On the train...homeward bound

I'm on the train back from London and a lovely Christmas break. I have a great friend who pretty much gave me Christmas. Claire asked me over for the holiday, then she flew me over and blessed me with a English Christmas, a wonderful holiday.

Currently I am sitting on the train, I'm on the way back and I'm looking out the window being reminded I live in a beautiful country. I am trying to switch my mind back to being in Norway (the language is a clear indication). ;)

I get to ring in the New Year in Norway. Not sure of what lies in front of me, but i am grateful. I can think of MANY blessings over this last year. I, also, hope there are more to come.

Home! Norway! Grateful! Thinking!

The Secret of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving...a time to recall all you are thankful for.  This is exactly what my Thanksgiving was this year, but it began a week or two before.  I watched a podcast from my church in Colorado (http://vimeo.com/30391841).  This was a reminder that a thankful heart can battle the negative thoughts in my life.  Gratitude and worry/stress/frustration are at opposite ends.  I'm not saying it is easy to choose gratitude, but I am beginning to think this might be one of the best weapons to stress and the poop life throws at you. 

Also, in my reading I've come across Philippians 3:1 "Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord.  I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith" and Colossians 2:7 "Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him, then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness."  Okay, these verses say that being thankful is safeguards your heart and is a result of your roots being strong in God.  Thankfulness is like a ninja secret weapon.  Serious! 

Some of you may know of the "airport game", it's inception was when I was leading a team to Ukraine, when we arrived one of the students entry visa had problems and they chose to deport her.  It was after 36 hours of travel (of which I had slept only 4) and the time was 1 am when we arrived in the airport.  So I'm tired, a student is being deported (meaning they took her away and wouldn't let us have any contact whatsoever with her).  We (my wonderful assistant Derrick) and I sent the rest of the team to the place we were staying to sleep and the two of us waited at the airport as the contact (who I knew from a previous outreach) went to get someone who spoke better Russian.  During our wait time, I started telling Derrick how grateful I was that: I was awake, I had a clear head, I knew our contact, our contact was an American and could understand all I said, that I wasn't stressed, etc...Derrick and I "played" this game until the contact arrived with the translator.  (Long story short, it all worked out I flew Derrick back to Germany on the same flight as the student they were deporting and they arrived to meet us back a couple days later)  So the "airport game" is just going back and forth with the people you are around and saying what you are thankful for.  It is amazing that from gratitude flows...well more gratitude. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that God really has been showing me the power of thankfulness.  It's actually quite funny because I'm typing this as I have been sick for 3 days and I've actually been quite frustrated at the fact that I am sick.  So maybe, yes maybe I should play a little of the airport game now:

I'm thankful for...it does take a moment after you've been sitting in frustration for a few days, but I do have a lot to be thankful for.  Okay...

• The clothes I've gotten out of the boutique (give away) here at the base, I could not have afforded to buy all those things. 
• The winter boots my aunt gave me, they are toasty warm. 
• I have really wonderful friends, I realize even more so now that I have left the country, blessed I am - I really am grateful for all my friends. 
• I have this laptop to write this blog and keep in touch. 
• Skype, I'm thankful that people aren't as far away as they truly are. 
• Bubbles, I really am grateful for bubbly water, it really does make my heart happy (and zero calories, so I can save the calories to eat GOOD dark chocolate instead).
•  I am grateful for warm floors, the person who invented floor warmers is GENIUS (we have warm floors in the shower room here).
• I am grateful for creativity as seen in art/photos/writing/paintings and I know so many people who are wonderfully creative
• I'm grateful God loves me and that I know he loves me and can say that aloud - GOD LOVES ME!
• I'm grateful for painted toenails, there is just something FUN about them AND
• I'm grateful that simple delights really truly do delight my heart.  Therefore, I could go on and on, but I want you to want to read my blog, so I'll stop here.

My challenge to you.  For a whole week write (not just say) what you are grateful for.  Play the "airport game" and include others when possible.  See how God's secret weapon really does conquer so much. 

I'm Thankful!

Where is the day going?

When I arrived in Norway on the 28th of July 2011 the sun rose at 4:49 am and set at 9:57 pm.  Today(November 8th) the sun rose at 7:57 am and set at 4:04 pm???  I think the sun thinks it is getting too cold here too.  It isn't wool under your clothes weather yet, but YET is the key word here.  Most Norwegians have this base layer of wool, I think they are smart.  Most of them wear it November through March.  Wool has always been itchy to me, Smart Wool doesn't itch, is that why it is so smart?  All this rambling to say...my days are getting shorter, but the hours are just as long.

Moldova

MOLDOVA

RISK is an initiative to pray for all of Europe and see God transform Europe.  So we (Hadassah, Lene and myself) went to Moldova.  There were 3 countries that were having trouble getting teams, Moldova was one and the three of us volunteered to go. 

It is a beautiful country with two official languages: Romanian and Russian, not much English.  We had a great contact who helped us out with translation.  The three of us got the opportunity to live in an "at Risk" home for teens.  Seriously, makes you think when teens are so scarred at such a young age.  I feel blessed to have stayed in their home and been able to love on and encourage them while we were there.  We also did simple things like help them make jewelry and neck pillows so they could sell them at a fair to get money for the home

We also went to a Catholic center where we helped serve lunch to some elderly people and got the chance to encourage and love on the people there.  Our contact was telling us how the elderly were a lost generation, a forgotten generation.  It is sad, but unfortunately true in many countries.  I was glad I was able to give a smile and a hug to some.

The best part of our trip was the prayer time.  On Friday and Saturday at noon and 6 pm Norway time all the teams prayed for the countries they were in - WOW! Seriously, the three of us were amazed at the presence of God amidst our prayer times.  God is moving in Moldova and we were so grateful to be a part of it.  Please join with us in prayer.  Pray for hope, life and light to break through and for God's love to transform the people and the nation. 

