Amsterdam

Hello everyone we are the Amsterdam Team! We are a team of six girls, Elisa McKeown, Chelsea Engstrom, Niki Helsel, Hannah Klose, Heather Smith, and Natalie Hoy and we will be traveling to the city of Amsterdam on Friday May 21st.

While in Amsterdam we will be staying and working with various YWAM (Youth With A Mission) ministries. We will be staying at the YWAM base in De Poort which is about a 20-minute walk from the Red Light District. Although we are not staying in the Red Light, we will be working there almost every day. We are partnering with two YWAM ministries located in the heart of the Red Light District: The Lighthouse and The Tabernacle of the Nations (www.ywamamsterdam.org ). The Lighthouse is a ministry that focuses on the issue of sex-trafficking and all the issues that go along with that. Their focus is on the prostitutes in the district as well as the brothel owners, buyers, and sellers. We will be helping this ministry with various service projects around their building as they are currently in the process of transition. We will also be able to host craft nights for women, lead devotions, and cook dinner for their bible study groups.

The other ministry, The Tabernacle, is a 24/7 prayer house that is located in an old church building within the Red Light. Their focus is on prayer, worship, and the arts. We will be taking 3-hour time slots throughout the week where we will be in prayer for the city and will worship and paint. Our heart is to intercede on the behalf of the city and to be constantly calling on the Lord for His presence to be made known in the heart of the darkest places in the city. We will also lead prayer walks around the city as well as evangelize through prayer and encounters with people on the streets.

We are really excited for this trip and we know that God has many plans in store for us! We all have hearts to see restoration and healing within the Kingdom of God and we believe that is exactly what God wants to do in Amsterdam, specifically with the Red Light District. We want to go to be able to share the light of Christ that we have with the people of Amsterdam and to partner with those that are already serving and encourage them in their long-term ministry. Our biggest heart is to see this city become a light to the other nations of Europe and to be a place of sending out missionaries to the world to bring transformation! We know that being a short-term team that we cannot accomplish much, but we are at least able to partner with the ones that are there long-term that can accomplish these goals and dreams for this city. We want to be able to lift them up and encourage them in their ministry so that they are able to keep pouring out to those within the Red Light District.

We cannot wait until the day we leave and we trust that God is going to continue to provide as we keep preparing to go! So far we have raised around $7000, however, we are still in need of $9000 in order to leave. We have already purchased our airfare but we still need to raise our living expenses and food for the month. If you would like to donate to our team you can do so through Simpson University at https://app.etapestry.com/fundraiser/SimpsonU/Amsterdam2010. We need to have all of our funds raised by May 15th.

If you would like to pray for us please pray for our financial needs. Here are some other prayer requests as well:

That our team would continued to be unified as we train for our trip and as we are there
That we would have favor as we coordinate with our ministries and missionary contacts
That God would continue to prepare us physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally for whatever we will encounter
For the city of Amsterdam and the ministries there
Protection and safety
Thank you for supporting us and walking with us through this amazing journey!! If you would like to stay updated with what we are doing throughout our trip you can follow our blog at: www.amsterdamteam2010.blogspot.com .