In the past weeks I have seen some great friends after a long time and a dear family. Meeting people, getting to know people, living and loving, saying good-byes, re-connecting… that’s life! I just finished reading an amzing book called ‘The Shack’ which brought tears of joy into my eyes for many reasons. It also put words on something that my heart has been experiencing in these past weeks.

‘You kiss your family and friends good-bye and you put mile between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.’  –Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth (from the Shack.) 

’Most birds were created to fly. Being grounded for them is a limitation within their ability to fly, not the other way around. You, on the other hand, were created to be loved. So for you to live as if you were unloved is a limitation, not the other way around.’ William P. Young, The Shack

I am just now in the beautiful country of Switzerland finishing off the great training program called ‘Principles in Child and Youth Ministries’ (PCYM). This course has truly given wings to my dreams, great tools, understanding and great relationships and connections. I am ever so thankful that I have been able to be part of this school.  And as a bonus to all that I have seen spectacular landscapes, here is one of them!

 

Hey or should I say ‘moi’ form Finland! It feels very unreal to walk in the autumn-like cold forest in Finland and think that that was the end of the summer – get ready for winter! I am spending a relaxing holiday at home with my family and would like to share a little summary in pictures of my summer:

 

Organising a Community Family Day as a part of ‘Serve the City’ project in Amsterdam. Boat trip back with bikes

 

 

 

 

 

 

S-PCYM block 3, (this is the training course I am following part time with YWAM, the course title is ‘Principles in Child and Youth Ministries’. This time the topics were: human development and working with pre-teens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Promoting YWAM the Netherlands on a national Christian festival ‘Opwekking’.

Continuing our work with Crossroads international church, with the children… our kids playing ‘crab football’.

                                                                                    

Summer outreach to Hong Kong with King’s Kids team! Check out my facebook for lots more photos. Part of the outreach was an international ‘Gateway Camp’ which theme was this year ‘joined in destinty’. I love the vision of the Gateway: Nations, Generations, Together as One! That’s His Kingdom come!! Let’s work towards that in the coming season even more purposefully as He makes the way.

hey! This is a team presentation Jeroen did some time ago when we still had our office in the basement of the YWAM base and when Geredine and Henrieke hadn’t joined the team yet.

It suggests that the part two is yet to come…

This is something that the youth learnt during the camp and presented at their home church in the end of the camp.

Trip to Romania, Keć , 14.4.-21.4.2009

We, as a King’s Kids Amsterdam team, went for a week to Romania, Keć to run a youth camp and outreach in a local church. This was a small village near the Hungarian border and the church we worked with was Hungarian. There we had a bunch of eager young people waiting for us, in fact quiet some more than we expected to meet  The pastor of this reformed church had given us freedom to organise the camp and outreach as we wanted and joined us in everything with his wife, two other translators and a kitchen team. We spent two days getting to know each others with the teens (who were 14 to 21 years old), practising dances, dramas and kids’ club program for the outreach, praying, studying the Bible and sharing lives. Before the outreach we had a night of prayer and we asked God what we could do in the village to bring joy to His heart. We felt like we should visit elderly people, invite people to our Sunday night concert and do a children’s program. On Saturday after the final preparations the teenagers were sent to visit people in the village and invite them to the concert. After couple of hours time we had beautiful stories to hear! The youth had visited lonely elderly people, talked with them, sang songs to them and prayed for them. They also visited a very sick old man and comforted his wife. On Sunday we had two church services and both times the church was nearly full. In the evening the youth hosted the whole church service, gave testimonies about who God is for them and how He has changed their lives, sang songs, danced and played dramas for God. On Monday the church yard was filled with kids from all over the village. We had a fun kids’ club and many kids wanted us to pray with them so that they could also be Jesus’ friends. It was an intensive five days! How amazing to see how in a short time the youth’s level of faith rose and how God worked powerfully both in their personal lives but also in their families and in the whole village. We were amazed how God had prepared this time for us to come and encourage the youth to step further with God in faith. It was encouraging to see how our Father indeed hasn’t forgotten any of His little ones and has future of eagles for each of these precious young people, when they start walking out off their chicken pens… All the praise and thanks to God!

Here are some impressions from the camp in pictures, enjoy!

Hey! Time is rushing by and I have already returned from the second block of  S-PCYM (principles in child and youth ministries training course). This time we had our training in the Netherlands, in Heerde.

Here are some pictures from that time.

We cycled every day a lot… learnt about running Kids’ Clubs (and various ways of reaching kids in the cities),  how to disciple the youth and of course we had some outdoors adventures

Next week we as King’s Kids Amsterdam are going to Romania to run a youth camp. Have a great Easter, we have an amzing reason to celebrate: Jesus is risen!

hey you all!

