26 Aug 2008.

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.