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!!!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Cheyenne is So Excited to Be Baptized in Almere

Cheyenne, 29th January, 2012, Almere

Cheyenne´s Grandma was baptized several years ago and faithfully brought her granddaughter to church. Cheyenne very diligent in coming to church; but due to circumstances and her age, could never get baptized. Finally, the Lord provided a way and made it possible for her to be baptized. Cheyenne was thrilled with the opportunity and having learned so much in church and with previous missionaries was already prepared. She was baptized two weeks later.

Christiana Completes An Eternal Family!

Christiania Forina, 29 January

Antwerpen

Elder Mohrman, Isaac, Christiana, Elder Da Cruz and the three children of Isaac and Christiana

Christiana Foriwaa, comes from Ghana and is the wife of our recent convert Isaac Boakye. During his teaching process, she was pregnant with and delivered their third child, and so did not participate as he learned and accepted the gospel. On Nov. 20th, the day Isaac was baptized, Christiana came up to us and said, "Now that he, Isaac, is baptized, you can now focus on me." And for the next two months we were able to teach Christiana all the lessons, with Isaac being able to baptize her. She has a wonderful testimony and understands the gospel very well; even though we had language barriers. Isaac and Christiana have made the goal of building a good Christian home for their three small children, and preparing themselves to go to the temple to be sealed as a family for eternity. Here in Europe, or back in their Homeland of Ghana.

By Elder Mohrman

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Second Week of Interviews

We started our second week of interviews in Antwerp, Belgium. We have great missionaries in Antwerp. Many languages are spoken here, so we have Elder DaCruz from Brazil and Sister Kremer from Hungary serving here. They both speak muliple languages. The ward utilizes there language skills to help with interpreting for French and Spanish investigators.
l-r Elder DaCruz, Elder Mohrmon, Elder Van Rij, Elder Pope, President Brubaker, Elder Nielsen, Elder Pitchforth, Zuster Kremer, and Zuster Welch
There are no senior missionaries in the Antwerp Zone! Elder Mohrmon and Elder Da Cruz made a wonderful meal for us!Wednesday was spent with the Utrecht District. Elder and Sister Everton take very good care of their district! They made homemade vegetarian and chicken enchiladas. The missionaries could eat to their hearts content! A little spoiling don't you think?
l-r Zuster Brubaker, Zuster Larson, Zuster Rich, Elder Moscon, Elder Davies, Elder Wayman, Elder Benson, Zuster Everton, and Elder Everton
On Thursday we met with the Rotterdam zone in Rotterdam South Chapel. Elder Schwartz let the Anderson's have a day off from all the cooking they do in the Young Adult Center. He made us the best sweet and sour chicken! Yummmmmm......my favorite!
l-r Elder Anderson, Zuster Anderson, Zuster Moses, Zuster Gardner, Elder Schwartz, Elder Klippel, Elder VanRij, Elder Mower, Elder Ombach, Elder Brownell
We had sunshine in Apeldoorn on Friday! We were all so excited and happy!

l-r Zuster Brubaker, Elder Bickman, Zuster and Elder Bush, Eldeer Hendrickson, Elder Leach, Elder Schulte, Elder Wright, and Elder Bjork
Apeldoorn district has their own private cook! Brother deYong is from Indonesia, and is the best cook! He loves to cook for the missionaries almost each week! Elder Sanchez is a very fine and devoted District leader!President Brubaker was interviewing Elder Burton when we were outside enjoying the welcomed sunshine!
On Saturday, our last day of interview, we met the Groningen District in Groningen. It was a great ending of our two weeks of interviews! The elders were in charge of lunch after District Meeting. They tried out the new oven with 12 pizzas!
l-r Elder Salden, Elder Pelaquim, Elder Mathis, Elder McDaniel, Elder Wang, Elder Leash, Elder Wait, and Elder Kunz

Saturday, January 21, 2012

A Family Embraces The Gospel in Almere

Debbie, Tristan and Andy John

January 21, 2012

Almere

Debbie is half Nigerian and half Scottish. She is also the mother of Andy and Tristan. Debbie is extremely faithful. During our first appointment with her, she asked, “How do we know if we are baptized by someone holding the correct authority of God, like Jesus went to John the Baptist to be baptized because John had the authority to do so.”From that moment on, it was like she had found the treasure she had been long searching for. Everything we taught her sounded familiar to her and she knew it was all true from the “get go”. Her sons, Andy, 16 and Tristan, 12, soon joined her in the search for the truth.

