Boonaerts Henki MaryEsther 1990 Belgium

7/23/2019 Boonaerts Henki MaryEsther 1990 Belgium

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JU L Y 1990 NEWS REPORT

KEA HER MOTHER HAD made a flowered

archway

and

ro l led

out th e

re d

r unner . The church had

recently been painted

and windows

washed. Now

a l l things were

r e a d y . . . f o r the

wedding.

Natalie Boonaerts

was

to

j o i

her

l i f e w i t h

B a r t P ut

and e v e r y o n e was exc i ted ge t t ing r e a d y fo r the

big

day.

The Simday before

Natalie decided to

make a

publ i c

choice

i

following Christ and was

immersed.

What b e t t e r way to prepare for

her

ma r r i a g e

Henki

made th e n ec essa ry pr e pe r a t i ons and had p r a c t i c e with th e

couple

and o r g a n i s t

t h e n came J u l y 7th I t wa s e x a c t l y

one

y e a r s i n c e th e

f i r s t

Boonaerts grandchild had married

and.

twenty-two years and

one

day

a f t e r

Henki

an d

itfary

E s t h e r

*s ^^^edding.

S e v e r a l n o n - C h r i s t i a n s

present including the grooms parents were qui t e impressed

with

the

mass as the Catholics

call i t

held in the church of Christ building

The

crowning

touch

was a t r io by the

three

Boonaerts s i s t e r s since

Kina was also able to join the

festavities

from Peachtree City Gao

The

weather

was awful

since i t

rained o ff and on ctII

day

but

the

wedding and feas t

t ha t

e v e n i n g

were pe r f ec t

M Y THE THIRD BROUGHT

some

unusual

guests

to

our

home.

You may

remem

back in 198? we d

reported about r.iarco Iif?ndazabal coming to

l i v e

with

us

from

Columbia. He d l e f t s h o r t l y before Christmas and we d no t

hea

from

h is

s ince Now, h e r e he

wa s

ba c k w i t h h is f i e n c e U l l a

I v e r s e n

from Denmark.

-They had

me t

in Germany and planned t o

g et

married on

L4ay

12

in h er

home

town

with

wedding

invi ta t ions

almost ready to mail

and

a l l o th er p re pe ra ti on s

made

for

t h e i r

big day.

Then they discover

Marco s passport had expired and he had

t o leave the c ou nt ry i mm ed ia t

They

came to

Belgium

to t r y

and

get

married here but

tr y as we

might

in

n e i t h e r Belgium or

Holland

could i t be done sim.ply or quickly

//hen they l e f t our home more th an a

month l a te r t h e y d

got t e n i n f o r

mation o f

a pla.ce in S c o t l a n d where

t h e y

c oul d be

m a r r i e d

b ut

we v e

had

no news

y et

confirming tha t

V/hat

a shame

tha.t

young p eo ple w an ti

to

ge t

married have such

a

time of i t in

a time v;hen

so

many

j u s t

s t a r t living together

like

is done so

much

here in Europe. We certai


2/12


3/12

OO

to th e

Th i s

i s sue

o f ou r

n e w s r e p o r t is d e

d i c a t ed to th e

me mory

o f

MELVIN

K . ROLLER

O c t o b e r 1 0 1923 -

A u g u s t 7f 1 9 9 0

Sor

/

iHaJii

Boonaew

Opoemtn

JitiSO

Ofy^6eeL 9


4/12

attended the church in Burnettsville als6 having an active

p?>rt

in church and

community.

We

taiow you will

rejoice

with us and be glad

in

Louella's decision

to continue

at

least a year as our fowarding

agent,

^She.jfelt: I

will

need

something to

keep

me busy at times

and

whit

better

vty to use your time than

serving the Lord, In the sacrificial silirit

of

Christ whom MeIvin served and

lived

for we

look foward

to

another yenr

of partnership

with louella.

Because

of his love and deep concern for

j^ouls

being

won

to

and

nurtured in

Christ, Louella

fel t

i t would be appropriate

to

include some

of

Henki's most

recent

witnessing

opportunit ies

as

part 6f our memor ia l to Felvin. His

involvement in

the

mission has helped

make

our work

possible,

There's

a lo t of turn over of shops ih the shopping center where Henki

had hifl

office.

