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.