What we knew upfront and what all happened while we were in Amsterdam were 2 slightly different things, though for the better and all the Glory to The Lord! Your prayers were needed, effective, and so appreciated!
Getting out of the country was a breeze and we even landed almost an hour early in Amsterdam! We were immediately met by Jason, who organized and oversaw all the work we were going to be doing that week. We knew the basics of what we were going to be doing and I know The Lord definitely stretched me with being flexible and made it difficult for the team as things changed often as to what we were doing and/or where we were going. This was no one’s fault, but simply the way things often go when we’re serving The Lord. We know there’s always spiritual warfare going on to try to confuse and thwart what The Lord is doing amongst us and through us. In all our years of serving The Lord you’d think we’d be used to it, but nope, still human and have a lot of things The Lord is still working out and in to and through us.
One of the team members had never been on a mission trip and several of us had never gone across the ocean. It was a 5-hour time change at first, but then their DST took place the following weekend, so we had to adjust once again! We left Sarasota at 5:35 PM on the 20th and arrived in Amsterdam at 9:30 AM on the 21st, (local times). We were at an airport or on a plane for about 13 hours! It was suggested that we stay awake until at least 8 that night to immediately get time adjusted, and we all stayed up at least that long. While I’m sure this helped, but we were hardly adjusted by the end of the week! Lows were below freezing a bit and it got in the low 50’s a couple of times, some rain, some light snow, and lots of wind!
In our attempt to keep moving and stay awake until 8, we walked to a close village and got to tour a working windmill that pumped water into a canal and then we ate some French fries at the supposed best place around to get them, and that’s what we deduced as well! After dinner we did team devotions and prayer and then headed to bed.
Sunday we were at Tyndale for breakfast at 7, then off to Calvary Chapel Haarlemmermeer, about 30 minutes away. It was in Dutch but translated. We got to fellowship a little bit, but Tyndale needed the van back for a student trip so we left, grabbed a quick lunch on the way and headed home. Later that day Gunnar was able to take us on a long walk around the area, parks, a lake, and some canals and we ended up walking through a small village nearby, picked up some homemade jams, looked inside a really old Catholic church and graveyard, and then back to Tyndale for dinner. Then we met the 5 guys from Nebraska who we were serving with, than back to the hotel for devotions and got to bed.
Monday came quick! Breakfast at 7, then Jason shared his testimony. After that, Jason got some volunteers to work on tiling the bathrooms, which was an all-week project and the rest of us began tearing up the carpet in the 2 classrooms.
One of the staff members, Tarmo, who does maintenance around the building also does tile work, so he worked on one of the bathrooms. Another local guy, Lucas, who had heard about the Tyndale through a friend at church, also did tile and he did the work in the other bathroom. Both bathrooms had the fixtures removed and the walls and floors were primed and leveled off with a cement bonding compound, so they were ready to tile. Cameron, Hamilton, and Gary from our team volunteered to help them and ended up doing tile work for most of our time there. The bathrooms were not finished and though it would’ve been nice to get it done, we knew it probably wouldn’t happen and they already had plans to get them finished and then they will retile the other 2 bathrooms on the other side of the building.
Everything in the classrooms had been removed by the time we arrived, except the old commercial glued carpet. We managed to get it all out and then did our best to scrape up the glue and then the larger spots had to be skim coated as best we could, then we primed the cement, and the floor was ready for carpet.
The building used to be a small elementary school and I’m not sure how the original layout was, but they have one room in the chapel and 2 other rooms that had a framed connecting wall. The outside wall of the 2 rooms has 6 large windows, all the same size. One of the rooms had 2 windows, so 1/3, the other 4, so 2/3 of the outside wall, thus uneven in length. The team removed the wall in between the rooms and then built a new wall so that both classrooms are the same size!
Everyone did something in these rooms at some point. This involved demo, framing, electrical, insulation, drywall, mud and sanding, baseboard, and painting. Two of the walls, where the professors sit and speak, were also changed to be accented with prefabricated wood paneling. Everything else in the room got painted. Kevin and I added a bunch of electrical and changed out the existing outlets, switches, and installed all new LED ceiling lights. Bad ceiling tiles were also replaced. New carpet squares finished the construction and then we put the rooms back together, including mounting a large TV/Whiteboard unit in each room.
The rest of our team, Carol, Todd, Esther, Melissa, Jim, and Kelly, also taped off and painted the three main hallways after removing all the pictures and placards and then moving everything back. They also painted all the doors. This involved lots of cleaning as well, especially on Friday and then some for about an hour on Saturday morning.
Kevin and I added an electrical outlet behind the TV in the conference room and added lights and a switch in the staff storage room. This closet also needed ceiling tiles installed, and a framed wall finished off with wood and painted, and then shelves installed. Carpet tiles were then installed and then everything was put back by the Nebraska team.
We also had lights to upgrade and/or install in the hallways, some lights that needed wired to different switches, and we replaced all the switches.
Kevin and I even got to go shopping at the local “Home Depot” twice for supplies!
Carol made sure we had scrambled eggs for breakfast every morning. Mary Jo did many different things as she saw the need to support others as she always does, including taking care of me (!), and went to the grocery store a couple of times. She also helped coordinate with the seminary kitchen staff any of our needs and made sure there was help for them when needed.
Everyone worked hard and there was great unity with both teams while we served together, praise The Lord!