Because

of

this, Menki

has

had a

lo t

of oppor tuni ties

as

owner

and member o f th e uni ted merchants as soc i a t i on o f th e bui ld

ing to meet

a

lo t

of

people.

About 6

months

ago a

new real tors off ice

was opened, Henki made fr iends

with

tlie three young owners: Jos, Ludo

and Gene, Sometimes when he'd go into| [their office, especially Gene

would joke

and make fun of

Henki

for being a Chris t ian , Henki didn ' t

mind, in fact

found

good I He'd

givp

would

t u r n a r ound

i n t o

a d i s c u s s i o n

and

become s e r i ou s

i

an

answer to the ir

(jesting and

and

they 'd

s t a r t

asking

quest ions

Henki also had

several

opportunit ies tp talk with Ludo, and found out

he'd had some

bad experiences

with (Peptecos ta l) Christ ians

in

his

home

town,

as

well

as

in a

buisness

d ea l sin ce t he i r move to Genk, He'd also

worked 3 years for a Pentecostal tha.t didn't make

him.very

positive when

Henki

tried

to

talk

Spiri tual

matters,

Henki

pointed

out

not

a ll

Christ

ians are that way, and we

all sin

and ihake misteaks, and probably the man

meant

well te l l ing

what he knew, .

Then on one occasion Ludo and Henki weijit to eat together, A few months

before someone Henki had talked to on ihe phone and knew

only

from a

few meetinfis in Eindhoven (Holland) di^d suddenly.

He

realized he'd not

taken the oppor tunit y to witness

to that

man, so now thought maybe he

wouldn't

have a chance again.

He

shared

the

gospel with Ludo, Hb '

real ly had a good,

long

ta lk explaining

to

him tha t Jesus d ied for our.

s ins

and that

v/e

need

a

Savior and other matters found

in

the Bible

,

Henki was convinced Ludo was seriourly

Inarching,

Then

about 14 days later Ludo and Gene [were in a

terrible traffic

ac

cident,

About a week

l a t e r

when Henki

heard

about i t ,

he.went

to

v is i t

Ludo

who'd

been

hur t the

worst,

and

wagn't

expected

to l iv e .

He

was

s t i l l

in

intensive

care and

the

nurse Wjirned sometimes he was

saying

things he didn' t mean because he was confused from the

accident,

but

he recoganized Henki r ight away, Hcnkil wasn't able to stay.very

long

because

of

h is

ser ious

condition but

they

did again ta lk about

the

importance of asking Jesus

to

help evei now,

Ludo and Gene's

experience impresses

upon

us

so clear ly the

uncertain

t ies

of l i fe and how important i t is always' to be

ready

to

share

the

gospe l , , , , and be r eady

to

meet our makw s ince we don ' t

know when

may.be our l a s t moment on

ear th ,

or someone e l s e s , PLEASE

KEEP these

three men in

your

URGENT PRAYERS end

wejll

try to share more of Henki's

exper iences

wi th

them a s God

works

in t h e i r l i v e s ,

S

LOOK CK over Kelvin's fruitful lif^e on earth

we

c?Ji but look

to

fruit-

fulness in the

vast

vineyard of His kingdom present

and

future as

well.

As

each

of us labors

let's

remember the words

recorded

in John

6:27,40,

51, Do

not work

for food that spo ils , but for food that

endures

to

eternal

l i fe, which

the

Son

'of Man

wi l l

give you. For my Father ' s wi l l i s

t ha t everyone

who looks

to

the

Son and

be l i eves

in him

sha l l

have e t e rna l l i f e , and I wi l l

ra i se

him

up at the l a s t day, I am the l iving brendl tha.t. came down from heaven. If . *

anyone ea ts

of t h i s bread,

he

wil l

l ive

forever ,

May Melvin's memory end kind continue to inhabit the earth

until

Jesus returns

Thanking you

fo:jr

your partnership

in

His vineyard,


5/12

SEPTEMBER

1990

.NEWS REPORT

IfHILE GETTING -READY

to

send

Jajnes off to school f{mSii S oenaertsRamify

01. a

morning,,

a

heavy mist

obaoures

the

large I

Hfe

walnut,

tree in

our back

yard.

