Update notice...

I don't know how many people that read this have ever seen my dad's web-page, but if you have I just wanted to let you know that there are some new pictures in it. They're really nice. There's a very pretty one of the first snow-fall of the year. I'm under the impression that it's the snow-fall that they had on October 25th, though I wouldn't qoute me on it. There are also very beautiful photos of the area I come from (ooooooo....mountains!). So, if you're interested in seeing that all you have to do is go to my links where you'll see listed "dad's webpage". After you click on it and are on the page, click on the button thingy that says galleries. The new photos I noticed are under the categorie "Various", though you are welcome to look at whicher photos that you want. Thanks, and I hope you all enjoy it.

Drat, foiled again!

Friday of last week I had plans (or at least the idea) to go see a movie that I really know I'll enjoy. The movie is Pride and Prejudice. I am a big Jane Austin fan, finding her romances good, clean, and just the way it really goes. So of course, with Pride and Prejudice being shown in various theatres throughout the country I just had to go see it. A friend of mine, Marjon, was going to go with me. Unfortunately, something came up for her causing her to be busy and unable to come, which was fine. Good friend, Benjamin, also wanted to go along. So we decided to go, inviting Ben's younger brother, Jonathon, to go along. Benjamin checked the time of the showing on the internet and we made it there in wonderful timing. We walked into the theatre eager to see the beautiful, well-versed romance. Upon walking in we looked up at the board listing what films were playing and what times they were playing at. The film wasn't listed. Naturally, we asked what was going on and soon found out that the movie had started an hour earlier. We walked out, though still in very high spirits. We ended up going home and playing a game called Take 5 (nice game if you can win...which I can't).

This past Friday Benjamin came and helped me take care of my four kids so that I could attempt to cook supper (what a joke!...and that's not refering to Ben's help, but rather to my cooking). We decided that we wanted to go back to Rotterdam to watch Pride and Prejudice. We now knew what time the film was playing and we both know that we love the story very much. Little brother was called, hauled, and we were on our way. We arrived, again, at the theatre in Rotterdam. We walked in. There it was!! Listed on the board was "Pride and Prejudice....20:30". How exciting. We got to the front of the line, asked for the tickets, and were told it was sold out. No joke...it really happened. Well, we three laughed, walked out, and Jon made a ridiculous comment about God not wanting us to see the film (we would've made it into much worse films no problem, so why would God discourage us from seeing the only decent one there...food for thought). Well, we walked to the car, got in, and went home (mentioned home is not mine, but Ben and Jon's...and technically it isn't their's but their parents). I suggested that we rent a film, it was agreed upon, and we were off to Gorinchem!

We arrived in Gorinchem. We drove through the oh-so-narrow streets without mishaps and, just as we were driving by the video rental place to find a parking spot, we ran into Ben's cousin, Jessica, and a friend named Arno (spelling isn't necessarily correct...oh, and we didn't literally run into them). We stopped the car, rolled down the window, and chatted with them for a few minutes. They ended up going to Jess' house to watch their rented movie. Ben and I left Jon in the car to protect it and then walked to the video rental place. As we neared the store I noticed that the store clerk was lowering something that resembled a cage or jail door over the window of the door (which was consequently closed). We were too late. The store closed at 21:00, and it was now 21:02. Stink!

Fortunately, on the wall of the rental store there is a machine from which you can extract a movie, not unlike extracting money from an ATM. Cool. I'd never seen a movie come out of a wall before. Very exciting!! Well, Ben put his membership card in and on the screen it asked for his pincode. After trying 5 times to remember his pincode he was no longer allowed to try. So, I still haven't seen a movie come out of a wall. And we didn't watch a movie at all that night. By that time we decided that perhaps we should just go home and do something the didn't include a television, dvd player, and remote control. And in the end the lack of movie wasn't a disappointment but was actually reason for us to have nice conversation for a few hours.

And though the idea and plan was foiled, the evening was not.

The changing seasons changes my opinion

Everyone has a favorite season of the year. Mine has been autumn for some years now. Most people seem to like summer. But not me. Since the day I chose a favorite season, it has been autumn. Well, it’s autumn now. I’m in Holland, and I don’t like the Holland autumn very much. There are reasons for this.

I come from the state of New Hampshire, and I lived (and will likely live again) in the middle of the mountains in the northern area of the state. It’s so beautiful. In the autumn the mountains turn into a cascade of fiery colors, more beautiful than a person can imagine. We have crisp, frosty mornings that melt into afternoons that are cool and covered in reds, yellows, oranges, and greens. Nothing could be more distracting to a person (like me) that is attempting to navigate the corners and curves of the road while also trying to admire God’s handiwork. But man is it breath-taking!

Well, now I’m in Holland. For four years I mourned the fact that I had to spend my autumn in Maine, which is very flat where I was at school. Last year I was in New Hampshire and enjoyed the beauty more than I ever did in my life. And now I don’t like autumn at all (at least not here).

Last weekend, I was sitting and talking with my friend, Benjamin, when he commented that we’d had a very exceptional autumn. There’d been a lot of sunshine and the temperature would get as high as 20 degrees Celsius (appx. 68 degrees Fahrenheit). I agreed with him, saying it was very nice.

Today it rained non-stop the entire day. It’s cold and wet and windy. I don’t like being cold. I don’t like being wet. And I don’t like fighting the wind to keep my umbrella. I don’t know who made up the story of Mary Poppins, but it definitely wasn’t realistic because my umbrella always turns inside out when the wind tries to use it to carry me away. And then I’m still standing on the ground with an umbrella that is inside out, which I have to fight to get right side out (just in time for the wind to be rebellious again). So, I don’t like the Dutch autumn. But I have chosen a favorite season for here.

