Greeting earthlings.
I am back from Holland, and the question everyone seams to be asking is, “did you love it?” well, yea. It was amazing, God showed me some really cool things, however I didn’t really realize the extent of until now, being back in Hungary. Sort of the ol’ adage, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. My day traveling back to Hungary was a day full of reflection, as I realized just what God had done in me.
While in Holland my prayer seamed to be, God, if you want me to come back to Holland for ministry sake make it clear to me, and sure enough he has been faithful in doing so. Now I currently don’t know what that means for my life, whether that means just going back on occasion to encourage the missionary’s there, or possibly moving there as a more permanent appendage. However, I’m sure the Lord will continue to reveal these things as time goes on.
Now for those of you wanting to know “what exactly did you do there?” well, to some the answer would be, “well, not much” things changed quite a lot from what I had expected myself to be doing. Upon arriving in the Netherlands, my plans where to be working in the streets of Amsterdam, partnering with YWAM, prayer walks throughout the city, street evangelism, things of that nature. While I was able to do these things to some extent, the majority of my time was spent with the Calvary Chapel church in Hoofdorp, which is a sort of suburb outside of Amsterdam, and I must make it clear, the needs of Hoofdorp are the same in that the people need God’s love, however extremely different in the tangibility sense, than the those of Amsterdam. I was able to spend time getting to know the people of the church in Hoofdorp, and building relationships with the family’s there.
I was able to get to know a woman named Angela fairly well, and one day I was able to spend the day with her and her two youngest boys, the elder being about 7, and the younger about 4 I believe, Angela is an American married to a Dutchman. The boys both understand, but don’t speak so much English, which made it easier on me. I got to make a 3D elephant out of cardboard, tape, and a lot of gray paint with them. And it’s funny, I learned a lot about God’s love that day through this family. While we where at the dinner table the younger of the two boys wasn’t feeling well, and made this evident through his whines, while most mother’s I believe would be frustrated, and frazzled with a whining child, who isn’t willing to eat his dinner, in front of company non the less. However Angela, having wisdom beyond my years, just picks up Tyler, cradles him in her lap, and whispers to him while listening to worship music. She comforted him. She didn’t yell at him, get frustrated , she comforted him. And in that moment I saw, that’s what God does. He doesn’t get frustrated and punish us, he wants to hold us in his bosom, whisper to us, comfort us. It’s seams silly but watching that, seeing God’s love in action, I honestly started to tear up. I was moved by something so random, but beautiful. I want to be that kind of mom, the kind that demonstrates God’s love for us, no matter if my child is misbehaving in front of a guest.
While staying with the Marinussen family, I learned a lot about prayer. The family motto is, “well, pray about it.” this family pray’s about everything, it’s really amazing. At first I was taken aback by the fact that Sunday morning on the way to the church, before most have woken up, Stan, the pastor, pray’s. For the message, the congregation individually, and any other thing that may be on his heart. How cool, to have a pastor who pray’s for you personally. At the table before any meal, not just dinner, we pray. Not just for the food, but things going on throughout the day. Now it may be silly hearing a bible collage student impressed by prayer, but it’s more about what’s behind it. The faithfulness in bringing everything before God, and the humility, and honesty in the attitude of it all. It’s not just some ritual prayer before meals, but an honest plea to the lord. Now that’s cool.
The last week I was in Holland I was able to meet up with the team from Crossroads church, my home church, and got to do some ministry stuff with them. We went on a prayer walk through The District and it just happened to be Queens day, and there where many a drunken Englishmen running amuck. It was interesting watching the guys with us, a few of them had been in the Red Light last summer but those that hadn’t reacted differently than I had expected, over all the teams and my own reaction to being back there was much different than I had expected. I figured there would be a lot of people disgusted and appalled, and an overall feeling of despair, however, I felt a sort of encouragement, and talking to Ryan who had been there last summer as well, he seemed to feel similar. I watched as the women in the windows tried there best to lure the boys in, suggestive waving, tapping on the window, and even calling out to them. I was so proud to watch as our guys didn’t even let their eyes wander they continued to walk forward. I even had a little moment when I watched one of the guys take another around the shoulder and just talk to him, I have no idea about what but I was very impressed. I for some reason, felt and air of violation, it felt as though I was being watched, measured, dehumanized. I had never felt that in The District before, surprisingly. I didn’t exactly appreciate it. As our walk was coming to a close, we where praying for the church in the red light, outside of the old, boarded up, Presbyterian church. While we where praying a man walked up to us and asked what we where looking at, we explained that we where praying. He revealed to us that he himself was a Christian, and just wasn’t doing so well, we attempted to get him to pray with us but he managed to walk away. I thought it interesting that while we where praying for the church, to be more than just a building to this city, that it would be the hands of Christ, people reaching out. And that the people of this city would recognize that, this man, he found us out.
