We arrived in Groningen on December 11, 2010. On December 17, 2010 there was a dinner for all the older people in the Groningen Ward. We were invited. It was Opa’s birthday. We went. It was the first time we met the Gout’s. Buddy and Beryl Gout would become our best friends here. Buddy was made Opa’s counselor in the Branch Presidency in Leeuwarden. I have worked with Sister Beryl Gout in the Leeuwarden Primary.
In the first picture you can only see Opa’s arm reaching across the table. The first couple by Opa’s arm who are sitting across the table are Beryl and Buddy Gout.
In the second picture you can see the back of the white head of a lady in a wheelchair. I have a picture of her when she was a little girl in the Groningen Primary. It was in the photo album of Opa Pouwel Van Komen that Tante Jellie gave to me.
Also even though it was a dinner for the older people you can see lots of children in the pictures. It is because people here have to travel a long ways to come to the Church. So, if the parents have to be involved in the Church activities they bring their children with them.
On the picture of the white haired wheelchair lady, if you look way down to the end you can see Beryl and Buddy Gout. The man sitting next to them is the Groningen Ward Bishop. His name is Harm Jan deJonge. His wife and children are sitting next to him on down the table. He is part of the “deJonge” family that are the major part of the leadership of the entire Church here in the Netherlands. His brother Martin is the Bishop in Amsterdam. His brother Ekke is the Bishop in Zwolle. His brother Jellmer is the Stake President in Rotterdam. His sister, Marta is married to the counselor in the Stake Presidency of the Apeldoorn Stake. His brother Thies was a Bishop, and then a counselor in the Stake Presidency, and now he is the man we work with in just about all the things we do.
I bet those names are not like any of the names you have ever heard of before. When you try to say the names remember that the “J” has a “Y” sound. And when the letters “i and e” or “e and i” are together the last letter is the one that makes the sound of itself. For example Thies is pronounced Teese. They do not have the same “th” sound that we do.
This year we attended the same dinner on December 16th. We were supposed to bring an older couple but they didn’t want to come so we went by ourselves. I would have taken some pictures but they would have looked just like these pictures I already have.
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