This past week-end, we took Steve up to Amsterdam to do a mini mission with the Elders up there. I wish he would post his feelings, suffice it to say, that he talked a good hour on the way home about his experiences. He loved it! Whew. Even the 6:30am wake-up, until the 10pm drop into bed was ok with him. "It's different to get up early and have your day to look forward to, instead of work or school." Ok, I can buy that. He was with 4 Elders in an apartment in Wormerveer, overlooking a canal. He did service, he taught, he walked and rode trains, he went door-to-door, attended church, and soaked up the REAL missionary life.
In the meantime, Dad and I had a spiritual experience of our own. We went on a tour of the home of Corrie Ten Boom in Haarlem. I thought it would be a regular tour, you know: "and this is the dining room, and this is where they slept, and this is the hiding place, etc". Actually what happened was that our group sat in the living room and the tour guide told us a nutshell version of what had happened in the home in WWII. They were a Christian family that hid Jews! The real surprise was that we discussed forgiveness, that the Lord does indeed work miracles, that in our deepest sufferings the Lord understands and supports us because he has suffered even more.
I realize when I think of that family that their spiritual level is on a completely different plane than mine. Their every thought was of God and His will. Their love of their fellow human beings was unbounded and unprejudiced.
It was a great experience.
We also took some rented Dutch bikes (they are awesome) on the ferry to the island Texel, just North of the mainland Holland. It's a bikers paradise. At least a paradise for my type of biking: flat, no cars, and beautiful scenery. Full of dunes and forests, and wildlife, and small quaint villages, and of course water!
Our drive home was very late, around midnight. We ran into a severe lightening storm. At one point, our windshield wipers lit up and blinded us. If I didn't know better I would say we had been struck with lightening. Even putting the wipers on fast speed we could barely see where the road was. And every other second we were plane-ing on the soaked and flooded roads. So the Lord protected us. He worked a miracle for us as well.
Enjoy the pictures. They will of course mean more to me than to you, but I hope you get an idea of our week-end.
3 comments:
Beautiful pictures. You just keep improving as a photographer.
I love the story of Corrie Ten Boom, although I have to admit that name sounds like a cartoon character to me. :)
"The Hiding Place" is one of my favorite books. I didn't realize that their was a tour of Corrie Ten Boom's home or that it even still existed. Next time I am over there I must go on that tour. What great experience.
Oh and Beautiful pictures! And Steven as a missionary. No surprise that he had a good experience and enjoyed the work. I can't believe that in a year he will be serving a "real" mission.
Oh I forgot to say that Steve totally looks like a missionary. Not long til that's true!
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