Belgian Breeze Newsletter - May/Aug 2011

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Catching Up
We have just caught our breath from our summer camp sessions and thought it was about time to start on a new newsletter when we realized it has been a while since we last told you about what has been going on in Belgium. So we have some catching up to do, please forgive us for that. We have had few dull moments since we arrived back from furlough. Read on to find out what we have been learning and to hear where God has been placing us.



Church Life In Ghent
We feel very blessed by the church family that God has given us in Ghent. While we were gone to the states the church in Ghent met in our house weekly and hosted visitors. They gave us a warm welcome and we have enjoyed watching the church grow over the past few months. We now meet every tuesday for a prayer time and Bible study which was asked for by one of the young ladies here at church and it has been exciting to see the interest and discussion that goes on on Tuesday night. We spent two months evaluating what we do as a church and have decided to be more involved in the community. Please be in prayer with us as we look for good places to serve. The church in Ghent has been blessed by some new faces. Martine is a lady who has recently found the church in Ghent through the website and has visited several times. Her hunger for God’s word amazes us and challenges us to share what we know. Roland is from Ghana and has lived in Belgium for a few years now and started meeting with us in July. He loves to study the Bible, and has many good thoughts to share. He has already preached for us. Pray as we grow, and as we mature that we can serve together as a family, and serve the community as salt and light.



Opportunities to serve
Just a week after we arrived home we hosted a group of teens at the Antwerp church building to have some fun climbing walls at a local climbing center, and to spend some time in God’s word studying about how to listen to Him. We have been involved with the local Bible camp ever since we moved here so as summer approached we helped prepare the camp during the work camp in June, and then got to direct the first camp week for the young people (15 yrs.+) in July. It was a joy to work with the young people, the assistant camp leader, Nathan who we are hoping will lead camps in the future was a joy to work with, and Holly did an amazing job once again in the kitchen providing food for 35 people. The theme was serving and we were blessed to have Scott Raab teach the classes. We also had the opportunity to serve 5 households in the neighboring village as well by going and asking how we could serve. The second week of August we enjoyed the fellowship and encouragement at family camp as we were challenged about what it means to be salt and light in our world today. The main eating hall is being rebuilt next spring so Luk enjoyed helping tear down the old building the 3rd week of August.



Outreach
The weekly personal Bible studies have continued throughout the summer but have not been as regular. We did try some new flyers and got this response: "I would also like to get to know your Bible a little." In June we designed a flyer that said: "Unbelievable? Lie? or Truth? - Bible - Are there things today you can still trust in? Believing is possible!" The rest of the information on the flyer challenges those who are willing to read the Bible that we will loan a Bible to them free of charge as long as they will read it. Flyers aren’t the most effective way of connecting with people in Ghent, but have been a tool that have put us in touch with seekers. A more effective way of connecting with people is through street conversations. We had some great help for that from Shane and Rachel, campaigners from Arkansas. They came for a week and distributed these flyers and went out together with Luk on the streets of Ghent and asked people about faith in their city. We learned a lot about the people and had meaningful conversations. Please keep the people in your prayers that we are meeting daily and pray that we are able to put salt and light into every sentence.



Family matters
Gideon and Isaak have been a blast to have at home during the summer. There have been many fun afternoons playing in the yard, at the local lake and coloring skyscrapers and rockets. Gideon loves Transformers and Isaak loves anything with water. We enjoyed having Opa and Oma drop by for a week this summer, as well as Kristina (Luk’s Sister) and daughter Aletheia for a two week visit. We had a blast catching up and going on summer adventures together. Our house renovations have been on hold as we wait for a building permit, but we will be allowed to strengthen our roof and build bedroom walls soon. Thank God for that.

Praise
Praise God with us. All of our support has been raised or promised for the coming two years. We thank God for you, your prayers, support, and for His mission to Belgium. For more information go to our website: www.belgianbreeze.blogspot.com