boonaerts henki maryesther 1986 belgium

7/24/2019 Boonaerts Henki MaryEsther 1986 Belgium

1/10

MISSIONAKIKS

Hcnki & Miiry Kfiiher

liuonaerts

Weg Naar

OpuctiTen

No.

fi

OpKlablx ck, Bi-lgium

Volume XVI ,

Number 1

Please notify

Forwarding Agent

if .

thin

addrvHs

is inrorn-ct .

this

maiUn ti i s

mi l

desirvd.

BE L G I U M

F O R

C H R I S T

J an . Dec .

F U R L O U G H NO .

4 . . .

FAST B E C O M IN G H IS TO R Y

Six

years

ago

our

family

was

in

th e

U.S. to

visi t support ing

churches,

Christian

friends, family,

and

do

the

things

missionaries

do on

furlough tours. That was such

a

long

time ago, and then

it

came time

to

plan

for

ournext

trip

to

th e U.S.

Many

prayers, months

of planning and preparation and lots ol anticipation

went into

making

sure

we did our part to have a

successful furlough once again. Several unforeseen problemsand various circumstances

led us to decide on

ju^t

Mary

Esther

an d John Mark making the fourth furlough

trip to th e U.S.

(Our other furloughs had been in

1971

with just John Mark

and

Mary Esther fo r 4 months ; then

in

1973-74

for

9

months

during

which

time James was born; and in 1980

for

4 months as a

family. There

was a

great

need

for us

to

get back

to

report

to th e

congregations, and especially

thank th e

Christians for

their

support .)

This furlough is fast

becoming history.

John Mark and Mary Esther,

accompanied by

a young Chris t ian ,

Sonia,

I'rom

Tienen,

Belgium,

arrived

in

the

U.S. on

June 28lh. Sonia s family has

bei n

long

lime friends ol ours as

we

lirslmet soon after

her parents ,

Richard

and

Gilda Amssoms, were converted

as Jehovah s

Witnesses. (They may

be

remembered

by

readers

as

folks

trying to

raise

support among

Dutch-speaking Christians

to go

into

full-time

Christiim service.

The

Maasmechelen

congregation was

going

to

help

t owards t ha t, but they didn t

receive

enough support so

Richard

has

gone into insurance.

They held services in

their

homeboth in Antwerp

and

Tienen,

and

completely stood

behind

allowing Sonia to

accompany

us on

this trip, paying

her

fare )

Sonia

learned English

in

school

so is a

good traveling

companion

for us.

Sh e

and John

Mark

discovered each other at ihe Chris t ian camp

in

th e Ardennas . Th is gives her a

wonderlul opportunity

to

meet

U.S. Christians

an d

is

quite an adventure

I'or

her , being her

f ir st l ime

so

long

or fa r from he r home and lamily

in

Belgium.

Already,

we ve been to over 14 churches and had th e opportunity to present th e slide

report

oi our work 21 t imes. More than

4,000

miles

have been pu t on t he

77

Plymouth

station

wagon

we

picked

up

in

Williamstown,

New York, that

Mi

ssimers

let

us

use from their

furlough

trip last year. We anticipate being with about 20

more

congregations or

groups,

then John Mark an d

Sonia return

from St.

Louis

on

Sept.

19 so

they won t miss

too

much school.

Mary

Esther

will

remain

in

ihe Slates through

OctolDer

visitmg

more ctingreglHions,

get ting out

as

far west

as

Phoenix, Arizona,

and as

fa r north

as

Saulte

Ste.

Marie,

Michigan, the Lord wi ll ing.

Things a re

going surprisingly

well in

confirming speaking opportunities an d

w

ilh

al l

the t iavei involved

in

such

a

venture,

as well as

with our health considering

all

the heal

and

stress

ol

ihe

trip Yet,

with

all

th e

prayers-whal could we expect, as

someone reminded

us. We

hope

you

will

please continue

to

keep

us in

your prayers during this lime

oi

separation from each

other,

and

during th e many

miles and

pi esentations .still anlicipaied. We

also covet praj

ers lor

John

Mark

and

Soma s sale

t rip back

to

Belgium,

and tlu-

lasl month Maiy

Esther will be

traveling alone.

