As I walked wheeling the trolley containing two suitcases and a rucksack (belonging to my middle brother who has bought himself a new one) I felt tears stinging in my eyes and threatening to push their way out. I suddenly felt so very small and the airport so very big. I’d got off my 45 minute flight from Sola to Oslo, got my bags from the baggage claim (the airline I flew with lets you decide how many bags of luggage you want to take against a small fee, and so I was able to bring not one suitcase weighing 20 kilos, but a suitcase and a rucksack), bought my train ticket for the last leg of my journey, and was walking along in search of a cup of coffee and a waffle to kill the half hour till the train.
Walking along I caught myself thinking about this new stage in life. I wondered why this move up to the YWAM base here in Norway seemed so huge, when moving to Brazil obviously was a bigger move, at least further away. And then it occurred to me that when I’d been travelling back and forth to Fortaleza I was only really travelling between the two places I called home. Now I was moving to something new and unknown, and that is daunting for most people (at least people like me). I was glad to have had that revelation, as I couldn’t understand why it had seemed like such a huge deal to be packing up and setting off.
After a 50-minute train ride I managed to drag my many items of luggage off the train and was met by Tove who was at the train station to pick me it. It was lovely to see a friendly and familiar face greet me. We took the scenic route from the train station at Stange to Grimerud (the YWAM base) and I was educated in the location of many key places along the way (which are interspersed by cornfields, this is the true Norwegian country side!).
On arrival at Hybelhuset, my home for the next few months, I was met by many friendly faces, and was also struck by how lovely the room I was assigned to was. I was well chuffed and it even has a cupboard for my clothes and a few small shelves. I very good improvement to what met me when I first arrived in Fortaleza, where I was met by a bed with a very thin mattress and not much more.
After a cup of tea (can’t go too long without one of those) and a nice chat with some of my housemates, I got to unpacking, which took all of, let me see, maybe an hour. It took far longer to pack my belongings than to unpack them. And they are all now nicely deposited in the various storage opportunities available in my room.
It feels very good to be here. Today we had a great introduction day for new staff, which I was a part of. We did a fun ice breaker in the beginning where everyone had given a phrase about themselves in advance which was compiled to a list we all received, the task being to find out which phrase belonged to whom without asking directly. My phrase was that I’ve met the stunt double for superman, which is true by the way. “How?” you might ask. Well, when I worked with Operation Year in Plymouth in 2000 we were part of a performance thing based around Cliff Richard’s, then very famous, “Millennium Prayer” song. Our part was doing a dramatization of a text about the city (which I thought was very cool). One of the leads in this performance was a man who had been the stunt double for Christopher Reeve in Superman IV I think it was. So there you go, my (small) claim to fame, if you can call it that.
After having bonded and been introduced to lots of base information, plus eaten lots of nice food and cups of coffee, I went for an afternoon bike ride to the lake with a few people from the base here. It’s been at least more than 12 years since I rode a bike, but it’s not for nothing that we use the saying “it’s like riding a bike”. I really did remember how to do it still, even if I was a bit scared at times and the trip there was at a slower speed than the trip back.
Sat here I am feeling content after what I would call a very good day. And I feel hopeful for what this next part of my journey will be filled with while I’m here and what God will share with me about the way forward as I seek Him.
Walking along I caught myself thinking about this new stage in life. I wondered why this move up to the YWAM base here in Norway seemed so huge, when moving to Brazil obviously was a bigger move, at least further away. And then it occurred to me that when I’d been travelling back and forth to Fortaleza I was only really travelling between the two places I called home. Now I was moving to something new and unknown, and that is daunting for most people (at least people like me). I was glad to have had that revelation, as I couldn’t understand why it had seemed like such a huge deal to be packing up and setting off.
After a 50-minute train ride I managed to drag my many items of luggage off the train and was met by Tove who was at the train station to pick me it. It was lovely to see a friendly and familiar face greet me. We took the scenic route from the train station at Stange to Grimerud (the YWAM base) and I was educated in the location of many key places along the way (which are interspersed by cornfields, this is the true Norwegian country side!).
On arrival at Hybelhuset, my home for the next few months, I was met by many friendly faces, and was also struck by how lovely the room I was assigned to was. I was well chuffed and it even has a cupboard for my clothes and a few small shelves. I very good improvement to what met me when I first arrived in Fortaleza, where I was met by a bed with a very thin mattress and not much more.
After a cup of tea (can’t go too long without one of those) and a nice chat with some of my housemates, I got to unpacking, which took all of, let me see, maybe an hour. It took far longer to pack my belongings than to unpack them. And they are all now nicely deposited in the various storage opportunities available in my room.
It feels very good to be here. Today we had a great introduction day for new staff, which I was a part of. We did a fun ice breaker in the beginning where everyone had given a phrase about themselves in advance which was compiled to a list we all received, the task being to find out which phrase belonged to whom without asking directly. My phrase was that I’ve met the stunt double for superman, which is true by the way. “How?” you might ask. Well, when I worked with Operation Year in Plymouth in 2000 we were part of a performance thing based around Cliff Richard’s, then very famous, “Millennium Prayer” song. Our part was doing a dramatization of a text about the city (which I thought was very cool). One of the leads in this performance was a man who had been the stunt double for Christopher Reeve in Superman IV I think it was. So there you go, my (small) claim to fame, if you can call it that.
After having bonded and been introduced to lots of base information, plus eaten lots of nice food and cups of coffee, I went for an afternoon bike ride to the lake with a few people from the base here. It’s been at least more than 12 years since I rode a bike, but it’s not for nothing that we use the saying “it’s like riding a bike”. I really did remember how to do it still, even if I was a bit scared at times and the trip there was at a slower speed than the trip back.
Sat here I am feeling content after what I would call a very good day. And I feel hopeful for what this next part of my journey will be filled with while I’m here and what God will share with me about the way forward as I seek Him.