Blog 1: Welcome to Amsterdam!!!
Blog 1: WELCOME!!!!!
November 2021
I want to start by saying thank you to all my supporters, both friends and family. This has been an amazing year so far, full of fun inside jokes 😫, memories and full of God’s faithfulness. This year has genuinely been so full of joy and I am so grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary. My hope is that through this blog you are encouraged, fall more in love with Jesus and get a glimpse of what my life overseas is like. Below are some of my favorite memories from this year, so thank you for making this year great!!
MINISTRY:
If you don't already know I am currently in Amsterdam with a missions organization called YWAM Amsterdam. I’m a part of a team that leads and disciples students in their January discipleship training school (DTS). In this course students can expect to do the following:
Engage in 12 full lecture weeks on topics such as hearing God's voice, Jesus and the Cross, Missions, etc.
Spread the Gospel in Amsterdam in radical ways.
Worship together in song and prayer.
Worship together in song and prayer.
Live and eat in community.
Have people speak words of direction and encouragement into your life.
Travel to other countries to share the message of Jesus for 10 weeks.
Step out of your comfort zone in nations not your own.
Know God and make Him known.
At the moment I am taking a training course called Cultivate. At YWAM Amsterdam all new staff must take this course to help us get integrated and accustomed to the community life in Amsterdam. Below is an example of what my schedule looks like and my new friends who are also new staff. After cultivate I will be preparing for the January DTS (this can include things such as coordinating with lecture speakers, planning outreach & ministry times, team bonding, accepting students applications, etc).
Cultivate Team, Left to Right: Rebecca and Liza (Worship and Prayer Team), Benjamin (School of Biblical Studies Staff), Emanuel (Gateway Team), Me (January DTS) and Jeeyoung (Cultivate and Lookup Staff)
On top of this I will be doing more staff training with a specific focus on how to disciple and lead students within the context of our discipleship training school. I am so excited to serve, disciple and become friends with the future students. At the moment we currently have 7 students accepted, 1 pending and more interested. As a team we are praying for 15-20 students this year. At the bottom of this page I have a couple of prayer points for this year and if you could partner in prayer with me that would be greatly appreciated!!!
My hope is that these students fall so madly in love with God and his word. My hope is that they find so much joy and freedom in surrendering to Jesus. My goal is to help them step out of their comfort zones, grow spiritually and have a passion for worship & prayer. My goal is to point them towards Jesus, encourage and speak life/blessings over them daily. My prayer is that they see Jesus as a leader worth following. My prayer is that they live transformed lives that make other people go, I want what he or she has.
You know how there are some people where you just look at them and go, woah that person loves Jesus or woah that person has to know God. I want this for my students. I want them to be so in love with Jesus that naturally those around them fall in love with God.
At the moment I worship God and pray every morning for these future students of mine and I would greatly appreciate it if you too could be praying with/for me to keep this habit of prayer/worship. My desire is that I fall so in love with Jesus that I find it joyful to serve these students; even when I'm tired, frustrated, stressed or busy. I want to encourage you to also pray this over yourself, to pray that you fall so in love with God that you can find joy in serving others despite your circumstance, your tiredness or your business. I will also be praying for you!
“God I pray that whoever is reading this sees how much you love them. I pray that whoever reads this falls so in love with you Jesus that they find joy in serving, being humble and in being patient. God I ask you that you give whoever is reading your peace and your comfort now. I pray and proclaim healing over your life now! You are healed in Jesus' name. I ask for all this in Jesus' name. Amen.”
LIFE IN AMSTERDAM:
Now that I've given a brief overview of what I'm currently doing, I wanna give you guys a glimpse of my first week in Amsterdam!
I arrived in Amsterdam Saturday, November 6th. Upon arrival I was filled with nostalgia and this feeling of “I'M HOME!!!”. It was so nice to see many familiar faces but also a bit overwhelming to see so many new faces too. My first week was pretty eventful. I got fries, I went grocery shopping, then on the way home my bag broke, I got hit by a bike, I bought a bike, I ate a lot of eggs due to my limited cooking skills 😂 and I made a ton of new friends.
