Ireland

I'm taking a break from Shelter life and spending time in Ireland with my cousin and brother. We're having a great time. Here are a few photos of our trip so far. I'm doing much better at driving on the wrong side of the road than I thought I would. I still keep praying about it...lol.....

Staff Day!!!

Thursday we had a “Staff Day” and we all went canoeing. It was so much fun and I have an awesome farmers tan! It was such an odd experience because we were canoeing through canals that went through cow fields. It was so weird. We’re used to going to the river and letting the current take us slowly downstream, but this was a little bit more work, but still a good time. I picked the canoe that had two of my managers in it, one in the front and one in the back; and I’m really not sure if that was the best idea. They insisted on making “war” with all the other canoes and kayaks, which really meant going and soaking all the other people and then having them soak us back. I was so wet by the time it was over and I really wasn’t planning on getting wet. But it really was a really good day. Here is a picture of our Shelter Jordan staff and some of our managers; and almost all of us are soaked through.

Dealing with Emotions in a Godly Way (or just trying to figure out how)

Today we had class about how to deal with our emotions in a Godly way.  It was very interesting and nice to just sit back, process, and understand why we would react a certain way.  We had different examples of everyday things that happen at the Shelter and what are our first emotions that would come up.  It's funny how we already know and understand how we would react if something happened a certain way.  If someone is angry, how do we react; or if someone is nice, we react a different way.  I feel that I still need to work on how I react to others.  So many times I feed off of how other people are behaving and instead I should feed off of how God would behave.  So that's my prayer for the week; to become slow to speak and slow to become angry.  We used Psalm 131 as an example of emotions:
1 My heart is not proud, O Lord,
     my eyes are not haughty;
   I do not concern myself with great matters
     or things too wonderful for me.
2  But I have stilled and quieted my soul;
     like a weaned child with its mother,
     like a weaned child is my soul within me.
3  O Israel, put your hope in the Lord
     both now and forevermore.

I think it's so nice to read Psalms and see all the emotions behind them.

On a different note, Friday I leave for Ireland.  I'm a little nervous because the volcano keeps acting up.  So I just pray that God can get me there and I can see my brother and my cousin.  I'm ready to see a little bit of home.  :)

Just everyday stuff.....

I’ve been trying to write everyday this week, but I’ve been at a loss for words. Everyday has just been a normal day, nothing special. Tonight I’m working evening reception and it’s a little slow; not that I’m really complaining. In one week I will be picking my brother and cousin up from the airport in Shannon and we will begin our adventure through Ireland. I’m very excited!!! Other than that, it’s pretty slow. I am preparing myself for a mass exodus of staff members in the coming weeks. It’s going to be very sad around here soon. :(

:)

Well today was a very busy day….I was morning reception and we had 80 people check out. We did have 2 groups of people checking out today, which took up a large bulk, but it was still sooooo busy! Plus the manager was sick today, so I was the one in charge for the day. It wasn’t too bad, but I did make a mistake on a person’s booking and had to figure out how to fix it; but it all ended well. It made the morning go by really quickly.


This afternoon most of us just hung out in the living room until it was time for church. The service today was very good. Last week we talked about Worship; how do we worship, when do we worship, and maybe what do we worship cause it’s not always God. It was a really great lesson that made us think about the things that sometimes hold us back from God. So today we put it into practice. Our entire service was just singing songs and really coming before God with all our hearts and putting it all out there in front of Him. I love to hear preaching, but I love singing so much and sometimes I just desire to sing the whole time and really focus on that relationship with God. It was just a nice rejuvenating time for the heart.

Tonight I’m sleeper and for some reason Morning Café. I just got to talk to my Mommy, which I love and she told me to go to sleep, but I thought I would write a short thing on here first. :) Good night and have a great Mother’s Day!

Giro d'Italia

This weekend is the start of Giro d’Italia and it starts here in Amsterdam. So yesterday a group of us went and watch the time trials. It was really cool. I’ve never been to a cycling race before, much less a professional one. I tried to take some pictures of the riders coming by, but my camera wasn’t cooperating. Here are some pictures of the starting gate.

They would call out the riders and where they were from, but it was all in Dutch, so we didn’t understand much. We just cheered for everyone. Here are some pictures of the guys warming up and the Astana bus.

I didn't get to see Contador, but the Tour d'France starts in Roterdam, so maybe I'll get a second chance.

And Mike, if you are reading this, maybe you can tell me who these guys are.  :)

Who knows when the trash will be picked up.......

This week has been an interesting week. Tuesday and Wednesday were two national holidays here in The Netherlands. Tuesday was Remembrance Day and Wednesday was Liberation Day. Each holiday is to remember World War II. On Remembrance Day the country comes together to remember all the horrible things that happened during the German occupation; the Queen comes to Amsterdam to lay wreaths in front of The National Monument at Dam Square and at 8 pm there is 2 minutes of silence. Well this year, someone screamed during the silence and it caused mass panic. People were running everywhere and 50 people were injured. Some of our staff members were in the middle of the crowd and were stepped on by people running; they are fine, but very shaken up. I was at a manager’s house across town having dinner and didn’t hear about it until late. I think there are still a few different reports of what happened, but everyone is a little shaken by it. Wednesday was a calmer day. It was a celebration day to say thank you to the forces who liberated the Dutch (American, British, Australian); there were free concerts at different places all around town and the mood was much better. It was a good day, especially with how the day before went.


