After Christmas, Matt and I went to Amsterdam to help out some church planters there.
We spent two and a half weeks wandering around specific areas of the city, talking to people, finding out their needs, their desires, what they think of church, what they would want a church to be like, why they don't go to church or why they would go, etc. We hosted three English conversation groups, two of which were unsuccessful, so we went around finding out why and hosted a third group, which was successful and has potential to turn into something more.
Then we jumped into school the day after we got off the plane. It's been a busy week getting settled in, buying textbooks, starting classes, visiting families, and I still haven't finished unpacking from the move!
Which is why I'm going to take a little break right now to read a book. I need some "me" time. :)
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Christmas on $160
Four children, two adults, presents for everyone and dinner for more.
Can you make it happen on $160?
Somehow we did.
We met this family through a friend who was already working with World Relief.
They came to the United States from Iraq by way of Lebanon five months ago.
Emily has spent lots of time with them, visiting them about twice a week before we moved here and I had visited them a few times as well.
After moving in we were talking about Christmas and Emily asked if we could take the children to our church's Christmas program. Surprisingly, they said yes! So Sunday night we took the three youngest children (4, 8, 10) to our church Christmas program and dinner.
When we returned home we were talking about it and Emily and I decided to have them over for a Christmas party before we both had to head home for the break.
We thought about what we could do on our tiny budgets: we had a bag of potatoes. We had leftover tamales from the church (but we can't eat those, because they're pork and this family is Muslim).
But may all glory be given to God for how he as so graciously provided for us!!
A few weeks ago a girl at work told me that she felt like God was leading her to give me $100. No stipulations. Just use it for ministry.
Sunday another person at church gave me more money, some for Emily (who didn't even have gas money to go home for Christmas) and some for the family.
So we decided we would use the $100 from work and the $60 from church to make Christmas happen for this Iraqi family who has never celebrated Christmas nor even heard the story.
We went to Target where we thought hard about what each person would like:
For the father, a tool set and flashlight.
For the mother, a photo frame and perfume.
For the oldest son (14), a chess set.
For the youngest son (10), a soccer ball and air pump.
For the oldest daughter (8), a beaded jewelry craft kit.
For the youngest daughter (4), a baby Snow White doll.
We made mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, and I got two roast chickens.
We all drank hot chocolate while I spoke broken Arabic and English to tell the Christmas story, demonstrating with our Nativity set, drawing pictures, and making big and crazy motions.
Then we ate dinner, followed by the movie The Nativity Story.
After the movie, we opened presents.
They were all so thrilled to receive each of their gifts.
The father said in broken English mixed with Arabic, "I am so thankful to God for my friends Emily, Laura, and Matt, and for dinner and the movie and the presents, and everything you have done." (rough translation)
The poor 4 year old girl fell asleep during the moving and couldn't wake up to open her present! We tried so hard to wake her up but she fell limp on the couch again. It wasn't until they got home that she was finally awake enough to open it, and then she walked around the house holding and kissing the doll.
The children were all so happy, the parents were so happy, and we were amazed and so thankful to God for allowing us the opportunity to share their first Christmas with them.
This is why we moved.
Pray for this family, that they would hear the Gospel and understand what Christ's birth truly means.
Can you make it happen on $160?
Somehow we did.
We met this family through a friend who was already working with World Relief.
They came to the United States from Iraq by way of Lebanon five months ago.
Emily has spent lots of time with them, visiting them about twice a week before we moved here and I had visited them a few times as well.
After moving in we were talking about Christmas and Emily asked if we could take the children to our church's Christmas program. Surprisingly, they said yes! So Sunday night we took the three youngest children (4, 8, 10) to our church Christmas program and dinner.
When we returned home we were talking about it and Emily and I decided to have them over for a Christmas party before we both had to head home for the break.
We thought about what we could do on our tiny budgets: we had a bag of potatoes. We had leftover tamales from the church (but we can't eat those, because they're pork and this family is Muslim).
But may all glory be given to God for how he as so graciously provided for us!!
A few weeks ago a girl at work told me that she felt like God was leading her to give me $100. No stipulations. Just use it for ministry.
Sunday another person at church gave me more money, some for Emily (who didn't even have gas money to go home for Christmas) and some for the family.
