April 2010

LIGHT in the Lowlands

Reaching out to the people of Belgium and the Netherlands

April 2010

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 5:10-11

Dear all,

Every day is a new beginning, an opportunity to grow, to see something new. But growing is not always easy!

Sing!

We have always loved singing. God has given us a song of love and grace in our hearts that can’t help but be expressed. And doing this with brothers and sisters is the best. This month we welcomed the Dela family into their new home in Belgium with an evening of singing and prayer.

Every first Wednesday of the month we get together to learn new songs and encourage one another. The church from Liege comes over for these Wednesdays and we get to practice our French (and they practice Dutch).

How do you do this?

- the kids trying to figure out how everything fits together -

We want people to know Jesus, to come to enjoy the real life that He gives us. To do this, people need to meet Jesus, know who he is. That means reading, discovering, digesting the Bible and

getting to know the Word - Jesus. But how do you do this? It sounds so easy to say simply,

“Read your Bible. Pray every day.” And yet, that is exactly what we are helping people to do.

This past month we worked with the Catholic young people from Veldwezelt. It is exciting to see that not only they, but their parents and people in the village are expecting to hear from the Bible (something that was not always expected). Our discussions with RW and LJ center around how real life is informed by what we see in Jesus’ life (which we see in the Bible). “But can I understand it?” is the question most often asked.

As we have been working through a deeper study with some of the young people in Maastricht, we, too have been faced with how some things may seem easier than they are. The reality remains that we are able to understand what God wants from us, but certainly not all at once (and not everything). We need to keep trying to understand (asking questions, listening to God speak in His word), and in the meantime live what we know is right.

PRAYER and FELLOWSHIP

We cannot continue without the strength and guidance that our King gives us every day. The song is right - if we want to grow. Sometimes we forget that we need each other. It is good to know that there are others exeperiencing the same struggles as we (1 Peter 5:8-11). I have tried lately to help the brothers in the Netherlands and Belgium see how they can encourage one another. We have been meeting to share our lives and pray.

Yes, we meet at an Ikea for breakfast (only 1 euro!) because it is a central place and makes things easy. But the sharing time and prayer in the weeks afterwards are invaluable. I pray that this idea and desire will spread locally as well. It is absolutely necessary that we know that we need each other.

Which is why playing football in Switserland is simply amazing! This is the third year that we have taken several groups (about 40 people this year!) to the soccer tournament put on by the church in Zurich and Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Fun teams, “pro” teams, plenty of soccer, and even more fellowship - in a whole slew of languages!

Sunday morning is a time of singing in German, French, English and Dutch. We partake of the Lord’s supper, realizing that the death and life we are celebrating is what binds us all together. And then listening to a wonderful message in English, but translated sentence-by-sentence in French and German - even the movements at times! God has placed us in His family so that we can stretch and grow. Sometimes it can be a bit of a struggle. But some times can be so enjoyable!

Let God have his way with you today so that you can grow. Read his word, every day - even if it is sometimes difficult. And pray. Talk to God every day.

PRAYER WARRIORS

Please keep the following in your prayers.

Keep our studies in your prayers - that we can understand what God is saying and put it into practice in our lives

Pray for our contact with K., LJ., A., R., C&T., and RW.

Pray for our sister, Shadira, and her plans to move to Curaçao with her daughters. Pray that her daughters will also be able to adapt to this move.

Pray for the Spring conference “Love Works!” on Pentecost Monday and afterwards - that the church here will be encouraged to be active.

Thank God for our oppotunity to visit this summer.

DID YOU KNOW?

Tidbits about Belgium and the Netherlands

Working together

Just recently the prime ministers of Belgium and the Netherlands signed a document stating their desire to organize the World Cup in 2018 or 2022 together. Some in both countries have wondered if two small countries should even try this. But Belgium and the Netherlands are willing to work together for this.

Of course, both countries will first have to get their governments ready. Both governments have recently fallen becasue the parties in the governments could not work together. In the Netherlands that means the normal right and left parties. In Belgium that means the French-speakers and Flemish-speakers AND left and right parties in each language!