Mist

is typical

in Belgium most a ny

t ime

o f

th o year^

Here end

t he re s pi de r webs are vis ible with droplets of

water from the dew and mist

accentuating them.

This is very typical

for

the

month

of

September. SEPTEMBER 1990 .NET/S REPORT

Sometime

between

July

4

and

18

the

longest

day of the summer.

I t

wasn't unusual then fo r the sun

to

be up byVjOO and not set

unt i l

around 10 so

there v^ere

many day l ight hours for

a l l

ones

activi t ies .

By-

winte r t ime it isn t

unusua l fo r

school

ch i ld r en to

l eave

and ar r ive home in semi -

darkness as days shorten, ffe

can already se e these

days

well

on thei r v/ay as

typ

ical for September, i t s

s t i l l

dark around 7 in

the

morninf; and

again

by 8 in

the

evening

But in many ways t h i s year has been any th ing bu t t yp i c a l . We

ha d

a~warin, dry-spr ing

and early

summer tha t^las ted long

and

was

very

hot and dry,

,For tuna te ly there were

Occasional

showers

and

coo le r per iods bu t

crops have

suffered

due

to

draught

so

prices are unusually

high. The

Golf

cris is has

caused,

the dolla r to

take

a.plimge

in

exchange rates while

o il

prices have gone up several

t imes a lready .

But

t h e r e^

are other

news worthy

things we'd l ike

to

sharo

a t th is

t ime,

usual and

imusual.^Ha.

HEKKI WA S ABLE TO

VISIT LUDO

again in

the

hospi tal . The pins in

his

d is -

located

shoulder

were to be removed as i t was healing well . Something was

done

to h is sku l l to

remove

f l u id s ,

but

t h a t was

look ing

be t t e r

according

,

to

Henki .

One

leg

w asn t hea ling as wel l

though, so pins were still in

place.

He also has some serious back damage. But he was out of intensive

care ^^^

end not on the cr i t ica l l i s t any

more. He voguely

remembered Henki

having

come and

commented

he was r e a l l y

a

mess t h en .

Before long

the conversat ion turned

to spir i tual matters and he showed magazines a

friend had

brought

to

encourage

deeper

sp i r i tua l things . Henki pointed ou t the

lead

e r

of

the group was given far

more

honor

than

Jesus,

end

thfjt a l l to often claimed

heal ings

were

fake . He encouraged lu(3o to read the Bible

and

search there

fo r

the

truth

At

one

point in t h e i r

conversat ion

Ludo

-commented, I t s

hnxd ju s t to

up

and bel ieve

i sn t

i t? Believe that

Jesus went

to

heaven? Henki a^eed, but

suggested

i f

he'd

r ead th e witnesses accounts , and

careful ly

cons ider what was wri t t en , it would stir

up f a it h in h is he a r t . It s n a tu ra l th a t he canno t

be l i e v e

s i n ce h e s no t r e ad

what

the

eye

witnesses

have to

t e l l , but

he s only

heard . -differing

th ings

from

people .

Henki

chal lenged

him

to

inves t iga te

it

himsel f

to

see

if

it

i s

reasonab le .

Ludo agreed

to

have

someone br ing a

Bible he has a t home so

he

can

begin

GENE LUDO S PARTNER WHO was also in the

accident,

was also

s t i l l

in the hospital

so must have been in jured worse than f i r s t suspected. He cal led Ludo while

Henki

was v i s i t i ng ,

s ince

th ey are in d i f f e r en t hosp i ta l s and had buisness to d iscuss .

With them

b oth b ei ng

incapac i ta ted

the th i rd

par tner

is keep ing aw fu ll y busy so

p raye r s on t h e i r

beha l f

would be

app rop r i a t e .

THERE

HAS

BEEN ANOTHER IMMERSION i n th e Genk church

and

Hi l d a was a l so mar r i ed

shor t ly t h e r e a f t e r . Natal ie

( re

Boonaerts repor ted about in

love

Birds ) has


6/12

been able

to b ring he r

husband t o several services.

