In the Summer of 2015 I had the privilege of meeting Robin Van Ommen. Robin and his family are serving in Amsterdam at both the Youth With A Mission base (YWAM) and the Tabernacle House of Prayer. Through their time in Holland and Europe, they have birthed what’s called the European Prayer Project. This movement is gathering, equipping and releasing Houses of Prayer and missions movements throughout the whole of Europe to fulfill Malachi 1:11. This verse speaks of a day when incense, worship and a pure offering would ascend to Jesus from the rising of the sun even to it’s going down out of ever nation.
Robin and his team extended an invitation for me to come to Amsterdam, where I would have the opportunity to serve, train and teach many of these leaders throughout Europe. The goal was to train them how to build financial partnership teams so that they could fully obey Jesus and His assignment for their lives. I gladly agreed to come and started making plans. Because Jennifer and I just left our kids for 8 days in Canada, we thought it best if she stayed home and I traveled with my ‘mum.’
We flew out on Wednesday, February 10th and arrived at Heathrow airport in London, England on Thursday. In London we had three days to sightsee prior to entering Amsterdam. On Friday we connected with Paul, a passionate follower of Christ. Paul is a local from London and graciously agreed to take us on a life changing tour of this amazing city. On Friday we ended up walking over 14 miles, 26,000 steps and were able to see Big Ben (from a distance), Buckingham Palace, China Town, Oxford street, the London Bridge, the London Tower and many other things. We rode on a double decker red bus, took the tube and the ankle express. Due to Paul taking his time, this became the most significant day of travel in my life. Memories that I will hold dear for years to come.
On Sunday, we boarded a train at San Pancras train station in London and went on into Amsterdam by way of France and Belgium. Arriving in Amsterdam was surreal. It was freezing cold, pounding wind, loads of people and more bicycles than I’ve seen in my lifetime. Amsterdam is the second largest biking city in the world. In fact low estimates suggest there are more than 881,100 bikes in the city which is more than the number of people. And every year they pull between 12,000/15,000 bikes out of the local Canals (small, narrow waterways).
We started our training the following day on Monday, giving us some time to unload our stuff, meet the team and go out to eat. Monday morning before the sun rose I was up spending time with God. The Holy Spirit reminded me that morning about a promise He gave me through a prophetic word from Charlie Sweet in November 2001, that my feet would touch foreign soil. Here I was, 15 years later, living out this word having traveled now to Canada, Mexico and Europe. I was humbled by the God who keeps His word!
Our training had around 30 participants from Italy, Germany, Belgium, Armenia and all throughout Holland. I taught in the classroom Monday-Friday, from 9:30A-5:00P and one night till around 9:30P. On the train ride Sunday, which was Valentines Day, God gave me around 6 prophetic words for a couple people I knew and several I didn’t know, including names. I had the privilege of sharing those words throughout the training and watching God’s love and His passion for them and their assignment encounter them deeply! Their response at the conclusion was that this training changed their lives and gave them courage to go and build the team needed to do God’s will in their region. I’m positive that I received more than I gave.
During our time there, my mom who’s family roots are from Holland found out that her ancestors most likely came from the north, in a place called Friesland. This was amazing as I also realized I have an inheritance in Holland as well.
Though we were worn out when we returned home, being able to deposit 30+ hours of truth into ministers who are working to turn their world upside down is well worth the loss of some sleep! As one of my dear mentors says, “You can sleep when your dead.”
There’s some photos below
Patrick and Jennifer Walton
