Faith. Intimacy. Love.
That's how I would describe my time in Amsterdam.
There's really no way that you to plan for these things, can you? These appointed journey's that you trek on by simple obedience.
You begin it and you automatically assume that you need to be constantly doing something ministry wise. Evangelizing in the Red Light District, worshiping in the Dam Square, helping at a soup kitchen, etc..
But then we recognized our task at hand: to pray over the city of Amsterdam.
Now people would probably call us crazy, why would we fly all the way to the other side of the world simply to pray in a little prayer tower each day?
Maybe we do seem crazy by a worldly standard, but I kid you not, from this place of intimacy with Jesus (praying, worshiping and partnering with Him in secret), we were presented with opportunities to meet with the base leaders as well as other YWAM leaders working with some amazing ministries in Amsterdam.
Our first meeting was with a beautiful woman named Carolyn Ros. She invited the whole team over to her cozy apartment to have tea and desserts. She began telling us her testimony. It was hardly five minutes in and already every heart was drawn in and invested into the tales that came from this woman's mouth. It was astounding. After she finished, there were hardly any dry faces left in the room due to tears. "Beautiful" is the best way to sum up her story. The Lord used her so intricately according to His purpose. And the love she had for Jesus as well as the love that He had for her was absolutely undeniable. Lucky for you, she wrote a whole book about it and it's selling on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Dreams-Fulfilled-Promises-Carolyn/dp/1576584577/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365103334&sr=8-1&keywords=broken+dreams%2C+fulfilled+promises
Carolyn's table of assorted goodies. Photo by Sarah Gehman.
All of us left feeling the deep love of the Father, as well as total encouragement for the "tough times".
The next opportunity presented to us was meeting with the leaders of "The Tabernacle", a prayer house located within the Red-Light District. Since this prayer house has started, women have walked out of their windows and away from the life of prostitution forever. A specific testimony includes a sex show house that was right down the road from the house of prayer. A man who worked there came up to the leaders of The Tabernacle one day asking if they had been doing a lot of prayer lately. They responded yes and the man said: "Thought so. We're getting shut down". The building is now being used as a sandwich shop. Prayer works, friends. It really works. And it makes sense, doesn't it? Ephesians 6:12 states: "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, and against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms". Since this is the case, our greatest weapon is prayer.
So what did we do after hearing this?
We prayed.
(Photo by Ekkerhart Hoenen)
And Prayed.
(Photo by Lizzie Stien)
And prayed.
(Photo by Sarah Gehman)
And prayed some more.
(Photo by Mocha Brown)
The Red Light District.
The people of Amsterdam.
Hope for the city.
Life for the city.
Encouragement for the city,
you name it!
After it was over with, none of us doubted that everything we had prayed had actually shifted something. We all knew that what we prayed for was not only heard, but it was also going to be answered.
The next meeting was with a ministry called "The Lighthouse". A more hands-on approach to the Red Light District where woman actually go up to the windows and try to talk with the girls. Whether it be serving them tea or serving them soup, they are becoming more and more successful with just being there and talking with the woman. The beautiful thing is that it's all about relationship and just hanging out with the women. They need that. We all do. Women need other women to talk with. Whether it's about what they're going through emotionally, or something as mundane as their hair. That's how we were made! This simple gesture of relationship building gives the women more normalcy than they've experienced in years. From this, they've seen woman dedicate their lives to Jesus, come out of prostitution and brought into jobs at cafes. The point is that it works. It takes time, patience and grace, but it works. God uses the simple to confound the wise.
Our last meetings were with the leaders of the YWAM Amsterdam base, Reinier and Rianne. They shared with us their heart for the city and how God brought them so specifically to this location. What really blew me away most about this power couple was not just their obedience, but their pure heart posture of joy. Though they had expected God to take them to a bunch of different nations, He ended up calling them both back to their hometown, inviting them to be His light for the city. Instead of complaining and wishing they were some place else, they accepted the invitation and have diligently served it.
Amsterdam is one of those things that I will most likely not see all the fruit from until I enter eternity. That's living by faith though. "Being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see". And I'm so at rest in that. I'm so at peace knowing that God knows even if I don't know.
But God being as kind as He is, allowed me to see some of His goodness in the land of the living. One day while in Amsterdam we all helped out with an Organization called "Serve The City". A lot of us split up to do various serving within the city of Amsterdam. I went with a group of three others to help paint an office space in an Autism Center. The journey there was perhaps a story in itself, one which will need to be saved for another time, but when we finally got there it was about two hours later than when we were supposed to show up. We were just in time to meet with a lovely woman named Peggy whom was in charge. She bought us all lunch and talked to us for a good while about faith. After we finished painting, we all wanted to pray a blessing over her. Once we said amen, tears rolled down her face. "I have lost a lot of family members in the past few years and it has been really rough. So, this was much needed. Thank you.". Simple as that, Jesus encountered her through a group of four, goofy, twenty-somethings. Not even by the help we gave her by painting the office spaces, but by a prayer. Funny how He works. I love it.
Here are some more photo's of my time in Amsterdam.
At the Corrie Ten Boom museum; Jews were hidden in this wall during WWII.
"Jesus is Victorious"
Stitched by Corrie Ten Boom herself!
Thank you to all who supported me financially or by prayer! It means the world to me that you all care that much. Your investments were so important and I'm just in awe of how much love I have received. Blessings and peace be with you.
