MUSICAL FIRESIDE

Sunday night we drove into Brussels with the Elders to a missionary musical fireside. Elder Valenza was one of the soloists so we got there early. He started off the program by singing a lovely song that had "Hallelujah" as the only lyrics. It was so effective and brought the spirit to the meeting. He also sang it at the very end of the evening - again leaving a sweet spirit at parting.

Elder Peterson, Elder Scott and Elder Valenza showing off their companionship ties. Sister Egbert took a little trip to Tunisia and the Elders (who live in an apartment in her home) watched the house and took care of the animals for her, so she brought these ties back to thank them. We told them they should have sung a trio since they were dressed for it.

There were several soloists on the program, a duet by Elder and Sister Wortham's granddaughters (their father works at the embassy in Brussels), and a great arrangement of "I Am a Child of God" performed in French and English by our Mission President, President Woodland. Also the young adults from the International Ward sang - the girls sang "Sisters in Zion" then the boys sang "The Armies of Helaman" and then they sang them together. It was really well done and surprisingly they went together very nicely.

After the music, they showed the film "Finding Happiness" once in British English and once in French. President Woodland then bore his testimony and Elder Valenza closed the meeting with an encore of his number.

The non-members were invited to take a small gift from the mission and invited to speak with the missionaries if they desired.

All in all, it was a very nice evening and a pleasant diversion from our regular assignments.