Boonaerts Henki MaryEsther 1994 Belgium

7/23/2019 Boonaerts Henki MaryEsther 1994 Belgium

1/8

oonoexisfamUy

P^^ XAaaX 75

3600 GENK

JANURARY

199A

NEWS REPORT

gi|C|NG.

s t i l l

9o^ l

FOR

CHRIST

x s c n s L

m

IT TOGETHER

In

1972

when

we

were st young, j u s t

beginning

new

church p lan t i ng , we

ran

a s e r i e s

a r t i c l e s in our news r e po r t . We c a l l e d t a

my stery

a r t i c l e

as

we

d i dn t

know the

outcome

of

happenings being r epor ted . Though

we

concluded

the

s e r i e s

t h a t year we never

repor t ed

again

on

the family

ment ioned the re in

as

nothing

noteworthy happened

in

the

fol lowing yea r s . We reques ted readers

to pray

fo r a

sp

i r i t u a l l y happy

end ing . We d l i k e to

repeat

some o f t h a t

news be fo r e

going

f a r t h e r .

Nucho

f i r s t came

to

v i s i t us

in about

October ( 71 ) . He

talked about his old friends

and

the good times he and Henki

used

to

have.

He

to ld

who was

married

to who and how

th i s or

that

gir l

was

l iving

immorally.

He

did

l isten

politely

when

Henki talked

of

the

Bible,

but was not

r ea lly i nte re ste d .

Henki

said,

when Nucho

l e f t ,

that he

had

not

changed: he was

s t i l l

the

same worldly Nucho he

had

known about five years

be f o r e .

About two months

a f t e r

h is f i r s t

v i s i t . . .Nucho

v i s i t ed

us

again. Mary Esther

was just going to

start

lunch when the

door bell

rang.

While visiting, Nucho

said

he had started

going to church (Catholic) a few weeks ago

He

acted like he

enjoyed worshipping God

Later...he

said

he

now

believed

in

God He had

been

convinced when looking

a t

the s tars . He

decided

someone must

have

created

everything. What a change

from the

l a s t

conversa t ion we had

had

with h im. . . Before he

lef t , Nucho accepted a Bible from Henki. He acted genuinal-

ly

interested in reading

to

find out

more

about God

and His

Son J e su s Ch r i s t .

I t was sor t of a fas t we had, the second

time

we saw Nucho.

Our lunch was postponed unt i l around 3

p.m. Neither of us

actually

fel t

hungry since

we had

been

so

glad

for the op

portunity to feed this friend

on

food

for

his soul . . .

Since

we fed Nucho on sp i r i tua l food, we have had some

other

contact

with

him. During

Easter

weekend Nucho attended

one

of the special services

held

in

Genk (church

o f Christ) .

He showed

surpr ise

for

having

enjoyed

the

service, and enthu

s i a sm

to r e t u r n fo r

th e ne x t

s e r v i c e .

Unfortunately

he was s t i l l sleeping when we went to

get

him

Sometime l a te r Henki saw his

car in

town, and l e f t an inv i ta t

ion for Nucho

to

come for church. He has not come

yet,

nor

have

we

been

ab le to

v i s i t

him

s i n c e . . .


2/8

In abou t 1982 we d id have some more

c o n t a c t

wi t h

Nurho, but even then,

nothing

outstanding happened.

Henki

has sporad ica l ly seen him

and wi tnessed

as

bes t

he

cou ld .

I t

wasn ' t

un t i l

93 t h a t Henki

had

oppo r tun i t i e s

to

speak

more

deep ly about

s p i r i t u a l

mat t e r s .

Nucho

has

been

reading h is

Bible

and

we

know he had

been in

con tac t

with other

Chr i s t i ans .

I t

seems

God s sp i r i t

had

rea l ly

been working fo r with no

pressure

from

Henki

dur ing one

such conve r sa t i on l a s t summer,

Nucho

s a id he

was

ready

to

be immersed i n to Chr i s t . So on

Sep t . 29,

1993 th e

Genk church o f Chr i s t wi tnes sed t h i s j oyous oc c a s i o n . . .

a new beg inn ing

Nucho

has

a l ong , hard

road ahead

o f

him.

He had

run with

a

r a t h e r

dangerous

gang dur ing h is te en y ea rs

with

Henki. He

has had

a

rocky

marr iage

and has

imbeded

pre jud ices . We can t e l l t he re i s advance

in

h is a t i t ude

towards

th e j unk ie s Henki

works wi th ,

and he t lls o f

shar ing the good news

he ' s

discovered ,

with

f r i ends . The

change from ear th ly

to s p i r i t u a l

wi l l take some t ime fo r

one

who has been

so wor ld ly some

four ty yea r s . We

wi l l

have

to

be

very

pa t i en t with

him

and pray

a lo t

for fu r

t her growth and

v i c t o ry .

