Winding Things Down

I can't believe that our mission will be over in just a little over 2 weeks. At first the time seemed to go slowly, then it went faster and finally it just flew by. Now we can't even believe that day is over each evening and that the weeks are flying by. We are trying to wrap things up. We have area reports to submit to Frankfurt. We have reports to submit to the local authorities. I am typing out requested recipes to ward members and a whole lot of recipes to leave for the center of Young Adults. Brother and Sister Vanaquer requested them as she will be doing the cooking on Institute night, temporarily. They do not have a couple to replace us. We have suggested a few couples, but I guess the Stake Presidency is thinking about it. Nothing has been done as of yet. They are actually thinking of calling 3 local couples to run the center. We are sending in request form to the area in Frankfurt for magazines, supplies, and things like computers, WII, and other fun things for the JA's. Last night we had a very lengthy conference call with the Area to discuss center things and last night we had about an hour conference with the local leaders. I think that our young adult president Alexandre is awesome and has things very well under control. We are hopeful that the Center will continue running well and will grow and flourish. I'm quite certain that it will because the young adults that we have are really awesome young people. They have caught the vision of the Center. They attend themselves and they invite their friends to come too. Not all of them, of course, but that is normal in any group of people. I am also busy trying to arrange things to give away. We were counseled to have a 3 month supply of food while on our mission, just in case. Now we are trying to use things up and we are giving lots of things to Manu and Anne Louise and Florine and Reynaud. It's amazing how much "stuff" we have accumulated in just 2 short years. I am also getting together things that we need to take to the Center such as printer, pots and pans, crock pot, other kitchen appliances and other kitchen things, manuals, things on my memory stick, magazines, books, etc. etc. It is a lot of work. We are also giving away clothes and shoes that we no longer need or can't take because of the weight. It's just surprising how many things we had to buy such as CD player, scale, telephone, mixer, curling iron, blow dryer and other things that we will not be able to take.

As usual we had our district mtg on Tues. The elder were just "crazy" after we ate. Elder Lyman has a "very fun" game where you put whipping cream on your hand and then hit it with your other hand and try to catch the blob of flying whipping cream in your mouth. Of course, then you need to send it to your friend and see if he can catch it. Oh yes, they had a lot of fun with that one. Ha. Next time I will think twice before bringing cans of whipping cream. HAHA.

Sometimes you catch the cream with your face.

What a mtg for our brand new "blue" Elder Wozniak.

I made lasagna and jello, so, then there were also jello games. The missionaries were feeling their oats Tuesday.

I made pumpkin/chocolate chip cookies and Elder Kip was going to fight anyone who wanted to eat any. He was ready to keep them all because they are his favorite cookie.

Elder Rakotondrainibe our awesome pianist gave us a little concert. We love listening to him play. For some reason I am having trouble downloading the whole piece. The 2nd vidio didn't work and I can't download the Chopin piece which I love. Maybe later.

We are going to miss our dear missionaries. They have been so wonderful to work with.

Soeur Houts

Soeur Nielson







Of course we continue our teaching. We have taught quite a few lessons this week. Sadly, the Petrovici's from Romania have refused to be baptized even though they took 2 trips to Romania to get married in preparation for baptism. I hope they will change their mind soon and not listen to opposition.

Bashar continues to do well as are Dino and Larissa who now have a wedding date.
Bibische is also doing well although we had a cancelled mtg this week because her poor baby is sick.


We have also made visits to people that we need to say good bye too, members and non members alike.

Here is part of Rachmaninoff's Prelude Opus 25

Stake Conference

This week-end we had an amazing Stake Conference with Elder Causse and Elder Kacher.



Before talking about conf. I want to talk about Tokey. Tokey is an awesome young man in the Lille Stake. He is from Madagascar. He served a worthy mission and has already finished up his preliminary studies. He is now in medical school studying to be a doctor. After the Hickenbothams left Amien, the Branch was left with no strong leadership. They were struggling and then Tokey was called as Branch Preident. This busy, smart, awesome young man accepted the responsibility and has pulled the Branch out of a slump. Many of the members are coming to church again and things are moving along so nicely. This is just an example of the quality of young people who belong to the church here in France. We saw Tokey last night and he really wanted a picture together with us, but it just didn't happen, so this morning he searched us out and we both took a picture.



