Thursday 23 July

Yes I know Monday was not the 29th even if it felt like it.

The Flemish have a phrase that says they are busy from early in the morning until late at night. It is phrased in such a way as to indicate that it is a habit or continuous action. We could certainly use that to describe this week. But to date it has been an amazing week.

Here is a typical daily schedule. We leave the apartment just after 6:00AM to go to a church to prepare for the morning outreach to the crowd that has partied all night. We usually leave that church around 7:00 to go to the ministry area and are there until after 9:00 before returning and cleaning up for the next day. Everyone is having amazing conversations there. Even our English speaking team members are having meaningful spiritual conversations since many of the younger crowd speak English. I could go on about the conversations I had but here is a synopsis of one yesterday. I engaged a young man in conversation by offering him a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. He accepted the coffee and asked where it was from. I told him it was from God and I was just delivering it in His name. He told me he was an atheist and asked if I would still give him coffee. I told him it was no problem. That seemed to amaze him and get his attention and he asked repeatedly why I would give God's coffee to an atheist. After more chatting I asked him how he was absolutely there was no God. He told me he was not 100% sure so I explained to him he was an agnostic. He agreed. Just moved him one step closer to God. In a little while one of his friends joined us. The new agnostic told me his friend was an atheist. But he (the agnostic) began a very good presentation for the existence of God to his atheist friend. The basis of the argument was there had to be a God because I had given him coffee, said it was from God and he believed me. Plus it was really good coffee. It was amazing to watch.

After the morning outreach we prepare for a intentional acts of kindness cookie outreach to the sanitation workers. We usually distribute 40-50 gift sacks of cookies, tell them about their origin and just thank them for their hard work. So far no spiritual conversations but we are becoming well known as the people with the cookies and they are looking for us at lunch time. Everyone is glad to talk with us. One man told me he really wanted to move to America. I told him I had left a place free for him. His colleague told him he would not last two days there during hunting season since my friend was wearing a pair of bunny ears. The colleague said several people had thanked them for their hard work. I asked if the others had thanked them with cookies and he admitted our thanks was sweeter.

Following that we prepare to distribute cookies to the tram and bus drivers. On Monday and Wednesday we we distributed 350 bags for a total of 700. They too are pleased and surprised. On Monday I told a lady at the ticket counter she needed to be the first to get a sack. I told her they were all good but some more than others and I was an expert, just look at my waist. When we went back on Wednesday she said she wanted to ask a "dumb" question. She said she was baptized into the Catholic church but it had no meaning for her. She wanted to know the difference between evangelicals and Catholics. The deacon I took with me gave a brief explanation and promised to bring her some material that explained the differences.

We close the day with another outreach of four hours joining a church in serving crepes and coffee to passers by. Yesterday I had the opportunity to present the plan of salvation to a young man and he wants to continue to meet until he can fully understand it and find a personal relationship with God. Needless to say the highlight of the day.

Then we do team debriefings and get something to eat. Just a typical day but they are great days. Why, glad you asked. We are on the crest of God's answers to your prayers. The movement here is because of what you are doing there. Keep it up and so will we.

Gotta go. It is 6:00AM. More later.

Monday 21 July

Great day today! Everyone had several meaningful spiritual conversations at the coffee outreach to the party-all-night crowd. One guy remembered me from last year and we got to go farther this year. He told me his life would be much easier if he had a faith like mine. Got him to start longing for a better life. I was paired with two guys from the Netherlands and they learned something about conversational evangelism. Even the English-only team members got to have some great and meaningful conversations. Prayer is opening the doors to the hearts. Keep it up.

We passed out cookies to the sanitation workers. Members of a local church joined us and provided all the cookies. They had 80 bags. All the sanitation workers were surprised. Not every outreacher connected with conversation but I had some great ones and got to joke around with a bunch of guys and girls. I am hoping they can see that Christians are real people and can connect with the average person. I really look forward to being with them again on Wednesday. No spiritual conversations but they did not treat me as an outsider.

In the afternoon we distributed 350 bags of cookies at two of the major tram and bus stations. Got to brag about the cookies and tell them the bags were from Americans. They were really surprised. Even more so when we told them to save the boxes and we would refill them on Wednesday. We left our believer contact talking to his colleagues about cookies, church and faith. Gotta love that. Last year he was too shy and this year he is excited about the outreach to his colleagues.

Dined tonight with some former missionary friends. He wants to do some outreach with me (John) so we will do some unplanned and God-directed outreach Wednesday evening.

Tuesday is the national holiday or independence day here. Gonna take the team to Brussels for the day and catch the fireworks at night if it does not rain us out. Another long day but it will refresh us for the push into the end of the week. Stay tuned for more of what God is doing.

