Hello all,
Just wanted to let everyone know we have arrived safely in the very very warm Albanian climate!
We will be in Tirana for a little over two weeks.
We have been informed by our hosts that the Albanians need prayer against a sense of hopelessness (coming from their former communistic rule-they have only been open for 15 years now) and for a sense of individual worth/destiny (stemming from the group culture which is not wrong but at times individuals can feel unworthy outside their group context).
Bas and I enjoy the very warm, open, loving people. The hospitality has been great and we already feel very much accepted and a part of the group.
Bas played soccer with the guys last night and scored two goals! Despite language barriers, football unites the world.
The school is made up of 7 students: 4 Albanians, 2 Latvians, and 1 guy from Kosovo (quick fact: the youngest state in the world!).
We were able to have several good conversations, and feel connections already (all can speak a minimal level of English and some even are quite proficient). I have noticed that the guys in particular have very gentle spirits. They are quite young guys and it's refreshing to see that in contrast to the usual striving to be cool and tough at such an age.
Please pray for us as you think of it. This will be Bas' first time teaching for an entire week in a school. I may share bits in the classes, but primarily I will be in the class praying as Bas is teaching. I will also just be available after class and during meal times to talk with students and staff.
Love to you all,
Michelle and Bas
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Hup Oranje, Hup!
I am in orange country right now. The European football (that's soccer for all you American folks) tournament has begun and, therefore, the Royal (from the Dutch royal family) color orange must certainly be displayed on every available surface! They do a good job of it, too.
I, as many of you know, have always liked soccer so I welcome the hype and fun of it all.
I experienced my first true Oranje game on Friday night. Bas and I went to the local cafe to get a feel for our neighborhood. We picked a good place because the little place was packed with horn blowers, face paint wearers (who readily shared their paint with everyone present), orange feather boa clad ladies, and of course orange shirt bearers (I being one of them). I really like the place because it is family owned and all the neighbors are all chummy and friendly. It has a cozy feel to it. We were able to meet some of our neighbors so that added to the great time we had.
We plan to go back with some friends of ours from Den Haag (The Hague) for the next game tomorrow night...now I just need to start learning those silly songs they sing during the game so I can really blend in!!
Side note: As you can see, I have resurrected my blog. I plan to revamp it in the coming weeks with a new layout and pictures added and so forth. Nice, eh? We were fortunate enough to be able to get a new laptop while we were in America and we have wireless in our house, so I should be able to be more consistent than this last year!
xoxo
Michelle
I, as many of you know, have always liked soccer so I welcome the hype and fun of it all.
I experienced my first true Oranje game on Friday night. Bas and I went to the local cafe to get a feel for our neighborhood. We picked a good place because the little place was packed with horn blowers, face paint wearers (who readily shared their paint with everyone present), orange feather boa clad ladies, and of course orange shirt bearers (I being one of them). I really like the place because it is family owned and all the neighbors are all chummy and friendly. It has a cozy feel to it. We were able to meet some of our neighbors so that added to the great time we had.
We plan to go back with some friends of ours from Den Haag (The Hague) for the next game tomorrow night...now I just need to start learning those silly songs they sing during the game so I can really blend in!!
Side note: As you can see, I have resurrected my blog. I plan to revamp it in the coming weeks with a new layout and pictures added and so forth. Nice, eh? We were fortunate enough to be able to get a new laptop while we were in America and we have wireless in our house, so I should be able to be more consistent than this last year!
xoxo
Michelle
First time for Bas in America
Here I am snuggling back into life in my beloved city Amsterdam. We have had an exciting, thrilling, relaxing, interesting, and enjoyable two months away from "normal" life at the base now. I know not all of you are aware of what transpired over those two months so I will attempt to give you a short but entertaining rendition:
After our absolutely perfect wedding day on 9 April, we had a few nights in our new little home in Amsterdam. A friend of ours loaned his car for us to use and we drove to our honeymoon destination=southern Switzerland. After driving 10 hours through amazing scenery (I recommend anyone to drive through Switzerland), we arrived at our quaint little villa the Casa Flora. We spent three weeks in the Casa Flora which is situated in the Alps and overlooks a lake and valley. I will just say that those three weeks were everything that a honeymoon should be!
