The Journey to Brussels Update...

Hello from Germany!!

Here is the latest update for Brussels!

Click here to see it in google documents!

BRUSSELS BOUND!!!

Hello Friends! Ok, Don't fall over in your chair because I have finally posted. It has been a LONG time...7 months actually since I last posted. I'm sorry about that. Time went by and well...life happened! There is a lot of update you on, but the biggest news is

I'M MOVING TO BRUSSELS!!!!

A lot has to happen between now and then. The biggest is fund raising... which I'm working on now.

I will fill you in on details later about this journey and some other things going on in my life. Until then you can enjoy this!

I thought you could click on the image to see it larger. I can't get that to work, so you can view it HERE

Every need has a name…Every name has a story.

This statement was the theme of Serve the City. We were constantly challenged to recognize that we are needy and recognizing that through “I am…I need” statements.

I am tired…I need rest.

I am a sinner…I need a Savior.

There were many people who I met and a few who really left a mark on my heart…

ODEANA

The first day we were traveling to different parks around the city giving hugs to anyone and everyone who would take them. Andrea, one of the teenagers on our team, had given a woman a hug, but came to me and said she really felt that she needed to go back to the lady. She asked for my lotion from my bag and went back to sit with her. Andrea learned quickly that the woman didn’t speak English, and was unsure of what language she spoke. She took the lotion and started to rub it into the woman’s hands. The woman started crying, and Andrea, being a compassionate person, started crying with her. They sat together for at least 30 minutes before our group had to travel else where.  I looked at the two of them wiping tears from their eyes, and told Andrea that it was time to leave. She tried to say goodbye to her new friend and collapsed in my arms sobbing. Through the sobs she said, “Erin, she is so lonely. I don’t want to leave her.” At that point I became teary eyed, and had an idea. I took a picture of Andrea and her new friend and we tried to communicate that we would be back. Andrea and I wandered the area looking for a kiosk to print the picture and bring it back. After 45 minutes of searching we were successful and went back to the park. She was so excited to see us coming back, and started crying again when we handed her the picture. We tried to communicate our names to her, when finally she pulled out her identification card. We learned that her name was Odeana and she was from Romania. We tried to invite her to the festival we were having on Saturday, but the invitation was in French and English, so it didn’t help her much. Every time we passed that park we would look for Odeana, but we never saw her again.

LATIFF

The second day of serving, the Stop the Traffik team (They worked in the Red Light district to bring awareness to Human Sex Trafficking) came across an abandoned office building that housed over 450 refugees who were there as squatters- men and women in protest because the government failed in giving them their papers. The Kamikaze Kindness team went there to bring them water and cleaning supplies. At first it was very intimidating to talk to the men as they surrounded us and were trying to take our pictures. I didn’t want my fear to put a barrier between the men and I, so I started talking to the ones who could speak English.  I learned their stories, how many of them have come to Brussels hoping for a better life and have been squatting for 8+ years waiting for their papers. Many of them didn’t work since they weren’t legal citizens, so they just waited for the day that they would receive their papers. Their integrity was admirable. Within the building there was a sense of brotherhood. They took care of each other and had writings all over the walls about how uniting together they would get their papers. Latiff was one of the men that I met. He came to Brussels from Morocco hoping to have a better life. He was so welcoming to me, offering me tea and something to eat. We talked for a long time and I invited him to the festival. He left a mark on my heart the way that he welcomed me into his home (or room) and served me, when I had gone to serve him. Later that week the first person that I saw at the festival was Latiff! It was so great to see my new friend again and hang out the rest of the day with him. I was running the 3v3 basketball tournament at the festival so I was able to get some of the guys to play basketball with him. When he finally had to leave I could tell that he didn’t want to. He told me that I was a good girl and he was so thankful for our friendship. He also said he had never had such a great day as he did that day.


NASSIR
I didn’t meet Nassir personally, but some of the kids on my team did. He was also in the refugee squat waiting for his papers. Nassir welcomed John, Andrea, and Chad by cooking them food and making them tea.  He shared his Islam faith with them while they were sharing their Christian faith with him. During the conversation Nassir shared that they had created a Mosque within the building and asked if they would like to see it. They went to the Mosque and Nassir showed them what an Islam prayer was, telling them that they could take pictures. When he was finished John asked if he had ever heard a Christian prayer before. Nassir hadn’t, so John asked if he could pray for him. Nassir responded that he would be honored to have them pray in his Mosque, so they go on their knees and prayed for Nassir!!!

