World Traveler

What a month.

I went to Amsterdam with WJU on a mission trip!  For two weeks!  During Christmas break! It was so good.  We stayed in a couple of Christian hostels and joined the staff in working in the cafe.  It was quite the experience, because we were there during their busiest season: New Years.  Wow were things ever crazy for a while!  But I got to meet people from all over the world, and simply experiencing a lifestyle different from my own was eye-opening and exciting.  I’m not gonna lie though, it made me appreciate my own culture more than I expected!  I’m more American than I thought!  haha.

Going into this, I had no idea what to expect. NONE.  But God ended up showing me so much. (of course). First of all, I was thrown into a working schedule with little to no training for working the cafe. That involved running the till (working with unfamiliar change didn’t help my confidence much) and cooking dinner for 20+ people most afternoons, & having it all hot & ready by 5:45.  (with an occasional random meal during the afternoon for a guest).

An unfamiliar, industrial kitchen, recipes & instructions written by someone with English as their second language, and Dutch labels on ingredients stored who-knows-where.  Hostel guests were nice in general, but language barriers were often a problem, and not everyone is patient.  Then my team leader got dangerously sick, to the point where I had to support her up the stairs & in to her bed, make sure she was fed/hydrated, and take over her cooking shifts!

One night I also had to lead a Bible discussion, but had had NO time to prepare & study a topic.  That was the same afternoon that I made a mistake with the till and there was a 60 euro difference that was unaccounted for.  *mortifying* …

But that night during prayer time before my next shift, the manager leading the meeting got out her guitar and started us off with Be Thou My Vision.  I’ve always loved that hymn but the words had never relieved me like they suddenly did then.  Funny how such a simple concept can completely change our perspective when we’re reminded of it.  I felt God telling me I’d let my eyes fall from where they’re supposed to be, and that was why I was letting myself become stressed.

I’d also had no time to journal or process my stress, or have sufficient quiet time with God.  All my time was either spent in the kitchen or catching up on sleep.  As I was in the kitchen one night mulling over all this, I remember where I was standing, drying a dish while watching something start to boil over and in the background somewhere off in the distance I heard the church bells ring out like they did a few times a day.  But I recognized the melody… it was Be Thou My Vision!!  Talk about wanting to look around for where God was standing, watching me!  haha!

Long story short, something I learned during the first week of my time in Amsterdam is there is not always the option to step out of the scene and hide with your security blanket.  It’s an inward peace you learn to glean from God’s spirit during chaos and confusion.  He doesn’t ever go anywhere- He’s not just there when it’s quiet and you’re in “quiet time,” and we need to learn how to spiritually rest in His arms while being pushed physically & emotionally.

Be Thou My Vision would ring out at random times of the day for the remainder of the trip (never at a specific hour, like I’d expect) and each time I would smile and thank God.  The best was the very end of the trip, when I’d already thought I’d heard that memorable sound for the last time.  It was painfully early in the morning while my team and I were booking it down the dark, cobblestone streets, tugging our luggage to the train station.  We had to walk quite a ways across the city, and it was bitterly cold.  A bunch of thoughts were flying around in my head about how this was last time for this, the last time for that… saying goodbye… oh gosh I miss my home & my family… and then the church bells RANG out- we had to be less than a block away from them!!  The beautiful melody literally filled the air!  You know those movie-quality moments that are so good you don’t even know what to do?  Well I couldn’t cry, cause the tears would freeze my face.  Haha.

I believe that’s plenty for one entry- thanks for reading about my Christmas vacation experience and I hope what I shared clicked somewhere with you!

Sara

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