Number 15

August-September 2002

The Shelter City hostel hopes to celebrate its 30 years anniversary this September. Manager Pieter Visser has been working in the Youth Hostel Ministry for almost half of this period. In 1989 he started as an assistant manager in The Shelter Jordan (at that time called Eben Haëzer) and since January 1995 Pieter is manager of The Shelter City. The Shelter Newsletter asked him five questions about both the past and the future of the ministry.

It is not easy to choose one highlight of a period of almost 13 years. Every time a guest finds the Lord Jesus as his or her personal Saviour, it is a highlight. This is why the hostel exists: besides providing a good shelter, we pray and hope that people become Christians. If I have to mention one thing, I guess my highlight was the reopening of The Shelter City in January 2001, after four months of renovation. I say this because thanks to this renovation we now can accommodate our guests in a much better way. The new facilities make it easier for us to do the practical work in the hostel and give us more time for interaction with the guests.

When I started working here in 1995 we did not have any computer, only a typewriter. Today the hostel uses a total of 10 computers. The computer made many things easier but also caused other work. Off course, Internet and e-mail also has changed a lot in the way the hostel operates. Promotion, recruitment of staff, hostel reservations, keeping in touch with old staff, all these things would go very differently without Internet. Over the years the hostel also had to deal with a lot more formalities. The rules and requirements that are set by the government have increased in number. Some of this is for the good, but sometimes I long for the time that administrative duties took a less prominent place.
A funny difference compared to the 90ties is that during the busy summer season the hostel is usually not fully booked at noon. Up to three years ago, already at 10 a.m. you could walk on people’s heads as they were waiting in the hallway to check in. Because of email reservations, tourists nowadays arrive a little more spread over the day. It is still busy and the hostel is still full at the end of the day, but the previous early morning chaos is gone.

I belief the focus on personal contact is the strong point of this ministry. Our staff has a desire to meet other people and to share the gospel with them. This is what appeals to the guests and may cause them to start thinking about God and the purpose of their life. Because of this it is so important that staff and managers maintain a close relationship with God and a passion for evangelism. Only then the work in the hostels can be fruitful. It is important to realise that our strength is not in ourselves, it has to come from our heavenly Father.
It is encouraging when I meet old guests and they tell me that the time in the hostels was a time they will never forget. Does this happen a lot? Yes. Most recently I met a guest who stayed with us in Shelter Jordan, back in 1991. It was good to hear that he spoke about God and the people in the hostel with very warm feelings. The time in the hostel helped him a lot and 11 years later he is still thankful for that.

Yes, off course it will continue to be here if God wants it and if this world is still here. I expect that in 30 years from now, the hostels will have their own education and training program for the staff members. This will provide them with a lot of spiritual luggage that helps them in their personal walk with Jesus and equip them better for Christian ministry.
I also expect that the management team will play a somewhat different role. Each (assistant) manager will focus more on his or her areas of responsibility and spend more time with staff regarding these areas.

There will be a reunion at the hostel starting at 14.00 hours. Everyone who has worked in the Shelter City or who is in any other way connected to the hostel, is very welcome to come. At 16.00 we will have a time of prayer and praise to honour God for the 30 Shelter years. In the evening there will be an open-mic program during which you can do any kind of presentation on stage. We hope to see many of you!

             
Pieter expects that the youth hostel ministry will be around for at least another 30 years. Maybe this young man will be on staff around that time.

This summer, a total of twelve American students from various schools chose the Shelter Youth Hostel Ministry for either their mission trip or internship. Somewhat spread out over May, June and July, we had in our team seven students from Wheaton College (IL), four students from Lee University School of Religion in Cleveland (TN), and one student from Northwestern College, Iowa. One student of each of these schools wrote down some of his or her experiences.

Jilida Christiansen from Wheaton College served for two months in The Shelter City:
" If you had told me last summer that I would spend this summer working a forty hour week for no pay in a large city with prostitutes 30 meters one way and drug addicts 30 meters the other way, I would have laughed in your face. But when I heard about a program at my school that reaches out to the travelling community of Europe, I felt God tugging me to sign up, so I did.
And for the first time in my life I was able to witness someone make a decision to follow Christ. That was almost more than I could hope for. Someone asked me what I learned this summer. I don't really know the answer to that question, for although I know that I have learned a lot this summer, I don't know exactly what it is. I do know, however, that I have learned to appreciate my fellow co workers more as God has shown me the gifts He has given to each of them which allow them to share Jesus in their own special ways, and in ways that I never could.
One of the lessons that became ingrained in me is the importance of kindness. That was illustrated to me the day a Korean man checked two of his friends into the hostel while I was working at the desk. After explaining the hostel information to them, the man turned to me and said, ‘Thank you. I remember that you were always kind to me while I stayed here.’ Why is this so special? I have no recollection of that man. I don't remember him at all, and I certainly did not go out of my way to be kind to him. I must have treated him like I do everyone else, for I try to treat everyone with respect, and this man remembered it. This summer will not be a time that I will soon forget. The experiences I had here are worthy to be treasured a lifetime, and I am so grateful that God allowed me to work here this summer."

Nikki Gorman from Lee University served in The Shelter Jordan for a ten weeks period:
" I can’t even begin to tell you how thankful I am to have spent the summer in Amsterdam. I know that God used this in my life to rearrange my own priorities and habits. I now realise how I had been living my life without asking God to daily guide and direct me. It also helped me to learn how to better share my faith. I’ll admit that it was still a struggle at times to share with others and to direct conversations in a positive direction, and that I even failed at times. However, I learned to get past feelings of frustration and be satisfied in completing the work God gave me for each new day. God’s mercies are new every morning!
I truly needed this opportunity to share my faith with others and engage people in conversations about Jesus Christ and their own perspectives on life. The Shelter was refreshing. It did remind me of the early church, because everyday was focused on sharing the good news with people and prayer. I learned to cherish all the times of group prayer and personal time with God so that I and others could give out of our abundance to everyone we encountered."

Joshua Fischer from Northwestern College worked in The Shelter Jordan for six weeks:
" I remember the conversation I had with an artist who was staying in the hostel. She told me about her New Age ideology: how she believes in energies and in re-incarnation and that there is truth in each and every religion. So, in this one conversation I was up against a lot of stuff, but I had the chance to share some of my faith with her.
Through a Vincent Van Gogh painting I led her into reading Isaiah 45. I knew she had seen the painting in the Van Gogh museum. The painting has a Bible which is open to this passage in Isaiah and she neglected to notice such a detail when she looked at the painting. Fortunately, I was aware of it. So we talked about Van Gogh for a while and about his faith and why he may have picked such a text to paint. So although the conversation didn’t end up leaving her born again I know that she was challenged in her beliefs and hopefully will be curious to pick up the Bible again. It apparently had been many years since she read the Bible because she was sort of apprehensive about even having it in front of her. I am praying that she will find the truth."

More than 30,000 travellers are staying in our hostels each year. This means, for us, 30,000 opportunities to bring someone in contact with the gospel. To be able to use these witnessing opportunities we need more than 60 workers each year. Would you like to become a youth hostel missionary or do you know someone who would?

We are looking for Christians between 18 and 30 years of age, willing to commit for a period of 6 to12 months. During this time you will be part of our international staff team and you will be involved in both practical work and evangelism. The Youth Hostel Ministry provides unique opportunities to serve the Lord and to share the gospel in words and deeds. Go into the world, in a place where the world actually comes to you!