We had looked up the time and location of the church closest to The Netherlands Temple before we left on vacation. On Sunday morning we plugged the address into our GPS and it said we were headed to a ‘restricted area’. When we got close we realized we’d have to park in a parking garage and walk the rest of the way. We found ourselves walking down a deserted pedestrian only shopping street (Stores are closed on Sundays) wondering if we were in the right place. When we found the correct address number we saw a small sign that said ‘De Kerk van Jezus Christus van de Heiligen der Laatste Dagen’. It wasn’t in the typical LDS logo font but Chris immediately said, ‘This is it.’ and pushed the black button beside it. A few seconds later a bell sounded and the door opened. We walked in and climbed two flights of stairs. As we opened the door a friendly man stood waiting to welcome us to church. He welcomed us in English and showed us the way down the hall to the ‘chapel’. It looked nothing like the church buildings we are used to, but it felt exactly the same. A picture of the Savior and a large picture of the Salt Lake Temple greeted us along the wall. Because of two babies being blessed that day and the extra visitors the ‘chapel’ was filled to capacity and because of ‘fire code restrictions’ the rest of the ward had gathered in the adjoining room which was the Relief Society Room. All eyes were on us as we entered and sat down. We listened to the babies being blessed in Dutch and sang along with the hymns as best we could… in Dutch! As soon as Matthew could see the Sacrament tray he started to reach and grunt… and quite a few people around us smiled. I suppose grunting is multi-lingual. The kids couldn’t help but look at each other after they had tasted the Dutch bread. We loved the whole experience. Once the first speaker began I took Luke to the bathroom. While I was gone the Executive Secretary in the ward approached Chris and said, “Are you able to hear anything?” (No, we couldn’t hear that well.) and then asked, “Would it be ok if I took your kids on a tour of the Church building?” Luke and I met up with them and walked from room to room as this kind man told us about their ward and asked us questions.
Even though the building itself looked entirely different, you could hardly contest that …with its nursery, and pianos, and piles of hymn books, and ‘charity never faileth’ posters, and the Bishops jar of candy, and Dutch Mormon Ad posters, and friendly happy people willing to shake your hand and wanting to know all about you… you were indeed in an LDS Church. Not to mention that the Spirit is what really makes a Church building, the House of the Lord… and we could definitely feel it.
We also met the Temple president and his wife and one of his counselors, and the Bishop who each wanted to talk to us at length about who we were and where we lived… in English of course since almost all Dutch people know English as well. Everyone was so nice.
The counselor in the Netherlands Temple presidency gave us a little history about the Temple… When the Church decided to build a temple in the Netherlands they decided they would use the largest piece of land that they already owned… which is where THIS ward’s chapel once sat. The church building, which was not originally an LDS church but was purchased by the church quite a few years before, was torn down and then this ward was sent to this office space until a new Chapel could be built. They’ve been in this office space for 8 years now and are so excited to have a Chapel again, the plans of which have just been approved.
Right after church we drove over to the temple and walked around a bit. Megan was especially excited. It was fun to have heard some of the history as we walked around.
