he meant it’s not like the names of most of the missionaries: Smith, Jones, Brown, etc.) “No,” I said, “it’s Swiss-French.” “Oh,” he said, “I thought, until you told us you were Americans, that you were Swiss German.” And he repeated it! Now that. . . that is the highest compliment I’ve ever had! What he’s saying is “You’ve got a little accent, but it’s like a German accent, but not really like a real German’s. So you must be Swiss.” I walked on Cloud Nine all the way back to the car (about 50 meters).
So, when we got home, we realized we had had four pretty good meetings with people today. First time that’s happened since we came 3 months ago!
Last Thursday we drove from Seneffe (near Mons, near Brussels, if you want to look at a map) to Calais (northwest coast of France) in about 2 ½ hours. Then took a ferry to Dover, on the coast of England. We stayed in a bed and breakfast, then took a train to Cantebury Cathedral (the “mother church” of the Anglican Church (Episcopalianism). Guess what the Canterbury Tales are named after? Geoffrey Chaucer, in the 1300’s, wrote stories of Pilgrims wending their way from northwest England to Canterbury to visit the shrine of St. Thomas Beckett, who was martyred in this cathedral.
Friday evening we found Stacy, We ferried and drove back to Seneffe, arriving at 2 a.m., and then Stacy accompanied a small ward choir on her violin Sunday morning. Did I already tell you all of this?
Well, I’ll end abruptly. Things could be better. But they could be MUCH worse too.
Luv,
Gerry and Alice (Dad and Mom).
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