JAMES

On the last day we were cleaning up a nearby alleyway that was littered with trash. It looked like it was becoming a landfill it was so trashed. I was walking back to the EPEE center where a STC volunteer was asking if there was a car that he could use to drive a homeless man, who couldn't walk, to another part of the city so he could get his money. Unfortunately, all the cars that we had access to were in use, but Carlton (who was in charge of STC) quickly volunteered me to go with him and try to figure something out. By the time we got back to the homeless man some other Serve the City volunteers had met him and were trying to help him. We decided to call a cab. While we were waiting we learned that his name was James. Once the cab arrived we were walking James to get into the car, but when the cab driver learned who he would be transporting he drove away. We tried to think of what we could do, when I realized that Little Sisters of the Poor, which is a place for the elderly, was right down the street. We borrowed a wheelchair from them to push James across town. We finally got to the post and got him his money, and then pushed him to the store where he bough cigarettes and beer. We went to a nearby park and hung out with him for a while.

This trip really showed me to see people as people and not as the stereotypes and labels that the world has given them. People just want to be loved.  I pray now that I won’t allow myself to fall back into the hole of having a self-centered life– that instead I will constantly be looking for ways to love the unloved.  I want to learn people’s names and stories rather than seeing them as people with a need.

Serve the City...

Serve the City is showing kindness in practical ways to people in need. For the week of Serve the City there were 30 different projects to sign up with. Some of the projects included working with elderly, children, refugees, women, or doing practical work (painting, etc) at different places. The 6 of us signed up for Kamikaze Kindness, the project that sent us wandering the streets of Brussels looking for ways to spread love and hope through the city.

We did a wide variety of things throughout the city! The first serving day the dance team from South Africa traveled with us. They would do their dance to draw a crowd. Here is a video of them at the Skate Park we went to clean up and talk to kids.



We gave out free hugs to anyone and everyone! We walked around the city holding signs saying "Calins Grantuit" (which means free hugs) and would walk up to people and give them hugs.

One of the kids at the Skate Park grabbed the "Free Hugs" sign from Trevin and started going around to girls to get hugs from them. Trevin took the sign back but told the kid that he could make his own sign. Our paths crossed with those kids 3 times that day, and they had made their own Free Hugs sign and were giving free hugs to strangers just as we were!!
Twice we went to the train station for part of the day and waited for trains arriving from Paris and London and welcomed them to Brussels! It was a lot of fun yelling "Welcome to Brussels!" as they walked through to door and give people hugs. It brought many smiles to people's faces. I had one woman say to me "You don't know how much I need this hug right now." That made it so worth it!

While I was waiting for the rest of our group I was able to help a mom who was trying to control her kids while waiting for someone. Her kids weren't listening to her and running around everywhere, so I pulled out some bubbles that I had in my bag and started blowing them. The kids immediately turned and started playing with them. The mom looked and my and said "Merci! Merci! Merci!!" Its fun the little things that we can do that mean so much to people!

Cleaning was a big part of our serving. We carried trash bags and brooms with us wherever we went and cleaned anywhere we saw needed it. Chad was excellent with his cleaning skills! Friday, the last serving day, someone stumbled across an alleyway behind an apartment building that was FILLED with trash. It looked like a landfill. We spent the entire day on Friday cleaning up the alleyway and someone called the city to have them come and haul away what we put together. As we were leaving Carlton shared that they want to try to plant a garden where all the trash used to be.

Here's a video of the alley with Trevin's narration...



Cleaning up the alleyway...

John and Chad bagging trash

 

Trevin and I sweeping away! 

Andrea! 

Robyn cleaning up trash

What a great week...and this is just a taste of the things we did! 

The days in preparing to Serve the City...

I've been home for a week and a day...and I'm still processing a lot. As the lessons that I learned are still churning inside my brain I will share what we did while we were there, starting with the few days before Serve the City actually started...

Friday was a adjustment day. We flew all night Thursday night and arrived Friday morning. We were given a mini tour of the city by one of the interns. It was basically his job to keep us awake for the day since we were all dragging from the travel! I was up for over 36 hours straight since I don't sleep on planes!

Saturday all the volunteers gather at the EPEE Center, which was our homebase for the week. Carlton, the leader of Serve the City, and team lead for the Christian Associates team in Brussels, shared with us about Crossing the Line and Serving the City. Within Brussels there is a distinct line. There used to be a wall around the city, where on one side the poor lived, and the other is where the rich lived. The wall is no longer there, but now there is a vertical divide where it used to be. There is a lift (an actual elevator) that divides the city. At the top of the lift is Palace de Justise, the Courthouse, and where the rich live. At the bottom is where the poor reside. The EPEE Center is just below the lift. Pictured on the right is standing above the lift looking down to where The EPEE Center is. The lift is in the left of the picture.

