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\ ^
H e n k i
B o o n a e rt s F a m i ly
Vo lume XVII I, N u m b e r
1
c5 6 ^ /
B E L G I U M
F O R C H R I S T
F O RW R D IN G G E N T
M e l v i n
& L o u e l l a
R o l l e r
Route I, Box 92
Burnettsville,
Indiana
U.S.A. 47926
J a n u a r y
- J u n e
U N D E R
T H E S P I R I T S G U I D N C E
The
service began with one of
th e
elders
thanking
God
for
th e good vacat ion he'd just returned from
on
th e
Seacoas t o f Nor th
Belgium . Aft er
songs
and prayer he
gave
th e men
in
th e gathering the opportunity
to
read
a
Psalm or passage of Scripture (resulting
from
a practice to
pu t I Corinthians 14:26 in action: What shal l we say,
brothers? When you come together , everyone has a hymn,
or
a word
of instruct ion ,
a revelation, a
tongue, or an
interpretation. All of
these
must
be done for th e
strengthening
o f th e
church. ) One
o f th e
younger men
stood
up and read Romans 3:9-20 that talks about no
one
being
righteous
and the
whole world
being held
a c c o u n t a b l e
to G od .
Next an older teacher
in
t he c hu rc h r ea d Luke
18:1-4,
giving
some words of
explanation
as
he
went
along,
putting
special
emphasis
on verses 9-14. According to th e
Scriptures, these parables (the persistent widow
and
th e
Pharisee
and t ax collector who went to pray in
th e
temple)
were
told 1) so the
disciples
would
always
pray an d n ot
give
up; and 2) for those
who
were confident oftheir own
righteousness and looked
down
on
everybody
else.
Lastly,
th e elder in l eading read Romans 2:1-11 which
tied together
amazingly with
the two
previously
read
passages.
This talks about those
who pass
judgment
on
others actual ly condemning themselves because they do
th e yery
same
things
It
ends with th e words,
For God
does not
show
favoritism.
(All
passages
here
quoted from
or
referred
to
from
the
NIV
translation.)
I t
was
quite
noteworthy,
that
none of these men
had previously
conferred
with each other abou t reading th e
given
passages, nor ha d there been a
special committee
or plan
specifying the reading
of
these Scrip tures , such as a
printed
bulletin.
It ha d
simply been th e
leading
of the
Holy Spirit
in
these individuals' lives as they participated
and
strengthened
the
church
gathering
that
day
As
if
that
weren't
enough,
another
elder
of the
congregation, who's
had
no Bible college
training,
norhad
been i n
conference with the three who read the Scriptures,
stood
up with
tears
in
hi s
eyes,
praising
God that
His Spirit
had helped him in preparing a message for the morning.
He was grateful for the strength
and
health needed, as he'd
been quite
sick and lost weight in a struggle to
find
out
th e
cause
of ill
health.
Then
he proceeded
to
bring
a
long,
moving and informative message on
that
Holy
Spirit
from
John 14:15-31
of
Christ 's promise
of
the
Spiri t 's coming so
his disciples would not beleft as orphans when he returned
to Hi s Father. Brother Ever t made
i t
clear that in order to
understand the part of the Holy Spiri t in the lives of
Christians we must ge t to KNOW
HIM
and before we can
do that, one must study the Scriptures
and
become familiar
with
what is taught about
the
Holy
Spirit.
He a lso made comments
that were
worth remembering
when differentiating
between
those
who
cla im the
Holy
Spirit as only a power and those who see him to be a
personality of the godhead. Those who see him as the
first think it's a power to be commanded
and
gotten more of
(sort of like more electrical power to hook up more
appliances to,maybe? ) which leads to arrogance and self-
satisfaction al l too often. The Scriptures make
it
clear that
He's a personali ty
that
is cal led alongside of us to help,
guide
and
befriend. Then the
samefruitthatwasmanifest
in Christ's li fe will be
evident
in
His
followers a s c an be
r ea d i n G a l a t i a n s 5:22-23.
While sitt ing there praising and worshiping and being
edified, one was made to consider how, in
such
a small
group
without
a
paid
preacher or college trained leaders,
with no active organized youth gatherings or Sunday
;
Henki
and hi s
mother
(left side
of
table)
helping set
up
fo r
the fellowship
meal
in
the
Genk
church
with several folks
of
the
Rekem
congregation helping.
