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oonoexisfamUy
P^^ XAaaX 75
3600 GENK
JANURARY
199A
NEWS REPORT
gi|C|NG.
s t i l l
9o^ l
FOR
CHRIST
x s c n s L
m
IT TOGETHER
In
1972
when
we
were st young, j u s t
beginning
new
church p lan t i ng , we
ran
a s e r i e s
a r t i c l e s in our news r e po r t . We c a l l e d t a
my stery
a r t i c l e
as
we
d i dn t
know the
outcome
of
happenings being r epor ted . Though
we
concluded
the
s e r i e s
t h a t year we never
repor t ed
again
on
the family
ment ioned the re in
as
nothing
noteworthy happened
in
the
fol lowing yea r s . We reques ted readers
to pray
fo r a
sp
i r i t u a l l y happy
end ing . We d l i k e to
repeat
some o f t h a t
news be fo r e
going
f a r t h e r .
Nucho
f i r s t came
to
v i s i t us
in about
October ( 71 ) . He
talked about his old friends
and
the good times he and Henki
used
to
have.
He
to ld
who was
married
to who and how
th i s or
that
gir l
was
l iving
immorally.
He
did
l isten
politely
when
Henki talked
of
the
Bible,
but was not
r ea lly i nte re ste d .
Henki
said,
when Nucho
l e f t ,
that he
had
not
changed: he was
s t i l l
the
same worldly Nucho he
had
known about five years
be f o r e .
About two months
a f t e r
h is f i r s t
v i s i t . . .Nucho
v i s i t ed
us
again. Mary Esther
was just going to
start
lunch when the
door bell
rang.
While visiting, Nucho
said
he had started
going to church (Catholic) a few weeks ago
He
acted like he
enjoyed worshipping God
Later...he
said
he
now
believed
in
God He had
been
convinced when looking
a t
the s tars . He
decided
someone must
have
created
everything. What a change
from the
l a s t
conversa t ion we had
had
with h im. . . Before he
lef t , Nucho accepted a Bible from Henki. He acted genuinal-
ly
interested in reading
to
find out
more
about God
and His
Son J e su s Ch r i s t .
I t was sor t of a fas t we had, the second
time
we saw Nucho.
Our lunch was postponed unt i l around 3
p.m. Neither of us
actually
fel t
hungry since
we had
been
so
glad
for the op
portunity to feed this friend
on
food
for
his soul . . .
Since
we fed Nucho on sp i r i tua l food, we have had some
other
contact
with
him. During
Easter
weekend Nucho attended
one
of the special services
held
in
Genk (church
o f Christ) .
He showed
surpr ise
for
having
enjoyed
the
service, and enthu
s i a sm
to r e t u r n fo r
th e ne x t
s e r v i c e .
Unfortunately
he was s t i l l sleeping when we went to
get
him
Sometime l a te r Henki saw his
car in
town, and l e f t an inv i ta t
ion for Nucho
to
come for church. He has not come
yet,
nor
have
we
been
ab le to
v i s i t
him
s i n c e . . .
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In abou t 1982 we d id have some more
c o n t a c t
wi t h
Nurho, but even then,
nothing
outstanding happened.
Henki
has sporad ica l ly seen him
and wi tnessed
as
bes t
he
cou ld .
I t
wasn ' t
un t i l
93 t h a t Henki
had
oppo r tun i t i e s
to
speak
more
deep ly about
s p i r i t u a l
mat t e r s .
Nucho
has
been
reading h is
Bible
and
we
know he had
been in
con tac t
with other
Chr i s t i ans .
I t
seems
God s sp i r i t
had
rea l ly
been working fo r with no
pressure
from
Henki
dur ing one
such conve r sa t i on l a s t summer,
Nucho
s a id he
was
ready
to
be immersed i n to Chr i s t . So on
Sep t . 29,
1993 th e
Genk church o f Chr i s t wi tnes sed t h i s j oyous oc c a s i o n . . .
a new beg inn ing
Nucho
has
a l ong , hard
road ahead
o f
him.
He had
run with
a
r a t h e r
dangerous
gang dur ing h is te en y ea rs
with
Henki. He
has had
a
rocky
marr iage
and has
imbeded
pre jud ices . We can t e l l t he re i s advance
in
h is a t i t ude
towards
th e j unk ie s Henki
works wi th ,
and he t lls o f
shar ing the good news
he ' s
discovered ,
with
f r i ends . The
change from ear th ly
to s p i r i t u a l
wi l l take some t ime fo r
one
who has been
so wor ld ly some
four ty yea r s . We
wi l l
have
to
be
very
pa t i en t with
him
and pray
a lo t
for fu r
t her growth and
v i c t o ry .
