One week in!!!

Hagolslag (pronounced ah-hole-slagh with a deep throaty h sound at the end) is a common breakfast item here.

Bike riding is much more common here. They have special bike lanes, as well as traffic signals for bikes.

The view from one of my bike rides around Tilburg.

Here is the after church fellowship time.  They we very welcoming!!! (the man in the center with the white shirt holds a Guinness World Record!!!!

First Reactions

Yes, we finally made it to the Netherlands at about 9:30am (which was 3:30am Michigan time) Tuesday morning.  Since then I've experienced many things that caught me off guard.  That first day we arrived, we were picked up by your team leaders Heiko and Agnes at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, and drove an hour and a half to Tilburg.  I was sooo tired.

After a quick lunch we ventured out into the city center where the Top Markt was located.  The Top Markt was where all the student organizations set up booths to raise awareness for their respective organization.  The new students were invited to go around check out what interested them.  There was a lot of orange, and it smelled like beer.

After almost falling asleep on the bus on the way back to Heiko and Agnes' home, I was allowed to take a short nap.  I woke up to hear kids outside playing and shouting, all in a language I couldn't decipher.  That was pretty overwhelming for me.  On top of that, I had no idea where I was going to be staying that night.  All I knew was that it was going to be in the home of an elderly woman who knew Heiko from church.

I was truly awed by God's provision when I got to the house to find it was very nice, and quiet (the woman is on vacation).  Just what I needed after a week of constantly being around people.

Yesterday morning, I was again awed by the Lord, when we had a worship and prayer session at Heiko and Agnes' home.  It was really amazing to me to know that even though I was so far away from home, God was still the same God I knew there, and people worship him here just like we do there.  As my teammate Molly put it as she prayed, "Lord, thank you for being the only constant in our lives these past few days."

Photos of flying

My life in 3 bags...

Stats about our plane and flight.

Getting on the plane!  I was so excited.  It was the first time I flew since sixth grade!!!

Arriving in Amsterdam! We made it!!!

Comissioning

On Sunday night, I was blessed with the opportunity to experience the commissioning of 390 new missionaries being sent out to every part of the world imaginable.  I was really encouraged by the way people approached some seemingly impossible tasks of bringing the Gospel to the deepest darkest places of the Middle East and Asia (where it is not legal).  They went right to the Bible and used it boldly and powerfully.  One of the passages that really stuck out to me was in Romans 8:11 where Paul writes:

"If the Spirit of him who raised Christ Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you."

What a profound thought?  That the same power that raised Jesus from the dead will give us life as well during our time here on earth.  Imagine how much less we would fear if we applied this truth regardless of how we see in the day to day...

This is a picture of Steve Douglass, the International director of Campus Crusade for Christ and the man who replaced Bill Bright as the leader of our missions organisation.  He was giving a talk at our commissioning ceremony in Chicago.

€uros!!!

We got some Euros to have on hand for when we land on Tuesday morning!

The Whirlwind

Well, it's Saturday night... I think.  Yep that pretty much describes my state of being right now.  I have no idea what day it is most of the time.  I have worn the same GVSU sweatshirt all week long.  Let's just say, I'm pretty worn down.

Don't get me wrong, it's been a really good week, just a really tiring week as well.  I have been getting to know my teammates little by little, going to sessions full of worship music followed by Biblical teaching which always seem to end with a challenge to think about an issue more on our own.  After about the second day, I was ready to spend 3 hours processing the bit of information that proved to be only the tip of the iceberg in terms of all the information we've had hammered into us this week.

I finally got the opportunity to chat with people back home for a little while tonight, as well as scratch out a little time to rest this afternoon.  I'm pretty sure the sustained winds of my thoughts would be equivalent to a category 5 hurricane.

In the midst of all of this, I do know a few things and am able to rest in the thought of some of them.

1. I fly out in less than 48 hours!!! (not one of the restful thoughts)
2. Jesus knows all my needs, so I don't need to worry about providing them for myself.  (Luke 12)
3. Being brought to the point of being needy is what qualifies me as a prime candidate to experience God's life giving gospel of amazing grace.
4. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.  - Jim Elliot.  This one is not so much restful as much as it provides me with some good perspective.

My Team (The Americans at least)

From left:  Alyson Fox, Molly Tolbert, Nick Kellogg, myself, Shelby Tryon, Eric Coombs.  Photo Credit goes to Shanda Eickelberger (our visa/banking/everything administrative hero).

Upcoming Events

• STINT Briefing
• Through Sunday August 18th
• Activities include:  training, team building, Bible teaching, Commissioning Ceremony
• Monday August 19th
• FLY OUT!!!!
• Leave O'Hare at 6:10pm Chicago time
• 8.5 hours of flight
• Arrive in Amsterdam at 9:30am Netherlands time
• Tuesday August 20th
• First day in the Netherlands
• TOP Markt - Student organization day for all the freshman in Tilburg.  We will probably be there for a little bit, but we will be really jet lagged.
• Rest of the Week
• Getting the girls moved into their apartment, and occasionally a few things on campus.

Training Session Sights

Global STINT Briefing

Hi everybody and welcome to my blog!!!

Thanks for taking the time to read about my life...  I've never had a blog before, so this is kind of a fun new thing that I'm in the process of learning.  Hopefully it will serve to help you to get to know me better, as well as educate your prayers that I'm so grateful to receive.

Today is the 2nd day of Global STINT Briefing, which is basically a training and team building conference for myself and the 400 other recent graduates who are about to head abroad to share Jesus with the world for the next year.

I'm currently here with my 5 other teammates: Eric, Nick, Shelby, Molly, and Alyson.  It has been fun getting to know them on a more casual level.  I'm really excited for the upcoming year!  Especially to see God move in people's lives.