After a quick flight to Chicago, we boarded our overnight flight to Amsterdam. We both managed to get some sleep, even if it wasn’t a whole lot.
Saturday, June 3rd
Today we spent the day in Hilversum. Hilversum is a small town outside of Amsterdam where a missionary named Robby Bradford is planting an international English-speaking church. Since Robby is a former member of our church in the US, we spent lots of time in this town helping the church with various things.
Hilversum International Christian Center (HICC)
Here’s an excerpt from Ruth’s journal from the night after our arrival:
“When we arrived in Amsterdam is was almost like heading home from college for the summer—it was a familiar place. It’s strange to feel so at home in a country where I know so few people, where I don’t speak the language, and where I’ve only spent 2 weeks before. Our arrival brought memories rushing back: bike lanes, McDonald’s, stroopwaffles, Dutch pancakes, and immaculate gardens.”
Sunday, June 4th
Today we sang at a large church near Amsterdam. This church was a new venue for us, since it is a church that has been independent for many years, and has just recently affiliated itself with the Assemblies of God in the Netherlands. It was one of the nicest and largest churches we were at. They even had a church bookstore!
For dinner both Sunday and Monday night, we ate at an Italian restaurant near our hotel, where Ruth had some really great bread and some pasta with butter, and David had a calzone and pizza, both of which he enjoyed.
Ruth enjoys her dinner
Monday, June 5th
Today we returned to the church in Eindhoven where we also sang on our last trip. This church is very neat architecturally, with unique wooden beams that make up the ceiling of the church. The people at this church are some of the sweetest people we’ve met in the Netherlands. Both trips, they not only fed us, but also gave us fun goody bags.
We also had some interesting technical difficulties at this church, since we were missing one of our main power cords, so our technical director Josh managed to rig a substitute at the last possible minute, while the rest of the tech team sorted out other numerous problems.
Tuesday, June 6th
Today was our free day in Amsterdam. We started out the day by visiting Corrie ten Boom’s clock shop in Haarlem, just outside of Amsterdam. The tour guide told us Corrie and her family’s story, and we got to see the hiding place, which was amazingly small! We bought a copy of the book The Hiding Place there, since we didn’t own it. We also found a fruit stand and bought some really great fruit, including red raspberries that quickly disappeared into our tummies!
Then we took a train back to Amsterdam with our friends Jeff and Shawn, with whom we spent the rest of the day. On our way to the train station, we saw a very amusing sight--a bicycle tow truck! The men were loading dozens of bicycles into the back of this truck.
Bicycle Tow Truck
Once we got back to Amsterdam, we shopped for souvenirs, took a boat tour on the canals, bought more fruit and other food at a supermarket, and ate dinner at Ruth’s favorite restaurant in Amsterdam—The Passage. On the last trip, she ate there twice, since they have the best Dutch pancakes!
David and Ruth on canal boat
Shawn eats a Dutch pancake and Jeff has a burger
Wednesday, June 7th
Today we spent a few hours in Hilversum passing out flyers for our big concert on Saturday night before heading to Almelo for our evening concert. Ruth had a really nice conversation with a girl that was waiting in line at a chocolate shop for the rest of the members of Ruth’s group to finish their purchases. Ruth also had a great lunch at a little bagel shop.
Since Almelo was a church that we had visited before, it was very familiar to us. They have a really nice stage and tech setup, plus a really sweet woman who makes great food. Ruth also got a really comfy barstool to sit on during the concert.
Choir singing
Thursday, June 8th
Today we spent the day in Leeuwaarden. After eating lunch in the city centre at a nice little restaurant, we had our concert at a church that we had visited on our last trip. Ruth had fun watching some men on a ladder try to make the church darker by putting trash bags over the windows.
Two men, a ladder, and way too many trash bags
Friday, June 9th
Today we got to spend part of the day in Delft, home of the famous blue pottery. We learned from a really nice woman in a church gift shop that apparently Delft blue now also comes in color, and bought a pretty vase that included colorful tulips in the blue and white pattern. We also ate lunch in a Dutch pancake house, bought really great strawberries at a fruit market, and had lots of fun picking out strange varieties of candy in an old-fashioned candy store. The shopkeeper spoke really good English, and let David try lots of different kinds of licorice to help him decide. There two types of licorice in Holland, one sweet and one salty. The sweet licorice resembles that in the US, but the salty seems to be an acquired taste no one on our trip seems to have acquired! The candy store had many varieties of each, and the shopkeeper was helpful in pointing out which was which. She also mentioned that the Dutch use licorice to sooth sore throats.
David grins at the thought of food
After we left Delft, we drove to Rotterdam, where we had our evening concert. During the concert, Robby gave an altar call, and Ruth ended up praying for four different women! Also, our bus driver for the week, Piet, came forward for salvation, which was very cool!
Saturday, June 10th
Tonight was our big concert in Hilversum at a large sports arena there. In the afternoon, we passed out flyers in the city centre again and Ruth bought a few baby things at some of the stores. Our dinner was yummy bagels from the bagel place, along with fruit and veggie trays (one of the best meals on the trip!).
The tech team started setting up the stage in the early afternoon, much earlier than our other evening concerts. We had rented lighting and a fog machine, and had much more setup to do than for any other concert.
Sunday, June 11th
This morning, we sang in Robby’s church for the main service. Then, after packing up lots of technical gear, we went out to lunch at a really unique restaurant. Half of the restaurant was a bowling alley, and bowling was included with the purchase of any meal. The meat for the meal was served buffet style, but raw. Then, you cooked it on the center of the table, which was a huge grill. It was a very cool idea, although it was a very hot day, so the grills made the restaurant a little hot!
Monday, June 12th
Today we got up VERY early for our flights home. Ruth was feeling pretty nauseated, so she had a friend pray for her, but then felt great the rest of the day! When we got home, David’s parents had made us a wonderful homemade dinner, which we scarfed down and then went home and straight to bed!