rain dance

we had a second time of ministry on Orchard Road on Monday night.
Usually when it rains here it is in the afternoon and again at night, but on Monday it was all day pouring down. When it came time for us to leave for the ministry, we decided to go despite the weather. The rain stopped for awhile, but after we began our program (this time it was an hour long compared to the half hour we had done before) the heavens opened up the floodgates again. At the end of the program is the Bambalayla (for those of you not familiar with the YWAM Amsterdam favorite, I apologize but there is no explanation). At this point it was raining the hardest yet but we decided to embrace the fun and ran out to dance in the rain. The locals were able to enjoy a highly entertaining group of 28 foreigners dancing and splashing about in a lamplit pavilion in the middle of a shopping area. A few even dared to join us.
Despite the weather, some locals did come over to us to talk and receive prayer. Overall, it was a smashing success.

Yesterday we visited a prison. After the program we set up for them, we had an hour of talking one-on-one. During the performance I spied out the boy (all of them were aged between 18 and about 23) I wanted to talk to. He was quite shy but wanted to answer all my questions. He was such a sweet and gentle kid who I thoroughly enjoyed talking to and praying with. I know I will be praying for him for a long time coming.

Tonight we visited an artsy sub-culture hangout. They meet in one of the few places that the Singapore government allows free reign for youth. They gather in the basement of a building to practice dances (lots of hip-hop and breakdancing), bmx tricks, skating, in-line skating, and sword (with sticks) fighting. The dancers in our group did their dance and also mingled with the other dancers to dance with them and talk. Anniina (finnish student) and I were the only ones who wanted to paint, so we bought some supplies then went outside (big gathering place) to paint. I painted a design then painted the text to a poem I wrote over the design. An Indian man approached us and we were able to talk with him for quite some time. In the end he had so many questions still, so I gave introduced him to one of the Singapore ywam staff so they can meet up another time.

I would love to hear from any of you, so please keep the emails coming.

good night!

Orchard Road

On Saturday night our team went to Orchard Road to minister through songs, skits, dances, and short testimonies. It is not permissable by law to proselatize (I am not sure of the spelling there) in public, so we were admonished to indeed speak out about Jesus but to keep it very short and to the point (they do not want the ywam ministry here comprimised because we "felt from God to take the microphone and preach"). We honored their laws and were still able to impact several people.

Orchard Road is the Kalverstraat (or Times Square) of Singapore...only it is Kalverstraat on steriods. I seriously have never seen so many people packed onto one street in my life. There are four million people living in this city and with the added tourists at this time of year, I think they all came out that night to shop.
The amazing things is that ONLY Christian churches and groups are performing on the different Christmas stages set up along the road.
Our group put together some Christmas carols in various languages, a hip-hop dance, and some skits. Our first performance was not so well received...so we thought. Everyone just sat in their respective chairs and clapped politely. On the last song (Bambayla of course) no one would dance with us. But afterwards, we talked to a lot of people and a man from Bangeladesh even wanted to follow us to our next stage performance.
That stage was directly in the line of traffic of people walking down the street. I was filming the performance on a camcorder and was almost pushed off the sidewalk ledge (about 5 feet above the cars) the entire time. It was really good though. So many people walking by recognized the different languages we were singing (chinese, indonesian, dutch, and of course english) and one Indonesian man stopped to cheer during a song. I asked him if he could understand our pernunciation and he said of course. I ended up talking with him and two others from his group (Christians and there to sing on our stage after us). He is from a church in Java and we may end up going to their town and helping them in some community service. He was so so so excited to meet us.
We debriefed last night about what happened at that performance and students told how they were excited to invite people to church (one group of three girls came yesterday!), led people in the prayer for salvation!, and prayed for many other things. Some students also told about personal breakthroughs they had themselves during the performance. I loved hearing about that.

We have some more performances this week in the evenings. I look forward to sharing more good news soon.

the story of the bags

I have just a few minutes left on my computer time so I will write like a whirlwind and spit out what I can in these next few minutes.

I missed some of class yesterday due to being at the embassy and came back just at the end. I immediately felt the presence of God in the room. It was time for a break but I could not bring myself to leave. Several others also stayed to just pray. I did not even know what was said but felt compelled to pray.

Part of what I had missed was some information that a lady who was not in Singapore and who did not know we were coming had called the base (she knows someone here) and told them that God had told her a base from Amsterdam would need some bags that she had and that she would send them for us. wow.

We (team leaders) were asked to pray with our teams to find out what team should get them. As our team got together, there were a few students who felt like they cannot hear from God and were uncertain about the whole thing. We encouraged them to just try it. After we each prayed silently, we had a time of sharing. The funny thing was when we got to the students who were skeptical, they were like "well I don't hear at all from God and I don't know if I can believe He speaks to me, but..." and then they shared some amazingly detailed pictures or words they got. It was so fun to see that happen, though they still have some doubts. They will come around to understanding more about hearing from God the more they draw close to Him and speak to Him.

It ended up that our team and the Cambodian team both felt like the bags (we do not know how many or what is in them) are not for us and the China team felt like they were for them! None of our teams had shared about what we heard about the bags until today, so we did not influence one another. perfect. Goes to show that God definitely is speaking to us about even small details here.

On sunday we will go to a church located near a main shopping street, so I assume the rest of our Holy Sabbath will be spent fulfilling the lust for materialism. ha ha ha : )

Next sunday our teams will go to churches according to what outreach country we are going to (china team to chinese church, cambodia team to Cambodian church, etc...).

We will be given 10 minutes to share with the church our vision and what we will be doing and then after the service, the church will commission us. nice.

We are still taking language and culture lessons here. Today we learned an original Christian Indonesian song. We are told that when it is sung, almost all Indonesians know it and that some deep passions that they do not normally display comes out. I felt a strong rush of the Spirit over me as we all sang it. It is a beautiful song and I am excited to share with the people in that way. We hope they are blessed that we actually want to sing it to them and participate in their culture with them in that way.

more from me later....love you all!

A very tropical Christmas to me

Someone must have been praying about the visas. Though not smooth as butter, here is what happened:

I took the metro then changed cars then took a bus then took another bus (all guided by a Fijan man on staff here) until we finally arrived at the Indonesian embassy. After discovering that we should have made copies of some papers that were needed for each individual (we though one copy would be enough) I also was told that we had filled out the wrong application forms (not my fault at all, those were the ones given to me). So Siti (Fijan man) and I fervishly filled out the new forms and when we got to the bottom, there was the ominous signature line!
When the man at the counter handed me the new forms, I asked him if they had to be signed and he said "no" but I went and asked him again...he said "no" again.
So when I had all the copies and right papers filled out, I brought them back up to the man again. He was going through them all and shoved them at me saying, "these need a signature." (by the way this man never cracked a single hint of emotion the entire time I communicated with me...no matter how friendly I tried to be) I looked at him (thinking "what the heck?!") but politely reminding him that he had told me (twice! only minutes before!) that I did not need to sign them. He made a glance sideways (as if to see if anyone was watching) then looked up and me and said (monotonously) "they need a signature."
The proverbial lightbulb went off in my head and I said "you mean you want me to sign them?"
He did not even look up at me, but nodded his head once in a yes.
I did not even think. I just took the forms and signed them for everybody. I don't know if I should have or not, but I don't feel guilty about it at all and no lightning has struck me, so I believe all is good.
Ok, I said I signed for everybody and by everybody I mean the non-Dutchies. Yup, Dutchies had a problem again. The form they needed was filled out for the embassy in The Netherlands and not for Singapore...wonderful.
So I got back and after a day and a half of communicating by email and phone calls to Indonesia we finally worked out how to change the one-teeny-tiny-little detail of a wrong country name to the right one. Here is what I did:
We (Bas and I) were told that in order to change the form it would take several weeks of waiting for the Indonesian government as well as a lot of money for each person to change it. That did not make sense to us since it was only one paper and only the name of the country needed to be changed. We called the lady whose signature was on the paper and asked her permission to change the name ourselves. I had saved the original document in my email.
I had to be creative in how to change the document because their computers do not have Word (though they have everything else) and it would not open in several other applications, but I found one that worked and changed the name! I am really turning into a clever little forger, huh? : )

ok, next time I write I will be sure to be more informative of what is going on more personally. I just wanted to finish the story that I began in Amsterdam.

We will all have our visas by Tuesday at 3:00pm. Again, thank you to those who prayed...and keep praying for us!

selamat malam...

...means good evening in Indonesian.

