May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father,
who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal
encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts
and strengthen you in every good deed and word..
(2 Thessalonians 2:16-17)

Greetings from Amsterdam!  As you may remember from last month’s prayer letter, we’ve had a kind of rocky transition from our summer in Ohio to our autumn in Holland.  But recently, I’ve been blessed with a special boost of encouragement in an unexpected and extravagant way.  And I thought I’d pass the encouragement along to you this month.

So here is the basic story:  I made a friend this past June at a “Meeting of the Mighty Men” from our church community.  His name is Dani.  His face had been vaguely familiar to me (from having seen him at church worship gatherings), but we never really got to know each other until that day.  And while I recollect that most of that day was kind of discouraging—because we didn't get as many men to turn out as I might have hoped for and because I ended up coming down with some kind of gastro-intestinal virus—Dani was a bright spot.  He was enthusiastic, friendly (both to me and to Elliot, who had come along for the Mighty Men festivities), and it was obvious that God was at work in his life.  We had some good interaction on that day, in between sports activities, group discussions, and personal conversation, and I just felt encouraged to see some of the spiritual fruit that our ministry in Amsterdam was producing.  But a few weeks later, the encouragement increased when Dani sent me an e-mail.  In this message, he shared more about his life and his experiences as a part of our church, and he invited me and Elliot to be his guests at an Ajax game (Ajax is the big professional soccer club here in Amsterdam), and he explained his reasoning for the invitation as follows:

The reason i wanna invite u to this game is because i work at the Amstedam Arena...and I would love to show u a place that is dear to my heart... U can also see then how i work as a steward in this beautiful stadium... It's not a difficult job though...although, i absolutely love it... i actually study accounting in amsterdam, precisely because of soccer...my motivation was to be as near as possible to the Amsterdam Arena when i would come here to study all the way from aruba... So, i really feel blessed that the Lord has blessed me with this mini dream of mine...

i do hope u can make it here, cuz i feel a genuine connection with the two of you last time at the mighty men thing on Sunday... U are a good teacher, ur messages are real and down to earth...i feel like there's no pretending in u as a person...u are REAL...and that's nice... I feel like i have a genuine connection with u and ur son...

Later in the post-script to his e-mail he said, “i would like to call you "BIG E", cuz u are a big influence in my life.”  So of course I felt honored, and I responded immediately that Elliot and I would love to have the opportunity to get to know Dani better and to see an Ajax game at the ArenA.  A few weeks later, Dani responded that he had figured out a way to secure us tickets—not just to any old regular season game, but to a game in the UEFA Champions League (where all the top teams from across Europe compete against one another), which happened to be against AC Milan (one of the top clubs from Europe and also, coincidentally, the team that Ajax beat to win its last Champions League championship in 1995).  To roughly paraphrase the context for Americans, this would be like getting tickets to watch a game in a game of the American League Division Series between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox... Seriously big time stuff.  Sold-out stadium.  Absolute pandemonium.  Elliot and I were ecstatic!  And when all the plans were confirmed, it turned out that Dani was ecstatic, too.  In further e-mail communication (addressed to “Big E,” of course), he wrote:

Thank u for making some time for being interested in seeing the game of soccer and being interested in where i work... Neway....i'm kind of an introverted person...but i am really excited to see my "spiritual father" see me work in the Arena (inwardly)... So yea....it's gonna be a beautiful night...probably sold out... "A night to remember"

And indeed, when the time came for the game, it was a beautiful night.  When Elliot and I arrived at the stadium, Dani met us and ushered us into the rapidly-filling stands.  He pointed out his post in Section M and then proceeded to guide Elliot and I to our seats... and we were absolutely stunned when we discovered that our seats were actually in the front row of the stadium, about ten meters from the goal-line!  The seats were amazing!  We could see individual blades of grass on the field.  We could see beads of sweat on the foreheads of the players.  I've never had such a privileged vantage point for any sporting event in my life!  And yet here, Dani had personally arranged for these seats for us.  It was an extremely generous gift, but he wouldn't even consider the possibility of letting us chip in for some of the costs.  It was pure generosity.  Pure kindness.  Pure encouragement.

What's craziest of all is that Dani never made it seem like he was doing us a big favor.  He actually made it seem like we were the ones doing him a favor by coming to the game, seeing where he worked, and enjoying an unforgettable experience that forms an ongoing part of his day-to-day life.  In another e-mail, Dani wrote:

I was thinking about the excitement u two showed me through emails and in person.... And it REALLY touched my heart....... I haven't seen this kind of energy and excitement since forever.........around me that is... Again....thank u for showing interest in my life.....

Even as I write these words now, I smile broadly as I think about the ways that God has blessed me and encouraged me through Dani.  All throughout the planning and preparation for this special soccer match, Dani continually spoke words of respect and encouragement, affection and affirmation.  And in everything, he ministered to me and Elliot in a special way that just cannot be put into words.  That night when we finally got to watch the game, Ajax ended up with a 1-1 draw against AC Milan.  But we weren't disappointed by the outcome in the slightest.  We had gotten to experience an unforgettable evening, and we were unspeakably appreciative.

In much the same way, we are unspeakably appreciative of the critical support that you provide for our involvement with people like Dani here in Amsterdam.  Thank you for helping to create a culture of blessing, which I hope and pray will go on and on and on for generations to come!  Please keep praying for us and for Dani.  We’ll be in touch…

Eric