The Dutch Pineapple

Hello all!  It’s been a while since a I’ve been home from Amsterdam, but I decided I should update you.  I’ve been home, re-connecting with friends and family, catching up on some reading, and trying to sort out my next adventure.  I’m posting the notes to a presentation I gave my home church on my time in Amsterdam.  Thanks for keeping up with the blog! 

Hello everyone, I’m Deanna Strickland.   I just got back from working at a Christian Youth Hostel in Amsterdam, which is in Holland.  I wanted to share my experiences with you.  

I’ll tell you a little about myself first.  I was raised in a Christian family, and grew up learning about God and Jesus, was baptized and saved.  But I never had a relationship with God.  And through the course of growing up, I feel like I rebelled against Him, and ignored Him at times in my life.  But this past summer things began to change in my life.  I had filled my life with things to keep me busy and happy—a filled social calendar, lots of material things, etc.  But something still didn’t feel right-I kept feeling there was something more that was supposed to be in my life, something else that was supposed to fulfill me.  It didn’t take long for me to realize that it was God that was missing.  He had patiently been waiting for me to turn to Him.  He had been steering my life towards Him, in ways that, when I look back now, I can totally see the hand of God directing the path of my life.  

So it worked out that I spent three months in Hawaii this past summer with one of my best friends.  She is a strong Christian woman, and was invaluable, along with many others, in helping me along on my path to a closer relationship with God.  I became involved in her church and turned my life back over to God.  It felt so great to completely surrender myself to Him, to entrust Him with my life and future.  I became interested in missionary work, to tell people about the change Jesus had made in my life.  A friend of a friend emailed me about this place called Shelter Hostels.  It was exactly what I was looking for!  I packed my bags, and soon I was on a plane to Amsterdam!

I’ll tell you a little about the Shelter Hostel now.  First of all, a hostel is kind of like a hotel, but a lot cheaper because the rooms are set up like a dorm, with bunk-beds, and a shared bath.  A lot of backpackers and travelers stay there because they are a good price.  The Shelter Hostels were started in the 70’s when tons of hippies were coming to Amsterdam.  Lots of young people were passing through, but there weren’t enough places for them to stay.  So a Christian organization opened up two hostels.  And they were soon filled up.  And we still get hippies today.

There are two shelter hostels-one on the edge of the red light district in the middle of the city, and one outside of the city center in a quieter neighborhood.  I worked in the second one.  It’s called Shelter Jordan.  The hostels are run by a team of volunteers from around the world who want to serve and tell people about Jesus.

As a hostel we provided rooms and a free breakfast.  But as a christian hostel, we also shared the good news of Jesus to anyone who would listen.  We had nightly bible discussions, evening prayer, film discussions, and other events.  We also had a small cafe in our hostel which is where I worked most of the time.  It is also where I feel the Lord used me the most to tell others about Him.  Travelers would come into our cafe and relax, eat lunch, play board games, or whatever.  And it was easy to start up a conversation with people.  I would chat with people from all over the world about everything under the sun.  People who travel are usually very open to new things and like to talk and connect with other people.  They would ask me why I worked there, or how I had found out about the hostel.  That would lead into an easy way for me to bring up my faith.  I would tell them that I wanted to work in missions and that I felt that God wanted me to be in Amsterdam at that time.  They would ask me questions about my faith, or I would ask what they believed.  And those times really opened up a lot of spiritual longing or questioning in most people.  

Like I said, we’d get people from all over the world stay at our hostel.  But I truly believe that all the people who passed through our doors did not end up there by accident.  The Lord was working in their lives and preparing their hearts, and the Shelter Hostels were on the road of their journey to Him.  He used many of us to bring people closer to Him.  We may not know how we may have affected a lot of people, but we do know the Lord was working in each of those travelers lives that He brought to our hostel.  

Most of the people who stayed with us were younger and on a journey to “find themselves.”  And I think we all go through a period in our lives where we try to see where we fit in to Life.  We may not all travel to foreign countries to do so, but still, we are all on our own journeys.  But most of the people who came to us while on this “journey” were openly seeking spiritual answers in their life.  They wanted to know and feel more, spiritually.  Whether is was through Christianity or Buddishm, Hinduism, or whatever, they were looking to find something new, something to bring clarity and meaning to their lives.  And that’s why the Lord brought them to us.  We offered to answer their questions as best we could, with love and friendship and meeting their immediate needs of housing and food.  

Jesus has commanded us to love one another.  And that means listening to people, even if their views are different than ours, being a friend to a stranger, smiling, and telling others about the power of Jesus’ love.  

So many people are lost in life.  They are looking for meaning in their life.  Only Jesus can fill this hole in them.  I was always shocked when I met people who had never heard about Jesus or God or the Bible.  Never in their entire life!  I gave a girl from Canada her first Bible.  I had noticed her sitting on the couch flipping through one of the Bibles we had sitting around.  At the Holy Spirits prompting, I went over and talked with her.  She said she had never picked up a Bible before, and was flipping through this part called “Pro-verbs.”  I told her that many sayings we have today are from that part of the Bible, and most people don’t even realize it.  I explained that the Bible was made up of two parts, the Old and New Testament, and that it was a great book to read.  I told her that Jesus was God’s son and he died for our sins, and that his story started in the second part of the bible, the New Testament.  I told her that was a good place to start reading.  I asked if she’d like a copy of her own, and she readily accepted.  It was so humbling and fulfilling to bring the gospel to her in such a basic way, and give her this amazing book.  She promised to read it on her plane ride back home which was a few days away.

