Home > Mission to Amsterdam > Archives > 2008 > April > 02 > Entry
Easter Surprises
Easter wasn’t quite the same for me this year, but was really special in a different sort of way. I definitely missed my family and our Easter traditions. Here, Easter brought snow, an awesome conversation with a homeless friend, an evening with the movie “Ben Hur” in the cafe, and a prophetic blessing. Saturday night before Easter Sunday, I had the day off, so I stayed up watching a movie. I had planned to get up early to go to a sunrise service, but my plans failed when my movie ended at 3 a.m. So silly.
I awoke at 11 a.m. feeling rather discouraged I had wasted Easter. I knew I would be going to church that afternoon, but doubted the service would be very Easter-y, so I moped about the house for a bit, sad about missing church and lacking direction for my afternoon. I wandered into the living room of the staff house and heard a cacophony of human voices from our courtyard below. I looked out of our window and realized the Tweede Mil, a homeless ministry run by the same organization as our hostel, was having its Easter lunch in the classrooms downstairs. Amid the crowd, I noticed one of my fellow staff members, Sam, talking with people. I didn’t have anything I needed to do, so I padded back upstairs in my bare feet and changed out of my PJs so I could join the party.
In minutes I was heading to the crowd of Dutch-speaking homeless and otherwise hungry people. I realized with a bit of discouragement that most of the conversations going on around me were happening in their native language. I stood awkwardly amongst the crowd until I could make my way out to Sam, who was speaking in Dutch with an old man, wizened with age and leaning heavily on his cane.
One man, about 30, was standing off behind the rest. He was the last in line and seemed to be in no hurry. Sam asked him in Dutch if he was going to eat. ‘Excuse me?” the man replied in English. I immediately knew he was an American. We started talking and it turned out Daniel was from Arizona and had been traveling wherever God led him for the past year and a half.
His story was incredible. He told me about his perceptions of Amsterdam and The Netherlands. We shared a few of our same observations, and then shared a few different ones. Daniel got his plate, and we sat down next to a Portuguese couple. I introduced myself to the woman. She said something about not knowing much English. She spoke some Spanish, and I responded by saying I didn’t know much Spanish, but could understand. We ended up having a conversation, half in English and half in Spanish. I could understand her when she spoke to me in Spanish, and she could understand me when I spoke to her in English. It was awesome. She and her boyfriend had been traveling and were possibly going to work at the Shelter City. Daniel also had some connections with the Shelter City, going to Bible discussions and such. What are the odds?
I sat and talked with them for awhile and invited them to come to watch “Ben Hur” at the Jordan that night. Eventually, I went to get ready for church that afternoon and walked with some friends and cleaners to Zolder 50, a really friendly church in the Jordan.
That evening, several guests sat with me and Jens to watch the movie. About 15 minutes after the movie began, Daniel walked in and joined us. He was wearing about 5 layers of clothing, including his thick camouflage pants. His grizzly chin looked somehow squished underneath the beanie on top of his head. We watched the movie as more guests gathered to watch with us. I had never seen it before and was really impressed at how awesome the story is portrayed, considering it was made 40 years ago. I did catch some power lines in the backdrop of Judea in one scene!
After the movie, Daniel and I went to sit at one of the cafe tables to talk privately. His incredibly fitting words encouraged me. Even though I had only met him that day, he seemed to understand what I was learning and struggling with during my time in Amsterdam. He encouraged me to continue being a light here in Amsterdam, that people can see the light of Christ through me. His words were exactly what I needed to hear, even though of the things he said I had to chew on to understand. When he left, I realized he was a modern day prophet, traveling and encouraging those who God puts in his path.
That night, I biked home with friends, gathering snow from the cars to make snowballs to throw at each other as we laughed and tried not to fall. It was a beautiful Easter, indeed.
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