Reading

t h i s

ep i sode , we hope you

wi l l

be impressed

with the hard

f i e l d

in

which B elgium

i s

to

work.

Nucho

was a

typ i ca l , normal

person ,

growing up

with a

back-

qround in th e

Ca tho l i c

church

when

t st ll had

some

s p i r i t u a l

impac t

on

l ivr^s .

The

ddi l iu ts Henki wcrl ^ i vILii

now

mainly have many more th ings

working

aga in s t them

and

a

fa r

l e s s

sp i r i t u a l

foundation . H enk i 's task i s

even

ha rde r and

more

comp l i c a t ed . But God i s st ll ac

complishing

HIS plan

in

l i ves . We hope

you unders tand

why we

PLE with you to

be fa i th fu l and fervent

in pray

ing

for the

preperat ion

of

hearts

and

planting

the seed

o f th e Good News in and a round Genk . We c a nno t do

t

a lone

or in our own s t r e ng t h . You have a

g r e a t

oppor

tun i ty to

help

in

th i s

tremendous

t ask . We are over-

whelmed

w t

nd

w nt

Box

232 , Hopewell,

Va.

[-LnER JOACHIM

IMMERSING NUCHO 23860 .


3/8

yhni.

oonatrtsfamUy

PepeAhoiAXAoaX 75

3 6 0 0

GENK

NETWORK

Somehow

seems

hard

t o

b e l i e v e

c o i n c i d e n c e s .

God

i s a t work i n

entire creation bringing

about

His plans,

causing a l l things

to

work together for good. Several

Scriptures indicate

and

assure

us

of this. To be

part of

this great network

in

building

up His kingdom

of

living

stones is

a wonderful

privilige

and ongoing task. In several

ways

the

past

months we ve seen glimpses of how this is happening, in

volving Christians of the province of

Limburg

even to reach

into other countries.

Part

of

the follow-up activities

of

the Billy Graham crusade

last

spring included meetings with

ex-terrorist ,

Dave

Hamilton

this

year. He came from

lerland

to share

his

challenge

and message

of

hope.

Present

were

non-Christian neighbors

and

family

Dr.

of several of

the

Boonaerts

family.

These folks

have also been witnessed to

by

Christians

of several

congregations

besids

ours

and

we

truly hope God s love will break through to

their

hearts.

A former

convert of the e ightie s rela ted how

a

friend of

hers

of

another

congregation

greeted

an addict

in the

Genk

shopping center on several

occasions.

Finally the man

approached

her wondering why she would be

friendly to

someone

who

was obviously an

addict .

She was able to share

about God's love and promised to give him a book

that

told

the

story of

addicts finding

God's love

(Cross and the

Switchblade). Later

when

she

brought

the

book

to

him she

found him talking with someone. I t was none other than

Henki who l a t e r

r e l a t e d

s h e

was som eone

h e d shown

t h e

Jule

Miller

Bible studies

to

years

ago (who ia

the

mean

time

became a

Christian)

The

following

day

the

newspaper

told of this

Turk

having

murcered someone, being

put in

j a i l

with his

father.

Henki had

just

about gotten

things

arranged for him

to

enter a rehab center . Now we hope

another rehabili tation may occur

as

he

reads

the book given

h i m .

During the

Christmas holidays while John Mark was home, we

had

a

phone c a l l

from a man

he'd met

during

his

Week

of

Evangelism

in

S e a t t l e

Washington.

James

Cato

spent

two

FOR C H R I S T


4/8

weeks with

us,

a

first

experience

of

having a black American

street

artist in our home

e

is

hoping

to get recoganition

for his talent so has

moved

on to Paris, but we rejoiced to

have shared in two

chance

oppor tunitie s in his l i fe in

Belgium and

the

U.S. hy don t you pray God will use seed

planted

in his heart

to bring

lasting

changes?

Cathy

another

convert of our earlier years has a

cousin

that

was

imprisoned for drug smuggling. It

was his

first trip as

a new

driver and his boss must

have

stashed the

s tuf f

He

is

now facing

eight

years

jail

in England. During a

retreat

in

Germany

with

the

congregation of Koln Cathy met

folks

visiting members

of

the

congregation. Guess where they were

from?