I am here in lovely little Singapore right now, and it definitely feels like SE Asia here=hot, sticky, and rainy. I know even hotter weather will attack us in Indonesia, so this is a good buffer zone for us.

I am at what must sure be the most organized YWAM base ever. The staff here are one step ahead on everything and are so accommodating and hospitable. They are really just lovely people.
We got a good tour of the city yesterday. It was dark so we were able to view the skyline all lit up against the sea. It is definitely Western and Americanized in many ways here. Everything is written in English and the people all speak English. I feel like I must be wearing some special English helmet that allows me to understand these absolutely Asian looking people to communicate so clearly with me! But no, it is just one of the unique things about Singapore.
Another thing that is quite unique to Singapore is the Merlion. Yes, that is right, I said Merlion. What the heck is that? Well, dear ones, it is simply a lion's head with a mermaid body. He is the icon of Singapore.
The story goes that when some foreign captain sailed to the coast of Singapore (I think he was from England) that he supposedly saw this strange sea creature rise out of the waters. Not too impressive of a story, but the legend lives on...
The highlight for me was finding out that one of their staff here is from Korea and he invited me to a Korean dinner with he and his wife. I am quite excited about that.

Today we started classes and I don't know what else to say but that it was truly amazing. Joseph (name of the man who spoke) is one of the most genuinely passionate people I have met who are passionate without being all hyper and loud. When he speaks, God is almost surely speaking through him. I look forward to hearing more tomorrow.
We also had language learning classes (hence the subject line) for a couple hours and we will have some more of those classes as well.

Tomorrow I will go to apply for our Indonesian visas. If all goes well, we will have them by Tuesday of next week. Please pray for that as you think of it.

Ok, there are students in line for a computer so I must bid you all adeiu.

much love to you all! xoxo

I thought everyone would be interested to hear about some of the musicians that came to the YWAM Nations-to-Nations consultation at our base this last week.


One is Benny Prasad. He is an Indian man who came from a seemingly hopeless life situation. However, after he discovered a passion for the guitar, he took his talent and ran with it. He now has created his own guitars (I am sure you have never, ever seen a bongo guitar or a 52-string guitar...I have) and has played them worldwide. He was a part of the opening for the olympic games and played for the last World Cup game in Germany.
You can read his story and see his crazy guitars on his website www.bennyprasad.com

One is Pedro Eustache. He is an extremely talented flute and world woodwinds musician. You may have heard his music on a commercial, or in one of several orchestras around the world, or with one of several popular singers from around the world (like Paul McCartney and Shakira), or from a movie soundtrack (Munich, King Kong, Hidalgo, etc...). He has played with Yanni since 1995 and is one of his featured soloists, and his latest big project was being the leading world woodwinds musician for the movie "The Passion of the Christ."
He is originally from Venezuela and moved to the United States with his wife to provide a better life for their daughter. She died in 1988 at three years old from brain cancer. Instead of allowing this tragedy to crush his spirit, he sees that his move to the United States was also a plan for his own life that has provided him endless opportunities to share his faith while living his passionate dream for playing music.
He has a collection of over 600 instruments from around the world some of which he has developed and/or created within the past 10 years.

Ok, enough talking him up. I just want to say that it was amazing listening to him play. The best way I can describe the way he plays is "hauntingly beautiful."
Now, go back and watch "The Passion of the Christ" and keep your ear open for all the flute-like woodwind instruments. He plays on 75% of the soundtrack. At the consultation he played some movie clips while playing the instruments live for us. You would never believe what strange looking instruments can make such beautiful sounds. you can read more of him at www.pedroflute.com
He has a strong testimony and is openly dedicating his talents to God's glory.

It is great to see all the areas that YWAMmers are involved in. That is how the body is supposed to work, right? beautiful.

My New Address...

DISCLAIMER: This is a story. It is not some cutsey little blog entry nor is it a mere rendition of mundane ramblings. This is a bit of my life in print for you. It is a bit lengthy, but isn't that how our lives are?

DISCLAIMER TO THE DISCLAIMER: I did not really mean what I said about our lives being lengthy. I am quite fond of my life and realize all that about the years fly by, so please do not everyone email with your concerns for me. I liked the effect of that sentence, so it stays. enjoy :)

...well, ok, so maybe I am not officially living there, but it sure is starting to feel familiar. The Indonesian embassy in Den Haag (The Hague) that is. So here is the story in full:

Wednesday began as most other days. I happily attended the morning prayer and worship time with the rest of the base (we had prayer stations set up throughout a large room to pray for various things happening within YWAM=A leadership training school that is going to happen in the Philippines, a Nations-to-Nations celebration/outreach in Cuba, the overseeing of the peace process in South Africa among an indigenous tribe, the ministry of our base through The Tabernacle of the Nations, etc...). It was great.
I then prepared to go to the Indonesian embassy in Den Haag to deliver all the applications for the social visa we are applying for (no 'visa upon arrival' because we will be staying almost 60 days). Bas called the embassy to ask what papers we needed to bring in addition to all the papers emailed to me by our contact in Indonesia (invitation letter and a lot of other papers).
Bas gave me the list and I got everything together, hunted down all our team members who had not given me their visa picture or completed forms yet, then called the embassy to ask for directions.
Wow, those receptionists sure are ambitious there! The lady, before even asking me how she could help me, dove into asking me where I was from, how long I planned to be in Indonesia, and offered to help me find what information I needed to complete a visa request. whoa. I tried a few times to politely explain that I had all the information I needed and wanted to ask her something. Finally, I got a sentence in and told her I was actually just calling for directions. She referred me to another number. While she was doing that, I noticed that the website said the office for visa immigration closed at 1pm...it was 11:30 and would take me an hour and half train ride just to get to the city. I asked her if I would be able to come later than one o'clock for some help. She immediately said yes. I was pleasantly surprised and told her I would visit that day.

I quite enjoyed the train ride into Den Haag. I innocently tried to ride in first class--hey, I had never known where it was posted for the difference between first and second class!
Once in the city, I needed to take Tram #1 to the "Ary van der Spuyweg" stop. I quickly found where the trams departed from and hopped aboard. In the good old city of Amsterdam, you simply tell the driver the name of you stop and he/she will stamp your stippenkart (transportation ticket) for the right amount of strips. When I got on this tram, there were no little helpful attendents behind the glass booth. In fact, there was no glass booth at all. Instead, there were stippenkart stamping machines (which are also on the A'dam trams/buses but I have never had to use one). I noticed that no one who got on the tram went to use the machine. I was confused and just followed what they did=picked a seat and sat down. After a few stops, I understood that they probably had the student pass cards and/or had their strips already valid for that hour (after you stamp you can ride as much as you want for an hour). I sat not knowing what to do. Being a "zwarte rijder" ("black rider"--has nothing to do with skin color!) is a huge no-no in The Netherlands and punishable by stringent fines...

**oh, I forgot to add that I never called the other person for the directions. Instead, a Dutchie helped me find the very detailed instructions on a website. It even had the exact times the train would leave, the tram would arrive, and what time the tram would arrive at my stop! Those Netherlanders being so precise can be quite helpful sometimes...and I was just about to find out how helpful knowing those times would be***

After riding the tram for awhile, I began checking my cell phone (yup, I got one. I was actually given it by a friend who left a couple weeks ago. It even had some credit left on it. This was the first time I had used it) to make sure I would be paying extra attention for the stop.
I was not hearing the name of my stop and finally asked a girl behind me if she knew where it was. "Oh, you need to be going the other way. That stop is by the beach." oops.
I immediately got off at the next stop. After I got off, I realized I had never gotten my card stamped. I was a zwarte rijder! oooh, rebel me!
After taking the tram the right way and finding the stop w/o difficulties I needed to tackle my next challenge=finding the street with the embassy. I knew the name of the street and that it was a 6 minute walk from my stop (thanks again, Dutch transportation website), but was not sure what direction and if I needed to take any turns. I chose a direction that looked right to me and began walking. I asked one lady for directions who did not know and another lady who just told me to keep walking, she was sure I would just run into the embassy although she had no idea where the street was (thanks, ma'am). Then I saw an elderly man sitting on a bench in a park. Nice, I could ask him. I greeted him and asked him if he spoke English (all in Dutch, thank you very much!). He cracked a huge smile and told me he spoke it a little bit (in English). I asked him for the name of my street and he looked a bit confused (still smiling) and was trying to explain something to me. I realized that he was a little slow. I thought, "oh, he must be a little mentally challen..."no, no, wait! Is that a beer can on the bench? Oh. This man is drunk in the middle of the afternoon! He did not seem smashed, but he was definitely affected.
I showed him the paper with the address on it and he told me some directions (which I paid absolutely no attention to). I looked him in the eyes, smiled at him, and thanked him sincerely (in Dutch). He rattled off something that made no sense (in English) then began laughing heartily. He must have heard a really good joke in his head. I honestly felt sad for the guy since he obviously was trying to escape some type of pain in his life. I wished I could do something for him and prayed for him as I walked down the street. What a nice man. I hope he is as pleasant sober...