So we decided we would use the $100 from work and the $60 from church to make Christmas happen for this Iraqi family who has never celebrated Christmas nor even heard the story.
We went to Target where we thought hard about what each person would like:
For the father, a tool set and flashlight.
For the mother, a photo frame and perfume.
For the oldest son (14), a chess set.
For the youngest son (10), a soccer ball and air pump.
For the oldest daughter (8), a beaded jewelry craft kit.
For the youngest daughter (4), a baby Snow White doll.
We made mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, and I got two roast chickens.
We all drank hot chocolate while I spoke broken Arabic and English to tell the Christmas story, demonstrating with our Nativity set, drawing pictures, and making big and crazy motions.
Then we ate dinner, followed by the movie The Nativity Story.
After the movie, we opened presents.
They were all so thrilled to receive each of their gifts.
The father said in broken English mixed with Arabic, "I am so thankful to God for my friends Emily, Laura, and Matt, and for dinner and the movie and the presents, and everything you have done." (rough translation)
The poor 4 year old girl fell asleep during the moving and couldn't wake up to open her present! We tried so hard to wake her up but she fell limp on the couch again. It wasn't until they got home that she was finally awake enough to open it, and then she walked around the house holding and kissing the doll.
The children were all so happy, the parents were so happy, and we were amazed and so thankful to God for allowing us the opportunity to share their first Christmas with them.
This is why we moved.
Pray for this family, that they would hear the Gospel and understand what Christ's birth truly means.
Roaches!!
The first thing we saw when we opened the door to our new apartment was a roach.
Crawling on the door.
Then in the closet.
Then in the kitchen.
Yuck.
Emily and I tried to look at it positively: if we had actually moved to the country where many of these refugees come from, we would have a lot more than roaches on our hands.
Thankfully, an exterminator is coming today. It turns out that all you have to do is go tell the office "we have roaches" and they'll put you on the list and the next day somebody will come to kill them all.
Once they're gone, I'm sure they'll come back. But then we'll go back to the office, get back on the list, and kill them again.
:)
Crawling on the door.
Then in the closet.
Then in the kitchen.
Yuck.
Emily and I tried to look at it positively: if we had actually moved to the country where many of these refugees come from, we would have a lot more than roaches on our hands.
Thankfully, an exterminator is coming today. It turns out that all you have to do is go tell the office "we have roaches" and they'll put you on the list and the next day somebody will come to kill them all.
Once they're gone, I'm sure they'll come back. But then we'll go back to the office, get back on the list, and kill them again.
:)
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Moving and Ministry
I'm moving tomorrow and Saturday.
Again.
In the past three years I have moved four (or five, depending on how you count) times.
But this time instead of moving to a new country or even to a new city, I'm just moving 10 minutes down the road.
The rent is more expensive, the location is less convenient, and the neighborhood is shady.
So why am I moving there?
You may not know it, but Fort Worth, TX is home to thousands of international refugees through organizations like World Relief and others.
Many of those refugees are placed in the LP apartment complex, 10 minutes down the road from our seminary.
All of those refugees have recently been through trauma that most Americans could never imagine or even begin to understand.
Most of those refugees are Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist and have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They've never read the Bible. They've never heard about a God who loves them so much that he sent his son to die for them.
They all need hope. They all need salvation. They all need Christ.
Romans 10:13-17 says:
For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
So we're going there to tell as many as we can about the good news of Jesus Christ.
Our desire is to reach the nations for Christ but at the moment God has placed us here, in Fort Worth, Texas. But he as also placed the nations just 10 minutes down the road from where we are currently living. If we truly want to see the nations know Christ, what makes us think we will be faithful to proclaim the Gospel around the world if we are not faithful to do it in our own neighborhoods? We must start here and now. We can't wait until we get sponsored by a church or hired by a mission agency. We can't wait until we finish seminary. We can't wait until life slows down or we're working less hours. We have to go now, because right now there are hundreds of families in LP who need the Gospel.
You may ask why we have to move. If it's only 10 minutes down the road, why can't we just go over there and visit every day? Or once a week?
