A great team

The team
Originally uploaded by sraabs.

The high school students from Western Christian College in Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada came with Blair and Susan Roberts for several weeks to help with the church in Belgium and the Netherlands. They gave conversationl English lessons in Antwerp, distributed flyers offering courses in Ghent and helped out down at camp for several weeks.

In Maastricht we would only have them for a few days, so we wanted to make the most of the opportunity. We decided to use the time to challenge our young people to also be an influence and example on these young people in living for Christ. It was a great time of learning and encouragement!

We did a few different things that all involved working together so that we could encourage one another. We cleaned up the building in order to give our ladies a well-deserved rest. Many hands make light work - and it was fun too!

The team was also split up into two groups - each group made up of Canadians and our own young people. Each group had to plan a meal on a minimal budget, buy what was need, cook the meal and decorate the table - for everybody! This was a real challenge, but well-met by these young people.

We also spent time simply playing. Getting out on the local football (soccer) field was a good way of getting to know one another and letting others see how fun it is to do things together. This will be a good example for the future with our young people and their friends.

The most encouraging time for me was the evening we spent some time telling our stories. Everyone has a story - the story of their life and how Christ has touched it. Although this was quite a confronting time as well, it was very encouraging for our young people.

And all of this (inclduing a bit of distributing in the rain) was completed in just four days of being together. In these four days our young people also developed some good relationships with the students. Now that is encouraging!