GOING HOME

I (Russell) mentioned last week that I had been to see some doctors and that I would be going back this week so my referring physician could read the x-rays and let me know his opinion of how I was doing.  When we last saw him he said to come back next week after having the tests and it that it was not necessary to have an appointment, to just drop in.  It sounded too easy and it was.  We ended up having to go twice to find the doctor in the office.  Only after the second visit did we learned that the doctor we had been seeing was not even the doctor I had the original appointment with.  Eileen and I emerged from the last appointment with different feelings.  Mine was one of relief at having the matter finally finished.  No more doctor appointments!  Eileen’s was one of frustration at not being able to communicate effectively in German.  I think this may just add fuel to Eileen’s efforts to learn German.

On Friday we drove to the LDS temple in The Hague, Netherlands.  The temple there is small in comparison to those in Utah and appointments are necessary for certain ordinances.  In the temple sacred ordinances such as baptism and marriage are performed for both the living and the dead.  These ordinances are effective both in this life and the life to come.  Eileen and I had both found names of ancestors to do work for in the temple and we enjoyed our visit there very much. 

 Den Hague Temple

On Saturday morning when we returned to the temple, just as we got out of the car someone called to us.  It was Anita Herway and her husband Tom.  When we lived in Brussels over 15 years ago they were in our ward there.  Tom had been our bishop and Anita had taught our children in seminary.  It was great to see them again.  We learned that Tom is retiring and that they are moving from Brussels in two weeks.  I asked what they had would be doing in the next phase of their life.  Tom told me that after doing some vacationing and catching up with family back in the states that they were planning on serving a mission.  I mentioned that our last mission had been in the Missionary Department working with senior missionary assignments and that I would be happy to help them understand the process if they had any questions.  Tom then told me that the reason they had come to the temple that day was to seek guidance as to how they should proceed with their mission plans.

There are times in your life when you recognize that events are not luck or just coincidence, but that there is a divine purpose in why you are where you are at that exact moment.  Eileen and I talked with Tom and Anita for quite some time about their mission plans.  In the end I can’t say that I know exactly what it was that was so important for them to learn from our visit.  Perhaps we will never know.  But I am absolutely confident that it was meant to happen and that something communicated between us was important.  As the Prophet Alma told his son, “by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.”  I am sure Tom and Anita will make great missionaries and I feel humbled to have had this brief encounter with them this weekend.

Healys and Herways

After leaving the temple on Saturday afternoon we drove to our old home near Brussels.  It was nostalgic to look at the house and remember all the good times we had there.  For both Eileen and I it was truly one of the best two-year periods in of our lives.  During our time there we had a closer relationship with our children than we have ever had.

Our Home in Overijse (We had flower pots with geraniums hanging outside every window)

It was a grand old house-we loved it!

Grand Place-many buildings dating back more than 300 years

We had dinner outside just as the sun was going down

Earlier today we had the opportunity to attend church in the Brussels International Ward where we attended while we lived there.  The ward is by nature a transient ward so most of those attending we did not know.  In addition to seeing the Herways again, the 16 year-old son of Leticia Binwag came up to me and introduced himself.  He told us that his mother was sick and unable to attend today but that his mother had asked him to say hello to us.  He was just a baby when we left Brussels.  We also saw Jenlyn and her daughter Jennifer.  My son Vijay and I were her home teachers when we lived here.  Jenlyn had recently gone through some very hard times just before I met her 17 years ago.  It was good to see her attending church and active in the gospel.  Her son Kurt, who I remember as a very active preschooler is now submitting his papers to serve a full-time mission.

Jennifer, Jenlyn and the Healys