We had a great idea on our drive back home to try to visit as many countries as possible. So we started in Switzerland then drove through Lichtenstein (great place to get your false teeth from...they're the world's largest exporters of dentures! Who knew?), Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium before arriving back in The Netherlands. The drive home took us much longer than going, so we came up with the brilliant idea of saving money and just sleeping in the car. Uhh, not a brilliant idea. We were cold all night and could not get comfortable. I was so cold that I was curled up on the front seat in the fetal position with gloves, sweaters, scarves, shoes, blankets, and anything else I could think of bundled around me and even covering my head yet I shivered the whole night long.
I don't regret our trip back one bit, but I think next time we may want to seriously consider shelling out the 70 euros...even if only for a short nights rest.
Back in Amsterdam, we had a relaxing 6 days of sunbathing, fishing in the canal in front of our house, hanging out with the neighbors, and barbequeing with friends before we flew off to America.
This was Bas' first trip to America and I was really anticipating to see how he would experience it all. I think the hugeness of it struck him like a wrecking ball since his first place to visit was Costco! He was amazed by all the free food samples and gleefully zipped about to each sample station. It was quite amusing for me during the whole trip to observe him being "baptized" into our food culture. He did enjoy many things and some of his favorites were: frosted mini wheats, Uno's pizza, Dr. Pepper, cheese crackers, chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, macaroni and cheese, and many varieties of chips. He also loved the cheap coffee prices.
We had a really great time in America and want to thank all of you who were able to come to our Blessing ceremony in Kansas City. We truly felt blessed and even a little overwhelmed by the generosity of you all.
And thanks to all of you that we were able to see and spend time with during our stay. You helped make our trip wonderful.
We love you all!
Michelle and Bas Rijksen
After our absolutely perfect wedding day on 9 April, we had a few nights in our new little home in Amsterdam. A friend of ours loaned his car for us to use and we drove to our honeymoon destination=southern Switzerland. After driving 10 hours through amazing scenery (I recommend anyone to drive through Switzerland), we arrived at our quaint little villa the Casa Flora. We spent three weeks in the Casa Flora which is situated in the Alps and overlooks a lake and valley. I will just say that those three weeks were everything that a honeymoon should be!
We had a great idea on our drive back home to try to visit as many countries as possible. So we started in Switzerland then drove through Lichtenstein (great place to get your false teeth from...they're the world's largest exporters of dentures! Who knew?), Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium before arriving back in The Netherlands. The drive home took us much longer than going, so we came up with the brilliant idea of saving money and just sleeping in the car. Uhh, not a brilliant idea. We were cold all night and could not get comfortable. I was so cold that I was curled up on the front seat in the fetal position with gloves, sweaters, scarves, shoes, blankets, and anything else I could think of bundled around me and even covering my head yet I shivered the whole night long.
I don't regret our trip back one bit, but I think next time we may want to seriously consider shelling out the 70 euros...even if only for a short nights rest.
Back in Amsterdam, we had a relaxing 6 days of sunbathing, fishing in the canal in front of our house, hanging out with the neighbors, and barbequeing with friends before we flew off to America.
This was Bas' first trip to America and I was really anticipating to see how he would experience it all. I think the hugeness of it struck him like a wrecking ball since his first place to visit was Costco! He was amazed by all the free food samples and gleefully zipped about to each sample station. It was quite amusing for me during the whole trip to observe him being "baptized" into our food culture. He did enjoy many things and some of his favorites were: frosted mini wheats, Uno's pizza, Dr. Pepper, cheese crackers, chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, macaroni and cheese, and many varieties of chips. He also loved the cheap coffee prices.
We had a really great time in America and want to thank all of you who were able to come to our Blessing ceremony in Kansas City. We truly felt blessed and even a little overwhelmed by the generosity of you all.
And thanks to all of you that we were able to see and spend time with during our stay. You helped make our trip wonderful.
We love you all!
Michelle and Bas Rijksen
Monday, September 17, 2007
It's all on the streets
Something deep is happening in the spiritual realm in Amsterdam...and lately it has begun to openly show itself on our streets.
No, I am not speaking of the blatant display of immorality that Amsterdam is popularly known for. What I speak of is a spiritual shaking from the heavens.
