The Lord is in Charge

                                           June came with both good and bad news.
We received our itinerary from the Temple Department which showed us returning to the Netherlands the 3rd of June so that the Temple could be opened up again.  Opening is, of course, being done in 4 phases, each of which will be carefully monitored and controlled by the Temple Department.  We are excited to be back and look forward to seeing the full use of the temple at some future time.


We were greatly shocked to receive a phone call from our dear Elske Muurling, our 1st Counselor's wife, the  18th of May, telling us that Gerrit, her husband had been taken to the hospital during that night.  He had not really had much warning but began to feel feverish and then more sick as the week had worn on and by Sunday night the doctor came and said he had to be taken to the hospital immediately thinking it was Covid-19.  Upon further testing they found that it was not the virus at all but that he had Acute Leukemia.  He continued to battle for another week until he was taken home by our Heavenly Father the following Tuesday, May 26th, to begin his new calling on the other side of the veil, leaving his dear Elske, their 5 children (some with spouses), and 9 grandchildren behind.  What a sudden and heart wrenching loss this is for the Muurling family and all who know and love Gerrit.  Our wonderful, extremely hard working, always willing and able dear friend and counselor is gone.  We are having a hard time accepting the loss and are missing him so very much.  We are happy that we can be back in the Netherlands where we can be close and can support Elske in any way possible.