A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich...I mean, Beth Barthle

So, what's a typical day like for Team Amsterdam? Well, there is no typical day...we have a weekly schedule, but every day is different. So, I've picked Friday, because its nearest and dearest to my heart (ok, because it happened yesterday) to give you a glimpse of life on outreach in Amsterdam. Enjoy!

6:00 am - My alarm goes off. It takes me a few seconds to realize what it is, and to remember, with my sleep-fogged brain, how to turn it off. No worries, though, my roommate (shown, awake and with me on the train, to the right :)) could sleep through an earthquake (she tells us regularly that she hopes Jesus will come back during the daytime...otherwise, she might miss the whole 'last trumpet' thing), so she doesn't notice. I head for the shower room (the toilet and shower are separate here...a blessing when sharing an apartment with 6 people) to get ready for my day.

7:00 am - I grab my bible and notebook and head to the living room for quiet time. Most days I spend this time reviewing the songs in the worship set, praying for the worship time and reading a few verses in Isaiah before breakfast. Today, because we'll be heading to the Tabernacle after breakfast for community prayer time instead of having our own team worship and devotional time, I have the luxury of spending the entire time reading, a good thing because Isaiah is waxing especially deep and prophetic today (and I thought it would be a nice, poetic feel-good choice for my outreach reading :)).

8:00 am - Breakfast. The whole team gathers, with varying degrees of alertness, to share a quick bite (a mug of granola & yogurt along with a piece of bread covered in nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread) and peanutbutter for me...hmmm, like a reese's peanut butter cup for breakfast)

8:30 am - We leave for the prayer time at the Tabernacle. The meeting starts at 9:00, but Raphael, Tamika and I are helping with worship, so we need to be a bit early to run through things and pray before everyone arrives.

9:00 am - Community Prayer at the Tabernacle. This week we are praying for the church in Amsterdam. Several of the base leadership as well as this week's speaker, as we hear this morning, have heard from God that revival is coming to the Netherlands, so we pray that the churches and pastors will be unified and ready to see God move and to be part of what He is doing.

We pray using the 'harp and bowl' model, (which I won't pretend to be an expert on, so google 'Harp and Bowl'or 'Kansas City International House of Prayer'if you want the real scoop) which mixes worship with prayer, so we have 8 songs ready for the morning which will be interspersed with times of praying from the Bible and singing 'sentences' together. Praying the Bible, besides being an awesome and powerful way to pray (speaking God's own words back to Him), helps us to stay together, since not everyone speaks English. One reads the scripture reference in English, then reads the verse and prays through it in his own language. The sentences are simple phrases, most often started by the worship team, that the group picks up and sings together for a few moments, usually relating to what was just prayed. For instance, if someone prays from John 17, that we may be one as Jesus and the Father are one, we might all sing 'Lord, make us one' together for a minute or so. That way, among other things, we all participate verbally in most of the prayers that are prayed. The prayer time today is very good, and the presence of God felt as we worship and seek Him together.

11:00 am - Coffee Break (reason number 3,775 why I love the Dutch culture). After the prayer meeting, we adjourn next door to the Cleft (YWAM's ministry in the Red Light District) for coffee and cookies. Several outreach teams have arrived this week from the US, so we spend some time meeting and chatting with them before heading back through the district and up the endless stairs (we live on the fifth floor of Samaritan's Inn, the YWAM building which houses our hosting team, Ethnos) to our apartment. Christiane and I stop off on the second floor to check on our team's laundry. The machines are different than we're used to and my blue and yellow socks are now just blue, but hey, they're clean. :)

12:30 pm - After we haul the laundry upstairs and take a few minutes to relax, it's time for lunch. Generally we have sandwiches, supplemented by whatever might be left over from dinner the night before. Today, I have a fabulous butter and cheese sandwich and leftover mashed potatoes.

1:20 pm - Three of us-me, Christiane and Tamika, leave for ladies' ministry at the Cleft. The Cleft sends out workers with tea, coffee and cookies on Thursday nights to the ladies in the windows and on the street in the Red Light District, to build relationships and share the love of Jesus. While we're here, we're helping them start the same ministry in another part of Amsterdam. There are 34 windows on one side street in our location-a fraction of the number in the RLD, but their occupants need God's love, too, so we board the train after praying and packing our hand cart and basket with everything we'll need. Last week, our first week, no one opened their doors to us, but we pray that as they come to recognize us, things will be different.

