When will we see you again?

This is one of the more frequently asked questions we receive when talking to many of you in the US. And indeed, it has been quite a while since we have seen you. It was November or December 2012 the last time that we were in your neck of the woods – Stephan married Natalie at the end of December so we planned our home assignment a bit differently that year.

And now it will be three and a half years since we have seen most of you. Some have been blessed with being able to come over here – visiting a child at school or visiting family and blessing us with a week of fellowship. Thank you! It was great to see you here. Now we are making plans to be back in the States in 2016 – although this time we are also doing things a bit differently.

On the one hand, we want to be able to see more of you and summer is not always the best time. Many of you, just like us, are busy with camp or activities for the church or family in the summer months. We, too, always miss our summer camp weeks in the year that we plan our home assignment. So this year we will be coming a bit earlier, especially since we don’t have to worry about getting our kids out of school. We will be in the US from mid-May to mid-July. This way we are also back here in time for some of our camp weeks.

As always, we are trying to make sure that we have enough time at each stop, hitting family and church family alike. This time we are adding Indiana to the mix and we are also bringing Sean’s friends along for a section of the trip. We hope to be able to spend some time with you and to hear how God is working in your lives. And we would love to share what He is doing here and hear any questions you might have.

Here is the rough schedule for our travels.

May 17 – 25             Arrive in Minneapolis and Woodbury family time

May 26 – June 3       Midwest leg with Muscatine and family in Omaha

June 4 – 12               Family time in Denver and Colorado Springs

June 13 – 22             Texas time (Abilene and DFW area)

June 23 – 29             Family time in Indiana

June 30 – July 4       Sean and friends arrive in Indiana

July 5 – 11                California time (Long Beach, San Diego)

July 12 – 17              Road trip with Sean and friends

July 18-19                 On the way home

This will be the last time for Sean to be on our trips, so we will be taking a short road trip with him. Since his friend and his friend’s father came to the wedding last time, they asked to once again be able to meet people and renew relationships. So they will also be going along for some of the ride. We are looking forward to introducing them to you guys – the family that we love so much and cares so well for us. 

As we get closer to that time, we will send out a more detailed schedule. But let us know if you are going to be in the area and would like to get together. We would love to see you! Praise our Father for the ability and possibility to travel in this way. And let’s continue to serve Him in every way we can each day, whether we are traveling, planning or simply living day to day.

Light in the Lowlands, December 2015

Here is a quick update on some of what we have been doing in the last months. You can also find information on Facebook and follow our pictures by clicking on the photo's on the right. Thanks for stopping by!

the last bit of armor

Last night we got together again with the folks from the church in Liége. Every first Wednesday is singing in Maastricht and we have made this a time to sing together with the church from Liége, strengthening our ties, our language skills and our fellowship in the Lord.
We are always encouraged and challenged by the things said and sung in these times together. But last night I was particularly struck by something Clement brought up. He lives outside Brussels, meets with the church in Liége and also with the French-speaking church in Brussels and Namur. He speaks Flemish and delights in visiting and encouraging older members of the church wherever they are (he himself is above 70 years old).
Last night he took me aside to tell me about an opportunity to pray. On September 18 he will help with an evening in Namur about 'The art of Loving like Jesus'. He coveted the prayers of the church in Maastricht for this effort. Prayer is an essential element of reaching out. How can we expect any effort of ours to be effective without the strength and guidance of the Lord?
I was reminded of 'my' tomatoes and the parable of Jesus in Mark 4:26-29. We plant and God gives the growth. In Ephesians 6 we are shown the armour of God. The last bit, in verse 18, says: '...praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.' (ESV). Not an afterthought, but part of the planning for Clement - as it should be. We are so thankful for the various groups who are praying for what we are doing here as well. Let us pray!

Tomato Truths

The other day I was challenged by a picture from long time friend Amy Miller. She and her family have been encouraging people in so many different ways for quite a while. If you have never read her ‘Vomiting Chicken’ (the title alone is enough to make you want to know what it is about), go take a read. Also check out andhedrew.com with some really thought-provoking ideas and some great art.

All this to say that the picture is for Amy. On the 27^th I guess it was World Tomato Day or some such thing, so she challenged fb to show their tomatoes (with a HUGE tomato in her? hand). So I thought about ‘my’ tomatoes – but this may take a little while to explain. If you don’t have time, you are free to move on (and come back when you do).

Albert Heijn is a local grocery store, like the King Soopers, or H.E.B. or Albertsons (do they still exist?). They were giving out little cardboard pots with seeds of all sorts of vegetables at the cash register to all who purchased something. At the end of the action, they were simply giving them away. I have always wanted to grow things, but have never invested the time and this seemed like a great opportunity – especially since we are hearing so much about bad foods and such.