Hilda has

been, coming again

since her

honeymoon. Since

neither

husbands a|re

Christians both brides will

need

lots of strength to remain faithful, so keep them in your prsêrs, won't you? ?

ROBERT,

THB

FIRST

YOUNG

KAN t h a t came t o our home

from

Ghana,

has

been

working.so

hard and waiting so patiently ô

get

necessar^ papers to be adopted. ...This

seems

the only way to keep him from being returned

to

Ghana, wrtiere he would .probably be

put in jail and executed. One of the

Christi^

families that used to attend services

i n

otjur

home here i n

Opglabbeek has

agreed

t o

do t h i s l e g a l formali ty. Ve

have

been involved

i n

helping get the neicessery documents

t r a n s l a t e d

e t c . and

' encourage him

thrpu^

the

whole ojrdeal.

He*8

gone

to

the

lawyer

with

the l a s t

papers'* She thinks

i t shouldn 't t ake

more than 6. months now

Fray t h a t the Lord w i l l work out a l l things according t o

^s

w i l l as

Robert

re^^Hy seems to

be a Gofl-fearing, f a i t h f u l young man who

has

a l r e a d y

s u f f e r e d

s o

much.

AT LONG LAST WB HAVE FINALLY had news fro m Abb as , one o f t h e irien

t h a t

was i n our home

from I r a n .

We

hadn' t 'êerd

from him in.about a

year

and had

f e a r e d . f o r h i s l i f e . He c a l l e d r e c e n t l y t ha t

he

i s i n

Brussels*

Hopeful ly w e l l be

able to make

contact with

him and*renew frienîships and

see i f

God*a planted word

has made

any headway in

his-life.

j

SEPTEMBER IS TRADITIONALLY the month t h a t schools begin again in Belgium . ' Since James

didn't pass his repeat exams he's

flunked

the| 'freshman year jjâin. We via decided

t o s e n d him t o a n o t h e r

s c h o o l .

It s t h e

f i r s t

t i m e

i n

4

y e a r s

he comes

home

from

s ch oo l e n jo y in g h i s

c l a s s e s and

he seems t o be

mates. There 's

a

larger variety

o f s ub je ct s

\

with

f i r s t a i d a r t and music i n which he excells b e t t e r

end has

more interest, i n than

his

math

major

last year. l

O P COURSE H VING

OUR FIRST

CHILD get married

i^n't on

everyday experience

The

c i v i l

ceremony

S ep t.1 i n

the

City Hall in

Tienen was

d i f f e r e n t .

There were three part ies

seated

behind eachother

and ours was

the

.

l a s t . . M l n

a

m a t t e r

o f

1 0

minutes John Mark and Sonia were

pronounced-iiusband

and wife

and

signed

. a l l the necessary, docmenxk.

I t

was a

rainy,

drearyr day

but

that d i d n t dampen our

joy for

the happy;.occasfon* The closest-family

and'witnesses

enjoyed a Chinese meal

in

a nearby restaxurant#, Then bright and early ..Sunday morning

(Sept. 2) with lots

better weather,

we gather^^ in the Culturfrl Center

in

Leuven

for

the

church service. Probably

over 250 guests came

in

tKe course

of

the.vday

to

con

gratulate them

and

share in the festavities* Ipost were

present.for

the church

ser

vice high

lighting

the

Lord's

supper.

Then a Short.message by a missionary of

Hollaitd, exchange of vows and asking God's

blessings

concludea

that

gathering. A

lijf^t

salad-sandwich

meal

with

wedding cake

refreshments

were

served whi le

God's

love

and

the: gospel

were

witnessed by

all

presents All

in all i t was

a unique

wedding ^ d

we're glad i t was documented on video so maybe somedajr we.