3:00 pm - After a 10 minute train ride and short walk, we arrive at our spot. It's my day to walk with Edna, our staff leader, so we leave Tamika and Christiane under some trees on the other side of the street to watch, pray and wait. The first few ladies smile and wave us on, but finally one girl, Andrea* (not her real name...I've changed all the ladies' names to protect their privacy), accepts our offer of free coffee. She asks what kind of coffee it is, and I begin to feel a connection with this fellow coffee lover. We tell her, and she is impressed - apparently whoever does the buying for the Cleft has good taste in Dutch coffee. I try to make a mental note of the name, but decide that other matters are more pressing and join in the short, chatty conversation she and Edna are having. After a few moments, we tell Andrea we'll see her next week and return to the sidewalk.

After a few more refusals, Tia invites us in. She and Maria, the lady in the window next to hers, speak Spanish, so I try to look as loving, caring and understanding as the One who sent me and pray silently--that Edna will have the right words to encourage these women and that God will touch their hearts. Tia invites us behind her window and tells Edna, through tears, about her son who is in jail for drug possession. She is working to pay his legal fees. Edna listens, comforts, encourages and prays. When they are done praying, Edna talks to Tia some more and ends up leading her in giving her life to Jesus. We leave Tia with Edna's number and the promise of our prayers and a return visit next week. We step out onto the sidewalk praising God who not only opened up the windows to us this week, but opened a woman's heart to Him.

We continue down the street, and one more lady, Toni, accepts some lemonade and seems open to talking to us again next week. After retracing our steps, looking for women who may be working the second story windows (we see no one today), we share the exciting news with Tamika and Christiane and board the train for home.

5:30 pm - Raphael and Kyunghee have cooked dinner for us while we were out, so we arrive just in time to pray and eat together. Once we've eaten, we go our seperate ways to recharge and prepare for the evening's activities. I spend some time journaling about the awesome time we spent in the ladies' ministry and then grab a quick 30 minute nap before it's time to hit the road again.

8:00 pm - We begin our walk to De Poort for the homeless ministry. Usually, we would have another half hour to rest, but the Salvation Army contacted Rebecca, who heads the homeless ministry, today to tell her their truck won't be coming to serve dinner tonight. Since then, Rebecca has gone to the store to buy bread and cheese and called to ask us to come early to make sandwiches to supplement the tea, coffee, cake and bananas we usually hand out. We could use the extra sleep, but are grateful that we will get an extra hour with the guys...usually, we wait until the Salvation Army van leaves, around 9:30, before we can go outside. The crowd is a bit lighter than usual today, as word has gotten around that the van is not coming, and hasn't quite gotten around that we will be making up the lack.

It takes Christiane and I a few minutes to recognize Jay* (not his real name), the man we prayed with the week before--he had told us he was suffering from depression, and as we prayed, he started weeping and fell over on his side on the park bench. He reached out for our hands, which we gave, and Christiane first prayed for him then led him in praying himself, asking God to heal his heart and be a part of his life. When Christiane's English failed her (Her native language is Portugese, and she usually does quite well with English, but it was late, we were tired and the situation was pretty intense) I took over for a while. When we were done praying, Jay seemed lighter and more at peace.

Today, a week later, he seems even better, smiling and joking with another man who shares his bench. We go over to talk to him and he assures us that he hasn't forgotten us or our prayers the week before, and we tell him that we haven't forgotten him either and have been praying for him all week. He thanks us and says our prayers have been effective. Christiane steps away for a minute (we are required to work in pairs), but I feel comfortable with Jay and his friend and don't worry too much about her absence until a new man, who is drunk and very friendly, joins our conversation. His idea of personal space and mine are a bit different, and he steps forward and I back until I am several steps away from the bench and outside of my comfort zone. As we chat, I try to keep the conversation centered on God as I sneak glances around him, trying to make eye contact with any of my teammates. They are all engaged in conversation, until I finally lock eyes with Tamika and have to outwardly repress my relief when she starts walking my way. We continue to chat for a few minutes until Rebecca calls us over to help pack up and head inside.

