We are happy to send you the newsletter of The Shelter Youth Hostel Ministry. Most of you will receive this via e-mail. Those without an e-mail address (at least unknown for us) receive this newsletter by regular mail. Although a hard copy may be nicer and more personal (?), we would like to use the internet for sending the newsletter. It so much easier and cheaper for us. I hope you can understand this.

If we don’t have your (correct) e-mail address, please let us know what it is. In case you don’t have e-mail we will keep on sending the newsletter to your home address (so you don’t have to miss out).

One more note about about addresses to close off this section: we would really like to keep our database up to date with your full address (not only e-mail address). Could you please inform us about any changes in your house address and e-mail address? Thanks.

New names for the hostels: The Shelter City & The Shelter Jordan
Christmas is every day – by Jacob Kops of The Shelter Jordan
From Amsterdam to Austria – testimony of Laila Brand
Step by step – testimony of Pia
The teams in the hostels
Would you like to be one of our ambassadors
Addresses

The Eben Haëzer and The Shelter will enter the new millenium with new names. On 1 December 1999 the official name change took place. Together the hostels will be refered to as The Shelter Christian Youth Hostels Amsterdam. The hostel located in the Jordan area of Amsterdam (formerly Eben Haëzer) is called The Shelter Jordan. The one located in the city centre (formerly The Shelter) is called The Shelter City.

Together with these new names, we also got a new logo, which you can see on this newsletter. The shell of the snail represents the secure place we want to be as The Shelter. The heart in the middle of the shell reminds us of the loving heart we want to have in Christ. And, of course, there is an connection between the snail carrying its house and the traveller with his or her backpack.

With these changes (together with the new homepage: shelter.nl) we hope to attract more travellers to the hostels. Our goal is to share God's love with them and to glorify His name. We pray that his Holy Spirit will touch the hearts of people in the hostels. We are grateful that many times He allows us to see this happen. In this newsletter you will find some illustrations of His work.

I would like to tell you about the great and exciting things God is doing in the youth hostel ministry in Amsterdam. As you know, Christmas is coming soon. It is always very special to share the gospel during this time of year. In other seasons we sometimes have a Christmas feeling when a guest comes to faith, but seeing this happen during Christmas is very special. This is the wonder of this ministry: people from all over the world hear the gospel of the Son of Man who came to save us.

This month we will start with something new in The Shelter Jordan: the hostel night. It will be similar to the traditional soup evening, but it will be more lively and dynamic. The program consists of a three course meal interspersed with skits and other performances by the staff members. A part of the Bible will be shared with the guests followed by an open discusion. The whole hostel night might last for two or three hours. The first one will be on Christmas Evening. Please, pray for this night and for Mark, one of our managers, who is preparing the hostel nights.

Experience has taught me that when the receptionist calls for assistence there is usually a difficult descision to make. In such cases I will pray a short prayer to my heavenly Father. Last week a man who was older than the age limit wanted to check in. At that moment God told me to allow him to stay. When I talked with the man a little later, he told me that he visited Winette's Bible study. He was encouraged by it to speak more freely about God at his work. He told me that the hostel had a great impact on his life.

Day by day I realize how special this ministry is and I am grateful to be a part of it. It doesn't just change the life of guests, but it also has a great impact on those of us who are working here. Your prayers are greatly appreciated and we thank you for them. Please keep praying for us! Christmas is all year round in the youth hostel ministry.

Jacob Kobs (projectleader The Shelter Jordan)

Sometimes we receive letters from ex-guests letting us know what is happening in their lives or how their stay in the hostel affected them. One such guest, who stayed in The Shelter City this year, is Laila Brand from Canada. The friendship she found in the hostel opened her heart for Christ. From Tauernhof, the Torchbearer school in Austria, she wrote us her testimony. This is a summary of what she wrote:

"I soon became friends with staff and cleaners. One night I had a long conversation about Christianity with one of the cleaning supervisors. After that evening, I realized that I didn't know what I myself thought about God. I had never really considered it an issue in my life. I had taken on the word "agnostic" as a shield, blocking out any questions about religion. Also, being a people pleaser, and not wanting to offend anyone, I was willing to sit on the fence with one of life's most important questions: Is there a God?

One night, when I was feeling overwhelmed with all of the questions I was having about God's existence, I went up to the library to spend some time alone. A few minutes later I found myself sobbing, on my knees, pleading with God to leave me alone, saying I wasn't ready and that I couldn't go with Him yet. When I had a chance to recover, I didn't quite know what to think, but after that night I started to consider the possibility that maybe God is real.

By the time three weeks had gone by, and it was time to leave The Shelter and keep travelling, I was torn between feeling heartache over leaving the good friends I had made, and relief that I could rest emotionally and escape the intensity with which all of this "religion stuff" was coming at me.

