Christie, Christie, you are a curious person!
-     What’s gonna happen on Sunday??? (archy and trusting smile)

-    I don’t know, why do you ask me? (pretending face)
-    How could I know, I am not a prophet! (pretending face)
-    Well, the Sun will rise, and set, as always.. (pretending face)
-    Why, what should happen on Sunday? (honest face)
-    Eeem…nothing? (pretending face)

And, you certainly got the answers. Not about Sunday, but at least, about Saturday (4th February). Let’s see, what happened:

We (Aino, Anna, Christie, Freja, Kaisla, Lennard, Willemijn, Simon, me) have dinner – tomatoes, eggs, onions, meat, something looking like meat but vegetarian (I don’t know the name..), salade, sauces, ketchup, cheese, bread…. Hamburgers!

Meneer Ost and Meneer Derben arrive. And eat the rest

Christie and Willemijn go for a walk (Poor little ones, it’s very cold outside), during that time we become "cats"

Lennard. Before...

...after

The finnish “cats”, Kaisla and Aino

Christie, cat-version

Playing a game

 It was the last birthday in the MH, but there will be always an other reason to celebrate!

The End

For the first few weeks of living in Amsterdam I kept my camera with me at all times. I didn’t want to miss any opportunities to take a photo of yet another pretty bridge or gracht. And then also of the houses with the hooks at the top. And of the parks. And….As you can imagine, soon I had built up quite a collection of photos. But as I got used to whizzing about the city on my bike and no longer needing a map, I also got used to living in such a beautiful city.

And then…

last Friday…..

When me and Kaisla went into the Krenkelhuis (where we both work on Fridays, in a choir for people who are homeless) it was brown and grey. When we came out?It was white, white, white everywhere. Snow had finally arrived! Ever since I’ve been taking photos of snow on houses, snow on bikes, snow on my shoes.

Shortly following was the best present a Dutch person could ever wish for: ice. Now all we can talk about in the Mission House is where, from who and how we can get six pairs of ice skates.

January, coldness, bleak thoughts, tiredness, drained of energy and still quite a number of freezing winter weeks left. Simply sitting around waiting until it has turned into summer is unlikely to make you feel better.

What we, in Mission House, do to combat these negative feelings, is engage in delightful activities. For example playing games in which you have to be a mean financial shark in the big pool of free markets and to eat up every opponent before they consume you! In short: We played Monopoly. After hours of play the long anticipated result eventually came into play: Willemijn pwned. We had to watch powerlessly as her business empire gobbled up all our timid tries to get a slice of the pie. We almost forgot that it was just a game. But enough about that.

More delightful for all of us was a big present we bought ourselves. And an indispensible one at that.

What would we all do without PHIPS? Not having him would spell doom for one, for us. Doom in dust. PHIPS is not impressed by all our excitement and adventures. He is content to wander around the Mission House as we gallivant across the city, day by day. He likes to sit there, looking all-powerful, brawny, full of the energy and enthusiasm which befits such a new product and is eager to make many of our much enjoyed, yet often ill-advised, misadventures unhappen. He just does what he’s supposed to do: vacuum the Mission House floor as his late and sorely lamented predecessor did before.
To get him engaged, a delegation of us had an exciting trip to the media market to choose from a huge range of potential candidates. 2200 watt input power, an airflow velocity of terrific 42 litres per second, massive alloy wheels, metallic red coating and much more. It’s just a great pleasure to let him hoover twice a day.
To keep on having nice activities we will soon look for a new electric whisk.

As the 2010/2011 season of parties, celebrations and festivities drew to a close, some prepared to return to school or university, some were going back to work, some were already involved in volunteering, each facing their own challenges, issues and decisions.

It has become overwhelmingly apparent from the conversations and encounters we have shared with one another over meals, during our meetings, seminars and in those moments at the close of the day when we simply sit with cups of tea and stroopwafels, that these varying journeys have each had a remarkably strong impact on our lives and which, ultimately, led each of us, emotionally and physically, across land, sea, sky and canal bridge to the door of the Amstelrank on, what was as we recall, a rather good weathered, yet nerve-wracking 1st of September 2011.