I like the Dutch spring. In the spring the snow doesn’t melt (that’s just because there isn’t any snow). The ground goes from being soggy (from the rain) to being muddy (from the kids running through it). But despite all that, it is my favorite Dutch season. Actually, I like the end of spring and the beginning of summer because right then all the trees bloom. And most of them don’t just bud leaves, but they actually bloom big, beautiful, fragrant flowers. Everywhere one looks you can see flowers. High up in the trees and peeking out of the ground they naturally decorate the terrain.

I don’t know if I’ll ever have the pleasure to see another Dutch spring. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to see another New England autumn (I hope I will). But that doesn’t matter, because wherever I go there will be four seasons. And out of those four seasons I’ll always be able to choose a favorite (I think). I guess that God has provided me with long-term entertainment, in a way.

My most dangerous game

So there I was, in Nieuwegein. It was approximately 9:15 p.m. Not a good place to be at that time of night, especially for a girl. But I didn’t mind. I had just got out of my Dutch conversation course. I had already walked the dark 15 minutes from the college to the tram station, where I’d board the tram that would take me within five minutes of my house. It is safer than riding a bike in the dark. That’s what I’ve been told. I believe that.

The tram station that I was waiting at is kind of in the center of a mall. Of course, at that time of night the mall is closed. There are few people around, and sometimes those few aren’t very nice looking. But that doesn’t bother me. Maybe sometimes my heart will shake inside of me, but it doesn’t matter as long as they don’t see it on the outside.

Well, there I was, waiting. I knew already that it might be a long wait because this particular tram stop services two different trams. One heads into IJsslestein, my destination. The other heads into South Nieuwegein. The tram for South Nieuwegein comes first. So, I am obliged to stand there longer.

My Tuesday night Nieuwegein experience is something that I enjoy, actually. It’s a bit of a game to me. Even when there might be a questionable character hanging around, I can find amusement out of it. This particular night I was wearing a hat. I also had a half back-pack half purse sort of thing with me. I arrived after my dark walk, and the games begun. I walked briskly up the stairs at the station, and chose an area to lean up against the wall. The place all around me was dirty. Filthy. Chewed gum was strewn across the ground. You could see where somebody had recently spit. Cigarettes were littered about. And there I stood, leaning against the wall. My game, in my mind, had begun.

What game can you play in the middle of a not-very-safe tram station late at night? My game starts out with watching. I watch the people all around me. This particular night there was a man further down on my left. He was talking to two kids, a boy and a girl. They should’ve been home doing homework, but there they were. He was trying to offer them money. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but I wasn’t really comfortable with the situation. I had half a mind to tell the man to scram and leave the kids alone. But I didn’t. I just watched. Finally, their tram came (not mine) and the boy and girl left, laughing and provoking the man. They seemed to know him, so I took it easy. The man began walking my way. I turned my eyes towards the ground, turned my mouth into a slight frown, and stood as much with an attitude as is possible. My goal: look ugly, uninteresting, unintimidated, and bored. Before he was able to walk by he turned and joined a couple people back on the other end. That was fine. My game continued.

There was a guy not far on my right. By this time I pulled out a book…”The picture of Dorian Gray”. I made sure to fold over the cover so that nobody would see the English on it. I was also often looking up to look around. This guy on the right was often looking my way, but that didn’t bother me because to watch what was going on the other side he’d have to look past me. No big deal. After awhile the guy pulled out his telephone. I think I had dared to make eye contact for a few seconds by this time, one part of the game that I’m not really good at yet. Anyway, he started playing music on his telephone. It sounded like Arabian music. Hmmm…interesting. It was loud. I listened, stared off into space, but remained ever vigilant, always aware of what’s going on. In not too long a time my game was over. The tram came, and even though there are still more people on the train, some of them the same ones as at the stop, the game has more or less ended. Sitting on the tram is like watching the credits at the end of the movie. Maybe you’ll occasionally see some bloopers, something funny or interesting, but really it’s over.

When I first learned about what time I’d be taking the courses I was extremely bothered by it. I was worried. Now, even though it’s only been two weeks, I do believe that I’m almost looking forward to it. The courses are very interesting and I learn a lot. And my game is amusing. It’s one that I hope that I’ll always remember how to play. I’m sure I’ll need it in certain places. And the better I can play, the more fun the game will be.

Rindecella

The last four years that I spent in America I worked at a children's theme park while on vacation for the summer. This theme park is called Storyland. Storyland's motto is "the place where fantasy lives." It's really not a bad place to work, as long as you can handle actually working. It's been one of my favorite jobs. That's how I managed to stay there for four years. Anyway, last year, summer of 2004, I had another nice summer. Towards the end of the summer there is always an employee party to which we may take our family members (that's usualy their parents because most of the workers are under the age of 21). Well, at last years party there was a nice program put together. For part of the program I wonderful man, named Jack, read to us a story. This story was hysterical and had almost everybody laughing uncontrolably (I say almost everybody because there are a lot of exchange workers that come from Europe. They didn't really laugh because...well, you'll understand in a few minutes). I recently saw a video that my father made of Jack telling the story. The people were laughing so hard that I couldn't hear everything that Jack was saying. So, I wrote Jack and begged him for the story. Jack wrote back. And so, with thanks to Jack, I now present to you all the almost well known story of

"Rindecella".

