Ijsmanneke, I love you!

The past few weeks I have seen commercials for these little beauties.

Seeing this stateside reminds of being a missionary in Belgium. Magnum's are the elite of ice cream bars. If we were having a bad day, or a good day, or an indifferent day (any excuse would do) our little household in Belgium would find a reason to purchase one of these beauties. But, the other magnificent part of Belgium was Ijsmanneke (translated to Little Ice Cream Man). Every evening the tinkling, melodious sounds of Ijsmanneke rang through the streets, and I felt bound to shout out "Ijsmanneke, I LOVE YOU!" I truly did. He brought the Magnum bars, and other delectable ice cream dishes directly in front of the house. I found this picture to show the excitement of Ijsmanneke.

The entry from my mission "scrapbook" has this tag line, "Summers in Belgium brought the ice cream man, taunting me every evening with his little chime to

come and buy his wares. Some nights we had to obey! Ijs mannkeke is my favourite man in all of Belgium."

I recall one day, when my companion and I were both sick. It happened to be preparation day, and when it came time to leave for the evening, neither of us could move. We decided to make some phone calls and do other planning and try to get better. It was a good thing we decided this, for about 10 minutes after the other sisters left the apartment,

the elders called and told us we had to stay home, because there were riots in downtown Antwerpen. Recall that the other sisters JUST left and wouldn't be home until late at night. At the time, we hoped that they would be able to get to a members house before public transportation shut down and could take them home.

Later that evening, the sisters called, stuck in the riot because public transportation had shut down. I took their information, was able to call the elders, relay where the sisters were located and sent the cavalry to rescue my sisters in need. Now, recall that I LOVE Ijsmanneke. When I get sick I crave ice cream. That cold creaminess coating my inflamed throat is a great feeling. I was in want of Ijsmanneke. And this is the part I am not proud of. But I heard that jingle and convinced Zr. Sharp that we needed ice cream. She agreed. Unbeknownst to us, the sisters had called while purchasing the "medicine" to say the location was no longer safe. However, we didn't have an answering machine and missed the call. For the rest of the evening I played phone tag between the sisters and elders and tried to get them both in the same location. The sisters didn't get home until close to 1 am. I still hang my head in shame for the need of the ice cream on a night that was fraught with danger (to the sisters in the riot, not my throat).

So what does all of the have to do with Magnum bars. Well, first, I hope you enjoyed my embarrassing moment. Second, I have been sick for the past 2 weeks, and I ate a Magnum.

Bliss. :)