We were blessed to hear testimony and/or a devotional from 3 students and 2 staff members, which was a blessing. Amine, one of the students, is from Morrocco and was raised in a Muslim family. He's in the picture above in the red sweater. At 12 he began questioning the Muslim religion and thought there had to be something different out there. While in college he met a Christian pastor who took the time to answer all his questions over about a 6 week period and he then became a Christian. This was a death sentence for him, even his family would more then likely kill him, but they didn’t! He’s still the only one from his family that is saved, but he’s spent time sharing the love of Jesus with them. Pray for his family to come to know Jesus like Amin does!
After we finished the last-minute cleaning on Saturday we took off for Zaanse Schans, a heritage village in which the 18th and 19th centuries have been partially preserved for visitors to see working windmills and culture from that time. We visited a couple of museums, small craft shops such as a weaver’s house, a windmill that drives a grind wheel for breaking up stone to make pastels, and a working sawmill! Our Declaration of Independence was written on paper from a papermill from this town! It was quite an experience. From there we headed to Amsterdam where we walked through some of the town and then did a 60-minute canal cruise through town. Another great experience, then back to Tyndale for dinner, devos, and bed.
Sunday, we went to a church with Jim, a professor, and his wife Janice, who does many things at Tyndale. The church was in English which we enjoyed and then we went out to lunch with them, to a grocery to pick up a couple of items for our trip home and then back to seminary. Keep Jim and Janice in your prayers, they will be retiring and moving to Michigan with their daughter after the next school year.
Adam, one of the professors, shared some of his testimony and from The Word during one of the morning devo times, Dave, and Ken, two other professors, planted a church and meet in the late afternoon on Sundays in a room they rent at a Catholic church. They then eat dinner together. We decided that we would attend to encourage them and it was a great time in The Word, Worship, and the dinner, desserts, and fellowship afterwards was amazing. Several students and staff and their families attended, and we also got to meet some locals.
Monday we were up early for breakfast and devos at Tyndale, finished packing, loaded up and headed to the airport. With the airport lines out of control dealing with TSA shortages, I rebooked our flight so we had extra time between flights in Atlanta and we also reserved 2 minivans in case we needed to drive home. We sailed through customs and re-entry through TSA and about an hour after we got off the plane we were at our next gate, Praise The Lord! We agreed that sitting a little longer in Atlanta was better than stressing out and having to rush to make our connection! We were in an airport or on a plane for a total of 19 hours going home and were walking into our house just before midnight! It was a long day and we were beat!!
It was their Spring Break while we were there so while a lot of staff and students did not leave the area, there was no set schedule for them, so it was mostly hit and miss at mealtimes. Some of us did our best to get to meet and know a little bit about both the staff and students we saw.
Jason let me know that on Monday, 22 students were able to comfortably learn in a classroom that now had plenty of room for them. Gunnar sent us an email saying that the classrooms didn’t need a renovation, they needed a resurrection, and that’s what our team was able accomplish. Everyone was excited when they returned and saw all The Lord had done!
Here’s some of the things Mary Jo and I discovered about Tyndale. Billy Graham was instrumental in getting a seminary started in Europe and TTS Amsterdam is the result. All but two of the staff are missionaries. The Seminary mostly has students from Europe, Asia and Africa, though some are from other areas, including the US. One of the staff guys I met at church Sunday night, Kevin, is from South Carolina, and he is a former student!
The students have some type of education and Biblical training and served at their local churches and in their communities. A lot of the students attend on a scholarship. They all come from different types of Christian churches so once they arrive, they are taken to a few different churches that might be a good fit for them, and then they must attend and serve at one of these churches. They also each have a job to do at the seminary and some of them also have part-time jobs! The courses they take are not easy, such as Greek and Hebrew languages, Exegesis, New and Old Testament Theology and on and on. Then, when they finish, most of them go back to where they come from, ministering, sharing, discipling those in their home churches and communities. For more info on Tyndale, you can view their website here.
Talking to Jason about ministry opportunities, he mentioned his involvement with GEM, a mission organization that is spreading The Gospel in Europe. He spreads his time between his wife and 4 young kids, GEM, Tyndale, and his church that they are renovating. GEM has many mission trip opportunities in Europe on a regular basis, from 10-14 day short term trips, summer intense mission opportunities for young people, all the way to a 2 year program for those seeking to go into full-time mission work in Europe!
Jason said that there are many young people in The Netherlands that are searching for the meaning of their lives and are very open to The Gospel, but they lack willing servants to get God’s Word out! Besides the things Jason oversees at Tyndale for teams, he said short-term mission teams can do construction, evangelism, or a combination of both. As another added benefit, most of the folks there speak English so it’s easy to communicate with them! Let me know if this is something that interests you and I’ll put you in touch with them.
Pray for these ministries, all that The Lord is doing in and through them, and for all those involved in all aspects with sharing God’s Word to those who might otherwise not hear it! Thanks for your prayers while we prepped and served these folks who will in turn go to the ends of their worlds and share the love of Jesus!
If you’re interested in growing in The LORD as you selflessly serve others alongside of Calvary Relief, please let us know! For more info on joining us, click here. Plenty of things to do!
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If there’s ever anything you need prayer about or just need to talk to someone, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us and let us know!
Here to serve and disciple until He calls us home,
Curt & Mary Jo
