This mission trip has felt like a time warp. We’ve been here for three weeks, and it’s felt like longer, but in a good way… and we have three weeks left, which feels like not enough time. The days here are so long, because the sun rises around 5:30 and sets around 10pm, sometimes it feels like a good thing… it doesn’t when you want to get to bed earlier, but it still prolongs the process.
Last week was amazing, not because we went on any crazy adventures, but because we got to know our readers so well. The stories that were shared between the three of us and our readers were meaningful and they helped to build the relationship. One of Maureen’s favorites is a woman who came to Belgium as a refugee, and Maureen got to hear that story. These are things that you don’t encounter everyday, or even every week, but here, we do. Hillary met with a woman whose son died in a car accident 2 months ago, and they discussed the story of Mary and what it’s like to lose a son. Hillary shared some of her own story with this woman, and the woman’s response was, “There are some people you know your whole life, and it is easy to share… but we have only just met, and it is easy to share.” I met with a woman, who is not religious in any way, but we discussed the importance of religion and learning about it… and it’s refreshing to see so many people who “get it.” They understand the importance of the stories they are reading.
The three of us came out to Belgium to meet people, and have meaningful conversations. So far, it has been a success. Our readers are incredible, and I don’t know if any of us could have asked for more from them. Also, as a group, they’re growing. By the end of last week, we had 6 new readers with appointments for this week. We do have free time here, but the amount of commitment that we pour into our reading sessions wears us out… but we all love it, and we have all agreed that it’s worth it.
Because we took off last Monday to go to Den Haag with the Brazle’s, we all worked on Friday. We each had readers, and then we headed to downtown Antwerp because we had some special grocery shopping to do… okay, really we just wanted to get some good ol’ American ice cream… and downtown is the place to get it. We each picked our Ben & Jerry’s and awaited the tram so that we could begin our feast. We were on a bit of a time crunch because we had a guest speaker coming to the church at 8. Phil Jackson, the speaker from Monday, was coming to our church to do a seminar about community building and discipleship.
The three of us were in attendance, considering, we live in the building. Paul and Carol were both there, Merlene, a member of the Antwerp church, along with Luk, Peter, and Sue from Ghent. We all discussed how to build the church, based on Bible studies, and it was all very interesting. If you want to know more about the system you can go to www.cpmtr.org, I believe that’ll have al the info you need. After the meeting, the three of us talked with Luk, Peter, and Sue. They told us that their LST team wants to go to Brugge with us on Saturday. We’re thinking this is definitely happening, and we’re all super excited about it! We hope the Ghent team is just as excited. Then we talked with Luk and Peter about living in the same apartment that we’re living in now… those stairs are legendary. Luk headed back to Ghent, and Peter stayed with us for a little longer and watched Scrubs with us. It was a good time.
Saturday, Carol and Paul had plans to go to southern Belgium for a war memorial service through the American Women’s Association. They had asked us the previous weekend if we wanted to hang out with Jesse, their 11 year old, for the day. Of course we wanted to! The three of us love that boy, he is hilarious. So, on Saturday, we headed to the Brazle’s house via tram. This time we had a better idea of where we were going, which made things easier for the walking portion of out journey.
We got to their house, and it was great, just what we needed. Jesse was in the backyard jumping on his trampoline when we arrived, and Carol greeted us and told us to make ourselves at home. She is one of those people who you can tell she means it when she tells you to make yourself at home. Then she told us about Jesse’s plans for us for the day. He wanted to walk us to the candy store down the street and he wanted to go to the shopping center in the suburb next to the Brazles’. Carol set some sandwich supplies out for us while we waited for Paul to get back from the Netherlands. When Paul got home, they were gone within 15 minutes, which meant that we had Jesse to ourselves.
Jesse showed us his legos, they were elaborate. Then, he reiterated the plans that Carol had informed us about earlier. Of course, we headed to his candy shop, he wanted to show us some real Belgian candy… the three of us didn’t end up getting anything, but he got some and shared. Then we got back to the house and watched half of Iron Man before Jesse wanted to head over to the shopping center. So, we all got ready for our 30 minute trek to the mall.
The journey was a good one, we saw some of the Belgian country side as well as some suburbs and some urban businesses. We got everything! Then, Jesse found 50 euro on the ground at a car dealership next to the mall. It was his lucky day! We went to the two toy stores in the mall and the grocery store. We weren’t feeling especially adventurous. We got some chocolate bars for some cookies and some drinks before we started back for the Brazles’. In the time we were in the mall, it started raining. So, the walk back was much more brisk and wet then the walk there.
When we got back, we finished Iron Man, and Hillary started to make some dinner and cookies. Simultaneously, of course. The elder Brazle’s returned soon enough, and we all just spent time together eating and watching Mission Impossible 3. Paul went to bed early, but we still stayed up with Jesse and Carol and got to know them even better. Our love for Jesse has only grown stronger after this day. He has become all of our little brother.
Sunday morning we had church with the Ghanaians. Our goal was to get at least one of the babies to become our best friend. You have no idea how PRECIOUS these Ghanaian babies are, oooh my goodness. This was the third week we’ve had church with this community, so we just hoped and prayed that the little kids had warmed up to us. The icebreaker was a little baby named Gideon. Jesse was holding him and then offered him to me. From there, Hillary spotted me from across the room with the baby, she then joined in on the Gideon holding. Now, we loved this baby, but we couldn’t call him our best friend. So, then Jesse had Matthew, an 18 month old, he was not budging from Jesse’s arms… but then, there was Elliot. He came out of nowhere and grabbed onto my leg. From there, it was history. Hillary and I have a new best friend, and his name is Elliot. When Elliot’s mom tried to get him from Hillary, Elliot pushed his mom’s hands away and held tighter onto Hillary. It was hilarious.
The details about the Ghanaian babies may seem irrelevant, but to us it was extremely relevant. To us, this has been one of the steps in becoming a part of their church community. We’ve also been talking to a few of the younger girls, they want to hang out with us, and we are so excited. We are just happy to be fitting into the church here. This is something that is so important to each of us, and holding the babies that are constantly being watched meant something. Really, we’re all so ecstatic.
So, from there, Hillary had a reader at 2 o’clock, but Maureen and I were free until 6pm. Sunday became the day of rest. We all just chilled out in our beds for a while. There was an acapella group that was meeting down in the main room. We stayed and listened for a little bit, that is until the fatigue set in. I decided that I wanted to play some ukulele, so I headed down stairs, and about 20 minutes into my solo jam sesh, the group left. From there, I waited for the church members to arrive for church. Merlene was the first of the night… at this point I thought that it’d be good to wake Hillary from her slumber.
The sermon tonight was about the empty tomb, and how that is the image that we should think of as Christians rather than the cross. This was something that Phil Jackson had talked about on Friday night. It was informal and nice. Then we did something that I’ve wanted to do since the last Sunday night chapel at Pepperdine. We communed during communion. We shared and ate together and it was something that I knew I needed.
The most important thing that we’ve all learned this week is the importance of community. We’ve been thrown into a completely new place, but we have found a community that is incredible through our readers, missionaries, and churches. We are so grateful for all of these things. This is why we came to Belgium, was to meet people and hear their stories and build a community. This is what we have gotten so far.
Peace, Love, and Jesus,
Dana, Hillary, and Maureen
