Brussels - Chocolate, Waffles and Training

Travel is easy and hard

Thinking we could beat the early morning London traffic, we left Solihull at 6:00 a.m. for the 100 miles journey to the Hyde Park Chapel on the M40 motorway. Three hours later and considerably more impatient we arrived with just an hour to spare to get to St Pancras International Rail Statrion to take the Eurostar to Brussels.

Hailing a taxi rather than taking the Picaddilly line on the tube we arrived in time for the customs and immigration inspections to board the high-speed train through the Chunnel to Brussels. It took us about double the time to get to London than it did to travel to our destination in Belgium.

Brussels is the hub of Europe as it hosts the European Union  with its 27000 EU employees representing most of the nations of Europe. Currently the UK is struggling with its membership in the EU and it could present the Conservative government with an enormous challenge as the UKIP party has gained a strong foothold in EU and local elections by promoting nationalism versus the Eurocentric vision of a federated Europe. It is also home to a Church Public Affairs Office and a downtown chapel housing two units of the the stake.

The Grand Place in the centre of Brussels is spectacular with the city hall surrounded by restaurants and shops filled with lace, chocolates and beautiful artwork.

Belgium waffles are out-of-this-world delicious as evidenced by Joyce relishing this strawberry, hot chocolate, chantilly cream... oh, and waffle dessert of Kings!

Take a look at this 'tiny' Belgium Waffle. Needless-to-say, we shared and even then felt a twinge of guilt. Joyce felt the guilt more acutely than did the Chocoholic Dan!

Elder Jones between bites of waffle in the Grand Place.

Chocolate shop after chocolate shop... has Dan questioning if he'd been translated directly to heaven!

Joyce in front of the City Hall in the Grand Place admiring all the the flowers... Her version of heaven is a lot less sweet than Dan's. She prefers the beautiful display of flowers as well as the magnificent lace and embroidery art shops that proliferate around the centre of Brussels.

Ah, success as evidenced by the newly acquired contents in the plastic bag. Lace and embroidered pillow cases were the buys of the day.

Flowers adorn the street lamps, window sills and front steps on almost every building in Brussels.

The Oxford English Dictionary identified the word for 2014 as "selfie." Here is our selfie from the Grand Place in Brussels... Cute girl and a guy who is carrying his own bags (under his eyes).

Brugge takes us back to Medieval times

Brugge is a World Heritage site that has lovely cobble-stoned streets, charming window pots of flowers and bicycles parked outside the doors.

Joyce in a courtyard of an medieval hospital across from the Picasso Museum with the Church of our Lady in the background. The Church houses the only sculpture by Michaelangelo outside Italy.

Magnificent lace reflects the artisans of Belgium.

Charming squares inviting people to relax, eat and mingle dot the entire city.

Bruges (French spelling) was a seaport centre in the early to mid-1000s that has diminished in importance due to the sea access being filled with silt. It remains a wonderful example of what life must have been like in 1300 A.D. or 1400 A.D.

Charming building along the canals.

Parks filled with statues and beauty.

All of this natural beauty is due to a moderate climate, valued historic preservation and lots of the above... We darted in and out of the rain for the entire day. But it began to pour as we were leaving on the train back to Brussels.

Videography Training in Brussels

The Church is making real strides in upgrading the information available to members and the public in general through mormonnewsroom. We were trained along with National Directors of Public Affairs for several countries on the art of taking videos, editing them (with music / sound / graphics) and uploading them to the local newsroom websites. This will facilitate more effective communication as it allows people to view a topic or event in a video rather than just text.

Dinis Adriano (Assistant Director of European Public Affairs), David Templeton and Fernanda (National Director of Public Affairs for Cape Verde) find great satisfaction in demonstrating new skills on and off camera.

Peter Middleton (professional videographer and producer), Marianne van Wermeskerken (National Director of Public Affairs for The Netherlands) and her husband, Dr. Nico van Wermeskerken, consult with Peter about their video production --- blessings associated with the principle of tithing.

Dan, Serge Vandendriessche (National Director of Public Affairs for Belgium and US Embassy PR Officer) and David Templeton (Videographer and IT specialist for Ireland) enjoy their new-found friendship  at the seminar.

A coincidental meeting at the train station finds Elder Peres and Elder Martinez, missionaries serving in Flemish speaking Belgium within the Paris France mission. Guess what language they are teaching? Spanish in Brussels where they are just returning from their weekly football (soccer) morning enjoyed with nearly 75 members and others interested in learning more about the gospel. Who would have thought Spanish and Portuguese speaking wards / branches throughout almost every major country in Europe?