The next photo is of the JA's choir this morning at Stake Conference. I am so excited to see this fine group of young people. Can you believe that when we arrived in Dec of 2008 there were only 4 or 5 youth who were attending regularly? Just look at this group. Of course, there are a few missionaries scattered in there, but just a few. I am just bursting with happiness to see the growth and the quality of these young adults. Their singing was so beautiful.







Our Stake Conference began yesterday in our little chapel that was filled to overflowing. There were probably about 300 people there. It was so stifling hot, but as the spirit filled our hearts and souls we soon forgot about the heat and listened and felt the words with thankfullness in our hearts.

President Smatti was the first speaker. Essentially he said that we must keep our love for Jesus Christ gowing and that we must do all that we can to deserve His blessings and love.

President Boutoille said that we should each ask ourselves the question, "How can I be better to meet others needs?" He spoke of Alma 42 and how mortality is a probationary time for man to repent and to serve God. When we repent of small things, the power of God increases within us.

He said that if we cry when we are talking of the things of God, it is the Holy Ghost speaking to us and we should thank Heavenly Father for that blessing.

Elder Kacher and his wife, Pres. and Soeur Staheli and
Elder and Sister Causse all spoke about the importance of families. They spoke of the things we need to do to keep our children from going astray. One of the most important points was that parents need to be united and they need to stay strong in the church. They need to show a good example and never waver. If parents deviate from the gospel, the children will deviate. We need to set a good example at all times. Elder Causse said that children and youth are the most important ones in our wards and that nothing will have a greater effect on us as what our children become. And how do we help our children to become strong in the church? We must pray daily by ourselves and with them. We must have family home evenings. We must go to church faithfully and read our scriptures. Children should have interviews with Mother or Father. We must have our children attend seminary. We can ask God to hep our children to stay clean. We can pray that Heavenly Father will pardon them for the things that they do not do, that they know they should. Let them know that they are good spirits and that you are confident that they will make good decisions. Let them know that they are members of good families who are members and that they know who they are. It is not enough for them to just go to church. We must make sure that our children have a relationship with God and we must make sure that they have a love for God. John 17:15 "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil."

He reminded us that if anyone of us have wayward children, but we keep faithful and keep the commandments and keep the covenants that we have made in the temple, the Lord will see to it that we will have them in eternity.


Today conference was held at the Grand Palais in Lille. This is a huge conference center and there were at least 1,000 in attendance.

First of all we got a new Stake Presidency. Our new Stake President is Pierre Duez with Olivier Smatti as First Counselor and Benoit Membre as Second Counselor. Our former Stake President Seube has been president for the past 9 years. He has been wonderful and is well loved by the people. All of these men bore strong testimonies and all said how humbled they were to receive their callings. Each one expressed that they felt like the least of people, but knew that God was the one calling them and that they would strive to keep His commandments and to do all that God expects from and wants from them. Each one of them was so grateful for all that the Lord has blessed them with and were so thankful for the atonement of Christ.
Elder Kacher told an interesting event that happened in his life. He said that once he had the distinct impression and actually knew that he was going to be called as a Bishop. But alas, in the following 2 weeks another man was called to be Bishop. He wondered how come he had the inspiration that he would be Bishop and then he wasn't called. What happened? About 3 years later that Bishop was released and he was called. Elder Kacher reminded us that our time is not the Lord's time. We must accept His will in our lives. We must make a decision to never be offended and we must stay in His church.

I'm quite sure that most of us who were in attendance left that conferance with an uplifted spirit and a determination to do the best we can in serving God in whatever capacity He wants us to.



The lovely vegetables above were a gift to us from Jean Luc and Gisela after we left our visit to their home tonight. Jean Luc was baptized by Dh and has been a member for about a year now. They are now preparing to go to the temple.

An Apostle Speaks To Us

Tuesday we got to go to Paris to hear an apostle speak to us. Elder M. Russel Ballard came with his sweet wife to Belgium and France. We also got to hear Elder Gerard Causse who is the first French General Authority and Elder Ronald A. Rasband who is in the Presidency of the First Council of the Seventy.

