Sing
Listen Up! spent most of the year trying to finish up recording their second CD.
They spent 14 trips to the studio to record 12 songs with 5 voices.
In the meantime they also performed 3 times during the year.
OUCH!
Sean visited the physical therapist, the hospital, the doctor and the orthodontist more than 20 times this year. Of course most of those were his trip to the physical therapist. Sean’s leg started growing faster than the rest of his body which gave him a bit of pain. Now his body has caught up!
His soccer injuries were definitely not to be ignored either. He had to have a finger x-rayed and a sonogram for his leg after being kicked inappropriately. Mind you, we were VERY HAPPY that we were able to get him into soccer at all. He is now recovered from his most recent injury to his ribs. We’ll see what comes next.
295
The number of young people in total who were present at the 7 youth weekends, 5 camp weeks or weekends, and 6 youth days.
These young people came from at least 10 different cities from all around Belgium and the Netherlands.
The weekends were held in four different cities and organized by the various local congregations and a ‘youth team’ which Scott helps with.
Bridegrooms and brides were also part of our year in 2006. We are far from celebrating any of this for our own children (at least, that’s what we hope!), but our family is broader than our blood relatives. We were pleased to take part in or celebrate in a special way 3 very special weddings this year.
Björn and Stephanie were students in Maastricht when they were part of the church here. We are so pleased to be able to see them continuing to grow in the Lord and together. Ken Yamashita is our Dutch-Japanese brother. He married his Dutch sweetheart, Elizabeth, and we were able to meet his mother and sister in the weekend of the ceremony. Paul and Iva married in Prague, but Listen Up! was pleased to be able to sing for their reception when they returned to the Netherlands.
LESSons were a major part of the year, as with each year. Lessons for the Wednesday evening studies with the congregation, for youth weekends, for camp weeks, for studies with international students for the PEL and for outreach.
In this year we spent at least 88 hours reading and studying the Bible in English. Scott and Shirley both take time to meet regularly with people who are interested in bettering their English using the Bible. Scott also volunteers teaching a beginning English course at the Red Cross center for asylum seekers (refugees).
23 The number of meetings in which Scott has taken part as member, secretary or chair. Some are more interesting than others, of course. There are meetings to decide how the Bible camp will be run and better used. There are organizations where Scott takes part in the local community (school and local newspaper). And there are meetings with the brothers to help decide where we are going.
We distributed 5000 FLYers in the neighborhood of our meeting place while we enjoyed the company of three Canadian students and their supervisor. From these cards we had 7 good visitors to our course on “Getting to know the Bible.” We will be repeating this course in 2007, so keep this in your prayers.
But numbers only tell a part of the story, as you all know.
Sean’s year was pretty much dominated by the struggle around playing soccer. Early in 2006 his body was protesting against all the growing going on. His legs and knees were always hurting and Sean worried that he might never get to play soccer. After working with a physical therapist to loosen up his joints, things were looking up, until the Fall when we realized that his team in Belgium would be playing games on Sunday mornings. But in the end, we were able to find a team in Maastricht - the Dutch teams play on Saturdays. This hasn’t stopped the pain (see “Ouch” on the other page), but has increased the pleasure of being able to play.
This year for Stephan has pretty much been a year of new and old, growing up and still having fun (yes, those two go together!)
Stephan continued being the gracious, loving young man that he has always been - making friends among the adults as well as being a good friend in his own circles. He has tested himself with basketball, training his body and trying to persevere. He too, like Sean, has had to make some difficult decisions, since his team plays all their home games on Sunday mornings. But he knows where his priorities lie. He has built on his frinedships through sport, camp, weekends and everyday evenings together.
Shirley was able to travel a bit this year. As usual she was blessed by the Ladies retreat in Germany in March, but she also spent some time traveling at other times through the year. She went to Paris with her neighbor/friend, to Amsterdam and Haarlem with the ladies from the church and to the west of Belgium with Scott. This year has been a time of finding new boundaries as she has also discovered the internet. She was able to plan the special few days she and Scott spent together as well as the end of year break with the whole family.
This has been a challenging year with blessings for Scott. His teaching continued as normal with lessons for the camp weeks, youth weekends and studies both international and otherwise. Getting the CD ready with Listen Up! and starting some new activities in the neighborhood (like working with a local newspaper) were real challenges. The moments of peace with Shirley and the boys were very welcome. This was also the first year in the last five that Listen Up! did not do any concerts around the holidays so that the families could spend time together.