Because

of

th e extra time and

exj^enses

involved

dui

in g this

>ea r

with

furlough an d

all,

we will

oiilj

be

publishing this one


2/10

Please check appropriate boxes below an d detach, returning this

slip

to

Melvin and Louella

Rol le r, Rt. 1

Box

92,

Burnettsville, Indiana,

47926. Thanks fo r your

assistance

i n h elp in g u s be

more efficient.

--

The

address on th e other side is incorrect and should read as follows:

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on

th e other

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to

th e

following

address:

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address

on th e o th er

side.

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distribution as follows:

(amount)

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mailing list:

cop i e s

Please

have

Boonaerts correspond about

a

visit/report

to

the

following address/area during their trip

in

th e

U.S.

cu t h e r e

U P D A T E

O N

T H E UP DATE

Since the response

wasn't

too fruitful

to

ou r request for help

in updat ing

th e

mailing

list for the newsletters, we've

decided

to

t ry once

again.

Those who

returned

s lips the

last

time

do

not

need

to

respond

again.

Otherwise, please

re turn this slip with

any address

corrections of th e

address

on

th e

reverse side,

to th e

address of

th e

forwarding

agent,

IF YOU WANT TO R-E -M-A- I-N ON THE MAILING LIST

for

th e

Belgium for

Chris t b i -annual

newsletters.

Your name will be

removed if

this

slip

is

no t returned Work

is a t a premium and costs are to o

high

to continue as in

th e

past. Thank

you

for your understanding and

co-operation

to learn

more Scriptural t ru ths and was

very

open

to

th e gospel,

so

was immersed just weeks

after we met

her.

Her

12 year

old

daughter also has

been

open, attending

the communion services with Mieke.

Sheal so

attended

a youth

weekend

organized

by

th e Dutch speak ing churches o f

Belgium

an d

Holland.

Sunday

evenings we break bread in

our h ome

and Mieke comes, along

with some

fulka ol

both th e Genk and

Rekem

congregations

(especially

if

they

are unable

to

attend morning

services),

and

Lex

an d

Rika, who

live

closer

to us

than

going all

the way

to Rekem.

Henki reports

by

mail

that

things are going

real well

with

Mieke.

She

is a good witness

and always says

that

since

she's

been immersed things

have

completely cluuiged with her. -She is

encouraging her

son Frans to follow

Jesus,

also. Frans an d hi s fiance, Sonja, have attended services several limes,

and

we've had the opportunity

to

witness

to

them and

encourage

them in

l iv ing the k ind of

life

Jesus

would like. Recently

they discussed

many

things concerning marriage,

and

they plan to

get

legal information s oo n so they

can get

married.


3/10

JKdilk

Henki

has

also

written that hehas

spoken

iBf. ^ inthe church in

GENK

since

our

departure.

M ark o B er n a b e a

c o n v e r t o f t h e

M aa sm ec he le n g ro up w ho

lives

in

Genk

F ai^Sll^HlH^BSSgSiHlir f

now led the service and did

real

well. has

yrnmm

long

been

active in preparing passages of

p Scripture to read in the gatherings

an d

i||BM||||H

when the

Unfortunately

some sa d news

from

Genk is

|mi|yjj[gggg^ that

Henki

had to hold a a

hH

of on of

the

elders.

Jos and his family

were r e tu r n in g

from

t he N ort h s ea

an d

h e d

h|k|^

stopped

to

tighten

things on the car when a

truck

struck

him killing him instantly.

There w e r e

a round 30 0

a t the f u ne r al o f th is

y o u n g man and Roger V e rs ta p pe n o f th e

E I S D E N

congregation

also ha d some

words

a t t he g ra ve

site. Pray

w ith u s

t ha t

t hi s tr ag ed y

will

help lead some

to re-

eva lua te

l ife a n d tu rn

their

Ch r is t before

i t to o

late a s

it

w as

fo r

Jos;

a nd th at h is w i f e

Marleen

and t h ei r s m a ll

family

will

tumto

G od

in

th is

t i m e o f s o r ro w .