Two events specifically demonstrate what I mean:
The first is that my church (God's Embassy) held it's first Sunday morning service on the street. What an experience. It was beautiful to be out in the open, with no roof overhead, and have the freedom to worship God while passersby gape in wonder or stop to take the occasional "stealth" picture (from windows of nearby houses or even peeking out from behind light poles to snap a shot from their cell phone--I kid you not!). A few were even bold enough to join in on the service.
We had our service as usual, and I am glad there was no attempt made to have it be a show for the city. It was just us loving God out in the open. I felt a unique strength and pride in what took place that day.
There are plans to have more of these services though the dates are not determined yet (there are several legal hoops to jump through to get the services approved).
The second event was that Hillsong United came to Dam Square. For those of you who do not know, Dam Square is smack in the center of Amsterdam and is the historical beginning of the city. There are still several tourists this time of year and it was a magnificently sunny Saturday. A group of 120 composed a "prayer station". They would walk about the concert fringe and talk to people. Each of them wore a red apron that said "Prayer changes things" or in Dutch "Bidden helpt"(prayer helps) which sounds a bit cheesy or something worthy of rolling your eyes at, but really, (and I speak from experience) it is a very effective tool and people will see the apron and approach you to talk. These prayer station people had great testimonies of salvations and other conversations where God was glorified.
My church had some people in bright pink shirts (the new trendy color for guys in Europe by the way) that said "SMS God naar 4477" (send a text to God at 4477).
When people send a text then they get the web address
which explains the entire gospel and gives opportunity to get in contact to speak with someone if they have questions. There were over 280 visits to the site over the last few days.
During the Hillsong concert I could feel the power of what was happening. This was huge for this city. It is said that nothing to this scale of publicly declaring God has happened like since the Jesus March in the 70's...all I know is that as I looked at the sky, the moving clouds seemed to symbolize to me the moving of the Spirit.
God loves the people of this city. He loves them so much that He has brought me and others together to give of ourselves to see lives changed and made whole.
God's Kingdom is being established here...to be continued.
No, I am not speaking of the blatant display of immorality that Amsterdam is popularly known for. What I speak of is a spiritual shaking from the heavens.
Two events specifically demonstrate what I mean:
The first is that my church (God's Embassy) held it's first Sunday morning service on the street. What an experience. It was beautiful to be out in the open, with no roof overhead, and have the freedom to worship God while passersby gape in wonder or stop to take the occasional "stealth" picture (from windows of nearby houses or even peeking out from behind light poles to snap a shot from their cell phone--I kid you not!). A few were even bold enough to join in on the service.
We had our service as usual, and I am glad there was no attempt made to have it be a show for the city. It was just us loving God out in the open. I felt a unique strength and pride in what took place that day.
There are plans to have more of these services though the dates are not determined yet (there are several legal hoops to jump through to get the services approved).
The second event was that Hillsong United came to Dam Square. For those of you who do not know, Dam Square is smack in the center of Amsterdam and is the historical beginning of the city. There are still several tourists this time of year and it was a magnificently sunny Saturday. A group of 120 composed a "prayer station". They would walk about the concert fringe and talk to people. Each of them wore a red apron that said "Prayer changes things" or in Dutch "Bidden helpt"(prayer helps) which sounds a bit cheesy or something worthy of rolling your eyes at, but really, (and I speak from experience) it is a very effective tool and people will see the apron and approach you to talk. These prayer station people had great testimonies of salvations and other conversations where God was glorified.
My church had some people in bright pink shirts (the new trendy color for guys in Europe by the way) that said "SMS God naar 4477" (send a text to God at 4477).
When people send a text then they get the web address
which explains the entire gospel and gives opportunity to get in contact to speak with someone if they have questions. There were over 280 visits to the site over the last few days.
During the Hillsong concert I could feel the power of what was happening. This was huge for this city. It is said that nothing to this scale of publicly declaring God has happened like since the Jesus March in the 70's...all I know is that as I looked at the sky, the moving clouds seemed to symbolize to me the moving of the Spirit.
God loves the people of this city. He loves them so much that He has brought me and others together to give of ourselves to see lives changed and made whole.
God's Kingdom is being established here...to be continued.
Monday, August 06, 2007
engaged!!!
YES!!
Indeed it is true. Here is how it all happened:
It was a beautiful Saturday= the sun was shining and there was a cool breeze in the air.