When I got to the end of the street, the street I needed-Tobias Asserlan-was to the left. I followed it and came to the embassy. hey, it looks very closed. There were a few people mulling around inside the gate, so I stood by the gate and stared at them, hoping someone would come over and ask me what I was doing. One man came outside. I asked him if he spoke English (in dutch) but he didn't understand me. So I just started speaking in English. He still didn't understand me. He asked me (in English) what I needed. I began explaining my situation. I could tell he couldn't understand me, but I figured if he could see that I knew what I was talking about and seemed confident that he would go and find someone who could help me. I was wrong. He kept telling me that the visa office was closed. He asked me what my name was and what country I came from. I told him and he tried to give me directions to the American embassy. hmmpf, what to do? I tried to explain more, and as I was talking a lady came out. She spoke to the man asking him some questions (obviously about me) while looking at me then gave me some dagger eyes and went inside. What was that about? The man looked at me then walked inside.
Okayyyy, now what? I tried my little stand at the gate and stare thing again, but there was no one to stare at now. I decided to call Bas. Surely he could help somehow--no answer.
I went back to the gate and called the embassy telephone number. A lady (who sounded very much like the lady who I spoke to earlier that day) answered, and I told her I was there to turn in visa application forms. She told me the office was closed. I told her I knew that, but I had called before to ask---silence=my phone battery went dead. Of course. Of course this is the part in the movie where that happens. Yes, it's all too Hollywood perfect for me. My eyes started tearing from frustration.
I suddenly noticed that there was a bell on the gate door. I buzzed it. With butler-like speed, a very official looking man appeared. cool.
He asked me something in Dutch. I asked him if he spoke English (in Dutch). He didn't understand me (what is with these Indonesians not understanding my Dutch? The Dutch always understand me!). I asked him if he spoke English (in English) and he said "yes"! good.
I explained my situation to him and he promptly told me the office was closed. yeah, I have heard that before. I told him that I understood but was told to come with my papers. "No, the office is closed." I began explaining further to him and pulled out my phone and told him I was talking to someone and my phone died. He didn't understand what I was trying to say. I tried to explain it in about 5 other ways and he still wasn't getting it. I finally tried to turn my phone back on. After several attempts (it kept dying immediately), it turned on and I called the woman again. I told her I was outside and that my phone might die but to please tell someone to let me in or take my papers. The man was saying something to me, and I thought maybe she could explain something to him so I handed him the phone. He rattled away in Indonesian for awhile then gave the phone back to me. She told me the office was closed. I asked her if there was anyway I could give my papers to someone today then they could process them tomorrow. She said yes! then told me to hold while she transferred me. I tried to protest and remind her of my dying battery, but she did it anyway.
A man answered and spoke to me in Dutch. I asked him if he spoke English (in Dutch). Guess what, he didn't understand me and kept speaking English. I said something in English and he said, "oh, you want to speak English." yes, please. I explained my situation to him. He told me the office was closed. If I had a nickel for everytime...

I tried to explain about the phone call and all that, but he was not impressed. I tried to plead to leave the papers there. I didn't need the office! I just needed one of those mullers inside the gate area to walk over, take my papers, put them in the office, and then I could call and explain in the morning. He did not understand English all that well, so it took me awhile to suggest all that to him. He would have none of it. The office was closed and it was impossible for anyone to take my papers because there was no one from the visa office there. grr. so sad.

I walked away a defeated woman. I had come so far, pleaded so vehemently! alas, to no avail. I made my way back to Amsterdam arriving home in time to get ready for our evening class.

ROUND 2:

I started my second journey to Den Haag in the morning this time. I left this morning around 9:30am. This time with a side-kick. Rebekah Sewell wanted to set her sights on Den Haag, so we walked to Centraal Station together, bought our tickets, bought a strippenkart, got on the train and went to Den Haag (on the ride there we talked to an Ozzy (Aussie) scientist who was really nice and was encouraged by our-meaning ywam's-work.), got on the tram (going the right way), and got to our stop. We made it to the embassy and this time when I rang the bell, the door opened! The Indonesian soil felt wonderful. I went inside and took a number to wait in line. When my turn came, I went to the window and asked if the lady spoke English. She understood me! I showed her all my papers and she began to sift through them all. There was some confusion about some things and we talked for awhile. I discovered that all of us non-Dutch citizens could not be approved yet because we did not have the correct letter of invitation. great. I went outside and called Bas. He told me to try to leave the papers with her then go back another day when we got the rest of the information. I agreed and also remembered that the Dutchies could get approved, so I should for sure give those to her. I went back inside and took another number, waited, then tried to look cheerful to the woman who had already just spent quite a bit of time with me the first time I was in. She was very nice though and genuinely wanted to help me. I gave her the papers for the Netherlanders and asked her if she could process those. No, I had forgotten that she had told me that we ALL needed a letter of permission from ywam saying we were allowed to go to Indonesia for what we were doing...weird. I still do not understand why that is necessary.

And I could forget about trying to leave the papers there. She did not like that idea at all. once again, I had failed in my great attempt to get those increasingly evasive visas and left to return to Amsterdam.

So, here is my situation:

It will take 2 business days to get the invitation letter (that means by Monday) then I will have to go back to the embassy and turn in the papers (I would go on Tuesday). It will take 3 business days to process the visas (the lady insisted that she knew for sure we could get them that quickly--if so, that means by Thursday) then I would go back and pick up the visas on Friday. We leave Sunday. whew, cutting it much more close than is desireable.

And so my dear loved ones, that is my story of Den Haag. It is a tale of great hopes in limbo.

the end is soon in sight...

Texel

I have just returned (yesterday) from a most glorious weekend on the Dutch isle of Texel (pronounced: tesl). It was my first experience of being on a cold island, but I like it still.
We (staff) wanted to be able to spend some quality time together outside formality-where we could just enjoy each other as friends. Richard had a connection with a pastor who owned this vacation home, and we were able to rent it for a very modest price.
We had a lot of rest, tea and coffee times, flying kites on the beach, trying to rescue jelly fish and crabs which were already dead (that was me), and prayer together.
The beach was beautiful and once I got used to the fact that it was so cold, I really appreciated my surroundings.

This week's teachings are on our Destiny and Calling taught by an Armenian man. He is very humorous but also wise. He speaks 7 languages, and often during his speaking, he throws in very American phrases. AND he can make the french and indian accent while speaking English. I am amazed. It is like watching a stand-up comedian.

Tonight will be bitter sweet for me. It is the last of our small group meetings. From now on, Monday nights will be used for outreach preparation. I am excited to be with my outreach team, but I have also really enjoyed my time together with the small group.

I hope to have more information about outreach locations (cities/ministries) in the next couple days. I will write more then.

please keep your emails coming.
love you all.

Bali Hai

Well folks, I am quite excited to share with you where I will be going on outreach:
INDONESIA!

I am thrilled about this, simply thrilled. I will be co-leading with Bas (the school leader) which I am also thrilled about because he is someone I can learn a lot from, and I have great respect for his leadership.
We are not final in our decision for which students are going where. They gave their choices today, and we are praying about what is best/right.

Something else I am anticipating is next week's teaching. My friend's father will be coming to speak on Identity in Christ. We had a speaker cancel, and I immediately thought of him=someone I respect in so many areas and who has a lot of teaching experience in ywam. I love to have conversations with him, too, so it will be absolutely lovely to have him come.

Oh, one last note about Indonesia: I do not know where exactly we will be visiting but Jakarta and Bali are the areas in the forefront as of now.
Also, our entire school will all first go together to Singapore to receive a week of training before we head out to our countries.
The other countries the school is going to: China (led by Kim and Gwen) and Cambodia (led by Richard and Martine).

through the wringer

I have been put through an emotional and spiritual wringer this week...and some of it has only just begun (email me for further details). It is all so very good though.

I continue to be surprised by how much the students have in thier lives that they are ready to be rid of but have not known how...they have a certain desperation that is beautiful (although many of them feel quite exasperated since they are not yet where they want to be...they can get there!).