Once upon a time, in a corin funtry,
there lived a geautiful burl named Rindecella.

Rindecella was a gritty little pearl
who lived in a wottage in the coods
with her two sugly isters
and her sticked wetmother.

Now, her sticked wetmother made Rindecella
do all the wurty dirk around the house,
like pining the shots and shans.
Wasn't that a shirty dame?

Well, one day the ping issued a kroclomation:
He said, “My son the pranson hince
wants all the geligible earls to come
to the ping's kalace for a bancy fess drall.”

Of course, the sugly isters
and sticked wetmother
had drancy fesses to wear to this bancy fall.

But Rindecella had only her rirty dags,
and nothing to wear to such a pool calace
to meet the ping and krince.

On the night of the bancy fall,
along came Rindecella's Gairy Fodmother,
who wouched her with her tand,
and turned the rirty dags into a drancy fess.

She also turned some hice into morses
and a cumpkin into a poach,
and told Rindecella, “Go to the ping's kalace
and dance with the pranson hince,
but be sure to be home by the moke of stridnight.”

So Rindecella went to the bancy fall
and danced all night with the pransome hince.
And they lell in fove.

But at the moke of stridnight,
she ran down the stalace peps.
And just as she beached the rottom,
she slopped her dripper!

So the next day, the pransome hince
went all over this corin funtry
asking all the gritty pearls
to sly on the tripper.

When he came to Rindecella's house,
he tried it on her sticked wetmother,
and it fidn't dit.
He tried it on her sugly isters, and it fidn't dit.

Then he tried it on Rindecella and it fid dit!
So they mot garried,
and hived lappily ever after.

Now the storal of the mory is this:
If you go to a bancy fall
and want to have a pransome hince
lall in fove with you,
don't forget to slop your dripper!

THE END

Now if you can, imagine that English is your second language. That's the reason behind the Europeans not laughing. If somebody did that to me in Dutch I'd smack them (Note to Benjamin and Marjon...that's not a suggestion nor an invitation. ;)

Sunday came...starting with cruel and unusual punishment

Sunday morning I woke to quiet. When I’d fallen asleep earlier that morning I was sure that I would wake up at around 7:00 on my own. I woke up at 8:00. I lay in my bed and listened. There wasn’t a sound in the entire room or building. It was nice. However, I remembered reading that we had our quiet time in groups at 8:30, which meant that I had about 30 minutes to get ready. I got out of bed, went into the bathroom and changed. I was ready in about 10 minutes. That gave me time to grab my Bible and to try to get worthwhile reading in. Well, that didn’t work very much because I discovered that one of the fellas was awake, and it wasn’t long before he started playing a very loud guitar. Oh well. So much for that. We met in our groups for quiet time. It was a little later than scheduled. We were given small cookie-like things to eat with our tea or coffee. This was because after the quiet time was scheduled “warm ups”. We had to do that before breakfast because it’s bad to do that on a full stomach. However, it is also not so good to do it on an empty stomach.

Quiet time ended. The cruel and unusual punishment began. Anyone that knows me very well knows that I do not exercise. The closest that I come to exercising is playing a game of whatever (lately soccer, which is also my preference) or chasing kids in circles. Stuff like that. As far as intentional exercise goes…FORGET IT!!! I hate to jog and run unless it’s back in forth in a field, chasing a ball, or getting in the way of other players. Unfortunately, warm-ups aren’t a game of soccer. It started out with Nathan rounding everyone up outside. He got us jogging around the soccer field (it was almost like being taunted by the field, “you can’t play on me…ha ha!”). The jogging turned into a lap of running. Then it toned back down to jogging. Then Nathan explained that when he yelled the number one that we had to touch the ground with our left hand while keeping stride. If he yelled the number two then we had to do the same, only with our right hand instead. Well, he started yelling “One!” Five seconds space. “Two!” Five seconds space. After doing that a few times he started yelling “One! Two! One! One! Two! Two! Two! One!” You can imagine what it looked like to see all those guys and girls running around a field and dropping to touch the ground every second. It wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience. LOL Finally, he decided that we’d had enough of that. Of course, he had yet more ideas to lather on us. He then explained that when he yelled “One” that we were to jump into the air while keeping stride. If he yelled “Two” we were supposed to crouch down and then continue running (you can’t crouch and keep stride…trying to do so is a great way to fall flat on your face). Well, the above sequence of shouting out random “ones” and “twos” repeated and I was ready to fall down and play dead or something. There was a large audience of cheaters watching (I say cheaters because everybody was supposed to participate…I was actually wishing to be standing with them). They were laughing. Finally, Nathan was finished with that version of torture. He let us stop running, but then we had to walk around the field once. Coaches always tell you to walk things off when all you want to do is fall down and sleep. Curious. Anyway, I was ready to head into breakfast when Nathan herded us all over to one of the soccer goals. He had us all line up. He walked a distance away from us and told us that when he gave the signal to go that we all had to run as fast as we could to the goal on the other side, touch the ground, and run back. I don’t like running very much and I was already very tired. But I suppose it wasn’t so bad. It was kind of fun to see if I could run faster than the guys. I ran faster than a couple of them. Not many. After that Nathan made us do it again. After THAT he had us line up by the goal again. He then said that at the signal we had to waddle to him like a duck, a sort of crouched walk. Once we reached him we had to run back to the goal and line up. Next time around we had to hop to him like a frog. It was unbelievable. Youth weekends are a great way to be humbled!! Finally, we were able to go inside.

