November Update! Amsterdam!

Well... November flew by. Not really sure where the time went... But! Thank you for praying for me! It was an incredible month, full of learning, growth, revelation, and exploration!

The beginning of the month was pretty crazy. We were preparing for Homecoming (a two week retreat for frontier missionaries from the field to come rest and be refreshed before heading back to their ministries) and as a DTS team we were also getting ready to head to Amsterdam!

The week of Homecoming that I was here for was really great. It was so cool to hear stories of life in other nations, what God is doing in some really tough places, and to hear how He was using such humble people to change the world. We hosted legends - heroes on the field. It was such a privilege to get to serve them and to just be around them! There were about 15 people who came, including some families. It was really fun to have little kids running around the house too!

One of the many beautiful canals in Amsterdam

Amsterdam: DTS Workshop
Amsterdam was incredible. I am so glad that we were able to go! Alex, Rachel, and I headed over on the 15th. The first week was the Discipleship Training School Workshop. Again, it was like being in a room full of legends. There was about 50 people from 11 or 12 bases from around Western Europe. Some of us have never staffed a DTS before, others have literally been working with DTSs for decades. We learned again the basics and foundations of DTS - why we do them, what the core vision behind it is, and how we do them well. We walked through the values of a DTS and YWAM, and went in depth with what being a disciple of Jesus really means.

Me and Rachel. She's the best.

I really enjoyed that first week we were in Amsterdam. I feel much more prepared for the upcoming school because I have an even better understanding of what DTS really is! And I know even more now that it is definitely the type of ministry God created me to do. It was also such an encouraging and refreshing week. We were busy with sessions and activities from 9am-9pm pretty much everyday, but it was so good to be around like-minded people who are passionate about seeing others grow in their relationship with Jesus.

It was a great time of reconnecting as well. There were several friends from YWAM Brussels and Herrnhut who I haven't seen in over a year or more at the workshop. YWAM really makes the world a whole lot smaller! It was so good to hear what Jesus has been doing in their lives since I last saw them and to share our hearts for the nations and discipleship! It was also so good to make new friendships with people from other bases from all around Europe. One night we had a base presentation night where each base shared very briefly about DTS at their base and other ministries their bases are doing. I love DTS because each one is so unique! Snowboarders, Sailing, Fine Arts, Justice, Core DTS... It just shows how God loves to be creative in reaching the world through His creation! It was exciting to hear about where each base is thriving and where they are still learning how to grow.

I also got the chance to reconnect with one of my DTS staff and his family, who I haven't seen in almost 3 years! They live in a town outside of Amsterdam, so I got to spend last Saturday with them. After hearing so many stories during the DTS workshop and learning more about being staff, I have a much greater appreciation for all my DTS staff did for me and my school!

Amsterdam: Team Outreach!

The Seamill DTS Team: Alex, Rachel, me, and Wayne!

Then last week we started our team outreach. Our fourth team member, Wayne, joined us Sunday night, and we got right to it Monday morning. Before we left, we felt God leading us to go to Amsterdam to, first of all, give us the tools and better equip us for the DTS, second, to grow in boldness in sharing the gospel, and then also to grow together as a team in our relationships with Jesus and our understanding of the Bible. We also felt very strongly that during both the workshop and on the streets we were to give away what we carry in our hearts because we are blessed to be a blessing - freely we have received from the Father, so freely we must give.

In the mornings we would spend about 4 hours together worshipping, praying, and studying the Bible together. It was so good. We each received so much revelation and vision during these times in the mornings. We spent most of our Bible reading time in 1 Peter, and I don't think we even got to the third chapter because Holy Spirit just kept showing us more and more in the first two chapters!

After lunch, we would head into the city center which was only about a 15 minute walk from YWAM Amsterdam, and then a couple of the evenings we went out to the streets as well. I'll just share a couple of my favorite encounters from the streets with you.