During the following weeks, I felt a strong longing to return to Amsterdam and visit my friends. I had a feeling that whatever I was looking for in travelling, I hadn't found yet, and if God was real, I wanted to know it. Around that time I arrived in Rome, where I got robbed twice in two days. With no money and Christmas around the corner, I decided to use my last rail-pass day and head up to Amsterdam and The Shelter. After a twenty-odd hour train ride, I walked up to the front door of the hostel on Christmas Eve. I was overjoyed to see my friends and relieved when the managers were willing to let me work again as a cleaner while my parent sent me a new bank card.

A few days after Christmas, Eryn (one of the staff) asked me what was keeping me from becoming a Christian. She told me there is a prayer you can say that invites God into your life, so His Spirit can live in you. I guess I figured that I was as ready as I’d ever be. When I went to bed that night, I prayed something like this: "God, if you really are there, and your Spirit can live in people, then you can have me. Here is my life, if you want it."

The next day I went to church with some of the staff members. We entered the service during a song of worship. As we headed to our seats I looked around at the people who held their hands up in the air. A smile spread across my face and I thought: "That's wonderful. These people realy love the Lord." At that moment I felt something drastic must have changed in me because just one month earlier that same sight had scared me to the point of tears.

Now at Tauernhof, I can say: Life starts with Jesus. I hope this is an encouragement to staff and, in effect, all Christians. What really made a difference in my life were the friends I made in The Shelter. I wasn't just another face passing through. The love they showed me opened my eyes to God's love."

Perhaps many of you will remember Pia. Between 1993 and last summer, she stayed very frequently in the hostels. Initially she was at the Eben Haëzer and later, for a long time, at The Shelter. Difficulties in her life really began when her mother died of cancer. At that point alcohol and heroin entered into her family. In December 1992 she, her father and two brothers were put out of their house and stayed at the Salvation Army's crisis centre for a month. After this month they had to find an other place to stay. Her father went to a hotel in Warmoesstraat, her younger brother chose to live on the streets and together with her older brother Pia went to the Eben Haezer. Regarding her first impression of the hostel, she writes: "I thought it was terrible. I didn't understand a thing about faith and I didn't want to learn about it either. I carried so much anger with me that my heart couldn't be reached. My life consisted of sleeping, working and drinking alcohol. One time while I was at the Eben Haëzer, I had to speak with two mangers because I had repeatedly entered the hostel drunk. At the end of the talk, they asked me if they could pray for me. That was O.K. with me. When they prayed I felt a strange feeling coming over me. Now I recognize it as God's love, but at that time I didn't want to know about this and so I left the Eben Haezer."

Pia found work at a small building project in the Red Light district and earned room and board. But because she worked for an owner of a brothel, it was just a matter of time before she ended up working behind the windows. After three years the business was not making enough money anymore and Pia lost her room and board. She found a job via a workagent and she choose to stay in The Shelter.

The conversations with staff members and managers made her consider God again: "I started to realize that I have fled from God for many years. He was always there, especially in the hardest times. After 14 months in The Shelter I was ready to face the fact that I couldn't make it on my own. I had to set aside my pride and ask for help." Pia got help from a social worker from the Salvation Army.

At this moment she lives in a social pension, but soon she hopes to have her own appartment. Pia gets counceling from a Christian Psychologist. There are still many things to cope with. "But I am 100 percent sure things will turn out fine," she says.

Pia still visits The Shelter regulary. "The staff and the guests are new, but the peace remains. You can tell people are praying in this place. And I know that it is because of prayer that I survived my time in the Red Light district. I am very grateful for the prayers of the people who are reaching out to the prosititutes in Amsterdam. I would like to thank the people from Tot Heil des Volks, the Salvation Army and Youth with a Mission. Their work and prayers are so much needed in the Red Light district".

We would like to make our ministry known around the world. The hostels offer great mission oportunities for young Christians and we would like to welcome new staff members into our teams. Because we can not visit all Bible schools, churches and mission organizations ourselves, we are looking for representatives who can do this for us. Maybe you would like to become one of our ambassadors and represent The Shelter Youth Hostel Ministry in your own country.

What do we expect from a Shelter ambassador? We would like you to help us contact christian organizations in your state or country: Bible schools, missions organizations, missions minded churches, christian magazines etc. You could provide them with information about The Shelter ministry and maybe give presentations. We will provide the material you will need (such as: brochures, letters, application forms and slides). We would like you to stay an ambassador for at least one full year.

If you are interested, please contact Auke Algera at The Shelter City.

All your responses and changes in address, you can address to him.

Please, mention in all your correspondence "Newsletter".

The Shelter City

Barndesteeg 21

1012 BV Amsterdam

The Netherlands

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

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

The Shelter Jordan

Bloemstraat 179

1016 LA Amsterdam

The Netherlands

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

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

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

Donations

Postbank Amsterdam

SWIFT-address INGBNL2A

Accountnumber 104944

To: Tot Heil des Volks

O.Z. Voorburgwal 241

1012 EZ Amsterdam

(please mention ‘Hostels’)