I realised how awfully lazy I have been with posting my news on here - very sorry about that. Since I last have written here I have finished my first Dutch course, worked hard with me team on re-constructing a Children’s Church in Crossroads church in Amsterdam, worked on writing a Child Protection Policy for the YWAM Amsterdam base and been to Finland for a Christmas holiday at the end of the year 2008.

 

On my Dutch class.

My parents’ new home (in the corner of that block of terraced houses) in Finland, where they moved during the Christmas holiday. 

Looking back to the past year I have learnt a lot and gone through major changes in my life. Moving from a student life in Wales to be a missionary in Amsterdam! God has taken me by hand to new depths in my relationship with Him and also, in seeing my longings and dreams come true. 

I returned my home in Amsterdam on the 2nd of January. Oh, how at home I felt and how blessed by the life God has given me. It was good to see my friends and get back to work. When I am turning my eyes to the year ahead of me I see many exciting things ahead of me… I can assure you, it will be a busy year and I will be travelling a lot! The biggest thing in my mind is the training course I will be taking part this year. The school is called: Principles in Child and Youth Ministries. It will be run in four blocks during the year and the first one starts next week in Norway! We will have the founder of King’s Kids ministry teaching us and many other fantastic teachers. I am very much looking forward to the school and know that it will be an intensive time of transformation, learning and fun!

 

I visited Utrecht (one of the four big cities in the Netherlands) with Thea last Saturday.

This year has started great. We as a King’s Kids team have grown to work very well together and are busy with planning and running the Children’s Church as well as training the new children’s workers in the church. There is also now running a new Discipleship Training School at the YWAM ministry location where I am working and I am involved every now and then with byby sitting the students’ children.

Okies, this is me for now. I hope you have great expectations for the coming year and that it will indeed be a fruitful year for you!

 I have been recently greatly inspired, challenged and encouraged by some great women of God. There is a lady working in our missions location who has been welcoming us, as King’s Kids ministry here in Amsterdam from the very beginning we came. She has shared the background and many insights to our ministry in this city and she is committed to supporting us on this journey. We meet up once a week to pray with her for the children and families of this city. Recently I learnt that she has a very special life story as she shared it on the national Dutch television. I didn’t understand very much of the story because of my limited Dutch knowledge but I heard that she has also written a book about her life by now. So, I got hold of the book and read it. Wow, what an inspiration! I strongly encourage anyone to read this book: ‘Broken dreams, fulfilled promises’ by Carolyn Ros. It deepened my understanding of God’s reality and the depth of the life He has called us into.

‘Life is so much more than just the few years that we live here on earth.’ –Carolyn Ros, 2006
 
Also, last week Darlene Cunningham, the co-founder of Youth with a Mission (YWAM) was teaching here on our YWAM location. It was so refreshing to hear her stories how God called her and her husband Loren Cunningham to start this missions organisation and the journeys God’s taken them into. They all reflect the reality of the amazing grace of God and how He wants to speak to us and be involved in our lives in every detail. As Darlene said: ‘We are not a perfect mission, but we surely serve an amazing God!’ First and foremost He is after the hearts who seek to glorify His name over all.
If you want to hear the stories, Loren has written several books in which he shares these and the principles God taught he through the experiences. These are the book titles: 

‘Is it really You, God?’ 
‘Daring to live on the edge.’
‘Making Jesus Lord.’
‘Why not women?’
‘The Book that transforms nations.’

You can also here Darlene’s teachings from last week on www.ywamgear.com

hey all far-away-friends,

I miss you often and I wish you could drop by for a cup of tea. I just thought that sharing pictures of my room here in Amsterdam might make you feel like you had visited me… and I would love that! So here it comes.

Oke, so to start with: this is the building you are entering in – De Poort. It’s an old seemen’s house.. and it’s huge! YWAM Amsterdam owns it and uses it as a training centre for many school that they run yearly, and also for ministry office space as well as staff accommodation. De Poort (which by the way means ‘the gateway’) is located right in the city centre of Amsterdam, about 1,5 km away from the central train station. My room is on the top floor on the left side behind the trees in this picture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Kom binnen! Welcome in! It’s small but I love it.

 And this is the view from my window.

So that’s where I live. There is something else which I haven’t still shared with you. I have started a Dutch language school with ‘School for Dutch’ (wwww.learndutch.com) and I absolutely love it! The course has got a very new approach to a language learning, it focuses on articulation and communication, which I like a lot. It is only a short course (8 weeks) but I hope it gives me some keys for further learning.

Also, yesterday we as a King’s Kids team met with a pastor from an international church called Cross Roads (www.xrds.nl) and made some plans to work together to enlarge and focus on the children’s and family work of the church! I am very excited about this connection and opportunity to start working in supporting a church in here.