Miriam Ford, InterAction Worker – Brussels

February Newsletter
Avenue de la Couronne, 162, 1050 – Ixelles, Brussels, BELGIUM +32 470 579270
miriamford@hotmail.co.uk +44 7738 356096

Hi again! Can you tell I was struggling to find photos to include this month?  However, despite that January
has been another month of both trials and blessings, hopefully February holds more of the same! Thanks
again so much for reading and praying and keeping touch, I don’t take it for granted and thank and praise
God for each one of you 

At Woluwe, the two GBU groups haven’t
yet restarted. The evening one; we are unsure
whether it will start again at all or not, it’s
down to the leader to decide if she wants to
continue as almost nobody came last term. In
the meantime I’ve been at the ULB group on
Monday evenings. The lunch time group
should have started last week, I went along
and fortunately ran into two members who
told me that they were actually going to start
this week instead as they didn’t have a key for
the room. This is pretty much what the
Woluwe groups are like every week: “will it,
won’t it?” Please pray for consistency there
this term as we study John.
We’ve had three meetings back at the central group
so far and we continue in our studies in Mark. Praise God
that the girl who took a Bible after the soirée noel came
to the study last week!! We’re hoping to be able to
change the night of the meeting to Tuesdays as of next
week to enable her to come more regularly. She’s a friend
of one of the group leaders but we’re unsure as to
whether she is already a Christian or not. She’s from a
Catholic background (as are lots of students here) so
please pray that it will become clear to us, and more
importantly to her, as she sees and hears more of Jesus in
Mark! I’m hoping to lead my first bible study at this group
in French next week (16th or 17th February) in Mark 8:14-
38, for which I would very much appreciate your prayers!

This is a picture from Focus in November. By Belgian

standards it was surprisingly well attended! This month
however, there were only fourteen of us there for a talk
and presentation by Erwin (GBU general secretary) on
‘How to read John’s Gospel”, and only three of those were
students. It was encouraging to see those who did come
out, but illustrates one of GBU’s biggest problems: trying
to grow real commitment and enthusiasm for the work in
the students themselves. Please pray that students would
be excited about and looking to share the Gospel.

This month will see the second of the GBU’s annual camps, and this year it is going to be a joint one with
Ichtus: the Flemish/Dutch speaking movement in Belgium. Me, Lucy and Erwin met two of the Ichtus staff at
the place where it’s going to be held (Thieusies, near Mons) earlier in January to discuss some of the
practicalities, and also got a taste of what the weekend will be like linguistically (French, Dutch and English). It
will take place from 19th-21st February, and Erwin will be giving five talks from Philippians with the title
“L’Union fait la force” roughly translated (I think) “Unity Gives/Is Strength”. Please pray for Erwin as he
prepares and speaks to us, that students would be challenged, relationships would be built up and
strengthened, that language wouldn’t pose too much of a problem(!) and that God would be glorified in it all.
  Personally, I got over the whole wishing I was at home thing pretty
quickly! So I thank God for that. This month being so unstructured though, (more
so than usual) with the exam period etc, has meant that I’ve found it quite
difficult to stay disciplined and keep a good routine to be productive! Please pray
that I would be motivated, disciplined and ‘intentional’ in my everyday walk.
 French-wise I’m really pleased that this weekend I’ve heard three talks/studies
in French, and managed to mostly understand them and concentrate right until
the end. This is more thanks to the well prepared speakers I think, than my
capabilities, but all the same it’s been encouraging! I also had a dream in French
for the first time which is a good sign and what I’d been hoping for for ages!! 
 Church hasn’t (if I’m being honest) been the highlight of my week for quite a
while now. I really enjoy the services but just worry pretty much constantly about
having to talk to people afterwards in French. They’re all lovely, but the language
and whole ‘bise-ing’ (kissing to say hello/goodbye) culture makes life so much
more difficult than it should be! It sounds a bit silly I know, but it actually makes
My church ↑
life really stressful and I’d really appreciate prayer that I’d grow in confidence in
this area and so be able to enjoy church properly!

There are a couple of big things that I’d like to tell you
about this month and ask you to please pray for:

 Tim and Emily, our IFES team leaders in Brussels, have

T for almost five years now and are planning to return
been here
to the UK for good this summer. Please pray that they would
know God’s plans for their future, and that someone might be
found to replace them. Also please pray for more team
members (like me and Lucy) to apply to come to Brussels next
year. With the rest of us back in the UK, it would be really hard
for Lucy to stay here on her own without a team.
 A guy called David has been doing his work placement
from the bible institute in the city centre with the GBU. He will
finish his theology degree in June and would like, with his wife
Marianne (a former IFES team member), to work full time for
the GBU. They’ve been approved to do this by all the right
people but they’ll need to raise their own support in order to
be able to do it. The church in Belgium is small and not
amazingly rich. Please pray that people will be willing to
support them long term both prayerfully and financially. They
would be a great asset to the GBU!

Learning French Top Tip

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Please get in touch if you have any questions, “To improve your French accent;
or just want to catch up a bit. Just hearing from people, no matter how long or practice talking in English with a
short, is one of my most encouraging things! French accent first!”
 www.gbu.be
-courtesy of an actual French person 
Love,  www.ifesworld.org
Miriam xx  http://miriam-ford.blogspot.com

“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world”
Galatians 6:14