Mind you, I have no idea how good these seeds were, if they were GM (NOT, it is now allowed in Europe without mentioning it) or if it would even work, but that was the beauty of the whole idea. I could try it without any real cost, without any real guilt and practically without any knowledge. Each pot came with a set of instructions on what to do. Of course the instructions were the same for each pot – whether it was for salad, radishes, tomatoes, or broccoli. But there were instructions.

So I took the pots home, put them in my window sill in the kitchen (it was March, I think) and watered them. It was exciting to see something come up out the dirt pretty quickly. But I had to remember to keep watering them. Soon I would be able to put them in bigger pots and put them outside – but not yet. The ground was still freezing outside and all sorts of people told me not to put them out yet.

When I finally moved the plants outside (once they were big enough to handle it) I simply bought some dirt for plants and dumped it in the stone planters on the one side of our yard that gets a good bit of sun. Very shortly we were even able to enjoy a head of lettuce and several radishes. Amazing! I was eating something I had planted!

But the tomatoes were taking a while longer. I have come to understand that all of the things I put out have different seasons. (I told you – I have never planted anything. Of course I know about seasons, but I don’t know which season is for what.) So I was waiting on the tomatoes. But camp was coming and that meant two weeks away from the house. Would they survive? Belgium is basically rainy, so I shouldn’t have to worry about watering, but the weeks I was gone were some of the hottest and driest in years (centuries).

But we came back and – voilà – I had little tomatoes growing (they are cherry tomatoes). And they are delicious! Very meaty, very ‘tomato-y’ and juicy. And this is where I started wondering (anyone who knows me knew this was coming). I am amazed and thankful for this wonderful gift. It is amazing what God can do with so little. And of course it should not amaze me, but it does. Seeds from a package in dirt from a package, planted in perhaps too shallow dirt at the wrong time(?) survived my mis-watering and heat and weeds trying to strangle them to become these wonderful tomatoes.

God does that. He takes things that seem to be useless (or are useless and broken) and turns them into beautiful, luscious, useful, nourishing, helpful. And then I wondered about a few things. What if I had taken the time to learn more about tomatoes before I began? What if I had asked some people who knew more for advice? What if I had made sure that the basics were followed in feeding the soil and adding water? The tomatoes I have are great because God can do amazing things with anything. But He can do even more when we listen to the needs of the seed and the soil.

What if I took the time to feed my soil with faith and the word of God? What if I was accepting of what the soil needs to help plants grow? After all, Forrest said it and it is true: _ happens. But that’s fertilizer, helping us to grow. What if I made sure I was getting the water I need, especially in hot times?

And what about the church? How can we all grow? God is the one who gives the growth, we only plant and water – but that is important! And of course God makes delicious, wonderful things even when I make a mess – so why not put the effort into caring for and nourishing? My tomato isn’t much, but it sure has fed me well.

Summer summary

This has been a busy summer period, as is most often the case for us. But busy doesn’t mean bothersome. We love all the things we are challenged with and enjoy – albeit oft times afterwards – the struggles we have had and new things we have learned. Here are some of our blessings this summer. 

We enjoyed meeting, spending time with and worshipping with Nicole from South Africa, Danii and Jonathan from the US, and Mark and Roxi and family (from the US) who were visiting our precious Jonathan and Lauren (and Anderson). We welcomed the Goodpastures on a Wednesday evening and heard them share the Word and then met them again later that week worshipping with the church in Brussels.

The 2^nd day of Pentecost was a great opportunity to speak with members from around Belgium and the Netherlands and be challenged to continue preaching and living the Word. We are planning more evangelization throughout the country in response to some of what was said that day – but more about that later.

Ardennen Bijbelkamp holds four weeks of camp each summer: Youth (15+ years-old), Benjamins (8-11 years-old), Teens (12-14 years-old) and Family (everyone welcome). We directed and cooked at the last two weeks.

For Teen Camp we were blessed with a very varied group of 13 young people. We had expected a low turnout, but this is quite a good turnout for one of our weeks. Joshua and Judges – Be strong and courageous – was the them for the week. 

One of our challenges from the beginning was how to mix things up. Boys and girls at that age don’t want to sit together, but we also had various cultural differences. Still, with a few challenges here and there, the end of the week had everyone talking together, playing together and truly getting to know one another. God is amazing!

We were also pleased to be able to train some new people during this week. Paul and Deysi Quiel, who live and worship in Haarlem, were assistand camp leader and crafts director. We also had two new counselors in Prisca and Lesley. It is so important to give new people the chance to try out what God can do with them. We were especially proud of the young ladies for taking on this responsibility and trying new things. Be strong and courageous – God is with us!