ON THE FAMILY SIDE ....

April can be such a joy! Everything begins to bloom, the trees gain a hazy green, everyone is busy with muddy hands getting the yard or the garden ready, and the weather finally begins turning. Though not always as quickly as we would like.

We too were able to get out in the yard and get some work done. Of course most of it was simply heavy moving. We had a tree cut down earlier and all of the wood needed to be taken out of the yard. Several trips to the container park with gummy hands later and the yard started looking like a yard - albeit a messy one still. One of these days we will be able to get it completely finished.

In the meantime we enjoyed a wonderful Easter break. Sean gets two weeks off of school. A great time, except that he then gets no more breaks until the end of June when school ends. So we decided to make the most of this break. We wanted to have at least one family day, and it became a day to The Hague. (You can see our pictures at www.flickr.com/sraabs) We drove to the edge of the city (about 2,5 hours) and took the tram to the beach at Scheveningen. Mr. Blue Sky was our friend for the day, although it was still a bit chilly.

Walking along the beach, picking out seashells to take to Stephan in the summer, a walk through the parks of The Hague and a short tram ride back to downtown brought us to the center of the city. This is where the government meets, where the queen gives her annual speech, where people demonstrate ... and of course where the shops are. After looking around a bit, we had another tram ride back to the car, a ride home, and a film when we got back. A good time together!

Sean is hanging on since then, willing himself to do well at school (and doing well). He has gotten a job at a local restaurant and cafe boat, hoping to make enough money to invest in amps and guitars. His third gig went well, and he is looking forward to playing twice at his school for their open day. His life is quite a bit busier, but this has helped him to prioritize as well.

And all of us are trying to get our work done here before we leave for the summer. Being gone for two months takes quite a bit of planning and organization. We look forward to seeing so many of you again and are so thankful for the help we have already received. We will be starting in Minnesota, as usual, followed by Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, California and Texas. This time we will also be dropping Stephan off in Arkansas before heading on to Florida. Check out our blog in a few days for the schedule and please plan on hooking up with us while we are there! (http://ravenraab.blogspot.com)

Enjoy the moments together! They are meant to be times of love and joy, struggle and strife - real life. So good.

THANKS!

For the funds for our furlough, cars, and places to stay. It’s going to be great to see you!

For your prayers for our work!

For encouragement, wisdom and answers to questions.

What’s coming up?

MAY

Soccer in Switzerland

Love Works! Spring meeting

JUNE

Ladies day

Youth weekend

Summer News

LIGHT in the Lowlands

Reaching out to the people of Belgium and the Netherlands

Summer 2008

But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.  Jude 20-21

Dear brothers and sisters, family and friends,

Where in the world have you been? This is what I hear some of you thinking, especially if you don’t have facebook, flickr or a blog (is he speaking English?). So let me tell you where we’ve been all summer!

Singing, France and Camp

In June we focused on the youth weekend in Maastricht. We not only talked about but also practiced telling others about Jesus. This concluded with a concert by Listen Up! So exciting to see the young people talking and serving others. 

This theme continued as we took a group of young people down to Marseille, France for a week. In Marseille we served, learned, sang and put faith into practice. It was an amazing seven days! Scott went with two Verheijen girls, Stephan and Sean, and Isha’s friend, Valéri. 

It was so good to see how excited they were to be learning, to be serving at an old-folks home, to be singing - and all of this in French! All of them have mentioned that they plan on returning next year and we have been seeing the fruits of this week ever since in their daily lives. 

 

Back in Belgium July brought the camp season, but before that started ...             

... we welcomed a group of high school students from Canada. 

Former missionary to Antwerp, Blair Roberts and his wife Susan brought these students to work with several different congregations in Belgium. First they held a Young Friends week in Antwerp, teaching English using the Bible. They also helped out with evangelism in Ghent and went down to camp as counselors. Stephan spent time with them for this whole time and also helped out at camp. In Maastricht we waited for the beginning of August when the students would head over our way for a few days. It was exciting to see how they were helping in so many different places.