Bas and I were in Maartensdijk at his parent's house for the weekend. That day, we visited an elderly couple who are friends of his. After our lovely chat and coffee break together, Bas disappeared for awhile. I wondered where he had gone, but sat talking with the wife (she could understand my English and I could understand her Dutch so we had a bi-lingual conversation since neither of us could speak the other's language!). After some time, she stood up and walked toward the street. I followed her.
When I got to the street I could see Bas across the street in the canal on a boat. It was a rowboat!
I was so excited and exclaimed over how cute the boat was as I stepped in.
Bas rowed us out into a more open area (not canals like in Amsterdam but more open areas...not sure what they are called in English). We passed through some lovely, Dutch countryside going by windmills and farm animals. Occasionally he would row to the land where tall plants were lining the water and pick some flowers for me. I was thinking how much like a story the whole experience was and told him what a good idea it was to do this. He just smiled a huge smile.
We found a spot to land. It was exactly out of a story-book. There was a lovely, massive tree providing shade over soft, thick grass. We laid out a blanket and got out our picnic lunch. We had just begun to eat when Bas pulled out two pieces of Dutch apple pie (one of my favorite desserts) as a surprise for me. I was telling him how thoughtful that was to bring those when Bas began to eat his already. I was surprised and amused that he already wanted to have his dessert. And I could see that the thoughts in his head were moving quickly. I took my time to finish my sandwich and pie, unsuspecting of anything.
Bas stood up and held out his hand asking me to dance with him. After a few minutes he stopped and looked looked intently at me. He began to share with me from his heart. I suddenly realized what was happening and became shaky and emotional...
then he got down on his knee and asked me to be his wife.
I wholeheartedly said "yes!" and shared with him from my heart then we hugged and cried and put our rings on each other (the guys here also wear their ring during engagement).
It was an absolutely perfect day in every way possible.
So the day is 9 April 2008 in Amsterdam.
We also will plan a blessing ceremony/reception in Kansas sometime in early May.
I am still floating from the whole experience and am in complete thankfulness and awe of how God has orchestrated our entire relationship...beautiful.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
"He gives and takes away..."
This the the absolutely true story of a boy named Richard:
Richard is a young, single, good-looking, snazzy-dressing Dutchie (I am not trying to auction him off to anyone, but I think it is worth drumming up his attributes!). He is also incredibly enthusiastic for Jesus.
His story begins on a fine Netherland day (which means that the sun was probably partly shining and the rain had either just stopped or had not yet begun. hee-hee).
Richard is very fond of boats and used to work building yachts (you know those big, gorgeous, ridiculously expensive ones? yup, he worked on those).
He also owned his own snazzy little speedster as well as a very old praam (I don't know the English word for this boat but it is all wood and flat and slowish). Yes, indeed, life was quite comfortable and seemingly perfect...until God called him to YWAM.
dun-dun-DUN!
Oh, the delimma! What to do? What to do!
It did not take long for him to understand that working for YWAM was exactly where he needed to be and quitting his job (he had just found out the company wanted to hire him on a long-term basis--he was set!) and selling his speed boat (aka. his baby) was going to be necessary to do that.
One day he went to show his boat to a prospective buyer. He decided to bring along his newsletter informing friends/family of his decision to join YWAM.
The buyer asked Richard why he wanted to sell his boat, and as Richard told him of his desire to serve God through working with DTS schools it touched something inside the man. Richard gave the man his newsletter which explained the purpose of a DTS (to create a safe environment for young people from around the world to come and meet God on a deep, intimate level).
The man had truely been touched. He contacted Richard again to let him know that not only would he buy the boat, but Richard could use it whenever his family was did not want it! AND-he would also like to support Richard on a regular basis during his time in YWAM! whoa!
The story does not end there:
Two weeks ago, a lady on our base was asked to look into a boat that a homeless man was interested in buying. She took a boat expert with her (Richard of course) to see if the boat was in good condition. It was. When the homeless man did not show further interest, Richard made a bid for half the asking price.
The seller called Richard to say he was moving to Spain and the man who originally was going to buy the boat had a fight with his wife and was no longer going to buy, so he would gladly sell it to Richard.
So this is the story of how Richard now has three boats (if you include that he can still use his old beauty...and the family is on holiday right now so he actually has access to it for 2 weeks. I got the privilege of riding around the canals in it one evening).
The boat will be used for having fun as well as riding around the canals to worship and pray over the city.
