Bon Jour Brussels // Hola Barcelona
As many of you know, we came back recently from a trip to Brussels as a part of finishing up our year in Antioch's Discipleship School. We are now completely finished with ADS (*insert victorious applause here.) So many of you partnered with us in providing support through financial gifts, praying, and personally encouraging us. We needed that, oh so much on this trip. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Here's the down low on what happened...(if you need to skip to the pictures at the end, by all means.)
Brussels
Some interesting things about this Brussels trip that I feel set the stage for how it went down that you should know...
1. This was James and my first international short term trip together. (1a. But it was our 4th short term mission trip led by Jeremy West)
2. Our team's trip included 7 kiddos under the age of 6 years old.
3. During our 10 days there, Brussels experienced a heatwave with temps reaching into the high 80's and low 90's most days with bountiful sunshine (3a. Brussels, along with many countries in Europe, do not have A/C. This combined with the heatwave/doing street evangelism points to the more miserable part of this trip)
4. Brussels is marked by diversity. In our time there just James and I alone encountered people from over 15 nations.
5. Our church, Antioch Dallas, is setting up a church plant there in the city. These are the people we got to partner with while there.
6. The Brussels' long term team included young adults there for 3 month internships. Those interns were freaking rockstars.
7. Our two main focuses were evangelism and prayer & intercession.
8. Our day to day included evangelism throughout Brussels in their parks, squares, and streets.
9. A few of the women on our team partnered with a local ministry in reaching out to women in the red light district of Brussels.
10. Getting to go on a short term trip with our discipleship school crew was such an incredible bonding experience.
Ministering the Gospel in Europe
For James and I being back in Europe is like being back in your old stomping grounds. People often ask us if we would move internationally again, we say "yes, specifically back to Europe." When we lived in Ireland, God gave us not just a heart for that country but the whole continent in a way that solidified our passion for seeing the gospel come there. Some of you may not know that Europe is known as one of the hardest places to reach for the gospel in the world currently. Most of Europe is not "unreached", as in they have never been exposed to the gospel, but much of it is classified as post-christian and unengaged with the gospel.
As James and I met people in Brussels day after day we found ourselves ministering to Europeans. I don't know if this was us purposely identifying people we thought were Europeans and going up to them, or God placing them in our path, or a mix of both. But what we found over and over again as we spoke to Europeans, many around our age, are three main things:
1. They did not grow up in church. The last people to attend church regularly in their family were their grandparents.
2. They had never had the gospel explained to them, even though they may be able to tell you who the main characters are.
3. They think the Gospel and Christianity are good things for some people but not for them. Especially when they're this young and just enjoying life.
Honestly, that's how most conversations went, James and I again having lived in Europe were not surprised in the least. This is what we were used to, this is the environment we had gotten to know while living in it.
What did surprise me though was that during our trip we actually did encounter people seeking God, studying the bible, looking for community, wondering about the gospel. It was by no means the majority of the trip; I mean James got shut down by every single person he talked to each day except for the last person on our last day there. Here's the story: He and two of the interns had met a guy with a cast on his leg. As they got to talking with him they realized that he had NEVER HEARD THE NAME OF JESUS. They then explained the gospel and that they believed God healed and asked to pray for it. The guy lit a cigarette and sat there smoking but let them pray for his leg to be healed. After they prayed, they asked if he felt any different. The guy actually stood up and started walking around on his leg in the cast which he hadn't been doing before. He was blown away! What took my breath away is that there were stories like that the whole week, even among the rejections. There was a time recently in Brussels where that would not have been the case!
I was stalking my favorite worship leaders on Instagram (as you do) and I came across one of them quoting Melissa Helser as describing what's happening in Europe as a thawing. I don't know if there is a better way to describe what God is doing in Europe right now than that word "thawing." A thawing is not something that happens instantly, it's slower, steadier, easily overlooked if you are in a hurry. But it's there. That's what I saw in Brussels this time around, that's what we got to partner with, the thawing that's taking place in people's hearts and lives across that city. It was an honor to be a part of it.
Barcelona
The part of our trip that not as many of you knew about is us going to Barcelona. One of our best friends, Vivian, and her sister, Audrey are living over there working with a local church. We have the opportunity to support both of them in their ministry so we wanted to take the opportunity to go over and see in person what was happening at their church and in their city.
The first morning we were there we went to the local coffee shop near their house and down the street from their church. As James was checking out he asked the cashier if she knew about the church our friends were a part of, the cashier brightened up and spent 5 minutes gushing about how much she loved that church and the people there. What a sign that you are impacting a city, when your local barista tells a stranger about the love that she has felt from your church. The Sunday service we were in, two young adults that grew up in Barcelona committed their lives to Jesus publicly in baptism. It was such an honor to witness the fruit that day of what so many of the missionaries at that church have invested in the people of Barcelona.
James and I have a huge heart for encouraging missionaries and pastors and there may have been no greater encouragement during our time in Ireland than when people came over to see us in person. There were just something about having them there, flesh and blood, in your place, learning what you did that lifted the burden and strengthened you for the journey like nothing else could. For us our hearts are to be able to provide that for others, because we have felt the need before. So to be able to be that for a few short days for Vivian and Audrey was such a sweet gift.
If you'd like to know more about what they are doing over there in Barcelona, you can check it out here
Again, to everyone who gave, thank you! Your partnering with us as we go where God has called us has made all the difference in our lives. We could not do it without you.
Now ADS is over, mission trips have finished and we are settling into a new little milieu here in Dallas, Texas. We are continually blown away that we get to wake up each day and go to jobs that we love and are passionate about. (James' bio is now up on his company's page) We are enjoying and soaking in the sweetness of community we have here. We are just now beginning to go back to the drawing board and have space enough to dream and hope again for what is to come. Our mission here looks like it's just now ramping up. We can't wait to share it with you in the coming months.
Love,
The Basses