Reading
t h i s
ep i sode , we hope you
wi l l
be impressed
with the hard
f i e l d
in
which B elgium
i s
to
work.
Nucho
was a
typ i ca l , normal
person ,
growing up
with a
back-
qround in th e
Ca tho l i c
church
when
t st ll had
some
s p i r i t u a l
impac t
on
l ivr^s .
The
ddi l iu ts Henki wcrl ^ i vILii
now
mainly have many more th ings
working
aga in s t them
and
a
fa r
l e s s
sp i r i t u a l
foundation . H enk i 's task i s
even
ha rde r and
more
comp l i c a t ed . But God i s st ll ac
complishing
HIS plan
in
l i ves . We hope
you unders tand
why we
PLE with you to
be fa i th fu l and fervent
in pray
ing
for the
preperat ion
of
hearts
and
planting
the seed
o f th e Good News in and a round Genk . We c a nno t do
t
a lone
or in our own s t r e ng t h . You have a
g r e a t
oppor
tun i ty to
help
in
th i s
tremendous
t ask . We are over-
whelmed
w t
nd
w nt
Box
232 , Hopewell,
Va.
[-LnER JOACHIM
IMMERSING NUCHO 23860 .
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yhni.
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3 6 0 0
GENK
NETWORK
Somehow
seems
hard
t o
b e l i e v e
c o i n c i d e n c e s .
God
i s a t work i n
entire creation bringing
about
His plans,
causing a l l things
to
work together for good. Several
Scriptures indicate
and
assure
us
of this. To be
part of
this great network
in
building
up His kingdom
of
living
stones is
a wonderful
privilige
and ongoing task. In several
ways
the
past
months we ve seen glimpses of how this is happening, in
volving Christians of the province of
Limburg
even to reach
into other countries.
Part
of
the follow-up activities
of
the Billy Graham crusade
last
spring included meetings with
ex-terrorist ,
Dave
Hamilton
this
year. He came from
lerland
to share
his
challenge
and message
of
hope.
Present
were
non-Christian neighbors
and
family
Dr.
of several of
the
Boonaerts
family.
These folks
have also been witnessed to
by
Christians
of several
congregations
besids
ours
and
we
truly hope God s love will break through to
their
hearts.
A former
convert of the e ightie s rela ted how
a
friend of
hers
of
another
congregation
greeted
an addict
in the
Genk
shopping center on several
occasions.
Finally the man
approached
her wondering why she would be
friendly to
someone
who
was obviously an
addict .
She was able to share
about God's love and promised to give him a book
that
told
the
story of
addicts finding
God's love
(Cross and the
Switchblade). Later
when
she
brought
the
book
to
him she
found him talking with someone. I t was none other than
Henki who l a t e r
r e l a t e d
s h e
was som eone
h e d shown
t h e
Jule
Miller
Bible studies
to
years
ago (who ia
the
mean
time
became a
Christian)
The
following
day
the
newspaper
told of this
Turk
having
murcered someone, being
put in
j a i l
with his
father.
Henki had
just
about gotten
things
arranged for him
to
enter a rehab center . Now we hope
another rehabili tation may occur
as
he
reads
the book given
h i m .
During the
Christmas holidays while John Mark was home, we
had
a
phone c a l l
from a man
he'd met
during
his
Week
of
Evangelism
in
S e a t t l e
Washington.
James
Cato
spent
two
FOR C H R I S T
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weeks with
us,
a
first
experience
of
having a black American
street
artist in our home
e
is
hoping
to get recoganition
for his talent so has
moved
on to Paris, but we rejoiced to
have shared in two
chance
oppor tunitie s in his l i fe in
Belgium and
the
U.S. hy don t you pray God will use seed
planted
in his heart
to bring
lasting
changes?
Cathy
another
convert of our earlier years has a
cousin
that
was
imprisoned for drug smuggling. It
was his
first trip as
a new
driver and his boss must
have
stashed the
s tuf f
He
is
now facing
eight
years
jail
in England. During a
retreat
in
Germany
with
the
congregation of Koln Cathy met
folks
visiting members
of
the
congregation. Guess where they were
from?
Just another
coincidence?