can

share

some*

o f . i t with

our supporters and U.S. Christians j i

SOMEONE CAME TO LOOK

AT

THE

water heater in-Jolto and Sonia '. s home.,

Ht

said i t could

not be fixed, didn't

tel l

what was

wrong

withh^t, then charged

several dollars

for

the

t r i p . Henki happened

to ask the/advice

of, a bike repairman

who

said a small

* wouldn't cost .but about 1/2 of th e f i r s t man's charges would pu t the hea te r

a r t t h a t wouldnV

back i n working condition, and it did . I t i s

confronted with

th e

meanness and dishonesty oi^^ ^ ,

unusual, ' just disheartening. Henki has also had some simillar experiences in buis-

ness deals that caused

much

hardship and pain because

of lying

and

dieating

recently#

The ways of the world and those li vi ng i n dcfflmess must be reminders- to us that

we

_

must

l e t

our l ights shine so men

will

be convQirted and

praise God .

How

herd

i t i s

sometimes to honor James li'27b to keep

oneseXx

from being poluted by the^.world.

That's

why

w

are

so

thankful

for

your

unusualj.iand

indespensabla.partnership

in

our*,

efforts in Belgium and want to express this tlîpks

to

you once again.- /

p praying f o r u s ; h-

. a d j u s t i n g t o

ic luding

Diol

n e w teachers a n d class

i o l o g y

h e a l t h

and

hygiene

*eally upset t ing

t o

be continual ly

s e e s

around you everywhere . Not


7/12

InFluencGS

THE

SKIES

ABE CLEAR over

Europe T emperatures

have

been

running

in

the

80*s

fo r

s e v e r a l

d a ys .m o s t u n us ua l

fo r Belgium, but we re en

joy ing

t to

th e

f u l l . Pa l l

was o f i c i a l l y

ushered

i n

on

September

21st

and the time has been changed back

to

.winter or normal time.

God is

changing

everything into the colors and combinations only

He can as i t

is

very obviously

autumn

once again

a ll

aroimd

us

Our

landlord

has given

us

notice

of

rent termination

so

the

house has

to

be

ev-

>

industriously making big changes in the

5 ?

house

with a bulldozer, as i f he

can t

wait for us to leave

almost scooping us out. Much

sti l l

needs to

be

done on our home in Genk so

we

look

to God

for

strength

and

all

necessary

to

make

the

move

in

the

allotted

time. We

hope

the

upheaval won t

hiave

any

adverse

effectsJames

has^ready brought home a

report

card with 75^ for which we

rea l ly pra i se

the Lord.

HENKI H S

EEN H VING

TO TR VEL quite

a bit lately. He took

Pino along for company a few times. Pino is

someone

Henki_

has known since Jr. High days and who accompanied him to

c.amp

shor t ly

before Henki and Kina went to the States

fo r

Bible

col lege

t r a in ing .

Once he to ld Henki. that was

the best

yveek

in h is

l i f e . I t was with Pino we

had

the - ^

car acc iden t

when

Maria

was

living with us^in

Eisdenway back

in the

70

s . Pino

comes

from

a

large SicxHan family

v/ith

almost

a

dozen chi

f i r s t

wife abandoned him and.>is two sons who were then brought u

children s

homes

and with

foster famil ies. As

a young

man

Henki rememb^s

Pino

was

imusually

strong physically

but has been mentally handicapped

to

some

degree being under dokters care for this on many occasions. He s \)een called

Crazy Pino by

many

but we ve been

trying

to

find the inroads

into his

spiritu

life

these many

years.

Often he s

come to us

Jjegging

for help. We ve

felt so

helpless? almost handicapped ourselves in his situtation. Now i t seems

there s

a l i t t le ray of hope in guiding him through the confusing maze

of

his

l ife

to

f ind

Jesus

the Way and sa lva t ion .

As they were

driving

along

to

Antwerp suddenly

Pino asked

Henki to

teach him

to

pray. Henki explained that you pray by

talking

to God like he was

ta lking to

Henki,

to

confess your

sins

and ask

for

God s help.

Then

and

there

Pino began

what

he thou^t

was

prayer; Hail

Mary

full

of

grace... Henki stopped him an

pointed out th at th at was a greeting, not a

prayer. (In

iHitch

t s

more

obviou

as

I t begins,

Be

greeted... )

So Pino began again: Our Father, which art

in

heaven...

and Henki

joined

him praying

the

L^d s

prayer together.