Today we presented the outreach destinations to them to pray about over the weekend. On Monday, we will divide them into the teams. We as staff already know who we are co-leading with and where we are going. In case some student happens to stumble upon this blog, I will forgo giving those details, but I will tell you what the destination options are for them.
We will have 3 teams all starting with training together in Singapore. After a couple weeks, we will shoot out to: China, Cambodia, and Indonesia.
It is all so very exciting. I think I was more excited today presenting the options to the students than when I was a student myself! This is fun.

This week has been intense for all of us. I will tell you that just one of my highlights was last night. Each week we are having an open Wednesday class session for parents, friends, and the community to join in with us. Last night we had an evening session for only the students. Our teacher spoke on Wednesday about activating the gift of prophesy in our lives. Last night was a "practice" time (if that sounds offfensive or stange to you, ask me about it because it was actually quite nice. We were asked to pair up and pray for 3 minutes, asking God to give us an encouraging word for the other person. I was shocked by what the student I was paired with gave to me. God confirmed throuogh Him a prayer I had VERY recently prayed but had not shared with ANYONE. It made me laugh and smile...God just keeps affirming how very near to me He is at this time despite what else I may feel. And He can keep on doing just that...it makes me want to seek Him out all the more.

I was the week leader this week also which means I was leading class times, giving announcements, and being in charge of other various duties related to the school. I can't say that I enjoyed it, but I know it is good for me to be stretched in that area (as Bill has also done for me) to develop more leader qualities in me.

Two people made surprise visits to the base this week. One was from my DTS (Niels, specifically for those who know him...'push the button!') and the other was staff (not dts staff) on the base during my DTS (Shep-yes, he was wearing the black hoodie). It was nice to their familiar faces.

So, to sum it all up: it has been a great week. The prayer especially has been special, powerful, and changing for me...

liefs (love),
Michelle

gnoomdans!

My, my my.

I have just come from a very interesting meal here on the base.

It was our first nations-to-nations love feast. That's right, love feast.

The evening began with Armando (base director) opening the meal with the Jewish Shabbat. He blessed the bread then we partook of the bread and wine while going around hugging everyone saying, "Shabbat, shalom!" Oh, and we sang a song, too. The only lyrics were 'shabbat' and 'shalom.' Those of you left in the dark: shabbat=rest (the sabbath) and shalom=peace. Each of our love feasts (every other Friday) will begin with the Shabbat presented by Armando (who is Jewish).

Tonight's evening meal was presented by all the students from Europe. This includes the countries of: The Netherlands, Romania, Finland, and Germany. Our meal was fish soup (Finnish), spect salad (German), boerenkool (Dutch), and pancake with icecream (no one was sure what country this represented...though the pancake was similar to Dutch ones).
During the meal, various students got up to demonstrate something from their culture.

I learned how to say "Will you be my wife?" in Finnish, a tongue twister in German, a Romanian folk tale, and the Dutch gnoomdans (which is actually another word in Dutch. They tried to translate it into English but someone misspelled "gnome dance"). It is a very silly dance...I do not think the Dutch can surprise me any more by their culture. I expect anything from them now...but I love it because they are so fun.

The students also all dressed in their country's traditional clothing so it was just a lot of fun together. I am already excited for the next one=Africa!

Great Expectations

I have a love/hate relationship with the internet right now...
I love to be able to keep in touch w/ those I love, but I hate that our wireless connection in this building is so wishy-washy (who came up w/ that phrase anyway?). The good news is that we are in the process of purchasing all new thingies that will make the connection better and more reliable. Because De Poort is so old, the walls are made of the good old stuff and are not so thin like office buildings are these days, therefore, the wireless thingies we have now are not strong enough to penetrate and allow for good connection. This is why I have not had a blog for awhile now.

alright, now for the good stuff: students have arrived! We have finished our second week of classes. The first week was all introduction stuff (the building, Amsterdam, YWAM, ministries, what to expect, etc...). I was quite worn out by the end of the week. Our schedule as staff was non-stop plus I was making a real effort to speak to each of the students and have a meaningful conversation. You all know that I am not fond of small talk. I would like to KNOW people, so to try to do so w/ so many new people (25 in total) was exhausting for my personality. By the time the weekend rolled around, I was craving my alone time. I got it.
This week was taught by one of my favorite speakers from my own DTS. The subject was the Nature, Character, and Father Heart of God. We had times of open worhship and also prayer times for people who have broken areas in their life. It has been sad and beautiful to see how many students came forward for prayer. Each shared their individual struggle then we all prayed for them.
I continue to be amazed by how quickly open and trusting the students are with us as staff as well as with each other. I know this is because of the amount of prayer preparation Bas (school leader) has done well before any of us staff even came to join in his preparations. He also is committed to starting each day in prayer: first on his own, then with us as staff in the mornings, then w/ everyone before class starts, then when classes have finished. I believe this is key to how healthy our school will be...prayer in general, not just Bas but also all of us staff and also the students in their own time.

I had my first one-on-one meeting yesterday. I will be a mentor-type to two students. I was curious as to how comfortable it would be for her during this first meeting, knowing that it can be a bit awkward for the first time to meet with someone. It was so nice though. I prayed beforehand (by myself) that it would all go according to God's plan for her life. I am not supposed to counsel her, that is not the point of these meetings. I am to be a listening ear for things that they may not be ready to share with the group and a sounding board to help them process their experience here as well as be a prayer support. I really got a wonderful girl and I look forward to our coming meetings together. I will meet with my other girl on Sunday. I believe it will also go quite well as I have already had a couple nice conversations with her.

I also have a one-on-one for myself. I struck gold by getting a deep woman of God who continually puts herself before God for Him to work in her as He sees fit. She has a gentle determination in the Spirit that is soothing as well as fearful=she SEES into you. I need this. She is someone that I can be completely open with...maybe more so than any other person in my life so far. She is an incredible blessing.

ok, I believe this is enough for you to chew on for now.
love you all. blessings to each of you (I mean that sincerely).

The Great Escape

It was a dark night on the streets of Amsterdam. Eight unsuspecting DTS staff were merrily riding their bicycles back to De Poort (name of the building I live in) from a lovely dinner together at Carolyn's house in the city center when something happened....

As they rode down one main street just minutes from De Poort, a policeman stepped out from the shadows to pull Bas aside--he was riding without a back light! (to ride a bike at night without a front AND/or back light is a big no-no in The Netherlands punishable by up to 50euros). Next in line was Kimberly. She, too, was w/o a back light and was quickly stopped by another police officer. I was next in line (I have a working front light but it was not working last night for some reason and I had not taken a back light-you can get clip on lights-with me), but seeing that the two police were busy w/ them I continued down the street. I only got a few meters when I saw

another set of police officers crossing over to my side of the street. yikes.

I quickly took the nearest side street then stopped to see what would happen to Bas and Kimberly. But stop I could not for the police were hot on my trail and were making their way towards me. I took off down the side street with lightning speed, not looking back.

As I rode on towards the base (De Poort), I heard a deep voice call out my name from the shadows. It startled me, and I was not sure where to look to find the owner of the voice. Soon Richard was cycling next to me. He had been first in line and had seen the police waiting so took the side street, too (his front light was on, but the back light is almost burnt out so he had turned it off).
Once back at the base, we waited outside for the others. After about 10 minutes they sheepishly came in. Kimberly, Bas, and Gwen each received a 20euro fine. Martine, Rianne, and Reinier also got stopped, but they had lights so were ok.
whoa.
Rianne and Reinier were laughing at me. Apparently, the police officer that I had seen coming my way, actually started to run after me (he did not yell at me to stop, and I did not see him running). I barely escaped the fine. It's all ok. I have learned my lesson to always keep a clip-on front and back light w/ me whenever I am out riding. The reason so many of us did not have our lights with us is because we had planned to walk. Time got away from us, so we decided last minute that riding would be the best option. Also, it was daylight when we left...that's our excuse.



Ok, now for another great story which is actually a testimony. Yesterday we got together as staff to pray for the students-specifically those who are struggling w/ visa difficulties. We really cried out to God on their behalf and I felt a lot of peace about everything working out as it should when we had finished.
After Richard and I got back from our escape last night, Tanya (personnel staff) informed Richard that two girls from Ghana had just gotten their visas! We were so excited to share this news w/ the others when they got back. It helped ease the pain of getting a fine a bit, too. She stayed outside talking for awhile-all excited about what other students we will soon hear from with similar information. Please keep in prayer the visa situations. So far, 22 of our 38 accepted students have everything they need and will be coming. The others are question marks. I want each student to come. The whole reason they applied for the DTS is because they have a hunger for God. This is a great place for them to learn and grow...especially if their life at home is not conducive for their spiritual growth as they desire (which is the case for some of them).

