Arkansas

On Christmas Eve, I made it to Arkansas safe and sound. It was a long journey, with two stop-overs, but it all passed by uneventful. In fact, the situation at Brussels airport was quite relaxed. I think most people already flew out the weekend before.

It's been lovely to stay here with Ann-Marie and her 11-year old niece Shenae. The weather has also been great: cold yet sunny most of the time. So these days I have been basically getting over jet lag and socializing. Ann-Marie took the legal guardianship of her niece, as she is getting an education here. She is a smart little lady, with "no shy bone in her body" as her aunt puts it!

I have also found time to continue with a few writing projects and some church business. We spent Christmas day with a lovely family from church in Oklahoma. They were very hospitable. The Sabbath experience at church was also pleasant.

Today, we went to the George Washington Carver National Monument in Missouri, which is only about an hour away from Ann-Marie's place. I'm quite impressed with the life work of George Washington Carver. He was such a humble man. We visited the museum and walked in his footsteps on the surrounding trail. It was a beautiful outing.

All in all, it's been a great way to end the year. What will 2014 bring? Only the Lord knows. In any case, I'm now off to the next adventure: GYC!

"...some day I will have to leave this world. And when that day comes I want to feel that I have an excuse for having lived it. I want to feel that my life has been of some service to my fellow man" (George Washington Carver)

My friend Ann-Marie with her niece Shenae

With Ann-Marie and Shenae at the museum

The monument

Grave side of the foster parents of George Washington Carver

High Time For Another Post

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I haven't been able to keep up with blogging lately - although there have been many happenings to write about. So in order not to bore you with a loooong blog, I will have to leave some gaps now!

I've been blessed in many ways lately, and I'm full of gratitude and praise - although I've had some health struggles. About three weeks ago, I contracted a nasty cold from which I only recovered slowly. It all began when I slept with my window open one of these damp, cold nights. Unfortunately, I had left my grape seed extract at my parent's home, otherwise I might have been able to nip it in the bud. But I'm thankful it's over by now.

Nevertheless, these past few weeks have been a blessing in many aspects. Although it was hard on me again that I couldn't spend Thanksgiving in the US, I was able to do another fundraising dinner at my home. This time, only five guests were able to accept my invitation, so together with Adina (my new flatmate) and me, we were seven altogether. We had a blast; and in spite of the small number, I raised over €100 for my project in Serbia. Praise God for their generosity!

One of the weekends in November, we had Jan Carbungcal and Kraig Harnett as speakers for a special youth programme at our church. In fact, all Youth from Belgium was invited, and even some from the Netherlands came. It was so blessed to have them. Not only the Youth, but also other church members joined for the outreach activities, which took place Sabbath afternoon in Brussels city. Due to my illness, I had to refrain from joining them, but from what I heard it was a great blessing.

My flatmate has also been a blessing. Adina is originally from Romania, but she studied in Spain and had lived there before she decided to come to Brussels and try to find work here. She is a member at our French speaking church, and since she had been in rather unfavorable living conditions, I was asked if I couldn't help her out for a few months until she would find her own place. I didn't see a problem, after all I had a nice time with Larissa last year. Adina is also a pianist and for now she is making a living by giving piano lessons to children. Of course she is fluent in Spanish, and thus I'm able to freshen up my language skills. What a blessing!

I have also continued with my Dutch classes, and I still find it the easiest language I've ever learned. However, I still need to study it. The thing is that I couldn't really take much time for it lately, so it's an advantage that the pace of this particular course is rather slow (the teacher has to adapt to all the Southern European students after all, for whom it's not easy at all to learn this tongue). At one recent class, we learned the names of the different body parts. Well, everything except genitals (I guess every medical professional would have spoken up at this point!) In fact, we entered into a lengthy discussion on whether one could really say that a man has breasts. The teacher suggested that this word would rather apply to women. I should have mentioned to him that men could even get breast cancer, however I didn't know how to say this in Dutch!

