Yesterday was amazing! God has been working so much in Amsterdam over the past 2 weeks. I had the opportunity to spend the afternoon with Dr. Robinson, the professor who is teaching the Islamic part of the course on this trip. We decided to go back to Osama’s coffee shop and try to talk to him again. This is what went down:
We got there and Osama was working as usual. He saw us and said hello and we ordered two cups of coffee. After this we started chatting with Osama and Sammy, another man who was working that day. About 5 minutes after we started the conversation Osama left and said he had to go to the bank. That was unfortunate because we were there to talk to him. After he left we began talking to Sammy and he seemed very interested in what we had to say but he had several customers come in so our conversation came to a halt. Osama came back and when he saw we were still there said he forgot something and left again, this time on his moped. We kind of got the impression that he was avoiding us (as if you couldn’t tell already). We got to talk with Sammy a little more and then he had more customers so that came to a close but we did give him our email addresses and we are hoping to hear from him. Pray for Sammy and Osama that someone else will be sent their way to share the gospel.
After we left the coffee shop we went to a bookstore and had a conversation with one of the workers about the Muslims moving to Amsterdam. This was very insightful because of what has been going on lately with the Muslims and the Dutch people groups. The Dutch seem to be very hostile toward Muslims because of some things that have happened and listening to this worker was fascinating and informative on this topic. He gave us a couple of books to read on the topic so after Dr. Robinson bought them we continued on our journey.
Our next stop was the University of Amsterdam. I was taking some pictures of Dr. Robinson when a man walked up to us and asked us what we were doing. This led to a conversation of two professors. Toward the end of the conversation we found out that he used to be the professor of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. I got to see Dr. Robinson in action sharing the gospel with this man. This was very helpful for me becuase I saw first hand what can happen and how the Lord can work through someone who is very learned on the subject of Islam.
All of this to wrap up the week and this makes me realize I have so much to thank God for. He has given me such an opportunity to come here and share the gospel with these people. Please pray for this city and throw out all of the tipical assumtions about Amsterdam being the sex and drug capital of the world. Take into consideration that there are thousands of people here searching for something and God has sent us to be a light for a short time in this city. Thanks for your continued prayers
GRACE AND PEACE
Jeff