Thank you all for your love and support. tot ziens

the REAL Netherlands

Zaanse Schans, Edam, Zandijk, Spaarndam, Sanpoort, Ijmuiden.

Yes, indeed, I have seen them all now dear friends.
As a part of staff orientation, we had a day (last Thursday to be exact) where we hopped into cars and discovered life outside the Amsterdam world=VERY different from average
Dutch life.
I will give you a short overview of the highlights from the trip:

Edam--easy, the cheese comes from here. Not much else to say about this town other than that it is quaint, beautiful, and peaceful. Shocker=I tried the cheese and did not despise it!

Zandijk/Zaanse Schans--modern area next to traditional area (Zaanse Schans is the traditional area). Saw how the wooden clogs are manufactured. They are still worn by the Dutch today-whoa. Went to a pewter jewelry making shop and bought some really lovely earrrings. Visited a cheese farm that looked more like a small pond and duck farm.

Ijmuiden--visited a castle which was really a mansion and had overpriced tea (3,50 euros!)

Sanpoort--visited the ruins of a castle. It was closed for the day for visitors so we just admired it from afar. Went inside a real, working windmill (grain grinder) and saw how they are run. Quite interesting-I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Spaarndam--the proposed town where Hans Brinker is from-the boy who stuck his finger into the dike to save the town from flooding. Amazingly, the Dutch do not know this story-it is American! ha!
But they accommodate us well by having a statue erected in town of Hans with his hand in the dike...that's very nice of them. thank you, Spaarndam.

Youth With A Meeting

yeah, so that's what I feel like we should be called (see subject line) after these past week and a half.

I have been so busy-but not overly busy. It has been just enough actually.

Last week was staff orientation for all new staff, and this week is "at home" days which is pretty much a week for all staff from each of the buildings to come together to worship, pray, fellowship, and review YWAM values together. It's all got a nice family type feel so far.

Emas (from my dts, Lithuanian) made a surprise visit to the base, and is staying for the week.
He is just as crazy-fun as ever, and it is great to see him again.

Bas' (this dts school's school leader, Dutch) birthday is on Friday. Birthdays are a big deal for the Dutchies, and he is planning a party on the base, inviting several people. It should be interesing.

Our base leader's (Armando-Venezuelen Jew) birthday was last Saturday. His family lives at the top of Samaritan's Inn which means that we all got to huff and puff our way up 900 flights of stairs to a reward of a beautiful banquet table of cheese, french breads, grapes, and wine. Entertainment was provided heavily by the Hispanics with lively salsa-type music and dancing.
Unfortunately, Armando ended his night with a fall off the ladder leading to the roof of Sam's Inn (many houses in Amsterdam have roof decks and gardens). He went up on the roof with some other men who prayed for him. He was making his way back into the house when the ladder fell sideways and he also fell partway down one of the 900 flights of stairs and also partially out of a window (could have potentially fallen all the way out of the window and splattered onto the ground below). He is fine. So, as sad as it is to end a birthday celebration in this way, it could have been much more detritmental. Blessings come in mysterious packaging at times.

I will leave you all on that happy note. : )

"Pimp My Praam"

Well, I now know what a praam is.
It is a flat, shallow boat w/ a motor on the back. Nothing fancy but quite nice.

I started my day w/ a bike ride (the first on my lovely new bike) with Richard (Dutch). We were trying to find the forest of Amsterdam. Yes, indeed, there is an honest to goodness real live forest just on the outskirts of the city--who knew? Neither of us had been there, but Richard knew around where it was. We set out with high hopes. We were happily riding along when we suddenly discovered that we had somehow ridden in a circle (actually not hard to do here since the canals are all half-moon shaped). We were laughing at ourselves since neither of us realized what we had done until it was time for us to head back to De Poort....I guess I will see the forest another day.

We (all September dts staff...see an earlier blog for description of the 8 of us) got to Richard's parent's house and Richard gave us a tour. They live in a quaint house (as are ALL the houses in Holland) in the midst of a beautiful flower garden. Behind the house are greenhouses where Richard's father has been growing flowers for somewhere around 30 years now (and his father grew them before him). Most of the flowers they grow are sold to the United States (I do not know the English word for what type they are). The town of Alsmeer is where a world flower auction is held, so the town is just bursting with flowers of every kind.
After a nice ride around in the praam then relaxing on a little island (man-made...no beach...looks like a nice, garden backyard area) we went into Alsmeer to view the flower parade.
All the floats were decorated with tons and tons of flowers...very beautiful.

Tomorrow night, the town will have a "pimp my praam" competition where people will decorate their praam w/ a theme then drive them in a parade to be judged. Richard and his friends are decorating his boat w/a disco theme. Interesting.

biker chic

Yup. Got me some wheels.

I feel like a real Amsterdammer now :)

Yuksel (ethnically Turkish but has been all over for so long that she is one unique Yuksel!) just found out like 3 seconds ago that she was accepted for some YWAM classes in Colorado Springs. So, yeah, another one bites the dust and leaves De Poort. But it is good b/c she is so happy and excited. It is the right place for her to go, and I am excited for her, too.

So, when she leaves, I will acquire her bike. I actually asked her about buying it a week ago when she was talking about how she was waiting to hear if would go to The States. You have to pounce at bike opportunities around here. I mean it; it's be a vulture or get squat.

I will take some good pictures soon and send some out in a mass email soon. I will be sure to put one of me and my bike in there.

Life here just keeps getting sweeter...

A resounding echo...

here is what is happening here this week for me:
Yesterday, we went through all the student applications and shared what we knew about the students to try to get to know them a bit before they even get here. We then spent time in prayer to divide them into groups of 5 for us to contact them by phone this week. I will be answering any questions they may have and letting them know what we have been doing in preparation for their arrival as well as praying for any concerns/difficulties (such as visas) they may be experiencing.

Today we met for a couple hours to just pray for them and also for us as staff...I got the impression that 2 Chronicles 7:14 (look it up) was for us and them. I feel like that as we serve them by praying for them, that we will be able to see God work through our prayers by healing their "land." Martine (from Reunion Isle) got a similar impression. She said that she believes God is really going to work through us-that it is not us that are reaching the students on our own account, but it is Christ through us. And that is what I believe about our prayers. It's not us praying that will touch the students, but it is the power of God that is released when we pray and believe (as His Word clearly states).

So that is this week. Bas is in England getting some good staff training I hope. He will be back on Thursday sometime.
Just in time for Friday which is when we get to go to...uh, I forgot the name of the city, but it is where the massive flower auction is held.
Richard's (Dutchie) parents live there and he has a boat called a praam (I have no idea what it is, but will let you know as soon as I do) on which we will go boating. We will also have a BBQ (coming from Kansas City, I am most curious by what the Dutch mean by BBQ) at his parents house. I am excited about this little excursion.

Then, this weekend, Leo (Dutch guy from my dts) will be coming to De Poort (name of the building where I live) to visit me, Kimberly, and Bas (we were all together last September for dts=Discipleship Training School for those of you who have forgotten).

Oh, and today a student (Dutch) showed up on the base and wanted to look around. It was really fun to already meet one of them. Especially since the base is getting more and more empty right now (this is where the echo part of my subject line comes in). There are MANY people leaving the base right now, and I shed a tear this morning for my dear friends Amanda and Brian who left for The States. The people that I associated with as staff for YWAM Amsterdam during my dts are rapidly changing. Please pray that the right people will come in to fill this base as it should be. It is hard to say all the goodbyes...it is a well-known YWAM sorrow that goodbyes are often, but the part that is supposed to cheer you up is that we have friends all over the world due to all the people we meet and become friends with...that does cheer me a bit but does not make the goodbyes any easier for now.
I am excited for what people will come in. These two years is a time God has set aside for me to be here...I want to be all here and fully live the community at De Poort.
Yeah, so I appreciate your prayers for our base in this way...

alright, so some of you read these blogs faithfully--thanks. But, uhh, how about sending me an update on yourself? I was surprised when I got home last time and so many of you said how much you loved getting my updates...yeah, well, me too!
so come on, and tell me what is going on--or better yet, send me some REAL mail=calling all letter writers!

love you all! More later. ~Michelle

eet smakelijk?

ok, so I am tired tonight but not quite ready to sleep,
so I decided to write a nice little message about
Dutch cuisine.

We are all curious about food from other cultures, right?
ok, well I will fill you in on some of the unique gastronomic habits of the Dutch.

