Belgium Blessing: When It Rains, It Pours

“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

~Matthew 28:18-20

A Decision to Serve Belgium

A few years ago we were sitting in a Sunday evening church service listening to the regional director of missions. He was speaking of the great work their ministry was doing for Christ. The words of Matthew 28 was going through our minds. We felt we had always been witness’ for Jesus here in the states, but not to all nations. We felt a calling in our hearts that maybe now was the right time to serve short term in another country.  So, we decided to serve on a mission trip to Belgium. We had never been to Europe before, so we were both really excited about going. Our trip would mostly focus on doing outreach work – which is funny in itself because neither one of us spoke a word of French!

 Belgium, Here We Come

We arrived there on Saturday and had the weekend to get to know the families who were hosting us. Monday morning we were scheduled to have our first mission meeting. We didn’t know what the weather would be like so we each asked our host family, who basically just said, “Maybe sun, maybe rain, who knows?” (I guess they had never heard of the weather channel!) It was summer, and the sun was shining in the morning, so because we were doing work for the church we were not supposed to wear shorts, so we both wore a sundress.

First Official Meeting

Monday morning arrives and we go to our first official meeting of our month-long mission trip, and we’re excited to get going. As the meeting started we quickly realized that everything was being discussed in French and no one there was interpreting anything. We were a little worried, but there were several non-French speakers there, so we figured we’d be o.k..

After everyone talked for a while and the details had been worked out, we prayed and all loaded up into cars and a van to head out. We were all talking and having a good time seeing the sights – not paying much attention to where we were headed. Then, maybe two miles down the read, the missionary stopped the van, asked two people to get out, handed them a bunch of flyers and a map, and said he’d see them back at the church before lunch – oh boy! We had cell phones with us, but the village we were in at the time didn’t have cellular service.

Is This A Mailbox?

Sandy and I were the last two people in the van to be dropped off and given our map. By this time, the sky was filled with dark gray clouds and it looked like it was going to start pouring down the rain any moment.

We said something to the missionary about not being dressed right for the weather, remember we both had on sleeveless dresses. He basically told us there was nothing he could do for us and that maybe in the future we’d make a better clothing choice!

(Despite this non-American cold response, he actually is a very nice man!)

So with map and flyers in hand, we set out to start putting flyers in everyone’s mailbox. We were to follow the red highlighted trail on the map, dropping off flyers as we went. Sandy was on one side of the street and I was on the other trying to get flyers delivered as soon as possible. We each get to our first mailbox. I need to take a moment right now to ask you if you have ever seen a European mailbox… They look nothing like our mailboxes here in the States.

We are each walking around this contraption in the front lawn, trying to decide if it actually was the mailbox. There were slits in both the front and back that were completely open. Anyone could reach right in, not to mention, everything in the box has the potential to get ruined in a hard rain… So here we are, walking around this tall metal/brick pillar, talking back and forth across the street about it.  The whole time imagining if anyone is looking out the window at us, we have to look like complete lunatics!
We finally decide, yes, this is the mailbox and we are putting a flyer in it, and moving on to the next house.

The Blessing: A Belgium Garden Store

The sky is getting darker by the moment, so we are trying to hurry. It starts to sprinkle, so we are going as fast as we can, until very quickly it turns into a downpour. We decide to step under someone’s awning and try to wait it out. After several minutes, the rain slacks off and we decide to keep going, studying our map as we go to make sure we are headed in the right direction to get back to the church. On and off it keeps down pouring, so we keep stepping under different house’s awnings. Eventually, we turn the corner onto a different street just as the rain really starts coming down. We see a garden store and decide to go in to wait out the downpour.

100% WATERPROOF

We stay in the store for a while and the rain slacks off, so we head out. Very quickly it starts down pouring again. So we go back into the store. We do this 2 or 3 times, then decide to look around in the tiny little garden shop to see if they carry any kind of jackets. As we are looking around, we spot something that looks like a rain jacket. We are looking it over to try to decide if it is waterproof, we know even if we find a tag on it, we won’t be able to read it, because it’ll be in French. So we find the tag, and it says “Made in the U.S.A., 100% waterproof”!!! Praise God! Then we spend the next few moments trying to do the conversion to figure out how much they’d be. But honestly, the price didn’t even matter, we were buying them no matter what.

The Blessing of a Different Answer

Now, rain jackets on, and flyers and map in tow, we set out to finish delivering our flyers and head back to the church for lunch. Long story short, we were well over an hour late getting back and people were starting to get worried.

We walked in, and our missionary was very relieved to see us. He was asking us what happened and where we had been. And suddenly he stopped talking and his eyes got really big, as he’s looking us up and down. Then he asks, “Where did the rain coats come from?” We told him about the little garden store and show him the tags from our jackets. Everyone was laughing and at that moment, our missionary knows that he doesn’t have to spend time worrying about us, with God’s help we will find a way to be successful in any situation he puts us in!

God reminded us – To not worry about our needs, He knows & will provide.

Matthew 6:31-32 says: So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

Keep Encouraging