Just a greek week.

Greek, originally uploaded by cutjas.

This week was a relatively quiet week for myself, which was nice and refreshing. I was able to catch up on sleep and get back to some work I still have to do for my degree. This week I was working diligently on my Greek homework. Trudging through it is a good way to describe my work. I have been averaging about 2 verses an hour, hopefully that pace will pick up. It is hard and draining, but I do enjoy the work.

It seems as though I have passed the “tipping point” and keep meeting more and more people. My social life is beginning to take shape as I meet more people. This is definitely a good and welcome thing. Being that I am in the small groups ministry here it is a necessary thing. I have met a couple and we are going to start a small group in Den Haag in the next couple of week. I am excited about that, they are a great couple and are very motivated to start a group.

We also had another International Justice Mission (IJM) meeting this past week. At this meeting we had more new people to help with the effort. I have to be honest it is quiet humbling to be part of this group. There was PR people, International lawyers, International journalists, and international businesspeople. Then there was me. Don’t worry I held my own, but it is humbling to see God bring all these people together for a purpose of Justice. We watched a part of the movie “Amazing Grace.” It was helpful in reemphasizing that freeing people from slavery is an essential task and I am growing more and more passionate about it.

I did have a shocking moment this past week. When I came out of our small groups meeting a guy came up to me. He said, “Are you Jason?” I replied, “yes.” He said, “I am a friend of Jason Smith and Brian Post.” Jason Smith was my freshman year RA at Bethel and has been a long time, somewhat distant, friend. I literally was in shock; this was the last person I expected to see. It was funny, I was speechless, which is not a place I find myself very often. Barry is only here for another month or so, but it was nice to make a Minnesota connection.

It is funny how you get in a mindset that everyone you meeting is going to be from another country or some distant land, then a person from your home pops up and it really shocks you, or at least it shocked me.

I also began playing Basketball this past week at the American School of The Hague also known as the ASH. It was fun, but I am so out of shape, I was sore for two days. I am looking forward to playing on a regular basis it is a very international group, most people are from America, but there are a lot from around the world as well. I am also starting this week to practice with a soccer team.

I know there was a request for some funny stories; I assure you all as soon as I embarrass myself, I will write about it and that for sure will happen. I find it funny how careful these past couple of weeks not to offend anyone or say the wrong thing. The funniest times are when people say things to me in Dutch and since I don’t know how to respond I just smile and walk away. This happens all the time on the bus or in line at the super market. I don’t know what to say, and feel like an idiot every time I have to ask someone to speak English for a simple conversation. I guess that’s all part of transitioning to a new culture.

I will say the church office has been one of the places outside of the Perriman’s home where I have really let myself be who I am. Ok, this is funny. The first week I was here in The Hague, I received a video of a worship band. The band was, to put it mildly, awful. I sent out a message to the staff saying, how much I appreciated they way they welcomed me and I wanted to share with them a little of where I came from. So I sent this link at the end of the email stating how this was the band from my church and maybe we could have them come over and play sometime. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-NOZU2iPA8

The staff loved it! And it was a good way for me to introduce my humor to the office.

Prayer requests:
1) I have been challenged by myself to structure my time better. Up till now I have had a lot of free time and now things are starting to get more busy. I need to create more of a set structure for my time to be more efficient.
2) Prayer time, I need to take advantage of the time I have to pray. It has been easy to get distracted, but I believe I have to buckle down and do some serious praying. Please ask God to assist me in doing so.
3) Small groups: Clearly God is moving people in our church to get more involved on an intimate basis with each other. Pray that we will be able to assist this as much as we can. Pray that as issues arise out of close relationships that God will be there to provide help and guidance.
4) Pray for protection for myself. As more gets put on my plate I will need protection. I know that things will get more stressful and I need covering to help deal with all that is to come.

I watched “Amazing Grace” last night and was moved by the fact that no matter what happened to William Wilberforce, sickness, people shouting him down, finances, loss of friendship. He kept pursuing this goal that God had called him too. I hope none of that happens to me, but I hope and pray more, that if anything does get in my way that God will give me the strength to press on through to the end.

Take care,

Jason Cutshall