Then Pin

poured out

his heart in

such a way that-Henki was

i^Hy-touched. He

prayed

to

be a good example to his children, and for advice concerning a problem he d

als

talked with Henki about

previously. He

prayed that others wouldn t laugh at hi

and

that

he

could

become

steadfast

enough

to convince

friends

and

others to

be

brought to God a l s o

I t

may

not

seem

l ike

much,

but we

hope you

realize

with

us that this is

a

GREAT

VICTORY.

Keep Pino and his present wife Illianne in your

prayers.

0, that

God

may

indeed grant

his requests

and

bring t he hea ling Pino so desperately needs

and i s searching fo r .

E

H VE LSO RE ENTLY H D ONT T with Antoinette again. She s

the young lady

9(mlUiBoomats .

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J60

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OCTOBER 1990 NEWS

REPOR


8/12

l ived v/ith

us in over apartment in Genk for a while . She had K.S. seemingly

in

an

a rr es te d s ta ge , but

i s

get t ing worse

l a t e ly .

She

had been

in

the

hospital

(not

in connection with

her

M.S.) and had sotae

questions Qho\xt commimion, She complained about always being

accused

of

being a Jehovah s ^Vitness as most Catholics brand every-

thing besids their faith as

that.

Antoinette

is

also a

bit

simple

COMM^^N

minded so we re never to svoce how

much

she i s under st anding about

spir i tua l

matters,

even confusing things in daily l i fe we

are

certain.

She was

quite

proud

to

announce

to her

husband that she ^ ^

now unders tood b e t t e r . Lai i rent

had been

ou t o f th e room dur ing

the careful

and simple explination of remembering Christ s death and forgivenes

through

His

blood. Since he s

not a

Christisn

and

doesn t

support her much in

faith,

she

has

a weak

spir i tual

l i fe-

Yet

we re

convinced

God

knows

her heart

i s working with

he r

as wel l .

THE INFLUENCE OP FELLOW CHRISTIAHS

must

never be imaerestima.ted. The fol lowing

is a

translation

of an article

appearing recently

in a l>utch church paper that

impact on

us. I t s

worth sharing at th is

time of year especial ly .

^ ^

Then Jesus said

to

his

disciples:

'The

harvest

is indeed great

but

the wor

a re

f ew ,

The

farmer looked around and sa.w tha.t his

f ie lds,

several acres l?rge,

were

ready

to

harvest. There were large, ripe heads of

grpin

everywhere. The

farmer looked also at his large

barns that

he had built , and was content.

He

opened the large iron doors and thanked God, his Father for everything he

had

received: also

for the ripened grain

that

could be harvested.

For

several

days he prayed and looked

joyfully at his

beautiful

barns. He

began

to

sing cheerfully,

glorifying

God

and

praising

Him

for

the

beautiful

harvest.

Each sons was more beautiful than the other.

He

even had fai th lirmcrvest. Lacn.song.was m^^^ ^

I) his

hugfe

barns ut after

th

wind me h vy rai

t ro t t ed . . ,no harvest . .

Iviaybe

your

l ife is filled with prayer

and

that is reall

sat . But i t

i s not

enough to bring-in

the harvest .

Ma

Large portion

of

your l i fe includes praising and singing

Dry

to

God

to honor and

extol

Him. Not a

single grain

o

3at

wil l be reaped

thereby

Kaybe we

have such

a great

Lth

tha t

we

believe

with God everything

i s possible,

bu

at alone is not enough to save people, bringing them

to

3 cross o f Jesu s. In order to accomplish that we need

t

inp people into

His kingdom. For

tha.t,

workers

are

cessary.

Many

workers.

Even

i f

the farmer had begun

to

ap

his

harvest he wouldn't have succeeded because there

re faT to many acres for him to

h ar ve st a lo ne .

THIS SHORT,

WISE

SAYING IS TU KE

away in

Proverbs 27

As iron sharpens iron,

so one man

sharpens

another.

