Three weeks in..

HELLO!

I can't believe that I am preparing to go into my fourth week of lecture here in Amsterdam. I'm blown away by how incredible it has been already, and I'm anticipating more revelation of Him and His plan for this time..

I want to start off by thanking you who have been praying for this DTS. I believe those prayers have already affected the conversations and relationships that are being built, as well as the atmosphere of community that has been growing over the past two weeks! We have a school of about 12 students, so it has been a pretty quick lesson in living as a family with a group of people from different nations. Most of the students are dutch, with the exception of a few Americans, one guy from Egypt, and a girl from Indonesia. But our group is not the only one here! There is also another DTS going on during this time, it is called "Make Him Known" DTS and it consists mainly of people from different parts of Africa who, for their outreach phase, will be ministering to refugees placed in Holland. On top of that, we are constantly hosting other outreach teams and guests here at De Poort, so its quite the ppoular place to be! haha.

This week our lecture was on the Holy Spirit. What an amazing week! I can't really begin to list all the things i've learned, but I understand now more than I have before how real and involved the Holy Spirit is in our lives. Especially when we ask for him. One scripture I was given this week is Luke 11:13,

"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

This is a promise that Jesus gave. If we diligently seek him, he is faithful. I am still being challenged by the passage of Luke 11. I think that desiring the Lord and the gifts he has for us can be hard. Which, kind of doesn't make sense! Why wouldn't we want the Lord and the treasures he has promised to those who ask? I believe there is a cost to following God and seeking those things he has for us-but what a small cost for something so significant...

To sum it all up...God is still good.. and I'm learning so many things on top of the lectures. Like how to fit in as 'the foreigner' in the group, (which is actually really cool), becoming a seasoned bike rider around the city (well, sitting on the back of a bike and holding on for dear life), and eating the local food (consisting mainly of bread, nutella and sprinkles...).

I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Tot Ziens!

Watch my video from 2008's trip to Amsterdam...

A New Season!

Ok, I'm new at this whole blogging thing, so we will see how this goes!

Amsterdam! I can't believe I am already here and that its only been a little over two weeks! It feels as though I have been here for longer than that, but most definitely in a good way.

As many of you know, it has been my desire to come to this city for quite some time now, and now that I'm here it doesn't seem real.

To recap what some of you already know, I am here to do a 5-6 month discipleship training school in which the lecture phase takes place here, in Amsterdam for the first half of the school, and the outreach phase will take place in Asia beginning sometime in March.

I will try to keep this first blog short yet informative. The school is going great so far! God is showing me so many new things, all the while keeping me focused completely on understanding His incredible love for me. The first two weeks, we have learned about hearing God's voice, and understanding 'The Father Heart of God." It has been such a wonderful time of coming into more revelation of Him and His heart.

The YWAM building here (where I am staying) is called De Poort, and it is involved with a little place in the red-light district called 'The Tabernacle'. If you haven't already heard, the red-light district is a significant section of the city that has been given over to debauchery, among other things. My favorite part of being here in this busy city is the opportunity I get to visit the tabernacle. Its a sanctuary of prayer and intercession, and I can see from it that the spiritual atmosphere in the city has and continues to be changed. I am blown away that such a great thing is being done here right in the heart of the red-light district through prayer!

Being in the Tabernacle is only a portion of what I am able to take part of here. There are too many things to record in my blog, so I will end with a verse, and begin to plan what to share next time!

Isaiah 40:3

"A voice cries out: 'In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.'"

God is good, and I believe He is preparing to do something incredible in the lives of His children. Thank you for reading! I will talk to you soon.

Love,

Elizabeth

A New Season!