They were baptized together as a family on January 21, 2012!

Written by Elder Li

Willem De Bruijn Joins the Church in Leiden


Elder Benson, Willem De Bruijn and Elder Jones

Willem was one of those investigators that just happened to fall into our laps. We were in church one day and a member grabbed my two companions Elder McCarlie and Elder Alexander and pulled them out into the hall. A couple of minutes later they came walking in with Willem. Turns out that he had walked into the church and was wanting to learn more. We set up an appointment and began teaching him. Over time, we learned that he had a friend that used to live here in The Netherlands but has since moved to Nigeria. She is a member of the church and she invited him to seek out the church and learn more. The teaching process was slow at times and we even got to the point where we thought we were going to lose Willem. We decided that we needed to take more time to teach him; and as soon as we did that, we could notice a change coming to him. Over the next couple of months we were able to see Willem change from someone that didn’t really have a goal in life to someone knowing what his purpose was and eagerly wanting to learn more. It took some time but Willem finally reached the point that he was ready to be baptized. He was baptized on the 21st of January and has been happy ever since. I will forever consider it a blessing to be able to interact with this great son of God.

Interviews Begin in Amsterdam

Oh, how we love the opportunity to go throughout the mission every three months and have some one on one time with all of our missionaries! We started in Amsterdam with the Amsterdam district. President Brubaker asked every missionary to come prepared to teach him the 1st lesson in 3-5 minutes. He wants them to become dramatically better teachers! This way he can see how they are coming along, and where they need to make improvement. I also got to talk to them about not such weightier matters......healthy eating, exercise, budgeting, and just got to know each one of them a little better!

The Deleeuw's were up the next day so excited to meet their district! We were amazed that the were there! Jet lag did not slow them down at all!

Amsterdam District

l-r Elder and Zuster DeLeeuw, Elder Larsen, Elder Guanuna, Elder Mickelsen, Elder Crittendon, Zuster Jeffs, Zuster Stout

In the afternoon we met with the Almere District.

l-r Elder and Zuster Salden, Elder Merrill, Elder Schouw, Elder Fullmer, Elder Seaman, Elder Taylor, Elder Ellis, Elder Davis, and Elder Li
On Thursday we met with the Den Haag District. We met at the mission office in Leiden. During our interviews Elder Benson was in charge of district meeting.

l-r Zuster Ence, Zuster Perry, Elder Burgess, Elder Calkins, Elder Jones, Elder Benson, Elder Frahm, Zuster Tanner, Zuster Herring, and Elder Mortensen
On Friday we got a really early start to miss the worst of the traffic, and spent the day with the Eindhoven District.

l-r Elder van Overbeek, Elder Andrews, Zuster Palenikova, Broeder Harry, Zuster Hill, Elder Cundick, and Elder Hyer
Saturday morning, our GPS just couldn't figure out where we were!
It thought it knew the "Best" way to go! Unfortunately for the elders in Gent, Belgium, they were not in Best! Eventually President Brubaker put his mapping skills to the test, and beat the GPS! We finally showed up a little late to the Gent Church!

We had very patient missionaries waiting for us!

Gent District

l-r Elder Hawkley, Elder Wilcken, Elder Maughan, Elder Shoemaker, Elder Stoddard, and Elder Brown

President Brubaker took a few minutes before interviews and District meeting to talk to the missionaries about learning how to become master teachers by studying the Joseph Smith history. We learn from the visitation of Moroni to Joseph Smith that:

1. He called him by name

2. He taught from the scriptures

3. Ponder what he had learned

4. Repetition-Moroni visited Joseph Smith three times and repeated the same instructions four times.

We had a very productive and great week with half of our mission. More interviews next week!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

We Are SO Blessed......Another Senior Couple Arrives!