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schools, God was certainly
at
work
among
these
Christians. His
Spirit
was
guiding
and
strengthening and
teaching
these
saints. Then
one's mind
flashed
back
to the
wonderful
blessings
that
ha d
been shared on
Pentecost
Sunday also.
Again n o
committees
had
planned
al l
the
activities of the day an d ye t there had been
such
wonderful
fellowship that
everyone
had
words
ofpraise
on their lips.
Brother
Cor van
Ewijk, f rom th e U tr ec ht , Holl an d
church,
had
been invited
to
share with the Genk
congregation. Then Genk folks go t wind of the possibility
of h is coming
with several
of that small congregation to
spend
the day
with h im. S imple word
was
passed
around
among
th e other three congregations in th e area
of
Limburg to bring BBQ grills and trimmings to have a
fellowship
meal with the honor ed gue st s
from
the
neighboring
country. The
Spirit 's blessings
were also on
the wea ther and
a
wonderful
meal was enjoyed
outside
a ft er t he r emembr an c e
of
t h e Lo rd 's death
and
tha t
first
coming
of the
Spirit in
Jerusalem. After
a
more-than-
bountiful meal
for
guests
and
local
Christians
alike,
a
circle
was
formed and favorite
songs
were
sung
until
throats were
almost
hoarse.
Then
the meeting was
brought
to an
end with
a prayer circleso the travelers could
be on t he ir way home.
Indeed
God's Spirit is
at
work.. . has
been
working
years
to bring all this
about,
for
the guests
were brethren of
the
non-instrumental persuasion and barriers ofdifferences
have h ad
to
be broken
down.
Yes,
God is no God ol
favoritism or partiality
and
wonderful a re t he
fellowship
and
blessings
when
we
can
unite
as
one, remembering we
ar e
brothers an d s is te rs in Chr is t, whether
old or
young,
educated or not,
from
one group or
another,
s lave or free,
Jew or
Greek.
God has
no t
l ef t u s a s o rp ha ns b ut
left
us
with friends and th e
paraclete
FRIEND
Pentecost
Sunday.
Song
circle
after t he mea l
with brother
Cor van Ewijk
(far
right) and fo lks from th e Utrecht congregation far lef t, top
of
picture).
THE MSSOMS
F MILY
While
the church in
th e
Maas r iver valley a re a was still
young,
during the beginning
years of
ou r
work
there, we
met
the Amssoms
family.
They
were
recent conver ts
of
fellow missionaries
in
Antwerp from
th e
Jehovah's
Witnesses ' sect . Serv ices
were
held i n t he ir
home
and the
small
group grew
through
the years. They hoped to raise
support from
among
th e Belgian and Holland Dutch-
speaking Christians so they could be involved full time in
evangelizing
and
church work. Unfortunately,
the
congregations were
still
too young in th e
faith an d
too
smal l
to s tand
beh ind Ams soms
a t t ha t t ime.
Richard took
an
insurance agency job and la ter they moved
to
Tienen,
near
Leuven
in th e province of Brabant .
The Amssoms
continued to have serv ices in
their home,
if
no t
just for their own family members who were
Chris tians , then also for visiting folks
from
th e Antwerp
group.
As t ime passed
the
Antwerp group grew
and
a
Canadian missionary family of the non- ins trumental
churches
moved
to
work
full t ime with the hris t ians in
Antwerp. Contacts
and
friendship continued between us
an d th e Amssoms family,
but
has
grown
even
more s ince
their oldest daughter, Sonia, and John Mark
began
dating.
We
have
been
mutual
encouragement, especially s ince our
move to
Opglabbeek,
as
they attended gather ings in ou r
home quite
often.
Richard,
Sonia's
father,
has
recently been having quite a
bit
of
heart
trouble
that
has
not only k ep t h im from his
work
and been costly,
but has caused much concern for the
family.
It was just
during
this
time
of so
many
trials
and
hardships that Richard
and
Gilda, his wife, had once
again been seriously
considering
the possibili ty of going
into ful l t ime
hris t ian
service .
