I long to see you so that I may impart to you some
spiritual gift to make you strong—that is, that you and
I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith.
(Romans 1:11-12)

Greetings from Amsterdam!  We’re now less than a month away from our family’s home service leave—visiting friends, family, and ministry partners in America (primarily Ohio) from July 9 to August 17.  We’re looking forward to the opportunity to be back, but we’ve certainly got our hands full these days, trying to tie off all the loose ends in Amsterdam while also doing as much as possible to prepare for our limited time in the United States.  I hope that this month’s prayer letter can be helpful in both disseminating and collecting information about this upcoming opportunity for us to “be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.”  In any event, though, I wanted to start with asking:  Could you please pray for us, as we’re going through these next couple months of planning, preparing, and traveling?

This time around, I plan to prioritize personal interaction with ministry partners and prospective ministry partners, more than organizing large-group events or traveling far and wide to cultivate completely new contacts.  Hopefully this means that I’ll get the opportunity to catch up with you (i.e. anyone reading this prayer letter), at least by telephone.  Thus, if you’re interested in personally connecting, and we haven’t already set something up, please let me know of your interest (contact information listed below)—and hopefully we can make arrangements to meet up at a time that’s convenient for you.  In addition to that, perhaps it’s also helpful to share our tentative itinerary at this point, which also includes a few public events that you’re welcome to attend, if nothing else works out to connect on the personal level:

Northeast Ohio:  July 16-18
Public Event:  Speaking at Hambden Congregational Church on July 18
Service starts at 10:15 AM – 13840 G.A.R. Highway / Chardon, Ohio

Northwest Ohio:  July 23-25
Public Event:  Speaking at h2o Church on July 25
Service starts at 11:00 AM – 104 S. Main St. (above Easystreet Café) / Bowling Green, Ohio

Rapid City, South Dakota:  July 31 – August 1
Public Event:  Not yet confirmed

Mid-Michigan:  August 7-9
Public Event:  Speaking at Riverview Church on August 7 and 8
Services start at “7:00ish” (PM) on Saturday, “9:30ish” and “11:30ish” (AM) on Sunday
3585 Willoughby Rd / Holt, Michigan

North-Central Ohio:  July 9 – August 17, Unless Otherwise Noted
Public Event:  Speaking at Berean Baptist Church on August 15
Services start at 9:00 AM and 10:45 AM – 2145 Middle-Belleville Rd. / Mansfield, Ohio

On an even more practical level, I wanted to put out feelers to see if you might know of any possibilities for a few practical considerations during these five and a half weeks that we’ll be in America.  First, would you know of anyone who might have a cell phone that we could borrow?  We’d certainly be willing to pay for the monthly costs and usage costs, but it would definitely be nice if we didn’t have to look into acquiring a device of our own for the short time that we’re on that side of the Atlantic… Second, would you possibly know of anyone who might have a vehicle that we could borrow for part or all of the time that we’re in Ohio?  We’ve already got a few good possibilities along these lines—but still nothing definite and nothing for the entirety of the time that we’ll be visiting.  Again, we’re more than willing to pay for maintenance, fuel, and insurance costs that would be involved in such a situation.  Just know that any leads along these lines would be greatly appreciated.  Finally, it’s good for you to know that we’re still looking to raise approximately $500/month in new support and about $10,000 in special gifts during our home service this summer.  Thus, if you know of any other people who might be interested in hearing about our ministry in Amsterdam, we would be very grateful for your help in networking, even ahead of time.

This kind of “taking care of business” letter is not my favorite.  I’m much more into stories about what God is doing here in Amsterdam.  So I will leave you with one little (hopefully amusing) story from recent happenings here with our ministry.  It’s a story about a young man (we’ll call him “Arjen”) who’s been coming around to our church off-and-on for the last year or so.  He used to be a drug addict, with a pretty tough image; though he’s always been surprisingly warm, when you engage in heart-to-heart conversation with him.  Anyway, about two weeks ago, Arjen decided to follow Jesus—after extended exposure to the Gospel, both in personal conversations and in church gatherings.  It’s truly a miraculous story of God redeeming this young man’s life.  But a recent conversation between Arjen and one of our church’s community leaders illustrates that his sanctification will be an ongoing process.  As the two were talking, the “F-word” slipped out of Arjen’s lips, accidentally.  He caught himself—immediately embarrassed—and apologized profusely for his mistake.  The community leader just laughed and waved it off casually.  She assured Arjen that it would take time for him to overcome his old habits.  Upon hearing this, Arjen was visibly relieved.  He sighed and mentioned that it was a good thing that he had already planned to meet up with me (Eric) for coffee, to talk about his new life of faith.  He sighed and said, “I really need some help, because I don’t know sh** about living like a Christian.” :-)

To be sure, you can be praying for the “Arjen”s here in Amsterdam—and generally for the work that God continues to do in Amsterdam, even while we’re in America for roughly a month and a half.  We’re very grateful to have the ministry opportunities that God has given us, and we’re especially looking forward to serving as a bridge this summer, hopefully bringing some sense of connection between the Church in the United States and the Church in the Netherlands, for mutual encouragement and edification.  We look forward to maybe seeing you soon, too.  We’ll be in touch…

Eric