Well, that's the thing. We won't. Emily (my roommate) goes about twice a week, as much as she has been able to go. I've only even gone a few times. Not because I don't want to go more, but taking more than a full load of seminary classes, working 20-30 hours a week, getting involved at church, dating my boyfriend, grocery shopping, exercising, studying, keeping up with my family, attempting (unsuccessfully most days) to keep up with friends from my pre-Spain days, attempting to keep up with friends from Spain, having Bible study with a girl from work, building new relationships with seminary friends...it's just too much. There's always something else to do. There's always a reason why "I don't have time today."
So I'm solving that problem.
I'll just move in with them. Take less hours at school. Bring my boyfriend along when he can. Maybe even take some neighbors grocery shopping with me. Exercise in the fitness room (unless it turns out there are creepy guys in there. Then I won't). Emily and I will do whatever it takes to reach these people.
We don't know them, but we love them.
The Hendricks moved their whole family to Haiti when they saw the hurt and the need of the Haitians. The least we two single girls can do is move out of our comfortable seminary housing and go 10 minutes down the road.
So we're going. It's not Haiti, it's not Saudi Arabia, it's not a mud hut anywhere in Africa. It's LP...just 10 minutes away.
Tomorrow we'll sign the lease and start moving some boxes in, and Saturday we're renting a U-Haul and we'll finish the job.
If you're a believer in Christ, pray for us. Pray that God would give us a ministry. Pray that God would give us favor among our neighbors, and opportunities to share Christ with them. Pray that many would put their faith in him.
More to come later.
Again.
In the past three years I have moved four (or five, depending on how you count) times.
But this time instead of moving to a new country or even to a new city, I'm just moving 10 minutes down the road.
The rent is more expensive, the location is less convenient, and the neighborhood is shady.
So why am I moving there?
You may not know it, but Fort Worth, TX is home to thousands of international refugees through organizations like World Relief and others.
Many of those refugees are placed in the LP apartment complex, 10 minutes down the road from our seminary.
All of those refugees have recently been through trauma that most Americans could never imagine or even begin to understand.
Most of those refugees are Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist and have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They've never read the Bible. They've never heard about a God who loves them so much that he sent his son to die for them.
They all need hope. They all need salvation. They all need Christ.
Romans 10:13-17 says:
For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
So we're going there to tell as many as we can about the good news of Jesus Christ.
Our desire is to reach the nations for Christ but at the moment God has placed us here, in Fort Worth, Texas. But he as also placed the nations just 10 minutes down the road from where we are currently living. If we truly want to see the nations know Christ, what makes us think we will be faithful to proclaim the Gospel around the world if we are not faithful to do it in our own neighborhoods? We must start here and now. We can't wait until we get sponsored by a church or hired by a mission agency. We can't wait until we finish seminary. We can't wait until life slows down or we're working less hours. We have to go now, because right now there are hundreds of families in LP who need the Gospel.
You may ask why we have to move. If it's only 10 minutes down the road, why can't we just go over there and visit every day? Or once a week?
Well, that's the thing. We won't. Emily (my roommate) goes about twice a week, as much as she has been able to go. I've only even gone a few times. Not because I don't want to go more, but taking more than a full load of seminary classes, working 20-30 hours a week, getting involved at church, dating my boyfriend, grocery shopping, exercising, studying, keeping up with my family, attempting (unsuccessfully most days) to keep up with friends from my pre-Spain days, attempting to keep up with friends from Spain, having Bible study with a girl from work, building new relationships with seminary friends...it's just too much. There's always something else to do. There's always a reason why "I don't have time today."
So I'm solving that problem.
I'll just move in with them. Take less hours at school. Bring my boyfriend along when he can. Maybe even take some neighbors grocery shopping with me. Exercise in the fitness room (unless it turns out there are creepy guys in there. Then I won't). Emily and I will do whatever it takes to reach these people.
We don't know them, but we love them.
The Hendricks moved their whole family to Haiti when they saw the hurt and the need of the Haitians. The least we two single girls can do is move out of our comfortable seminary housing and go 10 minutes down the road.
So we're going. It's not Haiti, it's not Saudi Arabia, it's not a mud hut anywhere in Africa. It's LP...just 10 minutes away.
Tomorrow we'll sign the lease and start moving some boxes in, and Saturday we're renting a U-Haul and we'll finish the job.