Amsterdam - bikes and old churches

Storytime!
On Monday morning while we were praying about ministry for that day, I saw a picture in my mind of a certain pub on a street corner in the city center. In the picture, we had prayed for healing for a man's leg and he was sitting on a particular bench and it was dark outside. We went out Monday afternoon and split up, talking with whoever we felt to led to share with about Jesus. We had a really great afternoon and decided to go back out after dinner. As we were heading back into the main part of the city, I remembered the picture, so Wayne and I headed to the street corner pub with the bench and just waited for Jesus to show us the guy! I approached several people, but none of them were interested in talking with us or receiving prayer. Then both of us saw the same guy, and we knew he was the one we were waiting for!
His name was Alef and he was Dutch. Wayne approached him first and I followed. We asked him straight away if he had any pain in his legs or his back and if we could pray for him if he did, and to both he said yes! We had him sit down on the bench and prayed for his legs. One was definitely shorter than the other. Although we didn't see his leg grow out, he did say that his back pain was gone! We started chatting with him about his life, and I asked him if he had a personal relationship with Jesus. He was really open and said no, but the only reason he didn't was because he couldn't believe that the Son of God would really become human. He also shared that when he was little he went to Sunday School but felt completely rejected by the church because he was always being punished for being naughty.
Now, at this point, I got super excited because this was my chance to give away what God had just given me the day before. On Sunday afternoon during a team worship time, Holy Spirit showed me how much I still needed the Cross and what Jesus had gone through to purchase my redemption. A huge part of what He showed me was about how human Jesus really was. It was really intense, but through this revelation I realized how desperately people need to know what Jesus did for them! So, just one day after learning this myself, I was able to share this with Alef - how Jesus grew up and probably stubbed His toe and scraped His knee, how He grew up in a town that no one liked, worked hard as a carpenter, hung out with the outcasts and the people no one liked, did the complete opposite of what the religious people said was right, and then died an excruciating death to save us and set us free. It was amazing to watch how Alef changed as I spoke! You could see the wheels turning!
Then I felt he should read the Gospel of John. Turns out Alef's middle name is John. And we told him how John was the beloved, the very loved one of Jesus. And that he was very loved by God too. Everything in Alef changed in that moment. We prayed for him one more time, and when we left he said he was going to read John and think more about having a relationship with Jesus.

Cafes and coffee shops are probably my favorite place to do evangelism. We had an amazing time in a Starbucks on Tuesday afternoon, sharing prophetic art with several people. Prophetic art is a really cool way to share God's heart with people. Rachel and Alex are very artistically gifted, and they would see a picture from God for someone, draw it out, and then share what it meant with whoever God showed them to give it to. I think it's a really awesome type of evangelism because not only do you get to share God's love with people, but they also have something to take home with them to remind them of what He said. While they were doing that, Wayne and I had a 3 hour conversation with a guy from Chicago named Knute. It was ridiculous and hilarious and so filled with Holy Spirit. I don't think I've ever had a conversation about Jesus like that with a total stranger before. It was so life-giving and refreshing! Knute was a really spiritual guy but was more into a buddhism-like spirituality than with Jesus. But we got to pray with him, prophecy over him, and share our testimonies with him! And Alex gave him a really cool piece of art too.
We went back to that same Starbucks on Thursday afternoon and handed out a bunch of hand-written notes and pictures to people. It is always so fun to see how people react when you tell them, "Jesus loves you, He see you, and He wants you to know that! (And here's a tangible way to remember!)"

All in all, our time in Amsterdam was amazing. I learned so much and we had a ton of fun just running around and goofing off, telling people about our incredible king Jesus!

Yay Christmas :)

We got back this last Friday, and we've had a three day weekend to rest, hangout and catch up on newsletter writing. :) A great way to start a very busy next month! Christmas parties, village yuletide nights, FireStarters weekends, my birthday(!), and then two weeks of holidays, visiting friends and chilling out! Yay December!

Thanks for keeping me in your prayers and for your continued support. Couldn't be doing this without you!!

The view from YWAM Amsterdam's Prayer Tower

Amsterdam stands with Paris