First Days in Amsterdam

Well, I certainly love it here. I've already met some of the coolest people ever. There are only 10 students on my team, but we represent six different nations! It is so awesome. We represent Germany, Canada, the States, the Netherlands, Hong Kong China, and Korea. Despite the cultural differences, we have all been having an incredible time together.
This is mostly an orientation week, but we will be hitting the streets with the Gospel already on Thursday.
I'm incredibly excited for what God has prepared for us in the coming weeks. It has been clear by our testimonies of how we all ended up here in Amsterdam that God ordained our team. He went before us and our instant bonds of friendships were a testimony to that.

Here are some pictures of the city that I've taken while out exploring with the others!

This is the canal right outside my home. I live and go to class in the building known as De Poort. (The Gateway) We are in the very middle of the city.

Bikes are everywhere. You will get run over. It's a fact of life.

There are so many canals! Like every other street.

Yes. It is incredibly beautiful here.

The busiest square in Amsterdam. Times Square is nothing compared to Amsterdam.

Keep praying that I will continue to adjust. (I miss my American junk food. seriously. They don't have any here and it is really depressing.) And pray that our team will continue to grow closer together.

Blessings,

Paige

2 Days until Amsterdam: Financial Update #4

For the first three months I am in Amsterdam, I will be participating in the "lecture phase" of my Discipleship Training School (DTS).  This is really a time of intense prayer, worship, and personal intimacy with the Lord. I wanted to share with you some of the topics that will be discussed in our lectures each week so that you may have an idea of what exactly I'll be learning about.

Topics include:

Fatherheart of God 

Hearing Gods voice 

The Holy Spirit 

Spiritual warfare/strongholds 

Passion for Jesus/ Discipleship 

True identity in Christ 

Prayer/Intercession 

Relationships

Destiny and calling 

Prophetic power evangelism 

Endtimes & Israël 

Biblical worldview 

Gods heart for the nations

I would encourage you to really pray that the Lord speaks to me during this time and that I would have the heart to listen.

Other Prayer Requests:

1) That I don't forget anything really important... like a passport! :)

2) That the rest of my support comes in.

3) That my stress level would come back down and that I would really find rest in God this week.

4) Continued peace for my parents and family

Financial Update

1. I have my plane ticket there and back paid for!! which was not the case a few days ago. So praise the Lord for his goodness and abundant faithfulness.

2. The first three months in Amsterdam, the lecture phase, is just a couple hundred dollars away from being fully supported. I need that ASAP. 

3. The second three months, the outreach phase, is still in need of support. I need to have $1500 by November 11 and a total of approximately $3500 by December 2.   

Please consider helping to support if you haven't already.

If you would like to help support my trip, here is the information you will need:

make checks payable to: Covenant Church (they are tax-deductible)

Mail To:

Paige Kelsey

311 Plateau Dr.

Lafayette, IN 47909

or checks can be taken directly to Covenant, just make sure to verify what the check is supposed to be for.

If you have any other questions for me, feel free to email me at pkelsey@purdue.edu.

ALSO. If anyone has any hair flowers for me to take, drop them off at the front desk at Covenant between now and Friday afternoon. Or you can contact me personally and we can arrange a way for me to get them from you.

Blessings,

Paige

Misconceptions: The Life of a Missionary

Before I left for Berlin six months ago, a family member boldly asked me, "You're going to Berlin on a missions trip? What do they need in Berlin?"

At the time, I remember being so flustered I didn't even have a good response. I just kind of fumbled about something, maybe the Gospel, maybe Jesus. Who knows? It was basically less than stellar. (Of course, as usual, the perfect response came to me a couple of hours later.)

But I knew I had no place to judge, for I once had similar thoughts. I once equated the word missionary with jungles and tribes, poverty and unmet needs, unknown languages and small huts, yucky bugs and river baths, gross food and middle-of-nowhere people groups.

This had caused me to make up my mind early on in my life that I would never serve as a missionary, because that certainly did not sound appealing to me in the least. 

My family member had the same misconception as I once had, missionaries were to minister to the poor, helping those "less fortunate", taking Bibles to those who hadn't yet heard the Good News.

But who is less fortunate than those who believe they have everything, but instead have nothing? 

As the Lord is known to do, he started to change my heart towards life as a missionary. Through a series of events within the past year, God started to break my heart for the peoples of the world. I remember times of just falling to my knees in prayer, unable to stand, crying and weeping for the injustices and pains across the world.

Western Europe is my mission field. It may not be the plains of Africa or the jungles of South America, but it is a place of significant loss, brokenness, and hardness of heart. May God use my life to bring the light of Jesus to the darkness of Amsterdam.

May your ways be known throughout the earth

Your saving power among people everywhere

May the nations praise you, O God

Yes may all  the nations praise you

Le the whole world sing for Joy

Psalm 67:2-4