I think I will tell you a tale of my first experience with Dutch snacks.
Just as we Americans are so fond of our McDonald's menu, so the Dutch find great pleasure in a variety of fast food items.
During my DTS we were "treated" to a dinner of these foods.
This included rare eats such as: patat (belgian french fries-also referred to as frites) with mayonnaise of course, kroket (deep fried, breaded meat gravy...yup, that's right. You think you are biting into something solid but it is gravy stuff on the inside. definitely not something I will knowingly eat a second time!), frikandel (so fun to say, but to eat....well it is a deep fried sausage so you can decide how delightful that sounds to you), and then some other thing that I still do not know what it is called but is basically deep fried cheese (or a glorified cheese stick b/c they are quite big).

alright, so the snack food does not impress me, but the desserts are quite lovely.
Here are a few of them:
vla (pudding...but the Dutch will insist that it is a different consistency than pudding...it's not), hagelslaag (actually not a dessert...they eat it for breakfast even. It is chocolate sprinkles for your bread-that's right, your bread. they slough some butter on bread then sprinkle on the hagelslaag...it's ok), nutella (chocolate/hazelnut spread for bread), black licorice candy(sweet and salty kinds-tons of different types...I actually love this stuff, even the salty ones!), stroopwaffels (two waffle type flat cookies held together by a layer of caramel-so delicious!), and I can go on, but these are the the things most consumed by me.

I am sure I will tell more tales of Dutch cuisine another time.
oh, and the title for this entry means "eat well." It is their "bon apetite"

A Whole New Netherlands World

We (DTS staff along w/ Rebekah who is going to be w/ the January DTS but is already here on the base) went to Heidebeek for 4 days. Heidebeek is the name of the other YWAM base in The Netherlands and is located in the beautiful Dutch countryside.
It was a lovely and peaceful time.

We received staff training from a man from a YWAM base in England. It was good, solid teaching. I was surprised by how applicable it all is...I feel like the time was well worth it, and it was so nice to get to know the Heidebeek staff as well....though they did beat us at volleyball. But I blame that on the fact that I was not able to help our team. I had to sit out after the first game due to a wardrobe malfunction=the long skirt I was wearing that day, started to split at the bottom. I figured it was wisdom to stop right then :)

Last night our team got together to pray for students who are experiencing trouble getting visas or who has expressed doubts about coming...as we prayed the atmosphere became more and more dense...the Spirit was just so strong. We began to personally call out to Jesus and tell Him how much we need Him then the Presence was so strong that we could only be in silence for some time. I was so encouraged to know that these people that I was praying w/ were people so hungry for God and that we will be together for the coming months=beautiful. exciting. perfect.

I must say that as much as I like being out in the country, I missed the city and am happy to be back now. I will spend this weekend sleeping.
Next week, we will pray more for the students and begin contacting them to help them get things ready to come and answer any questions, etc...
On Friday we will go boating on Richard's (dts staff from Netherlands) praam-I have no idea what a praam is but I will let you know as soon as I find out. Also, we will have bbq at his parent's house...he just let his parents know today that we are all coming...he has been telling us about this outing for over a week now :)

Oh, and let me fill you in on the staff now that we are complete. We are:
Bas (dts leader from Netherlands), Kimberly (netherlands but ethinically Surinamese), Reinier and Rianne (3 months pregnant married couple from Netherlands), Richard (netherlands), Martine and Gwen (Gwen is the guy...engaged couple from Reunion Island-French province. They speak the island language which is a mix of 3 languages as well as speaking French and English), and me!
It is a good team. I love us already!

singing in the rain

I was just about to go out of De Poort (building I live in) yesterday when Rebecca (another staff member) stopped me to ask if I was going to The Cleft (ywam building in the heart of the Red Light district).
I had not heard what was going on and she told me that the visiting Hawaii DTS team was going to the bridges to do street ministry. I agreed to go and it was quite the experience.
It was a gray day to begin with and on the way to The Cleft it began to rain. I had forgotten to bring an umbrella (very unwise of me for this time of year) and was drenched by the time we reached the bridges.
I ended up holding an umbrella over me and a guitar player while we stayed on the bridge for over two hours worshipping. My body was quite miserable but inside my spirit was so lifted. It was exactly what I needed, so I have hope that we touched others passing by...whether by words or just creating an atmostphere of peace and love in the midst of some deep darkness.
That experience reminded me again of why I love ywam and why I am so excited about what will continue to happen while I am here.

The bridge ministry is just one of many of the things that The Cleft does in the Red Light district so I hope to have more unusual and beautiful sotries to share with you all soon.

muche love,
Michelle

A Smile in my Heart...

...because I walked in my beloved city once again. I arrived on Wednesday w/ smooth flights. I missed all the trouble in London (had a layover there) by one day, so God was helping me a LOT there. The only trouble I ran into was that one of my bags was left in Chicago so I did not get it until Thursday. It was no problem really though.
It is lovely, lovely, lovely to be back and my heart truly did smile as I walked about exploying this truly unique city.
It's good to be home.

Full Circle

Well, I am back in good ole Amsterdam...and it is so good to be back!
My body was travel weary and rebelled by keeping me in bed on Saturday and Sunday, but I am pratically a new woman now and ready to face the world.
We had good flights back, free of delays or any major problems. We arrived about 10:30pm in Amsterdam then took a train and bus back to De Poorte where all our old pals greeted us warmly with hugs and kisses and wanted to hear anything and everything we would tell them about the trip.
The January DTS is here and they are a huge lot=over 50 of 'em. I am a bit overwhelmed by the size of their group, but the ones I have met so far seem like a lot of fun. Every room in De Poorte is filled and the place is crawling with people.
We have teachings this week during the mornings then the afternoons and evenings are free. It is designed this way so that we have plenty of time to enjoy being back and having relaxed times of fellowship.
It won't be long now until I am back in the U.S. of A. I look forward to seeing many of you and blabbing on and on about my trip, so be ready!
I will let you all know the exact date of my return when I am sure of it myself!
later gators.

Salt in the Wounds

On Sunday, the team met at 3:30am for our trek up Mt. Masada to watch the sunrise. It was quite beautiful and worth the early morning workout. Afterwards, we headed to the Dead Sea for a much anticipated "swim." It was one of the most unique experiences of my life. Due to the high salt content, swimming is practically impossible. Instead, you just float around. I have never been more bouyant in my life, and it was so funny to watch everyone practically sitting on top of the water. Those of us with any cuts were in pain and a few cut their feet on the rocks of salt formed on the bottom of the sea. I think I can say for all of us that it was all worth it for this once-in-a-lifetime swim.
Next, our tour took us to Jericho...hmm, not so impressive. We did get to see the Sycamore tree that is believed to be the one Zaccheas climbed. Other than that, the city was much like any other residential area you would imagine in this area. What made up for all the anti-climatism (is that even a word?) was the fact that we were in the West Bank! Yea, danger! Not really. We were definitely in the Palestine area though the West makes it sound as though the entire West Bank area is volatile and unsafe. I, however, just saw families and people living normal lives=smiling at us and waving. It was a nice experience and very good for me to see.

Today the team spent time reminiscing all the people, places, and things we experienced during outreach. We thanked God and sang in a lovely park area on Mt. Zion.
Tomorrow is a free day...I MAY be going to Bethlehem or Galilee if money permits me to do so.
Oh, and just to get back to you about the weather. It is quite, quite warm here and several of us are sunburned (including me). I guess we will take the burns after just being in -25 degree (that's celsius) weather only two weeks ago!

Disneyland!

