Brussels Sprouts or Belgium Waffles?

The past few weeks our Mission President has talked about Celestial Transfers Received (CTR). We thought we were not going to be involved in this endeavor because we thought we would be staying in Bordeaux for the complete length of our mission - no transfers for us. Then on Tuesday, our Family History Supervisor, Jean Pierre Massela, came to Bordeaux to meet with the officials at the archives. After his meeting he took us out to dinner and posed the question - "How would you like to go to Belgium for the rest of your mission?"

We evidently have worked ourselves out of the job we had at the archives, and the only work they could come up for us would have been a help to them but would not further our Family History work or objectives. We have been keeping very busy doing indexing on the Internet in our apartment, but we were beginning to feel that we were not utilizing our time on this mission for what we were called. (We could have been doing indexing at home in Las Vegas.) We felt we should be taking advantage of the fact that we are here in France to do things that could only be done here and that were necessary for the advancement of Family History work.


Mons, Belgium

There is an opportunity in Mons (a town close to Brussels, Belgium) where we will be able to prepare documents for microfilming - which is something we have gained experience doing here in Bordeaux and in Paris. This seemed like the ideal answer. We told Jean Pierre that we would be happy to go.

I use the word happy advisedly. We know this is a wonderful opportunity. But having taken over a year to get settled in Bordeaux - finally learning how to find our way around (at least most of the time), getting our lovely apartment all set up and functioning, finally getting a telephone and the Internet in our apartment, getting a bank account set up, getting our "green cards" etc. - it is a little daunting to think of starting over again. We may be living in a one-room missionary apartment in Mons. We have gathered many things that have made our lives here in Bordeaux more comfortable and convenient that we probably will not be able to take with us - some because it belongs to the Toulouse France Mission and some because we would have no way of transporting it to Belgium.

We look forward to attending a ward in Belgium that is an American ward where JoAnn will be able to understand what is being said in church - 3 hours of church on Sundays in Bordeaux without being able to understand what is being said can be a very long 3 hours. On the other hand we will miss the wonderful people we have grown to love in our Bordeaux ward. This truly is a mixed blessing. We know there will be a time of adjustment (somehow change seems to be harder the older we get), but we also know that this is where the Lord wants us to be at this time, that it will be a growing and stretching time for us, and that there are wonderful experiences and people awaiting us in Belgium. 

Brussels Sprouts

It is very much like Brussels sprouts - they are good for us and even though we are not sure that we like the experience of having to actually eat them to get the goodness they have to offer, eating our vegetables is the right thing to do.

We have found that if we do whatever our Heavenly Father asks of us, we will find life sweet and delicious - making Brussels Sprouts as delightful as Belgium waffles.