Last Day of the Feesten

Monday 27 July is the official last day of the 2009 Gentse Feesten. In the days and weeks ahead there will be review and the planning for next year will begin. First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Arkansas is considering coming to join us for the 2010 ministry. Based upon what we know so far a large team may be useful if we expand some of the ministry that seemed to be sucessful.

Sunday was a great day weather wise so the people were out in numbers. That was not the case for most of the festival days. We have seen no official reports of attendance but the news reports are that many of the festival organizers felt the pinch of lower crowds, poorer weather, financial crisis, swine flu, fewer big-dollar sponsors and probably still more factors that are less tangible.

We attended the open-air worship service that is jointly sponsered by the Evangelical and Pentecostal churches in Gent. This year was the year of Calvin (500 years since Calvin) so the them was the Hedge Message. Just does not translate well from Dutch. Since Protestant preaching was banned, preachers delivered their messages from on top of small carts that could quickly be relocated if the authorities became suspicious. They preached in the highways and byways and along the hedges, thus comes the name.

The service was standing room only (probably because there were less chairs available than last year). But there was a good crowd and a few of the partiers got to hear a clear message of God's provision for us through Jesus. After the service was a picnic (people gathering to each what they had brought and chatting). Had a good time of encouraging Hannah who is young in the Lord and looking to grow. Also met a man from another ministry that feeds the poor and people on the streets. We will get together soon to see how we can work together in the future.

I spoke with Martin again. Had seen him several times this week. He is unemployed and had lost his wallet. Fortunately his unemployment money was not in it but his identity, bank, insurance and other cards were. He had not found it but had gotten a new bankcard. He offered me some of the fruit he had just bought. When we parted we agreed that it will be until soon (Dutch parting promise).

I also saw the sanitation worker with the bunny ears as we were walking to the park. He yelled, stopped the truck, ran across the street and took off his glove to shake my hand. Cookies are about connecting. It is good to connect. God wants to connect with all of His creation. Those without a relationship do not miss Him but He misses them. We are blessed to be His agent here so hopefully people can see the reflection of God's love in us and begin to "miss" Him. Once they are missing Him it will be much easier for us to help them find Him.

This will probably be the last feesten blog. Today many have to return to work and the major event is the celebration festival for the Gent Buffalos (our football/soccer team). We have to head for the hospital and then the post office. There are more clothes to wash and gotta hit the store to replenish the food supply. There is also paperwork to catch up on and getting ready for my business trip this Saturday.

We have had a wonderful time of ministry. You made it so because of your prayer support. Thanks for those who are already on the team. If you want to receive our twice-monthly Prayer Updates to continue to follow the ministry here, just send an email to Belgium@fbcbelleview.org and give us your email address and contact info. We do not add anyone without their permission and maintain the database ourselves so it is never shared with others.

Tot ziens en gezegende dag (until we see you and have a blessed day)

Sunday 26 July

The headline in yesterday's paper said (translated) "Finally, Good Weather for the Festivals!". And it was that. Still cooler than last year but no rain. We had our team debriefing and lunch with the team from America before helping them get to the train station so they could go to Amsterdam. They fly out of Amsterdam today and get home this afternoon East Coast time. It was a little hectic at the station since a dad was trying to get off the train with his two small children and stroller at the same door through which we were trying to get five people with luggage. The conductor waited as long as possible but we did not have time to say goodbye.

After that we came home and got some empty cookie bags to take into town. One of the women who is a ticket agent for the tram and bus company asked about buying some for her daughter's 4th birthday which is in mid August. This is the same women that was asking about the difference between Catholicism and Evangelical belief. We took her some bags and when she tried to pay for them Lucy told her they would have to have lunch together for a payment. Lucy gave the woman her card and we are through the Korenmarkt quite often and will see her again. Her daughter is named after a Buddhist god and the woman was quite pleased that her daughter is the only on in Belgium with that first name. This conversation between the three of us was in Flemish. This will be important to remember.

Did I mention it was good weather? No surprise to the masses of people here. Until now the sense is that the attendance has been down. Certainly the weather and financial situation here has contributed to the decrease. Some of the major business sponsors have not provided funds this year. Because of that there are less big acts to see and that has also affected attendance. One event organizer tried to close their event last night because people were bringing their own drinks onto the plein and not buying them from the plein vendors. The city reminded them that their permit was for a public place and it would be a 5,000 Euro fine if they closed it. The event organizers are really struggling this year.