When Richard was a ga in allowed to d ri ve t he c ar, he
began visiting various
congregations
and
wrote about his
hopes and
plans
to evangel ize wherever he felt the need
and found open doors . He set a
financial
goal needed to
provide for his family,
and
presented his ideas
and
plans to
many
Christians. Many ar e
behind
him in this venture,
praying God s will may be done.
Missionary
friends on
furlough
have
also
presented
their
need
among
congregations in the States.
They
have jus t about
been
able to raise suff icient offers
of support
-- a great victory
and
change
over the
growth
and
a tt itude among th e
congregations
so few years ago
Richard
Amssoms
(left
foreground)
with his
father and
moth er be hin d hin\.
and tw o
d au gh te rs , S on ia and
Caroline, about t he time
we
first met t hem.
The
Amssoms, however,
ar e
no t
sailing
home worry-
free as
yet. They have just
received
news that the home
they rent
is to be sold, so they will
have
to move.
Richard
cont inues to
have
s ome t ro u bl es with
h is hear t .
We
especially hope you ll bein prayer for this Christian family
7/23/2019 Boonaerts Henki MaryEsther 1988 Belgium
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as they
tr y
to prepare
themselves
for more service in
th e
Kingdom
here
in Belgium. You can
encourage
them also
by writing
them
at
their present home as
both Richard
and his daughter,
Sonia,
can understand English well
enough
to
benefit and
translate
for
th e rest
of
the
family.
The ir a dd re ss
is:
Groot Overlaar
185, 3300 Tienen,
Belgium.
Of course,
if there are some who
would
be interested in
helping them out
in
any way financial ly, they
would
appreciate
all
th e
help the
Christian brothers are
willing to
share Most
of all, we
hope
you'll rejoice with
us
in th e
advance of th e
Kingdom
that
can
be
visible
through these
isolated
Christians
being wil ling
to be used
of the
Fa t h e r
GROW ING
ND
SHR INK ING
It 's a lways with
great
joy
that
we
can
report
immersions
in
th e
work here in Belgium. Some
result in long months
of
teaching, o thers in special c ircumstances of persons
coming to belief. As most of you already know from other
news,
we
had the privilege
of
housing
four
young men
several months
last
year.
We
always tr y
to
have ou r home
open in Christian hospitali ty , never knowing when we
may
be
caring
for
angels
unawares and hoping
every
one
may
be a better
Christian
for
having stayed with
us,
if
not
be led to
Christ initially.
When Rober t, t he f ir st of t he thr ee Ghanian refugees,
f irs t came,
he was
obviously
a
very
religious young man
with
a deep
faith.
He
said he'd
been
brought
up in a
Pentecostal family
an d
he seemed to live a life of a person
committed
to following Christ. In
our teaching
of
the
other
young men who we were convinced needed to be led to
accept Christ,
and
with the
readings and
discussions that
occurred in our
home during devotions
and
other
spiritual
gatherings, Robert came to be convinced he was actually
not
a Christian yet. At a young
age his mother
had told
him it was time for him to be immersed, so it hadn't
actually been
his
own decision or conviction.
It
was cause of great excitement and rejoicing when
Robert told us this
and
that
he dec ided
he wanted
to be
immersed for the forgiveness of
his
sins. Wegathered with
the Chr is t ians in
Genk
and elder Joachiem who had only
immer sed one
other
person
before
was
bursting with
almost
as
much satisfaction
as
Rober t. H e
and
the o ther
two
Ghanian
refugees, Andrews
and
Kakari, were picked
up by
Christians
of
another congregation
in Neeroeteren
that
has
Pentecostal
leanings but
seems to be
inter
or non-
denomina t iona l
A young lady was immersed not long after
that
in the
Genk church whose
father-in-law
had
done
a lo t of
active
leadership
in the
church after Henki's father
died, until he
died
about
two
years
ago. Her husband
had
been
immersed
years
before they were married,
but
they had
never really
been very
committed
in
spiritual
matters.
They lost a three-month-old
infant
to crib
death and
Freddy began
attending gatherings again
regularly . It
wasn't
long before
Carine
made
her
decis ion to follow
Christ. They
have
become very active in
the
servicesof
the
Genk congregation, opening their home for Bible studies,
on a rotating bas is with several
other
families.
