2011 Bonin Year in Review

Posted on 26 December 2011 by Dina

Bonin 2011 Year-in-Review from Blair & Dina Bonin on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! from Blair, Dina, Callie, Claire, Evangeline, Christopher, David, and Josiah

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Bike Race photos

Posted on 11 November 2011 by Dina

Here are a some pictures from the bike race. They were taken early on while the sun was out so the crowds are still sparse. Thank you for praying! Stories to come…

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Portraits of a Continental Ministry Team

Posted on 8 November 2011 by Dina

One of the most delightful aspects of working with our various colleagues, both nationals and missionaries across the great European landscape, is the diversity of the gifts that each one brings to the Students for Christ-Europe family. It has been such a privilege to be able to experience interaction with these splendid friends on individual and corporate levels. As our travels this year have taken us from Brussels (Belgium) to Budapest (Hungary), as far east as Warsaw (Poland) and Russia to as far west as Toulouse (south western France) and south to Athens (Greece), one thing has been constant – the beauty of God’s family fitted together in what the apostle Peter calls the “living stones” of God’s house.

Curt Hobbs (r.) talking with a student

After SFC’s summer student training conference in Hungary, attended by over 20 nationalities of students and workers, replete with great training and community building, the “living stones” performing their precise purposes to effectively pull off such an event, I trekked on to Poland. My task was to communicate on the theme “Passion, Calling, & Friendship” within a campus ministry context. Additionally, through Curt Hobbs, veteran student ministry colleague and servant-leader extraordinaire, we were able to initiate an official collaboration with the Petra student ministry led by young businessman and national Polish leader, Szymon Kruba and his exuberant co-worker Anna Zablocka. What a privilege!

Jose, Sonia and Sara Ruiz

Toulouse, France was my latest destination where I was hosted by José and Sonia Ruiz. As an entrepreneurial couple directing the RESET ministry and a local food bank grocery store for students, they are shining in their respective niches of outreach. My visit found me speaking at a student meeting, having lunch with a young Frenchman who came to faith in Christ through the influence of the Ruiz’ via the food bank store and strategizing with this ministry leader couple about future collaborative efforts in their region.

The latest good news is the newly acquired place for the SFC group to meet on the campus here in our city of Louvain-la-Neuve. After 11 years of praying and petitioning the university, the group was finally accorded an academic room for a meeting space!

Thank God with us for this favor and for TEAM Europe. And thank you for being part of our much needed team of support in every way that you are – all of us serving as living stones in God’s house. We appreciate you!

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Summer Update

Posted on 18 August 2011 by Dina

Our summer “break” has been full to overflowing! After several weeks of conference prep – registrations, email confirmations, housing assignments, travel arrangements, etc., etc., we were excited to welcome Callie and Claire back to Belgium after they spent a month ministering to Nursery/Toddler MKs in Missouri. We had a few days together to let them get over jet lag and celebrate Claire’s 18th birthday, and then packed up to head out on our journey to Hungary. The halfway point of our trip just so happened to be Salzburg, Austria, where we had a few hours of fun re-creating our own Sound of Music memories.

The next day we arrived in Gödöllö, Hungary, a university town right outside of Budapest, so we could participate in Impact NOW! 2011, a four-day European missionary conference. The conference included two afternoons of outreach in the city of Budapest. Here is Claire’s personal account:

On the first day of outreach, after several hours of limited success actually talking to people because of the language barrier, I was feeling a bit discouraged. Then I noticed a young girl standing a little ways away from our group watching us. I walked over to her and was very happy to discover that she spoke English pretty well. As we started talking she told me that she was fifteen years old, and though she was a Christian, she was the only believer in her family. I asked if she would like prayer for anything, and she replied that her mother was very ill and had recently almost died. After learning her name, which is Brigitta, we prayed together. Before she left I offered her my email address, which she accepted. I hoped and prayed for the next few days that she would contact me. Within a week, she did. I was so thrilled to hear from her. I had sensed how alone she felt, and when she told me in her email how encouraged she was just by me praying for her, I was encouraged in my turn. I’m very thankful I was there that day, not only to encourage someone else, but also to make a friend.

Once again we are reminded of the spiritual hunger of those around us, and how one simple act can bring so much hope and encouragement!

After the Impact NOW! missions conference, we stayed on at the university to connect with close to 100 Students for Christ leaders and students from all over Europe and beyond for a week of worshiping, praying and learning together. Although most of our focus was on the logistics side of things, we were still able to participate in classes, workshops, an afternoon outreach, evening services, and a “coaching” small group with the SFC team from Athens, Greece (left). We are still hearing very positive reports from this time. One mother commented to us how her son came back home a “changed person.” Another student stated how much he/she liked being a part of the SFC family, and a staff member said, “It always surprises me how much God can do through a week a like that.” Through your partnership, we are seeing lives changed and hope renewed on this continent! Thank you!

Family Matters

We were very thankful to have all our children with us this summer, and as usual, they had a BLAST! – well, except for the part when Christopher broke his arm after running and tripping. Our visit to the Hungarian clinic for an x-ray and cast was interesting to say the least, but we’re so grateful that smiles are common to any language and VERY reassuring in such a context. We had an extended celebration for Callie’s 20th birthday by taking her to Prague after the conference. And we made it home just in time to celebrate David’s 11th birthday before Callie had to fly back to LA for her second year of university.

Prayer Matters

  • Blair will be leaving soon to teach for a week in Poland. He also has at least 3 other trips scheduled for the fall.
  • After much prayer and consideration, Christopher will be attending the local French lycée after passing the national education exam in June – first year of public school!
  • Callie has a VERY busy semester ahead of her, and being separated from her family tends to add to the stress.
  • Everyone else will be studying at home this year, and after a summer like we just had, we need a little rest and some time to get ready for a new season once again!

    • Thank you for praying, and thank you for partnering with us financially. This year has been challenging on several personal and ministry levels, but this summer has confirmed once again that we are where God wants us to be, and we’re doing what he wants us to do. He is faithful!

    And if you’ve made it all the way to the end of this very long account, you are, too! We appreciate you!

    Blessings!
    Blair and Dina and family

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