pray for my friends

I go to a Bible school, but I think I'm only one of a few Christian students there. I have a feeling that my teachers aren't doing the best they can to make the kids in my class Christians. They feel like that stuff is important, but the don't really show that they do. I know they're trying a little, but I think they can do better. The boys aren't even listening to Christian music and they feel like Michael Jackson is the #1 guy. They feel like the Bible is just another exciting story for grown-ups, that it's not true and not for them. The 6th graders think the Bible stuff is just for kids. I want to say the Bible is true. But I got a compliment by one of my friends the other day. It lifted me up and let me down at the same time. I'm not really sure if he meant it as a compliment of not. He said, "You're a Jesus guy aren't you?" I think he meant it a little bit like, "You're one of THOSE kids who doesn't like swearing and those other things." I don't want my friends to go to hell. Tonight I was emotional about that. They won't have a second chance. Keep praying that I'll be able to tell them about Jesus in just the right way. Bye.

Is de maan toch een banaan?!

I wrote this poem in the 2nd grade last year.

De maan voelt zich als een banaan

Hij heeft de kleur geel, maar kijkt niet scheel.

Hoe kan Apollo daar landen? Anders gaat de maan toch branden?

translation:
The moon feels like he's a banana.
He has the color yellow, but doesn't look cross eyed.
How can the Apollo land there?
Otherwise won't the moon burn?

Sometimes rhyming doesn't really translate.

Sportquest Basketball Camp

Sportquest is one of my favorite camps that I've ever been to (and it's also one of my only ones). I learned how to play mass defense. Mass defense is a drill where you have to copy the coach. There is "loose ball" where you dive like you're trying to get a ball. And some kids actually got the ball. There is "shot" where you have to do like you're blocking the shot and then box out. There's left and right where you have to do slide steps. If it's right your right hand is low like you're giving something and your left hand is high. An left, your right hand gives something and your right hand is high. There's also "charge" where we fly backwards and then get up and foot fire. "Foot fire" is in the defensive position. Your legs are moving up and down very fast.

We learned how to shoot with our left hand...sort of. And the guys who were teaching us this stuff were Volva, Sasha, and Anastasia (all from Moldova), and there was Wilhem from South Africa, there was also Daan and Christian from Brakel (where we played), and then there was Chris from Indiana. Chris was the leader of the whole thing. Last but not least there was Reuben from Antwerp.

I had a really good time. I brought Arthur (you don't say it like in English, it's more like "Are-tour"), my best friend from school. Toon and Karel from my church came with us. We played for 1 1/2 hours and then we had a break. After the break one of the leaders would tell a story about themselves about something that changed their lives. I hope Arthur learned something about Jesus.

Here's a picture of "Mass Defense." It was at the program for parents on the last night, so some of us weren't wearing our basketball clothes anymore.

You can click here to see the Sportquest website (it's in Dutch).

From your friend in Belgium, Elijah.

2nd grade in Belgium

I'm in second grade now (de tweede leerjaar). I've been learning multiplication, capitol letters in cursive, about the sea (de zee), and environmental issues, solar energy, and space. My class got to go to a museum about stars and space. My Grandpa and Grandma got to teach my class about Mars. (That's them in the picture with me and my teacher Juf Eva. "Juf" means Miss.)