Whensday: 2000-2025 in the Didohof

The last several weeks we have been feeling how full our little room on the street, Didohof, can get on a Sunday. Back when we started, of course, things were different. We first met as a congregation in a community center on Sundays. It was an upper room and we were a group of about 10. Within a few years we were meeting in a larger room downstairs. But it was still only available to us on Sundays. 

At one point, one of our regular visitors mentioned a room that was open next to her apartment. We called and were able to arrange to rent the room from then on. It was a new millennium and we had a room that we could use every day of the week however we wanted. It was an upper room again, but that didn’t really matter. That first year we had apprentices from York College who helped with our evangelism and outreach (Sue is still working with the Dutch-speaking work today, in Ghent, Belgium). 

In the following years we have hosted youth weekends here, concerts with singing group Listen Up!, study evenings teaching people how to read the Bible. Song workshops with a group from Harding where we also sang at the local nursing homes, and much more. We have seen members come and go, moving on to other congregations or different countries. We have seen kids grow up and give their lives to the Lord. We have even had some baptisms in the room using a blow-up swimming pool (getting the water out is the real challenge). 

We have a main room, a kitchen (which doubles as a children’s class during the Sunday morning Bible class) and two restrooms out in the hall. This coming Sunday is a 4th Sunday, which means that we hold our potluck (every 4th Sunday). We are able to warm up meals that we share with one another and can move the chairs before setting up tables to enjoy the fellowship together. It is exciting to see how everyone helps one another. 

In these years people in the neighborhood have come to know that we are here, although they do not always know who or what we are. A few years back we walked the neighborhood with a questionnaire about “Church and Society”. It was intriguing to hear if people even knew who met in the room. This coming year we will be repeating the questionnaire to see what people know about the group that meets. 

Our direct neighbors certainly know plenty about us. Some have noticed how we help one of our shut-ins who lives just across the way. Others hear us singing on Sundays and other days when we have a singing. Some have even come to our singings as well. If nothing else, the neighbors recognize that there are more cars parked in the street on Sundays and days when we have something planned. 

We can seat about 40-50 people if we put out all of our chairs. As mentioned, these past few weeks we have had more visitors than normal, pushing our attendance on a Sunday up near that 40 mark. During a Listen Up! concert we even had standing room only. We are thankful that God has blessed us with this space and for how we can continue using it to glorify Him. 

(Click on the photo for more pictures of our building and family throughout the years)

COPA Benelux

This past weekend we were united in fun. Really. Every year the COPA Benelux - an indoor soccer tournament for teams from around Belgium and the Netherlands - is organized. In Maastricht we try to form a team to play, but the last few years this has not been possible. So this year three of us from Maastricht joined three from Gent and one from Haarlem to form a team. We are FUN United.

You see, the teams are split up in Pro and Fun. The Pro teams are serious. They usually have people who know how to play, are basically fit and are serious about winning - although they are also there to have fun. Christians know how to have fun. God made fun. The other teams, made up mostly of kids (at least 10 years old), people who don’t know that much about soccer and older people make up the Fun teams. 

This year there were only 3 fun teams and 7 pro teams. But the fun teams definitely had fun. Our team did not win any games, although we made some of them fairly exciting. Still, we got third place. (This is where one would put an emoji sticking his cheeky tongue out). It was fun to play although my body definitely feels it still, two days later. We had some beautiful goals and plenty of screaming to root one another one. 

In between matches I always enjoy meeting new people and checking in with people we do not get to see very often. There were some players from Antwerp that we only see during this tournament. And it was good to check in with them. One of the other Fun teams was from Den Haag. As a matter of fact, last year I won the Fun tournament as part of their team. This year they also won in a thrilling final that only ended after penalty shootouts. 

I am always thankful for people around the country who make the effort to put something like this together. This is a place where young people can get together. It is a time when older people can connect with younger people in a different way. It is a moment when everyone sees that perseverance and fairness are part of having fun. It was great, nearing the end of the day, when we all gathered to sing praises to God and hear a pep talk. Like Luk Brazle always mentions - soccer and singing go together. We love singing to God who gives us such fun moments. 

The photo is of FUN United. You can find more photos of the day here. 

Whatsit Wednesday: Rake

This past weekend I was down at camp with some others cleaning up, getting camp ready for the winter. It was a brilliant, sunny Fall day, the colors glorious all around us. Much of the work we had to do had to do with all that glorious color falling to the ground. So we all had come prepared with a rake. 

In talking with Jef, who I picked up on the way to camp and who is a new brother in the congregation in Maastricht, he mentioned a different word for rake (in Dutch) that I had not yet heard. Jef is Flemish and has lots of different words. I learned my Dutch in the Netherlands so tend to have Dutch words for tools. This matters quite a bit, actually. Much like the differences in the US between Midwest, Southern or Eastern terms. (Do you use a spigot or a faucet?)

The thing is, there are all sorts of rakes. A “dissolute man in fashionable society” could be considered a rake, but that is not what I mean. There are rakes for loosening soil, rakes for gathering fallen leaves, rakes for gathering hay. Each of these could have its own name. I am used to calling the rake for soil (a firm straight head with teeth spaced evenly) a rake (“hark” in Dutch). 

But there is also a rake for leaves. This looks like a metal fan (or plastic these days) and is a bit springy. It is perfect for gathering leaves, whereas a rake for soil tends to get all bunched up with the wet leaves. In Dutch I would call this rake a “leaf rake” (“bladhark”). Jef called it a “gritsel” which sounds like the sound it makes as it scrapes along the dirt after gathering the leaves into a pile. 

If you live on a farm, you might even have various different rakes for the various tasks. A hay fork or rake might be a specific tool. In Dutch I would call this a hay rake (“hooihark”), although I have never used one. I only have a normal rake in my garage since the plastic leaf rake broke and I don’t really rake my leaves in the garden (I leave them for winter ground cover). 

I have at times in the past tried to comb my hair rakishly, trying to look cool (it didn’t work - my hair is pretty stiff) and I regularly rake my fingers through my hair when I am frustrated. And thankfully I have never had to experience gunfire raking the area. I am not quite sure which word would be used in Dutch. The word “rake” is an adjective meaning (more or less) “rough”. You can receive rough hits (“rake klappen”) from someone. I am simply glad that we could take care of all of the leaves at camp while still enjoying the glorious beauty around us.