Well, Daniela left this evening. It was pretty sad. I'm really going to miss her. She was truly my sister.

I am already compiling a scrapbook of my time in Amsterdam. I think I'm kind of strange for diong this while I'm still here. My goal is to have it completed by the time I leave. Strange I know. I realy enjoy doing it though. Since I can't make music anymore I have to find other means to creatively express myself.

The season change from summer to fall is my favorite time of year. This year it has been reminding me of my fall semesters at WVU... walking through the main campus, running from the CAC to the PRT station or vice versa, hiking at Cooper's rock, and hanging out at Panera. (sigh). I had the realization that college is a thing of the past. Now I'm enjoying the season change in Amsterdam. This will be my third season here. The new cooler, greyer, rainier weather reminds me of when I was here in Nov. 2003 on a short term mission trip, which also holds lots of good memories.

My heart is really in West Virginia. Yeah, we are one of the fattest, poorest, least educated, dr. deprived states that is becoming more and more depressed, but I love it. I love hiking through our hills, driving our back roads, sitting by our creeks, streams, lakes and rivers, and climbing our rocks. I miss bluegrass festivals, and enjoying a bluegrass jam at a local brewery. Praise God for "Almost Heaven" West Virginia. It's no wonder our beautiful state has inspired many folk song writers. Speaking of which, everyone over here knows John Denver's song "Country Roads." When I tell people I'm from WV they start singing the song to me. It is one of Europe's "worst/best" drinking songs. Funny, because we mountaineers take the song pretty seriously.

Amsterdam is a super cool place to be too. I love riding my bike everywhere. There is a freedom in this city that I've never experienced before. Your clothes don't have to match, you can sing at the top of your lungs while you're riding your bike down the street, you can snort or quack at people as they walk by (I've witnessed both), you can yell at the air when you're all by yourself, and it is all taken in stride. There is an excitement in this city. When you walk down the street you hear people talking in every language your ear can identify and even ones you can't. People from all the nations are in this city. I can eat authentic greek, ethiopian, iranian, turkish, indonesian, and japanese food in my neighborhood. I do love this city. When I'm no longer here I will longingly remember all the things I loved about it.

China festival has arrived. I am going to try to see the Kronos quartet play at the Concertgebouw tomorrow night. This place has near perfect acoustics and I've wanted to catch a performance there for a while. Who better to see than the Kronos quartet? You don't have to answer that.

I was thinking today about how much God uses my past with drugs in my ministry. A lot of our cleaners have drug addictions and it is so cool to be able to relate to them and to share with them what Jesus did in my life and what Jesus can do in their lives. I think this is how God is using me here the most- for the cleaners with drug problems. Praise God for using my sin for His glory!

Please pray for our cleaner that has only been off of heroin for 4 months. He has accepted Christ, but there is a huge battle going on for this guy. You would love him if you met him. Pray that he will be able to quit drinking and smoking pot, and that he will stay clean from the hard drugs.

If you read all of this then you have persevered which has added to your spiritual maturity and which has made you a more complete person. Can you tell by that sentence that I've been studying James?