We enjoyed a breathtaking sunrise on the way to the airport to meet our new senior couple, Elder and Sister DeLeeuw!!!
We felt like old friends, when we first met Elder and Sister DeLeeuw! A dream come true for them and prayers answered for the Young Adult Center in Amsterdam! They are in for a real treat!
We gave them a tour of Leiden, and so exciting for them to see their first windmill!
Elder and Sister Pankratz are well seasoned senior couple trainers. After lunch, the Pankratz stopped by the train station and got their passport pictures taken for legality requests. Quick on the draw.....I was able to get a picture of them walking back to the office!
Senior missionaries are the best!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Zone Conference in Rotterdam

We had a wonderful and inspiring day with the Rotterdam and Antwerp Zones. We were anxious to talk with our new missionaries and find out how their first week in the mission had gone. Zuster Palenikova exudes goodness and is anxious to learn all she can to be the best she can be for the Lord. Zuster Hill seeks to be a great trainer for her.
Elder Shoemaker is already on his 2nd transfer, and Elder Hawkley can't believe how fast the time has gone! He shared his departing testimony with us all. He is so focused and is ready to stay that way for the next 5 weeks!
I spoke to the missionaries about Christlike attributes from PMG Chapter 6.

President Brubaker talked to them about spiritually preparing themselves, and tailoring the lessons to the needs of the investigator.

ASKING APPROPRIATE QUESTIONS AT THE RIGHT TIME REQUIRES THAT YOU ARE IN TUNE WITH THE SPIRIT, THAT YOU LISTEN TO THOSE YOU ARE TEACHING, AND THAT YOU FOCUS THROUGHOUT THE TEACHING EXPERIENCE

WHERE TO LEARN HOW TO ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS?

WHERE DO WE LEARN TO FOLLOW THE SPIRIT AS WE TEACH?
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland answered these most important questions. Missionaries were taught that the hours from 6:30-9:30 will make or break their mission. This is the Lord's time when he can mould and teach a missionary through personal and companionship study.

The missionaries could not have agreed with Sister Everton more when she said missionaries do not like to be sick! She taught them how to avoid getting sick!
Elder Benson, Elder Brownell, Zuster Pàlenikova, Zuster Larsen, and Zuster Kremer all have birthdays in January!
Elder van Overbeek enthusiastically lead us in the jovial and fun Dutch birthday song!

In the afternoon, President Brubaker taught the missionaries from the scriptures. He talked to them about the importance of walls and gates in Nehemiah.
We all learned important principles from the story of Nehemiah. Missionaries have many distractions and these were discussed. But as Nehemiah was tempted to come down from the wall, he didn't let the distraction take over. He did not come down from the wall, and he stayed focused an unified. He worked on building the wall, and was able to complete it in 52 days, because he had a great work to do, and wouldn't let anything get in his way.
The missionaries talked about distractions that they have that can make it so they
"come down from the wall."

My dear brethren, like Nehemiah, we have

a great work to do. We stand overlooking

the horizon of our age. It is my fervent

Prayer that in spite of temptations, we will

never lower our standards; that in spite

of distractions, wherever they may come

from, we will not lose focus on what matters

most; that we will stand resolute and

together, shoulder to shoulder, as we valiantly bear the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ.


I pray that we may be worthy of the holy priesthood of Almighty God and, to a man, lift our heads and with unwavering voice proclaim to the world, "We are doing a great work, and we will not come down." In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

President Dieter Uchtdorf


Elder Stoddard and Elder Andrews had to leave a few minutes early for legality appts. Elder and Sister Pankratz volunteered to drive them and get them back in time for their appts.
The Rotterdam and the Antwerp Zones are happy to be missionaries......
in the best mission in the world!Sister Salden shares her wisdom with Elder Benson and Elder Wayman.
Oh, how the missionaries admire and love the senior couples in our mission.
The zusters in the Antwerp and Rotterdam zones. They are the best of the best!
Zuster Pàlenikova and Zuster Hill couldn't be left out!


We loved our time with all of the missionaries! Tears flow freely when we feel and see their dedication to the Lord. These are the best two years FOR their lives!