Amsterdam 2011 Part 2 (It's Surreal, it's So Real)

When I got to Amsterdam, we grabbed our luggage and then we met our interns. One of the interns was from Kansas (the rest weren't) and I was greeted with a sign that said "You're not in Kansas (or Nebraska) anymore!" The interns are the people who stay over seas usually for 6-8 weeks during the summer. They help the groups coming over. There were four interns. Stephanie, Nick, Michael, and Sarah. They are all very awesome people. And Sarah works at a Starbucks, so what's not to like about her?




Our KS/NE group was of 20 students and 5 adults. Both high school and college. We were divided up into 4 treks: blue, orange, green, and red. I was on the blue trek and Stephanie was our intern. The interns are also known as JSIs. The interns had a leader who was an M.

When we arrived in Amsterdam, it was like 11 in the AM. We were all exhausted, so to keep is awake, we had to stay "vertical." We had to stay up past 8 pm so we would adjust easier and it'd help us with jet lag. It took me about 3 days to get over the jet lag. They made us do a scavenger hunt around the bustling city of Amsterdam. It was so amazing to be in Europe. A place I've always wanted to go. Seeing the buildings, smells, sounds, it all felt so different. Not really in a bad way, but it was some to get use to. In Amsterdam, there are bike lane, bike lights, car lanes, car lights, side walks, sidewalk lights, cars, bikes, people, trams, busses, and trains. There are bikes and sometimes cars on the sidewalks! You're more likely able to get hit by a bike than anything else. I never came close to getting hit, some of my team mates did have some encounters. haha. Well, there was that time I was standing a little to close to a tram, but Nick pulled me aside. In Amsterdam, you have to stay alert. Bikes have full right of way, except at lights. Sometimes to cross a street, you have to cross a bike lane with bikes coming from both directions, then a car lane with cars going one direction, another car lane going the other direction, tram tracks, and another bike lane. Talk about epic! A good reason why only the interns and adults were able to ride bikes. Ha.


Anyhoo, we would walk around the touristy part of the city. We saw Burger King, Starbucks, McDonalds, and lots of cool shops. Pretty legit. We ate dinner at a Turkish place. It was pretty cool. We were going to take the trams the first day, but they were on strike. So lots of walking. By the time we got back to the hostel, and to our room I collapsed.

First Day in the Field
Breakfast was at 7. It was bread with jelly, peanut butter, or nuetella. Yum! After breakfast was Bible time. Our goal was to read all of Acts. After that we'd have sing a few songs and then our M would talk about seasons. Plowing, Sowing, Reaping, and Vintaging. We'd learn one a day.

Plowing=Praying
Sowing= Conversations
Reaping= Converting
Vintaging= Maturing. Once someone becomes a Christian, you must help them grow.

Often people think that people being saved is the main goal of evangelism. We were taught that plowing and sowing are the main goals. We count conversations, not conversions. If reaping was the main goal, we'd lose sight of why it'd even be important. Not to say it isn't important. But, God does ancient work. He was here before us. We never started anything and we aren't the ones to finish anything. We don't bring people to Christ, God does. We manifest it. By God's grace, He allows us to be a part of of His plans.

So, after seasons we ate lunch, which would be like sandwiches, and then we'd head out with out ACs (adult chaperons) and intern. Our trek would take the tram to our site.

For our first day we were only allowed to prayer walk (plowing). We'd beak up into pairs or groups of 3. Since we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves, we'd take turns praying while we walked the streets. It just looked like we Amsterdamers having a conversation. We were actually talking to God. It was a long time to for praying and walking, but since it's all for God, it's totally worth it. We ate dinner at the site. While I was in Amsterdam, I was going through a "munchies" phase. Oh man. I was hungry like 25/7. Yeah we got enough food, but I just had an urge to eat. haha. Stephanie told the other interns.

"I hear you eat a lot."- Mike
"Why aren't you eating? I thought you eat a lot."- Nick

I didn't want my stomach to hinder my goal in Amsterdam. So, I prayed about it, and pushed on. Dinner was always amazing. Ah, I miss that Doner place. Pure goodness.

So to leave it on a good note, we didn't have a lot to share that night back at the hostel, but at the same time things were racing through our minds.

Amsterdam 2011 Part 1 (The Departure- Of Home and Heart))

I've been pretty busy recently, so that's why this blog post is late.

At a summer camp I had heard about going on a mission trip Japan. I wasn't old enough to go, but a girl in my youth group was able to go and she went. I was inspired and so I prayed and prayed about it. I wanted to go, but was it the trip for me? I went to that same summer camp the next year and heard about the Japan trip again. That time I had felt a calling to go. So I prayed and talked about it and then I signed up. I got the forms together and prayed more about it. I had to be accepted. I was accepted. Someone had told me that the trip was changed from Tokyo to some where in Europe. I didn't know. Later I received and email saying that we were going to Amsterdam. I felt better about the trip. So to fast forward a bit, I kept preparing by buying what I needed and that stuff.

I was syked the day I left. I was finally real. It was here. What has been talked about is now reality. A four hour drive to Base Camp and I was there! I wanted God to teach me things. I wanted to know through experience. So I said good bye and I was off for 10 days.

At Base Camp, they prepared us for culture shock, street smarts, and air port immigration. We stayed at Base Camp for 2 days. The second day was a whole lot better. We were in sessions all day learning about how to evangelize and what's going to happen and how it should go. It was exhausting. Especially when I only got 3 hours of sleep that previous night. I did my best to absorb all of the knowledge. That next day we were going to take a bus to the air port. Our flight left at 4 PM. So we had everything all packed up and ready to go. While we waited we played some of my favorite games. Egyptian Rat Slap and Ninja. I fell asleep on the bus, no matter how hard I tried to stay awake. We got to the airport and checked in. I checked my suit case. We found our gate. We still had about 2-3 hours left. We ate lunch and played more cards.

Boarding was sorta a big moment for me. I was leaving Kansas. We flew with Delta Airlines. Our first flight was to Memphis, TN. I had never been to Tennessee before. The flight was an hour and a half long. I sat next to Austin. There was some guy behind me who was jokingly harassing me. When I got off the plane, the flight attended told me not to be such a nuisance next time. Haha he was kidding. Although the flight was short, I was so tired and did my best not to fall asleep. I had some bad ears aches.

When we arrived in the Memphis Airport (which was really big and nice) we had to go find our gate. We actually chose the gate next to ours and then we moved. We only had to wait about an hour to an hour and half. I boarded the Boeing 767. A 9 hour flight later I arrived in Schiphol, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.