None of us, no matter how hard we might have tried, could ever have adequately estimated the sheer power of the feelings, experiences, lessons, transformations, challenges, enlightenments and encounters to be found throughout the Mission House universe in which we were about to immerse ourselves.

As we look back on the past four months, reflecting on our time here in Amsterdam with the help of the myriad of photos we have now collected, as well as our various blog posts and journals, it really is difficult for us to believe that we have done what we have done, achieved what we have achieved and learned what we have learned, all in this relatively short space of time.

Different lives, different paths, same destination...

We find ourselves miles away from those early days of over-politeness, when the pressures of living this new life, away from home, in new surroundings, with new people and new work, bending, twisting and challenging us more and more, stronger and stronger with every passing day.

It is without any doubt that each of us were very genuine in our commitment to work hard, focus on the tasks in hand and prepared to deal with problems and situations with those living on the edges of society, whom many of us had absolutely no experience of working with previously. However, as has become clear over our time here, there is a difference between believing or saying that you will be committed, loving, strong, assertive, resilient and brave, and having to wake up in the morning knowing that you are about to enter an environment where people will, in all likelihood, be impatient, angry, threatening, rude, ignorant and may even refuse to acknowledge or accept your help of presence at all! To say that this is painstakingly difficult would be to completely undermine the dread and suffering we have each experienced, at least a few times, when preparing to work in our projects.

It is only now, however, when we have the chance to see all that we have been through, that we appreciate fully the ultimate aim of the Mission House, namely that we must do everything in our power to make “Word and Action Meet”!

As hard an admission as it is to make, the single-most important lesson which has come forth during our time in this strange and, quite frankly, often miserable environment is that if you want to make your experience something worthwhile, something special, something which the terms “enjoyable”, “fulfilling” and even “amazing” do not even come close to explaining, then you have to stop reading about the projects, you must stop talking about what skills you have and what skills you lack, you must stop constantly thinking “what if I had said this, or did it that way?” and you must, simply, JUST DO IT!

Everyone who knows me cannot escape my passion for writing and speaking. I love words. I love how they can be used and shaped to express and explain things, bringing hope and sense to a complex and harsh world of despair, turmoil and emptiness. Yet, for the first time, I find myself simply having to repeat myself, with no further reimagining, by simply looking back to October when it was said that it truly is in hearing the tale of an old lady that we see the value of listening. It most certainly is in witnessing homeless people help one another to tackle the challenges of the day that we see the value of serving tea. And it is undeniable that it is in seeing the tears of joy running down a seafarer’s face as he calls his family for the first time in months that we see that value of waiting an hour at the dock on a cold and rainy afternoon so he can finish his work and buy a phone card. It is, truly, in serving, that we see the light which guides us forward.

And the reason for this repetition is exceptionally simple. There isn’t anything else to say. There isn’t anything else to write. There isn’t anything else to think about. Everything else which is to be found, everything else which is to be gained, everything else which is to be learned does not lie in books, or minds or pens, but in the experiences and the paths which God sets before us.

We cannot believe that we have arrived where we are now, but we have gained such confidence, such resilience, such ability, such skills, such love, such compassion, such EVERYTHING, not because we have read the best book, written the best essay or thought up the best ideas. Rather, we have gained so much that is right, because we went out there, among the poor, among the destitute, among the rejected, neglected, denied and outcast, did what we could and allowed the experiences, the conversations with clients, the serving of soup, the singing of hymns, the selling of phone cards, the washing of feet, the crying with people who’se families and friends had deserted them, to completely transform us through their own power.

And what’s more, this transformation has not come from the perfect execution of our duties. It has come because we have gone out with confidence and got it wrong! We have made mistakes. We have judged things incorrectly. We have, at times, hated the ways we have behaved, thought or spoken. But what it vital, what we must all keep with us is the fact that if we did not make these human errors, we would not learn the lessons that we do everyday. Indeed, we would not have had a hope of receiving the light and encouragement, which have made us strong, if we had not first accepted and embraced our frailty.

