ZONE CONFERENCE

Zone Conferences are usually held in one of the chapels in Brussels. When we drove up to the church parking lot for a Zone Conference we were met by greetings from this large white goose housed in the yard behind the chapel. The goose would honk at us and Arnold would honk back, then the goose would honk even louder. We were not sure if he was greeting us or warning us to stay away. President and Sister Woodland gave such outstanding presentations. We were spiritually fed and inspired to do more and to work harder. President Woodland explained the atonement in ways that we had not thought of before. It was truly an inspirational day. Some of the Elders taking with President Woodland after the presentation. It is so much fun to discuss the ideas presented afterwards in a more casual setting. Elder and Sister Wortham are the Office Couple. They are an outstanding pair. This is Elder Wortham's 9th mission. They have gone on a mission several times, spent some time at home with their families and then returned to replace the couple that had replaced them. Same job, same apartment, same ward, same everything that they were familiar with and experienced at.

We used Toon's GPS to find out way in Brussels but still made a wrong turn just after we left the chapel. We turned down the wrong street and this loomed up before us. The Atomium is a monument built for Expo '58, the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. Designed by André Waterkeyn, it is 102-metres (335 ft) tall, with nine steel spheres connected so that the whole forms the shape of a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. Tubes which connect the spheres along the 12 edges of the cube and all eight vertices to the centre enclose escalators connecting the spheres which contain exhibit halls and other public spaces. The top sphere provides a panoramic view of Brussels. Each sphere is 18 metres in diameter. The vertical vertex contains a lift which was considered very fast and advanced at the time of building (the speed is 5 m/s). One of the original ideas for Expo '58 was to build an upside-down version of the Eiffel tower; however, Waterkeyn felt that an atomic structure would be more symbolic of the era. The monument was originally planned to remain standing only six months. However, it soon became a symbol not only of the World's Fair, but of modern architecture and Brussels.
The Elders we were giving a ride home to yelled, "Stop! We have to get pictures." This is Elder Valenza giving his best Superman pose.We caught Elder Curtis as he was returning to the car after his photo op.