The Day Is Finally Here...........We Are REALLY Moving!

For a year now, we have talked about this day! We wondered if it would every really happen! We are actually moving our mission to the Netherlands! There was alot happening on this day! We started out the day by saying good-bye to our departed missionaries at the airport, then we met our arriving friends, Craig and Claudia who couldn't have timed their visit any better! We included them in our routine for the day! Today was moving day!

One of the most important things to move was the transfer board. Each missionary in our mission has a 3x5 card with pertinent information on it. Every six weeks President Brubaker and the assistants have come together in this room and made final decisions where missionaries will be serving and who their companions will be.

We have enjoyed countless "Monday lunches" around this table. It has been a time to share our week , our miracles, our challenging times with each other. Elder and Sister Tibbitts are the "ward cookbook" chefs! Our office missionaries look forward to this day. Moving called for "Domino" to be the cook for this last meal together!

What a huge job!

Elder Benson, Elder McCarley, and Elder Mueller were so much help! It is so great to have young, agile, strong, energetic, willing, devoted missionaries in the office.

Elder and Sister Tibbitts were incredible, amazing, as they orchestrated this move! We couldn't have been blessed with a more willing, capable, organized, patient, devoted couple in our mission! They worked tirelessly for weeks preparing and making the move happen. Sister Tibbits came dressed appropriately for the move! Holland - here we come!

Now the fun begins! Which wire goes........where???

We couldn't believe how fast the office was back to work!

The new mission office is in Leiden, the Netherlands. It is in a perfect location!

5 minutes from the train station

13 minutes to the Schiphol Airport

20 minutes to the mission home

10 minutes to the office missionary apartment and the Tibbitts apartment

Sister Tibbitts is excited to be finally up and running again!

President Brubaker and I can't even comprehend the work it took for these

5 missionaries to accomplish in such a short time!

We had a wonderful visit by Trevor (Elder) DeMass. Oh, it was so wonderful to see him and meet his family. Elder Demass was President Brubaker's first assistant when we arrived. The missionaries in the office were so excited to meet the elder who had so much enthusuasm and zeal for missionary work.

Our Last Transfer in Belgium

Elder and Zuster Pankratz arrived at the mission home before Elder Owens and Elder Thompson, and Zuster Pankratz wnated to be put to work. Zuster Pankratz helped get the last minute details taken care of for our dinner.

Elder Thompson request for chocolate cake was granted!

Elder Thompson and Elder Owens will be the last two elders to eat around this table. There have been over 35 years of missionaries come and go from this mission home. No wonder there is a very special spirit here!

Big smiles for chocolate!

One of the highlights of our mission is when we share our testimonies with one another.

Elder and Zuster Pankratz have been the every ready couple.....always so willing to do whatever President Brubaker asked. For a small token of gratitude and love from the mission, they were presented a klompen expecially painted by President Brubaker with signatures from the missionaries.

We will always have a special place in our hearts for these fine servants of the Lord.

Some people come into our lives,

and quickly go.

Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts.

And we are never, ever the same.

Eight New Missionaries Arrive!

Eight new missionaries arrived today, all excited and a little nervous, but ready to meet the great adventure of serving a full-time mission in the best mission in the world!

Smiles, smiles, and MORE smiles!!!

We could instantly feel a great amount of love for this fine group of missionaries!

We loaded all the luggage, missionaries and drove through Brussels.

It was a gorgeous day in Brussels and we enjoyed the view for one last time from the 8th floor of the mission office. We will miss this beautiful captivating city of so much history and beautiful architecture!

After getting all "legalized" and interviews with President Brubaker they all came to the mission home for lunch.

After a little rest, we were so excited to share Tervuren Park with the missionaries, and as we walked, Elder Matthews shared the story of the land of Belgium and Luxembourg being dedicated for missionary work.

We stopped along the way, and talked about the symbolism of this tree that stands out from all of the rest.

It was a peaceful, sunny day and reminded us of the Sacred Grove. This is the spot where 20 years ago, Jeffrey R. Holland dedicated the land for missionary work. We had some great contacting experiences at the Grand Place. We counted up the different nationalities of people contacted- 16 countries!

Back to the mission home for the anticipated opening of the letters!

Zuster Welch is so happy to be serving with Zuster Garvin in the Hague.

Elder Schow will be serving with Elder Sanchez in Spijkenisse.

Elder Schulte will be serving with Elder Robinson in Amsterdam.

Elder van de Graaf will be serving with Elder van Doesburg in St. Niklaas.

Elder Wait will be going to Gent, and his trainer will be Elder Alexander.

Elder Wang will be going to Deventer and will be trained by Elder Waldie.

Elder Hendrickson will be gong to Almere, serving with Elder Osmond.

And Elder Merrill will be going to Zoetermeer, his trainer is Elder Seaman.

"I will go and do as the Lord has commanded me."

Wonderful Blessed Weeks of April

We have had so many tender mercies in the last two weeks. I am so anxious to tell you all about them!

Donny Osmond and his family share testimony in three firesides throughout Holland

Zone Conference in the Zoetermeer Temple

Keukenhof in the afternoon of Zone Conference

Family visits

Transfer Week

Antwerp Stake Conference

Baptisms

It has been a wonderful busy! I promise, they will be posted soon!

Laura Finds Gospel in the Netherlands

Laura Hurskainen, Groningen, April 23, 2011

Laura Hurskainen is an IT student from Finland. We were in the Centrum and we ran into her and asked what the purpose of life was. "42" was the immediate reply and it is definitely the best answer. A few minutes conversation later, we had exchanged information and were going to call soon so we could bring a Finnish copy of the book of Mormon over. We had a wonderful first lesson and invited her to the Jovo certer in Groningen that Thursday. She came and really enjoyed herself and has been coming ever since. Through the entire time that we were teaching Laura she never seemed to have any problems. After teaching about the Plan of Salvation she said that someone must have forgotten to erase part of her memory because she has heard this somewhere before. She still thinks that it is weird that she came to the Netherlands to find the church when she thought she was coming here to study, but she is very happy with the way things turned out. (Written by Elder Fritzler)

The Rotterdam and The Hague Zones Enjoy a Moment Close to Heaven

We had another beautiful day in the templewith the Hague Zone and the Rotterdam Zone. We were blessed with many tender mercies as we met in the temple with the other half of our mission.

The Zone leaders prepared "made to order sack lunches" with lots of love included!

My sister-in-law Tani Brubaker and her daughter Mattie just finished a school tour of Spain and met us in Keukenhof......what a joyous reunion!

"The BEST Two Years."