Be encouraged that when you know you should do something and it is difficult for you to do, God WILL meet you there and exceed what you could ever imagine possible...even when it comes to the more "dainty" things in life. God is a good Father and an excellent Provider.
I love you all.
Send me some info on your life...
Richard is a young, single, good-looking, snazzy-dressing Dutchie (I am not trying to auction him off to anyone, but I think it is worth drumming up his attributes!). He is also incredibly enthusiastic for Jesus.
His story begins on a fine Netherland day (which means that the sun was probably partly shining and the rain had either just stopped or had not yet begun. hee-hee).
Richard is very fond of boats and used to work building yachts (you know those big, gorgeous, ridiculously expensive ones? yup, he worked on those).
He also owned his own snazzy little speedster as well as a very old praam (I don't know the English word for this boat but it is all wood and flat and slowish). Yes, indeed, life was quite comfortable and seemingly perfect...until God called him to YWAM.
dun-dun-DUN!
Oh, the delimma! What to do? What to do!
It did not take long for him to understand that working for YWAM was exactly where he needed to be and quitting his job (he had just found out the company wanted to hire him on a long-term basis--he was set!) and selling his speed boat (aka. his baby) was going to be necessary to do that.
One day he went to show his boat to a prospective buyer. He decided to bring along his newsletter informing friends/family of his decision to join YWAM.
The buyer asked Richard why he wanted to sell his boat, and as Richard told him of his desire to serve God through working with DTS schools it touched something inside the man. Richard gave the man his newsletter which explained the purpose of a DTS (to create a safe environment for young people from around the world to come and meet God on a deep, intimate level).
The man had truely been touched. He contacted Richard again to let him know that not only would he buy the boat, but Richard could use it whenever his family was did not want it! AND-he would also like to support Richard on a regular basis during his time in YWAM! whoa!
The story does not end there:
Two weeks ago, a lady on our base was asked to look into a boat that a homeless man was interested in buying. She took a boat expert with her (Richard of course) to see if the boat was in good condition. It was. When the homeless man did not show further interest, Richard made a bid for half the asking price.
The seller called Richard to say he was moving to Spain and the man who originally was going to buy the boat had a fight with his wife and was no longer going to buy, so he would gladly sell it to Richard.
So this is the story of how Richard now has three boats (if you include that he can still use his old beauty...and the family is on holiday right now so he actually has access to it for 2 weeks. I got the privilege of riding around the canals in it one evening).
The boat will be used for having fun as well as riding around the canals to worship and pray over the city.
Be encouraged that when you know you should do something and it is difficult for you to do, God WILL meet you there and exceed what you could ever imagine possible...even when it comes to the more "dainty" things in life. God is a good Father and an excellent Provider.
I love you all.
Send me some info on your life...
Friday, June 22, 2007
prison break
This is an amazing story!:
Once upon a time, in a prison far, far away, God was on the move...
I don't know how many of you I told but this last December I went with the DTS I was staffing to minister in the prison in Singapore. They already had an established ministry with the boys (ages 15-25 roughly) that meets on a weekly basis, so we had the unique opportunity to share and pray with those who attended this weekly meeting.
During my time, I was able to talk one-on-one with a few boys and while I prayed, I really asked for a connection with the Holy Spirit and to speak out what they needed to hear.
The same night we visited, there was a special Christmas Eve service. The pastor invited those who wanted to pray for salvation to come to the front of the room. Normally, none of them would have responded because several were still involved in secret society gangs and a response would mean trouble for them. However, so many were so affected by speaking and praying with our group earlier that day that over 20 of them went forward to renounce their gang involvement and to pray for salvation!
Not only that, but the prison wardens said they could see a glow about many of the boys and they had received a stack (literally 1 inch thick) of good reports from the boys of their experience with our group.
Fast forward a few months to April. You would think the excitement may wear off or at least diminish quite a bit, right? Not so! The boys continued to grow in their hunger for God through prayer and Bible reading, and still spoke of when the YWAM Amsterdam team came to visit.
The prison officials contacted the base leader of YWAM Singapore to discuss this phenomena. They had a meeting with the YWAM base leader to request future involvement in the prison. When they learned what exactly a DTS was, they became convinced that this was just what the boys needed.
