The ferry taking me to Holland is said to be the largest hydrofoil-style ship in the world. It was comfortable, and i learned one important thing while on it. In the section of seats where i was, there was a TV screen placed up and in front for all 40 or so people who could sit there. I was reading the Japanese 1858 Great Controversy, but my eyes kept wandering upwards to the screen. Amazing how much power the moving picture has over the mind. It reminded me that sometimes even when you can see the live thing happening in front of you, the screen sometimes holds more attraction. Probably it is because the pictures change frequently and quickly, always making one look forward to what will be displayed next.
Why was this of interest to me? – Because it made me more determined than ever to put the Great Controversy book to an animated movie. If even i want to look up at moving pictures of worthless things rather than keep my eyes focused on the printed page (and right now while i type this the scenery is moving by quickly while on a train in Germany, so i’m not concentrating wholly on the typing!), then i know for sure that other people who don’t even realize the value of these words from God would rather have some moving picture to keep their attention. Lord, please give me wisdom in how to move forward in this project. It is really too big for me, but then all of life is. But with your Holy Spirit working on my heart, if i humble myself to be directed, i can become omnipotent! Wow!
After de-ferrying, i go thru immigration. They stamp my passport “29-7-2006”. Now this is strange. I go back to the immigration officer and show him. He excitedly shows his fellow immigration worker, and he smiles and shrugs, and the man gives it back to me. I have seen some really sloppy official work done in my travels, but this is right up there with the worst. Is all of Holland this slack? My ferry ticket is also good for trains anywhere i want to go in Holland for this day, and i try to find out how to get where i want to go. The conductor tells me, but later i find out that it is a bit off. After changing at Utrecht, i notice that our car is very hot. Then i notice that only an Oriental lady and myself are in this car. hmmm. Maybe this tells me something about my internal thermostat – ha!
A couple of young guys offer to help me with my big suitcase, and i start to think Hollanders are quite hospitable, but when i go to someone and ask for directions or help, their replies are very curt, almost rude compared to what i am used to in Japan. OK, this is Holland, not Japan, but i still wish like when you ask “Is there a bus to xxx?”, that the information deskperson would not just say “yes”, and then turn away from me like her work is finished #@%&*!
My contact picks me up at the station, and kindly takes me home and puts me up in a nice bedroom. The food is vegan and mostly tasty. The first evening meal sets the tone tho for all of Continental Europe that i have seen – many times the evening meal is a repeat of breakfast – bread, jams, jellies, tahini, and fruit.
While at this place i am graciously taken to a small town around 50km away where i find a laptop. This one i can’t call “notebook”, as it probably weighs over 3kg, and even has a floppy drive. I am so thankful it is a Toshiba, as that is the only kind i have ever had. 300euros is a bit rich for this used model. The same thing can be had in Japan for 100euros, and in Bangkok for 150. Oh well, just glad i have something that works! Actually, it comes installed with Dutch Windows, and after installing English Windows 2000 Pro, the screen and audio don’t function properly. Fortunately, the next week a man takes me back to the shop, and they download some drivers from their server quickly and it is all taken care of 🙂
We go to Het Kervel on Sabbath morning. This is an old mansion that has been turned into a self-supporting center. It sounds like all SDAs in Holland have strong feelings good and bad towards this place, but for me it looks quite nice, and the owner treats me well. My friend has very kindly put up a tent for me, and when i see it i wonder if i should call it the Taj Mahal. It is almost as big as my friend’s apartment in Osaka! The treats are slowly revealed, but i get ecstatic when i see ramen noodles and also miso! yum yum!
Oh yes, the campmeeting that i came for 🙂
The main speakers are Maurice Berry, Kenny Shelton, Male Bone, Jeff Pippenger, Tico somebody, somebody from MEETS, and someone from Bolivia. It is good for me that most of the speakers use English, as the translation is into German which just makes me doubly lost when the Spanish-speaking man talks – wink! I have heard of Maurice Berry before, and am encouraged that he is straight on most of what he preaches, even hearing him preach the nature of Christ exactly right, something very rare among Liberal or Conservative SDAs. Probably around 200 people attend the main Sabbath service.
I talk to several people and make friends and introduce the 1858 Great Controversy book to them. Most of the people are interested, but quite a few, especially young men who have had some training in self-supporting schools, are not. Strange but true. I am getting an education into the pride problem that is affecting the consesrvative SDAs just as much or more than the liberal ones. With the liberal ones it is easy to point to their outward display, showing a heart condition that has not yet decided to love the Lord their God with all their heart, mind, and soul. But with the conservatives, those who profess to follow the Spirit of Prophecy, it is more difficult to observe, as outwardly they are very zealous for the law, just like the Pharisees were in Christ’s day.