Disneyland--that is what Charles (our DTS leader who is in Amsterdam) refers to Jerusalem as for us...and basically it is true since we are technically on debriefing now.
I must say that Jerusalem is a truly unique city and that there is nowhere else I can think of that comes close to a comparison for what I have experienced here.
We are staying at a really nice little youth hostel in the heart of the Christian quarter. The shopping streets are just outside our doors which is convenient, but can be annoying to have to walk through all the peddlars as they call out for you to enter their shop. The hostel is very much my style--old and hippyish.
I took a city tour (of the old city) this morning with the group. Our guide was a Messianic Jew, so it was quite interesting for me to hear how he explained everything we saw today. My favorite thing I have seen so far has been the Wailing Wall. It is so intense to go and watch everyone praying...it is especially surreal if you happen to be there during one of the Muslim prayer times...what a clash of sounds...what a clash of religion...what an incredibly rare experience.
I am thouroughly enjoying my time here and feel so grateful that our outreach included Israel. I would highly, HIGHLY recommend anyone to come here. You will be astonished by what all you experience...nothing compares to it...nothing can.
I will have to talk to everyone to effectively express and explain what I have seen here...hope that I will be able to talk to most of you...
Love you all!

umm...where is my passport?

yeah, so this one is quite embarrassing:

Yesterday, after arriving here in Antioch, Thomas asked us all to give him our passports. I instantly feel fear grip me as I realized that I had left my coat on the bus that we rode here which had my passport in the pocket. I ran out of the hotel and to the bus station where I frantically explained to a man who spoke English what my problem was. He most calmly said, "you come from Samsun? I know where that bus is. Follow me." The bus had not left yet!
I found the bus and my coat and passport were there. I was relieved but so mad at myself since I have been obsessive-compulsively checking to make sure I have my passport at all times. Now, I am the only one of the team to have misplaced it. Everyone was surprised that it was me to have that happen to because they know how much I have been aware of where my passport is. Oh well, it had to happen to one of us at least once after all this traveling, right?

bird flu--smird flu

Ok, so I have just arrrived in Antioch, Turkey a few hours ago.
What an experience to get here! As a result I just took my first shower in 7 days breaking my previous record! This is going to be a lengthy blog, but well, well worth it when you read what has happened to me the past few days, so dig in and enjoy!

So here is what happened on the way to getting here:

We were supposed to leave on a bus from Yerevan on Tuesday at 4pm, but got a call that something with the bus driver was not working out and we would need to wait until 11am the next day to leave. Well, then on Wednesday morning we got a call that-no, we would not be leaving that morning and possibly not even that evening...it was so frustrating because we kept packing and cleaning then unpacking and having to go buy groceries etc...
On Wednesday at about 2pm we got a call that indeed we would leave that day but not until 10:30pm. That was ok by me so long as we were finally getting closer to Israel!

We got to the bus station and got our places on the dirty but spacious enough bus...that is when the realization hit that, despite the abundance of "no smoking" signs stuck to the bus windows, Armenians do not have to observe such signs and proceeded to chain smoke the ENTIRE 37 HOURS!
It was the worst the first night because for some strange reason, the bus driver did not think working the ventilation system was important for us non-smokers (who far under-numbered the smokers...we would have lost a fight against them for sure). Mariska (my bus seat mate) and I even resigned to sniffing our mandarin peels in order to combat the smell...I may have contracted the black lung from that trip, but I will need more time to be sure.
So when we got to the Armenian-Georgian border, that's when the fishiness began. Our bus leader (a glamorously dressed large lady) would not allow the Georgian officials to seal our baggage area. She insisted that we had nothing illegal but refused the seal (which would have to stay on until we got the the Georgia-Turkey border). We ended up waiting 8 hours at the border for the new shift of officials to get on duty who could search our stuff.
Surprise, surprise! They found a lot of vodka and cigarrettes that were going to be sold in Georgia. Once that was confiscated, we were on our way...that made us quite happy.
So you would think our troubles would be over, but no, oh no, once we got to the Turkish border it got only more strange. We crossed the border fine and didnt even have our stuff searched through thouroughly as we were warned would happen. In fact, we had just started to pull away from the border when a fight amongst the passengers broke out. Apparently someone had been hiding in a special compartment inside the bus and came out! He had been hiding in there being smuggled for over 24 hours! What the heck?!
Everyone was all yelling and what I wouldnt give to know what all they said (Emas couldnt translate for us since it was in Armenian and not Russian). We still do not know what all it was about even now. All I can say is that the guy stayed on the bus but another woman who seemed to have nothing to do with it was taken off and did not return...curiouser and curiouser.
The wonderful thing about the bus ride was the prayer that broke out before getting to the Turkish border. The woman who was taken away had been feeling some head pain and so Bas prayed for her. Then a man heard us talking about Jesus and said he wanted prayer to stop smoking and to make more steps in life to live closer to God. Then two girls who were traveling to be "go-go dancers" started talking to us. One re-dedicated her life and the other accepted Christ for the first time! whoa. All the while Joe was playing worship music on our team guitar. The entire atmosphere on the bus completely changed and I even forgot about my black lungs for awhile...God is amazing the way He works through the most bizarre of situations and places. who knew?

I must say that I did not shed even one tear when we reached Samsun, Turkey to change buses. But, in sync with the way the bus trips were going, we were delayed from leaving at 3pm to 10:30pm. That meant we had 12 hours to kill in Samsun (we got there at 10am).
This is where something really started to happen:

First, we decided to enjoy the view of the Black Sea by going out on a pier and having our quiet times, listening to music, talking, and even sleeping in our sleeping bags. On the way to the pier we met a guy who invited us to watch some soccer practice at a near-by field. We decided to go and watch. It ended up being for the professional soccer team. The guy we (there were 10 of us hanging out together) met, then invited us to have tea with him afterwards. We spent time eating cookies, talking, and drinking tea next to a pond at the soccer center. We played some worship songs for him and his friend, and when we said we needed to go, we asked where we could find an internet place. He said he could take us to one in the soccer bus, but we didnt want to trouble him so said we would find one on our own. Then someone (I will keep him anonymous for his sake) piped in that we were going to go eat first. Of course, this guy was so hospitable that he immediately offered to take us all out! We tried to refuse, but he would have none of it and called for a reservation somewhere on his cell phone.
Imagine, me in my dirty, nasty, stench-filled clothes, unwashed hair, and body that had not seen a shower in days going by reservation to a restaurant with a professional soccer player! whatever!
It was such a great time. The place we went was not overly fancy. It was a family run place with live music and great, great food. What a treat. We spent our last hours before leaving on the bus there with him enjoying the food and music. The musicians were such talented guitar players and really interacted with us. Emas even got up and did some...err, dancing? It was entertaining for us all at least!

We got on our new bus refreshed and well-fed...ready to conquer the next leg of our journey. This bus was like nirvana after the first. It was larger, more comfortable, had no smoking (for real!) and even had a bus steward aboard to serve us tea and coffee! Thank you Jesus!

Well, it took all my internet time to write this book for you all...that means personal emails will be coming another day.
love you all and will be seeing many of you soon!

nobody's business but the Turks

I just got back from the small town of Artik today.
Our team was split and I went w/ 5 other on a 2 hour marshutka (little buses that I am quite familiar w/ by now) to the town.
The weather was quite arctic (yea, yea, I know. It's a horrible joke, but I am my mother's daughter) , but we managed to stay warm by living next to the space heaters they provided for us. We stayed in the church and were involved in quite a bit of ministry including:
youth services, sunday school, church service, and boarding school program.

It was seriously one of the biggest highlights of the entire outreach for me. The pastor had quite the sense of humor and would tell us several jokes...however, relating to Armenian humor is quite another thing and we found ourselves "sympathy laughing" several times.

I have still not seen Mt. Ararat and am sad about that. I guess I probably did see it since it was clearly visible on our ride to and from the village, but I didn't know I was able to see it...someone on my team told me he saw it after we had already gotten back today...grr.
Artik is high in the mountains and the ride there was so, so beautiful= snow covered moutains surrounded us.

Tomorrow at approximately 5pm we will leave for Turkey...I am in awe of that. We will be traveling by bus (and NOT a sleeper bus) for 2 days, so I am mentally preparing for that.
At least I will be relatively clean. We did not have anywhere to bathe in the church in Artik, so we went to a sauna in town where we could take hot showers for free if we bought lunch from the cafe next door...it had been nearly 6 days since I had been able to bathe! (the last time had been in Tbilisi!) I am getting used to being a dirty girl, though I long for my clean days again...all in good time, eh?

more from me from Turkey if I get the chance, otherwise you will be hearing from me from the warm climate in Isreal...how I long for warmer days!
~michelle/moosh/hannah

HERE IN ARMENIA

Well, I survived yet another 16 hour train ride. We are getting good at the traveling, let me tell you. For some reason though, the trains have been getting less and less comfortable as we go along. This last one, I was crammed into a miniature, stifling hot room with four others while the smells of sewage and fish wafted under our noses the entire ride...I was happy to inhale the Yerevan city air after we arrived.
Yerevan has a very small city feel to it (I think there are only 1 million who live here). It is not as pretty as Tbilisi due to the lack of the mountains, but our contacts are very kind and humorous people.
Today they (our contacts=YWAM workers for the Armenian base) took us to visit one of the first churches in Armenia (which was the first Christian nation). We were supposed to see Mount Ararat (I hope I am spelling that correctly) from the area, but it was so densely foggy that we could not probably see further than about 500 feet in front of us...we have some nice postcards of what our view should have been though.
And guess what. The snow followed us yet again! What is up?!
I left Georgia wearing a sweater and entered Armenia only to need to bundle up into my coat and long johns again! If there is snow in Israel, I am going to cry.