From
KENT England where
her
cousin
is in ja i l David and Charmaine plan on en
couraging members
of
their
congregation
to
visit
and pray
for Josthat a book Cahty have him and her witnessing
may make inroads
in
his heart for Chr is t
Now do you see why we
don t
believe in coincidences? Aren t
you
glad to be part of such an extended network in His
kingdom? Can your mission dollars have any more profound
affect
in so many plantings? Growth and
maturity of past
effor ts in wining
souls
to Christ can
also be seen.
e
rejoice
for
a ll
these
opportunities
and
thank
you
again
and
again for being
faithful
supporters, encouragers and
partners
in
this
spiri tual building process. May God
bless
and motivate you according to His purpose in all you do
and give.
Thanking you again
mm
James
Cato painting in our
kitchen
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^enJt
Boonaerts
^amU^
Pejp^Aho-i-iJyumX 75
3 6 0 0
GEUK
gri|.l?? .^NEWS.REPORT
S |BELOWING_MgyiH_ANg_HEART_J?
Having
entered
the empty
nest stage of
l i f e
I
find
myself
oc
cupied more i n a c t i v i t i e s o u t s i d e our
home. At present I usually spend Monday
and i
Friday as
a
volunteer in the office of the School-
with-the-Bible.
y
main job
is
recording the bus donations of
children
who
use these services
of
the school.
Though
the
principal has
two
paid
part-time secretaries,
he
s t i l l doesn't
seem to have any trouble keeping m and other volunteers busy
Since
i t s
been
some
time
since reporting
about
this
aspect of
our
work l e t me back up and share about this
school.
In all of Belgium (about the size of Maryland)
there
are A
similiar evangelical day schools in 4 Dutch speaking states.
Genk is now
the
largest,
having been
begun
in 1937 in a pre
dominant coal
mine town. From the
time of
the
I I
World War
i t
has
attracted
workers from many
lands.
The
school
began with 1 teacher and 20
students and
has grown to include 25 teachers, a principal and over 400
students
from
kindergarden (age 2\ years) through elementary
6th grade. The children
come
from many
national
backgrounds
including German Greek, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Swiss,
Spanish,
American,
Canadian,
Morokkan
and
Turkish
as
well
as
Belgian
Besides
Evangelical
Christians there
are Catholic
and
Moslim
youngsters;
I t
is a special
blessing to
be able
to share the gospel
in daily
Bible
classes,
chapel
services,
etc. The children work hard to raise support
for special
mission projects like an orphanage in the Philippines, hos
pital
in Pakistan, or a teacher
in
Taiwan
for example.
Though
the government pays the salaries and provides
some
of the funds,
many
expenses are dependant on
gifts
of
sympathetic
Christ ians. These are
s o l i c i t e d from the Nether
lands with a perodical orepared A times a year to keep folks
u
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informed
and
encouraged.
By supporting our efforts in
Belgium you
are also a
very
vital part of this school
making
it
possible for me
to fulfill
tasks
as
a
volunteer helper
Many of
the
children hear of the Lord Jesus for the
nnfnF
iho
n , classes and see His
love demonstrated.
^ teachers is leading an
extension class
for
kindergarden in nearby
Bilzen with
some
iU
students. She
s tu en ts le rn
the
concopt
of forgiveness
being preceeded by
true re
pentance.
Won t you
pray this may grow into
another
school?
One
of James classmates (who both attended this
^
helping
missionaries in the
Philippines and
many students have become active, faithful Christians.
enki
s sister Efi
(also
an
alumni)
teaches
one
of
the
ith
grade
classes as there are parallel classes for each
elementary grade. Asa volenteer with other personnel
she
dirves one of the 9
mini-busses
to
pick up students
in a
radius of about 25 miles of the school.
u Having majored in Christian
Education
and since
mv
heart is filled with a great love and dedication to this
t
3lso
involved in
plans
for opening another
such
school
in north Limburg. There have been
many
ob-
stacles
and
set-backs
but the
Lord seems
to
have opened
the final doors.
Classes
should
begin
in
September
with
their
own
buildings and teachers with the some 60 students
who have
commuted to use the
Genk
facilities the
last
3
years. God
is
good
and
His
kingdom
advances
amonq
the
Children as Jesus encouraged. Matt. 19:13-15)
On behalf
of
the school and
all
who
benefit
from
work there I
thank
you for helping me
be
able to fulfill
my varying tasks at the School-with-the-Bible in Genk and
north
Limburg.