If you're a believer in Christ, pray for us. Pray that God would give us a ministry. Pray that God would give us favor among our neighbors, and opportunities to share Christ with them. Pray that many would put their faith in him.
More to come later.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Need Some Christmas Music?
Do you need some new Christmas music?
Are you tired of the same old songs?
Do sleigh bells adorning every single song start to get on your nerves?
Do you wish more Christmas music would focus on the purpose of Christmas, Jesus Christ?
Do you need to mix up your musical selection this Christmas season?
Check out WORSHIP THE NEWBORN KING, by Toby Baxley (who just happens to be my brother-in-law).
You can buy his album (or try out a few songs) on iTunes, or on www.CDbaby.com, Amazon mp3, or plenty of other places.
My favorite song on his album is definitely his re-make of "I heard the bells" but "Wonderful" or "Evermore" are definitely up there on my list!
Are you tired of the same old songs?
Do sleigh bells adorning every single song start to get on your nerves?
Do you wish more Christmas music would focus on the purpose of Christmas, Jesus Christ?
Do you need to mix up your musical selection this Christmas season?
Check out WORSHIP THE NEWBORN KING, by Toby Baxley (who just happens to be my brother-in-law).
You can buy his album (or try out a few songs) on iTunes, or on www.CDbaby.com, Amazon mp3, or plenty of other places.
My favorite song on his album is definitely his re-make of "I heard the bells" but "Wonderful" or "Evermore" are definitely up there on my list!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Technology!!!
Guess where I am???
I'm in the car!!
On the internet!!
Technology is so cool!!
My phone has internet (which is handy, since my house does not), and my brother in law told me about a tethering application for my phone so that I can (legally) use my phone's internet on my computer. This is very convenient since I'm still working on a research paper, but we've got an 11 hour drive ahead of us.
Thanksgiving is this week!
I'm going to Atlanta, GA and then to Savannah with Matt for the big "meet the family" trip. He's met my family, but I've never met his since they live so far away.
I drove for the first three hours, and now he's driving for the rest of the trip so I can work on my research paper.
Matt wanted me to tell all of my blog readers a story.
Matt likes to sing random songs. Right now he's singing a random song. About his dog Dodger. And his dog Chester. He's singing the words "bark bark bark" to the tune of some random country song. Apparently, they're black dogs who like to bark.
That was a tangent.
He likes to sing random songs. This morning he was singing "show me that smile again..." Anybody know what song that is??
It's GROWING PAINS!!
So we saw an advertisement for Beauty and the Beast, which made us start talking about the Beauty and the Beast Broadway version, which we both have seen.
Then he started singing the Growing Pains song.
He said that he also saw the Growing Pains musical.
I was like, "what? They did that?"
He said "yeah, it was like, life after Growing Pains. Mike Seaver died. The whole original cast came back for the musical. It didn't last long on Broadway, though."
I said, "really? Was Leonardo DiCaprio in it?"
He said, "no, but Kirk Cameron was." And proceeded to tell me more about the story line.
I believed him.
Then he said, "I'm totally lying."
That's Matt. My Matt. He likes to tell crazy stories, get me to believe them, and then tell me it's not true.
And now he's singing "Go Tell it on the Mountain."
I'm in the car!!
On the internet!!
Technology is so cool!!
My phone has internet (which is handy, since my house does not), and my brother in law told me about a tethering application for my phone so that I can (legally) use my phone's internet on my computer. This is very convenient since I'm still working on a research paper, but we've got an 11 hour drive ahead of us.
Thanksgiving is this week!
I'm going to Atlanta, GA and then to Savannah with Matt for the big "meet the family" trip. He's met my family, but I've never met his since they live so far away.
I drove for the first three hours, and now he's driving for the rest of the trip so I can work on my research paper.
Matt wanted me to tell all of my blog readers a story.
Matt likes to sing random songs. Right now he's singing a random song. About his dog Dodger. And his dog Chester. He's singing the words "bark bark bark" to the tune of some random country song. Apparently, they're black dogs who like to bark.
That was a tangent.
He likes to sing random songs. This morning he was singing "show me that smile again..." Anybody know what song that is??
It's GROWING PAINS!!
So we saw an advertisement for Beauty and the Beast, which made us start talking about the Beauty and the Beast Broadway version, which we both have seen.