In this building I live with many people, both students and staff, involved in the various ministries around the base. It has been so inspiring to be surrounded by many people whom I can learn from, grow closer to God with and people who have an intense love for worship and prayer. Something I love about living in this community is their intense love for prayer and worship. In YWAM Amsterdam it's a general rule or practice that staff start their days with times of prayer and worship before work is done. This can be done in separate teams or done as a base, below is a video of our base wide worship which happens twice a week.
I have taken this attitude into my life and it has transformed my days in the best way possible. This habit of daily prayer throughout the day has made a huge and noticeable difference in my life. I understand for some people prayer might not be the most exciting thing, but what I want to invite you into seeing is that prayer makes exciting things possible.
“Prayer may not be the most exciting thing to do, but prayer makes exciting things possible”
“I pray that whoever is reading this is inspired to worship. God, I ask you to give them a passion for worship and prayer. God please let whoever is reading this find so much joy in praying and worshiping you. In Jesus name Amen.”
Also during our weekly prayer and intersession time, we decided to pray/believe for the persecuted church in North Korea and the unification of North and South Korea. I will be honest and say I forgot that I could pray and believe for such big things and issues. It reminded me of how great our God is and that he delights in bold and big prayers. I want to take this time to remind you that our God is an omniscient, all powerful God and that our prayers need to reflect just how great and powerful our God is. This time of intentional bold prayer really showed me that in a way my prayers can sometimes be too small or limited. I want to pray boldly and just have faith in God’s character, in the fact that he is sovereign and that he knows more than me. I believe that God has every right to answer a prayer the way he wants, but I refuse to pray small for fear of being disappointed.
PRAYER POINTS:
I have a passion for prayer and I simply believe that prayer works. If you have time I would greatly appreciate it if you could be praying for me regarding the points below. If you have any prayer requests yourself feel free to send me a message on facebook, instagram or even email me at casapaden@gmail.com. I may not reply right away due to my busy schedule but I will definitely be praying.
Pray for unity within the YWAM Amsterdam Community and unity within my January Discipleship Training School team.
Pray for protection against covid.
Pray that I make long lasting friendships and adjust to this new community.
Pray that I get the gift of learning languages and that I learn how to speak Dutch. I really want to evangelize and connect with the local community so learning dutch is something I really need prayer for.
Pray that God gifts me with a generous heart. I want a generous heart that is rooted in this belief that because I am supported by a limitless God, my generosity should also be obediently limitless (not just financially but also with my time, in the area of hospitality and in the area of encouragement). I believe that just like how God spoke creation into existence, he can easily speak finances into existence. I want my actions to reflect this belief. I know this may seem irresponsible but this is my heart behind this. I am afraid that I will find more security in my finances than I will with God. I am afraid of being greedy and the fruit of greed. I am afraid of holding so tightly to my fiances that I end up being disobedient. This is my heart, so please pray that God gives me a generous and discerning heart so that I can best steward the financial support my supporters have blessed me with.
My Prayer for you is this “I pray that in this moment you fall more in love with God. I pray that I find so much joy and peace when spending time with God. I pray that while people are reading this, people are healed, set free, reminded that they are forgiven by a loving God and that people feel God’s peace in the midst of their circumstances. I pray this over your life, in Jesus name. Amen.”
THANKS FOR READING, MAY YOU HAVE AN AMAZING & BLESSED DAY!!!
This is a picture I took while editing this blog, I also can’t figure out how to make this photo smaller so… your welcome hahahaha. Regardless thanks for taking the time to read, I hope . Sincerely, Cliff Sapaden
Also I want to admit that the photos aren’t the best, im learning. At the moment I only have my phone camera and I have no idea how to edit photos so I apologize for the lack of quality when it comes to photos or videos. My prayer is that one day I can own a camera and learn how to edit photos.