Other than that, I'm eagerly preparing my trip to the US, as I'll be flying out on Tuesday. I'm going to spend one week at my friend Ann-Marie's place in Arkansas, and then I will fly down to Orlando to attend GYC. After that, I'm going to enjoy the sun in Florida for a few more days before heading back to dreary Brussels. I'm very excited of course!

Tomorrow will be my last day in the office for this year, but I guess it will rather feel like going to work on a Sunday, since most of my colleagues took this day off. The Commission closes its doors between December 24 and January 2; but I will be back only on January 10. So let's see what 2014 will bring!

Part of the church family at our annual ADRA fundraising dinner

Part of my Thanksgiving dinner, nicely decorated by Adina
No, it was nobodies 28th birthday, but Thanksgiving was on the 28th"

Jan Carbungcal preaching

Kennely - the innocent look

Real joy...

Change of Blog Name

Sometimes I have contemplated how I would name my blog should I leave Brussels and continue my life somewhere else.

Today, I came to the conclusion that I should go ahead and change it now. Not that I have any plans to leave at this point; however my ministry has never been confined to Brussels only. For example, only a few months after my return from the US, I went on a mission trip to Hungary and Serbia. Then of course I'm involved in the German ministry "hoffnung weltweit e. V.", and I'm quite active there, especially when it comes to our annual summer camp meeting in the Westerwald region.

Furthermore, wherever I travel, even if it's not an official mission trip, I have opportunities to minister to people. At work, I minister to my colleagues who may then be able to pass on something I have given them (a health information, a thought, etc.) to somebody in their respective home country. Who knows? The Lord's ways are unfathomable. Only on the New Earth we will eventually grasp the whole extent of our influence in this world. How amazing this will be!

With all this in mind, I decided to call this blog from now on: "Under His Wings" - because if it weren't for this fact, I would not be alive today. I'm proud of my guardian angel, because he must have been extremely busy to protect me from the attacks of the enemy. And indeed, even if the "tempests are wild", I can still trust my Jesus; because I know He will keep me - because He has redeemed me and I am His child!

You may listen to this hymn here

Under His wings I am safely abiding

Though the night deepens and tempests are wild

Still I can trust Him, I know He will keep me

He has redeemed me, and I am His child.

Under His wings, under His wings,

Who from His love can sever?

Under His wings my soul shall abide,

Safely abide forever.

Under His wings—what a refuge in sorrow!

How the heart yearningly turns to His rest!

Often when earth has no balm for my healing,

There I find comfort, and there I am blest. 

Under His wings—oh, what precious enjoyment!

There will I hide till life’s trials are o’er;

Sheltered, protected, no evil can harm me;

Resting in Jesus I’m safe evermore.

Recharging Batteries

I've been thoroughly enjoying my time in Germany. The five-hour journey from Brussels was uneventful. On Sabbath, I enjoyed visiting my home church; and I even got an invite from a sister who had been wanting to have me over for lunch for years already. Until now, I would always have other commitments whenever I came for a visit, so this was a nice coincidence. She has been widowed for quite some time, and she always invites people over for Sabbath. There was another sister who came along, who is divorced and also her age (beyond 50). We had a very blessed afternoon. The only thing that I noticed is that there is a tendency of "going round in circles" when it comes to table conversations. At least I have noticed this very much among the German church members I'm close to, that they talk much more about other church members (their problems, their failures, conflicts they have with them, etc.) than about what they could do for the precious souls out there who are in need of Christ. It's a pity, because we lose so much time gossipping about other people's lives.

Yesterday, we had a nice family lunch at my parent's house. Only my older brother and my cousin couldn't make it. I tested the "Ultimate EU Quiz" with them, which I'm going to do with the students at my old school tomorrow. I realized how little the average population (academics or non-academics) knows about the history of the EU as well as the facts and figures (number of inhabitants on EU territory, where the majority of the EU-funds go to, etc.). I thought this was basic knowledge, but I think people just tend to live in a box. Of course I'm exposed to "Europe" every single day, meaning my workplace in itself is a "little Europe" already, with all these different nationalities blended together. I realize that I'm privileged in this regard. In fact, I wouldn't want to live in Germany anymore.