Now the door is swung wide open for YWAM Singapore to bring a team in to disciple those interested for a 3 month lecture phase during their last three months in the prison (most have a 1 to 2-year sentence in that prison) then they will have the opportunity to do their 3 month outreach phase in another country!(they will be allowed a passport as a special privilege for the DTS)
What an opportunity! Who would have thought that a little team from Amsterdam would be so honored as to help pave the way for the prisons in Singapore to be discipled and their convicts turned into missionaries! God absolutely astounds me.
I was able to return to the same prison and was there exactly one week ago today. I witnessed that, indeed, the boys who were there in December do remember us and were permanently affected by the meeting. I sat with one such boy a week ago. He is doing very well and growing so much during this time. Prison is a blessing for him because it gives him the opportunity to spend long amounts of quality time with God and grow deep in his faith.
I must say that when a convict prays FOR YOU while you are sitting on the floor of their bare little prison room and the Spirit of God descends in power, it is an experience that forces you to recognize that of our own we can do nothing.
Isn't it just like God to bring Himself to the most unassuming of places and break it open at the seams?
I hope to see Him doing it again, and again, and again...
Once upon a time, in a prison far, far away, God was on the move...
I don't know how many of you I told but this last December I went with the DTS I was staffing to minister in the prison in Singapore. They already had an established ministry with the boys (ages 15-25 roughly) that meets on a weekly basis, so we had the unique opportunity to share and pray with those who attended this weekly meeting.
During my time, I was able to talk one-on-one with a few boys and while I prayed, I really asked for a connection with the Holy Spirit and to speak out what they needed to hear.
The same night we visited, there was a special Christmas Eve service. The pastor invited those who wanted to pray for salvation to come to the front of the room. Normally, none of them would have responded because several were still involved in secret society gangs and a response would mean trouble for them. However, so many were so affected by speaking and praying with our group earlier that day that over 20 of them went forward to renounce their gang involvement and to pray for salvation!
Not only that, but the prison wardens said they could see a glow about many of the boys and they had received a stack (literally 1 inch thick) of good reports from the boys of their experience with our group.
Fast forward a few months to April. You would think the excitement may wear off or at least diminish quite a bit, right? Not so! The boys continued to grow in their hunger for God through prayer and Bible reading, and still spoke of when the YWAM Amsterdam team came to visit.
The prison officials contacted the base leader of YWAM Singapore to discuss this phenomena. They had a meeting with the YWAM base leader to request future involvement in the prison. When they learned what exactly a DTS was, they became convinced that this was just what the boys needed.
Now the door is swung wide open for YWAM Singapore to bring a team in to disciple those interested for a 3 month lecture phase during their last three months in the prison (most have a 1 to 2-year sentence in that prison) then they will have the opportunity to do their 3 month outreach phase in another country!(they will be allowed a passport as a special privilege for the DTS)
What an opportunity! Who would have thought that a little team from Amsterdam would be so honored as to help pave the way for the prisons in Singapore to be discipled and their convicts turned into missionaries! God absolutely astounds me.
I was able to return to the same prison and was there exactly one week ago today. I witnessed that, indeed, the boys who were there in December do remember us and were permanently affected by the meeting. I sat with one such boy a week ago. He is doing very well and growing so much during this time. Prison is a blessing for him because it gives him the opportunity to spend long amounts of quality time with God and grow deep in his faith.
I must say that when a convict prays FOR YOU while you are sitting on the floor of their bare little prison room and the Spirit of God descends in power, it is an experience that forces you to recognize that of our own we can do nothing.
Isn't it just like God to bring Himself to the most unassuming of places and break it open at the seams?
I hope to see Him doing it again, and again, and again...
Singin' to the Pore
Here I am back in my beloved city of Amsterdam...it is gray and raining outside while I sit here on my bed with a lovely cup of tea. ahhh, I can't get much more content at this moment.
Some of you may wonder whatever happened to my candid promise to keep updating you since I disappeared for several weeks...
Well, let me assure you that my promise was genuine though my circumstances were unforesee-able.
I was in Singapore.
To be very quick in answering why: I had to run after Bas. To be honest in answering why: I had to run after Bas because he has a position as a bridge between Amsterdam and Singapore which will continue for an undetermined amount of time. This means a few months of each year he may be in Singapore. This also means that, as our relationship progresses, there is some connection for me there as well.
