Benjamin Camp

Today we have been home for a few days after our week with the Benjamins. It was a challenging and energetic week and we are still trying to get back to normal energy levels. Thank you all for your prayers for the team and the kids. This year we had a few kids at camp for the first time and we had several brothers and sisters, brothers and brothers, cousins and more. We had 15 boys and 9 girls, with the boys being a very active group. 

We are always so very thankful for a good team to take care of everything. While Andrew and Scott had to deal with quite a busy and loud group of boys in the evenings, the teachers (Lucinda and Karla) were able to get their messages about the miracles of Jesus across very well. And along the way we all tried to not only teach the kids the practice of doing what they were being taught, but giving them an example as well. 

What do you do when your friend or someone in your room doesn’t treat you well? How do you use your words? Is it okay to attack someone who has threatened your brother? What does it mean to forgive one another? Is “sorry” enough? How and when do you share your things? Is it okay to just “borrow” from someone if you want to? When is it important to be quiet and listen? When should you speak up? These were all very important and practical questions for the week. 

In the meantime we also had a great week of activities. We had a water day on the warmest day of the week, played inside on the following day when it was pouring down rain amid thunder and lightening, and went walking in between the moments of rain on another day. We were thankful for the rain, the sun and the possibility to keep going no matter what. 

This week the teens are at camp and we are praying for the campers and the team helping them for this week. Next week is Family camp where I will bring some of the lessons and see some of the campers once again. We are so very thankful that we have this possibility of helping young people grow in faith and helping Christians grow in service and sharing their faith. 

Once we get our pictures from Benjamin Camp I will post the link here as well. 

Growing up in the Lord

We are never too old to grow in the grace and love of the Lord. Every day we need to be reminded and challenged to allow Jesus to truly be our Lord.

In September we organized a youth weekend in Maastricht - at our house actually - with the theme: Meetings with Jesus. We had a great group of young people from Eindhoven, Antwerp, the area around Tienen and from Maastricht and Valkenburg. How well do we know Jesus? How can we know who he is and what he wants? We took time in the two days we were together to read, think about and discuss six different stories of what Jesus did, what he was like.
We met the 12-year-old Jesus in the temple, saw Jesus washing the apostles' feet and when he fed more than 5000 with a little boy's lunch. We talked about the night in the garden of Gethsemane and around the fire. We saw how Jesus dealt with Thomas and his doubts. And we looked at Jesus walking over the water and stilling the storm.
Each meeting gave us plenty to chew on for our own lives. Are we willing to ask questions and listen to answers, seeking God's will? Can we serve each other? Why are we afrai of what people think? Can Jesus do anything with the little bit I can offer? How strong do I really need to be? All good questions and challenges. For October we challenged the  young people to read one of the gospels and meet Jesus. Why don't you join us?

At the end of October we are organizing Fall Camp. This is vbasically a youth weekend down at camp in the Ardennes. Since we have our new facility, some things will be easier. The beauty of the season and thrill of change will still be just as present. For this weekend we will challenge ourselves with questions on fighting. How do we fight the good fight? What weapons do we have to use? Who (or what?) are we fighting? Who are we NOT fighting? It should be a great weekend! We will be able to tell some of you about in person.

The nice thing about all these weekends ... we get to learn so much from these young people and their desire to know and follow Jesus!