However, I really enjoy visiting from time to time. Today I'm going on a special treat - to the city of Baden-Baden in the Black Forest. I think I have posted before about this "Bathing Temple". But please don't think that I'm going to mingle with the male visitors - there is separate bathing today!

And finally, here is a super-cute picture that a Zambian friend from Brussels church just shared: Little Kennely with her brother Tumelo! Aren't they sweet together?

Let It Rain and Discover Belgium

I'm a little bit behind with blogging. There have been many happenings that could fill a blog, but I haven't been able to take the time to write about them.

Last weekend, I went to Munich to attend part of the "Let it Rain" event that they organized in one of our churches there. First of all, it's a public evangelistic outreach with health presentations by Dr. Tim Riesenberger from the US. The health talks started on Monday and will continue through Saturday night. However, it started already last Friday with a special weekend with the participants of this events, which are mainly young people from different churches. They have spend the week together to go on the streets of Munich (to the city center, door-to-door, to student's places etc.) to invite people, do surveys with them etc.

The weekend was great. I stayed with my uncle Kurt whom I hadn't visited for a long time. His new life partner is a very nice lady who has an interest in our church. I invited her to the meetings, and I hope she has attended them (I have only followed via Livestreaming, but I haven't seen her on the screen). On Sabbath afternoon, I joined the team who had reserved a spot for a booth in the center of Munich. We had some good conversations with people passing by, and I hope many came for the talks.

Things happening in Munich city 

A little demonstration at the Marienplatz (near our booth)

The presentations have been very interesting and well presented. In fact, even my parents have been watching them, as they are staying with me here in Brussels since Tuesday.

Yesterday, I was off and we went to the small city of Dinant (about 80 km / 50 miles from Brussels). It was an exceptionally beautiful fall day, and it was so interesting to visit this old citadel. They have many of these ancient fortresses, which of course played an important role during the wars.

The river Meuse

Dinant is the "birth town" of the saxophone
The one who invented it was born here

Upstairs to the citadel. Good work-out!

Great view from the gondola

I chose to go 100 meters/yards upstairs instead of riding with the gondola

Guillotine

Dormitory

In the kitchen

Bakery

The Thinker

Lovely View

Today, we are headed for Germany. I'm going to stay there until Tuesday included. I will mainly enjoy the free time which I'm going to spend with family and friends, as well as to run some errands. On Tuesday, I will be on a mission called "Back to School", i. e. I'm going to visit my former secondary school in order to share with the students about the EU and my work there. I'm quite excited. I'm sure it will be an interesting experience going back there after 24 years...

ASEA

Those who have read my post of 12 October might have wondered whether ASEA could also be something that they should take. Of course I can highly recommend it to every adult person. Children don't need ASEA, because they still have enough redox-signaling molecules, which are getting less and less as we age. And these molecules are the ones that truly make the difference! Friends of mine have just started taking it, and they realized that it helps them a lot to cope with the stresses they are currently faced with.

Anyway, if you are interested to learn more, take a look at this little video. Of course, you may find out more about the product, as well as testimonies of people who have used it, by just checking the following websites:

http://www.amazingmolecules.com/product/

http://yesitsamazing.com

Should you decide to try it out yourself, feel free to contact me for further information. You may also get in touch directly with Alan & Lorraine Humes in the US (via optimalife@gmail.com), who can also give you individual counsel as well as additional information.

Baptism

Sorry, I have no time to blog right now. However our baptism was a great blessing. It was so encouraging to welcome all these mainly young people into our church. The only "older" candidate was the lady I briefly shared about in my last post. She is right in the middle on this picture!

Too cute - little Kennely with the baptismal candidates

Praise be to God!

Archeological Find

I've been wanting to post another blog for quite a while, but as we all know, life is what happens while you are making other plans.

The spent the third weekend of September in Germany with my family. My maternal Grandmother turned 89 and she decided to celebrate it in the city of Bamberg, situated in Northern Bavaria, which used to be borderland area before reunification. We still have family members from my Grandfather's side who live in the nearby city of Coburg, and they also joined in the celebrations. We had a lovely time together.