Yo

know

the

effect of a bouquet of roses on a sick friend,

ave you

ever noticed

how

depressing clouds

and

rain

can

By the time you read

this

we ll probably have had

enty again

in

Belgium Weather has a way of ch^ging

s t before

you can say, I t s a nice day

today, )

Some-

Every method

and

opportunity within our reach must be used to

the ultimate influence: that

of coming under the influence

of

this report will help, you be

more

effective prayer warriors . The spiritual

harvest

is

truly great and more workers

could always

be used in the fields of

Belgium.

Also we thank you again for your every support as we rely on your

encouragement

in

our

labors here.

We hope

you'll

keep

up

this

good

influence.


9/12

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children,

my

instruction?

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a'fc'tention

II s-nd gain understanding,

^ give you sound .learning so do

not

forsake

my teaching. (Adopted from

Proverbs

4:1,2)

fin^?+ ? discerning get guidance Tq

Belgium

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children

came

home rather battered

ui}the

resiii+

nf

^Protestant discrimination in a predominant Catholic

l^d.Ône

of the

LSLt

with

the Bible s nursery

teachers

lived

a

few

streets farther Ld

she waf

approached

to

taJce

these two

children along

to

school. That worked for a while

Por a while a truck

was

used to pick up children for the school

until

another

solution could be found. In the mornings the nursery

teacher's

husband could

drive, but who could drive the children back home in the evenings? Since her

husband was a mine worker

who

worked the shift that finished

at

3 pm he

was

able

to

drive the

vehicle.

By then the first second hand school bus had been

purchased

As

time passed

more

and

more

children

went

to the school by bus, since

we

all

know

that once the

Lord

begins a

work.

He just keeps on. And so i t is that

now

7 busses

are

bringing around 300

students

to schooland Eva Boonaerts (Henki s vounffest

sister)

drives

one of

those busses and is the

teacher at

the school

where

Miss

B o o n a e r t s

and m o s t

of their pandchildren have since attended this school. Isn't i t a great

heritage

and

privilege to be a living part of the

bus

ministry that

began

so ILSe

Ind

^

sm^l

and has

grown to bring

children

from

such a far flung area around Genk? We

join in

and

are

part

of the

enthusiasm

that 11a

Boonaerts

shared

with

the

nrinci-nai

ILI ^tSlcfô hf

fu?gref bLssinIs

A MENTIONED EARLIER THERE ARE

BUT

four such schools in Dutch speaking Belgium.

Here is

another area where

we

can see that the

Lord is at work

as

more

and

more

Evangelical

Christians

and congregations are being born and growing

rapidlv

The

need

is

being

felt

over

and over

for

education

that

is

grounded

in

theorv

and

practices of principles set forth in the Bible. The constitution and articles for

pother

such school have already been drawn up this spring.

Kaxy

Esther is one of

the

board members. I t

has

been exciting how one

hurdle

after another has been over

come as

God

opens-doors and

leads the way.

Last school

year

one bus brought chil

dren from

the

prospective area of the new Korth-Limburg School with the Bible

They

are temporarily part of the

Genk

school

until

students,

personnel and

facil

ities can be realized for the new, school. A second bus

has

been purchased and is

helping

bring

the more than 40

children

for this school year Families are really

exerting.themselves, sacrificing and praying to help see such a school in their

a r e a

become a re lity

One

of

the mothers has been coming to Genk to help

in

the office êkly. She was

very

active

in

helping

recruit

children

for the second bus-. It is with great

sad-

ness that we

came to hear

that she and her family

will

be

returning to

Eindhoven.

Holland

where

her husband works. Her help

in

Genk

will

be missed, but

God

used Aer

the short

while she was

in

Belgiumand so

God

uses

a l l

who

are

willing

to

put

their

work...and we a l l bask in the glory

of

His success.

And

you

know

what? Calls have been made asking

how

can we star t a School

with

the Bible i n

Tongeren, V/ervink, and

West Flanders...?

The present principal, Miss

Vanpoecke is

hopes to help in this area

since

her experience

I M both teacher and

principal

can be

helpful.

Presently she

i s

helping break in

the new

principal Luc

Borkes.

