President Brubaker and I are excited to be here as the Mission President and companion of the Belgium Brussels Netherlands Mission! We love your sons and daughters, and feel to thank you for the wonderful missionaries you have raised! This is a very unique mission. Our mission includes two countries, and five languages, not including many dialects spoken in the Netherlands. The missionaries are teaching many people from all around the globe. With the help of the Spirit, the missionaries are finding those who have been prepared to receive the Gospel. This is truly the best mission in the world, and we are honored to be a part of it. We will try and take good care of your sons and daughters. We love them so much already!
We have 5 children and 11 wonderful grand children. We have so much fun together! We are grateful for the support they have given us as we prepared to leave for three years. Our home is in Salt Lake City, Utah. We have raised our family in the Millcreek Holladay area. We enjoy many activities together. We are happiest when we are hiking in Southern Utah, cross-country skiing into our rustic cabin in the Uintahs, enjoying a good game of Train or Settlers of Catan, or just being together and sharing a meal with each other. We love our family so much!!!
We welcome them to the best mission in the world! Elder and Sister Pancratz and our assistants are there with us to greet them and help with the luggage. We love them so much, and count our blessings everday for their service to our missionaries! We greet them with a pain au chocolat-a delectable croissant with pieces of belgium chocolate inside!
After loading all missionaries and luggage into the mission vehicles, we drive to the mission office in downtown Brussels. Today was a beautiful sunny day in Brussels. The mission office is on the 8th floor and we have a magnificent view of the city. Elder Owens and Elder Bell take care of legality and financial details with the missionaries.
The missionaries come to the mission home for lunch and a much needed nap. And after they are a little rested, we have the wonderful opportunity to take them to the Dedication Site in Tervuren Park. In 1998 Elder Jeffrey R. Holland dedicated the land to missionary work. This is a highlight for me, as there is a beautiful spirit here in the very place where the dedication took place.
The missionaries can hardly wait to go to the Grand Place in the heart of Brussels for their first contacting experience. For 45 minutes we divide up two by two and contact whoever will listen to us. I had the opportunity to be with Sister Reber. She is a powerful missionary, and as we talked to a group of young adults from Amsterdam I could feel her love for these young people and she wanted so much to share with them how much God loves them. Afterwards, we shared our little miracles with each other. It was a great experience for all. 
I loved teaching these missionaries. They are going to be incredible. Please let us know where they've been assigned to serve. ...and thanks for keeping the blog so up to date. It's great to be able to follow all of the activity in the mission.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting these amazing photos and sharing the specifics of the new missionaries first few days! Maridon and I have literally been bursting with excitement and gratitude to our son is in wonderful hands. The photos in the airport, the mission home, the grand palac...fabulous; it was like oxygen for two hyperventilating parents that had been gasping for some clean air for days! Thank you Thank you!!! We will sleep peaceful tonight!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Paul and Maridon Brockbank
Sister Brubaker,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the fast postings to help us know where our son is and to keep us updated. We are so excited for him. It is a beautiful place. We look forward to seeing more updates and watching the progression each step of the way. The pictures truly show the happiness in everyone of them as they are where they want to be. Thanks again
Lynn and Janet Bair
Stacy and Shari Bair
Hey Brother and Sister Brubaker!
ReplyDeleteI just got my mission call yesterday and I'll be serving in your mission! I was just doing some snooping around trying to find out more about the mission and voila, here you guys are. My name's Stefan (Elder that is) Van De Graaff, I'm from Chicago, Illinois, and I'll be seeing you guys sometime in April of 2011! Can't wait to get out there.
-Elder Van De Graaff