Dear Friends

Few workers for the harvest

Being a staff member

A big change in a guest's heart

Contact and Links

Addresses

In this early fourth issue of the Shelter Newsletter we would like to ask for your help. Both hostels are desperately in need of long-term staff members. In this newsletter you will read how you can help us.

Also in this issue: the experiences of one of the staff members and the story about a remarkable change in the life of a guest. These stories will give you an impression of the work in the The Shelter Youth Hostel Ministry.

(This special issue of the Shelter Newsletter is only sent by e-mail)

The Youth Hostel Ministry exists for nearly 29 years now. Hundreds of Christians from all over the world have been working as a staff member or a short-term volunteer in one of the hostels. The combination of sharing the gospel and serving the guests makes such a commitment a wonderful learning experience.

Unfortunately, it becomes more and more difficult for us to find new workers for the ministry.

Last year we received less applications than in the preceding years. As a result of this, the hostels have been under staffed since last December. Thanks to the temporarily help of many previous workers we were able to keep the hostels running. The number of long term staff members is very low at this moment. The team has to work very hard with odd hours to get the practical work done. This is very tiring and it obviously harms the outreach to the guests in the hostel. We desperately need more long term staff members!

At the same time we see that God is still working through this ministry. A number of guests are touched by His Holy Spirit. It is wonderful to see people change. It is a great encouragement for us to witness this, especially in these last months. It reminds us that the harvest is plentiful (but the workers are few).

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One of the staff members in The Shelter Jordan is Gysie, a 29 year old South African. He tells about his first 6 months in the ministry:

As a staff member I am a bad cook (always trying my best of course), a cleaner, a cleaner supervisor, a snackbar attendant, a bicycle repairman, a receptionist and a brother. Leading a bible discussion once a month doesn’t make me a preacher yet, but the experience gained is very valuable for future teaching. I have ample opportunity to share God’s love in doing my work here, but it is also God’s opportunity to show His love and faithfulness to me through the lives and testimonies of fellow staff members and guests.

There are no cookies to be shared from an empty cookie jar. After the first few months I realised that I just couldn’t give what I didn’t have. I learned, more than ever before, that I can only bear the fruit of the vine to which I am attached. Bad fruit, wrong vine? Have you ever been confronted with yourself? My own jealousy, pride and sins were featured on the "true life big screen". Picture this: I am sitting in a cinema alone. The film starts and I see the images in big screen format. I am quick to condemn the character portrayed by the actor, just to find that the character is me.

The God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob revealed to me the real me. God used the Shelter Jordan as a "true to the truth" cinema. His children will serve Him in spirit and in truth and it is God Himself who ensures that His children are able and willing to do so. This means that God not only showed me who and what I was, but He was also equipping me for each and every good task and battle to come. God was filling my cookie jar. Not with just any cookies, but only the freshest and tastiest cookies were given by the worlds best baker. More about cookies later.

Now I would like to share something about God’s guidance in the preparing and leading of the guest Bible discussions. He meets each and every need, never failing to provide the topic and the contents thereto. Guests come from all over the world and hear the Good News. I therefore have the hope that God gives the right message to the right person. The Bible discussions are undoubtedly one of the highlights for me in this ministry. Guests, after leaving the hostel, often share with us what God is doing in their lives and how the Bible discussions contributed to their birth and spiritual growth in Jesus Christ. I like to call this ministry a "seed planting" ministry as we have the privilege to plant a seed and ask God to prepare each heart and mind in advance. What an expectation we can have for each day!

The video selection of the ministry gives us access to spiritual information given by a multitude of spiritual leaders and teachers. This medium is complimented with a library containing books on a wide range of spiritual subjects. The managers, being mentors for the staff, also teach and convey spiritual truths. The Shelter is, in a sense, my first Bible school. I am very grateful for this opportunity.

God just keeps on filling our cookie jars. His love and faithfulness endures for ever. Not to say of course that there are no hardships. We all know that trials are necessary to test our faith, but amid all the difficulties in growing in faith, God still provides the cookies to share with others.

During the previous months we could witness changes in some of the guests in the hostels. The most remarkable one was the change of heart of Pascal. This Dutch young man stayed in The Shelter City via a social organisation. In the beginning his presence in the hostel was very unpleasant. He was bitter and easily upset. He would scream at you for not giving him an extra butter with breakfast and blame you for his own mistakes. And when you would speak with him about religion he would tell you that he believes in Satan rather than God. Because of his attitude the management considered telling him to leave the hostel.

After only one week there was a change. He showed that he also could be very friendly and that he could carry on a normal conversation. He would alternate friendliness and anger. But he reminded us that he is a person in need of love. We started praying for him and tried to have patience with him during his bad moments.

In the following week the friendly attitude of Pascal was winning the anger became less. He also showed interest in the Gospel. One day he gave a note to the receptionist saying: "Jesus is here. Have a blessed day". This was such an amazing change within only a couple of weeks!

Not much later Pascal found an apartment and left The Shelter City. He is reading his Bible and he attends a discipleship group. He still struggles with things from his past and has to mature a lot, but lets pray that the change of heart will be eternal.

The Shelter City

Barndesteeg 21

1012 BV Amsterdam

The Netherlands

Tel: **31-(0)20-6253230

Fax: **31-(0)20-6232282

E-mail management: city@shelter.nl

E-mail staff: citystaff@shelter.nl

The Shelter Jordan

Bloemstraat 179

1016 LA Amsterdam

The Netherlands

Tel: **31-(0)20-6244717

Fax: **31-(0)20-6276137

E-mail management: jordan@shelter.nl

E-mail staff: jordanstaff@shelter.nl

Association Tot Heil des Volks

Central Office

O.Z. Voorburgwal 241

1012 EZ Amsterdam

The Netherlands

Tel: **31-(0)20-6246151

Fax: **31-(0)20-4202394

E-mail: secretariaat@totheildesvolks.nl

Donations

Postbank Amsterdam

SWIFT-address INGBNL2A

Accountnumber 104944

To: Tot Heil des Volks

O.Z. Voorburgwal 241

1012 EZ Amsterdam

(please mention ‘Hostels’)