Life in the FLDS

I just finished reading a book called 'Stolen Innocence' by Elissa Wall. Elissa is a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). She was fourteen when she had to marry her cousin. She escaped the FLDS at the age of 18. Now, 23 years old she's married to another former FLDS member and has two kids. The book tells the story of Elissa in the FLDS from her birth to her big escape. It's a mind blowing book and I really couldn't stop reading. What I found interesting is that while she was living in a small town in Utah, she was so indoctrinated with the FLDS lifestyle that she didn't know what the 'real world' was. Elissa was one of the key witnesses in the trial of the State of Utah versus Warren Jeffs. Jeffs was the prophet of the FLDS and is now behind bars. If you haven't read the book yet, go and get it! You seriously don't want to miss it!!!



Awakening: the book

Passion is one of the student ministries I love and support. Last year this ministry went on a world tour to 17 cities around the globe.
The Passion World Tour has come to an end but the memories will always be there! I was lucky enough to be at two of the tour stops: Paris & London.
This spring Passion will publish a book with pictures and stories about this world tour. The pictures are taken by Jeremy Cowart, an incredible photographer and the words are written by Passion founder Louie Giglio.

I'm very excited about this book. Can't wait to lay my hands on it. You can see a glimpse of the pictures that are going to be in there at awakeningthebook.com BUT I'm also posting a few of the pics that Jeremy took of my friends and I here in this post. Click on the link above and experience it!




I'm getting old!

January is the month of my birthday. I was born on the 15th, two months too early. I guess I couldn't wait to come out. So this year I'm again a year older. It doesn't really matter to me but of course you get the usual birthday pranks. One of my best friends texted me the morning of my birthday saying that next year I will be 25, which if you round up, will be 30! Thank you Marianne. I think she forgot that she is turning 25 in november this year. Then there's my nephews and nieces who believe that I'm way too old for my boyfriend and that a man should be the one that's older in a relationship... Right! And they are only 10 years old.

I had a really nice birthday this year. Last year Fiona was in Holland and we had dinner at a really nice Malaysian restaurant. She's originally from Malaysia. Anyway I think the spicy food ( I mean REAALLLLY spicy) didn't do me good because my stomache felt horrible the whole evening. It was quite hilarious actually. This year I spend my birthday at a worship conference. Tim Hughes and Al Gordon were in Holland with Worship Central and so Jeroen (boyfriend) and I went the entire day. It was amazing and what a perfect way to spend my birthday!

The next day I had a big party for my friends and family and of course I got spoiled! I have an amazing group of friends, seriously and I can't thank God enough for that.

Graduation is coming up soon (I hope) There's still some things I need to do but I hope to have it all finished by february 1. I have been looking for a job in journalism/pr/communications for nearly two months now and I can't seem to find anything. They either don't take me or they take me and just don't pay me enough, it's horrible at the moment. It's frustrating but I have my hopes up and hope to find something in the next 3 weeks. Please continue to pray.

BACK!

I haven't been updating my blog in a loooooong while, but I will today! Yay!!! So what happened in the past 1,5 month?? Well loads of things. Sinterklaas on the 5th of december is always fun! For the ones who don't know what Sinterklaas is, I will explain shortly. Sinterklaas is translated into English as Santa Claus. So on the 5th of december all the Dutch kids get presents. They get either presents the regular way, or hidden in a surprise box with poem (so they have to dig up their presents) The adults get presents too! So why the 5th of december? Well the real Santa Claus (Saint Nicolas) died on the 6th of december, so I guess they started to celebrate his generosity on the 5th of december!?!! And when the Dutch founded New York (then New Amsterdam) they brought their customs with them, but seriously I'm not sure why the Americans celebrate Santa Claus at christmas....haha.

People ask me quite a lot if we also give each other presents at christmas. When I answer with a 'no', they immediately ask what we do at christmas. Well to be honest, we have two christmas days (december 25th and 26th) and we celebrate the birth of Christ with going to church both days and have a really nice meal with family (both days). It's not as boring as it sounds, trust me. It's nice to have a long and very nice dinner with your relatives. At least, for me! haha

New Year was great too, we celebrate it here with LOADS LOADS of fireworks and hang out with our friends or family. I spend it this year in Ermelo, where my boyfriend lives. It was great and we had a nice time.

Wishing you all the best for 2009!!!