 

By the end of July it was our turn down at Bible camp. This year we had the Teens (11-14 year-olds). We talked about turning the world upside down, as Jesus presents it to us. 

It was a great week and started out with a bang: 

David van Ginneken, one of our teens, gave his life to Christ on the first day of camp, and that evening Isha Verheijen did the same at home (she had been at Youth camp the week before)! 

It is exciting to see new life and the pleasure and determination that these young people bring to that new life. They know how mighty Jesus is and trust that. What an example! 

Following Teen camp we continued into Family Camp where Scott presented three lessons (of the 12 or so total lessons) on the Holy Spirit. This was a really challenging week with good discussion, good lessons and challenges, and fantastic examples of the Spirit working in our lives. 

As always with camp, the real challenge comes when we have to go home and live as we have just been taught - in our own homes, towns, schools and churches. We are so thankful for the opportunities we have to challenge and encourage one another during the camp weeks. This is a very important time for equipping the Dutch-speaking churches. This summer session of camps was completed with our annual Family Day. We were especially excited that the French-speaking members also came during our fellowship time. 

Back in Maastricht we welcomed the Canadian students and were blessed immensely by a short but intense few days of encouragement.

We had talked to our young people about being an example for the students, and we challenged the students to be the same for our young people. Both took up the challenge. We cleaned, played soccer, cooked, visited, talked and distributed - all the while getting to know one another better. 

It was especially good to hear our young people share their stories about their lives with God, and vice-versa with the Canadian students. Everyone opened up and was willing to be seen and help each other. We have already seen some real growth an openness in our young people because of this time together. 

A new year begins

As the summer ended, we headed into the new school year, planning for several weddings, a youth weekend in Maastricht, a Single’s Retreat, and Fall Camp all coming up. But the summer was an immense encouragement! Thank you Father!

PRAYER WARRIORS

Please keep the following in your prayers.

Continue to pray for Valéri and her parents. She wants to give her life to Christ, but her parents aren’t too sure.

Praise God for our new family members in Maastricht - Isha Verheijen and Susanne Dela!

Pray as we start up our weekly Bible studies with Mieke, RW, LJ and C&T. 

Please pray for our upcoming activities including a youth weekend in Maastricht, Single’s Retreat, and two weddings.

Pray for our continuing outreach through the Wiser on the Way courses in the Fall

Pray for guidance for world leaders, also here in Europe.

EXTRAS

Did you Know?

Olympics

Everyone was watching, but we were blessed to be able to root for more than one country. So we were thrilled with the US victories, but also with those from the Netherlands and Belgium. Sometimes we had to shout and cry during the same event.

Michael Phelps was master - Pieter van den Hoogenband was completely out.

Te Dutch took gold in women’s water polo, and the US surprised in the final of the men’s water polo. 

The Dutch also won gold in women’s field hockey, jumping and rowing. 

Tia Hellebaut brought the gold home for the Belgians in the women’s high jump. (I almost saw her at the airport the day she returned to Belgium)

THANKS!

For sending the Canadian students 

For your prayers for our work! New life is coming!

For your good care of Stephan - he is in good hands

What’s coming up?

OCTOBER

Marriage weekend

Fall Camp

NOVEMBER

Youth weekend

ON THE FAMILY SIDE . . .

So much can change in such a short time - although to be honest this newsletter is covering a relatively long time period. Let me tell you about the summer. 

 

At the end of June the boys (including Scott) had an adventure in France. Their car broke down on the way to Marseille, so they got to try their hand (tongue) at French with the gendarmerie and AAA before they were finally able to get to Marseille. They had a great week in Marseille singing and sweating. It was a lot warmer there than it was back in Belgium!

When they returned we got the feeling that Stephan was trying to prepare us for his impending departure (or were we trying to prepare him?) by being gone quite a bit. He left for a week to Antwerp to be with some Canadian students, and then headed down to Youth Camp. 

Sean knew that he had Mama and Papa to himself, so we went for a special day to Cologne to look at guitars. Sean has been really active in teaching himself guitar, learning new songs and getting a band together. 

Check out his band (konverse) on his facebook site. 

