Reaching out to the people of Belgium and the Netherlands
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:10-13
Dear brothers and sisters, family and friends,
Please notice: our email address has changed! Our new email address is: s.raabs@tele2allin.be Some also have our yahoo address, which is also good: sraabs@yahoo.ie. Any other address you have for us will soon be terminated. Please update your address books and thanks for your continued communication! It is always great to hear from you!
Outreach update
As you could read in our last newsletter, we have been trying to make some good contact with our neighborhood, trying to be servants and examples of Jesus in uor daily lives. We set up a project with the local elementary school around fireworks, teaching about the good of saying no to destructive things. The 5th and 6th grade classes made posters to illustrate this and we as a church gave a cash prize for the best poster. All of the posters were hung up in the local shops and then in our windows. It was great to see this kind of cooperation and we were glad to be a part of it.
Along the same thought, we have been wanting for about two years to sing for the local nursing home. This finally worked out in March (see more at ravenraab.blogspot.com). We were able to sing for a good 40 minutes and then spend some good conversation time with the tenants. Several showed an interest in who we are (wondering of course what sort of group we are) and were thankful for the effort in coming to be with them. We want to serve more in this way in the future. Please keep this in your prayers as we try to get to know the neighborhood better and serve. Scott has also been approached about offering English lessons. He is now working with the local monthly newsletter as well.
Youth activities
The first Saturday of every month is now a youth day at the Verheijen’s. This has worked out to be quite a good day. Each time we have several visitors, either from the neighborhood or friends from school. It is just a good time to have fun and continue tgetting to know one another.
We also had two youth weekends in February and March. In February the boys had a “Console weekend” when they played on their games consoles as well as learned about “Real life heroes” like Gideon. The girls got together in Eindhoven and worked with the same topic. Both groups had about 20 in attendance! We usually work with a mixed group of about 20.
The weekend in May was focused on the theme “In His image” and how we look like God. Scott brought the lesson and we all went to Madame Tussaud’s in Amsterdam to see some other images. We had another great group. (see the blog for more).
In April and May we will be working some more with the youth. Please keep these efforts in your prayers.
Learning
In February Scott and Stephan went to ABSS in Germany, a week and weekend of Bible studies and fellwoship. The next weekend in March, Shirley headed off to the Ladies Retreat with several women from the congregation. These are good opportunities to grow in faith and encourage one another.
- ABSS, a week of good lessons and fellowship -
- the 4 bases -
In April some of our members will go to the Single’s Retreat and our ladies will take part in a women’s day in Antwerp (this time in Dutch). We are so thankful for these types of opportunities. We all need to be stretched in knowledge and grow in love. We pray that we can also continue to put these lessons into practice in our families and neighborhood.
PRAYER WARRIORS
Please keep the following in your prayers.
- Praise God for His might and grace! We had a great evening singing for the nursing home, talking to the tenants. It was great to be able to give and serve. Pray for further contact.
- Pray also for our studies: Angelique, Mieke, Cor and Titia, and Gerard.
- Thank God for helping with the contact with the school. We have noticed several times that the children recognize us and discuss what we tried to teach them.
- Pray for our contact with our regular visitors Roger and Yvonne. Pray also that we grow in love for one another in the church.
KID'S KORNER
Favorite people
Our visit to Madame Tussaud’s during the youth weekend was great fun. We were able to ‘see’ some people we usually wouldn’t get to ‘meet’. Not everyone was there that you might want to see, but there were plenty.
Stephan took the opportunity to get his picture taken with the queen of the Netherlands, James Bond, George Bush, Tom Hanks and DJ Tiesto. Sean liked Elvis, Dali, Michael Jackson and NIcholas Cage.
Who would you like to meet if you had the opportunity? Have you ever been to Madame Tussaud’s? Who did you like the best?
Let us know.
e-mail Stephan at: greenleaf@tele2allin.be
e-mail Sean at: dudeis2cool4u@hotmail.com
ON THE FAMILY SIDE . . .
Looking back at two months it all seems so long ago. Sometimes the days can go by so quickly! In February we spent a wonderful day together as a family sharing a Valentine dinner. This has become a tradition with us. We choose a really special meal (which Stephan sometimes helps prepare with Shirley), set the table , including candles and a menu which Sean makes by hand. This is our way of showing how special we are together as a family. (see more on the blog)
I have to admit that these two months have had their share of physical discomfort. Sean struggled with an achilles tendon strain which kept him from playing football (soccer) the whole time. Now for those of you who know Sean, you know that this was tantamount to shutting him in prison. But this wasn’t enough. He went to the physical therapist for five sessions, after which he felt much better. So he was finally allowed to play and take part in gym at school. During a basketball game someone kicked his finger and stretched the tendon in his middle finger. After a visit to the hospital and some x-rays he qwas given a piece of metal taped to his finger for four weeks. (Thankfully, this does not affect his feet! so he can keep playing soccer, which he has done.)
Scott is not much better. When Sean was finally able to play, he and Scott were playing a quick game in the livingroom (yes, we play soccer in the livingroom - you can edit this part out for your kids if you don’t want them to hear such things). Since Sean is a ball wizard and Scott is just big (comparatively, you know), Scott just tried to push Sean around in order to make goals. But Sean is getting bigger too. So when one good push deserved another Scott found himself on the point of the livingroom table. Maybe some broken ribs, certainly bruised. It has been a few weeks of being careful when moving, but things are getting better.
It hasn’t stopped any of us from having fun in any case. Scott has chopped wood with Peter (a member of the church who lives down the road) and helped some others move house. The boys also got to go to a Genk game together. Sean has a season ticket to this professional soccer team’s games and usually goes with his best friend’s family. But the family and best friend were gone, so they lent us their passes. It was a great evening (especially since Genk won!)
Shirley has had some good time shopping. Our neighbor trusts Shirley when it comes to figuring out what to cook for the in-laws and what to buy for this season in fashion (especially since Shirley also finds VERY good deals). They have fun going shopping - even their daughters ask Shirley for advice. We also went together to the only mall in the area - it’s in Antwerp (about an hour away). One of the ladies Scott studies with had never been and wanted to go with Shirley,. It was a fun day for the ladies together.
Stephan finished up this section of school (the boys are in Easter vacation right now) with a school trip to London. He had a blast visiting all the typical sights (including Madame Tussauds again, but this time the English one), but he and his freind enjoyed Harrod’s the best. “That store is huge, and it has everything!”
EXTRAS
What’s coming up?
APRIL
Coffee day with readers
Youth activity and weekend
Single’s retreat
MAY
Ladies Day
Work Camp w/ youth
Listen Up! studio time
THANKS!
- For all the goodies from Muscatine!
- For your comments on the blog
- For the emails from Wisconsin
- For your prayers for the work here
It has been good to be together. Enjoy your time together too.
Love in Him,
Scott, Shirley,
Stephan and Sean Raab
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