We have been VERY blessed (again!) this year. Isn’t it great how God takes care of that each and every day! As we grow together, getting to know each other better each day, we are so thankful for the grace that God shows us. And we are thankful for how broad our family is. This year we enjoyed so many times with our Christian family (Family Day at camp, a ‘family reunion’, bbq’s) as well as the times we spent together. We have such a wonderful God!
Björn and Stephanie were students in Maastricht when they were part of the church here. We are so pleased to be able to see them continuing to grow in the Lord and together. Ken Yamashita is our Dutch-Japanese brother. He married his Dutch sweetheart, Elizabeth, and we were able to meet his mother and sister in the weekend of the ceremony. Paul and Iva married in Prague, but Listen Up! was pleased to be able to sing for their reception when they returned to the Netherlands.
LESSons were a major part of the year, as with each year. Lessons for the Wednesday evening studies with the congregation, for youth weekends, for camp weeks, for studies with international students for the PEL and for outreach.
In this year we spent at least 88 hours reading and studying the Bible in English. Scott and Shirley both take time to meet regularly with people who are interested in bettering their English using the Bible. Scott also volunteers teaching a beginning English course at the Red Cross center for asylum seekers (refugees).
23 The number of meetings in which Scott has taken part as member, secretary or chair. Some are more interesting than others, of course. There are meetings to decide how the Bible camp will be run and better used. There are organizations where Scott takes part in the local community (school and local newspaper). And there are meetings with the brothers to help decide where we are going.
We distributed 5000 FLYers in the neighborhood of our meeting place while we enjoyed the company of three Canadian students and their supervisor. From these cards we had 7 good visitors to our course on “Getting to know the Bible.” We will be repeating this course in 2007, so keep this in your prayers.
But numbers only tell a part of the story, as you all know.
Sean’s year was pretty much dominated by the struggle around playing soccer. Early in 2006 his body was protesting against all the growing going on. His legs and knees were always hurting and Sean worried that he might never get to play soccer. After working with a physical therapist to loosen up his joints, things were looking up, until the Fall when we realized that his team in Belgium would be playing games on Sunday mornings. But in the end, we were able to find a team in Maastricht - the Dutch teams play on Saturdays. This hasn’t stopped the pain (see “Ouch” on the other page), but has increased the pleasure of being able to play.
This year for Stephan has pretty much been a year of new and old, growing up and still having fun (yes, those two go together!)
Stephan continued being the gracious, loving young man that he has always been - making friends among the adults as well as being a good friend in his own circles. He has tested himself with basketball, training his body and trying to persevere. He too, like Sean, has had to make some difficult decisions, since his team plays all their home games on Sunday mornings. But he knows where his priorities lie. He has built on his frinedships through sport, camp, weekends and everyday evenings together.
Shirley was able to travel a bit this year. As usual she was blessed by the Ladies retreat in Germany in March, but she also spent some time traveling at other times through the year. She went to Paris with her neighbor/friend, to Amsterdam and Haarlem with the ladies from the church and to the west of Belgium with Scott. This year has been a time of finding new boundaries as she has also discovered the internet. She was able to plan the special few days she and Scott spent together as well as the end of year break with the whole family.
This has been a challenging year with blessings for Scott. His teaching continued as normal with lessons for the camp weeks, youth weekends and studies both international and otherwise. Getting the CD ready with Listen Up! and starting some new activities in the neighborhood (like working with a local newspaper) were real challenges. The moments of peace with Shirley and the boys were very welcome. This was also the first year in the last five that Listen Up! did not do any concerts around the holidays so that the families could spend time together.
We have been VERY blessed (again!) this year. Isn’t it great how God takes care of that each and every day! As we grow together, getting to know each other better each day, we are so thankful for the grace that God shows us. And we are thankful for how broad our family is. This year we enjoyed so many times with our Christian family (Family Day at camp, a ‘family reunion’, bbq’s) as well as the times we spent together. We have such a wonderful God!
Hey guys!!
ReplyDeleteJust got a chance to read the newsletter (our computer is down again). Wanted to wish you all a happy holiday season!! (I'm still before New Year's so I can get this in quick!!)
Love you guys lots!!
Sue