When we got the chance, we went back to the music store with Stephan as well and since it was near Scott’s birthday, Scott got an early birthday present - a guitar to complement his good ol’ Yamaha (which he bought back in 1983). 

For a few short days there was plenty of guitar playing in the house!

After a few weeks of camp we all welcomed the Canadian students to Maastricht, which meant that the guys stayed with us. The last day was also a going-away party for Stephan and Shareya (Shareya is our colleagues’ daughter) as they head to Harding University. It was a beautiful and a beautifully hard evening for us. Scott went to Arkansas with them, to help get Stephan settled in. 

Shirley survived all these trips with her typical strength. She went shopping with Mieke (who reads the Bible with Scott ) while everyone was down in Marseille. When Scott and Stephan were checking out the Wal-Mart in Searcy, she was shopping with Willemien, Geesie and Sean - building relationships and getting the necessary done. 

 

Now the new school year has begun. Sean mentioned that he expects it will be better than last year. The new home situation will take a bit longer to get used to. Setting one less place for dinner, making less food, Sean sleeps in Stephan’s bed sometimes. We miss him, but we are so excited for him as well. Stephan is doing great - getting to know lots of good people and learning who he is and will soon be. We are so thankful for a wonderful Father and family!

April-May Newsletter

I know it has been a while since the last newsletter, but here is what has been happening in our work and lives.

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

April/May 2008

There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23-24
Dear brothers and sisters, family and friends,
I don’t know how the time can move so quickly, but once again a month has flown by so quickly that it has become two and a bit. But life is great in the Lord!
Busy and busy
One of the things I struggle with is deciding how busy I should be - or with what I should be busy. Committees can seem quite depressing (especially in the middle of a long meeting) and I am involved with quite a few. I help with committees on Bible camp, financial assistance, school and a local newspaper. I will be adding a community activity committee in July.
Sometimes it all feels like a bit much. At the same time, I know that many of these activities are the things that connect me to people i my life and in the community - and I like these things! So I continue to pray that God is able to use these moments to reach hearts as well.

In the meantime, we also continue with our studies and church activities, including youth days, a Ladies day, studies with univerisyt students and camp work days these past two months. You will have seen some of these on the blog, but I want to tell you a little bit more about a few of these - moments that were really exciting, seeing how God is working.
I have often mentioned how important our work with the youth is. I am proud that our young people are struggling to hold on to their faith - and are growing. So many young people today are simply abandoning their faith, often without even considering. We are trying to make sure that our young people have the tools they need to grow in faith and love.

In April we had the opportunity to go to Switzerland to play soccer. But the trip was much, much more than that. We ended up getting a group of 25 people together (definitely not all “young” people) to go play against teams from Germany, France, Austria and Switzerland (it sounds like the matches going on now!). But we also sat in a car together on the trip there and back, spent time worshipping together and got to know one another better. It was great to see the commeraderie in the teams. We had four teams there along with some great cheering sections.
Even more, we met and got to know Christians from all over Europe. One evening the young people stayed up late singing (wonderful music to fall asleep to). On Sunday we worshipped God together - in several languages. What a privilege! It was a wonderful opportunity. Now we are planning to do something of the sort at home (in Belgium and the Netherlands) before going again next year.

In May, on the weekend of Pentecost, we planned a weekend down at camp for the congregation. Once again, this was not a time just for young people, but rather a time that all ages could encourage one another. It was absolutely fantastic, passing all expectations. Everyone helped one another, we were all able to learn from one another and we grew closer as a result - closer to God and closer to one another. Once again we got six new songs - what a blessing! Each time since last year that we get together, we challenge the young people and any present to write a song based on a text from the Bible. And they do! (you can hear these by going to www.gvcmaastricht.nl and clicking on the “Liedjes” tab).


In June we will be putting some of this closeness into practice when Listen Up! sings after a youth weekend. Everyone is inviting their friends, colleagues and classmates to the concert. It is exciting to see how many people (connected through all those committees!) have said that they will attend - wanting to know who we are more closely. It will be exciting to see what God will do with these opportunities in the coming months.

