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The Shelter Youth Hostel Ministry NEWSLETTER |
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Nr. 29 – December 2004/January 2005 Editor: Auke Algera Info: newsletter@shelter.nl |
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A NEW THING
Isaiah 43: 18-19 “Forget the former things do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!” God never ceases to amaze me in the ways He is working. Each day working at the Shelter provides a fresh challenge but also a new way to experience God’s faithfulness. Oba has been a cleaner and a guest for the past 2 months. He is a 52 year old Japanese man who during his first week here realized he actually likes people. This realization brought him to tears. He continued to ask questions and to really search for what made us different in the Shelter. Little did he know what would soon await him. After two months, we were sitting in the café and Oba was overflowing with excitement over something that happen that day. As I listened, he told me that today was the day he realized Jesus Christ was God’s one and only Son. By realizing this, he believed that everything Jesus Christ said and claimed to be is truth. This was what he had been searching for and he finally found it. The joy that flowed from Oba’s eyes, and the enthusiasm he spoke with as his hands shook is a sight I will never forget. Oba was filled with the Holy Spirit and he did not know how to contain it all. This 52 year old man walked around the café with a bounce in every step. This took place exactly one week ago and Oba is continuing to diligently read his Bible and talk to people about Jesus. Praise the Lord. God is doing a brand new thing is Oba’s life.
My Dad shared with me this quote by John Piper before I left for Amsterdam and it has become very real to me while working here. " Mission is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't. Worship is the ultimate, not missions, because God is the ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever. Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal in missions. It's the goal of missions because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into the white-hot enjoyment of God's glory” (John Piper, The Supremacy of God in Missions, Baker Books, 1993).
Teri Hansell (volunteer from the USA)
New Website The website of The Shelter Youth Hostel Ministry has been renewed! Check out the face lift and the new information at www.youthhostelministry.shelter.nl or via the short address www.yhm.shelter.nl
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Time for School
For a total of about six hours a week, the staff of The Shelter receives teaching and training in the Ministry Training Program. Staff member Rachel Ostergaard (USA) explains why see enjoys this so much. Every Monday and Wednesday, whether the sky is shining or pouring buckets of water on us, we hop on our bikes and ride to what is commonly referred to as ‘school’, and officially as the “Ministry Training Program”. In the two months I have been at the Shelter school consisted of classes primarily about evangelism and apologetics. Personally, I have found the school times to be a good experience. It is time for us as staff to take a step away from the actual place of the Shelters and think more theoretically about what evangelism is and looks like. It is also a good time for us to think about and discuss apologetics and how we have come to the answers we have, or where we are in the process of finding the answers. I have found this to be valuable, not just in thinking about these things for myself, but also to hear how fellow staff worker deal with or have dealt with these issues and questions. In my time here I have found it easy to get so caught up in the people and the busyness of everything that is going on. School offers a break from that and a time for us as staff to be further challenged in what we believe and why. The environment is a little more relaxed because we don’t have to be so concerned with making sure we have all the answers. Instead we have the opportunity to think about evangelism in a more intellectual and theoretical way and can take that knowledge and combine the theoretical with the practical in the Shelter Ministry. Rachel Ostergaard
Help NEEDED
In September we got a lot of new staff in, but our main concern is the situation that we mainly have girls and hardly any guys applying. Two new male staff members were accepted at The Shelter Jordan for January, but the Shelter City has only one guy left till the end of this month. This means that in December we have NO GUYS on staff! We want to bring this situation to your attention and would like to ask you a few things: Please think of ways to make the ministry known to others. Maybe you can organize a presentation in your church, youth group, Student group or in the Bible School that you have studied at. Video’s are available to show the work. You can mail auke@shelter.nl about this.. And if you have done NM shifts in the past, see if you have time to maybe work a weekend in the hostel as a nightman. We realize that the reception work has changed over the years, so recent experience is necessary, or a short training at the desk. In December we still have openings for 2 volunteers per hostel, and around Christmas and New Year we would like to have some old workers around to help us during those busy days so that we will not only accommodate guests but have time to share the gospel with them!
And if you are interested in helping out as a nightman or a volunteer around Christmas or New Year, please mail Hennie as soon as possible: Hennie@city.shelter.nl
Hennie Maljaars
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PRAYER SUPPORT
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Please pray for guys to do Nightman shifts and for volunteers around Christmas and New Years (see elsewhere in this newsletter)
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Please pray for the ministry to the cleaners. Oba (see article) is one of them. Pray that their hearts may be softened and that they will see Christ through us.
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Christmas always provides a special opportunity to bring the good news to the guests in the hostel. Pray for the staff as they are preparing activities and will be communicating the Gospel, and for openness of heart on the side of the guests, and for a powerful presence of God.
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We are thankful that as of today, all the staff has moved to the new staff accommodation in the Willemstraat. Pray that this will be to our staff a place to find rest, encouragement and friendship..
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We are thankful for Ewout de Vries, who today started working as the new reception manager in The Shelter Jordan. Please pray a blessing over him. · We are saying goodbye to reception manager Heidi Sawyer per 1st January, because she didn’t have the paper to continue working in the Netherlands. We are thankful for her and are sad to see her leave. Please pray for new opportunities for her. · · In January, we hope to turn Shelter City dorms 7 and 8 into smaller rooms. Please pray that the building permits will be given and that this project will proceed well
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The Shelter Youth Hostel Ministry is a Christian evangelism ministry in the centre of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Our goal is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the 30,000 travellers who are staying each year in our two Christian youth hostels: The Shelter City and The Shelter Jordan. The ministry is part of the association Tot Heil des Volks, a non-denominational mission organisation registered in Amsterdam. Internet: www.youthhostelministry.shelter.nl |
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Donations. The work of The Shelter Youth Hostel Ministry would not be able to continue without financial support. Help support this ministry! Read more at http://www.theshelter.nl/ministry/donations.html |
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This Newsletter can also be found at www.yhm.shelter.nl If you don’t want to receive this newsletter anymore, please reply and write “take me of the mailing list” in the subject.
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