Whensday: Three summers

The summer of 1991 was our first summer as a married couple and evangelists in Belgium and the Netherlands. We had arrived in January of that year and only moved into our house in June the following year. But we were already plugged into the church in Antwerp and fully active in serving in any way that we could. That summer I was one of the teachers for Benjamin Camp at Ardennen Bible Camp. That includes the 8-11 year olds. 

I remember working out lessons and activities (for the first time in Dutch) and trying to make sense of the Dutch language. You see there are lots of dialects in Dutch and Flemish. And young kids usually speak their own dialect. This meant quite the challenge for me since I only spoke Dutch with a Dutch accent (the northern part of the Netherlands where I learned the language). 

In the summer of 2001 I experienced several different things. We had accepted apprentices from York College in 2000, so I was working with them in the summer. These were challenging and very rewarding experiences. It is nice to see how God continues to touch these two lives. 

But I had also taken steps in that year to gain Belgian citizenship. This was because our visa was going to be denied after 10 years. Rules were being changed and it became possible for me to become a Belgian citizen without giving up my US citizenship. I got the news in August that my citizenship had been granted, a short time before important events in September which made it hard for some to understand why I would want a different citizenship. But this way I was now able - like the apostle Paul - to use my citizenship for the kingdom of God. 

In the summer of 2021 we were scrambling to figure out how to continue holding Bible Camp after flooding had devastated the area where our camp is located. We had already dealt with a year organizing camp under corona rules and were thankful that it had been possible. But now our camp had been struck by the flooding. The first two weeks of camp even had to be held at different locations. But they turned out being amazing weeks. That year we not only led the Benjamin Camp at a different location, but also led the Teen Camp week as the first group back at our camp location. 

Our summers are always exciting and challenging, blessed by people and activities that God puts in our lives. 

You can find pictures of the camps in 2021 here: Benjamin Camp and Teen Camp. (The picture is of Benjamin Camp in 2021)