the continuation of life in brussels

So I haven't felt mega inspired to blog lately because it kind of feels like not a lot has been going on, but in actual fact, things HAVE been going on. And so here is a little taster of what I've been doing the past couple of weeks and the continuation of life in Brussels...

There was a post at desiring god maybe 10 days or so after new year, about how it wasn't too late to start a bible reading plan for the year, and so that is what I've done. I happened to have a copy of "More Precious Than Gold", the bible in one or two years reading plan designed by Robert Murray M'Cheyne, in a pile of stuff on my shelves, and so I've been using it! And it's been so great!! Even though still, it's not like every day I wake up really enthusiastic about doing it. That's just life and I figure all Christians struggle with that... but it's good because with this plan you're not just stuck in one book for weeks and week trying to get through it. You read four chapters per day, one each from four different sections of the Bible. So it starts in Genesis, Ezra, Matthew and Acts, and then you continue from there kind of thing... so you really get a feel for the whole Bible. Especially as these key points are all really well chosen: Genesis - THE beginning. Ezra - The new beginnng ater the exile. Matthew - Jesus! :). Acts - The start of the Church! And yeah.. it's motivating because you feel like you're getting somewhere! Although I'm still not looking forward to Leviticus.

Socially... me, Lucy and an english friend also on her year abroad here: Esther, spent a really nice day hanging out last weekend. Every year there's a thing called Europalia in Brussels, which focuses on one other country and for several months there are 'Expos' (exhibitions), concerts, films, plays etc... all from/based on that culture. This year it's China  and we checked out an expo of Chinese calligraphy, which was quite interesting, although got more enjoyable when noticing bad french to english translations of th explanationy bits. :) That same evening we went to a youth event which seems to happen every couple of months here called 'Explosion'. That was interesting, although we were pretty pooped from our days wanderings and left before the end. But it was cool to sing in english because it's a bilingual event, and the band was really great too. It was super encouraging to see young people from all sorts of churches coming together to worship God and pray for Belgium as a nation.

I managed to sustain an injury from Explosion... (the title is somewhat ironic lol)... as there were no chairs we tended to sit or stand as the atmosphere or our legs dictated. I sat awkwardly on my right foot for quite a while and it has been irking me ever since, making walking pretty much anywhere a bit of an ordeal. Thank goodness for monthly abonnements. It is finally fading away now tho, which is reassuring as after some internet research, I had worried I'd got 'posterior tibial tendon dysfunction' which ends up as arthritis. :S

GBU-wise... pretty much all of the groups have started back now. Most of them are studying John and we just had a 'Focus' event where the general secretary gave a presentation on "How to Read the Gospel of John" with notes about the structure of it, key themes etc, and how best to approach leading studies. The first Focus inn... September? October? November?... not sure anymore. But it was CRAZILY well attended with between 80-100 people present. This was unusual. This time was seemingly more normal with about 14 of us there. It was a shame there weren't more GBU students  there because it was a really useful presentation, but the nature of student life here... going home for weekends etc ... isn't really helpful in trying to get people to come to stuff on the weekends and there just isn't a free evening during the week.

At the central group we're continuing our studies in Mark. I'm going to be leading my first study in French hopefully next week, on either the 16th or 17th February, we're debating changing the night as one of the people who came to the soirée noel wants to come, but can't regularly on a Wednesday. So we shall see!

We also had the prayer meeting last weekend where I presented the IFES movement in Haiti and prayer points, and also gave a mini Bible thought from Revelation. I guess I'm just sharing these things that I'M doing because I figure that's what you'll be interested in knowing about... seeing as there isn't loads that I can really list as saying, practically this is what I've been doing and how I've been trying to help. But I can't do anything on my own and it's only by the grace of God that I'm here, that I'm not a complete wreck lol, that I can speak french and that it's improving... everything really. So glory to Him and not to me right there!

Non-GBU related as such, I've been struggling a bit with disciplining myself to do and get productive stuff done. So I've made a timetable for myself to try and help in that area. I'm applying for several TEFL jobs to teach during July on english camps now that I have my trinity certificate, so hopefully something will come of that. Also there may be some opportunities here to help tutor/teach english one to one with students or friends which would be really good experience, and in some cases, a bit of extra money! :)

Coming up is still the GBU camp... and also WAN (of wan's blog fame) is coming to stay!! From 8th-14th Feb. I absolutely cannot wait, she will be my first proper visitor from the UK and it will be so lovely to show her everything and itnroduce her to people!! We also have a house arranged for next year in Preston, just around the corner from where we were living last year. That's a great answer to prayer because it's pretty stressful if you don't get one quick, and not being there to help... yeah. So praise God for that!

One last thing on this big old ramble... I said I'd keep you up to date with my age old new years resolution of weight loss. Well..the healthy eating isn't going soo well, belgian waffles are simply toooo tempting a snack! 10 for €0.79! But I can now do 30 sit-ups and I bought a book on amazon for 99p of a thing called 'callenetics' which sounds and looks amazing and not too hard, but is actually the most difficult thing in the world. Hence... motivation not too high at the moment, but hoping and praying it will return to me lol or else I will be returning to the UK a blob! :P