American Powerchair Football Confederation APFC

Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Friday when Lisa got home from work, we loaded up the van and headed to Arizona to watch Evan play in the APFC qualifying tournament to see which countries would be playing in the FIPFA world cup tournament in Argentina next year. It was an amazing weekend.

With Arizona now being an hour ahead of us, and our late start it was around midnight when we got to Bens, so we hugged and kissed our son and headed to bed.

We wanted to get a temple session in so we got up early to head to the Gilbert Temple. In the wee hours of the morning when I opened the bedroom door I was startled to see this cute little girl acting all shy standing right in front of the door. She looked unsure of what to do but when I knelt down and said come give me a hugged she was instantly in my arms. By the time we got out the door all the kids were up and giving us hugs. It is so fun to be greated like this.

We were back around 9:00 and of course the first thing I wanted was a tour of Bens yard. It is amazing what he has accomplished while working full time, raising three kids of his own and three additional kids that he has invited into his home. It wasn’t long ago that his back yard was a barren dirt patch and in a short time he has;

· leveled it,
· installed a sprinkler system,
· planted a lawn,
· planted trees and vines,
· built a beautiful garden bed,
· planted it with many flourishing plants,
· prepped the space for several more garden beds,
· built a first class chicken coop that matches his house,
· raised several chickens that keep him and several others in a constant supply of eggs,
· built a tortois house.

While he has accomplished a lot, he has many more projects ahead of him. I love following his progress.

Saturday was a day to play with grandkids. Kit decided that we needed to play with her new scooter. I wasn’t terribly excited about chasing her around on her scooter but then I saw a powered scooter sitting in the garage and decided that would make it a lot more fun. That girl travelled all around the neighborhood and it was a lot of fun. When Kit was tired of the scooter, the boys wanted to head to the park.

We played around on the playground equipment for a while and then a neighborhood friend showed up and they wanted me to join in a game of tag. That would have been fun but the rules kept changing and it was pretty hard to catch them all. Of course, I was the first one “it” (or as they called it, I was the “tagger”) and it was me and Kit against the three of them. It was some variation of frozen tag where if we tagged them they were frozen but then one of their team mates could free them.

The neighbor kids mother came and took him away so then it was the merry-go-round. They love that.

Kira came over for breakfast (Justin was at work) and then she left the kids with us while she took Evan to be classified. In these competitions each player is classfied according to their abilities. If you are severely dissabled, you are classfied as a 1, if you have more abilities you are a 2 and if you have pretty good mobility then you are a 3.

A team can only have 6 points on the floor at a time, so you want really good players who are 1’s. You can have 5 good players on the floor. You can have one 2 player but if you have two 2’s then you would have to play short handed. You wouldn’t do that unless those two players are really good. Evan was classfied as a 1.

Later in the day we somehow ended up dancing. Actually, Zanee,

Kit,

and Cameron ended up dancing.

We then headed to Scottsdale to watch a light show. The best part of the light show were some flames they have in a canal but the show started at 6:30. We got out of the house late so we missed that, but once we got there we learned that they repeat the show at 7:30 and then again at 8:30.

They had lots of cool things to see, so decided to walk around and check them out and then see what time it was. By the time we all got parked and met up it was already nearly seven so I figured it would work out well.

The whole show took place along both sides of a canal and they were quite fascinating. I don’t think we saw everything, but here are a few pictures of some of them.

One booth had clothing that lit up and changed colors if you passed polarizing lens’s over them.

There was a giant face hanging in the air and you could stand in front of a camera and your face would appear in the sky.

Here is Zanee and Kit making music on some fancy synthesizer. 

There were several others as well. By the time we made it back to where we started it was 7:30 so we hung out and waited for the show. It was quite amazing. We were able to be right up front and center.

By the time we got home we were all tired so we visited briefly, watched a TV show and went to bed.

--------------------trivia--------------------

Canada is the only country that has an island in a lake 

on an island in a lake on an island in a lake. 

----------------------------------------------

Missionary Journal - 11 June 1978 Sunday

11 June 1978 Sunday

Today has been great. In conference this morning everyone got quite a pleasant surpise. Pres Brim read an annoucement from President Spencer W. Kimball saying that the priesthood is for all worthy men regardless of race or skin colour. That will say that the negros can now receive the priesthood.