Then he started singing the Growing Pains song.
He said that he also saw the Growing Pains musical.
I was like, "what? They did that?"
He said "yeah, it was like, life after Growing Pains. Mike Seaver died. The whole original cast came back for the musical. It didn't last long on Broadway, though."
I said, "really? Was Leonardo DiCaprio in it?"
He said, "no, but Kirk Cameron was." And proceeded to tell me more about the story line.
I believed him.
Then he said, "I'm totally lying."
That's Matt. My Matt. He likes to tell crazy stories, get me to believe them, and then tell me it's not true.
And now he's singing "Go Tell it on the Mountain."
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Amsterdam
While I was living in Spain, I traveled back to Texas for a friend's wedding (Panda). On that trip, I had an overnight layover in Amsterdam. Of course, I had to find somewhere to spend the night, so I asked around to see if any of my internationally savvy friends had some recommendations.
It turned out, Amber had some friends named Rob and Katy that lived there. So I got in touch with them and we arranged for me to spend the night with them. Katy met me at Schipol Airport that evening and took me on the train back to their house. Even though it was late at night, she took me on a walk through their village so I could see just how adorable those little Dutch town squares and houses are. Then we went back to her house where they had a nice warm bed waiting for me. The next morning I went back to the airport and said goodbye, promising that whenever I got a chance, I would come back for more than just sleep and a shower. That was August 2008.
Almost two years later, in June 2010 I returned to Spain to visit my friends whom I missed so dearly. I bought my tickets using frequent flyer miles, so my choices were a bit limited. On the way back I had a layover in Amsterdam, but it was only a few hours long, so I thought.
A few days before leaving Madrid I checked my itinerary and realized that I had made a huge mistake: my flight left a day earlier than I had thought, and included an overnight layover in Amsterdam. I would arrive around 10 or 11 at night and leave around 8 or 9 in the morning. I had three days to find somewhere to spend the night, and almost no money for a hotel or hostel.
I sent Katy a facebook message and again, they were so generous to allow me to stay and made me feel so welcome. I only even had time to see them at breakfast since they were already in bed when I got to their house, but during my short stay they reminded me that I had to come back and actually stay a while! They were so sincere and hospitable, and I was so thankful that the Lord blessed me with a comfortable place to stay on such short notice.
A few months later, Matt and I decided that we needed to take a mission trip together. We are both planning on going into ministry, especially foreign ministry, and we're planning on doing that together. We felt it would be beneficial for us to experience ministry together before we commit to do it for the rest of our lives.
So we started looking at options, praying about where to go, and Matt wanted to go to Europe, which I of course have no problem with! We decided not to go to Spain since I already speak the language and know lots of people and we didn't want one of us to have a significant advantage, since we're supposed to be learning and ministering together. We also wanted to go somewhere where a lot of people speak English, since we could only be there for a short time. So we emailed couples in London and Paris, Rob and Katy in Amsterdam, as well as some non-Europe couples. Rob and Katy responded enthusiastically with specific tasks they would like us to accomplish, so we decided to go help them out.
So, we're going to Amsterdam!
We bought our tickets last week, on faith, praying that the Lord would provide the money to actually pay for them. I'm a waitress and Matt works at an after school program, and we're both full-time seminary students so we're not exactly rolling in the cash right now. We decided to fundraise, and as humbling, frustrating, and sometimes annoying as it may be, we started asking friends, family, and church members for money and, more importantly, prayer.
A few people responded positively that they would be praying for us, which was great, and two people donated. We were thrilled about the blessings we had received, but honestly, a little disappointed that some people didn't even seem interested in praying, or even finding out what we were doing there at all. Prayer is far more important than money could ever be. It doesn't matter if only two, three, or four people give us money. We know and believe that God will provide. But we don't want just two, three, or four people praying. We want fifty, sixty, a hundred people praying. Not for us, but that the Gospel would be made known. That hearts would be changed. That the blind would see, the lost would be found, and Christ proclaimed among the people of Amsterdam.
That's what we want.
Your prayers.
