Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to
which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord
for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.
(Jeremiah 29:7)

Greetings from Amsterdam!  We’re finally down to the last week of our kids’ school year, and we’re looking forward to a family vacation in the middle part of August. But even while we’re excited for the summer vacation season to arrive, we’ve recently been reflecting on all the different ways that God has been working through our local elementary school—and we realize that God is really doing something special in this unique, though perhaps somewhat incidental, “mission field” of the Basisschool Frankendael (Frankendael Elementary School).

Perhaps most notably, the quality of education at the school has improved dramatically over the last several years. When we first decided to enroll Elliot six years ago, the school was rated quite low. It had even been published on a national listing of “extremely weak schools,” just a couple of years prior to our family getting involved. However, we liked the direction that the school seemed to be headed; and we really felt a good click with the administration and with the kindergarten teacher who would be Elliot's primary point of contact for his first two years in the public sphere. We liked the fact that the school was right in our neighborhood, and we enjoyed the way that the school genuinely reflected the diversity of this part of the city (most Amsterdam schools are surprisingly segregated). Furthermore, we appreciated the fact that the teachers and administrators were very open to our involvement as parents, even though we were “just a couple of foreigners.” Therefore, we got heavily involved from the beginning, and we started to do whatever we could to “seek the peace and prosperity” of the Basischool Frankendael (Jeremiah 29:7).

Ever since Elliot was in kindergarten, Marci has served as a part of the school's Ouderraad (OR), which works kind of like an American Parent-Teacher Organization.  And for the last three years, I've served on the school’s Medezeggenschap Raad (MR), which is a bit like an American school board, though perhaps not quite as formal.  Because of this involvement, we’ve really come to feel a sense of ownership for what's happened at the Basisschool Frankendael.  And this school-year, we rejoiced—along with all the other families and school staff—in the results of the new inspection giving the school its highest marks in decades. We literally catapulted from being one of the worst schools in Amsterdam to being one of the best schools in Amsterdam! As you might imagine, a lot of publicity came along with these developments (television reports, newspaper articles, etc.). One time, I was even quoted in a major national newspaper! But more than the recognition, we’ve just felt blessed to be a part of such a positive development here in our neighborhood.

In addition to the regular educational program, Marci has played a key role in organizing after-school instruction in English as a Second Language (a very useful life skill in today’s global economy). We volunteer regularly to help with special events at the school. And (if you will allow me a brief “proud papa” moment here) we’ve seen how our kids, too, play an important role when they excel in their school-work, which their teachers have repeatedly praised for helping to create a sort of synergy that seems to spill over into other students.

Of course, this “seeking the peace and prosperity” of the Basisschool Frankendael is more than hours of volunteerism or educational ratings. We’ve also developed a number of very meaningful relationships with other families who are involved with the school. We’ve visited each other’s homes. We’ve eaten meals together. And we’ve shared the Gospel with children and parents, alike. This past Easter season, it was especially exciting when Marci and the kids got to share the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection with two Muslim girls from Elliot’s class, who eagerly sought them out over the lunch break, over a period of weeks, at a fountain close to the school. The end results of all these interactions are still difficult to determine, in contrast to the clear signs of improvement in the quality of education at the school; nevertheless, we’ve been encouraged by signs that God is working. And we continue to pray for the school, that God would give it peace and prosperity: mentally, materially, and spiritually.

Would you please pray with us for the Basisschool Frankendael? Please pray for the administration, the teachers, and the other families who are involved in the school like we are. Thanks for your part in supporting the work that Great Commission Ministries is doing here in Amsterdam, so that our family can also be living and working and attending school here in the city. We’re excited to see what the coming school year will hold. In the meantime, here’s hoping the rest of your summer is great! We’ll be in touch…

Eric

Save us, God our Savior; gather us and deliver us
from the nations, that we may give thanks to your
holy name, and glory in your praise.
(1 Chronicles 16:35)

Greetings from Amsterdam! It’s getting into the summer travel season here, even though Dutch schools don’t let out until the second half of July, and the streets of the city are full of tourists. It’s amazing to see how this international city becomes even more international during peak travel seasons. All kinds of languages can be heard on the city sidewalks and in cafes, and it makes me excited to remember one of the primary reasons why we originally came to this strategic global crossroads—to spread seeds of the Gospel to the four winds. It’s an ongoing process that we’ve been able to experience for the last eight-and-a-half years now, and by God’s grace it continues month-in-month-out, winter and summer, throughout the neighborhoods of Amsterdam and around the world.