A Time for Reflection - Ashton's 50th Anniversary

Dan and Brian Ashworth (a great leader in the Manchester area during Dan's first mission) greet each other. President Ashworth was a Bishop who taught Elder Jones a great lesson on fearless faith nearly 45 years ago.  It was thrilling to speak with him again and relate the experience we shared together in Ashton so many years ago.

Dan looks happy to see his longtime hero... Brian Ashworth.

The Ashton Ward building was built 50 years ago and has been community and church focal point for all these years. The celebration bought hundreds back to cheerily gather to reflect on the history of the church in Ashton. Two missionaries from my day as a young missionary, Elder Kent Winder and Elder Craig Jessop, have made significant impacts on the Church worldwide as well as those made in the Ashton Oldham area of Manchester all those years ago.

Martin Cook, former Bishop and Stake President in Ashton, now is the National Director of Public Affairs for Great Britain.

Elder Jolley is a nephew of our good friends and fellow missionaries, Dean and Celia Jolley.

Where there were just four missionaries some forty years ago, today there are ten serving in the same geographic area including these great looking elders from four continents.

The two-day celebration was highlighted with a combined sacrament with nearly 500 people from the two Ashton Wards and the Oldham Ward.

Joyce turns 39...(again)

 Joyce with her birthday cake from The Cake Artists in Solihull.

 A rousing round of the English version of Happy Birthday to You. 

 Joyce serving everyone her birthday luncheon... from the left, Rob (Systems Programmer), Craig (IT), Pauline (Church Magazines), Alan (Accounting), Sister Russell. John (Systems Programmer), Anna (the heart of the office and Missionary Applications), Jan (Real Estate) and John (Facilities Management).

Outside our office in Solihull...

Birthday flowers from Sisters Banner and Russell on our dining room table along with all the photos of family at home.

My, how time flies... the weeks are now booked until the holidays!

We looked at our calendars and discovered that nearly every night along with each weekend is now booked in our diaries (English word for calendars) until after the 17th of December. We are scheduled for London this weekend, Liverpool and Chorley the next week on the 6th through 9th of November.  On Saturday, the 15th, we are taking the Primary children on an activity to the Think Tank in Birmingham. Stakes leaders from the Manchester and York areas are next for training during the month of November. We also look forward to assisting with Thanksgiving dinner for approximately 30 senior missionaries, the Family Values Award presentation at The House of Commons on the 10th of December, and a host of other office related projects.

Our days became even more filled today when we received a text on Sunday asking us to meet at the Sheldon chapel before sacrament meeting. Joyce said she had an impression about why the need for the meeting, but Dan was completely in the dark. The Birmingham Stake Presidency called Dan to be the Second Counselor in the bishopric of the Sheldon Ward. It's quite unusual to have a missionary serve in a leadership role in an established ward in England (although Joyce has been serving for the past two months in the Primary presidency). With the lack of priesthood leadership in our small Sheldon Ward, Bishop Stilger felt inspired to make the recommendation with the blessings of President Griffiths (Stake President) and President Rasmussen (Mission President). Interestingly enough we now have an Italian first counselor, American second counselor, a British ward clerk and a German Bishop in an inner city British ward. Don't you love the marvelous mix of multiple nationalities in just one small inner-city ward in Birmingham? Truly this is a global Church.

Spirit of the work....

The Sisters Arrive

Sisters Banner and Russell arrived early in the morning at the Birmingham Airport on Tuesday, September 30. Following a short ride we "tucked" them into their flat to refresh before introducing them to the entire office staff at the Solihull Church Administration Building.

Both sisters are from Morgan, Utah and served in their stake's Relief Society Presidency before coming to the decision that they wanted to serve together as full-time missionaries. Sister Banner is a mother of seven with grandchildren and has served as a Public Affairs missionary in Frankfurt with her husband prior to his passing. Sister Russell has a total of eleven children with grandchildren and is a retired elementary school teacher of nearly forty years.

We are impressed with their remarkable desire and amazing commitment to serve the Lord in a foreign country. Away from family, familiar surroundings, comforts of home and they smile each day come rain or shine. Mostly rain these days.... in fact, we expect heavenly downpours nearly everyday for the next two weeks.

Sister Russell, Malcolm Adcock (Director of Public Affairs for UK) and Sister Banner enjoy a chance to visit while touring the sisters' new flat at 38 Thorpe Court in Solihull.

Sister Jones, Sister Banner, Sister Russell and Elder Jones bask in the sun outside the Birmingham Mission Office.

Our friends from Boise, President and Sister Rasmussen preside over nearly 300 missionaries in the Birmingham England Mission that encompasses the midlands of England and half of Wales. Craig and Julie were in our ward in Eagle Idaho and he served as our Bishop for a number of years. We still remember that period of our lives as a bit of "Camelot" as our children were surrounded by wonderful  school friends (including the Rasmussen children) and we established life-long friends with the Maughans, Manns, Rasmussens, Ranstroms, Smiths, Clarks, Gardiners and too many others to mention. We remember a time when many of us got together in New York City to celebrate the Christmas season... and here we are so many years later enjoying that continued friendship across the ocean.