Sure, we can't buy a plane ticket without money, but neither can we be effective without prayer. The whole point of going is to share the Gospel. We don't expect to start a church planting movement in two and a half weeks. But we do expect to plant seeds of the Gospel. We do expect to do something to benefit the ministry of Rob and Katy. We won't be there for long, but they will.
So I was discouraged.
I prayed yesterday, "God, I know you will provide. Please provide. I'm discouraged, and frustrated. Let your Gospel be proclaimed in Amsterdam. Prepare people for us to meet; prepare your sheep. Your sheep know your voice. Prepare them to hear your voice, and prepare us. Put us in their path. Open doors for us to proclaim the Gospel."
I was discouraged by the lack of interest in people, but sure that God is faithful.
People will always let you down, but God will never leave us nor forsake us.
I got dressed to go to work and left, sure that God would provide. Not only for Amsterdam, but also to pay next month's rent. To pay the next electricity bill. To buy some shoes to keep my feet warm. As pitiful (and humorous!) as that is, I don't have any winter shoes. I couldn't buy shoes in Spain (they don't carry my size) and after two years of walking everywhere every day, I wore out a lot of shoes! So last week I sucked it up and used my savings account (miraculously provided by the Lord through a gift from my mom! Praise the Lord for my mother!) to buy some winter boots.
On my way out I saw the mail truck, so I decided to check my mailbox before leaving.
There was an envelope in there from a guy I went to college with. I sent him (along with nearly 200 other people) the letter that Matt and I wrote about our trip to Amsterdam.
I opened it up at the stop light and nearly had a heart attack when I saw the check.
I went straight to Matt's house before going to work, and showed him. He jumped up in the air, picked me up, and almost cried.
His gift was so generous. Matt and I cannot find the words to thank him.
All three who have donated to this trip have made such generous gifts. I'm amazed and so thankful. I'm in awe. God is so good. He's so faithful. He always provides just what we need.
We still need a bit more money, but we have no doubt that the Lord will provide. He has proven Himself faithful beyond what we deserve. I am so humbled. So blessed. And I pray that we honor the gifts of those three individuals who gave in the name of the Lord so that we may go and proclaim the Gospel. I pray that we honor the Lord through their gifts. I pray that the Lord be pleased with our work. We simply must be faithful, because He has been so faithful to us.
We still need people to pray.
Three have given financially (and will pray, I'm sure), and a few more have expressed their desire to pray for this opportunity, but we need more prayer. "A few" is not enough. Pray for us. Pray for the lost. Pray for those who have never heard the Gospel. Pray for the refugees in Amsterdam. Pray for the potheads and prostitutes. Pray for the postmodern intellectuals who have no need for God. Pray for the lost sheep.
Amen and Amen.
It turned out, Amber had some friends named Rob and Katy that lived there. So I got in touch with them and we arranged for me to spend the night with them. Katy met me at Schipol Airport that evening and took me on the train back to their house. Even though it was late at night, she took me on a walk through their village so I could see just how adorable those little Dutch town squares and houses are. Then we went back to her house where they had a nice warm bed waiting for me. The next morning I went back to the airport and said goodbye, promising that whenever I got a chance, I would come back for more than just sleep and a shower. That was August 2008.
Almost two years later, in June 2010 I returned to Spain to visit my friends whom I missed so dearly. I bought my tickets using frequent flyer miles, so my choices were a bit limited. On the way back I had a layover in Amsterdam, but it was only a few hours long, so I thought.
A few days before leaving Madrid I checked my itinerary and realized that I had made a huge mistake: my flight left a day earlier than I had thought, and included an overnight layover in Amsterdam. I would arrive around 10 or 11 at night and leave around 8 or 9 in the morning. I had three days to find somewhere to spend the night, and almost no money for a hotel or hostel.
I sent Katy a facebook message and again, they were so generous to allow me to stay and made me feel so welcome. I only even had time to see them at breakfast since they were already in bed when I got to their house, but during my short stay they reminded me that I had to come back and actually stay a while! They were so sincere and hospitable, and I was so thankful that the Lord blessed me with a comfortable place to stay on such short notice.
A few months later, Matt and I decided that we needed to take a mission trip together. We are both planning on going into ministry, especially foreign ministry, and we're planning on doing that together. We felt it would be beneficial for us to experience ministry together before we commit to do it for the rest of our lives.