Just another

coincidence?

From

KENT England where

her

cousin

is in ja i l David and Charmaine plan on en

couraging members

of

their

congregation

to

visit

and pray

for Josthat a book Cahty have him and her witnessing

may make inroads

in

his heart for Chr is t

Now do you see why we

don t

believe in coincidences? Aren t

you

glad to be part of such an extended network in His

kingdom? Can your mission dollars have any more profound

affect

in so many plantings? Growth and

maturity of past

effor ts in wining

souls

to Christ can

also be seen.

e

rejoice

for

a ll

these

opportunities

and

thank

you

again

and

again for being

faithful

supporters, encouragers and

partners

in

this

spiri tual building process. May God

bless

and motivate you according to His purpose in all you do

and give.

Thanking you again

mm

James

Cato painting in our

kitchen


5/8

ênJt

Boonaerts

âmU^

PejpÂho-i-iJyumX 75

3 6 0 0

GEUK

gri|.l?? .^NEWS.REPORT

S |BELOWING_MgyiH_ANg_HEART_J?

Having

entered

the empty

nest stage of

l i f e

I

find

myself

oc

cupied more i n a c t i v i t i e s o u t s i d e our

home. At present I usually spend Monday

and i

Friday as

a

volunteer in the office of the School-

with-the-Bible.

y

main job

is

recording the bus donations of

children

who

use these services

of

the school.

Though

the

principal has

two

paid

part-time secretaries,

he

s t i l l doesn't

seem to have any trouble keeping m and other volunteers busy

Since

i t s

been

some

time

since reporting

about

this

aspect of

our

work l e t me back up and share about this

school.

In all of Belgium (about the size of Maryland)

there

are A

similiar evangelical day schools in 4 Dutch speaking states.

Genk is now

the

largest,

having been

begun

in 1937 in a pre

dominant coal

mine town. From the

time of

the

I I

World War

i t

has

attracted

workers from many

lands.

The

school

began with 1 teacher and 20

students and

has grown to include 25 teachers, a principal and over 400

students

from

kindergarden (age 2\ years) through elementary

6th grade. The children

come

from many

national

backgrounds

including German Greek, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Swiss,

Spanish,

American,

Canadian,

Morokkan

and

Turkish

as

well

as

Belgian

Besides

Evangelical

Christians there

are Catholic

and

Moslim

youngsters;

I t

is a special

blessing to

be able

to share the gospel

in daily

Bible

classes,

chapel

services,

etc. The children work hard to raise support

for special

mission projects like an orphanage in the Philippines, hos

pital

in Pakistan, or a teacher

in

Taiwan

for example.

Though

the government pays the salaries and provides

some

of the funds,

many

expenses are dependant on

gifts

of

sympathetic

Christ ians. These are

s o l i c i t e d from the Nether

lands with a perodical orepared A times a year to keep folks

u

FOR C H R I S T


6/8

informed

and

encouraged.

By supporting our efforts in

Belgium you

are also a

very

vital part of this school

making

it

possible for me

to fulfill

tasks

as

a

volunteer helper

Many of

the

children hear of the Lord Jesus for the

nnfnF

iho

n , classes and see His

love demonstrated.

^ teachers is leading an

extension class

for

kindergarden in nearby

Bilzen with

some

iU

students. She

s tu en ts le rn

the

concopt

of forgiveness

being preceeded by

true re

pentance.

Won t you

pray this may grow into

another

school?

One

of James classmates (who both attended this

^

helping

missionaries in the

Philippines and

many students have become active, faithful Christians.

enki

s sister Efi

(also

an

alumni)

teaches

one

of

the

ith

grade

classes as there are parallel classes for each

elementary grade. Asa volenteer with other personnel

she

dirves one of the 9

mini-busses

to

pick up students

in a

radius of about 25 miles of the school.

u Having majored in Christian

Education

and since

mv

heart is filled with a great love and dedication to this

t

3lso

involved in

plans

for opening another

such

school

in north Limburg. There have been

many

ob-

stacles

and

set-backs

but the

Lord seems

to

have opened

the final doors.

Classes

should

begin

in

September

with

their

own

buildings and teachers with the some 60 students

who have

commuted to use the

Genk

facilities the

last

3

years. God

is

good

and

His

kingdom

advances

amonq

the

Children as Jesus encouraged. Matt. 19:13-15)

On behalf

of

the school and

all

who

benefit

from

work there I

thank

you for helping me

be

able to fulfill

my varying tasks at the School-with-the-Bible in Genk and

north

Limburg.