Growth
ca n
also be seen in Genk in o ther ways. F reddy
has
been helping lead th e church gatherings, read Scr ip
ture
passages (as explained in
part
in the article
Under
th e
Spirit's
Guidance ) and participates in public prayer.
John Mark, his cousin Daniel.(immersed last year soon af
te r John Mark), and the ir Uncle Ben (youngest
Boonaerts'
son)
have
also all been active in
similar
activities
and
helping serve th e Lord's
Supper and
lead in other ways.
Two of
th e
elders, Joachiem and
Evert,
lead more and
more
in a capable
and
Scriptural way in the absence of any
paid clergy.
Elder
Joachiem ready
to
immerse
our
friend from
Ghana,
making him ou r
brother
in th e Lord -- meet Robert
It
would seem th e opposite has been the
c as e wit h t he
group in Opglabbeek. As already mentioned, the
Amssoms are
becoming more
and
more involved in their
own
fu ll t ime
ministry and
don't
gather
with
us very
often. Th e Ghanian refugees
seem
to have
found
their
church home with th e
Neeroeteren
group. Th e others
who
had
been gathering with us seem to be hindered by
ci rcumstances of life or
lukewarmness and
misleading, so
that
in about
three
months '
time,
only
once
has
anyone
shown up for the
Sunday
evening gatherings in our home.
We
find
ourse lves more
and
more involved in encouraging
the
other congregations and
th e inter-involvement
among
them that is also necessary
for
the uni ty o fChristians here
in Belgium. We hopeyou'llpray for
the individual
brothers
and
sisters
that they will no t completely
abandon the ir
first love,
but bear
fruits for the
Master and
be
drawn
to
His
loving way. though it may not be directly through our
ef fo r t s
Just
a short word is possibly appropriate at this
time
about
Marco f rom Columbia who was t he fi rst to
come to
our home last year.
Shortly before
Christmas
he lef t
our
home
on
the pretense
to
visit
a childhood
classmate
of his
mother's
living in Homberg ,
Germany, but
he
never
returned
home after that.
Cor re spondence wit h
missionaries
of
Columbia revealed
tha t
he moved
to
Germany
and
he had written Mark Stringer
about
wanting to be immersed when he gets back to Columbia.
There
are many unanswered
questions
and much
confusion in
ourminds abou tMarco, but we commithim to
the
Lord
and
hope
what
he
may have learned
or
experienced in our home may one day be used tobringhim
to a personal relationship with Christ. Do pray for him
please It wasn't long after Marco's leaving, in fact, that
the
three refugees a lso were provided
with their
own
apartment
by the Belgian government, so by Christmas
we were back
down
to
our l it tl e
foursome of a family.
Things surely seemed awfully quiet, but we're sure it was
all God-guided
and
we're
thankful
for all we experienced
and were
a ble t o sha r e
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SPEC IAL
NOT ICES
There are so many things you asan individualChristian
or part
of
a
congregation, or group
therein can be
of help
to
your missionaries throughout
th e
world. Someof
these
are
directly,
some more indirectly. We d
like to
encourage
you
to
remember three agencies in th e States
that
are
a
great
help
to
us
and
many missionaries, but a re themselves
in
need
from our supporters and co-operationofChristians
in
the States
as
well
as
th e
missionaries
they
serve. Possibly
you are already aware of
these
and support
them.
We want
you to be
reminded of their existence
an d
helpfulness
and
be encouraged
not only to keep
them
in your prayers, bu t
also
to
supportthem
so
they
can
continue their invaluable
help
to us
missionaries.
1 THE CAPSTAN REVIEW a t R.R. 2,
Box
LH 32,
Checotah,
Oklahoma, 74426 plans
again
to
begin
publishing,
so it is in need of supporters to
subscribe
to their
news
magazines
and
help with costs.
2)I^GW00D
MINISTRIES that publishes the
ENCOURAGER
and
provides
other
encouragement
BELGIUM FOR CHRIST is written by Mary
Esther
Boonaerts, edited
Association, Knoxville, Tennessee. It is distributed to
inform
and
encouri^.
Boonaerts
family.
All funds madepayable to
Medaryville
Christian Ch
funds
to
their forwarding agents .
to
missionaries,
c/o East Marietta Christian
Church,
331 Hold Road,
Marietta,
Georgia, 30068
is also
in
need
of funds and other support/
encouragement in its special missionary-
ministry.