Monday Morning July 20

Today will bring many opportunities. We are participating in a coffee outreach to the party-all-night crowd beginning at 7:00AM. After that we will be doing our cookie outreach to the sanitation workers around noon. Some friends from a local church will join us for this. Finally in the afternoon we will be doing another cookie outreach to the tram and bus drivers.

So far we have over 800 bags of cookies to distribute. These come from one church, our colleagues and all Lucy has baked. Another church has promised to provide cookies and workers to help with the sanitation workers. Just got word yesterday that another church may help with a few more bags of cookies.

You have helped by providing the bags. Our friends are amazed at them. There is nothing like them here and they comment on how pretty they are. They are also excited about how many you have provided. The gifts of bags are speaking clearly to local believers about being community and the desire to be light in the darkness.

Pray for strength. Today will be a long day on the street and it is only Monday.

Yesterday we took the team to worship at De Burg, the church providing the cookies for the tram and bus drivers. After church we had a nice lunch on the Korenmarkt and then came back to our apartment to bag more cookies.

We will try to keep you posted through this blog about the latest news, prayer requests and how God is moving.

Sunday July 19

Yesterday started out gray, cool and a little windy. We took the team to all of the pleins (major places where people gather during the festivals). There really are festivals since each place has its own stage, organization, agenda and activities. Each caters to a different crowd although people flow into and out of the different areas during the day.

The reception for the Feesten was Friday night. Only VIP's allowed. Some events start on Saturday morning but most wait until the parade which begins at 2:00PM. We watched the parade and the police reported we were there with about 30,000 of our closest friends.

After that we split up. Some went for rest and they guys hit the rest of the areas and grabbed a pakje frietjes (order of Belgian french fries to go).

Most regrouped at 6:00PM to watch the Scottish Bagpipe and Drum Corps concert. Everyone was present by the time Flanderen Zingt (Flanders Sings) began. That was three hours of wild, crazy, Karioke-style sing-a-long. The 37 songs are being sung during the summer festivals all across Flanders that began on June 26th and go through the middle of September. Last year about 200,000 people sang the same songs. There are favorite Dutch songs, some in regional dialects from the five Flemish regions, a few French songs and several American rock and roll songs from Elvis to current bands.

At one point as we were standing in the crowd being jostled on all sides, (picture a friendly mugging) Gary asked me if everyone from the feesten was on this plein. Even though there were several thousand there, I assured him that many of the other pleins were equally packed. They are not expecting the typical 1.5 million visitors over the 10 days but it looks like it will be well over a million again (unless something drastic happens). Many think partying and drinking will help keep the swine flu at bay. Some are already sick but it is not from the flu. On the way home passed a guy sitting in his own vomit and looking confused. No swine flu symptoms though. Maybe a mask would have helped slow the drinking down. I'll mention that to others.

Most of us got home just before the rain began to fall but the concerts and parties went on all night. They newspaper reported that there was still a good crowd in town at 3:00AM in the rain. IT IS PARTY TIME!

Today is worship and bagging more cookies. Tomorrow we head out before 7:00AM to do outreach to the party-all-night crowd, distribute cookies to tram and bus drivers, sanitation workers, police and security guards. We will also have bottles of water to give away. May not go until dark again tomorrow but quite sure it will be more than a 12-hour day. After that, it will only be seven more just like them. IT IS PRAY TIME!

Gotta go round up the team and get them to the church on time. (Could be a song in there somewhere)

Friday July 17

Bagged 496 bags of cookies and got the rest of our team settled into their local accommodations. Gonna hit the streets tomorrow with more water and intentional outreach. Hoping for good weather and good conversations.

Wednseday 15 July

Since Monday the stages and other stands are going up on the different locations of the feesten. I (John) headed out this morning with a backpack full of water bottles. The purpose was to pray on some of the pleins and to offer bottles of water to the set-up workers. That proved to be a challenge today for several reasons.

First the crews are being driven pretty hard by their supervisors and the schedule. Many were not stopping for breaks and even working through lunch. In some cases they have to finish so the next crew can come in. In other cases they have the streets blocked and that is only approved for a limited time.

Another issue was language. I ran into several crews whose primary language was French. They spoke a little Flemish and no English. Another crew that I did give water to was a challenge. They were all eastern European. Did speak a little Flemish and were very surprised by the offer of free water. I told them it was a gift from the evangelical churches in town. Not sure how much of that they understood. But they did seem really appreciative and each one told me thanks. None of the people on the pleins speak standard, academic Dutch so it is a challenge for those of us who are merely "technically proficiant" in the language.

