It really is hard to believe that we have been in Belgium for a little over 3 weeks. It has been very stretching and confirming.

Last week we finished up language and culture acquisition. This training really reminded me how much I want to be the expert and usually feel like I am just that. In my flesh I believe I know exactly how things need to happen and am normally pretty willing to share it with anyone who cares to listen. This training continues to remind me of my desperate need for Jesus and His finished work. I also need to take the stance of a learner more often.

After a hard week of training we had an extra day (Friday and Saturday) off. The family loaded up on a train on Friday afternoon and arrived in Amsterdam 2 hours later. This was a great time to get away from the Centre and just be with our family. Living with 8 other missionary families is fun but you sometimes need to be with just your family. We stayed on a house boat for the night and had a nibble plate for dinner. I haven’t made breakfast since we had arrived ( something I do every day when we are at home) so I cooked up some eggs in the morning and we headed out for a day of Anne Frank’s House and a canal boat tour. The preserved children’s growth markings on the wall took my breath away. A grasping to a normal life in the midst of chaos and evil. The canal ride was a great way to see a lot of Amsterdam at once.

We arrived back to the Centre to prepare for a long day of worship. I preached and was translated into Turkish at our Arminian church. It was a fun experience that I get to this coming Sunday but this time into Armenian. After service we found a great Moroccan restaurant where we are lunch and waited forlorn the 3:00 service. Needless to say that by the time we arrived back at the Centre we were pretty worn out.

Michael Elling stopped by to grab a beer on Sunday night. Michael is a great friend from Indianapolis who is moving here this month with his family. His girls are friends with our girls.

Monday started with training on contextualization and it was challenging. To think of the gospel as a custom fitting suit makes us move to grace in our own lives and for those around us. Law is easy because it is one size fits all but grace is hard because it is specific.

The rest of training pushed us to think differently about church planting and structure, mercy and justice ministry, and tried to prepare us for culture shock.

Two highlights this week were the great dinner and Bible study with the Arminian Church

The second was hearing everyone sing “happy birthday” to our sweet Georgia and then just Shay and I taking her to downtown Brussels ti shop for a present and have a special treat. Pretty amazing birthday for her.

One more week to go. Keep praying for us. We are living it here but excited to get home to are our people.