But the weather was good, it was Saturday and the Feesten end on Monday so people were certainly taking advantage of it.

Lucy decided she wanted a McFlurrie from the fine Scottish restaurant that has thousands of stores worldwide. No free promotion here. I decided to stay outside and be jostled by the crowd rather than have that happen in a confined space. Apparently standing by the door of this fast food giant is the information booth. People came up to ask me the location of the nearest ATM, the location of a particular bank and other info. One interesting man asked me the location of the park in Gent. He said his friends told him to meet them a the Gent Park. Obviously he was from out of town because the name of a dozen major parks in town came instantly to my mind. I asked him if they had mentioned a name of the park and he said no. I finally asked him if they were here for Gentse Feesten and he said that indeed they were. There are events in two of the major parks so I gave him directions to the one I thought most likely since he did not have children with him. At the end of our conversation he asked if I spoke Dutch. (Remember from above) I found it rather strange since we were speaking in Dutch/Flemish and he was understanding me. He was not drunk so I'm not sure what he meant by that. He wandered off in the correct direction and we waded through the crowd more before finally going home.

Today is the open-air worship service at Baudelo Park (yep one of the many). After the service people stay around and fellowship while eating picnic lunches. We will join them with one of our colleagues. This evening we have a planned Skype call with people from America.

Tomorrow it is off to the hospital, post office, shopping, doing laundry, cleaning the apartment and all the fun stuff before I leave for our annual meeting next Saturday. Lucy will stay here. Before you boo and hiss she is insisting that I go. Won't be the same without her but I have been asked to give a testimony about our Great God in Sunday. Plenty to talk about. Gotta do it in 5 minutes so certainly His care for Lucy is on the list.

Thanks for being with us in the journey.

Saturday 25 July

A missionary friend of mine who has been here many years commented that the weather on the last two mornings has been the worst he has seen in 10 years. It is cooler than normal but that is not a challenge. Certainly it is not cold. But it has been unusually rainy. The worst storms were north and east of us. There houses with slate roofs suffered severe damage from hail that piled up over 6 inches deep in places. Near Antwerp a power line tower was blown down and landed on a passing car.

Here it has just been rain. But is has certainly made being on the streets uncomfortable.

Never the less ministry has been going on. I have to remind some of our fellow ministers that ministry is often messy. It has been the last two days. But I think it has been successful.

There are so many stories and the evaluation is yet to come. We help our team get to the train station today so they can go to Schipol Airport near Amsterdam in the Netherlands. They will spend the night at a hotel there and then fly back to America on Sunday. Today is team debriefing and a final meal together so we will not be on the streets as much. It will also be a little more restful. We are not "out the door" at 6:00AM.

It will take a little while to rest, recuperate and reflect. Only then can we make an objective evaluation. But there are stories we can share that will give you a glimpse.

It has been difficult to keep a tally of the sacks of cookies since our team baked some while here and another friend delivered more to us during the week. We feel pretty confident in saying that we delivered 875 sacks of cookies to the tram and bus personnel. They were split between the depot at Zuid (South) and the Korenmarkt (Grain Market). A couple of stories from here will give you a taste of this ministry. On Monday we delieved 200 sacks to Zuid and 150 sacks to the Korenmarkt. This is based upon the number of personnel that base out of these centers. Certainly we had to spend time talking about who we were, why we were there, how to distribute the cookies and that we would come and refill the service boxes we also provided.

On Wednesday we returned with 200 sacks at Zuid and 150 at the Korenmarkt. I (John) was accompanied by a deacon from one of the churches while the rest of the team was serving at the crepe and coffee outreach at a local church. At the Korenmarkt I spoke once again to the woman who works at the ticket booth. I asked her if she had any cookies and if they were good. She said I was giving her problems with her weight. Then she asked if she could ask a dum question. I told her I only had dum answers so ask away. She said she was baptized as a Catholic but had found no meaning in her faith. She wanted to know the difference between Catholics and evangelicals since there was obviously a difference. The deacon gave her an explanation and brought her some material to help explain the differences.

On Friday we returned with more sacks (100 and 75). At Zuid I spent a long time talking with a supervisor who too said he found no comfort in his faith. When I told him about the difference a personal relationship with God can make in one's life he told me he would certainly be interested in exploring that kind of a relationship. Another supervisor wanted my email address so we could stay in touch.

