In the good
times, in the bad, when you are busy or just wasting time, together or alone –
time marches on. And yes, if you look away long enough, it sprouts wings and
flies by!
These past
months have seemed to do just that – perhaps because I haven’t taken the time
to look back often enough. So let me take a moment and recount some of the
things that we have been doing since our last newsletter (December 2014!). I
will also put some of the picture links in this post so that you can SEE what
we have been doing, but you can always just visit our photo site.
In January and
February we had several opportunities to encourage one another across borders.
At our annual Bible Camp meeting at the end of January members from Belgium and
the Netherlands get together for fellowship and singing – as well as some
formal business. This was also a rehearsal time for a group I was putting
together called Laus which would sing for a gospel meeting in Belgium in May.
But more on that later.
In February we
went to Germany for the Advanced Bible Study Series where we met people from
all over Europe and enjoyed some good spiritual food. A week later, at the
beginning of March, Shirley was off to the Ladies Retreat in Germany. We also
enjoyed our monthly song evenings with the church from Liege and continued
rehearsing with Laus.
March was also
a time of beginning. We started with another set of Meeting Jesus with our
neighbors as well as a new study along the same lines with the teenage children
of our sister, Daisy. Our neighbors have changed by one since last year: one
man has moved to his own place and another has come in his place. So we have
enjoyed getting to know the new man.
In April (and
throughout the year since September) I have also continued working with the
village kids in Veldwezelt with my colleague, Karla. A two-day retreat is held
as the end of the season where we can really challenge the kids with some
thoughts about the Bible, God and their choice to follow Jesus. For many of
these kids this is a choice being made for them by their parents. We want them
to know that it is something they themselves can choose. 
We also took a
few days off in the middle of April to travel as a family to Barcelona. It is
so good to spend some time together and with Sean. Sean has been working hard
on his studies (Journalism in Brussels) as well as on his band – Wooly Mammoths
– who have been getting all kinds of play and air time.
Back in
November the church in Elen, Belgium, asked me if I could get a group together
to sing for a gospel evening. This was the beginning of Laus (‘to praise’ in
Latin). A group of 10 singers from all over Belgium and the Netherlands trying
to put together an evening full of songs with just 4 or 5 rehearsals. But we
wanted to help this small church in reaching out to the neighborhood. My
colleague, Ruud, brought one of the lessons – using a haiku and a good bit of
rhyme in his lesson. Laus will look at more opportunities to help out in
evangelism.
Later in May we took a group of 11 young people to Brussels for Brussels Extra Large 2015 (BXL2015). In this long weekend (Ascension is a national holiday on Thursday and links to the weekend) we want to challenge the young people with how God can bless us and how we can bring Jesus to all people. This means serving in all different situations – including helping the homeless, spending time with refugees, singing and talking to seniors as well as serving one another.
At the annual
meeting of the churches on the second day of Pentecost – this year organized by
the church in Haarlem – I was asked to talk about building the church up. This
was a good opportunity as well to talk about the various plans for evangelism
and equipping in the coming months.
In these coming
months we are fervently trying to get ready for our two weeks of Bible camp
(Teen camp and Family camp at the beginning of August). We will also finish up
our Meeting Jesus group at the house, but continue our group with the teens. Hopefully
I will remember to look back more frequently so that time is not able to sprout
wings and fly away!