When he announced that, I was just overwhelmed by the Holy Ghost. That was a real conviction for me that it is from God. For the rest of the meeting I was in quite a daze. It was another step up in my testimoney of a living profet who speaks with God.

After the meeting we hurried home and went to our dinner appointment with that family from Hungary. The husband works from 5:00 – 10:00 so we saw him ride away on his brommer [as we we] walked down the sidewalk. It was a delicious meal & 2 of her other dughters came also to eat (married & with noisy kids) but no other men. Afterward I prepared a roast for the other two to cook during sacrament meeting.

Sacrament meeting was also alright but we didn’t have any investigaors (Mw. Eerdekens was to Conference)(That conference was Gent district).

Tonight we had our appointment with that family of ten kids. The sad part is that the father is not interested and wasn’t there & the daughter[s] with who we talked are crazy about us. The mother likes us too. Hugo was there also but his wife is in the hospital (one of the daughters). We talked to Mw DeLange, Margriet, Hilde, Anna, Angela, Johan, Hugo (married Lieve) & also a friend that they had there. Hilde is the best looking one and is 17 years old. We shared a GTL & got a return for a G.A. but things arent looking very positive. The girls still love us though.

The days have been a little cooler lately but still warm enough that we don’t need an overcoat.

A quick visit from Justin

Thursday, November 13, 2025

Evan is currently attending college on-line, but is living in Auburn, Alabama, so he can train with the Auburn University’s Power Soccer team. Griffin (Ally’s oldest child, is living with him as his trainer. It appears to be working out great for both of them.

While Evan is on the Auburn University’s power soccer team, he is also on Team Canada. The American Powerchair Football Confederation (APFC) qualifications begin on Sunday and fortunately for us they are taking place in Phoenix. The countries competing are Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, United States and Uruguay. The top three teams from these qualification rounds will then compete in the world competition in Argentina next September. The world group is called the Federation International of Powerchair Football Association (FIPFA).

Evan arrived home yesterday but the only wheel chair van is back in Auburn. They have bought a new van that Evan will be able to drive, but it isn’t finished yet and Evan still needs a few more hours of driving before he gets his license anyway. We still have the old van that Justin bought years ago so Justin flew out Monday night and drove the van home Tuesday.

Monday is our dance class, so Justin got here early enough to join us for our class. Not surprisingly, he is a natural. The way Scottish Country Dancing works is that there are a hundred or so formations and several of these formations can be put together to make a dance. This means that there are billions of potential dances. A dance typically has seven or eight formations and the hard part for me is remembering which formation comes next. Justin remembered all the formations after seeing them once. It was his first day so his steps were a bit funky but you know Justin and he gave it his best shot. He was amazing.

We get several visitors to the class and while our instructor recognizes and gives special attention to all of them, she has never had the class applaud them at the end of the class. She had us all applaud Justin. Because we are near the end of the session, Jean (our instructor) suggested to the last visitors that they come back in January when the class starts over again. On Monday at the end of the class she came up to Justin and told him that he is welcome in her class anytime. It was a fun evening.

Tuesday morning, we had a nice and relaxed breakfast and then we sent Justin on his way with a hug and a kiss. It was so much fun having him here.

--------------------trivia--------------------

The oldest Scottish country dance with a known tune and choreography is John Anderson my jo, found in a manuscript from 1704, though the style itself developed in the 1680s.

----------------------------------------------------

Mission Journal - 10 June 1978 Zaterdag

10 June 1978 Zaterdag

We went through the Markt this morning but didn’t buy anything. It’s just fun to go see all the people. We know an awful lot of people so we see a lot of them there. We hit up a lot of people today but could only teach once. It was a call back from an Irishman. He can only speak Irish & French. Elder Reber had a lot of trouble speaking english in the Gospel Time Line. GTL.

We dropped by Mw Van Campenhout five minutes before visiting hours were over to pick up a letter to give to Zuser DeSitter. She [had] sent her a post card abut two days after she [Mw VanCampenhout] went in. Zuster VanCampenhout was so touched that she had it memorized. She was a little upset that we left so soon but we didn’t want to stay after hours.