It is no wonder to us why Christ decided to spend His time on earth with the poor, hungry, prostitute and destitute, for our life among them has taught us more about the realities of life and dealing with hardship than, it seems, any of our individual lives have taught us thus far. We encourage others to learn from this experience also, that they might feel as confident and fulfilled as we do now.

Teaching us more about harship and life than any book...

But there remains one, last crucial yet scary truth to be considered. If it is truly through the meeting of Word and Action that has carried us thus far, then it is surely the meeting of Word and Action which must be centre-most in our minds and hearts as we move forward into this new year, which each of us knows will bring yet more challenges, issues and problems for us to face and deal with.

What matters, however, is that we know how far we have come, and we know why we have come this far. We will continue, then, to move forward in faith, trusting that all will be well as we continue our work, keeping calm and, very importantly, getting on with it! Or, as a Scottish version of this famous saying which I recently found says, “Och, wheest an’ get oan wi’ it!”

We wish all of you a peaceful and prosperous 2012, filled with every blessing for you, your families and friends, whoever you are,  wherever you may be and whatever you may face!

Happy New Year from Amsterdam! What will YOU "get oan wi'" in 2012???

Roomboter with icing sugar;

searching for an almond in Finnish rice porridge;

Willemijn getting up early to prepare cadeaujtes and breakfast;

tired faces and full stomachs.

Phil: the new man in the house;

naming our new pet dog Moe (that’s right Iain you need to visit soon….);

cheese fondue and gluwijn at midnight;

keeping warm by candlelight in the Oude Kerk.

The suprise on Joey’s face when told there was more food;

presents from home;

cookies which need to time to soften;

tired, happy smiles and satisfied stomachs.

Christmas cookies from Ági

The Mission House 2011 hopes everyone enjoyed their Christmas, whatever they did and wherever they were

17th of December, saturday morning and 5 people are leaving the Mission House with a mission. It is not a short journey, taking two trams and a short walk to get to the right place. It is not an easy journey with the wind and rain making us feel extreemly cold. It even got to a point that some of us (read me) felt like crying and giving up. Not possible, because we had an important task to do. Something, better said someone, was still missing in the house and we had to go and get it.

Finally we saw big letters writing ECO and we knew we were at the right place. Outside several little trees were stalled and then all of a sudden we saw him… Immediately we felt that he was what we were missing in our house. There was this strainge connection between us and the tree and we knew we had to take him home. We made friends with the man from the shop and after promissing to take good care of the tree we could sign the adoption papers. Lennard and myself were declared the official parrents. The naming of our new inhabitant of the Mission House happend while we carried the tree to the tramstation. At first we thought it was a girl and we came up with names like Audry and Evelyn. But then Lennard made a good point by noticing that there are already enough girls in the house and we really need a new man in the house. So we called him Phil. It was a big challenge to bring Phil home. We had to face angry tram passengers and drivers, lot’s of laughing people and hurting arms and fingers. But together we did it!!!!

Phil brought the true christmas sphere in the Mission House. These dark days before christmas some extra light is more then welcome. Everybody will stay in Amsterdam over christmas and new years. It is gona be a special christmas not spending it at home with our families, but here with eachother and the people we work with. Although it is all very exciting, especially these days we miss home a bit more then normally. That is why it is so good to see everyday our mail box filled with cards, letters and somtimes even a parcel. It is great to see how people from our homes are thinking of us. A big THANKS to everybody for that!!!!! We wish you all a very good Christmas!!!

                                                Getting Phil home….

                                                                     After a short word of welcome by Mr Peters its time to open the back and free Phil

                                                                        Making Phil beautiful

Could you act Kaisla after drinking coffee? How would you draw Simon’s room? What about Noah and the Ark?