Our Lille zone and the Brussels zone missionaries had a special meeting with these 3 great men. Our zone took the train to Paris. We had to get up very early and leave the house by 4:45 a.m. to go to the Gare Flandre (train station) in Lille. Then we had to transfer and finally arrive in Brussels at 9:00 a.m. Here we all are at the transfer station. As you can see, missionaries like to play around when taking pictures. They are all so nice to us all the time. It is always fun and uplifting to spend time with them.

Once we got to the Gare Bruxelles Midi, we were picked up by the Skousens. The missionaries all took the metro to the stop closest to the church, but we were luckily driven. We had a really great visit with the Skousens who are working with the young adult centers in Brussels. They are fairly new and have been a little discouraged because they have been trying to work with 2 centers and keep them going. That is just not physically possible. They have been driving between 2 cities quite a distance from each other, living in 2 apartments and just not able to do it all. They just recently said that they would only be able to do 1 center and we agreed that is the best solution for part of the problem. We were able to give them some hints and advice on how to handle certain things and they said that they were very happy with the help that we were able to give them. They are such a wonderful, nice couple and I know that things will work out for them because they are hard working, diligent, and close to the Lord.

President and Soeur Staheli and President and Soeur Brubaker were there also. It was so great to see the Brubakers again. Soeur Staheli bore her testimony and then Pres. Staheli spoke. He reaffirmed that our message to the world is true and that it is simple. The Lord lives and is the head of this church. Joseph Smith was and is a true prophet who restored the original church as it was in the days that Christ lived. We are not a new church. We are the restored church. We have a living prophet Thomas S. Monson. The church is here to prepare man for the 2nd coming of Christ.

Elder Causse made an interesting statement. He said that the membership in the church in Europe has doubled in 25 years as of last year. He also said that the Lord is preparing people to receive the gospel. That is why our mission is having such great success. We will have over 300 baptisms this year.

Elder Ballard was awesome. He is old now, but when he started speaking his voice was firm and yet gentle. He gave a feeling a peace and calmness. His words were powerful and you could really feel the spirit as he was speaking. He began by saying that without Christ we would have no message. We are led by a living Christ who wants us to have all of the blessings. He spoke about how Adam had the gospel but eventually his children lost it because they didn't want to live by the commandments. He said that God will not interfere with people's free agency. He will not stop us from having free agency. He also spoke about how Lucifer is raging in the hearts of many. Elder Ballard concluded by saying that we have a glorious, precious message. We have the gift of eternity to share with people.

After the meeting was over, all of the missionaries got to walk up to the stand one by one and shake hands and talk to each these great men and their spouses. It was such a spiritual high to be in their presence.

A little aside. When we were talking to Elder Causse, Dh mentioned that we would be seeing him again this week-end at Stake Conference. "Oh you're from Lille" he said, "You're the ones we've been hearing so many good things about with the young adult center." I was soooo happy to hear him say that. It sure made us feel really good and to think that they were talking about our center and it's success. It was just the best feeling.

The mural above is one of many in the Gare Lille Flanders. As you ride up and down the escalators, you get to see lots of pretty murals.

We went to Kortrijk again this week. We are now teaching Bibische. She is a lovely woman from Africa who has 3 little children. Her husband works a lot so we haven't seen him yet. She has a cute, little, fat baby Joshua. I hope to take their picture soon. She seems to be very receptive to the things that we are teaching her.

This is a photo of one of the churches in Kortrijk.

Dino and Larissa finally got all of their paperwork and a visit from the police. They will need several more visits. The visits are to prove that they are living where they claim to be living. They went to the city hall to get a date for their marriage. It will be in about 2 months. As soon as they get married they will be baptized. We are so sorry that we will not be here when they have these 2 important events occur in their lives, but we are so happy to have been able to bring the gospel to them and to see them change their lives and to be so excited about what is ahead of them. This awesome, faithful couple has a lot to look forward to.

Yesterday we drove to several appointments only to have them not at home. Missionary work is often difficult. There are many times that you go somewhere after having a set appointment and the people are not there. We do a lot of driving because the area we cover is huge.

In the evening we went to Anne Louise and Manu's home for dinner. They have a cozy, little apartment and are always so gracious. We started dinner with these yummy, beautifully arranged appetizers.

