I was determined to update at least once a week...

...and I've failed horribly, my deepest apologies. I'm going to be intentional about updating this on my weekends. No more excuses though.

Since our Easters (the Dutch celebrate twice), we've been going at full speed, most of the time. During our stay, we participated in weekly sets at the Tabernacle of the Nations (the YWAM Amsterdam House of Prayer in the Red Light District), as well as a variety of evangelism ministries. We started out working with the Amsterdam Prayer Station, a ministry started by the Brooklyn Tabernacle. We went to two different locations within the Center City area and offered prayer to anyone we saw. During our times with the Prayer Station, we saw several individuals give their lives to Christ, some healing, and we made multiple connections with people in the city. This past month we've also found ourselves going to different locations within the city(parks, bridges, squares, even public transportation) talking to people, praying for them, and bringing Heaven down to earth. Our favorite form of ministry in this city, seems to be doing worship on the bridges in the Red Light District, especially at night. During these times of ministry we felt the most tangible Open Heavens. We loved the city and the people we met there, but when it came time to move on to Berlin, we were all ready.

He is Risen. He is Risen Indeed!

Today is Easter Sunday, and I’m spending it in Amsterdam with my Outreach Team. We arrived in Amsterdam around 9:30 yesterday morning, and we’ve been spending the past twenty-four hours settling in and combating jet lag, everyone seems to be doing alright adjusting so far, even the three children on our team. It is so good to be back in this beautiful city. I guess I didn’t realize just how much I really do love Amsterdam.

It’s going to be interesting being here the second time around. I don’t really know what to expect being here on an outreach team. It’s not that I’m not comfortable with the city, or that I’m intimidated doing ministry here, but I’m very much used to doing life here more independently, going into the city on my watch, having free time to use as I chose, simply spending more time alone. During the IMI we spent a lot of time together, but even then we had more independence, so doing this with fourteen other people, being very intentional about spending as much time together as possible, is definitely a change for me. It will be interesting to see how this month plays out.

Sidenote: Many people have identified a spirit of isolation over this city, and maybe I’m buying into it, but i really love being alone here. It doesn’t necessarily make me feel alone, it just makes me want to be alone with God. I think a big part of it is the fact that the only way I’ve known living in Amsterdam has been in a prayer internship that focuses intensely on intimacy with God, so my natural instinct here is to get alone with God. Also, I’m dying to hop on a bike and say hello to all the things I’ve missed here, hopefully this week’s schedule allows for it.

I’m going to do my best to update this weekly or biweekly, depending on our internet availability at our outreach locations. Hopefully in the weeks to come I will be able to post some pictures.