In the mean while the first of September has passed, the Belgian kids and teenagers are back at school. It’s a long time ago that the beginning of September was my beginning of school. If I ever start working as a high school teacher, which my diploma tells me I should do, I will have this feeling again. For now, it’ something far away, if it ever happens at all. Here at IABC we have been running a full-time program for the last three weeks. I’m not going to class anymore, and I’m also not teaching yet. It still remains a search for possibilities, tasks and a job description. Sometimes I feel like I’m not doing enough, everyone else seems so busy, or at least what they look like. People know what is expected from them, most of them are here for a longer period, but not me. I’m trying out a little. And that is part of the problem. I think I’m only trying, but doing pretty well. Or just well. Let’s get rid of this Belgian modesty. We are working on it. Last week we had the pleasure of having Stephen Graham in our midst. A principal of an Apostolic Bible college in New Zealand. A man who got called by...
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And here we are, back in Denmark for almost 2 weeks. I did have the intention to write an update every week, but as with many other things it takes some time to get back into a new routine. The students are having a Basic Course like we had in our first weeks a year ago. It is good to see our initials RV and CV on the schedule. A new time has arrived. I have to admit, it feels a bit strange to be a small fish in a big pond. I was good at being a student, a steady and strong fish in my own pond. Anyhow, it was time God put me in the next pond so that I could grow again. Many questions, uncertainties and doubts, but at the same time many possibilities, certainty and support. It is great to be a volunteer at this amazing place. We started this year with a group of 12 students, in total 7 different nationalities. A great group of people, I’m looking forward to grow together with them. To see them being active in the Kingdom of God, to see how they find their dreams and see them develop. God has a great plan with each of them....
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In the mean while we arrived back home after a couple of impressive days. The trip home took less long than the trip to the Philipines, long live the different time zones! I have to say that the second week also left some images on my retina. We spent the last days in the Philipines in Olongapo, Zambales. A totally different area than everything we had seen in Manila. So much green! And the air a lot less polluted. It was still as warm though, sweat was dripping of our body in small streams. In Olongapo we stayed in a Youth With A Mission base. Many women in the Philippines get pregnant on early age. As 14-year-old it is obviously difficult to get a job and maintain your family. School was something of the past and the dad has left them a long time ago. Many of these girls end up in a bar. They work as a servant and to get some extra income they sell themselves. One night (18:00 to 5:00) will get them 1,5 euro in an average bar. If they sell themselves to men they would get 5,00 euro. This is unthinkable low. Way to less money and because of the work in the night...
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The Philippines, who would have guessed. It is so different from the things we are used to. Together with the team we connected to Mark Pedder (his wife Christine is back in Australia for the moment). Mark and Christine live for 13 years in the slums of Baseco. Slums are the poor parts of the city. Baseco is a city which is built on garbage. All small houses next to each other with mini ‘streets’ which form a path in between. You can notice on the atmosphere they are working here for a long time. The stories from the time when they first arrived are very different to the ones now. On the other side of the city is Don Bosco. An old abandoned industrial area where people started living. In stead of one story houses you have 2 story houses standing where people have started living. It is incredible that people can live in these circumstances. If you go a little further you come in the worst part. The ground floor is 100% filled with garbage. So when you look, you are looking at the second floor. Some people live in complete darkness, humidity and no fresh air. It is impossible to capture. Outside are people searching in the...
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Here I am, in a plane, high in the sky, somewhere between Qatar and Hong-Kong. When this blog gets online i hope to be laying in my bed in the Philipines. Last week we enjoyed a weekend with my parents. For the birthdays that had passed (and the bringing of my passport and Electronic ID cards) they decided to hop by. We ate sushi together with the students and they saw us in action during ‘IABC got talent’. Also walking and going to eat spareribs to celebrate the birthdays was part of the weekend. Saying goodbye stays difficult. Luckey we will see each other again in about six weeks. The remainder of the week was all preparation for the mission trip. It is a lot of organisation, a mission trip. I’m curious about how it will be. I’m very aware it will not mainly be about making the difference in the life of the people there, but more about the change it will make in our life. We can help the people who are already helping, but when we leave, they will still be there. We will return to a comfortable home with a shower, toilet and bed. They will stay living on a pile of garbage, a place...
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In a week and 6 days, we’ll leave for the Philippines! It is getting very close now. Each and every one of our group got responsibility over a specific part of the trip. My part: music and worship. Awesome, right? This means that I have to lead our Mission Class Worship Team, making sure that things sound good and that we can bring some kind of finished product. Last weekend we got the opportunity to try out playing together in a church setting. In Christiansfeld (a village a little further) people had organized an evening of prayer. We got together in a church like building; approximately 75 people were there. In the end of the evening we would get the chance to sing some songs together. We were supposed to bring a computer with the lyrics and the chords on paper for ourselves. When we arrived there, we discovered not only that the key to the building was lost, but we also realized that we only brought one set of chords, that there was only 9% battery left on the iPad and that we forgot the computer for the lyrics. In other word: one big disaster. Luckily we did have one set of the chords, so we could play....
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