I love Belgium and The Netherlands

Since I opened my mission call, I have spent much of the last 2 months trying to learn as much as I can about where I will be spending the next 18 months of my life. It really is all I do when I get on the computer. Sometime during all of my research, I happened to fall in love with both Belgium and The Netherlands. I thought I would give everyone a taste of why I think I am going to the best mission in the world. :)

First of all, let me clarify where it is I will be serving. The name of the mission is the Belgium, Brussels/Netherlands Mission. (Not the Brussels, Belgium/Netherlands Mission like my father tells everyone.) When I opened my call, my first thought was wait...WHERE am I going? The mission covers Northern France, all of Belgium (Brussels is the capital), and all of The Netherlands. Yes, The Netherlands is a country. It is surprising how many people do not know that. I was one of them. Because I have been called Dutch speaking, the majority of my time will probably be spent in The Netherlands.

So let's start with Belgium.

The world's biggest chocolate selling point is Brussels National Airport. Belgium produces 220,000 tons of chocolate per year. I am very ok with this. :)

There are 3 main sorts of Belgian waffles : Liege waffles (the most common), Brussels waffles (bigger, lighter, rectangular, and eaten with toppings such as strawberries or ice cream), and galettes (thinner, softer, and typically eaten for breakfast, sometimes with jam.)

Belgian people are the most avid users of discount coupons in the world, just before the United States.


Belgium produces the greatest variety of bricks in the world.

And the Belgian motorway system is the only man-made structure visible from the moon (at night, due to the lights all along the motorway network).

Now on to The Netherlands where I will be spending most of my time.

The Netherlands has two capitals : Amsterdam (the official capital by constitution since the 19th century) and The Hague (the seat of government and first capital since 1584)

The Netherlands has spawned many world-class painters, such as Rembrandt, Jan Vermeer, Jan Steen, Vincent van Gogh or Piet Mondriaan.

Orange-colored carrots appeared in the Netherlands in the 16th century. Before that carrots were white, yellow, black, purple or red.


There are 1180 windmills in the Netherlands.


Keukenhof Park is the largest flower garden in the world.

I have already fallen in love with my mission and I'm not even there yet. I am so excited to be in such a beautiful part of the world and to serve among these amazing people.

Tot ziens. :)