Off to Church Tomorrow

Kristen and I are part of the group which will be working with a Persian Church in Brussels ministering to Iranian immigrants in the city. Yesterday we met with the Pastor of the Church (a Westminster grad by the way) to talk about the Church and how we can help them and learn from them throughout the next month. He introduced us to Persian/Iranian culture. He taught us a few things about how to greet the people, some basic Farsi words such as hello, How are you, etc., and some things to keep in mind as we interact with them and worship with them on Sunday.

The Church service begins at 2 in the afternoon and usually lasts for about 2 hours followed by a meal afterward. We hear that the meal is usually a traditional Persian meal which I can't wait to experience! About 30-35 people attend each Sunday.

The Pastor said that we will probably be served by the Church more than we can serve the Church. But, he said perhaps the most important thing we could do throughout the next month for their Church is to pray for the individual people we develop relationships with and to be faithful examples of mature Christians. So, please pray that we could love our Iranian brothers and sisters as we worship and fellowship with them throughout the next month.

I am really really looking forward to meeting them and praising our great God together tomorrow!!

Gran Plaz

A team building exercise. Logistics Analysis. That's what we did today! This morning beginning at 9 am we received an assignment which was designed to help us work as a team to accomplish a task in a situation in which we haven't had any experience or knowledge.

Sooo, our task was to plan a 3 day itinerary for a short-term missions team coming to Brussels. We had to learn as much about Belgium as we could and plan a 3 day itinerary to show them the city of Brussels, it's culture, food, nightlife, economy, history, transportation system, museums, monuments, Churches and their gospel ministry. The best part about all of this is that we don't have any experience with Brussels so we had to learn it all ourselves while planning a 3 day itinerary!

It was a great experience even though a bit tense! Here are some pictures of the Grand Plaza in Central Brussels.

Fom the Zav Centre

We are now writing to you from Brussels. Actually, we are staying in a quaint town about a 20 minute train ride from the center of Brussels called Zaventum. We haven't been able to go to Brussels yet but I think we will get to go there this afternoon. Yesterday we walked around Zaventum a little and went to the bank, grocery store, and the train station. Today is our first full day of activites so we'll be able to fill you in a little better after today. Gotta run...

Leaving for Brussels

We are packing up yet again! Transition has been the word of the week! Fortunately we've been surrounded by people who have made our transition to Ukraine pleasant and relatively easy. Today we leave for Belgium for 4 weeks. We are looking forward to all that we have learn from those who have gone before us on the mission field. We are also very excited to meet others who are following God's call into missions. We have found such an instant click with the people we've met in all of our training experiences with Mission to the World. It is so encouraging to talk with others who know first hand what we are experiencing and looking forward to. We covet your prayers for safety as we travel today and throughout these 4 weeks that we would have open hearts willing to learn and glean much from this training experience.

In Christ's Joy,
Kristen

Our First Week in Kiev

So we thought we would write a few posts about our initial experiences here in Kiev since we've been here for a week now. Since I'm (Garrett) a weather kind of guy I'll write about that.

For the most part the temperature has been around -10 Celsius during the day and down to -20 at night. Although now it is warmer and is closer to 0 Celsius. It's generally cloudy, although we had one day of clear skies and sunshine. Usually it snows a little bit each day which is cool!!

The clouds seem to generally move from west to east and our windows face to the south which means when the sun is out we get lots of sunshine flooding through our flat's windows! Of course I've only been here for a week so it could all change...

Off we go

We are all packed and ready to go. We're leaving today at noon to drive to JFK International airport where our flight leaves at 6:30 this evening. Thanks for your prayers. We appreciate them and are thankful to our great God for his provision for us in Christ.

Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Skype

Our Skype name is Kristen Clemmer so if you ever wanna talk, give us a call. 1 day and counting...