Manu and Anne Louise are about to celebrate their 1 year anniversary at the end of this month. This young couple hold responsible positions in the ward. He is the DMP (ward mission leader) and she is the Young Women's President. They try to live their life in the best possible way, following the commandments, and doing what is right at all times.. Both of the are still in school. Anne Lou just graduated with her BA and is now going for her Masters. She has a little job teaching one art class at the university. Manu is working part time as well as carrying a full load at school.

The main course was a potato pie made from Manu's grandma's recipe. It was very tasty. They also served salad and individual little apple/pear pies. We had a great evening chatting and being together. I am always so pleased and amazed that these young people are sooo
nice to us and want to spend time with us. I am very grateful for it.

We took a bunch of stuff to them that we will no longer be needing because we are leaving. I gave them things like a blow up mattress, extra things from around the apt, lots of spices, cleaning supplies, and things of that nature. I think they will be able to use these things. Before we leave we will give them our left over food storage etc. We are also giving a bunch of stuff to the Pauwels like our mini trampoline, dishes, etc.

This is Greg our neighbor whom we have been teaching. I met him when I was taking a walk one day. He and his dog, Jane, walk several times a day. He is a butcher by profession, but he loves to study and to read. He is now reading the Book of Mormon. We hope he will be touched and taught by the spirit.





Tonight we had dinner with the Voyez's again.

We have fun with this dear couple. They are so nice and we always enjoy spending time with them. This time I brought Pirog and Vinegrette (a Russian potato/beet salad) and Lemon Bars for dessert. They made the entree (first course). It was soo delicious. There was a skewer with 3 different types of shrimp, a cooked salmon with sauce, smoked salmon, and a glass of guacamole with teeny tomatoes in it.

The Work Goes On

Our time is coming to a close, but the work goes on. We are trying to finish up and tie up loose ends. We are busy every day getting as much done as possible.
Monday we had FHE as usual. It was Alexandre's birthday and he fooled around blowing out the candles, trying to speak English and just having a good time. We sang to him in French and then in English.

Tuesday we took the train into Paris for Zone Conference. This is a little monument/fountain that we passed while walking to the church.

The building behind Dh is the Gare Paris Nord(train station). It is very, very busy there.



The escalator down to the train area is very long and full of people all the time.

We have been teaching Luc and Emilie for a long time. They have a very cute little baby named Laly. Emilie's Dad is a faithful member of the church, but her Mom is not. The two parents have been telling their children opposite things for years. Dad says that they must get up and go to church on Sunday while Mom says that they must stay in bed and rest. It has been very difficult for Emilie. She was baptised as a young girl, but really hasn't been to church much. Luc is a Catholic and has had some very spiritual experiences including one where he was in a very serious car accident and was helped by someone who then was "just gone". They are seriously thinking about the church now because they would like to be a forever family with their little baby. We are hoping and praying that they will feel the promptings of the spirit and make correct choices.

The DeGraves are some of our favorite people. They are such a faithful couple. They were some of the first few pioneer members of the church in Lille. He was a well loved and respected Bishop and Stake President for many years. Now Domonique is afflicted with Parkinsons and can barely walk. He doesn't eat by mouth at all and has to be tube fed. He is so weak that he can barely whisper a few words. Claire takes wonderful care of him. And yet, they persevere. They come to church faithfully although he often cannot stay the entire time. They went to temple week with the Stake and he was even able to do some temple work with the help of one of their sons-in-law. They raised 9 children of whom all of the boys and some of the girls served missions. All of the children have been married in the temple. Oh, what a great example they are!

These 2 sisters are Lawrence and Doriane. They are always so friendly and welcoming. They have strong testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel.

Brother DeGrave was also a Patriarch for many years. He and Dh have so much in common and the two Patriarchs like to spend time together. I know he loves it when Dh talks with him and tells him about experiences that he has had.

Dorian has had an amazing experience. She is over 40 years old and became pregnant with a little baby. The doctors did an amnio and told her that she must have an abortion because her baby would be born with Trisomy 18. The parents were so upset, but said that they would absolutely not have an abortion. They would have the baby and would care for her as long as she lived. They would love her and give her the best possible life that she could have. Then Dorian had a blessing and in the blessing she was told that her baby would be fine. Time passed and 5 weeks ago little Aurore was born. She is perfect. She does not have Trisomy 18 or any other defect. She is growing well and doing well. What a beautiful, wonderful blessing from the Lord. I do not mean to imply that it wouldn't have been a blessing if the baby did have problems, but how nice for all of them that she does not.