A funeral, a wedding, a birthday and a dinner
In these months we have also had many chances to share joy and sadness with our brothers and sisters. Our friend and colleague in Eindhoven, Roel de Gruyter, lost his mother (his father is now in the hospital - please pray!). On the other side, one of our former student members, Linda N., got married and we were able to share in her joy.
With RW I was glad that we could help out in any way. He had a birthday dinner with his whole family - a yearly family reunion - but didn’t have enough tables. We were able to help out - although the weather didn’t. And we have spent some very good times with LJ, just eating dinner, sharing coffee, or sitting in the garden, but always getting to know one another better and learning more about who God is.
God has given us all a family - His construction - in order to live and grow. We are loving living this real life and all the busyness it brings!

PRAYER WARRIORS
Please keep the following in your prayers.
- Pray specifically for the youth weekend and concert - our outreach to the city in June! Many of our friends, neighbors and co-workers will be attending!
- Continue to pray for Mr. W. and LJ as we continue to study together. your prayers for them and for me mean a lot!
- Praise and thank God for the wonderful times we are experiencing as a church family! We want to use this to continue growing in faith and love.
- Pray for our regular visitors A., S.,V. S has mentioned that she is ready to take the next step!
- Our high school seniors need your prayers as they finish their final exams and get ready to move on in their lives.
- Please keep our summer Bible camp preparations in your prayers. This is a very important time for our young people and for the church in Belgium and the Netherlands.

DID YOU KNOW?
Tidbits of information about Belgium and the Netherlands
Art!?
From the Renaissance to Impressionists, both Dutch and Belgian painters are well-known throughout the world. Taste varies, of course, but in the Netherlands and Belgium you can find almost any kind of art you might like. From Rembrandt , Frans Hals and Vermeer (Dutchmen), to Rubens, Brueghel - both Jans and Pieters (Belgian). The Dutch gave us Van Gogh, M.C. Escher and Mondriaan, while the Belgians offer James Ensor and René Magritte (the heads with apples). Even the bunny “Miffy” (her name in Dutch is Nijntje) is from Dutchman Dick Bruna.
Have you come across something typically Dutch or Belgian? What did you think of it? Let us know. s.raabs@tele2allin.be

What’s coming up?
JULY
Canadian students
Marseille trip
Camp weeks
AUGUST
Camp
Listen Up! concert

THANKS!
- For your emails and comments - it is good to hear from you!
- for your prayers and encouragement
- for good advice and help for the future with Stephan

ON THE FAMILY SIDE . . .
You would think that two months would present plenty of time to do all sorts of things. And I am sure that all sorts of things happened, but sometimes the days seem to be very normal - so you wonder, when you look back on them, what happened.

As far as school goes, the boys have been soldiering on, trying to make sure that homework gets done and tests passed. This being Stephan’s last year, he is especially aware of the need to make sure things go well. He has been busy getting things ready for Harding in the Fall - but first things first. He will need to pass this year, of course. Sean has completely gotten used to his “new” school from this year. And it has even been interesting to see the guys helping each other with various school problems.
Stephan has been working on his GIP which is a sort of research paper covering all of his disciplines. The preface needs to be in French, the acknowledgment in English (the rest in Dutch, of course) and the various parts covering Biology, Chemistry, Economics, etc. All of this with the theme of “bread” (one of the themes they were allowed to choose from, as long as it had to do with food). This has covered all year and is finally coming to an end.

For a weekend in April all of the “guys” left for a weekend. Scott, Stephan and Sean went with about 20 other people (youth and adults) from the church in Belgium and the Netherlands to an indoor soccer tournament organized by the church in Switzerland. Friday evening driving down, Saturday all day playing, Sunday worshipping and driving home after the final games. It was intense and fun. It was pretty quiet back at the house, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing!

At the end of May we welcomed Anina Zingg for a few days. She is one of the organizers this year of the soccer tournament; she is a 19 year-old from Schaffhausen. Since she was traveling all over Europe (getting in some travel before she starts back to school) and was doing the Belgian/Dutch wing of the trip, we were glad to be able to host her here for a few days. It got us thinking of all the traveling and meeting that Stephan will soon be doing in the States. It’s good to know that there are people who will care well for him.