I spent three weeks in the busy, bustling, hot, and sticky city/state asking God what He had for me there. While there I helped in selling books for Landa Cope (speaker on living Old Testament principles in today's life=wise speaker, much respect for her!), preparing for a visiting DTS team from Australia, helping to host the DTS team, and ministering in the Singapore prison (same one I visited in December while there for our DTS).
Amidst all this I became frustrated by not hearing a clear reason as to any future involvement I could have at the base or in Singapore itself.
Fortunately, there are wise counselors and email in my life, so I was able to receive the message that maybe for this time what I am supposed to focus on (and enjoy) was my relationship with Bas. I knew God had told me to go to Singapore. I know there must be something there for my future, but, for those three weeks, what God needed me to do was to not stress about feeling future leadings. I do believe He will reveal all that when the time is right.
And it truly was a good time and place for us (Bas and I) to have a lot of time to talk and be together without the distractions of separate work and relationships that take up time and energy in Amsterdam.
So that, my friends is a quick explanation of my absence these past weeks. Hope you can understand.
As for now, I will go back to helping with renovations and a mosaic at the Tabernacle of the Nations.
I also plan to look into taking some Dutch classes provided they are not too costly. Otherwise I will try to teach myself by way of the Rosetta Stone CD-roms which I purchased while in the States.
I bid you each adeiu. Please let me know how you are as well.
much love,
Michelle
Some of you may wonder whatever happened to my candid promise to keep updating you since I disappeared for several weeks...
Well, let me assure you that my promise was genuine though my circumstances were unforesee-able.
I was in Singapore.
To be very quick in answering why: I had to run after Bas. To be honest in answering why: I had to run after Bas because he has a position as a bridge between Amsterdam and Singapore which will continue for an undetermined amount of time. This means a few months of each year he may be in Singapore. This also means that, as our relationship progresses, there is some connection for me there as well.
I spent three weeks in the busy, bustling, hot, and sticky city/state asking God what He had for me there. While there I helped in selling books for Landa Cope (speaker on living Old Testament principles in today's life=wise speaker, much respect for her!), preparing for a visiting DTS team from Australia, helping to host the DTS team, and ministering in the Singapore prison (same one I visited in December while there for our DTS).
Amidst all this I became frustrated by not hearing a clear reason as to any future involvement I could have at the base or in Singapore itself.
Fortunately, there are wise counselors and email in my life, so I was able to receive the message that maybe for this time what I am supposed to focus on (and enjoy) was my relationship with Bas. I knew God had told me to go to Singapore. I know there must be something there for my future, but, for those three weeks, what God needed me to do was to not stress about feeling future leadings. I do believe He will reveal all that when the time is right.
And it truly was a good time and place for us (Bas and I) to have a lot of time to talk and be together without the distractions of separate work and relationships that take up time and energy in Amsterdam.
So that, my friends is a quick explanation of my absence these past weeks. Hope you can understand.
As for now, I will go back to helping with renovations and a mosaic at the Tabernacle of the Nations.
I also plan to look into taking some Dutch classes provided they are not too costly. Otherwise I will try to teach myself by way of the Rosetta Stone CD-roms which I purchased while in the States.
I bid you each adeiu. Please let me know how you are as well.
much love,
Michelle
Saturday, May 12, 2007
what's going on:
ok, now for what I am up to these days....
I went to The States for 2 1/2 weeks to visit friends and family. It was quite a busy time traveling here and there but I feel satisfied with all that I got done in that amount of time. For those of you I did not get to see, well, you are invited to come and see me anytime! Otherwise I hope to catch you the next time I am that side of the pond (no telling when that will be).
I got back to Amsterdam last Saturday. My father and stepmother came as well for a holiday and I have been showing them around the city and some neighboring cities (or rather Bas has been showing all of us since I have not visited many of the places outside the city that we went to).
My dad and stepmom then took me to Belgium for a few days. We rented a car w/ GPS (works pretty well but has some kinks which can be quite hilarious to watch the driver get peeved over) and drove to Antwerp, Brussels, and Brugge/Damme. Antwerp has an amazingly beautiful cathedral that is definitely worth stopping to see. Brussels is overrated though does have some pretty perks. Brugge was by far the highlight of the trip with all its quaint architecture and the great hotel we stayed at with friendly/homey staff. We took a day trip to nearby Damme by a paddle-wheel boat which was a unique and interesting trip.