At Family Camp we looked at Serving - every day, in every way. As is usual with Family camp, every day was a surprise. Some people come for a few days, others for the whole week.  We were especially blessed with the R. family – a mother with 5 boys ranging from 11 years-old to 6 months. I was struck by the realization of how much my mother must have had to put up with, how much courage she must have had, when I was growing up (I have 1 sister and 4 brothers).

During the week we took the opportunity to serve in the village. Our local milk farmer, Lucienne asked me – as we sat drinking coffee following a sweaty clearing of old tires and hawthorn hedge clippings – why we would do this. This is the fourth year that we offer this in the village, but usually it is the teens. This time it was the ‘old’ folks. I explained that if we really wanted to learn about serving, then we had to be willing to put it into practice as well.

The last day of camp is also a Family Day. This year was organized by the congregation in Maastricht.

You can see pictures of our two weeks in the Ardennes over at our picture site. Teen camp. Family camp. Family Day.

Looking ahead

In the coming months our schedules are already full. Sean is starting in to his last year of journalism school in Brussels. He is also moving from his present room to a flat shared by two other students (one of them the drummer in his band). We have been moving his stuff (through the traffic jam that is Brussels) and finding more stuff for the coming year.

We are also starting our other studies up after a summer break. We will be meeting at least once a month with the family in Valkenburg. With H. I will be looking at the book of Romans. He requested that we get more into the Bible (and he usually prefers the Old Testament)! We were also asked by LJ to get back to a Bible study. We have already started and are excited about her desire to learn and the opportunities for growth for all of us.

We hope to continue meeting with our neighbors, continuing along the Meeting Jesus studies. At the beginning of summer we closed off the previous session with a wonderful barbecue together where we all shared food and time together. 

Shirley sells used clothing on a sort of ‘craigslist’ here (called Marktplaats) and has developed a relationship with a few of her buyers who live close by. Be praying for these opportunities.

In September the church in Maastricht has a youth weekend planned where we will get together with the church from Cologne – in Aachen (halfway for both of us) to sing and encourage one another. The next weekend is a Men’s Retreat down at camp. Before all of this gets started there is a meeting in Amsterdam about how we can better work together as congregations in evangelizing throughout the country.

Along these lines, Maastricht is also participating in a Family Day held by the Limburg churches. This is an effort to get the congregations working together to see how we can better help one another and in this way spread the grace of Christ further. This Family day, as well as a Ladies Day organized by the ladies from Limburg, will be in October. LAUS, the singing group set up for evangelism this Spring, will also sing.

In the meantime, we will also begin our 1^st Wednesday singing again with the members from Liége and any others who want to come. Where will you be on September 2? Come sing with us in Maastricht! We are looking forward to how God is going to use us in these coming months.

Vacation visits

A Sunday with visitors from
the US, South Africa and Belgium

I have said this many times to young people, members of the congregation in Maastricht and members throughout the States – we are blessed with the ability to travel. Most of us all are blessed with the ability to travel where we want and pretty much when we want. This is very different from those who are more recently in the news because they are fleeing war in their country. We can choose to visit other places, and we do this with regularity.

Because of this, we can take advantage of another huge blessing – getting to know our brothers and sisters, the body of Christ, in other geographical locations and even cultures and contexts. We do not have to simply imagine and trust that the body of Christ is larger than our local group, we can get to know this body. And more importantly, we can even worship together with this body.

We are always thankful when people come through the Netherlands or Belgium and take the time to meet with us as a congregation. On a Sunday morning in Maastricht we will do our best to accommodate you (translation where needed, songs are sometimes in English, all of us will try to talk with you). And we know, since you are our brother and sister, that you will also do your best to accommodate us – doing your best to speak with us and understand our situation and culture. This is the beauty of our life in the body.

But it takes some planning to make this really happen. Despite the beauty of the internet and websites, you will seldom be able to just drop into a country and Saturday evening hope to find the church in the village you are visiting. You need to plan ahead. Think about where you are going and research where you can find the church. Email and call the members so that you know you have the times right and will be able to encourage one another. And then pray for this body of which you are a part – before you get there. I can assure you, you will be greatly blessed and will greatly bless those you meet with. I know this not only because we have experienced this time and again in our travels, but because our God has made this family.

This summer we have welcomed folks from South Africa and the United States on various Sunday mornings and have been able to meet with others on a Wednesday to share the Word and prayer. Plan your vacations with the body in mind. It is well worth the time and effort – for all involved.

Will you be in our neck of the woods - in the south of the Netherlands, in Belgium or in the west of Germany? The church in Maastricht meets for Bible study on Sunday morning at 10 and to worship at 10:30. If you come on a fourth Sunday, we can all sit down to eat together as well. Look us up and come on by. We would love to share with you and worship the Lord together with you!

How time flies?

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!