Whatsit Wednesday: Vlaai

Recently a baker from our town of Lanaken got together with a local Dutch baker from Maastricht to bake the largest “vlaai” in the world. It was even recorded in the Guiness Book of Records. This typical Limburg pie was an apricot crumble version, but there are many different variants. 

A “vlaai” (sounds like “fly”, holding a bit longer on the vowel in the middle: fla-ee) is a pie. Some people might be familiar with an apple pie. It will have a crust, lots of good apples in it, and topped with criss-crossed bits of pastry. You can do this with cherries in the middle or apricots and they will still all be called a vlaai. But the people Limburg (a province in both the Netherlands and Belgium) consider their vlaai to be the most delicious. And the choice is also immense, although everyone has their favorite. There is a pudding vlaai with crumbly bits on top, a rice custard that is just the right consistency topped with chocolate shavings (my favorite), and many others. 

Suffice it to say that vlaai from Limburg is often what tourists come to experience in this area. And now they will be able to try one just like the largest vlaai in the world. It is amazing that this apricot monstrosity (weighing over 1000 kilo and measuring 7 meters across) was made by our local baker. It was exciting that it was done with the help of a French pastry chef with a store in Maastricht and a local baker’s school. Both Belgium and the Netherlands are claiming the honor.

Prayer Warriors

Teamwork is amazing too see and experience. Accomplishing something on your own is exciting, but being part of a whole is even more enervating and challenging. We are members of a body, God’s team. He is using us. And we team together with people around the world. 

The amazing thing is how powerful prayer is in this team work. As with any team, we sometimes forget all the parts and only focus on certain elements - the ones more visible. Everyone notices the striker who kicks the goal, the basketball player who makes the dunk, the wide receiver and quarterback who hook up for an amazing touchdown. Some think they are doing nothing - “All I can do is pray.” But prayer is the power behind change. 

Jesus mentions that we can make our desires known before God. He says that if we ask we receive, if we knock the door will be opened. He will give us what is best for us. God is just like us as fathers (or is it the other way around) - a father loves to be asked to help and to be trusted to help. God wants to hear what we want and wants to hear how we trust Him to do it. 

Most recently the body of Christ in Maastricht has been praying for many people we know who are seeking God in their lives. Many of these people are clearly seeking Him. They are on a path to become a child of God. Others do not even know that they are seeking God. They are seeking peace and we know that peace only comes from God, the Prince of Peace. As we pray, we look for opportunities to share the grace and love that has been shared with us. 

We are so very thankful for others who are also praying for us, for our words, as we are praying for people who are seeking peace. We know that we are part of a team. Many of you are partnering with us as we are partnering with you. We pray for one another and thank God for the ways that He is working in so many lives around the world. 

Thank you for prayers for our conversations. Thank you for prayers for the various activities we have planned (for Bible camp, youth weekends, Bible studies, retreats and more). Thank you for being part of the team. Everything you are praying for is very important. Knowing that God is our strength and calling on Him for His strength is extremely important. And it is so very encouraging knowing that you are praying for us. 

Whodunit Wednesday: Edith Cavell

Edith Cavell was British and yet she is known in Belgium for her exhaustive work. She was born in 1865 in Swardeston near Norwich. The first time she experienced Belgium was as a governess for a family in Brussels from 1890-1895. It was after this that she became a nurse and started her work in Belgium. 

The founder of the Belgian Red Cross, Belgian royal surgeon Dr. Antoine Depage, asked Edith to be matron of a nursing school in Belgium in 1907. She trained nurses for three hospitals, 24 schools and 13 kindergartens in Belgium. When WWI broke out she was visiting her widowed mother in England but returned to Belgium and her work there. 

It was during this time of war, in German-occupied Brussels that she helped many allied soldiers and fighting-age men to escape to the neutral Netherlands. Many of these were wounded soldiers she had also helped nurse. She was arrested by the Germans in 1915, put in prison and, in the end, executed for working with the enemies of Germany. 

Although she was a nurse and could not be prosecuted under the Geneva Convention, since she had helped further than medical needs, she was seen as complicit in the war. She was not arrested for espionage, but for war treason. She was executed by firing squad on October 12, 1915. Her last thoughts and words, which are inscribed on a memorial to her near Trafalgar Square, are: “Standing as I do in view of God and Eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.”

Cavell was 49 at the time of her execution and was a pioneer of modern nursing in Belgium. Among the many memorials around the world to Edith Cavell, her name is among the 35 names on a memorial in Schaerbeek in Brussels. The name Edith was not common in 1915 until this event. French singer Edith Piaf who was born two months after the execution was named after Edith Cavell. In 2005 the French-speaking Belgians voted her 48th greatest Belgian. On October 12 it will have been 110 years since her execution.