Sea, sand and sun

We are on our way home from CEF, with a stopover in Panama City Beach.
We had a great time in Missouri, working and visiting. The trip to Florida was uneventful and the weather here was nice and cool so we could get used to the warmer temperatures we are enjoying now. We have been positively lazy: sleeping in, walking the beach, enjoying the water, getting dry in the sun, (without burning :-), sitting in the hot tub and watching some commercial free TV. I guess there must be things to see and do around here, but our days were filled with rest. Sand, sun, sea, surf and sun-sets. We should arrive back at our home by Tuesday of next week (April 28). I think we have found spring. It has been green, we have seen flowers burst forth, and we have soaked up the sun.
Enjoying creation come to life, enjoying life such as it is, and being assured of LIFE, we live on as travelers as time marches onward.

Our work at CEF.

(the pictures are clickable for larger views)



Although most of the volunteers here work at the Mailbox Club, some of us work in different areas, like maintenance and grounds for many of the able bodied men. Corrie and I usually work in the production department. We are involved with collating, punching and comb-binding books of “flash-cards.” Some of these books also contain text and songs, for use in clubs. The CEF press here also publishes Spanish versions; some of the international books contain just the flash cards. Also we have been helping pack kits for the various Gospel Clubs, like the Five Day Clubs, or Good News Clubs. The Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that Good News Clubs can be conducted in public elementary schools, so many kits are prepared for use in Good News Clubs held at these schools.

Corrie is the one volunteer who is trained and trusted to make “Wordless Books.” These booklets use color to tell the salvation - gospel story. Green is for Salvation and is the outside cover. Black signifies our sin, Red the blood of Christ, White is the washing away - purity, Gold is heaven, the presence if God. Many of the club leaders like to use these little books. They are made in strips, which produce 6 booklets. In a day a person can make about 200 strips, or 1200 booklets. CEF press also still makes flocked pictures, which can be used on flannel boards; again, there continues to be quite a demand for these as well.
Most of this work is labor intensive, therefore the use of volunteers is very beneficial.

For relaxation we have a country band sing along, called “Picking and Grinning” once a week, usually on Thursday night. We do a lot of old “homecoming” songs, and some fancy guitar picking goes on as well. All good clean fun. Many evenings we go for a walk on the grounds, but this time, the weather has not been cooperative. It has been cold and rainy, most days. So we have been relegated to watching some DVD movies on our computer in the room.

On "Assignment"

Here we are again, working at the beautiful Child Evangelism Fellowship campus. It is nice to be back here among old friends while making new ones. The CEF Headquarters is always a bustling place. Just the operation of the Mailbox Club keeps many volunteers busy. Corrie and I usually work in the finishing department, with the production of flash-cards, binding them into books; or assembling kits for “5 Day Clubs,” or “After School Clubs” where the Gospel message is presented to children. During our stay at here in Warrenton, Missouri, we again noticed te colorful center of the campus; the International Plaza. CEF is present all over the world and the world is divided in 8 CEF regions. Although each region has a regional director, each of the countries in these region is individually represented. The plaza sprouts nine flagpoles; one for each region and the 9th one for unreached nations. There are about 59 nations in the world where CEF is not present. Each of the 8 flagpoles flies a flag from a nation in the specific region, the names of the individual nations are listed on the base of the poles. I used to recognize more flags than I do now, and it is always a nice challenge to me to guess the country represented by a specific flag. The flags are changed weekly during a scheduled ceremony attended by staff and volunteers. During the dedication service of the plaza last year, a specific national flag was run up the associated regional flagpole after a brief history and other information regarding that flag and what it represents. The first flag up was from Brazil, representing the Latin American region; the first international endeavor of CEF, back in the 1940s. Next Europe was represented by Albania, the country in which all religion, – including Christianity, had been stamped out. After the fall of communism, things definitely changed! For the unreached nations the international board selected Egypt to initially be represented; after all Jesus went there first. Every day now, as we walk to work and back to our room in the lodge, we are continually warmed in our hearts by the grace of God, who allows His word to be spread to all the children of the world.

Another Tradition

Finding Spring...
Well, we have started on one of our other “rituals.” Finding spring. I was done with the need for more snow, by Christmas. Yet it take another 3 or more months for even the first promise of spring, here in the Heartland of the USA. (When we lived in the Dakotas it took until May, usually.) So, after we retired and spend winter at home, we use an early opportunity to go a bit farther South. We look for Red buds, Dog woods, and Forsythias, even a Dandelion gives me great hope for the coming warming period. This usually goes coupled with a Mission Support trip to CEF in Warrenton, MO. On the way and during our weekends there, we visit with Rick and Jena. Often there is some project for which an extra hand comes in handy; so we get to work together while we visit. By the pictures you can see, that we were successful in finding Spring. We are at Rick and Jena’s house in Saint James and even though it is rainy and cold outside, we see the huge forsythia blooming. This weekend in the later part of March is our start of our enraptured enjoyment of the budding of the trees and other wild vegetation this year. Missouri is a great place to find spring. At least until Saturday night, winter tried to get back in, with about 1 ½ inches of snow. It was a wimpy show, fortunately. On Sunday the sun was back to melt it all away. Keep coming spring!