They are now in Luxembourg for a few days then will come back to Amsterdam for couple days before heading back home.
Until September, when I will be staffing the next DTS, I will be working at The Tabernacle of the Nations (house of 24hour prayer and worship) helping with building renovations. Yup, I will be miss handywoman for a couple months involved in painting, sanding, drywall, tiling, and whatever else I can get my hands on to help with. I also plan to volunteer some days at The Cleft (also in the Red Light District) to either minister to the ladies in the windows or go to worship/pray/witness to people on the bridges (passersby).
I fully realize it has been far too long since my last posts so I apologize for not being better about general updates...I plan to be back on this blog thing again though so I will keep you posted.
I would really love to hear from you, too, so please drop me a line sometime.
Blessings to you all. Thank you so much for those of you praying for me regularly...please continue!
~Michelle
I went to The States for 2 1/2 weeks to visit friends and family. It was quite a busy time traveling here and there but I feel satisfied with all that I got done in that amount of time. For those of you I did not get to see, well, you are invited to come and see me anytime! Otherwise I hope to catch you the next time I am that side of the pond (no telling when that will be).
I got back to Amsterdam last Saturday. My father and stepmother came as well for a holiday and I have been showing them around the city and some neighboring cities (or rather Bas has been showing all of us since I have not visited many of the places outside the city that we went to).
My dad and stepmom then took me to Belgium for a few days. We rented a car w/ GPS (works pretty well but has some kinks which can be quite hilarious to watch the driver get peeved over) and drove to Antwerp, Brussels, and Brugge/Damme. Antwerp has an amazingly beautiful cathedral that is definitely worth stopping to see. Brussels is overrated though does have some pretty perks. Brugge was by far the highlight of the trip with all its quaint architecture and the great hotel we stayed at with friendly/homey staff. We took a day trip to nearby Damme by a paddle-wheel boat which was a unique and interesting trip.
They are now in Luxembourg for a few days then will come back to Amsterdam for couple days before heading back home.
Until September, when I will be staffing the next DTS, I will be working at The Tabernacle of the Nations (house of 24hour prayer and worship) helping with building renovations. Yup, I will be miss handywoman for a couple months involved in painting, sanding, drywall, tiling, and whatever else I can get my hands on to help with. I also plan to volunteer some days at The Cleft (also in the Red Light District) to either minister to the ladies in the windows or go to worship/pray/witness to people on the bridges (passersby).
I fully realize it has been far too long since my last posts so I apologize for not being better about general updates...I plan to be back on this blog thing again though so I will keep you posted.
I would really love to hear from you, too, so please drop me a line sometime.
Blessings to you all. Thank you so much for those of you praying for me regularly...please continue!
~Michelle
my own personal fairytale...
...this will be an exciting one for all of you; I am sure of it : )
so I could label this entry as so many things:
so I could label this entry as so many things:
- you will never believe this
- it finally happened
- Michelle is actually in a relationship
- it must be "some" guy
yeah, yeah, yeah, it is true, for those of you who do not yet know I am in a relationship!
I know you want all the mushy details, so I will acquiesce to a certain degree to quelch most of your curiosity (for the rest you will have to send a personal email to squeeze any more out of me) : )
He is Dutch. We first met when I came to do my own DTS in 2005. We worked together during this last DTS and co-led a team to Indonesia though the romance did not begin until after the DTS (God has good timing). He is an absolutely wonderful, wonderful guy who loves God ferociously, has a kind and tender heart toward others, is smart, funny, and kooky, and treats me with more care than anyone I have ever met. He is perfect for me. His name is Bas.
We have been together (romantically) for over a month now though it seems far longer. The way our relationship has progressed is truly unique and has the prints of God all over it. God is absolutely glorified in our relationship and I feel mauled over by the blessing of it!
I know this news will shock some of you who have known me for a long time and have never seen me w/ a guy before...but when it's right, it's right,...right? : ) Feel free to email me or whatever with your feedback or exclatmations of surprise...I would love to hear it.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
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!
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!
Monday, December 18, 2006
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.
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.
Friday, December 15, 2006
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!
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!
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
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 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
Sunday, December 03, 2006
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.
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.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
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***
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 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...
Monday, November 06, 2006
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.
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.
Monday, October 16, 2006
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).
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).
Friday, October 13, 2006
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
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
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