The day before I left, I began to feel very anxious and wasn't sure I wanted to go anymore. I mean, I was freaking out! But alas I got on the plane out of CMH headed to IAD to meet the group. And what do you know! About 20 minutes after meeting the first person, I felt completely comfortable and at peace! The day we arrived to Amsterdam, we hit the ground running, which was good because it kept us awake! We went to Haarlem where we saw beautiful sights like:
St. Bavo's Cathedral-Mozart played organ here at the age of 9.
Seriously. Look at that organ.
In addition, during those two services, God used the testimony of a peer to reach my heart and deliver me of fear and bitterness that I didn't even know I was in my heart. He later confirmed it through another testimony.
|Street Evangelism|
The few visitors may not seem like a great victory, but in the context of Europe, it is a huge step! 9 people received the Holy Ghost and 2 were baptized! This was so exciting!
After being a part of street evangelism in a foreign country where I could not converse in their common language about the gospel, I feel so confident about evangelizing here in the States. I can freely walk up to someone and tell them about Jesus. I will not be accused of handing out fliers that I had no clue what they said (which I indeed was accused of). If I were handing out fliers in my hometown and was asked a question, I could converse freely and clearly with them! That is such a blessing! With that, however, comes a certain accountability. How can I not speak to those around me?
I am now an advocate for outreach like I've never been.
We then spent a few days sightseeing which was quite painful because we were all pumped to have more church! Wednesday finally came, and we went to Bro. and Sis. Tuttle's church in Dordrecht! We planned some songs, and during practice we felt such an expectation for the service ahead. Our entire AYC group spent an hour before church in individual prayer and intercession for the service, and for those who had received fliers just a few hours prior.
The service was absolutely mind-blowing! God moved in such a might way! He touched the people of the Dordrecht church, and we were able to minister to them and one another. I think everyone's lives were transformed.
|Paris|
I learned that there are 13 million people living in Paris and I believe only one church. 13 million people is a very large amount, but it didn't make quite an impact until last week when I found out that there are about 11 million people in Ohio. I can't even count how many churches we have here! And we could still use more.
|Broadened Perspectives|
Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;-Matthew 9:37
Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.-Luke 10:2
I never truly understood the need. I would see the list of missionaries to each country and in my mind I thought those countries were fine because there were one or two families there. But when I consider that there are 5 churches ifor the entire country of the Netherlands of almost 17,000,000 people, it blows my mind. To give a comparison, there are 11,000,000 people in the entire state of Ohio alone, but we have countless churches. I also found out that Amsterdam, has no churches at all. Amsterdam is the city that I would argue needs God the most with their acceptance of prostitution, drugs, euthanasia, and abortion. These people are obviously hungry for more.
We are so blessed to have so many churches!
|Post-Trip Thoughts|
I want to be on fire.
I want to be used.
I want to reach the lost.