Fietsen (2)

I am overdue for my blog update. Sorry, but the weather was so great that we have gone for a bike ride last Wednesday (February 25) and also yesterday, March 4. Beautiful weather and 20 miles of gorgeous trails along the Des Moines river and surrounding areas. I forgot the camera, so no pictures of this trip. I have a picture or two to share, however. On I found on the web, and it shows a standard type of bak-fiets, which you can use to move just about anything that can fit in the “bak” The other one is a cut out from the picture in the previous blog, and it shows a bak-fiets with only two wheels, which is more difficult to balance, but seems to steer easier, with the single wheel up front. When I grew up in Appingedam, I helped deliver bread and other baked goods on Saturdays. We had a large, heavy, and covered bak-fiets; like the one with the kids in it, except much longer. Also the milkman had a large open bak-fiets which usually had two or more milk cans with a tap on the bottom, as well as a variety of other dairy products. He usually had a house-to-house route, which he completed every day.

If you look at the other picture (which I resubmitted here form last time), Corrie is holding an older type of ladies bike, the curved, low “bar” allows a lady to “step through” to get on the saddle, which is really handy if you wear a skirt. For you younger ones: it was very uncommon to see a middle aged or older lady in slacks, until the seventies, or later. This style bike is now affectionately known as a :granny-bike.” Also note the covers of part of the wheels in the back; this would prevent your skirt from getting dirty by rubbing on the tire or the spokes. Most bikes in Holland have splash-guards to keep the rain from dirtying your shoes or your back-side, like happens here when you go through a puddle... Remember that a bike is the primary local transport for very many people and it rains a lot in the Netherlands, so you can see the need. Also the chain is usually totally enclosed in a chain guard on Dutch bikes. I remember the difficulty of replacing the chain, if it would come of the gears. You’d have to remove the chain guard to do anything. Good preventive maintenance is a must. The other bike which Corrie is holding, (mine) has an open chain-guard, so it was an import, – German I think.

Traditions (7)

"Fietsen."

Fietsen is the Dutch verb for riding a bicycle, (the word for bicycle is fiets.) Unless you have visited this beautiful country in Western Europe, you really don’t know how important it is to the Dutch to be able to ride a bicycle. In the United States biking has become much more popular recently, there are even some who would ride a bike to work and back, but this makes the news... We ride primarily for recreation, fun, or sport. Even though bicycle events like “RAGBRAI” (the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) attract many thousands of bicycle riders and supporters, it still is primarily an “event.”

(RAGBRAI 2007)




Even my bride and I now ride primarily for our enjoyment, not to go to the store or the post office. In the Netherlands, however, riding a bicycle is like driving a car in the US. The fiets is a primary means of getting from here to there. In any city, it is usually easier and often much quicker, to get around on a bike, every thoroughfare has a bike-lane as well. Even special traffic lights exist for these specially marked lanes for the safe flow of all the traffic. Foreign pedestrians should take very special care not to walk on these bike paths, because he might get hit by a handle-bar. Usually a bel-ring warns unsuspecting walkers that a bike is about to pass them; you are expected to clear the way. There are probably more paved bicycle paths and roads dedicated to cycling than for automobiles. Although bicycle riders are expected to obey all regular traffic rules and have the right of the road, where a bike path is msiising, they also have special protection. In the event of an accident between a car and a cyclist, the car driver is usually considered “at fault.”

There are many more specific bike experiences, like holding hands, or “carrying” your sweetheart along, which I could share but I’ll save that for another time.


Bicycle "storage" (Amsterdam)

Tradition (6 in a series)

I have been encouraged to continue to write about “Celebrating Traditions.”
Now there are a lot of traditions in our lives, yet not all of them are celebrated per sé; some may even be barely tolerable. Yet we treasure them, particularly when they bring the comfort of the familiar, when they sustain our heritage, or when they poignantly bring specific events to recall.

I guess a very non-threatening tradition we have is the one of “stampot” This is also spelled (correctly) “stamppot.” This is a conjunction of “stamp” and “pot.” This term is descriptive of a Dutch dish, which is usually served in the cooler months of the year. In the United States there are many casserole dishes, which are prepared as a mix of foods which are blended in cooking in an oven. I believe that stampot is a variant on this, albeit without the use of an oven.

Most of these dishes are simple to make with available supplies in the winter time. Potatoes keep well in a cellar, kale tastes better after a frost, cut beans are preserved with salt, carrots, turnips, or beets keep well in the cellar also. Apples and wax beans can be dried or canned. Various cabbages can obviously be used as well. There is a Wikipedia site for your perusal as well: (click here)

The reference to “hutspot” is interesting, and dates the use of stampot back to at least the 16th century.

Even today we still enjoy the heartiness of this meal, which is usually cooked with the meat on top. The meat is left on top so it can be removed before the mashing of the boiled potato and vegetable mix, this allows the meat juices to permeate the mashed pot of food adding to the flavor. A variety of meats can be used, but primarily a slab of bacon, or some form of sausage is used.