A few weeks ago when we were at DeGraves we met a lady whose husband was in Alchoholic Anonymous. (Mr DeGrave is a converted alcholic) We had gotten a referal from DeGraves to go to their place so we went there today.

He was fishing and their daughter wasn’t [was] home so we talked to her for a few minutes and made an apppointment. It sounds quite positive for them. We had some friets & stofvlees today also. It gets expensive on these days when we try to keep our hours up but it sure is delicous.

We tracted of[f] the street where we live and boy it is great. Hardly anyone rejected us boy [but] they were all busy. Some of them can’t speak dutch though so that adds difficultys. The last house was answered by a young girl of 15. She invited us in but when her mother came she could’t speak dutch The daughter translated for us. So we talked for awhile & then they invited us in. We sat & talked some more then but didn’t because the father was home.

The mother is Yugoslave & the father Hungarian. She looks a lot like Nadia Komanchishe. Real pretty. The Mw. makes these little dolls & E Reber asked if he could buy one. She gave him one & said she would make another (the others were for other people ) but would[n’t] take money so Elder Reber slipped 500 francs under the table. When we finally left she happened to see the money and wouldn’t take it until E Reber said she could fix us dinner another time. She only took 200 francs then and said come back tomorrow (We hadn’t planned on that , we were going to make a date) At our appointment with Moniques we ended up watching T.V. again so we didn’t teach there. The show wasn’t all that good either.

Missionary Journal - 9 Juni 1978 Vrijdag

9 Juni 1978 Vrijdag

We had seven appointments today and could have taught them all if we would have been on the ball. At 10:00 oclock we talked to a man who has had the Elders before. His wife came in later & we gave a GTL [gospel time line]. They like us, but I don’t know how much interest they have in the church.

We then checked on some people but couldn’t teach until [after] our appointment with Mv Van Campenhout in the hospital. She is coming along great. We gave and “F” discussion to Mr Mornie today also. It talks about the apostacy in that discussion and that is exactly where his problem has always been. He thinks that the church has always been on earth. I think this will be the turning [point] in his investigation, if we can get him to accept the fact that the true church was taken from the earth.

Walter Exsteen was next on the list, his mother wasn’t home so we just talked to him. He really does want to learn about Christ I think but he sure will have to work hard. His Mother doesn’t [believe in] any kind of church faith & also probably has real bad moral problems .

On the way to his house talked to a bunch of kids in Kassei. That is a neat feeling when kids really like you. I’m also learning from Elder Reber how to handle them. Our next appointment was with that family of 10 kids. Right in front of their house some older teenagers stopped & talked to us. I guess they were friends of the DeLange family because some of their daughters plus the mother came out & talked to us also. They invited us in and we talked to three of the seven daughters plus a friend. The father wasn’t home and we also found out that two of the daughters we had already taught with the DeBakker family a month or so again [ago].

Mw DeBakker is thier sister, another daughter is married to Hugo & they were also at DeBakkers. Hugo came in while we were there. We also met a son & two other daughters in the time. Plus four cats. Those girls were real in love with us. They would probably get baptized if we just asked.

We talked with them so long we missed our next 2 appointments but one was with Monique & they don’t mind so that was alright.

Missionary Journal - 8 June 1978 Donderdag

8 June 1978 Donderdag

We finished tracting off Kassei for the first time through, this morning. We made a lot of good appointments (one with a familie of ten kids). The very last house (or second to the last) was the father of a girl who we had met at her finacee’s a week or so earlier. We saw those two twice later on that day.

Later tonight we taught Manique’s. We got him in this discussion and he is quite interested. In the middle of the discussion he had some problem with his heart & he couldn’t move. His wife got a glass of whisky real quick though & then he could move again.

It was real weird and kind of shocked me. We got back to teaching & then “I Love Lucy” came on so then had to quit right then. So we awatched “I Love Lucy”. It is sure hard to teach these people when there is somehting half good on T.V. Oh ya, we ate frites and stofvlees today. That sure is delicous food.

Missionary Journal - 7 June 1978 Wednesday

7 June 1978 Wednesday

This morning we had our last zone conference with Pres. Brim. It was real great also. I wished him good luck in our interview and he said that him & sister Brim love me.

