Updates and upcoming dates

As August comes to a close our camp season also reaches its end. This year Shirley and I were blessed to be able to help with Benjamin Camp, not long after we returned from our Home Assignment (2 months visiting in the US). We had a good week with active Benjamins (8-11 year-olds) and a good team of helpers. We were especially thankful for the three young people who came to help and learn about helping. I have already spoken to the young men (who attend in Maastricht) about next year and they both are looking forward to it. 

Along with the young people, we were also thankful for the help we had from a Ukrainian couple who came. They also took a group of Ukrainians down to camp after the end of Family Camp. They had to wait a few days because of the huge fires that were raging not far from camp. Thankfully the fires have been brought under control, not in the least through some very heavy rain. We are thankful for the camp weeks that can be added to the schedule of camp and that camp was not affected negatively by the fires. 

It was at the end of Family Camp, where Scott taught 2 days and attended the lessons all five days, that the fires in the Fenn took off. As we were leaving on Friday we heard on the news of the fires. When we got home, we heard about flooding in Indiana (where our son and his family live). Too dry in one area and too wet in another. It is amazing how we are much more aware of everything happening around the world. 

As we finished up camp, we have moved forward into the time of singing. Our first Friday singing was in the theme of preparing for a special Gospel Workshop that would be offered in the neighborhood where we meet as a congregation. We were thankful for the visits that evening and conversations. And it was a great time of singing! 

In just a few weeks we will be singing again as the congregation from Cologne, Germany comes to visit. We hope to encourage some local visitors also to come sing with us. This coming Wednesday we will also be in Eindhoven again for the monthly singing. We have not been there since April. We are so thankful for the opportunities that we have to sing with people throughout the country. 

In September we will also visit camp again for the Family Day and will hold our yearly evaluation and planing day. This planning day is a time to plan for next year and see who can help. The congregation in Maastricht is looking at taking a more active role in planning and helping with a week of camp. In the meantime we are trying to figure out how we can transition our role with camp as we work through our plans to move back to the US. 

We are thankful for opportunities to serve, to help people grow in faith and to grow ourselves in trust. We are thankful that camp has been used well and has been kept safe from the most recent possible dangers. And we are extremely thankful for t=all the people we are able to work with. 

(Photo of the Gospel Workshop held last week)

Where oh Where Wednesday: Charleroi, Belgium, World

In 1996, 30 years ago, the world ended up watching a horror story unfold in the little country of Belgium. As the truth came out, people around the world lost their innocence and things everywhere, but especially in Belgium, changed. There is a sharp delineation of “before” and “after”. 

Our awareness of the situation came with signs that were hung from bridges across the highway on our way to camp. They mentioned Julie and Melissa, two 8 year-old girls who had gone missing. We had heard on the news about An and Eefje, teenage girls who had disappeared after a party in Blankenberge (on the coast). In the end, after everything came out, it was known that all four girls had died because of Marc Dutroux. 

Most of this all came to light after two other girls were freed alive from one of the houses that Dutroux had in an area of the city of Charleroi called Marcinelle. Dutroux had been caught after the kidnapping of Laetitia and finally agreed to show police where she could be found. He also gave the police another girl “for free”. Sabine Dardenne had been kidnapped earlier in the year and was still being held where Laetitia was being held - in a terribly small cage hidden from sight. The police had even been in the house and had not d=found the hiding place. 

Julie and Melissa died because at one point after kidnapping them Dutroux was in jail and couldn’t get out for several months. His partner, Michelle Martin, was supposed to care for them. She didn’t. They died of hunger and were buried in his garden. She had fed the dogs, but not the children. The horror story caused many things to change in the country of Belgium and around the world. 

In Belgium the police set up a unit specifically focused on finding missing persons. Child Focus was established, which helps in looking for missing children. The police themselves were reorganized, combining the federal police with the normal police so that there could not be any more miscommunication or turf wars among them, causing kidnapped children to be left to die. 

Even more, parents became aware that their children could be in danger. Julie and Melissa were just young friends, out playing together in the neighborhood. Julie’s mother went out at 6 pm to call her daughter to dinner but couldn’t find her. An and Eefje, although teenagers, were kidnapped as they walked along a road. After this summer of horror with Marc Dutroux, people everywhere realized that what happend in Belgium could happen anywhere - even in their own streets. 

Singing and praying

One of the ways that we have enjoyed helping the churches in Belgium and the Netherlands is in singing. In Maastricht we get together every first Friday. On the 3rd Wednesday we are in Eindhoven and every September we get together with the church from Cologne and others. Last year we also started driving up to Haarlem to help with the singing there. 

In August our first Friday song was at a time that one of our young men was at camp, so we went to their house on the Sunday to talk about and practice some tips for song leading. It is always exciting to see young brothers willing to learn how to lead the singing in a congregation. Anyone excited to sing for the Lord is a blessing to the congregations they attend or visit. And our First Friday singing was special as well, as we practiced some songs we will use in a neighborhood outreach this coming Wednesday evening. 

We look forward to September when our first Friday singing will mix with the singing with Cologne. Each year we hold a day of singing in either Cologne, Maastricht or even Liege or Eindhoven. This year we will meet in Maastricht. We will use this opportunity to also reach out in our neighborhood. This week (Wednesday, August 19) we are also organizing a Gospel Workshop for the neighborhood and hope to meet some people from the neighborhood who also love singing. 

One of the things that we will continue to do even whien we leave the country is to help with this singing. We hope to continue recording songs for the Youtube channel and more. 

In the meantime we remain in prayer for the various places in the world dealing with some pretty nasty natural disasters. There is flooding near our son in Indiana (and elsewhere), the largest fir in Belgian history burning just miles away from our Bible Camp (and other fires elsewhere), earthqueakes in Colombia and Indonesia, and much more. This is not counting the ongoing suffering due to war. And still we know that God is mighty and able to help in all of these situations. 

(Photo is our First Friday singing in April at our house)