Blessings but also setbacks
T
he Ice Club had to open! 'Sorry, but you knew it's an ice club building' That was hard for all of us. What now? The only solution was to give the activities a place in our home. Luckily we had a large living room. The children's club was held at the home of Aunt Ali, head of children's work. She also had the same flat as us with a large kitchen and room. This solution also had its charm. The home meetings were well attended and the children continued to come to Aunt Ali's club on Wednesday afternoons. Our evangelizing work continued and with God's help we would get through this period.Just a few weeks of ice fun destroyed our many months of work in one fell swoop! Again, windows were broken. The benches and tables were full of skating slots. At the toilet. didn't even want to take a look, it looked that dirty. In short, our question was: Why Lord? Was it an ordeal or an attack on our work?
Anyway, we have put our shoulders to the wheel again and with the help of friends and many of our visitors and by organizing a cozy bazaar, we have made the 'Terebint' liveable again.For two full years in a row we have had great services, Bible study evenings for young and old, and kids' clubs. We were even allowed to keep a large tent campaign behind our building, in the large meadow where the cows normally grazed, which were always taken out of the meadow in cold weather and brought back into the meadow on Sunday morning, which often left traces, which we could then clean up on Sunday afternoon, because well, you don't let a preacher and guests come in through this filth.
Because our coffee bar became more and more cozy and we even got a turntable in one of the corners, the manager apparently started scratching his head, and realized that he could also rent out the building every now and then if there was a party to celebrate, and we hadn't taken that into account. So it could happen that we were sometimes told that we would be there in the coming Couldn't get in on Saturday evening and had to cancel the youth meeting. We came to see after Sunday afternoon how things had been left behind the Saturday night before.
Then John and I would roll up our sleeves again to put the bags of garbage from half-eaten croquettes, empty beer cans and dirty butts and the like, out of sight of the entrance as best they could. The doors were opened wide to allow the smell of beer and smoke to dissipate before the evening shift began. Although we didn't think it was very nice that things were left behind like this, we always went home with a satisfied feeling, because that evening we could have a meeting again!
People started to love our work and feel at home in the simple but cozy space, becoming loyal visitors. We had also gathered a good bunch of youth and a very large children's club had been created thanks to the work of a team of dear sisters who did this work with heart and soul. All glory to God who gave His blessing on our work!
