Rites of Spring

Today is my birthday.

It started slow, because I slept in. A motion to get up and go down to breakfast did not pass parliament, and it was tabled until after Chapel. Eventually I did escape from under the covers, took a shower, and got dressed.

While I was dressing I heard a great deal of movement in the corridor outside my room. These kinds of noises usually precede chapel or a meal as everyone rushes down at once, but I was baffled because it wasn't chapel and it wasn't mealtime. I opened the door to see what was going on, and found myself being serenaded with "Lang zal hij leven" by about half the community!

If you've never heard the Dutch birthday song, this should give you a pretty good idea of it.

Other fun things: Malte dropped by from The Mission House, bringing me a nice gift signed by everyone there, and a birthday card from my mother arrived - exactly on time!

Meanwhile, spring (or 'lente') has officially come to The Netherlands. It's been deliciously warm, with at least one shirt-sleeved day and many more that require not even a light jacket. Buds appeared on the trees along the canals on Friday and they are well on their way to a leafy canopy by now. Occasionally you even find tulips in unexpected places.

This week is the most important one in spring for the OZ100 Community: Easter Week. Every other year the community celebrates Easter in a big way (the off years people celebrate with their own churches). This week will have multiple chapel services every day, a number of special meals and events and an all night prayer service on Saturday. And I'm on Weekend Team duty for it, so things will be busy for me personally. It should be pretty interesting though!

I have been amazingly busy this past month, which explains the dearth of posting. My intent is to try and make it up to you guys in my spare time this week. I have pictures galore! I just need to get them uploaded.

I hope this post finds you surrounded by caring people of your own!