Spring Belgian Breeze Newsletter
February - May Belgian Breeze Newsletter
Greetings
Hello from beautiful Belgium. We hope this newsletter finds you well and healthy. We are so thankful for support from you, your church, brothers and sisters who want to give to the Lord's work even when it is not easy to give. Thank you for your commitment to sharing God's message with the lost. We would like to introduce you to Isaak. God has entrusted us with another wonderful gift. Praise God with us for this little boy who arrived june 3! Mama and baby are healthy. God has blessed us these past months with studies, contacts, and more opportunities to serve. Please thank God with us for that.
Sharing the Good News
Luk has continued with his weekly bible studies and I (Holly) began a Pregnancy focused bible study with our friend Vanessa. Luk continues to preach, teach, or lead worship in several churches on Sunday morning, and then we meet with the brothers and sisters in Ghent in the evening. It is neat to see how many in the Ghent church are taking opportunities to teach, and lead. The Monday after Easter we drove to The Hague, the Netherlands for a wonderful fellowship day. This was a day for all the churches in Belgium and the Netherlands to get together and grow closer to God and renew old friendships! Near the end of April Luk was fortunate enough to join 27 others from Belgium and The Netherlands to represent our countries at a Church of Christ soccer tournament in Thayingen, Switzerland. 17 teams from all over Europe including, Frankfurt, Vienna, Paris, and Marseilles all came to share in some fun and to make their home churches proud. Some of the highlights for Luk were singing in 4 different languages during the Saturday night devotional, and the Sunday morning worship, and the focus on God and fellowship during the whole tournament. Please keep our Ghent weekly Bible Study contacts like, Edison, Bert, Cecil and Herman in your prayers.
Focus on The Youth
In February the youth weekend in Antwerp focused on music. We talked about guarding our hearts, spotting the lies in the media, and learned about some new Christian alternatives to the not-so-positive music out there. Pray that the young people that were there, and the rest of us, for that matter, learn to spot the lie, and that we daily allow ourselves to be transformed by God. In early March we enjoyed being together with the young adults in Hever. The young people there had planned a time to get together to talk, go on a walk and play some games together. Thank you Lord for Fellowship! In mid-March was the 5th Annual Guys video game weekend in Antwerp. This year the theme was "How do I get from here to there" with a focus on making a decision for Christ. We talked about how God changes lives when we choose for him.
Outreach
For the past 6 weeks we have enjoyed having two university students here from Oklahoma Christian. We advertised in several newspapers and stuffed folders in mailboxes to let people know that Mica and Kaylee were coming to give English classes using the Bible. They ended up reading with 18 contacts. Please pray about the seeds that are being planted, and that we can follow up well with these contacts.
New Songs and Encouragers
In the church in Antwerp we have experienced some wonderful growth. Many of the new people have asked for a chance to practice the songs so we organized a singing evening to practice some songs that we sing regularly. It is encouraging to see new people put forth the effort to praise God even with the challenges of a new language. We were blessed to have Holly's mom, Cheryl, come and visit for 3 weeks in March. She and Gideon had a wonderful time playing together and getting to know each other again. And it was an enormous blessing for Holly to get to spend this time with her mom! We have also enjoyed the encouragement of other friends like the Robert’s, and now Luk’s sister Karina who is coming to be a helping hand with the kids. It is a blessing to have her around.
Family Facts
Gideon is two and a half. In Belgium this is the age you start school. So he has started to go half days. His vocabulary is growing everyday as he tries to say whatever you say, and he has brought home a lot of new Dutch words from school. Just when you think you are making some progress on your house.... you have to break out the living-room and dining-room floor. 11 People from The Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, and Roeselare Church of Christ’s came to lend a hand. There was much noise, dust, and groaning, but the whole floor was removed by the time dinner time came around.
More Information
If you are interested in more up-to-date news on our family and work you can find this at: www.BelgianBreeze.blogspot.com. Please be praying about our support situation. The dollar has weakened considerably and so each month we receive less funds. We will be making a trip to the states this fall to do some fund raising. Thank you for your love and support as we serve together with you in taking the gospel to people who need Him. In His love, Luk, Holly, Gideon and Isaak.
Greetings
Hello from beautiful Belgium. We hope this newsletter finds you well and healthy. We are so thankful for support from you, your church, brothers and sisters who want to give to the Lord's work even when it is not easy to give. Thank you for your commitment to sharing God's message with the lost. We would like to introduce you to Isaak. God has entrusted us with another wonderful gift. Praise God with us for this little boy who arrived june 3! Mama and baby are healthy. God has blessed us these past months with studies, contacts, and more opportunities to serve. Please thank God with us for that.