Nathan,

the ultimate torturer

Inside, the youth group’s worship band was practicing for the worship service that would be held later that day. A bunch of the people were inside watching and listening. Of course, all of us tired warm-upers decided to stop and listen too. When Nathan got inside he saw an opportunity that he had to take. He suddenly had us doing aerobics to the worship music, like what you would see on television…all kinds of funny looking people exercising the exact same way at the exact same time, mimicking a guy or girl with funny looking hair. Of course, Nathan doesn’t really have funny looking hair. But we were all funny looking people mimicking him. I hate aerobics more than I hate regular exercise. However, I will say that I enjoyed it this time more than any other time in my entire life, and I’ve had to do it a few times. So, good job Nathan.

Finally, we were able to clean ourselves up and eat breakfast. After that we cleaned up the tables and had some free time. I went and played some ping-pong and took some time to pack up my stuff. The service arrived. We all gathered in the cafeteria. All the tables had been cleared out and chairs had been set up so that we could perform our drama. Before that, though, Sacha called up my zig-zag group from the day before. He’d given us a task where we had to write a gospel song using the melody of a Dutch Christmas song. Our group had done such a good job writing the song that Sacha asked if we’d sing it in front of the entire group. That was pretty cool. I still couldn’t sing, but I was able to get a couple half notes out and lip the rest. LOL.

After that it was time for us to perform the drama. That was fun! What a fun drama! And it came out perfectly. It was the best that we’d ever done it. This drama is a human video done to a (non-Christian) song written by Evanescence. It’s called Bring Me To Life. In this drama you see a girl that has chains put around her neck by two demons. She then rushes at a Bible and searches through the Scriptures for an answer. She doesn’t see one and she gives up, throwing the Bible on the floor, dropping her in her head in despair. Suddenly, in the background you see a girl starting to flail about. She has a chain around her neck and a person playing a demon is holding onto both arms, sort of playing with her helplessness. After a bit of this the demon throws her onto the floor (ouch!). Then the first girl with the Bible stands up and walk over to a friend, shows the chains and the Bible and gives a sign of frustration. She goes to walk away, but the friend pulls her back, takes the chains in one hand and the Bible in the other and sets them in the hands of the girl that’s bound, making it clear that the answer is there in the Bible. She drops to the floor with the Bible. Again in the background you see a second set of flailer/demon repeating the above mentioned process, again ending with the demon throwing the girl onto the floor. That demon then goes to the first girl with the chains and the Bible. He starts to mock her, saying that there’s nowhere that she can hide. The whole time she struggles to pull the chains off on her own. After he mocks her she drops to the floor, opens the Bible, and prays. Jesus comes and takes the chains from around her neck. The begins to thank God emphatically. Suddenly, four angels walk over, surround her, and clothe her with the spiritual armor (this is super coolest part of the whole skit!!). Once she’s suited up, all five put their swords in their sheathes and line up opposite the four demons. They walk against each other, with the angels knocking the demons onto the floor. The girl then runs and pick up the two girls that were also shackled by sin. She brings them to the Bible, they pray, and Jesus takes the chains from around their necks. Suddenly, the demons get back up and there’s a whole spiritual warfare scene where, of course, the angels really win this time. Then the angels stand two on each side of Jesus, backing up the three girls, kind of raising them up a bit. That’s it. It is a very impressive drama. When I first heard the music I was skeptical because I’m not a fan of using non-Christian music. However, after seeing the drama I came to realize that the song works better than any other song on the planet (I also mean the words when I say that). Another thing that I came to realize is that many non-Christians know the song and so are very curious to see what is going on when they hear the music blaring very loudly (something that we did in a mall in Utrecht a few months ago. Of course, we also acted out the drama).

After the drama we had a very nice worship service and then Sacha spoke. He talked about how we need to be willing to serve God even when things go wrong. He used my friend from the Congo as an example. She’s 21 years old, both of her parents were killed before her eyes about two years ago and she had to flee her country. Her sister also had to flee, and my friend doesn’t know where she is or if she is alive. The same is for her brother. She doesn’t know if he made it out alive. But this girl, Meaderice, still loves God with all her heart, even when she’s feeling like she’s all alone in the world. She has no home, no income. She is moved around from place to place throughout Holland. She’s been here a year. She pretty much has no family or home, no income. Nothing. And she still lives to love God with all her heart. Sacha told us that we need to be persistent. He also talked about how we need to step out when God asks us to. After elaborating on that a bit he said that we were going to have a time of quiet with eyes closed and heads bowed. He said that he was gong to leave the microphone open for anyone to take it if they had a word from God or a verse that they felt led to share. Then he ended in a closing prayer.

Next was lunch and then there were some games outside. I didn’t participate right off because I had duty. Afterwards I went to participate. It was a pretty nutty game. I’m not going to elaborate. After that we went inside to pack up and clean up the entire camp area. Everything was cleaned. Then we walked out to the soccer field, made a big circle, prayed, loaded up into the cars, and went home.

And that was it. That ended the youth weekend, which pretty much ends this post. I will say, however, that it will not end the memories of the youth weekend, ever. They will always live on.