" if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

Please pray for Europe!

RISK!

RISK starts tomorrow!

What is it? The goal is to travel to every single country in Europe. Every nation will have a visiting team that shares Jesus, prays and encourages the Christians. Just think about what happens when we kneel in prayer for Europe at the same time in every nation. 

My travel to Moldova starts tomorrow at 8pm.  I am going with two students (Lene & Hadassah)

Please pray for everyone involved.  All the travel.  All the opportunties.  That every team would follow God.

Auschwitz

If you prefer not to read this, I'll understand.  I've tried to express what I learned, witnessed and saw with detail, but in a sensitive way.

I cannot fully express in words how it was to go to Auschwitz.  We (the entire staff from YWAM Skien) went to Poland for part of our staff training.  The last day we had some free time and about 15 of us went to Auschwitz, for a tour, since we were so close. When we arrived back I was asked by a couple of staff members how it was and I honestly found it hard to verbalize my thoughts and feelings.  This may help, a couple weeks later someone had the movie "A Boy In Striped Pajamas" and since I had not seen it, I decided to. (side note: someone on the tour asked our guide if this movie was true and he declared it was not). So I knew it wasn't a true story, but I did know other things such as, the Nazi general of the camp did live near the base with his family.  The Nazi government tried to hide the horrors happening in the camp. Many people mostly women and children were almost immediately put in the gas chamber upon arrival.  The people coming to the camp really thought they were going to be taken care of, not murdered.  Therefore, while watching the movie I recalled the truths I had heard on the tour.  I did not cry at the end of the movie, but my stomach felt uneasy.  I went to my room and another staff, Marit, came into my room.  I asked her to pray for me as it was late and I was going to bed and it had been the last thing I had seen.  Then I tried to verbalize what I was feeling as I began to cry, this is what it came down to: I no longer see this as entertainment it had become too real.  I had seen the rows of pictures of people.  I had seen the bags they thought they would recover or the toothbrushes and other personal items they brought with them to the camp.  I had seen the hair, that was the most gut wrenching, there still was human hair that was found at the camp because they had taken it to make cloth. 
I guess the thing that I kept asking God was how; how could people be so angry and do this to other people.  It is so sad to see hate, sin, lies lived out. (That in part is why I do what I do, speaking truth and love into peoples lives.)  If you ever get the chance to go, take it, but know it isn't easy. Below are some pictures, there were some places you were asked not to take photos, like the place they had the hair and the "shower room".

A little bit of country...

I recently went to Grimerud, another YWAM base in Norway, but out in the country.  The DTS staff training was there.  What this means is all of the DTS staff from all over Norway come together to have training.  It is a time to bond, be encouraged and be equipped for the season ahead.  It was great.  I really liked getting to know people from other bases and having diversity in our training.  There are too many wonderful things to tell - really! The Norwegian staff sang the blessing song over the foreigners, a beautiful moment.  We got speaking on heart matters, missions matters and practical discipleship matters.  It was really encouraging and equipping. 

It was also nice to see a bit of Norway countryside.  Skien is in a city (it feels like a town, it feels very small, but in truth it isn't as small as it feels.), approximately 32,000 people live here.  This was my first place to visit in Norway apart from Oslo. It was lovely.



I think I have just begun to see the beauty of Norway and the Norwegian people.  I also am in the beginning of seeing God move here.  He is preparing my heart and soon things will take place... 

A little bit of fun

I'm trying to get the blog up-to-date so I am backtracking a bit and this the last event I did before officially starting on staff.

Sailing! It was God's way of blessing me in my transition.  The day was beautiful, there has been quite a lot of rain this summer here in Norway, so a day on the sea in the sun was quite a gift. 

It was a great day.  Norway is so beautiful.  Interesting fact: July is the holiday month because that is when the sun shines.  School summer holiday is only 7 weeks long (they have other breaks throughout the year though).  Since July is the time when everyone goes on holiday often churches close during that month or adjust to have services every other week, because so many, if not all the people go on some sort of holiday. 
So if you consider visiting me (and you should, hint, hint) and want sun, come in July.



The Beginning

I thought it would be nice to share a bit more with you on a more about my journey here in Norway.  I think I will let the pictures do the talking more this time.

I had a little over a week to get adjusted before all the bustle of YWAM began (details about that to come in other posts). I had the opportunity to go downtown to Oslo where the bombing had occurred and walk around with a friend who actually had been in the city, in the area when the bomb went off.  She was going to see the city after the chaos, I was going to see it for the first time:

Here I am.  Notice the tank, it was a beautiful summer day here in Norway and I was enjoying the stroll in the sunny weather. Sadly, the pictures below are not as cheery as the weather was.

This is the building where the car bomb was parked next to when the bomb went off.  The building was closed off, but you can see that people have brought flowers to honor the lives of those who were lost.

Here is a store that still hasn't gotten their glass replaced and again you see flowers placed by people who want to honor those lost.

A window shattered.  It was interesting to see what buildings were affected and which were not.  This was near the cafe where my friend was sitting when the bomb went off. Other windows were boarded up.

We went into the church that had the memorial for all those who died that day, for those who died in the bombing in Oslo and the shooting on the island. There was a place where kids had put up drawings they had made.  This one reads: "If one man can show so much hate, think how much love we can show together".  This nation is unique, it does have a trusting heart.  You don't feel afraid here or worry that your things will get stolen.  There is a country home feel, it's the only way I know how to describe it.  It's beautiful and rich. 

I'm grateful to be here, to see what God has in store for this time and to learn to love the Norwegians like He does.