Sharing the Good News
Luk has continued with his weekly bible studies and I (Holly) began a Pregnancy focused bible study with our friend Vanessa. Luk continues to preach, teach, or lead worship in several churches on Sunday morning, and then we meet with the brothers and sisters in Ghent in the evening. It is neat to see how many in the Ghent church are taking opportunities to teach, and lead. The Monday after Easter we drove to The Hague, the Netherlands for a wonderful fellowship day. This was a day for all the churches in Belgium and the Netherlands to get together and grow closer to God and renew old friendships! Near the end of April Luk was fortunate enough to join 27 others from Belgium and The Netherlands to represent our countries at a Church of Christ soccer tournament in Thayingen, Switzerland. 17 teams from all over Europe including, Frankfurt, Vienna, Paris, and Marseilles all came to share in some fun and to make their home churches proud. Some of the highlights for Luk were singing in 4 different languages during the Saturday night devotional, and the Sunday morning worship, and the focus on God and fellowship during the whole tournament. Please keep our Ghent weekly Bible Study contacts like, Edison, Bert, Cecil and Herman in your prayers.
Focus on The Youth
In February the youth weekend in Antwerp focused on music. We talked about guarding our hearts, spotting the lies in the media, and learned about some new Christian alternatives to the not-so-positive music out there. Pray that the young people that were there, and the rest of us, for that matter, learn to spot the lie, and that we daily allow ourselves to be transformed by God. In early March we enjoyed being together with the young adults in Hever. The young people there had planned a time to get together to talk, go on a walk and play some games together. Thank you Lord for Fellowship! In mid-March was the 5th Annual Guys video game weekend in Antwerp. This year the theme was "How do I get from here to there" with a focus on making a decision for Christ. We talked about how God changes lives when we choose for him.
Outreach
For the past 6 weeks we have enjoyed having two university students here from Oklahoma Christian. We advertised in several newspapers and stuffed folders in mailboxes to let people know that Mica and Kaylee were coming to give English classes using the Bible. They ended up reading with 18 contacts. Please pray about the seeds that are being planted, and that we can follow up well with these contacts.
New Songs and Encouragers
In the church in Antwerp we have experienced some wonderful growth. Many of the new people have asked for a chance to practice the songs so we organized a singing evening to practice some songs that we sing regularly. It is encouraging to see new people put forth the effort to praise God even with the challenges of a new language. We were blessed to have Holly's mom, Cheryl, come and visit for 3 weeks in March. She and Gideon had a wonderful time playing together and getting to know each other again. And it was an enormous blessing for Holly to get to spend this time with her mom! We have also enjoyed the encouragement of other friends like the Robert’s, and now Luk’s sister Karina who is coming to be a helping hand with the kids. It is a blessing to have her around.
Family Facts
Gideon is two and a half. In Belgium this is the age you start school. So he has started to go half days. His vocabulary is growing everyday as he tries to say whatever you say, and he has brought home a lot of new Dutch words from school. Just when you think you are making some progress on your house.... you have to break out the living-room and dining-room floor. 11 People from The Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, and Roeselare Church of Christ’s came to lend a hand. There was much noise, dust, and groaning, but the whole floor was removed by the time dinner time came around.
More Information
If you are interested in more up-to-date news on our family and work you can find this at: www.BelgianBreeze.blogspot.com. Please be praying about our support situation. The dollar has weakened considerably and so each month we receive less funds. We will be making a trip to the states this fall to do some fund raising. Thank you for your love and support as we serve together with you in taking the gospel to people who need Him. In His love, Luk, Holly, Gideon and Isaak.
2 Comments:
Luk, Holly, Gideon and Isaak,
Its so good to hear news from you and about God's work in Belgium. I've already said it, but I'll say it again...we really miss Belgium and the people there. So it really feels good to be able to read about the people there and how things are going.
Question....why did you have to break out the living room and dining room floor?
Miranda
By
Miranda and Derrick, at 1:14 AM
The living and dining room floor was never poured correctly so it was disintegrating every time we walked on it and pieces fell out. Putting a thin layer of super strong concrete was not an option, and tiles were too expensive, so our advisors advised it would be cheaper and easier to break it out and have a new one poured. And now that it is done we are thankful for that advice.
By
Luk, Holly, Gideon & Isaak, at 11:42 AM
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