On other pleins there is "controlled" chaos. (May be bordering on uncontrolled chaos). Each plein has an approved survey plan and it is detailed down to millimeters as to where thing are supposed to go. The problem is that not every crew has a copy of the plan and not every plein has a supervisor onsite when crews are setting up. On one plein I saw a crew trying to push a fully constructed platform tent into a new position with a forklift. The plein supervisor decided it was not in the correct position. (The tent is about 50x40 feet, canvas walls and has a wooden floor built under it) While they were pushing it with the forklift the rental company was trying to put the bar equipment in the tent. It was not a great situation and some of the words exchanged are not for publication (fortunately you would not understand the Flemish - but Flemish are rather blunt and straight forward in their communication).

We do think the water will be another way to connect. Today it was not so hot and there was a good breeze. On the warmer days it will be a bigger draw. We will continue to distribute water to the service personnel during the feesten.

Our full team is in Europe. Two are here with us and three are in Paris. Everyone will be here on Friday. Lucy has chemo tomorrow and I will go out after that if she is feeling all right. Friday is cookie bagging day and getting the team organized and settled in. The feesten begin officially on Saturday.

There is A LOT TO DO!

Gearing Up

The city is gearing up for the Gentse Feesten. The Gent Jazz Festival is currently going strong. It runs for a week before the Gentse Feesten. The first night's main entertainer was B.B. King. The newspaper said his entourage showed up at the hotel with 104 suitcases. They booked 42 rooms for the 50+ members of the crew. It included two guitar specialists and a baggage handler (guess so with that many suitcases). Did I mention he was here for only one night? He looked pretty good for an 83 year old diabetic.

As we headed for the hospital yesterday we had to change from a bus to a tram at the train station. All of the bicycle racks out front are gone. The newly remodeled train station (when finished in 2012) will have covered parking for 10,000 bicycles. Right now there is only parking for 5,000. With a chunk of them gone we could actually see the park in front of the station. Don't worry, the bicycle racks and bicycles are just being moved to the center of the city.

Other preparations? Some of the streets are being closed to auto traffic. Hotels are getting full. I checked on our team reservations yesterday and they said most of the rooms are booked. There is no need to reroute the trams through the city center. Usually they do not run through the Koren Markt from mid-morning until after midnight. With the major construction going on the trams have not been going through since April. However, there is a push to get some construction done so the cafe's can put tables back on the sidewalks.

More people and publicity to been seen is another indication. Saturday is the Flemish National Holiday so after that, it will be full speed ahead with the building of the stages and other attractions.

As for us, we are still baking cookies and getting ready for our volunteers from America. Gotta make a run to get bottled water to distribute to the set-up crews and some more cookie supplies. Our supporters in America have provided an enormous quantity of gift bags for the cookies. We are excited and overwhelmed by your support.

It kind of reminds me of an approaching hurricane. The winds start picking up and it feels stormy but you know the strongest part is yet to come. That is the feeling here. Lots of preparation, it is getting hectic but it will really get busy by the end of next week. And then the storm of over 1 million visitors hits. Lots to to and lots of opportunities.

Gearing Up For 2009

The blog is now open but preparations have been going on for a while. In essence they began last year during the Gentse Feesten but have been ramping up since this spring.

In addition to serving alongside Flemish believers during the morning coffee distribution and one church's crepe and coffee outreach we are beginning a new ministry this year. It is being called the Intentional Acts of Kindness Cookie Outreach. (Okay someone can come up with something catchy here).

Each year during the 10-day festivals the city of Gent receives 1.3 to 1.5 million visitors. (Current population is 240,000). The vast majority of these visitors are not from the immediate area. However we discovered several groups composed of mostly locals on which to focus. Each day there are around 500 drivers needed to operate the trams and buses in the city. With the night and festival buses there is service 24/7 for the 10 days. Another group of people, that is in essence invisible, is the sanitation workers. Last year they removed 124,000 metric tons of festival trash in 10 days. Finally there are the local police and private site security guards that work hard to keep the atmosphere fun, sane and safe.

Our goal is to give them a small bag of cookies as a "thank you" for their extra effort. Included with the homemade cookies will be a note of thanks from the group/church providing the cookies. We hope this will open the door to conversations about how God changes lives and blesses. We also hope it will help people see Evangelical Christians in a new, positive light.

Our American prayer partners have provided thousands of the gift bags for the cookies. But providing the cookies is a monumental task. If we provide bags of two cookies on three days to the tram/bus drivers we will need a minimum of 3,000 cookies. That does not cover the 200+ administrative workers.

Then there are the 300 sanitation workers and 500 police and private security people. Are you getting an idea of how many cookies this is. Plus, Flemish do not normally bake cookies so teaching them to do so and getting enough to provide the goal of 9 to 10 thousand cookies is really a God-sized endeavor.

So for now Lucy is baking cookies and teaching others to bake. John is busy in recruiting local partners to help with the baking and distribution.

Plus we are making the final preparations for our team from North Florida who will be coming to serve. A lot to do.