The Brubaker Family

The Brubaker Family

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!!!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

An Unforgettable Moment in Zoetermeer


Renco, Marissa, and Amere van Geel – August 2010

(Written by Elder Bell) Probably the most memorable moment of my mission is an amazing miracle that happened in Zoetermeer on my last transfer. The day before I was transferred to the city my companion, Elder Bastian, and Elder Weatherston, his companion at the time, received a call from a member family saying that they had a family of five for us to teach. Of course, we were both very excited, but we didn’t realize what a miracle the Lord really had in store. The first lesson we could see how much this family, the Van Geels, had been prepared by the Lord. They had just barely gotten kicked out of their house because of debts incurred by paying for their daughter’s 8-month stay in the ICU. Ray, the father, said that a few days before we had met them, he and his wife, Marissa, had had a huge fight and he had stormed out of the house afterwards, fuming. At the time he prayed and told God that he couldn’t do it alone anymore and needed help. A few days later they got in contact with the member family, the Tetteros and they said that they felt that she had something that could help.

We set a baptismal date with them the first appointment for six weeks away. It was amazing how quickly the Spirit gave them witness of the truthfulness of the gospel. They were willing to give up smoking and anything else necessary to achieve their goal. The members grew closer to them and so did we. We looked forward to visiting them every time. One memorable Sunday was when Ray got up and bore his testimony that he knew that he had found the way back to God and Jesus Christ. Finally the day came for their baptism and they shone with joy. It was truly a day I’ll never forget.


1 comment:

  1. What a great picture of this wonderful day. Elder Bastian loves this family and is so happy for them and their decision to be baptized. It was a spiritual experience each time they taught this great Van Geel family! Thank you for posting this picture...what a treasure! I spoke with Elder Bell last week...he is an amazing young man and was such a great missionary!!! Looks like you have had great success in the whole mission...everyone's prayers are being answered!

    Your efforts to keep this blog up is so appreciated...thanks very much!

    love
    Elder Bastian's mom

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