Senior Missionary Couples become our life long friends!

Senior Missionary Meeting

Deventer, March 28, 2015

Back row left to right: Elders Gary Romig, Brent Romig, President Van der Put, Elders Kleyn, Johnson, Robison, President Robinson & Elder Van Dam
Front row left to right: Zusters Ellie Romig, Suzanne Romig, Kleyn, Johnson, Robinson,
 Robison &  Van Dam

It is quite an adventure stepping into the unknown and serving a Senior Couples Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!  We had so many questions about what a mission would entail, and we have shared experiences beyond our wildest dreams!  We have made friends of all ages, shared talents we knew and didn't know we had, and made lives better in the process...including our own!

Senior Missionary Meeting

Mission Home, Leideschendam, September 5, 2014

Left to right:  President & Zuster Robinson, President Scheltinga, Elder & Zuster Romig (Groningen), Elder & Zuster Romig (Den Haag), Elder & Zuster Winmill, Elder & Zuster Johnson, and 

Elder & Zuster Kleyn

This is our Mission Home where our Senior Couples Training takes place.  The home is in Leidschendam, a beautiful village between Leiden and Den Haag.  The Mission Home, besides being the home for President and Zuster Robinson, is used for incoming and outgoing missionaries and training for Mission Leaders and Senior Couples, etc.

It is a joy to work with President and Zuster Robinson!  Over 43 years ago ELDER Robinson and ELDER Romig worked together as young missionaries in Belgium.  Elder Robinson was the Zone Leader in Antwerpen and Elder Romig was one of his District Leaders serving in Brussels.  They each enjoy reminiscing and sharing experiences from the past.

President and Zuster Robinson
Belgium / Netherlands Mission

President and Zuster Scheltinga
Counselor in the Mission Presidency

President & Zuster Van Der Put
Counselor in Mission Presidency

Elder and Zuster Romig with Broeder and Zuster Gout
Jovo Leadership for Netherlands and parts of Germany

Note: Because our blog serves as our journal, this post will be updated as 
           Senior Couples arrive and complete their missions.  

It is an honor to work with people who have chosen to dedicate 12 - 23 months of their lives to serving Heavenly Father's children here in the Netherlands and Belgium.  We have all left homes and families, some have left careers and many have left retirement to give unselfishly.  It is hard to grow close as we serve, then say "good-bye" when they leave to go back home!

The Senior Couples pictured below were here at the time we arrived in the Netherlands on September 13, 2013, but have completed their mission before we started this post.

Elder and Zuster Spek
Groningen Jovo Center
Gemeente Leeuwarden Presidency and ZHV President

Elder and Zuster Anjewierden
Deventer Jovo Center

Elder and Zuster Seiter
Den Haag Jovo Center

Elder and Zuster Evenhuis
Lelystad Leadership and Member Support

Elder and Sister Kruizinga
Eindhoven Jovo Center

Elder and Zuster Winmill
Mission Office

Elder and Zuster Romig with Elder and Zuster Kleiweg
Amsterdam Jovo Center

These Senior Couples are currently serving throughout the Netherlands.

Elder and Zuster Romig (Brent)
Groningen Jovo Center
Gemeente Leeuwarden Presidency and Member Support

Elder and Zuster Kleyn
Deventer Jovo Center
Gemeente Nijmegen President and Member Support

Elder and Zuster Johnson
Rotterdam Jovo Center
Pathway & Member Support

Elder and Zuster Romig (Gary)
Den Haag Jovo Center

Elder & Sister Robison
Mission Office and Amsterdam Jovo Center

Elder & Sister Van Dam
Den Helder Branch President and Member Support

Elder & Zuster Butler
Eindhoven Jovo Center

Summer 2014...A Fantastic Visit From the Josh Romig Family!

At Muiderslot Castle
Elder and Zuster Romig, Joshua, Courtney, Kamille, Whitney, and Cameron Romig

When we received our call to serve a mission to the Netherlands, it didn't take long for us to start hoping for a visit from our family while we were here.  The first to visit (and hopefully not the last) was our son, Josh and his wife, Kami and grandkids, Cameron, Courtney and Whitney.  What an exciting time we had showing them part of Netherlands!

Cameron just graduated from high school, and it was a great way for the family to celebrate.  They flew into Germany, rented a car, and drove to Netherlands.  We planned to meet them in Deventer, but we were so anxious to see them that we drove to a border town called Venlo to meet them.

A picture is worth a thousand words! That hug was the sweetest feeling a mom could feel!

Just moments after seeing each other for the first time...left to right:  Cameron, Courtney, 
Elder Romig, Joshua, Whitney, Kamille, and Zuster Romig 

We drove back to Groningen by way of Deventer and took them to the beautiful molen we had discovered when we first visited this city where the Denkers family originated in Netherlands. The Denkers family was baptized in the Ijsel River that flows by Deventer and this molen.  They later immigrated to America and settled first in Ogden, Utah, then moved to Pocatello, Idaho.












After spending the night with us in Groningen, we drove through Friesland, crossed the Afsluitdijk and down to Zaanse Schaans.  It was so much fun to show them this village of Windmills!

Cameron

                                                             Courtney

Whitney

                                                                Kami

and Josh.

We spent the night in Amsterdam and headed to the Anne Frank home in the morning.  It was a special place for Whitney to visit because she had just finished reading the Diary of Anne Frank.

Whitney signing the guest registry at the Anne Frank Home.

Then we took the tram, train and bus to a medieval castle just outside Amsterdam called...

Muiderslot

Muiderslot is the #1 castle in the Netherlands and ranked #20 in all of Europe.  It was built about 1285 A.D. and is very well kept.  Besides touring rooms in the castle, there are interactive games for children (and adults) to help understand the life of a ridder (knight) or courtisans who lived there.

Then back to Amsterdam and a visit to Madame Trussard's Wax Museum...

Cameron took a close look at  Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt...

Courtney went digging for ear wax...

Whitney went for a ride with ET...

and we were all a little "creeped out" by how real Albert Einstein looked...amazing!

After another night spent in Amsterdam, we drove to the beautiful city of... Delft

We climbed the tower of Nieuwe Kerk and took some fun pictures of family and of the city below...

We discovered a wonderful antique shop and each family purchased a pair of old ice skates.

We could have purchased older skates, but the ones we decided on
were made in 1820, an important year for us to remember!

We had been watching for a special antique tulip vase to purchase as a souvenir.  It was found and became our 43rd anniversary gift to ourselves.

The owner of the shop was absolutely delightful to visit with, and we felt we had made a special friend besides having special treasures to take home!

We watched couples arrive at a church to be married and leave again about 30 minutes later while we had a delicious meal at one of the sidewalk cafes.  We didn't get a picture, but there is a tradition of the groom biking around town with his bride in the wagon on the front of the bike...which we enjoyed watching, along with plain old limosines.

Then off to Kinderdijk...

One of our favorite places to visit is Kinderdijk, where there are 18 working windmills within about a mile.  It is a peaceful and quiet place...it feels as if you've stepped back in time.  One of the molens is open to the public so you can go inside and see what it would be like to call a molen "home".  Beautiful and fascinating!

After these few wonderful, fun-filled days with Josh, Kami and the kids, we said our painful good-byes.  They headed east and south to Belgium and France while we headed north to Groningen, our JoVo's and our friends in Groningen and Leeuwarden.  What a blessing to have family visit, and a blessing to continue to serve  these wonderful Dutch people we love!