3 MISSION SERVICES who publishes
HORIZONS
among o th er th in gs ,
P.O.
Box 2427,
Knoxville,
Tennessee 37901-2427, as you probably already
know, a lso p rovi des many services both
for th e
missionar ies
and churches Con t ac t t h em fo r more
information
and
subscribe
to
their magazine
if
you
don t already.
POSTER AVA ILABLE
The
Rollers have a
large
poster with color prints
helping
to depict the work of the Boonaerts in Belgium. There s a
small brochure to accompany as take-home and
prayer-
request supplement. We hope you ll contact the Rollers
and make use of this material to help up-date yourselves on
the
work here
and help better
visualize
what s
been
going
on lately
an d
mailed
by
the Melvin Rollers, and
printed
by
Mission
Services
.ge support
of the
work being
done
in Belgium for Christ by the
Henki
urch,
designated
to
Boonaerts
work, are tax deductible. Please send
Please notify Forwarding Agent if... Uthis address is i nc or re ct . this mailing is not de.sired.
Medaryville
Chr i s ti an Church
Box 140, South Jefferson St ree t
Medaryville, Indiana
U.S.A.
47957
Non-Prof i t Organizat ion
U.S.
Pos t age
PA ID
Medaryvi l le, IN
P ERM I T
4
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P lease complete
this form
wittiin
tw o weeks after
th e event
re port e d a nd
to
H O R I Z O N S
Editorial
Office, P O
B o x
2427, K n ox v il l e, T N
3 7 9 0 1 .
P l e a s e
type
or
legibly.
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items
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I N T E R N A T I O N A L - M U L T I L I N G U ^ .
Subject:
Date: F e b ,
2 3 ;
1 9 8 8
A L
S E R V I C E S
T h e last year
h a s
brought several additions
to
the
T h e G e n k c hu rc h , H e n k i s
hom e
c h u r c h ;
t h e Rekem a n d
M a a s m e c h e l e n c o n g r e -
g a t i o n s r e s u l t s o f t h e n e w - c h u r c h p l a n t i n g o f B o o n a e r t s i n
t h e
M a a s - r i v
v a l l e y a r e a o f t h e
e a r l y
I Q T Q g ) r- orig-r
7/23/2019 Boonaerts Henki MaryEsther 1988 Belgium
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s tr en gt h en in g o f th e s m a l l group o f
C h r i s t i a n s
a nd e nc ou ra ge m en t
from
o t h e r b r o th e r s a n d
s i s t e r s a s t h e L o r d
b l e s s e s
t h e f u r t h e r a d v a n c e o f
H is k i n g d o m i n E u r o p e .
S i s t e r s o f s e v e r a l o f
t h e
c h u r c h e s i n
t h e
P r o v i n c e o f Limburg u s u a l l y
gather fo r
a
l a d i e s
prayer
meeting
in
the
home
of
a
Russian
s i s t e r
every
o t h e r Tuesday. Since s h e s
been
s i c k and in
th e
home o f h er daughter
in
a southern
p ro vi nc e d ur in g the winter months,
some
of these l a d i e s
gathered
in Boonaerts
home
fo r
f el lo w sh ip , s in gi ng an d learning
new
songs, an d prayertime.
In
years gone by th e lad ies group of
the
Genk church was
large
an d flourishing,
but
now even whe lad ies
o f the
_coinb inpd c hur c he s
i s
pityfuTTy sma l 1 see
p i c t u r e .
We a sk t h a t p r a y e r s
I
w ill especially
be remembered that
realization
of the importance of
such
gatherings may be stimulated among the Belgian Christian women and
those who
gather
w ill not become weary
while
p e iti t io n in g God s
h e l p a n d f a i / o r . i
hiit
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injJJLU;
^g^giujw
Wes
Waat Opoe^cAcn 6
3660 OpgXabbeefe, Be^g
JULY 1988
l^EWS JSEPO
GRADUATION
WITH BANQUETS,
openhouse and
special recognit ion
seems
to
be in
the news quite a lot lately. At least the
church
papers we ve been receiving mention
gradeschool, highschool and college graduates. It isn't blown up here in Belgium
quite as much, but we've got a graduate this year also,
so
thought to share this
month's news about some of the customs in connection with the last year of high school
in Belgium and the
receiving
of diplomas.