So we started looking at options, praying about where to go, and Matt wanted to go to Europe, which I of course have no problem with! We decided not to go to Spain since I already speak the language and know lots of people and we didn't want one of us to have a significant advantage, since we're supposed to be learning and ministering together. We also wanted to go somewhere where a lot of people speak English, since we could only be there for a short time. So we emailed couples in London and Paris, Rob and Katy in Amsterdam, as well as some non-Europe couples. Rob and Katy responded enthusiastically with specific tasks they would like us to accomplish, so we decided to go help them out.
So, we're going to Amsterdam!
We bought our tickets last week, on faith, praying that the Lord would provide the money to actually pay for them. I'm a waitress and Matt works at an after school program, and we're both full-time seminary students so we're not exactly rolling in the cash right now. We decided to fundraise, and as humbling, frustrating, and sometimes annoying as it may be, we started asking friends, family, and church members for money and, more importantly, prayer.
A few people responded positively that they would be praying for us, which was great, and two people donated. We were thrilled about the blessings we had received, but honestly, a little disappointed that some people didn't even seem interested in praying, or even finding out what we were doing there at all. Prayer is far more important than money could ever be. It doesn't matter if only two, three, or four people give us money. We know and believe that God will provide. But we don't want just two, three, or four people praying. We want fifty, sixty, a hundred people praying. Not for us, but that the Gospel would be made known. That hearts would be changed. That the blind would see, the lost would be found, and Christ proclaimed among the people of Amsterdam.
That's what we want.
Your prayers.
Sure, we can't buy a plane ticket without money, but neither can we be effective without prayer. The whole point of going is to share the Gospel. We don't expect to start a church planting movement in two and a half weeks. But we do expect to plant seeds of the Gospel. We do expect to do something to benefit the ministry of Rob and Katy. We won't be there for long, but they will.
So I was discouraged.
I prayed yesterday, "God, I know you will provide. Please provide. I'm discouraged, and frustrated. Let your Gospel be proclaimed in Amsterdam. Prepare people for us to meet; prepare your sheep. Your sheep know your voice. Prepare them to hear your voice, and prepare us. Put us in their path. Open doors for us to proclaim the Gospel."
I was discouraged by the lack of interest in people, but sure that God is faithful.
People will always let you down, but God will never leave us nor forsake us.
I got dressed to go to work and left, sure that God would provide. Not only for Amsterdam, but also to pay next month's rent. To pay the next electricity bill. To buy some shoes to keep my feet warm. As pitiful (and humorous!) as that is, I don't have any winter shoes. I couldn't buy shoes in Spain (they don't carry my size) and after two years of walking everywhere every day, I wore out a lot of shoes! So last week I sucked it up and used my savings account (miraculously provided by the Lord through a gift from my mom! Praise the Lord for my mother!) to buy some winter boots.
On my way out I saw the mail truck, so I decided to check my mailbox before leaving.
There was an envelope in there from a guy I went to college with. I sent him (along with nearly 200 other people) the letter that Matt and I wrote about our trip to Amsterdam.
I opened it up at the stop light and nearly had a heart attack when I saw the check.
I went straight to Matt's house before going to work, and showed him. He jumped up in the air, picked me up, and almost cried.
His gift was so generous. Matt and I cannot find the words to thank him.
All three who have donated to this trip have made such generous gifts. I'm amazed and so thankful. I'm in awe. God is so good. He's so faithful. He always provides just what we need.
We still need a bit more money, but we have no doubt that the Lord will provide. He has proven Himself faithful beyond what we deserve. I am so humbled. So blessed. And I pray that we honor the gifts of those three individuals who gave in the name of the Lord so that we may go and proclaim the Gospel. I pray that we honor the Lord through their gifts. I pray that the Lord be pleased with our work. We simply must be faithful, because He has been so faithful to us.
We still need people to pray.
Three have given financially (and will pray, I'm sure), and a few more have expressed their desire to pray for this opportunity, but we need more prayer. "A few" is not enough. Pray for us. Pray for the lost. Pray for those who have never heard the Gospel. Pray for the refugees in Amsterdam. Pray for the potheads and prostitutes. Pray for the postmodern intellectuals who have no need for God. Pray for the lost sheep.
Amen and Amen.
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