The young prayer leaders meeting in Herrnhut was powerful and impacted all that attended. I hope to report on it soon. At the moment I'm with Sürü Blatter in Weggis, Switzerland, to check out his plans for a prophetic-apostolic centre in this region. The view over the Vierwaldstättersee is breathtaking.

I'm getting ready for the young prayer leaders meeting in Herrnhut. When we planned this event called 'Connect Europe', we couldn't anticipate the current floodings in Saxony, but I'm convinced that we are there in God's perfect timing. Over the last years I've seen again and again that God arranges prayer conferences (often without us realizing) at significant times and places.

When we gathered European prayer leaders in the UK in November 2000, there were severe floodings in the area where we met, but the Lord used this situation to speak to us in a special way. In our preparation as a team He impressed on us that the theme of the conference would be 'redigging old wells'. On the first day of the conference The Times (a national newspaper) reported that because of the heavy rainfall and floodings old wells (some more than 100 years old) had started functioning again! During the conference many of the participants testified that God had spoken to them about redigging old wells in their own nation. It was at this conference that I received a prophetic word from someone, saying 'it is time to gather the young prayer leaders in Europe'. So as there are again floodings in Europe, and again in the area where we planned our meeting, I'm even more looking forward for what the Lord will do in our midst!

There's a lot to say about the floodings, but friends from the Czech Republic mailed me something interesting. A young prayer leader from Prague, Martina, saw the floods six weeks ago during a prayer walk around the city. She also had a dream a few days before the flood that the city was covered in water and people were walking around with water up to their waists and higher but they were not distressed. Derek, a prohetic guy from Prague, interprets what's happening in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic as a time of cleansing and God's mercy. BTW, I happened to be at his wedding last June (the day before the prayer walk when Martina saw the floodings) and he's getting interesting assignments from the Lord. On 10 Sept. last year the Lord told him to book a flight to New York. He arrived on the morning of 11 Sept. and was able to pray and minister to people right on location of the WTC disaster. I mention this because often the Lord sends his people to places of disaster to pray and minister on location.

So if possible join us in prayer for Herrnhut and Saxony, for Gods plans to be accomplished. Over the past months the Lord announced through several prophetic people that the Czech Republic should get ready for harvest. This is also one of the words the Lord gave me for our time in Herrnhut: 'It's the time of the beginning of the harvest' (Ruth 1:22). In the preceding verses Naomi laments about the misfortune/disaster the Lord brought upon her. But it's the time of the harvest and a new generation (Ruth) will rise up. I believe our time in Herrnhut will be a time of joy and godly connection (like Ruth and Boaz were connected for a purpose: bringing Gods salvation to Israel).

Yesterday I received an e-mail from Spain. They couldn't send a young prayer leader to be with us, but they told that the weekend we meet in Herrnhut, 20,000 young people in Colombia will surround their nation in camps of 50 each to intercede, proclaim God's righteousness, and consecrate themselves to work for change in their nation. This daring prayer event was born out of the vision of a young man, Diego, when he was fasting and praying for his nation. It's an encouraging example of what can happen when young leaders pursue their calling and mobilize their generation to prayer. This can and will also happen in many places in Europe. Are you ready?

Just read about Ronald's wild adventures in The Hague. Being a churchplanter in a socially disadvantaged area is never boring.

Our last day in Rhenen. We celebrated Peter's first birthday with cake and presents. Granddad and grandma came to visit. In the afternoon I climbed the Cunera church tower. It's nice up there; the tower offers a great view over the Rhine and surrounding area.

It's hot... 28 degrees Celcius. Poor me, I'm in the office making preparations for next week's meetings...

At the moment I'm reading Brother Andrew's 'The Calling'. A great book, highly challenging, with a lot of encouraging 'typically God' testimonies. And who said Holland doesn't have real apostles... this man's passion for the unreached is contagious.

We visited the Von Gimborn Arboretum in Doorn with Ewout and Jeanette and their kids. The afternoon we spent on the greens of our little summer estate in Rhenen.

While Summer is hitting Holland, rains and floods are causing severe problems in Sachsen and the Czech Republic. Next week we will gather 60 young prayer leaders from all over Europe in Herrnhut and they all have to travel over Dresden, while the central station is currently more than one meter below the water. Pray that we will be able to walk over the water - in faith.

Today we cycled in the Hoge Veluwe, one of our national parks. Quite a stretch for the kids, but beautiful scenery, a good restaurant halfway the park and a free open air concert of the Dutch Summer Orchestra.

It's a rainy day, which means more time for reading. I'm currently at page 126 of Loren Cunningham's book 'Daring to Live on the Edge. The Adventure of Faith and Finances'. Great principles and testimonies, both for missionaries and 9-to-5 workers. Ever wished to experience financial miracles? Then Loren's advice is: get out of your comfort zone.

It's not always easy living, but it's certainly more adventurous and it keeps us dependent on the Lord. Often in my life the Lord provided in a special way after I crossed the safety zone. A few examples of the last six months, just for your encouragement and to honour the Lord for his faithfulness:

1. When the Lord led Karolien and me to leave our local church (last December), the church stopped supporting us. But interestingly more people from that church started supporting us financially when we left than when we were still around.

2. At the time the Lord led us to look for an office manager (last March), we lost 60 percent of our personal support (that we received through an IT company that got into financial difficulty). But at the same time we received enough extra donations to keep going and God provided in an office manager that is being paid by his boss to join our team.

3. Last Spring the Lord led us to give a few big donations (ranging from 500 euro to 4,000 euro). In all cases, within a few weeks after we gave the money, we received the same amounts from other sources.

Today we baptized Peter and Titia in a little lake in front of their house in Houten. God is good.

Holiday in Rhenen...

David Sörensen, a designer from Bruges (Brugge), finished our new Joel News logo. The yellow waves are an expression of the 'vertical' work of the Holy Spirit in prayer, worship and the prophetic ministry. It also speaks of fire and passion and cannot be controlled. The blue waves are an expression of the 'horizontal' work of the Holy Spirit in the advance of the Kingdom of God, churchgrowth, churchplanting and the apostolic ministry. It also speaks of the River of Life, watering the nation and bringing forth fruit. Let me know whether you like it!

Today was rainy, so a good day to get some work done. Arend and I freshed up our donation page and added a new, safe and easy option to donate by creditcard. Check it out and send us all your money. We love to help you store up some more treasures in Heaven. :-)