E vangelism is continuing in the R E K E M

congregation as Henki h a s been

s h o w in g t h e

J u le Miller p la n

of salvation sli de s t o

a

Evelyn (Kottas) Vers tappen, Eddy Verstappen (her husband) , Jean Pierre v o u n g couple M a r k

and

M ie n

i n

Verstappen, James Boonaerts,

Wadek Kalarz

Maasmechelen. Raymond

Janssen

a

c o nv e rt o f

a

fe w year s

is o n

r e ti r em e n t n o w

a nd has

made known

that

he wants to begin evangelizing. Henki plans tobegin taking Raymond with him as he goescalling

to help train hi m in

this

new service in th e kingdom.

The Rekcm congregation also hosted some special

summer

activity

an d

lolks from the church in Koln, Germany, were also

present. There wa s

a

lour hour

canoe

trip down th e Maas

river followed by a

barbecue ai

Wadek s

farm an d

a

time of

fellowship an d singing. This,

as

well as two weeks at different camps, provided something special for

James

since he

ha d

to

miss coming to the States. The pictures are of the fellowship time at Wadek s after the canoe trip.

M E E T

T H E

O N V E R T S

Withour last newsletter webegan whatwehoped tobe a series ofconversion stories. The following is the story, translated

and edited, to be the secondol the series. It is about Henki s mother,MetaVan den Berg-Boonaerts. Fromher story

yctu

not

only learn of her conversion, but how God s word came to the province of Limburg, Belgium, back at the beginning oi the

century. The piclure with Meta in the middle was when her husband, Hendrick, and Maria Gering were still living.

Myparents werereally completely unbelievingwhen I was a child. If anyone asked themwhat theywere they didalways

sa y they were Protestants. When I heard my father sa y this, I could tell in his manner that hewas proud to be a Protestant.

Now I realize

that

it didn t really mean anything,

bu t

as a child I didn t realize that. Wecame toBelgium in 1926from Holland.

Lwas a gir l of aboat 7To I4iad

to go to first grade, attending a schoolrun bynuns.-Thatwas the age children usually dotheir

first communion, as theCatholiccustomiscalledinDutch. Ourparents didn t allowmetoparticipate in that, sothe problems

began. But as time passed, it was soon forgotten, and I didn t really stop to think about what was

involved

in religion

d i f f e r e n c e s .

At school we were required by the nuns an d teachers to attend Mass services. Myparents really didn t exert themselves to

find out if there was a Protestant church because they weren t interested. So, I attended the Catholic church. Wereceivedour

church book and

ha d

tohave it stamped each time wewent to Mass, soMonday morning at school wecould showwe d been

t o h u rc h


4/10

Those

who

were

present forthe first time got a

gospel

portion and the

verse

that

we

were tolearnfor the nextweek was

marked in the little book On my way home I

was already

learning the verse and studying I

was

so

excited

and

enjoyed

it so

much

When I

ffot home my

sister

accused me

ofnot

having been

tothe

mass

butI

replied

that I'd

been

tothe

Sunday school

She

knew less than

I

about that

enthusiasm caught asI

told

her

it

was

so

nice

there showing her

my gospel;

I

said they

told

Bible

stories

andallthe

children

sangsongs Thatevening myyounger brotherand thissister, justolder than I,sat onthe

bed

learning

that verse from

th e

little

book with me.

Thenext

Sunday

thethreeofus

walked

thelong

way

tothe

Sunday school My

parentsencouraged usto

go

partly

because

they realized they had not donetheir duty, but also glad they'd nothave us around all Sundaymorning The three ofuswere

the

youngest

of9children and Sunday wasthe

only

time towashthemen'sclothing for work againonMonday

Later

even if

we wanted to stay home because of rain or whatever, we had to go to Sunday school and beout of the way.

