boonaerts henki maryesther 1988 belgium

7/23/2019 Boonaerts Henki MaryEsther 1988 Belgium

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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.


2/10

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


3/10

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


4/10

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


5/10

H2. 9 ^ 8 :

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WHEN

di d

it happen?

W H E R E

w a s i t?

_f

WHY di d

it happen?

HOW

d id

it h a p p e n ?

MsHOW

US:

^ If possible send a

GOOD

black

^a/7d

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picture with your news.

/

n

1

nj_i/

P lease complete

this form

wittiin

tw o weeks after

th e event

re port e d a nd

mail

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

print

legibly.

News

items

of

this length

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priority

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HORIZONS.

We reserve th e

right to

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Submitted ^ vMary Rnnnafar-hg

Country:HELGXXlM.

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


6/10

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


7/10

llfll

111^

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


8/10

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.


9/10

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


10/10

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 '

boonaerts henki maryesther 1988 belgium

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