September Newsletter

LIGHT in the Lowlands
Reaching out to the people of Belgium and the Netherlands
September 2006

Be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another withut grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to sevre others. 1 Peter 4:7-10

Dear brothers and sisters, family and friends,
God continues to amaze us with how He does things, things we would never expect. This month has given us plenty of surprises and blessings.
Youth
Since school starts up again in September and since it has usually been at least two months since the young people have gotten together at summer camp, we usually plan a youth weekend in September. We call it a Kickstart because we want to get things going again. This year we decided to organize one in Maastricht again. It has been about four years since we last organized a weekend here.
You have to understand that, although we have a room we meet in on Sundays, it is not suitable for hosting a group of young people all weekend long. But we figured that we could spread out the kids between our house and the Kok family (just down the street from us). We had specifically chosen this month because the weather is still good and if we needed to we could do things outside. Besides, we figured, most of the time there aren’t more than 20 kids. The Friday the weekend was to start I was still getting calls of young people who were planning on coming. We ended up with 31 - a real surprise and blessing!
We were able to take care of the numbers (the Kok’s attic was one big mattress for the girls, the boys stayed at our house and the older girls over at the Verheijen’s) and it was just great to see how happy everyone was to see one another again. We spent a day in an open air museum called Bokrijk where we took the kids back in time about 100 years. Our theme this weekend was: “Jesus - now?! “ We wanted to look at how Jesus is still just as current today as 2000 years ago, if we stick to Jesus and not what has been made of him.
It was a fantastic weekend. The Sunday morning was as full as we have ever had it and the meal afterwards was great because all of the members were more than willing to help. It was great to see how everyone worked together, just like we had experienced at the end of the summer with the Family Day at camp.
On a separate note, the catholic church in Karla Verheijen’s village knew of Ruud and Karla’s knowledge of the Bible and desire to tell others and approached them to help teach the catechism. This is a unique opportunity. Karla explained that she could not teach anything that was not from the Bible an that there were probably major differences between what she believed and the catholic church. This means that she will be able to present a lesson on what the Bible is to the young people of this village, but also that she has piqued the interest of the people on this committee as to what the Bible is! Keep this in your prayers!
Studies
September also brought the international students back to the university and the weekly Bible studies have begun. The first evening I met “LJ” from China who was very interested in Christianity, simply to know what it is. We made an appointment and meet now regularly to read the gospel of John and talk about who God is, who Jesus is and what this means for LJ. It has been exciting to share the beauty of God and see the same excitement in LJ. What a wonderful God we have!
Planning ahead
We hope to start a new course in the neighborhood about “Getting to know the Bible”. Most people here have never really read the Bible. Pray for these efforts. We look forward to what our awesome God is going to do.

PRAYER WARRIORS
Please keep the following in your prayers.
- Praise God for His blessings during the youth weekend. Keep the young people here (10 in our congregation) in your prayers that they continue to grow in faith.
- Pray for Karla and the lesson she will present as well as the discussions she has with the catechism committee. They also want to visit the congregation - what an opportunity!
- Pray for “LJ” from China who is studying the Bible and hearing the story of Jesus in its entirety for the first time. Pray for her heart and the Holy Spirit working in her.
- Pray for our outreach in October and November. We hope our neighborhood will also get to know God with a course on getting to know the Bible.

KID'S KORNER
My room
Not everyone has their own room. When Stephan and Sean were younger, they shared a room. It was barely big enough to turn around in, but they only slept there. Now they each have their own room.
Stephan’s room is kind of Japanese. He has a metal high bed, some Chinese tables and a Japanese futon underneath the bed, bamboe mats and such. Sean’s room is mostly blue and white (Genk’s colors) and has wooden furniture. He has a big poster from Pirates of the Carribean and little posters from Racing Genk (prof soccer team).
What is your room like? Do you have your own room? How is it decorated? Let us know.
e-mail Stephan at: greenleaf@tele2allin.be
e-mail Sean at: dudeis2cool4u@hotmail.com

ON THE FAMILY SIDE . . .
September is always marked by the beginning of school. But after the first week or so of newness, most people get stuck in and get down to business. The boys are no different.
Sean was pleased to see his friends again (some of them leave for the whole summer) and has been able to adapt to the new schedule and homework this year. He gets home, goes up to his room and finshes his homework. Then he has plenty of time to play, make movies etc. He even asked if we could change his room around to make it more conducive to getting his homework done. So one Saturday we got together, shuffled bed, desk, dresser and couch around and voila - a new room. He has been very happy with it so far.
Sean has also been very pleased with his new team. As I mentioned last month, he was looking at not being able to play soccer since in Belgium they play on Sunday morning. But we found a team in Maastricht (the Netherlands) and he was immediately accepted with open arms. As a matter of fact, he has already scored several goals. The team is doing well and he is enjoying himself, so that has been great. In between school and soccer, Sean has kept plenty busy making movies (about soccer of course). If you haven’t seen them yet, go to Youtube and search “Sean Raab”. His latest crazy vid is called “Soccer Battle”.



Stephan has started the school year with typical quietness. Things just happen, as they should. “How was your day?” “Mmm,” he answers. But after a bit more questioning and listening you hear the whole day and the good and not so good. He is having a good time learning more about cooking as well as the other normal things like Dutch, French, English, Math, Science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics), music and PE (the best part of the Friday!). It has been great to see him doing some of the cooking at home. Scott continues to encourage him in this since he hardly ever cooks and wouldn’t know how to do much more than a good omelet.
Stephan is also still very busy with his basketball team and has already scored. Unfortunately we are not always able to be there, but we have seen one of his games already and look forward to seeing more. IN the meantime, Stephan continues with his myriad interests including guitar, bmx, Japanese (comics) and most recently, free running. You can see some of the things he has been doing on Youtube by seraching under “lovedoctersar”.



And the parents have been enjoying the amazing things their children can do! We were very pleased to have a bunch of kids in the house for the youth weekend and are looking forward to some visitors at the beginning of November. More about that in next month’s newsletter. Shirley and the ladies from the church went to Amsterdam together for a wonderful day. We don’t have any videos to show you (other than the one on the blog: ravenraab.blogspot.com), but that doesn’t mean we aren’t alive! And loving every minute of it.

EXTRAS
THANKS!
- For your emails and comments on the blog. It is good to hear from you!
- For your prayers for the work here, we really need your support.
What’s coming up?
OCTOBER
Youth activities
Family activities
Fall camp
NOVEMBER
Outreach and new course
Youth days

It is great to see how each day can be a new experience, something challenging and exciting. Enjoy each day as it comes, knowing that it’s God’s day .
Love in Him,
Scott, Shirley,
Stephan and Sean Raab