John and Elias Baptism

Elias (pronounced Aylee-us ) Is the cutest little 8 year old you could ever meet. His mother has been bringing him and his brother Milan to church for two years and he was so excited to finally be baptized. His mother is not a member because she and her "Man" (which is the Dutch way of saying husband,)as she calls him are not married. She is a beautiful small African woman who looks like she is in her 20's but is actually 38. His father is a Belgium man 47 years old who is a Jeweler and has a hobby of playing the drums. (When the neighbors don't complain). He does not come to church but allows his family to come. When we met with Mom and the boys last night they were very hospitable and instantly offered us juice and frozen pizza. I think she has the Elders figured out. At the baptism which was held right after Sacrament Meeting, there were a lot more people than we had expected. The father did come to the baptism and I was able to talk to him for a while. The Mom had ordered this marvelous cake with real whipped cream and store bought cookies and juice. I was the only one that brought home made cookies, I told you that no one bakes here, and my cookies had to be baked in a glass dish I found in the cupboard because there is no cookie sheet to be found in Belgium.

The other person being baptized was Arrey Mbu (John) such a humble young man in his 20's that you can't help but love when he smiles at you. He was so grateful to have everyone there to support him.

One thing that was unusual what that after the two Elders (Brown and Steed) sang a song during the meeting half the congregation clapped. Also when Elias came up out of the water, they cheered and applauded. Something we have never experienced before. You can tell how happy everyone was for this great event. Maybe we should be as enthusiastic (without the cheering and clapping)

We of course got to help with the cleanup after the refreshments when the rest of the ward cleared out except for a few close friends. The bishopric just told us to lock up when we were finished. Now I know why they were so eager to give us a key to the building.

They got my number. I had to lead the singing in Relief Society. I stopped between verse 2 and 3 the way the chorister does here in Sacrament only to be told "that is never to be done in Relief Society" well I got told. They may never ask me to lead again. oops!

I told you about visiting Scarlet and her daughter Justine and inviting them to church. We really prayed that she would. She had been invited before and even made it to the gate of the church property only to turn around and go home. Well........THEY CAME!!! We were so thrilled to see them. I got the usual Dutch 3 cheek hug from both of them and I could not have been more thrilled.
The speakers we prayed for came also. Twin boys from the ward here just returned from serving missions. One to France and the other to Italy. They were fantastic and just what our visitors needed to hear. Scarlet said she could feel the spirit and could relate to the one who had served in France. See, prayers do get answered. We have another appointment with them on Sep. 3rd. We'll see what they have to say then. I hope the Elders don't push so hard that they buck. Ben had to remind the Elders that even Brigham Young took two years before he finally joined the church.

We had an appointment with a mother of a large family (I don't know what they call large here)
but she called and canceled. She did agree to meet next week though. We'll see.

We finally talked to the bishop out in the hall and he said he was too busy to meet with us. He did invite us to come to ward counsel mtg. held once a month however.

One man found out we were from Salt Lake City and he asked us if we knew the bishop of Salt Lake. You have to remember that the Antwerpen ward takes up a huge area of the map. He could not believe that home teaching could be done in just our neighborhood. We use our cars in Salt Lake and here they have to use public transit , bikes or just plain hoof it. What a backwards world we live in.