My Grandma Höllein - she rather looks like 79, don't you think?

With my favorite brother :-)

Mom, older brother, aunt and uncle

With Flori at breakfast

On a historic city tour with the night watchmen

He has some interesting stories to share

The weekend after, Larissa came to Brussels again - the young lady who stayed at my place for six weeks last year around this time. She finally finished her Master's programme and the celebration took place in Brussels. For this event, her parents and older brother also came. They are a close knit family. It was nice to see them interact with each other. It's obvious that these parents made their children a priority. It was also very encouraging to see her father in brother in the church, as they both usually don't go to church anymore. But they came later during the morning service to pick up Larissa and Mom, and they were obviously impressed by the cordial welcome of our church members.

That very weekend, something remarkable happened in my body. It was actually already for the past few weeks or even months that I noticed a small "pimple" next to the scar at my right thigh. In 1989, I had a leg surgery - an osteotomy, because my right leg was about 2cm longer than the left one. Everything healed without any complication at that time, and I had no post-surgical problems whatsoever. Well, this pimple didn't go away, and eventually it even became a bit enflamed. Then I noticed something sticking out of it, which felt like plastic. Immediately I became aware that there most be a foreign object in my body, however I immediately excluded that this could have entered from outside. On that Saturday morning, I tried to gently pull this thing, and all of a sudden, a threat of about 1cm emerged! Instantly, I knew that this must be a residue of my surgery stitch. The following Monday, I saw my GP and she painfully removed it - 17cm (about 7 inches)! I was so relieved.

I was and still am quite amazed that this happened - after almost 24 years! The only explanation I have for this is ASEA, a new supplement that I have been taking for the last 10 months. Well, it's not just another supplement, it's a revolution on the health market I would say. It's all about helping the body cells to function properly by supplying it with "redox-signaling molecules". These are molecules the body produces itself, but as we age in a smaller and smaller amount. They now found out in the US how to manufacture these molecules. I have already heard incredible testimonies of people who experienced healing from all kinds of diseases through this elixir, but now I have my own story to tell! At least I have no other explanation why my body ejected this object just now. I'm very pleased.

The stitch

Another view

There was no church service this morning because of a baptism we are going to have this afternoon. I'm quite excited, as this is the first baptism we have after about three years. There will be seven candidates, one of which joined our church through watching 3ABN. Praise the Lord for Jennifer! In fact, I wrote a short testimony to 3ABN, and they read it yesterday during the live programme. So now our church is known all over the globe :-). But to God be the glory! I will post more about it later.

King's Palace

Finally, here are some pictures of my visit at the King's Palace. It was very interesting to see the elaborate furniture there. It's open to the public only during the summer, but I have no idea what they do there throughout the year, as the Royal Family lives at another place. I guess it's only for representative purposes, but I can't imagine that there are so many happenings there. Anyway, it was nice to stroll around!

These are the outfits the Royal Family was wearing at the
King's coronation in July

Grand Piano

Pretty Girl

Harp

Looks like a family worship room :-)

De Panne

My life has turned back to normal again in the last couple weeks. It wasn't difficult to get back into the normal every day routine, all the more it has still been rather quiet at work, plus singing and Dutch lessons are not back on yet.

This past Tuesday, it took me 1 1/2 hours instead of 15-20 minutes to reach the office. There was somebody who tried to commit suicide by throwing himself in front of the Metro. Apparently, the person was successful, because it blocked the traffic for several hours. Poor guy, but such things happen time and again. So the metro bus didn't come, and I decided to walk to the next bus stop from which I would have the chance to be transported at least near to my office building. But try to take a bus in Brussels during rush hour! Anyway, arrived at the office, it was not even an hour later that we had an unannounced evacuation exercise of the building. Well, I was glad there weren't any pressing issues at work!