11:00 pm - As our twenty or so minutes of debrief comes to a close, Rebecca reminds us again that we are to stay in pairs, so that we don't find ourselves in the uncomfortable spot I did earlier in the evening. We pray, gather our things and head back to Samaritan's Inn for the night.

12:00 am - Friday is officially over. I turn out the overhead light, settle myself on my mattress on the floor, and then set my alarm by the light of Christiane's bedside lamp. I'll need some extra time in the morning to pick out the worship set, since I didn't find any time during the day today. I think back over the day and say a quick prayer of thanks--it's been a full day, but an amazing one. I have been blessed in our worship and prayer at the Tabernacle, had the privilege of being used by God in the lives of 4 ladies behind the windows, seen His continued work in the life of my homeless friend, and been protected from a possible bad situation with another. God is good, and I can't wait to see what He'll do tomorrow.


Please pray with me:

+That God will bless Tia, encourage her in her new faith in Him, and miraculously provide funding for her son's legal fees so that she can leave the windows and go back to her country and family.

+That Andrea, Maria and Tori will be open to speak with us again when we go back to the windows next Friday, and that God will give Edna and whoever goes with her His love, compassion and words to share with them.

+That more ladies will open their windows to us and their hearts to God as we visit them every week.

+That God will bless Jay and continue to heal his heart and strengthen his faith in Him, and that He will provide Jay with a way to leave the streets.

+That God will equip us as we minister to the homeless each week, giving us the strength, love and compassion as well as the boldness, understanding and words we need to encourage them and share God's love with them.

+That God will give us favor and boldness as we share His love through relationship evangelism on the bridges in the Red Light District. Specifically, pray for favor with the Police in the area--we were asked to leave last week because our leader was playing guitar and singing worship songs. The Cleft (through whom this ministry is run) has already researched to be sure that what we do is, in fact, legal, but we chose to submit to authority rather than cause a scene.


Praise God with Me

++For what He has done in Tia and Jay's lives, pursuing them through us and drawing them into His kingdom (Yea God!)

++For the increasing success of our ministry to the ladies behind the windows

++For His continuing provision for the needs of my teammates--someone anonymously gave Christiane a coat this week (it's colder here than we thought it would be, and Christiane did not bring a warm coat).

Welkom En Amsterdam

Though the view from our bedroom window is somewhat less than welcoming as I write this--rainy day #8 of the 10 we've been in Holland--our team has begun, at last, to feel at home here. I even found my own way home from the grocery store a minute ago (quite a feat for this directionally challenged woman, regardless of locale). We spent our first week here adjusting to newness on almost every side--new climate (cool and rainy), new time zone, new culture and language (we had our first, and probably only, formal dutch lesson last week-we can now greet, thank, bless and offer to pray for the people we meet on the street or in the grocery store), new food (my favorite : )), and new roles to name a few.

Before we left the states, God spoke to our leader, Kyunghee, and told her 'this outreach won't be what you've planned'--an exciting, if also unsettling, thing to hear when setting out for a two month outreach. While the complete fulfillment of that remains to be seen, we've already experienced God doing some shifting around of our plans. Even before we left the base (as I mentioned in a previous update), we said goodbye to two of our teammates, who left to be married. A happy, but still unexpected, change.

When we arrived at De Poort, YWAM Amsterdam's training and housing center, God had another shift in store for us. We were blessed, just before leaving Richmond, to finally resolve our housing issues (also mentioned in a previous update)-we planned to stay first at De Poort for a month, and then move across Amsterdam to stay in the apartment of a friend of Kyunghee's for our final month. It wasn't ideal, but we were thankful, after all the uncertainty and struggle of the months leading up to outreach, to have a place to lay our heads.