Saturday...the fun continues and change begins

The same morning, just a few hours after I went to bed, I woke up. I was in bed at about 4:00 and I don’t know when I fell asleep. It was 6:45 when one of the girls’ alarms went off. I wake up quite easily, especially if there is a sound that doesn’t belong to the night. So, I woke up to the beeping. She turned it off and a few minutes later it went off again. Girls started dragging themselves out of bed, determined to get to the showers before they got too busy. I had taken a shower a few hours before, so I just lay there and got used to the idea of opening my eyes. Finally, they opened. We didn’t have to be ready until 8:30, but once I wake up I find it difficult to fall back asleep, especially when there’s giggling girls all around. So, I got up, pulled on my clothes, brushed my teeth and hair (different brushes and not simultaneous), applied a small amount of make-up (oh what a sinner!!), grabbed my Bible, found an out-of-the-way corner and tried to read and make sense out of what I read. Don’t ask me what I read. It was in Romans, but I can’t remember which chapter or what it exactly said (some people might think that means that it was a useless read, but I heartily disagree!).

As I tried to read my friend, Marjon, decided that it was high time that the boys woke up. She grabbed two pan covers and went into the boys room and slammed the lids together like crash cymbals! The boys had two separate rooms. The first one that she went to they basically ignored her and turned over. She continued to bang until she got kicked out. She went to the next room. They had heard the commotion and had a guy stand in front of the door to keep her out while the rest of them continued to sleep (not fair for the one holding the door closed). Marjon finally gave up trying to get into the room. Then came along Arnoud, a drummer, who gave her one of the real cymbals from the drum set. He also gave her a drumstick. By this time the door to the men’s room was no longer guarded. She walked right in, banged on that thing as if the world was ending, and then barely made it out of their room with her life. I observed this whole thing, shaking my head in amazement at the cruelty of it all (sorry Marjon). I did have to laugh later, however, when one of the more mild tempered fellows came out and was actually visibly annoyed and unhappy. That did amuse me.

8:30 came and it was time for quiet time, where we all got into separate groups and had a sort of discussion over 1 & 2 Timothy. That was nice. I enjoyed it greatly. And then right after that came breakfast. I enjoyed that a lot too (ha ha). At breakfast we were directed to also make bread for in the afternoon because we’d not be eating at the Camp. We’d be out in the woods playing a game. So I packed my all time on-the-road-in-Holland favorite. Cheese sandwich. I actually packed two and a half (it’s a good thing because I was able to later share it with somebody that forgot their food). And then we grabbed our jackets, went outside, separated into designated groups, and started walking down the road towards the woods. By this time I had no voice. It was pretty much entirely gone. Because I’d already been sick when we first begun and then stayed out in the woods in the damp atmosphere for hours and then had very little sleep I found it difficult to speak for the next four days. This made it slightly difficult with holding conversations, which I tried to do quite frequently over the last two days. I find it slightly amusing because at least one conversation that I held was a first-time conversation which means the other participant doesn’t know what my voice sounds like. Weird, huh?

So anyway, we headed down the road to the woods. I was in a group with the following people: Mark, Oscar Deborah, Ferry, Rashid, Suzannah v.d. B., and Simone. We had a really great group! The game of the day was called Zig-Zag. We had to “zig zag” throughout the woods looking for leaders that would give us a task to do. If we accomplished the task then we would receive letters that would eventually make up an entire sentence that we had to piece together. The tasks were sometimes easy, sometimes ridiculous, sometimes humiliating (specifically the game “spike poepen”, which translates to “nail pooping”), and all out fun! We were also able to use our imaginations. For example, one leader gave us a very fun task. We had to create a skit about a Bible story. We had five minutes to think it up and practice it. It had to be at least a ten minute long skit. I wasn’t exactly sure how we were supposed to do that because in my mind the times don’t exactly add up, but rules are rules. My teammates chose the story of the Good Samaritan. I got to be the victim. That was fun! Another task was that we had to wrap up one of our teammates in toilet paper, from head to foot, without breaking the toilet paper, in less than five minutes, and without a spec of the person visible. We managed to do it, and we received bonus letters because we also (semi) neatly rolled the toilet paper back onto the roll without breaking it.

I will now take this paragraph to describe the game “spike-poepen” because my American readers have absolutely no clue as to what that is. Perhaps some of my Dutch peoples are also clueless, but as far as I can tell most people here know about the game. With this game the player must tie a big nail onto a string. The string has to be long enough to wrap around the player’s waste and hang down behind the person, coming just above the back of the knees. Then you have to stand above a bottle with a small opening in the top (Soda bottles seem to be the preference here). Without touching the string and the nail, you have to lower the nail into the bottle. This is a task that takes patience, time, and that also causes everyone watching to laugh hysterically. Of course, the only way to accomplish that is to bend your knees, which causes it to appear as if the person is pooping the nail. This is a little bit embarrassing to write and explain because poop is not as common a topic of conversation in my American family, at least, not half as much as it has been amongst my Dutch family and friends. In fact, since I’ve been here I’ve also been appalled to see a children’s book that is entirely about a mole that had his head pooped on and he walks around a farm trying to find the animal that did the deed. Anyway, back to Saturday.

After we finished playing the zig-zag game (lunch included) we headed back to the Camp. We had some spare time, so we were allowed to hang out and chat with each other, or play games. Or go back to bed. I didn’t go back to bed. I was really enjoying myself and I didn’t really feel that tired. I also had a practice for the human video that a bunch of other people and I were doing the next day. I also had a meeting with a group of people to plan a something-or-other for later that evening. Everyone was, again, split into groups. Each group had to come up with some sort of entertainment for that evening, at which time we’d be having the Bonte Avond (this is roughly translated to meaning “an evening of varied entertainment”). My team took a long time to come up with an idea, but finally we managed.