Theme for the conference was “Trust in the Lord” & Elder Woodbury gave a talk on Charity that really touched me. In the testimoney I finally had the spirit with me so I could talk without being nervous. I told Pres. & Sis. Brim then that it is good to have parents here on a mission so you know there is someone to go to if you do have a problem.

After the conference we went and ate with Tierbrood’s in their new house. It lasted too long so we couldn’t teach but went to our appointments with Heyndels but they weren’t home. We took a book of Mormon to Daniel (who was sick) & Martin who are the two girls from yesterday evening.

We went to Maniques then and Starsky & Hutch came on so we got watching that and couldn’t teach. It was a good show but we got home quite late.

Something interesting that happened yesterday was when we went to that call back there were kids playing with some balls and we asked one to through [throw] us one so we got playing catch and other kids came until there was 4 people on our side and about 5 on the other side with 4 balls going back & forth. Almost everyone was looking out their windows at us. This went on for quite a while until someone kicked a ball out towards the street, it bounced off a parked car & a car on the highway hit the ball with its window & that ball went sailing for ¾ of a Cardston block (about ½ of this block). His window didn’t break or crack so it was alright but everyone decided to go home then, including us.

Missionary Journal - 6 June 1978 Tuesday

6 June 1978 Tuesday

Today was quite an interesting day. We visited Mw Van Campenhout in the hospital & we were able to teach a bit. She really wants to prepare to get baptized. She still has the temptations though to smoke. Also they still feed her coffie & she drinks it. We keep telling her to ask for hot water & she asks but they don’t give it to her.

She has a friened there who works there and comes & visits her once in a while He is a young man and he always smokes while he is there in her room. That is why she wants to, but he won’t give her any thank goodness. Later in the day we taught Mr Mornie the last part of an “E”. He still studys & prays but I don’t know how seriously.

We then went to Eerdekens. Mr Eedekens was home but he wanted to watch football (soccer) on TV. It’s the world series more or less. Walter also gave me a whole series of stamps. I’m not sure how much it is worth but at least 200 or 300 Francs. We started teaching, but then the older son came in with his wife to be. We talked with them then for the rest of the time.

Our appointments wih Jean-Pierre didn’t go through, so we hit up this one call back which we had from a while ago. We had heard from someone that the father had died, but a few days ago when we rang on the bell, the daughter said that her mom & dad weren’t home. Tonight we went there and the older daughter asked us in, but then we found that the two daughters were home alone she said her mom would be home real quick though so we waited.

She was wearing a night gown (she was sick) which was see through and she was always standing in the sunlight so we could see right through. And then the other daughter came in wearing a mini skirt so it was difficult keeping my thoughts where they should be.

The mother did come home quickly but she had friends so she couldn’t take [talk] to us. We found out then that the father is in the hospital and has been in serious condition. She said we could take [talk] to her daughters & went into the other room with her friend, so we finished our drinks & talked to some pretty girls for a while and went home.

Missionary Journal - 5 June 1978 Monday

5 June 1978 Monday

This morning we all four went to Brussel. We saw a fancy clock where statues come and dance every hour and another one hits a bell with a hammer. We were also in the centrum to buy some souveniers so we went & took another look at the Manneken Pis. They have a guard there now who keeps an eye on him twenty four hours a day because he was stolen not long ago. He said that the orginal has been in a museum since the 1930’s.

When we went in to Brussel we stopped and looked [at] a church where the king goes. The Kerk Von Laken. Right beside him is also Een onbekende soldaat or an unknown solder. That is where they dug a big hole and threw bodies of dead soldiers. They then put a big memorial on top. We also saw another church but I can’t think of the name of it. It was pretty though.

Also a fancy park and there I saw a young couple from Canada. London City. That was good. There were also four girls who couldn’t speak Flemish but tried to hustle us anyways. I think they were kind of annoyed when we wouldn’t ask them out. They could speak a real small bit of English.

We then headed for MacDonalds and on the way we saw an Older Couple who were from Saskatchewan. They have been to Waterton and know where our motels are. MacDonalds was also great. It is sure neat to have a Big Mac.

Tonight we only taught once & that was Walter Exsteen & his mother. We didn’t say anything about him being [gay].