This young couple are Reynaud and Florine. He served a mission in Greece and was in the same district with Luke Leishman the son of friends of ours in Lancaster. What a small world. This couple both hold responsible positions in the ward. She is in the Primary presidency and he is Elders Quorum President. There are many young people in France who hold very responsible positions and do a fantastic job.

Elder Anderson on the left is leaving us on Thursday. He had an unexpected 1/2 way into transfers change of assignment. A brand new missionary who just got his visa will be joining our district. It will be fun to meet this new "blue". In the US we call them greenies, but here they are called blue.


We have been teaching a family from Romania. They have actually been studying the gospel for almost 2 years now. They began with the young missionaries and they decided to be baptised. First though, they needed to get married. They went back to Romania to do just that, but while there someone got really sick and they came back without being married. Some time ago the missionaries turned them over to us. We have been working with them. This past summer they went back to Romania again and this time they did get married. They returned a week ago. When we saw them this week we asked them if they would like to set a baptismal date. Now the father wants to think about it and make himself more pure before being baptised. He wants to stop some of his bad habits. We explained to him that he should not put it off and that once he is baptised and has the gift of the Holy Ghost it will be easier for him to work on his problems. He is now thinking about it. We hope that he will make the correct decision for himself and for his family.

Happy Birthday Michael

Today is my third child's (2nd son) birthday. We were so thrilled and so excited the day Michael was born. That year it was Labor Day and oh boy did I ever LABOR. I had been laboring for about 14 hours and then my Dr. came to check me. I was only at a 2. He ordered Pitocin full strength and went home to his Labor Day party. As soon as the Pit was in I went from 2 to a 10 in 10 minutes. My little baby just came blasting out full force. It was not fun. However, as soon as I saw my beautiful little boy, I was sooooooo happy.
Michael has always been a wonderful, fun, active guy. He has always been so interesting. He is smart, kind, a great athlete, a great business man and a thoughtful, considerate son. He served a faithful mission in Brazil, Campinas and then Marilia Mission. He was assistant to the President and just absolutely loved his mission. He loooooooves fishing. He is a great dog trainer, entomologist, cook, and camper. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University with a major in Business and Zoology and a minor in Portuguese. He has always loved nature and animals. He is a wonderful leader. Michael loves his family and is a true and loyal friend. I am so glad that he is my son and I love him so very much.
I thought I would write just a few little stories about him that are fun.
When he was just in kndg. he had a caterpillar which made a chrysalis. One morning he told me that he needed to stay home that morning because, "my butterfly will be born today" I made him go to school. That morning the butterfly did hatch and I felt bad for making him go to school. Luckily when he came home, the butterfly was still drying it's wings. When I asked him if he was going to mount it for his collection, which by then was already very nice and quite large, he replied, "No Mom. I'm going to set it free. This is the first time I'm a Father to a butterfly." Years later when he was a student at BYU and had an insect collection one of the museums in the area asked him if they could have it and he now has one of his collections on display.

He raised Labradors when he was young. The money that he earned was saved and he later used it to fund part of his mission. He trained his dog so well that he was once offered over $1,000 by a hunter for his lab Cleo. Of course he didn't sell her. She was HIS dog.

When he was a boy, he often was seen in the neighborhood riding his skate board, being pulled by Cleo who was holding one end of a rope and he the other, with his Conure, Captain on his shoulder.

When he was a teen, he loved going hiking and camping. He would often take the younger boys in the ward with him as well as his friends. Some of the Mom's would tell me that they loved when their sons went with him because not only would they have fun hiking and camping, but he often would tell them stories from the Book of Mormon and would compare their adventures to the one they would be experiencing and he would encourage them to follow the heroes of the Book of Mormon.

One time as they were camping, he caught a bunch of fish from the river with his bare hands. They had no way to cook them. So, he bartered with some other campers. He gave them fish and they gave him butter. He and the boys then used their shovel, which they heated on a fire, as a pan and fried the fish in the butter. If I ever were to be stranded on an island, I would want him to be there because he is a wonderful provider and can take care of the people who are with him.

Now he is a very successful business man. We are so glad and happy to be the parents of this great man and wish him a most wonderful birthday with lots of happiness and success in the future.