I still cant’ believe that I was able to meet up with some of my closest friends, in a foreign city. How fortunate am I? I had an amazing time catching up, the best we could, between lost time and jet lag.
I am now back in Hungary, a whole other adventure in itself. thank you for your diligent prayers, I know I haven’t exactly made it easy on you all.
Monday, 18 August 2008
Monday, 28 April 2008
Romania
Saturday, April 5, a team of 15 students from Calvary Chapel Bible College set off on a long and exciting journey...
Ok so it wasn't that long, and probably not that exciting, but it was definitely interesting. first of all, we were one of the last teams to leave the kastley, most of the teams left either Thursday, or Friday morning but team Romania left Saturday afternoon, we had a most interesting day of "team bonding" we spent the majority of our Saturday traveling to Romania, eventually arriving at the luxurious smiles center, where we ate three course meals, and played wii at the end of the day.
Sunday: our first day of ministry started out with the team running the small gypsy village in sebulchu's Sunday morning service, where the congregation mostly consists of small children, and and overwhelmed mothers. we shared the story of the good Samaritan with them, we emphasised a lot on NOT being a thief, something we would soon find out was a problem in the villages. afterward we got to take the kids up the hill to play sports and other games. we played duck duck goose, red rover, run into the freeway, and soccer. two of the younger boys, the younger of the two fondly named grumpy, the older we never learned the name of, both (brothers) loved to run toward the busy road near this field so that J.D. one of the students with us would have to chase them down and tie them up, one of my more fond memory's. a couple of the older girls took a liking to me, and would pick hand fulls of dandy lions and give them to me. as we where headed back to the van to leave, two of the girls gave me some of their hair clips(probably full of lice) as a gift, something that I will Cherish forever.
Monday: we split up into two "teams" my team went to the missionaries there's house and help them with some practical stuff, like moving into their house, sorting through old boxes, etc. the entire time I felt like I was back home doing Saturday chores with Bones, moving one pile of rocks to the other side of the yard, where they will continue to be a pile of rocks. It was a lot of fun getting to know Karen and Cornell, and reminded me a lot of just being at home. that after noon the teams met up at the orphanage in Oradea where the girls stayed and played games with the kids while the guys on our team lead a young men's bible study for the young men in the orphanage. at the end of the day we all went back to Smiles and rested.
Tuesday: we woke up and one of the guys on our team had gotten food poisoning the night before and didn't sleep well, and the rest of us were feeling a little drained as well. this was my "teams" day to go to the baby hospital, something had been nervous about for awhile, considering my reputation with baby's things weren't looking in my favor. well... we got to the hospital, and I of course got placed in the room with the actual baby baby's, like poop your pants and cry all the time baby's, I was definitely feeling a little overwhelmed, that is until I met Sammy. Sammy a 6 year old boy, who because of malnutrition seems to be more of a three year old, the minute I walked in the door was all giggles. one of the most precious little boys I've ever seen. by the end of our time there I was ready to hide him in my shirt and take him home with me. that afternoon we went back to the orphanage to play with the kids after they got out of school, however we where unable to stay and play due to some sort of paperwork issue, which honestly I was pretty thankful for.
Wednesday: e all woke up, feeling exhausted, and terribly drained, no one slept that well, and we had a few other cases of food poisoning appear. that morning in my personal devo time I decided to read psalm 19, as suggested by fellow teammate Katie, and something sort of stuck with me that day. verse 14...
"May my words and my thoughts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my sheltering rock and my redeemer."
that morning I was not very interested in doing any ministry, I was mostly interested in sleeping. well this day was my teams day to go back to the gypsy village and teach a VBS, well by the grace of God, we forgot the keys to the church and had to stall for time while someone brought us the keys. we took the kids for a walk around the surrounding areas of the village, near a stream, and by a power plant. It was so nice to take that time and just hangout with the kids, sort of see what their daily play time looked like. as we walked back to the village to teach, I felt so refreshed and ready to go. we did the VBS, and all went well, we then had to take off for the orphanage. we got to the orphanage and my team took the kids to club meeting, where we taught them about Noah, and his ark.
Thursday: my team went back to the baby hospital, where I got to go up to the eighth floor were the genetically handicapped babies are. all of the babies up there didn't seem to cry when I held them, it was nice. I sort of fell in love with this baby boy named Kevin, from what I could decipher from the nurse was that he only had one hole for his "bodily functions" that afternoon we went to the orphanage and picked up the girls for girls club, we got to talk to them about resisting temptation. it was really cool to get the girls alone and have a conversation with them, I think they responded pretty well.