On Wednesday, I took the time during lunch break to take a little tour through the nearby King's Palace. They always open it to the public from beginning of August through the first week of September, since it's not occupied by the Royal Family then. I ended up going there already last Sabbath after church, as we had two brothers visiting from California and we wanted to show them some sights. However, it was really overcrowded and thus not very enjoyable. So I decided to go again. The entrance is free and you can even take pictures. I will post them later though, as I still wanted to share some shots of my recent trip to the sea side. I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend in De Panne. The ocean is so invigorating, and it feels really good to walk along the sea shore. It didn't matter at all that I was all by myself, because my only objective was relax, relax, and again relax! This goal was thoroughly met, and I guess I will do that again at some point :-).

A buoy during low tide

Still hanging in there

Riders in the sky

Beach life

Beach café

Children's playground

Footprints in the sand...

Back From Camp Meeting

It's a beautiful, sunny, and quiet morning here in Brussels as I begin to write this blog. I need this quietness right now. I'm over-exhausted, but also overly happy and thankful for the past ten days. The Lord has indeed blessed our camp meeting tremendously.

The meeting was fantastic. This year, we were so much better organized than last, as we even had an organigramme with all the different tasks allocated and many volunteers to help with the smaller tasks. However, there is still lots of room for improvement. Our speakers, the Nebblett family, Frank Fournier, Richard Elofer, and Dr. Enoch Sundaram were a great blessing. Our new concept with small afternoon workshops on different topics was very well received. I attended the sewing workshop, but didn’t get to finish the skirt I was making, as I was so busy. Indeed, it was too much for me again, even though I had a lot of helpers for the registration at the arrival day. There were still too many things that only I was competent to do, which hardly gave me any time to breathe. But next year, I will definitely have an assistant! However, all in all, it was a great experience. I had indeed hoped to gain a spiritual blessing from this camp meeting, and my expectations have been exceeded again.

It became obvious though that the enemy was trying everything in his power to spoil this convocation. It was only about one week before the meeting started that our speaker from India, Dr. Enoch Sundaram, finally got his visa (after several months of paper-warfare with the Indian authorities – they wanted to have new information or changes in his application over and over again). But finally I was able to book the flight, and found a suitable one via London. But then the night before the camp meeting (I and part of the team was already at the site), Enoch called from Bombay, informing us that they hadn’t let him board the plane, since he only had a Schengen visa, and since the UK is not part of the Schengen agreement, he would need a transit visa in order to fly via London! That meant that we had to book a brand new ticket for him in order to still get him to Germany in time for the camp meeting! I was devastated, but I managed to get another flight for him and he made it without further trouble the day after.

Of course this brought me out of balance, and it interfered with my sleep. And once I get out of my rhythm during such an event, it’s next to impossible to get back to normal. I know it from previous times! But I’m ok now. Thankfully I didn’t have to drive home by myself. The Nebblett’s had another flight to Africa (to do some mission work there), but it was only on Monday at 10 PM. So they decided to take a detour via Brussels, in order to see this city. This was the best idea ever, as one of their sons could drive my rental car, and the two young men who helped with the transportation of the family followed in their cars. However, we only had a few short hours in Brussels to do sightseeing. It was quite intense (I showed them mainly the EU-quarter, as well as the Grand Plaza), but they really enjoyed it.

Sophia, the daughter of our team member Margit, also came along, as she had come with the two guys and was supposed to catch a train in Frankfurt. Because of this spontaneous change of programme, she would have missed her train, but I offered her to stay with me for one night and I paid her the ticket to go to her grandparents place on Tuesday, directly from Brussels. It worked out perfectly! 

As I’m finishing this blog, I’m sitting in my hotel room at the Belgian coast. I spontaneously decided to come here for a few days before returning to work this coming Tuesday. It’s been great here – enjoying the sea, the sunshine, and the fresh air. The Lord is so good!

The main meeting hall

Dr, Enoch Sundaram giving a work shop

Richard Elofer teaching about mission among the Jews

Maurice Berry explaining the 1843 charts

With Frank and Janet Fournier

Frank Fournier preaching with Alberto interpreting

Derrol Sawyer singing

Exercise workhop for children

downtime :-)

sewing work shop - yes it's a man!

Wayne Foster from Florida explaining the "bible code"

Beautiful campus in Pracht, Westerwald