We have also distributed over 150 sacks (actually lost count so we don't know how many more) to the sanitation workers. We were able to do this in person and one-on-one during their lunch break. There are some great relationships forming there. Now they stop and talk to us and the conversations are becoming very open and friendly. They have moved from more than polite and much more in the realm of how they would talk with friends. The guy with the bunny ears goes out of his way to come and speak. But here is another example.

Some of our American team members encountered a crew of four who were eating lunch on the sidewalk. The team offered them cookies but they did not take any. It was the first time we had encountered this crew. Everyone here is suspicious of something for nothing. As I came by they told me the crew did not take any cookies but that no one there spoke English. So I went over and offered them in Flemish and explained why we were giving them out free. They still refused to take any but we had a very long conversation. Some of them speak English but they do not at the level of Americans so they always say the do not. One guy told me he learned English by watching Southpark and the Simpsons on TV. I'm sure that was not on the educational channel.

When I asked if they spoke English several said they did but the conversation continued in Flemish. I was able to talk with them about how God had changed my life and called me here. Here is the good news. This crew regularly cleans in the park near our house so I will have the opportunity to see them again.

We have also been distributing cookies to the security workers, Red Cross volunteers and even some of the local police officers. Lost trak of how many sacks but it is not about the cookies. They are a means we use to connect for conversations. Several of our American team members have had great conversations with the security and police. One security guard took the note out of his pocket and showed it to me. He had already eaten the cookie but said the note of thanks was very meaningful to him.

One more story that is too long for now. Many if not most of you know we have been praying for a person of peace in the local government, police and fire departments. Thanks for doing that. On Thursday our American team encountered a police agent who had an emblem of the state of Florida on the top of his night stick. He has traveled to American with the International Police Association and got the emblem when he was doing a ride along with the Miami-Dade police.

When the team gave this report at the daily debriefing I told them that if they saw him again I would love to talk to him. I spent Friday morning focusing on looking for him and other police officers. Once again our American team encountered the special response unit. The agent was not with them but they asked if they knew the guy. They said yeah we know him and called him on the radio and asked him to come by. In about 10 minutes he and his partner came by and I was able to have a long conversation with them. To summarize he is interested in helping facilitate a visit to Gent by a group of American police agents. We will work on that this fall and he gave me both his home and work contact information.

These are just a taste of what God has been doing here through your prayers. We will try to find a way to tell more of the stories. But for now, don't stop doing what you are doing and we will continue to be salt and light here.

Friday 24 July

Yesterday was a good day even though it rained and the weather was cooler.

As I walked into town yesterday morning I went through the massing of the sanitation company vehicles. Once each year the company gives visitor tours through the city and people are guided by workers. The tours focus on how the company tackles such a massive task each day. Last year from the center of the city they removed 124,000 metric tons of trash in 10 days. It is a massive job. On the tour day they also have a parade of all the sanitation company vehicles. Sort of a garbage truck parade (but they maintain their trucks well so there are fewer flies following them).

It took longer to get through the center because of the congestion and because of the workers who wanted to say hello and speak. We are becoming well known as the people who distribute cookies. That was the goal, to get on the radar. It was a good day.

It was even a good day distributing coffee and hot chocolate to the party all night crowd while it rained. Can't say it was my favorite kind of weather and no one enjoyed being wet but it was a good day. Some of the drunks even realized it was raining.

Part of our Florida team met some of the police. No they did not get arrested. They had a great conversation and even got to talk about "politics and religion" which are forbidden subjects for the police to discuss. You can't imagine how your prayers are opening ears and hearts.

What is even better is that one agent had an emblem of the state of Florida on his night stick. He had visited America and stayed with other police agents as part of the International Police Association. I am hoping to meet him today and maybe he is the key to getting some of our law enforcement friends connected with the Gent police. It was a good day.

Our Florida team got to do their shopping for chocolate and souvenirs. They leave Saturday for Amsterdam and Sunday for America. We had a nice dinner together in a local family restaurant and then they spent the evening with a young man who is a believer here. He has a great desire to share his faith and they are an encouragement to him. It was a good day.

Lucy got a nap and I got to catch up on business and other details for the fall. You can check out Lucy's day on Caring Bridge http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/teamflanders.