John Mark had
planned on taking an extra year offered by his school to ,
better
prepare
their students for
techonology. Since
there is a big possibality
he
be helping Henki in the kitchen cabinet buisness he'll probably go into self-employment
He
just
recently
was
informed this
last
year
would
not be useful in his
situtation
so he
suddenly
finds
himself a t the
end of
h is s tudi es
Exams are in full swing here at our
home
(at the time of writing, June 21st).
Yes,
in
Belgium
students study
until
the
end of
JUNE
so
only
have
two summer
V
,j months of vacation from school, James' exam time isn ' t quite as rough,
0
nd
they only
refer
to these as
tests
possibly because
of
the
undue
pressure on
students
when i t is exam time James has had to study
0 and they only refer to these as
tests
possibly because of the
unduf
pressure on
students
when i t is exam time James has had to study
some extra , but not CRAM as is usually experienced a t
the
end of a
schoo l
yea r .
John Mark (and his girl
friend,
Sonia) on the other hand
are
ex
periencing quite a different s i tutat ion. I t was
something
completly
new
to th is household, so we' l l
try
to
paint
the
picture and
explain
what ' s been going
on
here the
l a s t few weeks.
Every
day John
Mark has
but
one
exam
for
which to
prepare .
He
had begun
the week
before,
studying almost
an
ent ire day for th e exam
to
be
held
the
next week
on
tha t same day. Then beginning on
the
weekend
before th e
exam
he 'd
review what
h e'd s tu die d,
to be sure he wa s ready fo r the exam.
On
the day of
the
exam i t s e l f , you
should
have
seen the c re atu re t ha t em
erged
from th e
bathroom,
ready to go to school for the exam I t
wasn't
the
usual
John Mark we were
accustomed
to
on
a
normal
school day; he.
vas
dressed
in
his
Sunday
best .
The
reason for
th is
being
th e
outward
ap
pearance, att i tude and
posture
were to be graded along with
th e
knowledge
and
right
nswers
ch
d y
the
student
would
ppe r
LON
before
i s t e a che r
fo r
an o r a l examina t ion o f th e
ma t e r i a l
to be cove r ed .
V
Therefore, each
student had also
been assigned
a
different
time
^ for
his
testing. For the most
part
John Mark's exams were in the
morning
hours,
so
he'd
be
home
again by noon to dive into s tudies
f o r
th e
n e x t
exam
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wa
When
he
was
explaining the
st^heduel
planned for the two weeks he
added
that some
of
his
classmates
,were joking that
they'd
finally see
Boonaerts
in
a sui t and (most of the
students are
boys and they
names or
nicknames thereof) . John
Mark
ief t for school; and calm,
collected
and
Underneath t he re
was
nervousness bu t
prayers
at
devotion time
alio
always included petitions to
God
to
help
him,
Sonia
and
others
who
were
undergoing
their
exams
at
this
time.
God
has been gracious
also, for
John
Mark
came
home
with
news that after
the
deliberation of the
teachers
and resiilts of the
exams
he has passed and will
be a graduate this year.
But
examit^tions aren t completed as yet. John Mark
has
one
more ordeal to undergo in
keeping
with the Belgian custom. On
Wed
nesday he is to meet before a jury of complete strangers
who
will also
question
him
on all the material he
Ijias
learned during the six years of
carpentry,
including
his
term paper that he
will
also
present
to. them This
is
also graded on outward appearance]
posture
and at t i tude along
with content
knowledge.
ca l l
eachother
by the i r last:
did
indeed look
sharp as
he
conf ident o f h is examining.
a
tough t ime,
and
very
s t ress fu l
for the
xamination time
in
Belgium i s qui te
students. If they don t pass these |exams-(as is the-case with a
few
of John
Mark s classmates) they have the oppfortunity to take
repeat
xams
in the
summer in
an attempt
to get bet te r grades. I f
they
don t pass th ese they wil l
have to redo
the
l a s t year , or try to find work w ith ou t th e advantage of a
diploma.-
Sonia is
already into her University level
studies, and
though she's only a t
the end of her
first
year
is
also having tough exams so has been
doing
a lot
of cramming* Some of her exams last e|d four to five hours covering 300
pages
of
materials,
whereas most of John ^^rk's only lasted 15-30 minutes and didn't
cover
as much
materia l .