I

hope

your

heart,

mouth

and

pocketbook

will

overflow for this school too

n

Him,

Please

make

checks out to Tri-City Church of Christt

Mail

with a note indicating

Belgium

for Christ mission fund to

Linda

Coake,

P.O.

Box

232,

Hopewell, Va. 23860. THANKS


7/8

^ettk

Boonaerts

Ramify

Pojp^AJuhpUAxmX 75

FOR CHRIST

3500

. 'I s

K

s

W 0

AS MOST OF

you know,

l a s t

year James gir lfr iend Sylvie

accompanied

us

on

our furlough t r ip

to

the U.S;

during

the

month

of July.

We ve got some

wonderful

news

to share with you. A

lo t

of i t became known jus t th is

summer so Mary Esther prepared this from a short in ter

v iew wi t h h e r .

IN

THF EQUIV LENT

o f her Sophomore year

of

H.S. Sylv ia s

best

friend brought her in contact with the Christ ian way

of l i f e .

Then

a t f i r s t she

found

a bunch

of nonsence,

a l l

the ta lk

about

Jesus, the

Bible,

God and

so

forth.

They lost

contact

with eachother when they attended seper-

ate Colleges. Sylvie flunked her f i r s t year of College.

This brought her

into

a big depression. She asked,

i f

God

existed for three

signs

from Him: 1) that she'd

really

l ike

to

have

a

boyfriend;

2)

pass her

second

try

of

the

f i r s t

year of college, and 3) be able to take a t r ip .

Under rather

unusual

circumstances

she met

James

and

they

star ted

dating-. I t

was a t a mass

New Year's party that

she

hadn't real ly wanted

to

attend. Lg^ter

she

found out James

had sort of been forced

to

go along also

There

among the

thousands of

young

people she found

one who

believed

in God

similiar

to

her

girlfr iend

of

a few

years

before.

Come

June she

passed

her repeat year of college

and

by July

she

was

driving around

in the U.S.A. having

flown

there

with James.

She couldn't get

around itGod

hadn' t

answered

GEHK

Ju ly -

News

Repor t

================== X


8/8

ONE, but

ll

THREE of her

requests

Her

uncertainties

in

God s existance were removed. I

Her faith in.

Him

only grew as she

was

able to

talk

over

many

things with

John

Markand attending the

North

American

Christian

convention in St. Louis. This

was

tough as they

say

in

Belgiumsimiliar to

awesome

to

American

young

people. t

was

really

a pleasiijig experience to see that

so many folks believed

in

God also. To s it way up high and

see

all the people in the huge hall that

was

completly full-

praying and

singingfantastic

She could just

feel

the

warmth and i t made a great imprejssion on her faith.

This year she flunked

her SophCollege

year

but

doesn t

blame God. She knows she gave l l she had but

failed.

There

were

lots

of

problems

in

iifhe

institution

where

she

did

her in ternsh ip for pedagoical

studies. Her

faith has

not

sufferedshe just hopes tq get her diploma

as

soon as

possible,

and she and James are making plans to

get

mar

ried. They

hope

to attend a y^ar of Bible College in

Lincoln. She longs to attend church, and have fellowship

with Christ ians

whenever

she

can. She ta lks about

her

faith in

God though sometimes sipe

is laughed

at,

ridiculed,

or

joked

about,

sometimes making

i t

a

b it

uncomfortable.

Now

she loves Jesus

and

has

a

firm f i th and unusual

in

sight in spiritual things. Sh^fs a great

encouragement

and

i t s

been

great to watch her f^ith grow

and

blossom.

Especially

for

Mary Esther,

who hasn t been able

to work as

closely with folks as has Henki through his

evangelistically

centered work,

th is

has been

a

precious

experience.

What a confirmation of the promises

in

the Scripture and

fulfilment

of

Heb.

11:6

that

without

faith i t

is

impossible

to please God,

because

anyone viljio comes to Him

must

believe

that

He exists

and

that

He

rewards those

who

earnestly

seek Him. He does and she doesf..Sylvie sought and found.

Isn t it

wonderful

to have allj^hese

things

to praise God

for

and continue to pray about knowing you are also such

an

important

part in working out God s will world

wide? ?

Thanking

yoji

again,

Please make checks out

to Tri-Qty

ChuEch of Christ. Nfedl i t with a

note indicating Belgium

for

Christ misjs^

find to

Linda Coake P O

Box 232, HopeweU, Va. 23860. 1HW

Documents

Boonaerts Henki MaryEsther 1994 Belgium