M E R I D I A N     M A G A Z I N E

“Oh the Rains of Holland”, Part 2
Photo Essay: Temple Dedication in The Hague
Text: Maurine Jensen Proctor
Photos: Scot Facer Proctor

Public Perceptions

The response from the neighborhood reflects a larger shift in the way the press views the Church in the Netherlands. According to Ineke den Hollander, public affairs representative for the Church here, “In Holland, the Church has not had the image it does in the United States, but everything began to change with the Olympics.

“Before the Olympics, I visited the national press and gave them a Power Point presentation, to prepare them for their visit to Salt Lake. They reacted with great interest to the information, and from that point on, the Dutch press were writing positive stories. Among other things, they knew that we stood for strong families.”

When Stephen Covey came to talk about strengthening families in a special evening seminar, the Dutch press covered it, noting that he was a Latter-day Saint. “It gave momentum for the press conference held in August about the temple open house. It was one of the biggest press conferences ever held before a temple open house, according to Bruce Olson, Director of Public Affairs for the Church.”

Ineke said, “It probably helped that it was August, ‘cucumber time’ for the media, when they are hungry for stories, but representatives of the national press turned out and every single article that they wrote was correct!

“The Christian newspaper here did a very large article on the Church, and said that as you walk through the temple, every step takes you a little bit lighter and higher. That is a major breakthrough in a country that has a long tradition of Protestant faith. They seemed to get the message that we are a Christian church.”

Ineke is energized, busy this morning of the temple dedication as she ushers members of the national press to a front row place for the coverstone ceremony and holds an umbrella over their cameras when it rains. “I used to call every reporter after an interview to make sure they got their stories right,” she said, “but then everything happened so fast, I couldn’t do that, and I realized that we didn’t do this by ourselves. Heavenly Father just helped us and we learned that we are not alone.”

Anticipating the Dedication

Waiting in line this morning of the dedication with his family is Arto Hoorn Weg who had once been “a decided atheist” until he met his wife in a museum while he was touring in Russia. She came to Holland to tell him their relationship couldn’t work out, but instead he learned the gospel. Before then, he had never thought religion made any sense, but learning about the plan of salvation changed that for him. Now he is waiting with great anticipation for the prophet to come and the dedication to begin. “Today is wonderful, but tomorrow we can actually do a session and go to work. Until now we had to travel 5 hours to Frankfurt.

“We can tell the significance of this temple from the lives of less active people who have suddenly become vibrant. We hope this feeling continues.”

Thirty-two thousand people attended the open house, and some of the people who have worked closely with it know “that there were incredible blessings that we didn’t expect.”

“I remember a woman coming out of the celestial room crying. She said, “I was a war victim. Everybody in my family was killed during the Holocaust, but in the Celestial room she had heard a whispering voice saying, “Don’t worry about us.”

Another woman from Germany who had never heard of Zoetermeer (the suburb of The Hague where the temple stands) had the impression that she should go to Zoetermeer. She got in her car, drove to Holland, checked into a hotel and thought, “Now what?” Then she turned on her television and saw a news story about the temple in Zoetermeer, and immediately came to the open house. “My husband is deceased,” she said. “Now I know why I am here.”

“We cried when we heard the story,” members said.

Click here for Part 3 of “Oh the Rains of Holland”

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