The shift came as we waited to put our luggage in De Poort's freight elevator before going upstairs to our rooms. The base director walked past and greeted Kyunghee, as many other staff had done already that day (Kyunghee served with YWAM Amsterdam for many years before moving to Richmond). He was on his way to a meeting, but took long enough to say hello and offer us the use of his apartment while he and his family were on holiday--from the next day until the last week of our outreach! God has provided for us over and above what we expected (thank you for your prayers!)--not only will we pay about half of what we would have payed to say at De Poort, our new home is located on the top floor of the building housing ouir hosting team, Ethnos, and is a five minute walk from the Red Light District, where we plan to do much of our ministry. We're also directly across from Centraal Station, so buses and trains to everywhere we want to go beyond walking distance (we're doing a lot of walking!) are just meters from our front door. We also have the use of their kitchen, dining room and living room, providing cheaper meals and a private and comfy place to have our team worship and meetings.

So our second change in plans was a huge blessing (Yea God!). Some of the changes that have followed have been a bit harder to swallow, but we have had to trust God that they will also be for the best, even when we don't understand them. As Kyunghee met with the different ministry heads our first week, we were a bit discouraged to see door after door close--the homeless ministry is adequately, if not over, staffed; the ministry to the ladies behind the windows in the Red Light District (RLD from here on out, to save time and space : )) does not usually take volunteers for less than 3 months (we are here for 2) and our host team is majoritively on holiday (making opportunities to minister with them a bit limited). But, as He always does, God has been opening new doors and providing new direction--a different homeless ministry can use our help; the ladies ministry is praying about starting a new work with ladies outside the RLD (there are windows all over the city, the RLD is just the most populous and famous) which we may be able to participate in, since we'll be laying groundwork for others who will be the long-term workers; we've built a relationship with the Tabernacle team, who run YWAM's 24-7 prayer house in the RLD-we planned to spend some time there, but instead have been able to spend more and even help lead some of the prayer times (more on that in a minute : )).

God has been changing my personal plans for outreach, too. One of my major goals for this time was to hear from God what He would have me do after we return to the states, but as we've been here and seeking God for what HE wants, He's made it clear to me that He's called me to Amsterdam NOW, and that I need to focus on that calling and leave the other for Him to make clear in His way and time (more than a bit of a challenge for a planner like yours truly, but when God says 'lay off'...). And He may already be making it clear--I, who was amazed to hear God say 'youth ministry' last year instead of 'worship/music ministry', who came to DTS to prepare to work with teenagers, am finding myself being taught by God about leading worship. It started in lecture phase, when I was asked to be the DTS worship leader. Then, I was given the opportunity to sing backup for the base worship leader at our weekly gathering, then finally the huge, if a bit daunting, opportunity to lead base worship the week she was on vacation. Now, on outreach, I am leading my team EVERY DAY (quite different from the 1-2 times a week I was doing in Richmond), and am also learning a lot from our work with the Tabernacle team--they use a model called 'harp and bowl' prayer that mixes worship and prayer and incorporates 'prophetic singing' the singing out of a phrase or sentence during worship that is then taken up by everyone else, literally 'singing a new song' to God. Not to mention the different styles and methods of worship I've been exposed to as I've been around different 'brands' of Christian represented in YWAM--from drawing/painting and the formal, reverent beauty of the Messianic synagogue to more charismatic shouting, jumping and dancing.

What will come of all of these shifts and surprises, only God knows at this point. What I do know is that I'm so thankful to be following God on this journey to Amsterdam and beyond, and thankful for you, my friends, who through your prayers, encouragement and support, are making it all possible. So I'll close by exercising some of my new-found Dutch skills: Gods Zegen! (God bless you)

Praise God with me:
+For meeting and EXCEEDING our housing needs
+For providing, in the days shortly following our arrival in Amsterdam, ALL of our remaining outreach fees and airfare
+For opening new doors for us to minister in Amsterdam

Please pray with me:
+That we would continue to be led by God as we endeavor to serve Him in Amsterdam-and that we would hear Him especially clearly on Wednesdays, the day we have set aside for what we've named 'Mission Possible'-spending the morning in listening prayer and the afternoon doing whatever we feel God has led us to in that time
+That God would equip, lead and encourage our leader, Kyunghee as she makes decisions for the team
+That God would use us in the lives of the homeless, prostitutes and others He sends our way, and that He would be glorified in all we say and do
+That God would watch between the members of our team and cause us to 'increase and abound in love for one another and for all' (1 Thess 3:12) that our love and unity would make us not only more effective, but a witness to the people around us