In our church service at the teambuilding weekend we tried to communicate with each other without using verbal language. It was sometimes difficult: Simon repeatedly gestured to the floor to try to get Iain to say The Hague; sometimes easy: Agi just had to point at Willemijn for people to guess the situation was about coffee. It was great to see that after three months of living together we knew what the strange drawings and actions of the other person referred to. Lennard and Willemijn seemed to take it a stage further and exhibited almost telepathic communication. It took Lennard less then a second to guess (correctly): The Glind.

It started me thinking about what else we communicate non verbally. When we do something nice but with a begrudging heart, can people see what’s really inside? And in a more positive way, can people see the kindness and good wishes behind an ordinary action?

Although I think me and everyone in the Mission House have made meaningful relationships in our projects, we do spend a lot of time doing everyday activities. Cooking, cleaning, a bit more cooking, shopping and of course making coffee. To quote Lennard ‘This morning I made tea and coffee, this afternoon I made coffee and tea”. But if one person has recognised the thoughts and motivation behind our actions, then our three months spent here have definately been worth it.

Teambuilding: sightseeing in the rain

“Exile from the familiar can not only be the salvation of oneself, but that of others” Rev Dr Jane Leach.

It has never dawned on me just how rectangular the traffic lights are in the UK. I always used to think that the corners were rounded, creating a neat, pleasant shape to these otherwise dull and seemingly unexciting appliances. When I looked at them again, however, following my return to the UK after almost three months away from home, I realised that in comparison to traffic lights in the Netherlands, which usually have large semicircles at their tops and bottoms, they seemed very small and angular. The shape of traffic lights is, of course, of very little consequence, but it did remind me how long I had been away from home and how strange it felt to suddenly and rather unceremoniously thrown back into life in Britain.

Noticibly different shapes

I had returned to my homeland for a few days to visit a friend and to take some time to reflect on my Mission House journey thus far. As I unpacked my things and sipped on a nice, hot cup of good old British tea, I remembered how much I had missed the familiarity and comfort of home. I knew where I was. I knew the order of things. I knew the culture. I knew the mannerisms of the people. I understood my surroundings. I was home!

At first, this felt brilliant. I felt able to relax in a way that I hadn’t truly felt able to in the Netherlands. I could walk into a shop and ask for something without having to consult my dictionary, awkwardly point at something or saying something 20 times! I felt comfortable and safe.

It wasn’t long, however, before the effects of my journey thus far began to show their face.

For, prior to my arrival at Mission House, I was a completely different person. I had no experience or real understand of what it was to live and work amongst people facing real hardship. I had always felt comfortable and confident that God was always with me, strengthening and guiding me, without any flicker of doubt or question of faith. In truth, there had never been a point in my life where I had been required to place full trust, full control of my life, soul and work, into the hands of God.

Three months of serving coffee to homeless people, taking bread to drug addicts, talking with lonely old people with lots of interesting stories and trying to keep control of a group of children from broken families as they run around riot in a church hall have, however, begun to give me a genuine appreciation of the realities of life.

I’ve been shouted at, rejected, talked about, laughed at, hit with an handbag by a disgruntled elderly woman when I cycled on the wrong side of the road, completely by accident, of course… The list goes on, and all of these things have led me to a place where I question my value, question my place in God’s plan and question whether or not I will ever be able to serve Him effectively, not because I am hurt by these things happening to me, but because I don’t know how to deal with them. What should I say to someone who is viciously angry with the church because of its failings over the year? What should I do to help someone who is in deep distress, the pressures of life mounting up around them so that they snap out at those who try to help?

In order to answer these questions, I have had to place my trust fully in God, allowing the experiences which He places in front of me, to transform and change me into a person who is ready to serve Him in the way that He calls me to.

And it is through that openness to change that I have been able to be truly blessed through my work in each of the projects, looking beyond what seems to be the case, and seeing what the case actually is has allowed me to understand more about why people feel as they do and is slowly allowing me to learn how to deal with such situations. It has allowed me to see, first-hand, the experience, the wisdom, the compassion, the value of those whom society would otherwise happily ignore.

For the first time in my life, I found myself truly happy, truly satisfied, in a place that did not involve books, speeches, lectures, essays or big words, and this massive paradigm shift was very difficult to ignore after a while back on home turf.