Today the main topic is how all the garbage workers of the city are on strike! So now there is just rubbish all over the streets. Amsterdam is actually a very clean city; the street cleaners are out every day, but not now. It is supposed to last for a week, but I just read in the paper where they have decided to make it indefinite. Our neighbors do not like that. Our nightman last night put the trash out on the street because it was supposed to be picked up today, and then the paper comes out and the front page says there is a strike. So we had a lot of the neighbors complaining about all the rubbish bags everywhere.  I had one lady pointing and yelling at me in Dutch today, and because I couldn't understand a word that she was saying, it kind of made the whole cituation funny (which is probably really sad, but you have someone yelling at you in another language about garbage and you'll find it pretty funny too). I just want us all to pray for our neighbors. They don’t like the fact that we have a hostel there. The one that have been around since before the hostel was created, don’t mind. It’s the ones that have moved in after the hostel was started. The hostel has been there since the 70s; which is something that I don’t understand, cause they knew what they would be living next to when they bought their house. We always try to be respectful of our neighbors and we are one of the quietest hostels in the whole city. So lets just pray for our neighbors. I don’t think they understand what our ministry is and I’m pretty sure the ones who complain don’t know Christ.

Today we discussed in our ministry training program the Red Light District and prostitution around the world. One of the sister organizations with The Shelter is The Scarlet Cord. They work with getting women who are prostitutes out of that life. Most of the women there have been brought their either because they were sold by someone into slavery, or because they found a boyfriend who then abused them and brainwashed them to work for him behind a window. The prostitution industry is a Billion Dollar industry and one of the fastest ways for people to make money. Most of the women in the Red Light District are there because of 4 reasons. Either they want to be there for the money (many Eastern Europeans make in one month what they would make in a year or 2), they have be trafficked there from other parts of the world and are slaves, they have a “loverboy” who pretty much owns them and abuses them until they can’t think or do anything for themselves, or they are there to earn money for drugs. The last reason is not really prevalent here in Amsterdam. Most of the women have be sold by someone else and trafficked here or they have a “loverboy”. We watched a movie that The Scarlet Cord made with real stories of different women who have gotten out of prostitution, and the stories were horrifying. I almost got up and walked out because I thought I was going to throw up. So many women in other countries think that they are going to move to Western Europe to find a good job as a nanny or a maid, who then get sold into this slavery and it’s so hard for them to get out. Many of the women are here illegally, because they were smuggled into the country, so they can’t go to the police because they will be deported and they are too scared or ashamed to go back home. It is such a terrible injustice that is happening in the world.


I just ask that everyone can pray for The Scarlet Cord. It’s a very hard job that these people are doing; going to the red light district every day and building relationships with these women to let them know that there is a way out. Right now the ministry is being supported by the government, but that is soon going to change and they will need to find funding from somewhere else. They help these women find housing, jobs, friends, and offer counseling for all the emotional scars; but most of all they show and teach them about God. It’s an amazing work and a very difficult work. I know that this is something that I would never be able to do. Just watching the video made me sick, so I know that I couldn’t see that every day; and I refuse to go into the Red Light District because I can’t be in the presence of that much evil.

 
On a happier note (because I don't want to be a downer) on Friday we celebrated Queen's Day.  It was mass chaos.  There were people everywhere.  It was really neat to see and I'm really glad I experienced it.  Here are a few photos of the day.
 

World Press Photo Tour

On Thursday, a few of us went to see an exhibit by the World Press. It’s all pictures from 2009 and it was held in the Oude Kerk, which is one of the 4 oldest churches in the middle of Amsterdam near the red light district. We had to get to the church in a round about way because I refuse to go into the red light district. The photos were amazing and all very different, but all of them really made you think. The first groups of photos that you saw were of war and devastation happening all over the world; and after seeing those first few groups of photos, all I could do was sit and write. Here are my thoughts of the pictures and the church and just really what I had to get down on paper at that very moment:


“As I stand and walk around a 500 year old church, with horrific photos of all the devastation in the world, I can’t help but just look at the church. With the beautiful stained glass and the giant organ, the beautiful chandeliers and all the pulpits. There are holes everywhere on the ground where pews once stood and people are buried underneath, and I can’t help but think “Where’s God?” A church, a beautiful church, on the very edge of the red light district, and I think “Where’s God?” Or maybe the better question is “Where is man?”, “Where are we?” To have such a wonderful and beautiful place to worship God and instead, we turn it into a museum. The pictures in here are horrific and they make my stomach turn and I think, “Where are we?” Pictures of children dying and prostitution and I think, “Where are we?” Where are we, that we have so willingly turned our backs on a God who loves us and wants to take care of us and all we have to do is let Him. It’s not even a difficult choice or a hard task. Are we really sacrificing so much of this world to choose to be a Christian and let God take over? Is it really that difficult to give ourselves to Him? We would rather have this world of heartache and pain, of misery and deceit, because we can’t make the simple choice to follow Him.”

That was just the jumble of thoughts that was going through my head as I was looking at all the pictures of war and people dying. I just think, that if we could (as a whole world) just give ourselves to God and let Him actually lead, guide, and direct us, then how much more enjoyable would this life be.

Here is the link to the World Press and you can go look at some of the images yourself. Some of them are pretty and fun, but some will turn your stomach inside out. http://www.worldpressphoto.org/