Of
course
titiere is also some difference between th e
technical studies as well as the levjejl
of education Sonia
is now
persuing.
Since John Mark ha s come to the
end of
his secondary studies he is very seriously con
s ider ing the
poss ibal i ty
of t ry ing to
go
to the States fo r some Bible
College
t raining.
He
has,
as he
put
i t , been knocking
on
doors to see which God wil l open
for him.
Since,
as
mentioned ear l ie r ,
his
studies have sort of
suddenly
ended, he
is
quite con
cerned
what
the leading of the
Lord
will i)B for him.
He
has the options of
beginning
work
fu l l time
or
going into Bible College
and see
i f
God
will
lead him
into
some
sort of full-time Christian service and he is
facing
a year of military service for
the
Belgian government being
a
Belgian
cit|Lzen-(which-can
probably be
postponed for
fur ther s tudies) .
We
have
put
aside some
funds
for
our
boys
higher educat ion,
but
doesn t amount
to much
in
comparison to the expenses of College
now
days.
Working
possibalities
in
Belgium are
almost
NIL for
young
students and unemployment so high that John
Mark
hasn t been able to
save
up
towards
Colle^b. certainly hope each
one
who
reads
i a
special
effort
to bring
him
and his
door-knocking
to
the
wiu\e forth
y infoe|fof Ms ecisLnrw^
funls
help
sponsor
Pray about
i t
and le t
him in this venture or
send
a special
us
hear
from you
GRABUAYlON IS exciting
time, butj
can also^be rather fearsomewe're glad
your
are
in this with u4 along with all our
efforts
for His
KI.W- h,
i. ^
Belgium.
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s
elgium fo r
Chr i
Weg Naar Opoeteren 6
3660 Opglabbeek Belgi
AUGUST 1 9 8 8
-
News Repo r t
GOD HAS TAUGHT MUCH IN
HIS
WORD
ABOUT GIVING. J u s t abou t every pos s ib l e
a sp ec t
o f t h i s p a r t o f our life has been spe l l e d ou t by command,
example ,
i n f e rence o r
encouragement . The
WHO
i s to
g ive ,
WH T i s to be g iven ,
th e
WHEN
should it
be given , WHERE a re g i f t s to be given ,
th e
WHY
o f giv ing and even
th e
TO
WHOM
something
is
to
be given
been
p r e t t y
c l e a r l y
exp l a i ned
by ou r l ov ing Heavenly
Fa th e r .
SUCH THINGS AS
e ach man
should
give
what
he has
dec ided
in h is
hea r t
to g ive , no t
r e l uc t an t l y
o r under compulsion, fo r God loves a chee r fu l
giver I I Cor. 9:7 ) ; i f it i s
con t r ibu t ing
to th e
needs o f
o thers ,
let
him
g iv e g en ero us ly
(Romans
12;8b) ;
Honor
th e
Lord
with
your
weal th ,
with
th e f i r s t f r u i t s o f ll your crops (Proverbs
3 :9 ) ;
When you
give
to
th e
needy,
do
not
l e t
your
l e f t hand know
what
your r i gh t
hand
i s
doing ,
so t ha t your giving
may
be
in
secre t .
(Matthew
6:3) are probably
fami l iar
to
us
a l l and
pract iced
by
mo s t
of
u s s
well
AS
MISSIONARIES,
H VINg^ TO
RAISE
SUPPORT and be
dependant
most ly
on
f r e e -w i l l g i f t s
o f c a r ing Chr i s t i a n b r e t h e rn , we a re
of t en
humbled and encouraged by th e v ario us ac ts o f giving involved
in t h i s
in te rchange .