Friday: Friday we got the choice of staying at smiles or going back to the baby hospital. I chose to go back to the baby hospital. there weren't as many of us so it was just J.D. and I in the genetics floor, and we got to stay there for a couple of hours, needless to say we both fell in love with the baby's in that room. J.D. fell in love with a beautiful blind girl named Anna, I practically had to drag him out of there, and it was pretty rough for me saying good bye to Kevin. after that the whole team went to a near by park and had a sort of picnic with the foster children that Karen and Cornell have been working with.
Saturday: our team went to the other gypsy village that Karen and Cornell have been working with, Tinca. It was a long and bumpy road, and I'm pretty sure everyone had to pee by the time we got there, however no one wanted to seeing as their only bathroom was an outhouse. our morning in Tinca was definitely an eventful day, when we got there we quickly learned that the pastor that Cornell had been working with for the last seven years finally decided to be baptist, and therefor the church in Tinca would now be a baptist church. the pastor there informed all the people of the villages not to go to Cornell's church. we were supposed to do VBS for the children but none of the children were allowed to come. we spent some time in prayer, and after a while a few kids wandered over, and we played a game of duck duck gooses with them until we start getting dirty looks from the adults and we had to send the kids home before they lost their dinner for the night. it was sad really, how the kids wanted to come but the adults wouldn't let them, it really sort of shed some light on the story about when Jesus told them to let the little children come.
"If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone tied around his neck and to be thrown into the sea"
The team has been continually praying for the pastors to work things out, and that it wouldn't be a matter of denomination, but of Christ' love for his children.
after all of that went down, we decided to take a little sabbath, we went back to Smiles, watched some pink panther, and played some wii.
Sunday: we went back to sebulchu for their Sunday morning, where I had to say my good byes to grumpy and his brother, one of the afternoons I had bitten a gypsy scarf at the market, and I had decided to wear it the village Sunday, and somehow because of that made me an honorary gypsy. as we were about to leave, one of the girls I had gotten closer to was giving me a hug, and asked if she could buy my scarf from me, I reluctantly said no, and continued to walk back towards the van when she stole my scarf right off my head, I was pretty bummbed out, I'm not gonna lie. after that we went back to smiles, packed up our stuff, and headed home. after about 4 extra, unnecessary hours of travel we finally made it home.
the last couple of weeks, you can tell which team is which team Romania, has continued to pray together, and eat together, and do homework together, and pretty much are never apart.
Ok so it wasn't that long, and probably not that exciting, but it was definitely interesting. first of all, we were one of the last teams to leave the kastley, most of the teams left either Thursday, or Friday morning but team Romania left Saturday afternoon, we had a most interesting day of "team bonding" we spent the majority of our Saturday traveling to Romania, eventually arriving at the luxurious smiles center, where we ate three course meals, and played wii at the end of the day.
Sunday: our first day of ministry started out with the team running the small gypsy village in sebulchu's Sunday morning service, where the congregation mostly consists of small children, and and overwhelmed mothers. we shared the story of the good Samaritan with them, we emphasised a lot on NOT being a thief, something we would soon find out was a problem in the villages. afterward we got to take the kids up the hill to play sports and other games. we played duck duck goose, red rover, run into the freeway, and soccer. two of the younger boys, the younger of the two fondly named grumpy, the older we never learned the name of, both (brothers) loved to run toward the busy road near this field so that J.D. one of the students with us would have to chase them down and tie them up, one of my more fond memory's. a couple of the older girls took a liking to me, and would pick hand fulls of dandy lions and give them to me. as we where headed back to the van to leave, two of the girls gave me some of their hair clips(probably full of lice) as a gift, something that I will Cherish forever.
Monday: we split up into two "teams" my team went to the missionaries there's house and help them with some practical stuff, like moving into their house, sorting through old boxes, etc. the entire time I felt like I was back home doing Saturday chores with Bones, moving one pile of rocks to the other side of the yard, where they will continue to be a pile of rocks. It was a lot of fun getting to know Karen and Cornell, and reminded me a lot of just being at home. that after noon the teams met up at the orphanage in Oradea where the girls stayed and played games with the kids while the guys on our team lead a young men's bible study for the young men in the orphanage. at the end of the day we all went back to Smiles and rested.