The owner of Het Kervel asks me to work in the kitchen after lunch, which i happily agree to, drying the dishes and silverware produced by a big dishwasher, very similar to the one we had at Country Life Restaurant in Japan. The lady i help and i strike up a good conversation, and she is quite interested in the GC book. After sundown she buys the first copy that i brought from India. Thank you Sister, and thank you Lord for all the 3euros that i can receive from these books will help me make it back to India one day 🙂
At nite it gets quite cold, and when i wake up in the morning i imagine that i can see my breath. There aren’t many mosquitos, but one wasn’t satisfied until he tasted my delicious fluid. There are lots of little bugs, i think called “earwigs” all over my tent. They don’t seem to bite, but look pretty gross, and make one revolted to see them fall out of your towel when shaking it. Some campers have brought their dogs, and now and then there is a big ruckus, but except for the kids playing until late at nite, mostly it’s quiet and peaceful.
The first 3 days i go to most of the meetings that i can, except for the early morning meetings which i pass in exchange for a few more minutes under the covers. Maurice Berry’s body actions while he’s preaching annoy me, and after one too many pinball actions when both arms swing out and up and down, i decide i can do without that. I hear that Kenny Shelton is leaving early, so after his last evening sermon i approach he and his wife and present this 1858GC book to him. His wife shows a great deal of interest, and when i explain a few things about how interesting the book is and the 161 times that “I saw” is used, Pr. Shelton mentions something that makes me know he is a deep student of what went on with the Ellen White books too, encouraging me very much.
The young lady who translated the German 1858GC is taking training here, and she has the book for sale in the “store” for 1euro. She kindly allows me some table-top space, and i put out the English one for 3euros. Close to 10 books sell 🙂 She sells over 40 German ones, but it is a bit disappointing that no one wishes to buy a box of them. The owner of Het Kervel promotes the books at the big tent one nite for us, for which i am very thankful. It is a very rare occasion for me when i actually go up to a pastor or leader and ask to promote this book, as my nature recoils from getting up in front of a large group. I work much better one-on-one, and that is how the word slowly spreads. Yes, i know putting both ways together is what is best, but God gives talents as he sees fit. If asked to get up in front and promote tho, i am of course happy to do that. I do remember one time in the Philippines when we asked for time in front of a group of around 30 LEs to promote it.
Anyway, after asking many people if they wished to study some of this book together with me, and getting no positive responses from anyone, or just a blank, cold stare from some, finally on Friday 2 men and i studied chapter 30 together. I was amazed at the one man! He is the husband of the wife i dried dishes with the Sabbath before, very unassuming, always in the background, and i hardly ever saw him speaking with anyone. But is he ever deep in the Word of God! He took us to Deuteronomy 19:17-18 and powerfully read them. I was very pleasantly surprised, and thank God so much for meeting someone of this spiritual strength. Both men were quite impressed with the straight message of the book. Lord, please keep both of these men safe in the palm of your hand, and may i never make presuppositions about someone based on their outward appearance.
Walking 6km back from the train station after getting the drivers in my computer installed is good for me, and i stop in the super market to buy some fresh stuff. Food in Holland is quite cheap! Just as i was shocked in London with the high prices, i am shocked in Holland at the low prices. A large, 200g bag of potato chips doesn’t escape my eye, and i hungily gobble them up with the lettuce and noodles with miso and wakame seaweed – just like my staple suppers in Japan, except there is no tofu or one more vegetable like tomatoes or okra or green pepper. I eat perhaps too much 🙂 The shower is inside the big house, and it works nicely that just when the last light of the sun is fading, i can return to my tent. It is still too amazing to see that it is light enough to walk around outside when it is 10pm.
The young lady who translated the book into German gives me a diagnosis of my knee problem. I ruined the left one 2 years ago, and the right one i injured a bit then too. Too much hard cycling up the long, steep hill to my home i’ve been told. Anyway, she decides that the cartlige has thinned or worn, and that i need to build it up, so recommends a camille leaf compress wrapping the knee. I try it 2 nites, leaving it on for around 16 hours each time. After the second time my knee itches unmercifully, with red welts appearing. But after they are gone, there seems to be no more pain in the knee. It feels great walking around everywhere not being worried that there is going to be a sharp pain like a needle travelling up from your knee to your spine. Thank you K-san! Thank you Jesus!