We split into different sessions to learn more about the culture within Brussels. I went to Understanding Islam first, which was interesting, but I felt like we got the smallest taste and I have so much more to learn! The second session I went to was Stop the Traffik. This session showed my ignorance and how naive I am within the world of human trafficking. Phil shared an audio interview of a woman who was dating a guy and after several months they traveled to France together, and then he made her go to Italy with him. Once they went to Italy the boyfriend began selling her. Her parents would call but he was always with her, so she had to lie about how things were. She ended up getting really sick and was in the hospital for a week. During her time in the hospital she was able to call her parents and tell them the truth. Her parents came and freed her from the guy. Sadly, she can't bring it upon herself to change her number so the guy keeps calling her and telling her that it was all a misunderstanding and is trying to get her to come back. He has been calling her for 2 years now.
Sex slaves aren't the only way people are trafficked. Stop the Traffik has targeted the chocolate industry. They played this video for us...




The end scene breaks my heart where you see a little African child having his first taste of chocolate. He has been working long hard hours harvesting the cocoa beans not knowing the goodness that they create!!
Stop the Traffik has gone after a European chocolate company who after 2 years of them getting in their faces about child slavery has said that they will use fair trade cocoa beans for the biggest selling bar. Stop the Traffik then targeted Mars Chocolate and after only 2 weeks they said that they will only use fair trade chocolate for their biggest bar now, and by 2020 use only fair trade. Nestle is their next target.

I had no clue about human trafficking, especially in the chocolate industry....again there is so much more that I need to learn! If you want to learn more check out stopthetraffik.org.

On Sunday we went to different churches. Robyn, Andrea, and I went to Vineyard church. It was a small english speaking church outside the city. It was a nice service, and everyone there was especially nice and welcoming towards us. After the service we went to lunch with one of the worship leaders, Stephen. His wife was away visiting one of their four daughters in England so she wasn't able to come with us. We went to Pizza Hut! It was the nicest Pizza Hut I had ever been to! After lunch he took us to their house which was really neat! Then we walked around a market that was going on down the street from where he lived. It was a HUGE market! Here is a picture of the 4 of us. Get used to the blue shirts because we wore them every day!

After we headed back to the city we went to All Well Worship. The Well is the church plant that Christian Associates has started. They have 4 (maybe 5) different expressions. Some meet in the morning, some at night, some target families, some single people, etc. This night all the expressions came together. Carlton was telling me that they have a hard time getting most of the people to come to all Well Worship. It was a neat service. We met in a huge, gorgeous, old church. There were stations set up around the room, each one representing a different Beatitude. Once the stations were over there was a time of worship, Carlton spoke on their continued series about Desire, and more worship. We headed down to EPEE for dinner together and called it a night!

It was crazy everything we packed into the weekend...and this was all before Serve the City actually started!!!

I'm Home...but I don't think my heart is...

I got home Wednesday night. Our plane landed at 7:30 pm. It feels very strange to be home again. Our time in Brussels was amazing. I was so impressed with the kids on our team. Our comfort zones were stretched, we served with all our hearts, made new friends. Truly an amazing trip! I'm still processing a lot...as I have tons of stories to share and as I process things I will post them. For now here is the video of the week that one of the interns put together, and the song "Names" written by one of the high school students who lives in Brussels and his parents are missionaries there.

BRUSSELS BOUND!

That's right!! Its finally here!! We leave this evening for Brussels! This time has gone by so quickly!!

We are super excited to see what God has in store. Our team has signed up for Kamakazie Kindness where we will go through the city everyday looking for ways we can serve people; whether its giving someone a flower to brighten their day, sweeping a storefront for a store owner, we want to look for people's needs so we can learn their names and hopefully hear their stories.

I love our team! We are small but mighty! We have a blast whenever we are together, but we also have prayer warriors on this team! Please pray with us over the next 2 weeks while we are gone.

Pray for:
- team unity
- that we can step way outside our comfort zones
- the hearts of the people in Brussels we will be serving
- safety while traveling
- our relationships with the CA families we are serving with

I hope to be able to post quick updates a few times while we are there to let you know how we're doing and what to pray for!!

But for now...Brussels here we come!!! :)

The Road to Brussels...

That's right! I'm heading to Brussels this summer!!! I've mentioned my friends the Doyles to you, that I met at Connect in Hungary two years ago. Well this summer I'm traveling back over to Europe with 5 others for Serve the City Brussels. Serve the City is all about serving people in need in practical ways. Every need has a name, and every name has a story. Serve the City wants to know people by their names and stories rather than by their needs.




June 25th I will board a plane with Andrea, Trevin, Robyn, John, and Chad and head to Brussels to serve until July 8th. We are hoping to learn and experience STC and bring it home with us to replicate it within our surrounding communities.

To tackle the high cost of this trip we are doing several fundraisers. Andrea and I did some yard work for money. We learned how to thatch a yard. It was hard work, but we had a lot of fun!!

 

The lawn bags were HUGE!

I had some trouble getting out of the bag! 

All our hard work!

Please pray with me for our trip. Pray for unity among the 6 of us, for safety in our travels, for our fundraising, and for the people who we will be serving.