Today is a long day with coffee plus cookies in the morning. Then we are doing cookies again to the sanitation workers and again with the tram and bus drivers. Plus we will be doing random acts of cookie distribution to others serving the city. We end up at the pancake outreach before falling into bed. It will be a good day. Can't wait to give you the details of the great conversations and even presented the Gospel to some.

Updates will probably be through the Prayer Update mailing. If you are not on that list send an email to Belgium@fbcbelleview.org and we will add you to the list.

Gotta go, almost 6:00AM!

Thursday July 23

Yes I know Monday was not the 29th even if it felt like it.The Flemish have a phrase that says they are busy from early in the morning until late at night. It is phrased in such a way as to indicate that it is a habit or continuous action. We could certainly use that to describe this week. But to date it has been an amazing week.Here is a typical daily schedule. We leave the apartment just after 6:00AM to go to a church to prepare for the morning outreach to the crowd that has partied all night. We usually leave that church around 7:00 to go to the ministry area and are there until after 9:00 before returning and cleaning up for the next day. Everyone is having amazing conversations there. Even our English speaking team members are having meaningful spiritual conversations since many of the younger crowd speak English. I could go on about the conversations I had but here is a synopsis of one yesterday. I engaged a young man in conversation by offering him a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. He accepted the coffee and asked where it was from. I told him it was from God and I was just delivering it in His name. He told me he was an atheist and asked if I would still give him coffee. I told him it was no problem. That seemed to amaze him and get his attention and he asked repeatedly why I would give God's coffee to an atheist. After more chatting I asked him how he was absolutely there was no God. He told me he was not 100% sure so I explained to him he was an agnostic. He agreed. Just moved him one step closer to God. In a little while one of his friends joined us. The new agnostic told me his friend was an atheist. But he (the agnostic) began a very good presentation for the existence of God to his atheist friend. The basis of the argument was there had to be a God because I had given him coffee, said it was from God and he believed me. Plus it was really good coffee. It was amazing to watch.After the morning outreach we prepare for a intentional acts of kindness cookie outreach to the sanitation workers. We usually distribute 40-50 gift sacks of cookies, tell them about their origin and just thank them for their hard work. So far no spiritual conversations but we are becoming well known as the people with the cookies and they are looking for us at lunch time. Everyone is glad to talk with us. One man told me he really wanted to move to America. I told him I had left a place free for him. His colleague told him he would not last two days there during hunting season since my friend was wearing a pair of bunny ears. The colleague said several people had thanked them for their hard work. I asked if the others had thanked them with cookies and he admitted our thanks was sweeter.Following that we prepare to distribute cookies to the tram and bus drivers. On Monday and Wednesday we we distributed 350 bags for a total of 700. They too are pleased and surprised. On Monday I told a lady at the ticket counter she needed to be the first to get a sack. I told her they were all good but some more than others and I was an expert, just look at my waist. When we went back on Wednesday she said she wanted to ask a "dumb" question. She said she was baptized into the Catholic church but it had no meaning for her. She wanted to know the difference between evangelicals and Catholics. The deacon I took with me gave a brief explanation and promised to bring her some material that explained the differences.We close the day with another outreach of four hours joining a church in serving crepes and coffee to passers by. Yesterday I had the opportunity to present the plan of salvation to a young man and he wants to continue to meet until he can fully understand it and find a personal relationship with God. Needless to say the highlight of the day.Then we do team debriefings and get something to eat. Just a typical day but they are great days. Why, glad you asked. We are on the crest of God's answers to your prayers. The movement here is because of what you are doing there. Keep it up and so will we.Gotta go. It is 6:00AM. More later.

If you are a night owl, Monday started way too early. John met Gary and Susan who headed for the assembly spot and gathered coffee and supplies. The whole group headed from assembly to "staging", set up a table to make the supplies available, and a big urn to make more coffee. Amy, Justin, Megan and Lucy were waiting at the staging area when the rest of the crew arrived @ 0720. This year, there is no group from Lubbock like last year, but there is a group from the Netherlands. I think there was an attempt to "pair" people who have done this before with new folks. I'm not sure how far that went but I'm thinking the experienced ones were outnumbered. That's not a terrible problem. The crew was bright and motivated and caught on quickly.

We ran out of coffee before we ran out of conversations with people. Just as John and Lucy were surprised last year to be greeted with "Oh, you're the Jesus people with coffee", this years crowd was greeted. One team said they heard, "Oh, it's the happy coffee people!" I find neither greeting or title offensive, do you? Susan told of one young man who asked, "If I get coffee, do I have to talk about God?" She of course told him "no". The coffee was free and they were always free to talk or not as they felt comfortable. The young man finished "fixing" a little sugar, a little milk and then said "So about God ..." Susan said they had a great conversation and it was obviously his choice.