After the preparations and practices it was time for supper. We ate (it was really yummy). During supper arrived the group that would be leading the worship service later (before the Bonte Avond was a normal service). They were warmly welcomed and applauded. After supper I had dishes with two others. Everyone cleaned up and got ready for the service. The band also set up and got ready. Their sound tests sounded awesome. I entirely enjoyed watching them step up and practice. To kill some time I played a game of pin-pong. I lost every time, but it wasn’t by much.

Finally, it was time for the service. We all gathered into the room that was serving as the chapel or sanctuary. We sat down. Then they worship leader asked us to all stand and push all the chairs to the sides of the room so that we’d have room to really worship, jump, dance, and just enjoy the presence of God. They started singing. Man, they were good! Unfortunately, I couldn’t sing along because I had no voice! However, I was able to worship without singing. That was a new experience, and even better than when I’ve been able to sing. Usually, I have no problem singing as loud as I want and I harmonize. It’s fun for me. It sounds nice. But when it comes to letting myself move with the music or jump or dance I generally hold myself back. I don’t want to look foolish or stupid. Well, this time I couldn’t sing. But I could move. I could jump. I could worship with prayer and with my hands, raising them up to God. And that’s what I did. For one of the very few times in my life I decided not to care about what people saw if they were watching. I was going to worship God the way I wanted to. It was very freeing. It was good. Well, the worship team started out the normal fast and then toned down into slow. It was well done. But more importantly than that, I believe with my whole heart that it was an anointed service. They worshipped God with all their hearts, and so did we. Well, the worship eventually ended and that merged into the speaking.

There were two speakers, actually. Both are very respected among the youth. The first was a guy named Nathan. He and his buddies did a skit. The message of the skit was that you can think that you’re a Christian, go to church on Sundays, but if you don’t walk the walk then you’re not free. It was very good. I can’t remember much else of what Nathan said. He really elaborated on how we have to live the lives of Christians, not just say that we are Christians.

The next guy is named Paul. I’d never really heard him say anything before that night. But when he spoke he started out with telling a sort of vision that he’d had at one point. He talked about how in our lives many of us will have a wall in between us and God, something blocking that relationship. He then said that many times we finally get to the place where we break that wall down, through the grace of God. We break it apart and the pieces keep coming off, making the wall get smaller and smaller. Finally, when it’s completely broken down we look down at our feet and we’re stuck. All of that debris is still lying around our legs holding us fast. So, the wall is broken, but we’re not free. We’re still held fast. He elaborated on this a bit more. In the end he had us all close our eyes and invited us to go forward for an altar call. He said that if we want to go further we have to let God get rid of all that debris. If we wanted to go further for God he asked that we go forward for prayer, give it all over to Him. I was ready to jump out of my seat and go forward, but I hesitated. My hesitation was long enough to see that nobody else was going forward. I thought that maybe I’d made a mistake in my understanding the Dutch so I double-checked with the girl next to me. I wasn’t mistaken. I didn’t, and still don’t, understand why nobody went forward. Why didn’t they want to go further for God? Or were they all sitting for the same reason I was…not wanting to be up there all alone? Well, Paul was diligent in inviting us forward. He said that perhaps we didn’t need God to remove that stuff from around us, that perhaps we were already free from everything (yeah right), but that maybe we wanted to have a deeper passion and fire for God. I stood there, slowly inching my way to an opening in the people. I really felt like I needed to go up there. I need to be free from things. I need that passion and fire to be more alive in me. But I also didn’t want to be up there, in front of everyone, all alone. It was then that I realized that perhaps that debris around my feet is a fear of what people will think of me. I fear of stepping out because I’m afraid of opinions, of being looked down on. The worship continued and I couldn’t handle it. I had to go forward, even though it was only five steps to get there. I set aside my usual excuse of being able to freely be fixed by God right there in my place, and I went. I stood there and dared to not care about the people but instead about God. It was peaceful for me. It was personally powerful. It was timeless.

Of course, it also eventually came to an end. But it wasn’t for nothing. After awhile I went back to my seat and the worship team started playing some more. They started playing good old-fashioned gospel style. It was cool! I felt like I wasn’t so far from my Alma Mater, Faith School. I dare say that this service out-did all FST services that I’ve been too, but perhaps that was just because I let it affect me more. Maybe I’m learning in my old age.

Well, the service ended. The Bonte Avond came and went. Afterwards we drank tea and coffee and talked. I began to feel very tired but didn’t want to go to bed for fear of missing something fun. Finally, bed won out and I talked some girls into using my wisdom and to head to bed. When I went into the room I changed into my pjs and sat on my top bunk, snuggled up inside of me sleeping bag. It was then that I had a wonderful time talking with a bunch of the other girls in the room. We were all in our pjs. There were about 8 of us. We all sat on the top bunks. It started when one of the girls asked me to tell any story, as long as it was in English because she likes my accent. Well, I told one. And then everything just flowed from there into normal girl talk between the eight of us. And for the first time in my life I enjoyed the girl talk. I just sat and listened and learned about them. It was truly great. Finally, 2:00 a.m. rolled around and we decided it was definitely sleeping time. And we slept.