We are staying in a house that we have to ourselves. It is a nice place, but less comfortable than what we have been spoiled with thus far. We have COLD running water at certain hours of the day, no shower (sponge baths!), no beds (thanks again for the sleeping bag, Dad!), and basically no pots or pans to cook for 16 people. We are coping though and I am happy to be stretched, actually. It builds character, right?
On Friday morning, I will leave with 5 other team members to go to a village. We will be doing various ministry there including: preaching, giving testimonies, skits, and children's programs. We will be there for four days.

Oh, and travel dates have changed for us. We will leave Yerevan on the 22nd and travel to Turkey via Georgia (due to polictial strife between Armenia and Turkey). We will take a train to Georgia (hip, hip, hooray!) and then take a plane to Turkey and arrive on the 27th.
God worked a miracle for us to get plane tickets from Turkey to Israel. First of all, you have to apply to get the tickets on Turkish Air to Israel when you are traveling in a group. Armenia does not provide any communication with Turkish Air which meant we had to get our tickets the DAY we left Georgia (we did not find out that we couldn't get Turkish Air tickets in Armenia until 2 days before we left Tbilisi). Inge (one of our staff) "happened" to see a travel agency that deals with Turkish Air while walking down a street in Tbilisi (very few agencies in Georgia deal with them), so she went in and had the agent communicate a request to the airline for our tickets.
It took some time, but the agent got a positive response (we even got a group discount) and he started to print out the tickets...that is when their computer system crashed. All was wails and woe until it got back up and running (just in time, of course--they were closing soon) and we now safely have our tickets to Israel!
Oohh, I forgot to mention that since it was such short notice to buy the tickets, the staff didnt have enough money on them. The ATM's only let you take out up to a certain amount, so they had to scurry about collecting bank cards from us team members to scrounge up enough cash to buy them. Once again, we had just enough money when the limit was withdrawn from the cards.
Hmm...seems like Someone is really looking out for us. I am not surprised--not after all I have experienced on this outreach. What a God I serve!

So the general consensus is that all is well here with the team. We are persevering (which is not hard for me since I am really loving this trip), but also anticipating our return to Amsterdam (which will be the 11th of March).
Please pray for us! And pray for Armenia that God will be known as a personal God and that His Holy Spirit will come to rest upon them strongly.

more from me later...probably from Israel, but who knows?
~Michelle/moosh/hannah

the twenty minute forever

Ok, so the plan was to take a nice little twenty minute hike up to the prospective property for the future base of YWAM Georgia...it's funny how twenty minutes morphs into one hour fifteen minutes of slipping around on muddy, slushiness in the biting cold wind...going up a steep hill, too. Can you tell I am trying to demand your sympathy? It truly was not horrible going up, but since everything I own is dirty, I did not have my hooded sweater on and the wind was whipping into my ears giving me a bad headache--that is when we were asked to pray for the property while walking around it.
Let's just say that prayer was not the first thing on my mind at that time. I do want very much for Dennis and his family to be successful here and for the YWAM base to grow, so I was able to get some good prayer time in after all. The Kiev team was with us also, and we had a good time sliding around with each other in the mud on the way down.
I was so happy to be back "home" at the hotel with a nice cup of tea in my hands, too. You see, tea really is the nectar of the gods. There is no time when it is not appropriate.

Oh, and here is something funny:
The first lady here is Dutch and Bas is absolutely determined that we will meet her and have a tea time with her followed by prayers of blessing for the country. He actually has several leads going for this so we will see if that happens...

We have not really started ministry here per se, so I am not sure what we will do on a more regular basis for the next 10 days we have here...we leave on the 13th by the way.

We had a team meeting this morning with prayer and a time of sharing frustrations. I do not have any personally, but it was good to hear what others are struggling with. We are a typical family with the petty quarrels and such going on so it is always good to check in with each other and see how everyone is doing.

I went to the Swan Lake ballet last night...remember how I went in Amsterdam? This one did not really compare as far as skill goes, but it was still quite lovely and I was glad to have the experience (and for only $4!).

Oh, guys I must go because my time is up. PLEASE email me! You know I love to hear from all you lovely ones!

I be in Georgia

Hey everyone,

Ok, so I will give 20 bucks to whoever can guess where I am now...
Obviously not Uzbekistan...Turkmenistan? fat chance-the visas would take far too long for us to get...Azerbaijan? nope, been there, done that already!
Georgia? Yup.

I am now in Georgia. We had to leave Uzbekistan on very short notice once we discovered that there was only one flight to Azerbaijan that we could take during the time our visas were valid for Uzb. We flew in and spent the day in Baku. It is actually a very pretty city and we were able to see the Caspian Sea. It is too bad we could not sail over it as originally planned, but I am happy to be here.
I no longer have to write in code which is a nice relief for me. I got so tired of trying to come up with replacement words...it just got in the way. Those of you who know how I write emails know that I just shoot out whatever comes into my head, so the whole code thing really slowed me down.

We are in contact with a man named Dennis here who is pioneering the YWAM Georgia base with his wife and three children. There is another YWAM team of 10 here from Kiev. We will meet with them tomorrow night and have a dinner altogether at our place.
We are staying in a very lovely place by the way. I love Tblisi and Georgian people so far. They are very animated and friendly. Our hotel is way up on this hill overlooking the city...amazingly beautiful.

I dont know how many of you heard, but Russia cut off a lot of the gas supply to Georgia. We were fortunate enough to come the day (yesterday) that the gas was turned on so we have both heat and hot water! praise God for that one. It would be even better if we would have realized how to turn on our hot water for showers this morning! I was quite refreshed to say the least.

I am not sure what our ministry will be here yet. Dennis is going to get together with our staff today and talk that over. I know the other team is involved with orphanages, so I dont think we will be doing that.
Today is a free day, so I slept in and tonight we may actually watch a movie all together at our place which has a VCR. It doesnt seem real that we are blessed with such a beautiful place to stay.

I will briefly write you about my time in Uzbekistan.
Our ministry was going to be working at a government-run orphanage for disabled children. Since our stay was cut short, we were there only two days=one was orientation, the other was ministry.
Let me say that the orientation day really disturbed me. The orphanage had an NGO by the name of CAFE (central asia free exchange) working there. The leaders of CAFE were American Christians. They were doing what they could to change how things were done in the orphanage, but it is a slow and frustrating process for them. I saw so many things that just about broke my heart. Many of the children were extremely emaciated from the severe food shortage and lack of nutrition in the little food they did receive. I saw everything from water on the brain, to schizophrenia, to blindness, to malformed limbs, to children who beat themselves, to downsyndrome. Most of the children are kept in bed every day almost all day long...
I was so shook up the first day that I was not sure if I ever wanted to go back...I just didnt know how I would be able to handle it. But the next day was ok for me. I spent most of my time with just two different children. I sang to them, fed them, played with toys with them, or just sat and rubbed their hands while praying for them. I would look into their eyes and see what they were supposed to be...as whole children...as healthy children. I prayed for the Father to point them out to me in heaven, where could see them free from pain and the confines of that terrible institution.
I dont know why some children end up in such horrible conditions, but I am so glad that people like the CAFE people exist and that I could be there to help in what I could rather than live my life in ignorance to the existence of those children.
I will never forget that place, and I plan to pray for them daily. Please pray for them too if you think of it.

The other not so lovely thing for me about Uzbekistan was that I got food poisoning. I have never had it before, and it laid me out for two days. The only good thing about it was that the lady in the house I was staying at was such a beautiful person. She cared for me like she was my own mother, constantly checking on me and giving me health-reviving remedies (some I simply was too scared to try and refused to accept). I am still battling some queer stomach issues, so if you would pray for that I would be forever grateful.
The family I stayed with was so wonderful. They were just extremely giving people. Inge and I (the others stayed at other's homes) were well fed and given tea every two minutes. The couple spoke English pretty well, so we were able to learn a lot about the people of the country, the corruption of the government, and the concerns of their church. I truly wish we had been able to stay longer and enjoy being with them more. If you ever plan on being in Uzbekistan, let me know and I will put you in contact with them!

Our train ride from Baku to Tblisi went relatively smoothly until an hour outside Tblisi where something went wrong in the engine or something. We had to wait about 2 hours which was not so fun, but not terrible either. We got here safely and met our contacts with no trouble, so we are quite happy.

I would love to hear from any and all of you.
I am praying for you, so please let me know what all is going on with you so I can pray for it.

much love,
Michelle/moosh/hannah