Lucy was paired with a young man from the Netherlands. When she asked him at one point how his conversation had gone, he said good and that the young man he'd spoken with was in a homosexual relationship. Lucy told him that most in the area where they were working were also. He seemed a little surprised that she knew that. These conversations are certainly John's "cup of tea". He enjoyed talking with another young man (they seem to find him) who was certain he had "the God thing" all worked out in his head and like most had no need for God so chose not to believe He existed. John walks them through their logical thinking until the logic runs out. Then He asks "What if you're wrong?" They always go away thinking and smiling -- never offended and never quite the same.

Shortly after the coffee serving, the team began preparations for the first cookie distribution. That included sending John to meet the folks from a local church coming with cookies while the rest of the team went to get transportation passes and a bit of brunch. The McDonald's here was open but except for coffee and a chocolate muffin, they really didn't have much "breakfast". Most of the team just got lunch early. They were trying to figure out how to eat and not being starving but also not be full by the evening meal when ribs were on the menu. Such challenges.

The sanitation workers were on the final plein/plaza cleaning as the team waited off to the side. Can you envision vultures waiting to pounce? Our team visited with the church members who had come with their bagged cookies while we waited. One woman expressed concern over the enclosed cards. They had included a Bible verse and the papers have recently told of the "no religion, no politics" policy regarding activities like street theater and such. We've tried to make our gift cards thankful, include the name of the church but not preach. At this point, we are trying to connect a pleasant positive with the name of the church.

As the other crews began to arrive and gather getting ready for lunch, we took our cue and moved out. Lucy had asked one worker earlier (during the coffee serving) if they still planned to meet there for lunch. He was a bit suspicious of this strange woman and her strange question. He was present as we delivered the cookies and was obviously pleasantly surprised. We were able to stay and talk with a couple of the workers for a few minutes, asking about the job, was it hard, how long had they been doing it. The folks from the church, although uncertain about the whole process, were certainly genuine in their thanks as they passed out the cookie bags.

The cookies for the transportation workers were delivered by our team to two different control offices. Our contact there had said he thought they might disappear too quickly in the breakrooms and wanted each person coming by to be handed the sacks. We thought that was great. As the team walked away from the first locale, the control room was full as our controller-friend was talking about the cookies and the reason and and and to his colleagues. He was very excited about this action. He'd called ahead to the other site. They were expecting the team when they arrived. The response has been good. May God be glorified in this and ultimately see His children returned to His flock.

Gotta run. Tuesday is Brussels. This is the equivalent of the US July 4th celebrations. Feest on!

Monday July 20

Great day today! Everyone had several meaningful spiritual conversations at the coffee outreach to the party-all-night crowd. One guy remembered me from last year and we got to go farther this year. He told me his life would be much easier if he had a faith like mine. Got him to start longing for a better life. I was paired with two guys from the Netherlands and they learned something about conversational evangelism. Even the English-only team members got to have some great and meaningful conversations. Prayer is opening the doors to the hearts. Keep it up.We passed out cookies to the sanitation workers. Members of a local church joined us and provided all the cookies. They had 80 bags. All the sanitation workers were surprised. Not every outreacher connected with conversation but I had some great ones and got to joke around with a bunch of guys and girls. I am hoping they can see that Christians are real people and can connect with the average person. I really look forward to being with them again on Wednesday. No spiritual conversations but they did not treat me as an outsider.In the afternoon we distributed 350 bags of cookies at two of the major tram and bus stations. Got to brag about the cookies and tell them the bags were from Americans. They were really surprised. Even more so when we told them to save the boxes and we would refill them on Wednesday. We left our believer contact talking to his colleagues about cookies, church and faith. Gotta love that. Last year he was too shy and this year he is excited about the outreach to his colleagues.Dined tonight with some former missionary friends. He wants to do some outreach with me (John) so we will do some unplanned and God-directed outreach Wednesday evening.Tuesday is the national holiday or independence day here. Gonna take the team to Brussels for the day and catch the fireworks at night if it does not rain us out. Another long day but it will refresh us for the push into the end of the week. Stay tuned for more of what God is doing.