Friday it began...and kept going, and going, and going

Last Friday I was sick. It was just a normal cold, but it still didn’t feel good. I was tired because I hadn’t been sleeping well the last few weeks. I pretty much just wanted to sit down and be alone and cry…really, really hard. However, things didn’t turn out that way. I left for Nieuwegein, where I was to meet up with most of the other people that would also be attending the weekend. And so it began. I left extra early because I had to take the tram and I had to pick up a girl that’s from Congo. It’s good that I left super early because we were only about 20-25 minutes early. The girl that I picked up is a really great girl, but isn’t worried about being on time. So, that did end up stressing me out very much. I am about being on time, plus we had to walk from the tram to the church, and the last time I tried to do that I went in the wrong direction and wandered for about an hour. I wasn’t physically or mentally prepared to handle that once again. And so, we left IJsselstein, arrived in Nieuwegein, and successfully walked to the church. We were there with plenty of time to spare (that’s mostly because the group left a bit later then it was announced that we would, but that was fine by me).

An hour or so later we were there. Heilvort. Camp Runsvoort. We unloaded ourselves and unpacked our belongings. There was one room for all the girls, a very long room containing a lot of bunk beds. I chose a top bunk. After unpacking everything we had a little bit of time to hang out before the evening service. I was eagerly waiting for the midnight scheduled bedtime. That was my goal. The service came. We sang some songs. It was nice. Then a guy did a teaching on a passage in Titus. The theme for the weekend was Take Your Place, so he spoke on it for awhile. I was impressed that a 17 year old can speak for so long. I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to do it half as well.

The service was over and we had drinks available to us. Everybody sat around and chatted and stuff. It was really friendly and everything. Midnight was nearing. Suddenly, two friends, Eva and Deborah, came up to me and another friend, Daniel. They started asking him if we were going to go to bed that night. They asked him what he knew about what was going on with everything (he was on the team to help organize the weekend). Daniel claimed to know nothing of what they were talking about. They asked where Sander and Esther, two other team leaders, disappeared off to and what were they preparing. Daniel, again, claimed to know nothing. Their questions began to alarm me. It was now after midnight, and they were suggesting that we wouldn’t be going to bed, as was scheduled. No bed? Aw, man!!!

Suddenly, Sacha, the youth leader entered the room. He announced that he had a list of names and after he read it off he wanted those people to grab their coats and to meet him outside after 10 minutes. “Ferry, Deborah, Suzannah v d B, Kevin, Esther, Sander, Sarah, Wim, Christian, Stacie and…” and I can’t remember the last person’s name. He was one of the twins that were on the trip and I never figured out either of their names, much less which was which or how to tell them apart. Maybe I will later. The important thing is that he also called out Sarah, which meant I was to meet him outside with a jacket on. Uh-oh. 10 minutes later, I was outside. It was raining. I saw blinking lights over by the road. All was dark, except the blinking lights. I carefully and cautiously walked towards them. There was a car, with its hazard lights on. Behind the car was a covered trailer. They were connected, and the tarp flap that was used to shut the back of the trailer was open. It began to rain harder. I and the other guy there jumped in, knowing that we would inevitably have to anyway. We were right. The other nine people arrived and we were all told to jump in. Sacha asked that we sit down and that we not shine our flashlights on the sides of the trailer because you can see the light shining on the other side (in other words…we weren’t supposed to be riding around in a trailer). After that he closed the flap down, secured it, got in the car and began driving. I couldn’t believe what was happening!! Instead of being cozy and in bed we were sitting in the back of a trailer, being taken only God knew where, and it was dark and raining!!!!!! AND everything smelled like vinegar!!!! I felt the vehicle begin to move. Over the course of a long time Sacha drove awhile and often stopped the vehicle, pulling off the road and then getting going again, almost like he wasn’t sure where he was and needed to double check it on a map. Finally, he stopped and actually stepped out of the car, opening the tarp door. We stepped out onto a dirt road.

Sacha handed us a map. On it were three things written. First, he pointed out a circle on the map. He said that it was Camp Runsvoort, the place where we were scheduled to be sleeping right then (he didn’t say that last part, I did). There was another circle with an ‘X’ inside of it. He said that we were there (like those big maps inside of a mall…”you are here…X”. Then he turned the map over and said, “That’s my phone number.” He then instructed that we had to find our way back to the Camp using the map. When we arrived at the Camp we had to have everyone still with us. Somebody said that we could just go back the way that he brought us there, by way of the road. He informed us that it would take us much longer that way, that it wasn’t such a good idea. He then wished us luck, got in the car, and drove off. We stood there and watched him leave. I couldn’t believe he was doing this to us.

I turned around and took in my surroundings. We were at an intersection. The road went off into four directions. First was the direction that we came from. It was nice and paved. To the right of that I saw a road leading to a café, lights on outside, all dark inside. To the right of that was a dirt road that led into the woods. There was a light shining every kilometer or so, sometimes more. To the right of that was yet another dirt road leading into the woods, same situation as before. I looked down at the road beneath my feet. Scattered around the intersection were deep potholes filled with water. Ripples could be seen following every rain drop that splattered and disappeared on the surface of the puddles.

Looking back up, I saw that my group was cluttered around the map. Wim was unofficially the holder and studier of the map. After a few minutes of arguing about where we were to go, or where the best route was we finally began to walk following one of the dirt roads leading into the woods. It led in the exact opposite direction that the car had disappeared in, but it definitely looked as if the shortest route was through the woods, heading south along trails that were marked on the map. We entered the woods where we thought we intended to go, on a trail that is specifically made for horseback riding. The ground was merely soft sand that shifted beneath our feet, causing the walking to be much more difficult. We pushed on. The trail bended and we came out into a very large clearing. Sand was everywhere and it was impossible to see where we ought to head next in the dark. There seemed to be trails heading off in every direction. We made a turn right.