Needless to say, I had a brilliant time with my friend. It was good to see her again and to hear that things were going well back at home, with no majorly huge developments since my departure, but it also gave me a sense of restlessness. For I was no longer content to sit in this pleasant environment, drinking tea and whiling away my time thinking and writing about things which I, in reality, know very little about, producing work that, while gaining good marks, could never be of any real practical help to anyone.

Home wasn’t the same, not because I no longer like it, but because, at this moment in time, it is not the place I need to be.

Familiar, but not always helpful

I longed to be back in Amsterdam, in the unfamiliar, in the discomfort, in the questioning, in the doubt, amongst the problems, for it is through these that we really gain an understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

Mission House exiles us. It exiles us from that which we know and love. It exiles us from that which is familiar. But it also frees us. It frees us from our misunderstanding of the world around us. It frees us from the fear and nervousness we have about doing certain things. It frees us from our comfortable and secure little boxes in order that we may live life to its fullest, not its safest.

And in freeing us, it also frees others for it allows us to use our newfound skills, knowledge, experience and talents to make life fuller and better for those around us. Our exile enlightens us and, in turn, we can enlighten others.

It is a very old saying, but it remains so true today, “The cracks let the light in, but also let it shine out”. We have to embrace our frailty, embrace our humanity, in order to let goodness enter us, and also, through us, pass on to those around us.

Please continue to pray for us as we each, together, walk the journey of life, equipped by the Father, strengthened by the son and open to transformation through the Holy Spirit, trusting always that everything will be as it needs to, even if it is not what we want or like.

After having lived through one week of normal working life it can be quite difficult to remember everything that has happened.

Stephan completed our excellent team de cuisine

But, the first thing which comes to my mind – sorry girls, it is not sleepover night – but it’s Boy’s Night!

Our house leader, Willemijn, has left us to go to Italy and, during her five day absence, there was much more silliness, even than normal. No structure, no regard, no kindness, no…. whatever. We’re happy to have her back!

But back to Boy’s Night: it was good.

Pizza a Simone

We had some pizza (!). We went shopping with, well, lets just say, a few more items on our list than usual (!!). The pizzas were also home made!!!

The three starred chefs Simon, Stephan and Lennard surpassed themelves making the most amazinglyscrumptious pizzas.

We enjoyed our peace and privacy having no girls in house (they were taking part in some genuinely insightful work training for a particular project) and we had long, extensive and cultured discussions about the principal questions of our time. The result naturally cannot be described through the medium of mere words, but it is safe to say that we will keep on having these meetings, also referred to as ´Boy’s Night`. In case of necessity even at a secret place.

Fatto!

“Hij is hier! He is here!” shout the street signs of Amsterdam. 

The Dutch have a special day for all the non-religious parts of Christmas (like presents, seosonal pastries and children songs). They spend Sinterklaas on the 5th of December. A perfect arrangement for us foreingers: two Christmas parties in a month!

Sinterklaas arrives from Spain on the 12th of Novermber with tremendous amount of assistants, Zwarte Piets. They stay one month in the Netherlands and take notes of the children. Sinterklaas gives presents for all the kind children of the Netherlands on his own birthday the 5th of December whilst he travels around the country with his flying horse. The Zwarte Piets slide through the chimneys to put the presents to the shoes that the children have put next to the fireplace. If you put a carrot to your shoe for the horse you might get more kindness points and so on more presents!

But the thing that makes all the Sinterklaas razzmatazz so amazing is the fact that’s not only one night but almost one month! Sinterklaas and the Christmas time are here already! When he arrived to Amsterdam last Sunday we went to see him to the Rembrantplein but he also sailed by our own canal, Nieuwe Herengracht. (Falling out of the window was quite close when I was enthusiastically staring at the boats carnival.)

But the Sinterklaas pastries. I will recommend visiting the Netherland in between the 12th of November and the 5th of December. Lekker! Delicious!

You can also bake the Pepernoten yourself: http://www.jannekes.eu/

Enjoy the Sinterklaas time!