Once in a while i think about what i’ve accomplished here at this campmeeting, and get a bit discouraged, but then i look at it again, and see that i HAVE talked personally to nearly half the people here about the book, and that some interest has been expressed. One lady comes up to me on the last day and presses some money into my hand. I’m pleasantly shocked. Lord, thank you for the recognition of support for this work, and especially bless this lady abundantly for her self-sacrificing spirit.
In the store here and on the table of free literature, i see many pamphlets and books with pics of President George Bush, the dead pope, Bin Laden, attack helicopters, etc. on the cover. This is distressing to see among us SDAs, as it makes us look like we are against the govts. of the world, and that we believe these ridiculous conspiracy theories such as the 9/11 attacks were ochestrated by the American govt. to gain more control over the people. I hear this from quite a few SDAs, and it really makes the world pay less attention to our God-given message, that is, the 3 Angels’ Messages. When our message is put on the same level as the evening TV news shows, it is bringing down the truth to a level equal with the world, or even below it if we inject any particle of conspiracy lunacy to it. People of God, let’s rise above. Let’s keep our eyes focused on Jesus and the truth he has given us – to proclaim as the final message of warning to be given before he comes back – the 3rd Angel’s Message.
A man has come down from northern Holland to take me to his home for one week. Holland is flat, like a pancake. There is lots of greenery tho, and it is enjoyable to ride in the car in the countryside. His home is way out in the country next to a large potato field, and within 100m or so of a huge windmill. This family is vegan, quite tasty, but still the traditional European style of cold food first, and then the warm food, which is cool by the time the cold food is eaten. I figure out the system pretty quickly, and reverse the order, getting to the hot food first 🙂 It is really freezing here – perhaps less than 10C at nite. It is windy, but when the sun comes out, is quite pleasant, and i spend some time working in the garden, and mostly getting caught up on internet stuff.
This family is really trying their best to live according to all the light in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy. They are very happy to be studying this 1858GC book with me. It really warms my heart to hear how that many SDAs in Holland look to the govt. for welfare checks when they really could be out working, and this man also could receive money from the govt. if he wished, but he believes he should follow the Biblical counsel to work with your hands and not be a burden on others. What a sacrifice! That is faith in action, and according to him, the Lord has never let him down 🙂
We go one day to a little street market, and there is a SDA man there who has a Daniel Diorama. It is super cool, and shows how there are many, many opportunities to be witnessing for Jesus if we would just take the initiative, and work with a mind to give glory to him. This man has made a human-sized statue of the image that king Nebuchadnezzar saw, and then he has several large boxes where you can look into and see little figures moving and music playing etc. showing the story of the 3 Worthies being thrown in the fiery furnace, Daniel in the lion’s den etc. Many kids and even a few adults seem fascinated as they walk by, and one 9 year old takes a handfull of the Bible papers that can be colored, and hands them to young people strolling past.
We go to Gronigen SDA church on Sabbath. I am prepared for all the jewellry displayed, but still can’t help but think about how all this love-of-self display could be sold and used to buy motorcycles for gospel workers in India, and how that more souls could probably be in heaven forever and ever with their efforts, but here the money is literally tied up around peoples’ necks, wrists, and fingers. I go upstairs where the translator has given all 8 of us little receivers with headsets. One elder gets up and talks about his experience at the recent German campmeeting. I wonder if our translator has gotten it correctly, as he says that they took 3 Salvation Army people with them, and they all celebrated the Lord’s Supper together. I find out later that is indeed what happened (hey, we are all one family aren’t we? – no way!) When the drums get cooking i get moving, and find myself outside looking up and down the old streets. When coming back inside, a lady starts talking with me, and we discuss problems in the church, what needs to be done, and Jesus’ soon coming. She also introduces me to a lady who does translation, and who is considering translating the 1858GC into Dutch. Since English is used quite a bit in Holland, sometimes i forget that most people would rather read in their own language, but yes, of course, we need the book in Dutch also.
There is a health lecture in a little SDA church on Sabbath afternoon by Male Bone, and a member there graciously lets me spend a nite in his home. He drives a big RV, and his son drives a van down to the German campmeeting on Sunday, and my stay in Holland is completed. I thank the Lord for the opportunity to meet many people, to see that there ARE some faithful, studying souls here in Europe, and for the peaceful, wonderful, happy time with the family in northern Holland. May God’s people become more intelligent in regard to his revealed word, and may we decide to follow the instructions, preparing for the soon coming Time of Trouble.
NOTE: Post written September 7, 2007