This month, our church is particularly excited to be following the story of one particular individual whose international adventure is unfolding as we speak.

For the purposes of this letter, we’ll call this friend “Adnan.” He grew up in Albania during the last days of Communism; and after the dictator’s iron grip was finally loosened in the early 1990s, his family was caught up in one of the many ferocious “blood-feuds” that flared up in that period of Albanian history. After several years of involvement in organized crime, both in Albania and in Spain, Adnan fled to northern Europe in search of a new beginning. By God’s grace, he eventually found himself in a Christian youth hostel in Amsterdam’s city center, and there he heard the Gospel for the first time—both through the ministry of the hostel and through our church, which had just been established in Amsterdam around that time. His mother having been Jewish and his father having been Muslim, Adnan argued vehemently with the Christians who were reaching out to him at that time. But after a week or two of debate, Adnan experienced a personal encounter with Jesus through a series of dreams; and he made the dramatic decision to follow Jesus. In September of 2003, he was one of the first seven people who participated in our church’s first baptism celebration, and since then he’s been a treasured member of our church community. There’s a whole book waiting to be written from what I just condensed into just one paragraph, here! I’m convinced that it would be an absolutely riveting, incredible, best-selling kind of story… But for now, we’ll just have to leave it at that.

Anyway, for the last eight years, Adnan has been living in a strange “legal limbo” with the Dutch immigration authorities. People from our church have tried to work with him on multiple occasions, attempting to navigate the system and figure out a way for our friend to live securely and legally within the Netherlands—but we’ve never been able to get things satisfactorily worked out. However, about six months ago, we figured out a new way of going about things that would benefit Adnan in more ways than just his immigration paperwork. With considerable help from people in our church, Adnan ended up applying to, and being accepted by a seminary in one of Amsterdam’s suburbs called Tyndale Theological Seminary (see www.tyndale-europe.edu, for more information). Finally, just last month, Adnan received an official student visa from the Dutch government!

The story doesn’t end with the student visa, though! In order for everything to work out, Adnan was first required to travel back to Albania and process his paperwork. In order for that to happen, Adnan would first have to come up with the funds for traveling and processing his paperwork, and then he would have to navigate his way through the border crossings, which are always tricky for people like him who have been living in legal limbo. I can’t adequately explain all of the complexities of his situation, but you’ll have to take my word for it that just getting Adnan to Albania and back is quite the ordeal! In the end, people from our church gave generously to fund Adnan’s travel costs. A friend helped to drive Adnan to Germany, where he could more easily fly into Albania (via Slovenia), limiting the complexities of border crossings as much as possible. And we all prayed like crazy for Adnan to make it back to Albania without any problems. When the day of travel finally transpired, a couple of weeks ago, you can imagine our joy and relief when we received the following message from our friend, sent from Albania:

Hi Everyone!!! I want to thank you for all the prayers and support that you all have giving me! I'm blessed by you all, the most beautiful people of God's family! It was the easiest flight I have ever had in my life!!! And The Lord Jesus did that because of you all loving me! But! Because you all loved God first! I love you all, with all my heart and soul!

God is writing a magnificent story through this young man’s life. Not only is Adnan establishing himself legally within the Netherlands; he’s also starting to prepare himself for a career in ministry—strategically positioning himself to reach out to Muslims and atheists and criminals in a way that few others could ever do. Things are still very much “in process,” though, and it would be great if you could continue praying with us for the successful conclusion of this chapter in Adnan’s story. As of the 22nd of June, he is expected back in the Netherlands for the beginning of the seminary’s summer term. But for that to happen, all his paperwork needs to be processed, which can be challenging in a country such as Albania. He needs to be physically protected from old family enemies; fortunately, a truce has been called in the blood feud with which his family had been involved, though Adnan has not been back in Albania since that time. And he needs to cross more borders and travel back to the Netherlands, which should be less stressful this time around but still… We need to keep praying for this brother in Christ!

Would you please pray with us for this situation? Please also pray for more opportunities to see these “seeds of the Gospel” spread from Amsterdam to other parts of the world and take root. We’re so grateful for your involvement in this ministry—and we hope you realize that you are a critical part of making stories like this possible! Thanks for everything. We’ll be in touch…

Eric