Thursday, July 23, 2009

Ingrid is Still the Winner

A valiant lady has returned to her Heavenly Father, Ingrid Odor passed away on July 10th from lukemia. She had been here in Rotterdam since January undergoing chemo therapy treatment. She responded well to the second chemo treatment and her loving brother donated some of his bone marrow to her thereafter. She was doing well and was looking forward to returning home to Aruba at the end of the year. God had another plan for her and she had an unexpected brain hemorage, which took her life. She was fortunate that her husband and second daughter had arrived a few days before. She was a great example of courage and determination. She had many struggles but remained strong under difficult circumstances. On Monday the 13th we held a memorial service at our church for her. The program was very nice, with several speakers, including Sister Servoss. One of the young elders spoke and three missionaries sang the beautiful song, "Till We Meet Again". The chapel was full of family, friends, and Ward and Stake members who knew her and came to love her. Ingrid was an example to us all and will be dearly missed. We will also miss her daughter Christine and grandson Jaydrick. They had all become family to us. We rejoice with the knowledge that we will see her again one day with a cancer free body. We are so grateful for the great plan of salvation and the atoneing sacrifice of Jesus Christ that makes it all possible. Ingrid's memory will always remain with us. She was our heroine and is still a big winner in our eyes.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Greens and Servosses



First Family Visitors

We have just had an enjoyable week with our cousins from Utah, Rod & Cathy Green. We were able to mix their visit into our missionary work. We had a great time visiting Brugge, Belgium. It is a quaint old medieval city, which is surrounded and criss crossed by canals. The old city has many wonderful Belgian lace shops. We enjoyed shopping in them and taking in the flavor of the city. We then drove to Brussels where we visited the Grand Place (the major square in the center of the city). We met the Green's niece and our cousin, Sister Jenny Orton and her companion Sister Rideout there, and enjoyed a great meal in a restaurant. It was a wonderful visit. We then drove the sisters to their apartment and delivered some packages from her mother. The next day we spent time visiting an elderly sister and preparing for the Young Adult dinner and Institute. It was the last meeting in the Rotterdam North building before its six months renovation starts. On Friday we visited Delft and enjoyed that old city and the ceramic shop. Saturday was very different because the ladies went to a Relief Society event and Rod and I went to clean out the YA things from the north building. In the afternoon we all got together again and drove to Moordrecht for a 4th of July BBQ with the Stake President's family. We had a great time. Over the next several days we visited some other members and places such as Arnhem, Hoek van Holland, Amsterdam, and Kinderdijk. It ended with a joint teaching experience that we went on. It was a grand experience and we hope others will come to visit too.