a (very) short missions trip!

On Sunday, Wim and I went to an African church in Mijdrecht (a city in Holland, about 1 hour and 15 minutes from where we live).  

the choir leading worship in church

Seriously, it felt like we went on a short-term missions trip... but like extremely short term, just a few hours!  We really stepped into another world.  The service was bilingual- sometimes translated between English and Kinyarwanda, and other times between English and French.  And the style of church service was very typical "warm-climate culture" : starting around 13:30ish... singing, talking, singing, testimonies, singing, sermon, singing, talking... and about 4 hours later, we were through.  :-)

But it was a really wonderful time.  The people there are really hungry for God.  They are very open to learn and to be taught.  It's the perfect soil for God to grow incredibly beautiful things in!  We would like to visit there more regularly, but we will have to see how God will lead us!

At the church, I also shared a story with them:  We had received a very big bill from the insurance company (it was because it took me some time to be registered here in Holland, and when it finally happened and I applied for my Dutch health insurance, they told us that we had to pay back a few months... Dutch laws... but anyways) we had this big bill, and honestly we didn't know what we were going to do with it.  So one morning, I went away to pray.  I wanted to pray about the financial need we had, but I was also overwhelmed with the desire to pray just to know God more.  I wanted to be eager to know more about Him, just like I was when I first started to really live as a Christian believer.  I went through a process in prayer, and came out with a feeling of contentment and trust.  I decided, that whether or not God made a miracle to give the money, I was still going to say, "God, You are good!!"  A few minutes later, I went to find Wim, and he had really surprising news!  He told me that his church in Belgium had given a big donation...  something that we were really not expecting!  In the end, God really did provide more than we needed to pay our bills, and He also provided the peace I needed in my heart. For us, this was a really amazing miracle.

So there is a story from our lives, maybe (hopefully) to encourage you today!