Sunday in St. Niklaas, Belgium

 Today we went to church in the Sint Niklaas ward in Belgium.  It feels so good to walk into a meeting and see people we have met and spent time with in the temple.  Even after just a month and a half we have built great relationships and we love to see them often.  They are so proud to have their own temple close by and easy to get to.  One of the brothers talked about how grateful he was for Temples in general and how when he went for his first time he had to travel for 9 & 1/2 hours to get to the Swiss Temple in Switzerland.  They were so excited to have the Frankfurt temple opened in Germany because it meant only a 4 hour drive.  He said then they were blessed with their own temple in the Hague which is nice and close to them.  It only takes
1 1/2 hours of travel and how grateful everyone is for this wonderful blessing.  We had just taken
the 1 1/2 hour drive as we came to visit them and it was Sunday morning when traffic was very light.  Going the other direction on any other day of the week we could see that an accident on the road or anything that would cause some kind of traffic jam would dramatically lengthen that travel time and yet they don't seem to worry about that.  I have a lot to learn about being grateful even when there are inconveniences that really do happen quite regularly here.  

The town square in St. Niklaas is where the Stadhuis or Courthouse is located.







                                                                                                    In front of the Stadhuis is a  statue                                                                                                                    of St. Niklaas after whom
                                                                                                                 the city is named.

This banner tells us that it is the city of the Saint.