Good night
We have enjoyed our first day in Belgium. We were blessed with an absolutely amazing day. It was around 25° - Celcius - so it was very warm & sunny. This is rare, since Beligium weather is closer to Seattle with lots of clouds & rain.



The picture on the left is of the fields across the street from the Neven´s house and shows both the country side & the beautiful day we had. The picture on the right is of the Neven´s house (gray building) It also shows how small the roads are - yes that is a two lane road.



Please praise God our Father with us for the good works that He has done through the Neven family. They have shown us tremendous amount of hospitality as they invite us into their house & make us feel most welcome and at home.

Pray for Milt - he will be preaching tomorrow. May he clearly communicate Jesus´ love for us.

Belgian Hospitality
After getting some sleep we were treated to some coffe and Belgian waffles & pancakes with ijs (ice cream) & chocolate in Hoeselt at the Amadeo cafe, a nearby village. They were outstanding. Pictured in front of the cafe are Valerie, Vivianne, Irene, Ivan (pronounced Evo), Milt, & Brian.



Diepenbeek (where we are staying) is a rural village with rolling hills, fruit farms, & cattle farms. Our hosts Ivan & Vivianne have a vineyard behind their home and make wine. They were kind enough to allow us to sample some of the grapes :)



We have not been called to suffer much on this trip (so far), but I think they are just getting us lots of energy for work on Monday. It turns out that they will not be able to have the first service in the building this Sunday after all - as there is much work to be done. In fact they now think it may not have all the permits until January.

We have arrived.

Thank you for your prayers. After a 7+ hour flight we arrived in Belgium at around 7:25 AM Belgium time (1:30 AM EST). We are now at our host home - the Nevens - and are doing well. The ride was really turbulent - could not even write numbers on the Sudoku. Today we will attempt to adjust to the Belgium time difference since we did not get much sleep.

Well, that´s all for now. These will probably be short since I am typing on a European keyboard and can not find the keys very quickly.

And there off...
and going to Belgium too. This month has really gone by fast - our plane leaves this evening for Belgium. We are heading to the airport in just a few hours to stand in lots of lines as we get checked in. Thanks again to all of our faithful brothers & sisters in Christ who have made this trip possible through their generous giving and prayers.

Please pray for a safe and uneventful trip, for our team to adjust to the new time zone (6 hours difference), and for lots of good fellowship on the flight.


Please pray for our wonderful families that have graciously given us the opportunity to go on this trip. May they be protected & blessed while we are away!

Did you know... that Agatha Christie's famous fictional detective Hercule Poirot was born in Belgium. Known for his intellect and ability to solve difficult crimes including Murder on the Orient Express & The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

God@Work...
Last night we had a prayer meeting @ the Millers with all of the families of those leaving for Belgium next week. We worked out some of the details of our trip and made some final preparations. It was a very encouraging time. For me it was very encouraging to hear how many prayer & financial partners have joined our team. Praise God and thank you, through your prayers and generoisity the airfare for each person on the team is now covered and the elders of CBC have approved a gift of $2,000 that we can bring with us to help with construction costs & materials.

We also learned last night that the first Sunday we are there, the Church of Diepenbeek will be dedicating their building and holding their first service in the building. Please pray that this event would attract people to the church and pray that those that come would not leave unchanged - but would learn and accept that fact that Jesus loves them and desires to have a relationship with them.

Reflections...

I have been reflecting on the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount:

You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven.(Matthew 5:14-16 NET Bible)

Jesus is the true Light of the World (John 1:9;8:12) and when we choose to follow Him we are delivered from darkness for the purspose of being lights in the Lord (Ephesians 5:7). Jesus went on to say that He is the Light of the world while he was in the world (John 9:5; 12:35), now that He has left the world to be seated in the heavenly places He has left us who would follow Him to be the light of the world (Matt 5:14-15).

Here Jesus makes the clear statement: "You are the light of the world.". He did not say you might be a light, but that you are a light. As a light we are a representative (or as Paul would say an ambassador) for Jesus.

What Jesus does not say is what kind of light we will be. We will be representing Jesus, the question is how well will we do? That is where our choices and actions will determine how well we are a reflection of the true Light - Jesus.

Please pray for me and the rest of the team that we would let the light shine through us so that others would see Jesus clearly through the work we are going to be doing and the words that we say. And seeing this they would be compelled not to give glory to us but to our heavenly Father.

Please pray that when opportunities present themselves that we would not shrink back in fear or silence but would in boldness clearly be able to communicate the gospel. If Paul, one of the greatest evangelists, asked for prayer to be bold & clear (Ephesians 6:19), then I figure our team could really use help here too.

Please pray for our families. Pray that they are safe and that the difficulties they face would not overwhelm them while we are away. I know I will miss my three precious ladies while I am away, may I come home with a greater appreciation for what God has blessed me with in my family.

The Great Adventure awaits...

The great adventure awaits, at the end of the month a team from Chantilly Bible Church (CBC) will be flying to Diepenbeek, Belgium.

The city of Diepenbeek is located just east of Hasselt in the Flemish region of the country. The country of Belgium is just smaller than the state of Maryland and is home to nearly 10.5 million people.

Milt Johnson, the associate pastor of CBC and his wife Valerie have been ministering to the church since 1999. Brian & I are excited about the opportunity to join them on this trip.

While in Belgium our team hopes to foster the relationship we have with a local church and demonstrate Jesus' love as we help them renovate their new building helping to get the sanctuary ready for worship services. In addition we will be helping get class rooms setup and the apartment attached to the building ready for being rented out.

The recently purchased building is over 100+ years old.

We feel blessed to play a small part in helping this small congregation have their own place of worship and we invite those of you reading this to join our team as prayer partners. Please commit to praying for us and check in to this site to get regular reports on our trip.

Did you know... Belgium is known for its chocolates. Among the finest is Neuhaus, which was founded in 1857 and in 2000 was given the title "Accredited Supplier to the Belgian Crown".