Tuesday: we woke up and one of the guys on our team had gotten food poisoning the night before and didn't sleep well, and the rest of us were feeling a little drained as well. this was my "teams" day to go to the baby hospital, something had been nervous about for awhile, considering my reputation with baby's things weren't looking in my favor. well... we got to the hospital, and I of course got placed in the room with the actual baby baby's, like poop your pants and cry all the time baby's, I was definitely feeling a little overwhelmed, that is until I met Sammy. Sammy a 6 year old boy, who because of malnutrition seems to be more of a three year old, the minute I walked in the door was all giggles. one of the most precious little boys I've ever seen. by the end of our time there I was ready to hide him in my shirt and take him home with me. that afternoon we went back to the orphanage to play with the kids after they got out of school, however we where unable to stay and play due to some sort of paperwork issue, which honestly I was pretty thankful for.
Wednesday: e all woke up, feeling exhausted, and terribly drained, no one slept that well, and we had a few other cases of food poisoning appear. that morning in my personal devo time I decided to read psalm 19, as suggested by fellow teammate Katie, and something sort of stuck with me that day. verse 14...
"May my words and my thoughts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my sheltering rock and my redeemer."
that morning I was not very interested in doing any ministry, I was mostly interested in sleeping. well this day was my teams day to go back to the gypsy village and teach a VBS, well by the grace of God, we forgot the keys to the church and had to stall for time while someone brought us the keys. we took the kids for a walk around the surrounding areas of the village, near a stream, and by a power plant. It was so nice to take that time and just hangout with the kids, sort of see what their daily play time looked like. as we walked back to the village to teach, I felt so refreshed and ready to go. we did the VBS, and all went well, we then had to take off for the orphanage. we got to the orphanage and my team took the kids to club meeting, where we taught them about Noah, and his ark.
Thursday: my team went back to the baby hospital, where I got to go up to the eighth floor were the genetically handicapped babies are. all of the babies up there didn't seem to cry when I held them, it was nice. I sort of fell in love with this baby boy named Kevin, from what I could decipher from the nurse was that he only had one hole for his "bodily functions" that afternoon we went to the orphanage and picked up the girls for girls club, we got to talk to them about resisting temptation. it was really cool to get the girls alone and have a conversation with them, I think they responded pretty well.
Friday: Friday we got the choice of staying at smiles or going back to the baby hospital. I chose to go back to the baby hospital. there weren't as many of us so it was just J.D. and I in the genetics floor, and we got to stay there for a couple of hours, needless to say we both fell in love with the baby's in that room. J.D. fell in love with a beautiful blind girl named Anna, I practically had to drag him out of there, and it was pretty rough for me saying good bye to Kevin. after that the whole team went to a near by park and had a sort of picnic with the foster children that Karen and Cornell have been working with.
Saturday: our team went to the other gypsy village that Karen and Cornell have been working with, Tinca. It was a long and bumpy road, and I'm pretty sure everyone had to pee by the time we got there, however no one wanted to seeing as their only bathroom was an outhouse. our morning in Tinca was definitely an eventful day, when we got there we quickly learned that the pastor that Cornell had been working with for the last seven years finally decided to be baptist, and therefor the church in Tinca would now be a baptist church. the pastor there informed all the people of the villages not to go to Cornell's church. we were supposed to do VBS for the children but none of the children were allowed to come. we spent some time in prayer, and after a while a few kids wandered over, and we played a game of duck duck gooses with them until we start getting dirty looks from the adults and we had to send the kids home before they lost their dinner for the night. it was sad really, how the kids wanted to come but the adults wouldn't let them, it really sort of shed some light on the story about when Jesus told them to let the little children come.
"If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone tied around his neck and to be thrown into the sea"
The team has been continually praying for the pastors to work things out, and that it wouldn't be a matter of denomination, but of Christ' love for his children.
after all of that went down, we decided to take a little sabbath, we went back to Smiles, watched some pink panther, and played some wii.
Sunday: we went back to sebulchu for their Sunday morning, where I had to say my good byes to grumpy and his brother, one of the afternoons I had bitten a gypsy scarf at the market, and I had decided to wear it the village Sunday, and somehow because of that made me an honorary gypsy. as we were about to leave, one of the girls I had gotten closer to was giving me a hug, and asked if she could buy my scarf from me, I reluctantly said no, and continued to walk back towards the van when she stole my scarf right off my head, I was pretty bummbed out, I'm not gonna lie. after that we went back to smiles, packed up our stuff, and headed home. after about 4 extra, unnecessary hours of travel we finally made it home.
the last couple of weeks, you can tell which team is which team Romania, has continued to pray together, and eat together, and do homework together, and pretty much are never apart.
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