When I gotolder I

also began

togotothe

That as

regular

parents

force us

any

there

to

be

m y

e

was

a

th e

actually away a

from

e a

Catholic so

we

didn't

really

talk about those

kinds ofthings. The war broke outand the ^

we w , '

be heard during the first \

world

war, tha t

marr ied men wou ldn 't have

to

je

When

our

first child was about a year old 1

suddenly had such a desire to attend church. I V

Bythat timewehad a bicycle, sowithmyson a

ontheback1wentto the service

When

I got 1

home, my husband asked why on earth I'd J

gone

there. I suggested he come

along and

see for himself, and soon

we went

together.

. ,

He also liked it and we just kept on going ^ A

together. As time passed, the war was over \

and oneday our preacherand another from \ *

Tongeren

came to our home.

Before long

th ey b ega n talkin g abou t w hy we weren' t Hendrick lioonaerts, Mela Van den Berg-Boonaerts,

and

Maria Gering.

immersed yet.

One of t he men a sked Hendrick what t he most

important

verse i n t he Bible was , but at the t ime

we

didn't l ea rn much out

of

the

Bible . We

just

listened

to

what

the preacher said

to

us

and

it

was

natural

for

most of

those

present not

even

to

have

a

Bible

with them. We'd not been

taught

to search the Scriptures so didn't realize the importance. Wefigured the preacher probably

knew wha t

we

needed

to

know

Of

course

I' d

been

to Sunday

school an d

had learned many impor tant

verses,

but my husband knew so much

less. He

had

only come to believe when he was about 24 years of age. In my husband's place I answered; I think themost

important

verse

in

the

Bible is

John

3:16. We'd learned that continually at the Sunday school, also. We

didn't

really request it ourselves, but

through

t he r es t o f t he conve rs at ion it

was decided we'd be immersed in a lew

weeks.

Again, years passed and

there

were times things went

well,

bu t also times that

we

were

real

weak spiritually.

We

also had

several children, and it was difficult to takethem all to church.

Butifwedidoccasionally

long for churchwe'd pile th e children

on

bikes

and go. My husband and another

friend of

ours had

been made elders ofthe

church. Now I realize

that was

also no t

right since

Hendrick

was only

a

young

man and a new Christian.

This

continued

until

there

began

to be

several

problems in

th e church

tha t

ended

in

a

split.

Since the p reache r was

crippled and

getting older, he had asked

for

help from churches in the States . So i t was that

Don

Castelein

came

to

Genk,

and

that

was the

first

time

we

heard about the Church o f

Christ.

The older preacher wasn't

to be

trusted

for many reasons an d

th e

Casteleinswere planning on

returning

to

the States

since

their

consciences

bothered them so

much about

the

situation. Hendricktalked with him about it,

and

once

again

there was a split. Such things shouldn'tbeeither,

ye t

through

Castelein I learned al l

th e

things that I' d never been

taught

in

the church

where I 'd been immersed an d

attended

all

those

years.

At first

we

gathered

in

Castelein's home, then money was sent

from

American Christians

so we

could buy

a pieceof

ground


5/10

BELGIUM

m CHRIST

Nem -R^poAX

ApM 19S6

WHO

SHOULV

you mWESS to and when is the right time?

What

would you do if you

were

in the.hospital for an

appendectomy?

How

many

of us

would

witness

to a

room

mate that only lay with us

one day

while recoperating from an operation?

God

used

Marko

(+) to witness to Jean Paul (French spelling for

John)- who

was in the hospital

with

him just one day

Marko, as he s

always

doing, talked with Jean

Paul

and his

wife

about his

belief in God

and invited them

fo r

services

in

REf EM They began

coming

regularly,

and soon

we

found out Doltje was an

immersed believer,

having

been

immersed in her home

country .of

the Philippians.

Jean

Paul was also open to

the gospel, but they were very busy moving from Maasmechelen to Lanaken,

setting

up

their new paint, wall paper and do-it-yourself

store,

and having some

crises

with

his

dad s

health.among

other things.