Paula (in front of Joyce) brought the Sheldon Ward together as many celebrated her retirement with a dinner at The Harvester in Sheldon. It's remarkable how close we've become to these dear brothers and sisters! David across from Paula wouldn't allow us to purchase Paula's dinner as he 'claimed the honour' despite the fact that he just left his current employment. It touches our hearts when we see their sacrifice in the face of many personal concerns. They may not have many of the physical blessings that become commonplace in our lives back home, but they live the Savior's admonition to care for their brothers and sisters as they care for themselves. 

Media Training in Chester

Chester is a medieval walled city that  is rich in history as well as charming in personality. Time has stood still despite this working Victorian Clock (with Joyce beneath) that greets visitors along the city wall and above the two-story commercial shopping district of the city.

The second most famous clock in England provides the backdrop for Joyce. Placed as a tribute to the sixtieth anniversary for Queen Victoria it still keeps perfect time.

Not far from the Victorian clock, the Cathedral of Chester sits on high ground just off the city wall.

Sister Jones leads the discussion relating to how we are members of the Church can reflect the gospel in our engagement with the media. Frequently the press has an angle that the news editors want to present and we want to tell our story in our words. As followers of Christ, we want our neighbors and friends to know that we believe in the Savior and that we respect others' beliefs. Although we may not have the same doctrinal faith, it is important to know that we have much more in common with people of other faiths than we have differences. People of faith believe in helping others and respecting the beliefs of others as we live in harmony with our neighbors.

Elder Pratt on the right is from Bountiful and has a remarkable conversion story that includes having to choose between his family or the gospel. Elder Mongie on the left is from Kaysville and is a Chinese speaking missionary assigned to the Chester Ward (which happens to be in Ewloe Wales). St. David's Park in Ewloe has a beautiful chapel that serves as the Stake Centre for many congregations, most of whom are in Wales.

Going 'Home' to Merthyr Tydfil

Genealogically speaking, when we research the Jones name all sources lead to Merthyr Tydfil! Merthyr is a beautiful valley community in South Wales that once led the United Kingdom with its steel mills and coal mining. Later the Hoover Company established it's European manufacturing headquarters here as the community of 100,000 is now only about 50,000.

Notice that the name of the Church is in Welsh on one side of the stake centre.

On the opposite side of the largest stake centre building in the United Kingdom is the name of the Church in English. President David O. McKay dedicated the building fifty years ago as it was his ancestral home. Notice that fall with its ever-present rain has come to the United Kingdom.

Welsh and English appear on all signage.

Sister Julie Jones is the Church's representative on the Interfaith Council of Wales where she meets with the Bishops and Archbishops of Wales along with the heads of of other faiths. Julie is a returned missionary originally from Chorley who radiates goodness as evidenced with the photograph above. She is a mother of five and the wife of a counselor in the stake presidency.

Former President of the Preston Temple, Arnold Jones, with his lovely wife, June, and daughter-in-law, Julie. After just a few minutes in their home, we felt like we were related by more than sharing our common surname. President and Sister Jones served us a lovely Welsh soup, rolls and Welsh cakes for lunch before taking us on a tour of the area.

Sister Jones, Sister Jones, Sister Jones and Brother Jones.... Joyce, June, Julie and Arnold. With another Jones behind the camera!

President McKay's mother (an Evans) was born in the little home in Merthyr. The plaque on the side of the door identifies her birthplace as a community landmark.

It would be hard to find a more beautiful place where we felt such an immediate kinship.

President and Sister Jones take grass blades to clean the headstone of Elder Abel Evans, a Welsh convert, who served nearly a decade after being called to go back on a mission to serve in his native land. The Daughters of Utah Pioneers have place a commemorative plaque on his headstone.

Many companies in these small towns (steel and coal in the case of Merthyr) provided homes for their supervisors. The concept was very common in mining communities and brings back memories of growing up as a young boy in Bingham Canyon where my grandparents had a 'company' provided home in Copperton as part of his position with Kennecott Copper. Later my grandparents purchased the home where my mother and her 5 siblings were raised. Although not quite as small or attached as these are, the neighbors were all supervisors employed by a common employer. Over the fence conversations were dominated by talk of unions, strikes, mineral prices and 'the pit.' Walking by these homes brought back the ghosts of my childhood with an alarming force.

President Jones's mother was baptized in this pool at the base of this bridge on January 31st. Can you imagine how cold it must have been and how much faith she must have had? This little place in Wales is full of this same kind of faith even today.