“Opgeruimd staat netjes”

“Cleaned up looks good” is about what the phrase means. Getting things ordered, put away, cleaned up makes for a feeling of peace. “Everything in its place and a place for everything” (or is it the other way around). In any case, that is NOT what our house looks like at the moment. We are discovering things that we had forgotten we had and now need to be gotten rid of. We are trying to find places to set things (boxes and boxes of “things”) that then need to go to new owners or the container or a second-hand shop. 

While we are working on getting the house ready to hand over to the new owner, we are also continuing with our normal contacts and tasks for each week. This means that things get a bit busy. But it is good to share the truths of God’s word with the various groups we work with as well as be encouraged by all of the conversations we have along the way. 

We were touched by our last visit for singing with the congregation in Eindhoven as several of them knew that that would be the last time to see us before we leave. This coming Saturday we will be in Haarlem for the singing there and look forward to being able to touch base again with some brothers and sisters who we will not see again until we all get Home together. These are bittersweet moments and we are thankful that we get the chance to see people. 

And still, we understand that we need to take a breather every once in a while. So this last week (which is why we did not write this past week) we took a few days off to just be together. We got a cheap flight to Montenegro and enjoyed sunny weather and a new culture and food. I will get the pictures up soon so you can share the beauty if you are interested. It was good to be away on a last European adventure. 

The rest of this month we will try to get everything finished in the house. The movers come around the middle of November. We will clean the house and then stay with church members until we leave. At the congregation we all together are looking at how to make sure that everything is in its place as well. Who will take over certain tasks? How will things change? God is good and blesses in ways we could not even think of, so it will be exciting to see how the congregation grows in this time. 

Whatsit Wednesday: A coin?

Years ago, before the euro entered Europe as the currency of every European country from the EU, each country had its own currency. There were German marks, French francs and British pounds. In the Netherlands, there were guilders. But it was even more interesting when you got to the coins. 

As in the United States, there were names for certain coins. In the US a 10 cent coin is called a dime. A 5 cent coin is called a nickel. And a 1 cent coin is called a penny. The 25 cent coin is a quarter, because it is a quarter of a dollar. I don’t remember if there was a name for the 50 cent coin - perhaps called a half-dollar - but I didn’t see it very often. 

In the Netherlands a 5 cent coin was called a “stuiver”, a 10 cent coin was a “dubbeltje” (literally a little double, although it was 1/10th of a guilder), As with the US coins, the Dutch also had a “kwartje” (a quarter) which was 1/4th of a guilder. A guilder in Dutch is a “gulden”. 

But it wasn’t just the coins that were named. The paper money also had various names attached. A 25 guilder note was called “geeltje” because it was yellow (“geel” is the word for yellow). The 50 guilder note was called a “zonnebloem” (sunflower) due to the picture on the note. The Dutch money was quite colorful and varied. 

Since the introduction of the euro, these names have all but disappeared. The 1 cent and 5 cent coins are rounded off in most stores, so they aren’t really in circulation. The 10, 20 and 50 cent coins are called simply by their denominations. And although the money is still somewhat colorful - the 5 euro is grey, the 10 is red, the 20 is blue and the 50 is orange or yellow -  the names have disappeared. This could also be because they needed to be simplified and unified for the multiple countries. The coins however still show specific people or places to the various countries. 

Fellowship

One of the things that we enjoy so much with the congregation in Maastricht is how they understand how important it is to spend time together. We have various opportunities to get together, but they are all different. And different members can make it to different activities. Still, the most important thing is being together. 

At the beginning of the month we had our first Friday singing. Since our house is a mess, and since things are transitioning to taking place without us, this month the singing was held by Ruud and Karla at their house. This means that Ruud can be there, even if he was still recovering from a hip operation. The living room was full, the singing was great and the joy was complete. 

In that same weekend we needed to figure out how to get together to clean the building. This periodic cleaning is shared among the various families, but this time was a deep cleaning. So some made it on a Saturday morning, while others stayed afterwards on Sunday afternoon. For both groups the time spent together was valuable and the building got clean as well. 

This past Sunday was our 2nd Sunday Games. Whoever can and wishes stays afterwards, shares some soup which Tonia has made and their own sandwiches. After a lunch together we sit around the table to play a game that Andrew and Adriana (our young Ukrainian couple) have brought. They have all sorts of games and it is always exciting and fun. Mostly it is great to get to know one another and to be able to laugh together. 

In the coming weeks Shirley and I will be looking for opportunities to see as many members of the various churches in the Netherlands and Belgium as we can. We attended the Family Day at the beginning of September where we were able to say goodbye to some. We will lead our last Wednesday evening of singing with the congregation in Eindhoven this week and our last Saturday singing with the church in Haarlem at the end of the month. Near the end of November we will go to the Copa - a soccer tournament with the various churches - so that we can see some folks again. 

It is so good to see how God makes families and how big His family actually is. We are so thankful to have been able to work with so many people and look forward to how things evolve in the future. As we think about our transition to the US, we consider how we will also start developing relationships there and look forward to how God will use us. 

Take every effort to take part in fellowship opportunities wherever you are. God has an amazing great family and every chance we get to take part in being together is a chance to grow and to encourage others as well. We are so thankful for this life in Him.