Not long after, we ended up back on a solid dirt road. When we looked down the road to our right we saw headlights. It was already about 1:30 in the morning, maybe 2:00, so we automatically knew that it had to be Sacha’s car with the next load of people. That meant that we ended up being right back where we had begun. Oh great!! We got absolutely nowhere. We walked back to the end of the road to meet the next group of people and have a little chat. Finally we were back on our way. Their group chose to go another way, along the same path that we started on. We perused our map and headed back down the road towards where we had exited the woods.

It didn’t take long for me to notice that we had two extra people. Two of the girls from the other group had left their group and tagged along with us. This irritated me greatly because that was against the rules. The rules were that we were to stay with our own group at all times. So now instead of having ten people to watch we actually had twelve. I also found it irritating because it meant that if the girls so easily left their group without telling anyone that they could just as easily leave our group and get lost. I am a relatively responsible person, and so this extra responsibility wasn’t at all appealing to me. I determined to keep my eyes on them as much as possible, because I didn’t feel like losing two young girls in the middle of the woods.

We walked on. We reentered the woods not far from where we had exited, using the map as our guide. It wasn’t a very great guide because the roads that were in the woods had names that weren’t on the map. We had a difficult time getting our bearings. Anyway, we were back on the horse riding trails with all the sand. We saw a frog at one point, which was fun because the twin was deathly afraid of it. Hee hee! We saw a mouse at another point, which was also fun because most of the girls, plus the twin, was afraid of it. It was funny. Anyway, it was still dark and we were still walking through the woods. Fortunately, the rain had stopped long before. Unfortunately, small arguments were breaking out about every 300 meters over where we were supposed to be heading. The silly boys were so determined to know it all and they were all right but all had different opinions. Well, we just kept on walking, finally getting the boys to stop stopping every 300 meters.

After what seemed to be a long time, and after a lot of struggling through the sand we were on a dirt road. The solidity of the road felt good, and we determined that we would be staying on the road for the rest of our adventure. By this time I had been extremely irritated and annoyed by all the useless fighting and the lack of leadership in the group. I was also irritated because three members of our group were missing. They had walked off, determined to find their own way back because they were sure that they were right and that they knew where they were going and they were sick of us not listening to them. They didn’t have a map. Fortunately, they did have a flashlight. However, their disappearance did bother me greatly.

After a bit of walking we ended up, once again, right where we’d originally started where Sacha let us out. By this time we’d had enough. We wanted to go back. We were hungry and tired. Thankfully, it wasn’t cold. We decided to walk the way that Sacha had brought us. Boy was it great when our feet touched down on that solid, paved road!! We were able to walk much more quickly. I was no longer irritated, which made things personally more pleasant. I found that I liked the two girls that snuck into our group. They were just young things, but they were interesting and very happy go lucky. I have a sneaking suspicion that they are sisters because if my sister Laurel had been there we would have behaved in a very similar way. One of them was wearing my sweatshirt that I lent her earlier that day because it was cold. Ironic. Another great thing is that Sander and Esther now held the map. They were the only ones looking at it, which meant that they didn’t have to sift through everyone’s thoughts along with their own. They knew where they were going, and they led well. This was the best part of the whole adventure. Everyone was able to chit-chat and get along. We were able to stay together as a group without having to watch as closely. There were street lamps! Oh, what bliss!!

After walking a long time we noticed a car driving our way. There was Sacha. He was heading back to pick up a group that had used the phone number on the map. They quit. He stopped to talk to us a bit. He told us that he thought it was really smart of us to be walking back along the road like we were. He was impressed. He gave us a few further directions and then drove off to pick up the other group. We kept walking. After ten minutes or so Sacha was back. He pulled over and opened up the trailer, wanting us to hop into the trailer. One guy jumped in. The rest of us refused. We were determined to finish it with honor, walking back, not giving up. We only had five kilometers to go. Sacha tried to talk sense into us, but we didn’t give in. Our one guy jumped back out, determining to not give up all by himself. Sacha closed the trailer and drove off.

We walked. Finally we were there. We never regretted our decision to keep walking. It had been a nice walk, full of conversation, making acquaintances. When we walked into the Camp there was hot soup waiting for us. We got in line and sat down to eat. Unfortunately, we had to tell Sacha about the three missing people from our group. We’d called them long before he first met up with us, trying to find out where they were and to get them back with us but they had refused to cooperate, claiming that they were already back home. When Sacha heard he called them and tried to figure out where they were. They finally arrived back, about twenty minutes later. There was a slightly amusing discussion between them and Sacha that followed (things like that are always amusing after having such a long night…why is that?). After my second bowl of warm chicken soup I decided it was bedtime. I first took a shower, knowing that a ton of people would be fighting for the showers when we got up in a few hours. The shower was ok. It was sometimes really hot and then really cold. By the time it was over I’d nearly gone through shock. Ha ha. Finally, I was climbing into my bed. I curled up in my sleeping bag. I could hear all the guys still out in the dining area laughing and shouting. They were having a great old time. But I was in bed. And I was happy.

Forewarning...youth weekend

Just a short warning for everyone that the next 3, maybe 4, posts are going to cover my weekend last weekend. I spent the entire weekend with about 50 Dutch youth and young adults. It was a youth weekend held by the church that I've been attending since July. It was a youth weekend that I signed up for before I realized that it was an all night three day kinda thing...and when I found out what it was I was obliged to say "uh-oh". It was a weekend that I didn't want to go on when I left my house last Friday and that I didn't want to end as I lay in my bed that last night. It was a weekend, but it may have made a life time of changes in my heart, and in the hearts of others also. Just a weekend, but so much more.