Then

finally

th e

good news

that

so many had

been

waiting

for

came:

Jean Paul wanted to be immersed and be obedient to

Christ

in

a way

he d

not been as yet. And so,

Christians

planned for the immersion service

to be held April 2 in the Genk buil ding where there is a baptistry. Great

rejoicing

and witness to the

fac t

that indeed the Spir it IS

moving.

AS

MEWTIOWEP SOME

TIME

BACK,Henki

had been

able

to join

his brother

Herman in

witnessing to a friend

of

his

from school-years that he d

not

seen in a long

time.

Rene had

lots

of

problems, and

Herman

and

Alice

tried

to help him and

witness

as best

they could of the love of Christ, joining words with deeds. Rene was

also

in the

hospital for

some

treatment and

various

Christians

witnessed

to him

while they visited

^i-m as well. Easter Sunday, Dennis

announced

in the

G Wf

service that he had last

heard

from Reng

that

he

was seriously

conside ring being immersed.

He

had

been

xpected in th at se rv ic e

but

for

some reason he wasn t

present. We look

fowafd to

t h i s young man also

to soon

become our

brother

in Chris t, as we can definately see

the

SPIRIT i s

moving i n

his l i f e - a s

well . .

A

FEW

WEEKS AGP HENKJ S MOTHER had a c a l l resulting from the

t r a c t s

that have been

handed out in OPGLABBEEK, The lady asked for an

appointment

to

be made as she

was

i nt re st ed in

the gospel and what, was discussed

in th e t ract .

Henki was,

able to v i s i t

her

and sh e was anxious to come to our home and l e a r n more. Maria (Mikka as

s h e s

called by many) came the

following

Sunday

with

her 12

year old

daughter , Natasha .

We showed t h e

rst o f t h e

J u l e

M i l le r

s l i d e s

on

t h e P l a n

o f S al v at i o n

and t a l k e d

some. She stayed on fo r the breaking

of

the

b read -with the

Christians

t h a t

came

l a t e r and was

also

p re se nt fo r

our gathering Easter

Sunday after seeing

the

next

lesson.

When

Henki had

f i r s t

visited

her

he read and

explained several

Scriptures.

She

turned

to the

passages

in

the B ible

and

read

along

with

him, as she had a Bible.

She has an immersed s i s t e r liv in g in Lanaken who has attended services

with

Chris t

ians there

so

others

have

already

begun the work

of p lan ting the

gospel

with

Mikka.

Then Henki

suggested that they

pray

together. When

he

finished

he

realized

shd

didn t understand what was happening, and looking

puzzled

at

the Bible

open before


6/10

haHLd

us

here to

Opglabbeek

to the first soul m need

of

Hm.

he

Spirit oves us cl^f trour ^^s ^

PlelsfLe^each

me^tLne^in

your

prayers

so

the working

of the

Spirit

m y

reach completion to

the

praise of His glory.

Eph. 1:1A)

All over the World

is

among the

new

songs^^

learned recently from the Eevival Songs

booklet

that

Belgian

Chris tians are

enjoying

and

being upbuilt with.

Kolofon:

Utfm; Stichtng Oewt

tBMl SI. 3B8I JC funi

t 24 l .

CM*

m l

ml

MwcUbMk ;Mu iMbo*

a* n M In vooTMd . I cv . ni

Cp*fe e 4e MkitUidi

opwWangs

liedoren

eti z>inwii

ii de lielde

ier

umen da t

ir

wordt.

l i . yw Efc I

mm t

rmvm

Cimnn : Cii*

Mn

m>m-dil

bladiki Atidl

f Mti lllil lncM>Vn*

ftglit

01 w/io

fnofc

|>Cof fi / ifif wondhoufi

niglit?

May your Christmas

happiness

stay

with

you through the New Yean

i f r 0

I > /.- ? S : 1 U

fn a^

^j I a . S 3 d s u .

:R O M : ^ .

m

HENKi BOONAERTS FAM

Weg

naar

Opoeteren 6

366

OPGLABBEEK

Belg

boonaerts henki maryesther 1986 belgium

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