He

has

been a

nursery

teacher at the

Genk

school several years

and

together v/ith Miss

Vanpoecke

was resuonsible

for

spearheading

the North Limburg

school

p l a n s Doesn' t it sound l i k e t h e r e s

more

work to be done and

that God

has some

big pl^ns

for

the

future? We re just so glad to be part

of

i t :

past,

present

and

hopefully

f u t u r e

^ and TPIAKK

YOU

AGAIN for a l l your support in

the varying e f f o r t s we f i n d ourselves involved

in

v/hile

serving

and ministering

in Belgium.

R.ay the

instruct ion

and learning of each of

our c hi ld hood s become more v a l u a b l e t o us a s

we

strive

to pass on understanding and wisdom

o f God's Word

t o

a l l

around u s

J Kichel and

his

wife (:right)

in

Genk

after years


11/12

joy to th e

-

. ^toi*i*iiififf


12/12

mother

stayed away for several years. We've still to meet Hilda s husband, but hope even

more

one day he may be introduced to Jesus, the

lover

of souls. ~

John

Mark and

Sonla

have

settled in

well

to their new home and lives

together.

Her

stud

to be nursary teacher demand lots of

time

and exertion

so John

helps with those

preDeratio

plus housework while working full

time

in nearby Houthalen. His factory is to

be

movind t

Beringen (where

Dennis

and

Linda Messimer

lived

before going to

South Africa

r)-so thev ar

looking

for;,a;home there, closer to

his'work^ahd

her school in Leuveh.-' -

They 3ls^^^ take, this-opportunity, to

thank :everyonfe

who seht.-tto^;-gift&-fot their^

wedding.^; Wi^ the-complicatibns of cashing dollar checks in Belgium iVs taking

some

longer, but they

appreciate

every

gift.

LOUELLA

IS

RELIEVED

TO

REPORT

that their crops

were

successfully harvested.

luch

harder

and

missing

Melvin s help.

She s.been

able

to

share

with

the Treaty

Christians in Wabash, Indiana several times, and

keeps

busy babysitting

granddaughters.

We

continue to benefit from her expertise as

our

fowarding agent and prai

God for all her wonderful help, advi e and concern,

IT S A REAL DELIGHT to see how

James

is developing and doing so much better

since his change to-another

school.

We re so grateful to God

that

we were

lead to this school and James is applyi/ig his talents -fruitfully. He helped lots with our

move to Genk, staying

home

one day from school, but we've

all

worked hard

and long

packinq

sorting and loading to make i t a reality.

Now we

can say: YES, W H V MOVED We

finally live

in Genk

so

our new

address

is PEPERHOFSTRAAT

75

3600 Genk, Belgium

and we have a telephone, number Oil 841333.

NEWS ON HENKI'S

EVANGELISTIC

efforts are

that Ludo and Gene

are

finally

out of the hospital. Ludo comes to their office_/^^5^ t^V]flr

once a week on crutches but

isn t

working ful l time yet.

With

the

pressures of our

move,

Henki

hasn t been

able to study with them

recently, so we re hoping things get settled again so Henki

can

^

converse with them

further

about the health of the ir souls.

SINCE

HENKI'S

TRAVEL WITH

PINO this fall, Pino-has-been

in

and

7

out of

the hospital

for further psychiatriac treatment. t

has been

especially

hard

on Illianne seeing

him

suffer so much. How our hearts go out to them

that they

may

experience freedom from the bondage Satan has:caused. Continue to

keep

them

in your, prayers as we try to continue to cultivate and water the seed planted in their

noo iTCS*

IN CLOSING

W

HOPE you

will again be assured of our gratefulness for

your

partnership. Your

prayers

and support are used of God to help make us more

powerful

and

effective in His mission in Belgium. Accept our family

picture as a small token of our thanks. May our cheerful looks bring joy

to your hearts and the

good

news of the advance of His kingdom give health

to your bones (Prov. 15:30) as

you

read of

i t

now and continue to uphold

us i n to t h e

coming yea r

HIS

RICHEST

BLESSINGS be yourS in 1991 and ALWA

V*

t /V

^

jfjM

Documents

Boonaerts Henki MaryEsther 1990 Belgium