The Lord brought us some amazing people.  One guy named Taurean showed up at our hostel a few days after I had started working there.  He was a believer, but had turned his back to God for a while.  He had come to Amsterdam to get away, one of those people on their “journey”, and also came there for the legal marijuana.  But his story was amazing—On his first flight to Amsterdam, he sat beside a Christian man and they were talking the entire 5 hours about God.  Then after his layover in New York, he boarded his next plane, and ended up sitting beside another believer—a man who was once a strong atheist, now a strong believer in Jesus.  They also talked the entire flight- 8 hours, and Taurean felt the Lord talking to him.  And then, after all these other believers God had placed in his path, Taurean ended up staying at our Christian hostel!  His first week there He felt God pulling him closer to Him.  I talked with him a day after he arrived.  He was wrestling with his past, and giving his life over completely to God again.  We prayed and he also talked with other volunteer staff members.  The Lord completely touched his heart, he gave his life back to God, and ended up joining our staff to evangelize to travelers!  It was amazing to see God working in his life!  And he had only meant to stay in Amsterdam for a week!–oh, he’s still there, evangelizing!

We tried to reach every guest that stayed in our hostel in some way.  And of course we had people who disagreed with our beliefs, and others who blatantly made it clear that they didn’t want to hear anything about God from us.  And we occasionally had aggressive people come in, people who were drunk, or just looking for a fight.  But I always felt safe knowing that I wasn’t there alone, but God was by my side at all times, looking out for me.  I also felt safe knowing that I had people praying for me.  Other staff members who eventually became my family over there were praying for me, and me for them.  We had great fellowship together, and powerful prayer times.  But I also want to thank you all for keeping me in your prayers while I was there.  It’s great knowing you have a base of people back home supporting you and praying for you.

We needed prayers and to constantly pray for ourselves, because we were on a battlefield.  I found out firsthand that spiritual warfare is real.  and constant and ongoing.  And that Amsterdam is a huge battlefield of good and evil forces.  Amsterdam is a beautiful city, historic and well preserved, but most people know of Amsterdam for its darker side- legal prostitution and marijuana, and readily available hard drugs.   The Red Light District is an area in the center of town that is filled with a darkness even self proclaimed atheists recognized.  It is a physically depressing area, where prostitutes sit in windows waiting for customers, and drug-lords and pimps make their living exploiting the poor and naïve.  The devil is hard at work here, filling people with lies.  Drug use and depression run rampant here.  You can feel the oppressive spirit when walking through the red light district.  You have to constantly pray to be aware of evil spirits and to cover yourself in the blood of Jesus.  And a major weapon in spiritual warfare is prayer.  prayer and more prayer.  

Like I said, I was never scared while working in Amsterdam, but being there made me realize how very real the devil is, and how very real his power is.  And how important it is to hold tight to Jesus and lean on Him for protection and strength.  

And through that, I began to learn what a relationship with Jesus is.  I grew up not having a relationship with Him. I, like a lot of other people, had grown up thinking that God was in the sky, looking down on us, ready to throw lighting bolts.  I never even thought about having an open, loving relationship with Him.  But now I began to develop this new, exciting time with Him!  I learned to talk to Him, ask Him for things in faith, lean on Him and not myself for strength.  And it’s been amazing and rewarding so far.  I hope you all have a relationship with Him, because it’s great!  

I feel that the most important message I learned was love.  Love love love.  God is love.  he loves us.  more than we can ever ever imagine.  and so many people are searching for that type of love.  we tried to steer people towards god’s love at the shelter.  because that love is the only type that can change lives in an instant, heal someone and restore someone.  and it’s the only kind that lasts forever.  

The most asked question at bible discussions was probably, “but how can God forgive me and love me after everything i’ve done?  i just don’t think he will.”  people have such a hard time with guilt, and it weighs them down to a point where they just don’t think anything will help.  but if they only give that up to God, and truly give it up to Him and believe God can change them, there lives would be radically different.  I know mine is, because that’s exactly what i did.  one of my favorite verses, and one that i repeatedly told people at the Hostel was

Romans 10:13

“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

And there were many people who were saved, and gave their lives to God while I was at the hostel.  And it was an amazing thing to watch their lives change.  Working with so many other believers and having great times of fellowship while doing the work that i know God had sent me to do at the time was a life changing and fulfilling experience.  

And you don’t have to go to another country to spread Jesus’ love.  Do it now!  In your everyday life.  Always be ready to share the gospel to others- if you’re in wal-mart and feel like God wants you to talk to that lady in aisle 5, do it!  You never know how the Lord can use you!  Thanks for letting me share with you all.  If anyone wants anymore information just ask me!