One of the more interesting, exciting, but at the same time slightly scary things has been our house. We have never really been able to do too much to fix parts that needed fixing, but recently we became more and more aware that something had to be done to one of our walls. As a result we have torn out a closet (exposing how wet one of the walls really was!) and have starting talking to an architect about what we can do to remedy the situation. It is exciting to look at what might be in the future. It’s slightly frightening to think of the extent of changes needed to make this possible. But it will be a good adventure - one we take together.

We pray that you have been able to enjoy and survive the challenges in your life these past two month and more. With God in our lives it will always be a good day!
Have a great day today!

April Newsletter

Light in the Lowlands
Reaching out to the people of Belgium and the Netherlands

I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you have refreshed the hearts of the saints. Philemon 6-7

Dear brothers and sisters, family and friends,
This has been a very challenging month - God is so good and mighty. I’m glad He is in charge - He does such a good job!

Reaching out and reaching in
One of the joys of knowing God is that we have the opportunity to let others know about Him and how good it is to live with Him. Sometimes that means studying or talking, and other times that just means singing His praises.
In April we tried again with the “Getting to know the Bible” series we offered in March. This time we put it in the newspaper as well. We had four good responses, of which one was able to find our building (something to work on in the future). Mr. W. not only came to the first three lessons, he also continued through the second set of lessons and wants to know more about the church. Hopefully you will be reading more about him in next month’s newsletter. Please keep him in your prayers.
At the end of the month Listen Up! went to Antwerp to sing with the a cappella vocal band “Agape-la” from Paris. This was a great opportunity to reach out to people in the neighborhood in Antwerp. Posters and flyers were printed, people were invited and in a meeting place meant for about 70 people we had more than 120 listening to good news about Jesus Christ! It was a sweaty evening (there is no airco in this building and it was one of the hottest days in history for this time of year), but everyone listened with pleasure. We heard afterwards that there were several from the neighborhood as well as a couple who had come from more than 2 hours away because they had seen it on the internet. It’s great to sing of such a wonderful life!
Speaking of singing, at the beginning of the month we went down to camp with our young people for an Easter weekend. Before the weekend we had told the young people to prepare by knowing Philippians. Down at camp we had a quiz and talked about what we had learned, but we also put that knowledge into song. We sent them off in groups for 90 minutes with the task of writing a song based on something in Philippians. Now we have four new songs for our songbooks! Amazing what God can do with willing hearts and minds!

- the view from the "Love Tree" -

We closed out the weekend with a sunrise service up at the “Love Tree” (a tree at the top of a hill nearby camp) remembering what Jesus has done for us. Then everyone headed back to their respective congregations to celebrate this wonderful family that God has given us. It was a great weekend which we are already planning to repeat. First we have a weekend to prepare for June which will also include singing and song-writing. This weekend showed me never to underestimate what God can do.

Studying
In addition to the regular studies Scott has with several adults, he and Ruud have also started working with the youth of the congregation. At least once a month they get together to have fun and games, and on other days to challenge their hearts and brains. Sometimes these studies are about current topics (most recently - creation), but also about the basics of real life with God. Please keep these young people in your prayers as they struggle to see if this is real or just something adults do. Pray also for us that we will not be just teachers, but examples of how real this life truly is.
On Monday evenings Scott is involved with university students from Maastricht in a weekly Bible study. Students from Germany, Romania, Ukraine, the Netherlands and the US get together to discuss all sorts of topics. Scott recently led a study on “Who is Jesus” as part of a group of studies on God, the Holy Spirit and Jesus. It has been interesting to see that although these students don’t want to be “told” what is right, they are more than willing to listen to someone who has a little more experience (and hopefully more knowledge). Pray that we can always simply get back into God’s word and see what is really there.
Next month Scott will be presenting a study and helping with a discussion over homosexuality and how Christians should respond. This is quite a current topic for these students (and all of us). It is exciting to see that instead of running away from difficult topics, they are more than willing to examine them based on God’s word.
Some months can be very busy and very challenging. There have been times this month that I felt like the day had stretched into 36 hours. But each evening God brought rest and created new opportunities and strength for the new day. What an awesome God!