I
hope
your
heart,
mouth
and
pocketbook
will
overflow for this school too
n
Him,
Please
make
checks out to Tri-City Church of Christt
Mail
with a note indicating
Belgium
for Christ mission fund to
Linda
Coake,
P.O.
Box
232,
Hopewell, Va. 23860. THANKS
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^ettk
Boonaerts
Ramify
Pojp^AJuhpUAxmX 75
FOR CHRIST
3500
. 'I s
K
s
W 0
AS MOST OF
you know,
l a s t
year James gir lfr iend Sylvie
accompanied
us
on
our furlough t r ip
to
the U.S;
during
the
month
of July.
We ve got some
wonderful
news
to share with you. A
lo t
of i t became known jus t th is
summer so Mary Esther prepared this from a short in ter
v iew wi t h h e r .
IN
THF EQUIV LENT
o f her Sophomore year
of
H.S. Sylv ia s
best
friend brought her in contact with the Christ ian way
of l i f e .
Then
a t f i r s t she
found
a bunch
of nonsence,
a l l
the ta lk
about
Jesus, the
Bible,
God and
so
forth.
They lost
contact
with eachother when they attended seper-
ate Colleges. Sylvie flunked her f i r s t year of College.
This brought her
into
a big depression. She asked,
i f
God
existed for three
signs
from Him: 1) that she'd
really
l ike
to
have
a
boyfriend;
2)
pass her
second
try
of
the
f i r s t
year of college, and 3) be able to take a t r ip .
Under rather
unusual
circumstances
she met
James
and
they
star ted
dating-. I t
was a t a mass
New Year's party that
she
hadn't real ly wanted
to
attend. Lg^ter
she
found out James
had sort of been forced
to
go along also
There
among the
thousands of
young
people she found
one who
believed
in God
similiar
to
her
girlfr iend
of
a few
years
before.
Come
June she
passed
her repeat year of college
and
by July
she
was
driving around
in the U.S.A. having
flown
there
with James.
She couldn't get
around itGod
hadn' t
answered
GEHK
Ju ly -
News
Repor t
================== X
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ONE, but
ll
THREE of her
requests
Her
uncertainties
in
God s existance were removed. I
Her faith in.
Him
only grew as she
was
able to
talk
over
many
things with
John
Markand attending the
North
American
Christian
convention in St. Louis. This
was
tough as they
say
in
Belgiumsimiliar to
awesome
to
American
young
people. t
was
really
a pleasiijig experience to see that
so many folks believed
in
God also. To s it way up high and
see
all the people in the huge hall that
was
completly full-
praying and
singingfantastic
She could just
feel
the
warmth and i t made a great imprejssion on her faith.
This year she flunked
her SophCollege
year
but
doesn t
blame God. She knows she gave l l she had but
failed.
There
were
lots
of
problems
in
iifhe
institution
where
she
did
her in ternsh ip for pedagoical
studies. Her
faith has
not
sufferedshe just hopes tq get her diploma
as
soon as
possible,
and she and James are making plans to
get
mar
ried. They
hope
to attend a y^ar of Bible College in
Lincoln. She longs to attend church, and have fellowship
with Christ ians
whenever
she
can. She ta lks about
her
faith in
God though sometimes sipe
is laughed
at,
ridiculed,
or
joked
about,
sometimes making
i t
a
b it
uncomfortable.
Now
she loves Jesus
and
has
a
firm f i th and unusual
in
sight in spiritual things. Sh^fs a great
encouragement
and
i t s
been
great to watch her f^ith grow
and
blossom.
Especially
for
Mary Esther,
who hasn t been able
to work as
closely with folks as has Henki through his
evangelistically
centered work,
th is
has been
a
precious
experience.
What a confirmation of the promises
in
the Scripture and
fulfilment
of
Heb.
11:6
that
without
faith i t
is
impossible
to please God,
because
anyone viljio comes to Him
must
believe
that
He exists
and
that
He
rewards those
who
earnestly
seek Him. He does and she doesf..Sylvie sought and found.
Isn t it
wonderful
to have allj^hese
things
to praise God
for
and continue to pray about knowing you are also such
an
important
part in working out God s will world
wide? ?
Thanking
yoji
again,
Please make checks out
to Tri-Qty
ChuEch of Christ. Nfedl i t with a
note indicating Belgium
for
Christ misjs^
find to
Linda Coake P O
Box 232, HopeweU, Va. 23860. 1HW