We know t h e r e
a re
those who give from
t h e i r abundance and othe rs who
give
s a c r i f i c i a l l y . There a re
those who are j u s t
beginning
to l ea rn and prac t ice God s
p r i n c i p l e s
and o the r s who have lo ng fo llowe d hab i t s l ea rned in
chi ldhood. We too
are involved in l earn ing and
teaching
these
Godly
p r i n c i p l e s in ou r
con t ac t s with
those
around us as we l l
a s in
o u r own lives
RECENTLY WE
HAD
A VIS IT FROM SOME FOLKS Who h a v e b e e n i n v o l v e d with an d
concerned
abou t
th e work we ve been
t ry ing
to do here
in
Belgium s ince
th e ea r ly year s . At
f i r s t
they s tood
behind us
with
t h e i r
praye rs and
concern .
When t hey came and saw our
need ,
th ey r etu rn ed to th e
S t a t e s
to encourage
o the r s to
suppo r t us
f i n anc i a l l y
and
con t inue
to
do t h i s ,
adding t h e i r own
help as
they
are
ab le . They
are
o f course only ONE
example
o f many who no t only
suppo r t
bu t s t and
behind
th e hundreds
o f o the r s who
have
l e f t
fami ly ,
home
and
f r i ends
to spread
th e
gospe l . We want
to
use
t h e i r
example
to encourage
them
to con t inue t h i s g r e a t work,
encourage our readers and
other
supporters v
to fo l low t h e i r example, and g ive honor
whe r e hono r is
due
to
them
and ALL who
a r e
t ry ing to
pu t God s
p r i nc ip l e s o f giv ing
to
p r a c t i c e
in their
l i v e s .
VERY
SIMPLY THEY LET US KNOW o f t h e i r hopes
and
p l an s to
t r y and
come v i s i t
us when
i n
Europe visi t ing their son and his
family
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who are
stationed in the
milita ry in Germany. They came, laden with
bags of
g roce ri es , p izza -s ized
chocolate-chip
cookies
one for each of
us )I
cases
of
rootbeer, and their talkative, encouraging
selves
after having
driven
all
day to be in our home with us. They emptied
their
pockets and
wallets
of Belgian currency they
had
lef t
from
t reat
ing us to a meal out and buying a
badly
needed toilet-seat. They
said
They couldn't use i t anyhow They pleaded to be able to help us
even more
during
the
farwell prayer-circle we
formed
just before they
headed back
to
Germany. They
sat
through a long church
service
they
could hardly
understand
and
joked
good
naturedly
about
our cold, rainy
summer
wea t h e r
THEY'VE WRITTEN THANKING US FOR A GOOD TIME TOGETHER and
plans
to
have
their church supply funds for shoes for each
of
us and help in
getting
them provided
since
they saw this need also. Tears had been shed by
us a l l when we
parted, real iz ing
we*d
probably never be
able
to
host
them in our European home again, and their words
of
love and encouragement
st i l l ring in our ears and tug at our
hearts
1
There's
hardly anything
like knowing there are folks who stand behind you,
praying
God
bless,
ou in a ll your work whatever
i t
might be and where ever
i t
might
be.
H T
GRE T EN OUR GEMENT
ND SSUR N E i t
is
to share with and be
part
f
such a wondetfu'l family
of
God. With
the apo stle
Paul we
can
exclaim;
And
they
did not
do
as we expected, but
they gave
themselves f i r s t to
he Lord and then
to
us in keeping with God*s will.
(ix
Cor. 8:5)
nd, you know the words in Hebrews
6:10
come alive to
us
and
are
OUR
o f ble ssing and
encouragement
that
we
give to the Notz
families
.
a ll the
other
wonderful
Christian
brethern that continually stand
us
God is not unjust:
he
will
not
forget your
work
and the love
you
have shown him as
you
have helped
his people
and
continue to help them.
Z-zoek
geen grate woorden
ab
een
flag gebaariBbtaat
TH E C ALE ND AR
PICTURE
and say ing
t h a t
appeared
one month t h i s
yea r
j u s t
seem
to
fit
t h i s
t o p i c
pe r f e c t l y . Trans l a t ed it
s a y s : SEARCH
FOR
NO BIG
WORDS
IF
A SMALL GESTURE
WILL.SUFFICE
This
seems to
say
wel l
what
th e
Sc r i p t u re s . t e ach
a l so . WE THANK YOU, each
and every giver , for
b ig
and
smal l
words and
b ig
and
sma l l g e s t u r e s th t en
courage and suppo r t us
YOU
MAY NEVER
REALIZE j u s t
how
much
they REALLY
MEAN
to us '