Prayer warriors
Please keep the following in your prayers.
- My reading in the Bible with LJ, Gerard, Cor and Titia and Mieke.
- Our continued contact with people in our villages.
- Upcoming youth weekends and concerts in May and June.
- Our upcoming youth activities. What a blessing to see them growing in so many ways!
- Thanks for the “Getting to know the Bible” series and continued prayers for the participants.
- Shirley’s and Ruud’s health. Shirley is doing better.
- Thanks and praise for a wonderful church family!

ON THE FAMILY SIDE . . .
Although many of you may have gotten showers in April (or even snow - we heard), we have been enjoying summer weather. As a matter of fact, we broke a record for the most days without rain here. Thankfully (yes, I can truly say that!) it has started raining again. But during the sunny days we have experienced a good mix of fun,beautiful and challenging times.
Stephan went off at the beginning of the month to some friends outside of Eindhoven. It’s not always easy when your friends live so far away. But he also spent plenty of time with his school friends and his teammates from basketball. As a matter of fact, his team became champions - which meant that he had to shave his head! Sean couldn’t stop laughing, some girls were quite impressed and Stephan simply continued with a smile (as always).

- Stephan, the champion -

Sean had a real up and down month. He was approached by the coach for the C1 team (two levels up from where he plays at C3) to play with them. Unfortunately, his own coach didn’t want to lose him. So he played for both teams for a little while. But in the next to last game, one the C1 had to win in order to continue at their current level Sean fell and broke his elbow (maybe)! Scott was off in Antwerp at a concert, Shirley was off to the store, but thankfully Ruud (our colleague) was there to accompany Sean to the hospital. After lots of x-rays, they still weren’t sure, so now Sean is in a cast and waiting on new x-rays and certainty about what has happened.
In the meantime, he had been having a good time with his best friend Wouter. Wouter’s parents were off together and didn’t want to leave Wouter alone, so he stayed with us for several days. Both he and Sean are big Genk fans (the pro soccer team) and followed all the news together. Genk is fighting to win the season and they have a good chance.
Shirley is doing well. The latest EMG showed that things are actually getting better. She has doubled her medicine so that it is more effective (according to doctor’s orders) and we will check in again just before we leave for the States this summer. In the meantime it is definitely Spring, which means new flowers and trying to keep up on what is happening in the yard (but being careful about what she does!).
We all have enjoyed the times getting together with our brothers and sisters around the country. At the end of the month Listen Up! had a concert in Antwerp together with a group from Paris - Agape-la. Shirley and Sean had to stay home (the day Sean got hurt, Shirley taking care of him), but Stephan went with Scott and got to see lots of friends and meet new people.

EXTRAS
DID YOU KNOW?
Tidbits of information about
Belgium and the Netherlands
Delicious?!
- Most people have heard of Dutch cheeses: Gouda, Edam. Some other typical meals include pea soup and many different ways of preparing cauliflower or cabbage.
- Although the Belgians are not as well known for their cheeses, they do have quite a few varieties. Currently Belgium is more known for their beers and their chocolate. But you might also want to look into recipes for cooking venison or rabbit.
Have you come across something typically Dutch or Belgian? What did you think of it? Let us know.
What’s coming up?
MAY
Getting to know the Bible
Listen Up! concert
Youth studies
JUNE
Youth weekend and concert
Outreach in our neighborhood
THANKS!
- For praying for us - and letting us know that!
- For your continued desire to know and follow God
- For your blogs, emails and calls - it is great to hear what is going on with you.

Sometimes we think we know what to expect. April is supposed to bring flowers and the beginning of showers, right? But if it ends up doing something different - well, then, just keep on going, with a smile (Stephan is always a good example!). We have been blessed through all the things we experienced this month and pray that you too have been able to see the blessings in all that has happened in your life this month. Have a great day today!