On a journey...

The sun is blinding my eyes here I’m sat in my living room in Norway, it’s winter and so the sun is low in the sky and in a few hours it’ll be dark. Oh, I miss summer! I’m listening to the IHOP-KC webstream and trying to put together a presentation about Brazil for a group for the elderly in one of the local churches here. It’s a strange coming together of two seasons in life. The prayer room blasting: “there is no-one like You in the heavens or on the earth... Jesus you’re beautiful”, while I’m trying to go back down memory lane both in my mind and heart to the 7 years I spent in Brazil. It’s been so long (I left Brazil in 2007), yet when I start looking at photos and reading old newsletters it feels so recent, or even like I’m still in the middle of it. One thing I realise is that I’m not a natural teacher (I do know that I can share and pass on stuff, which I guess is what teaching is, but that’s not what I mean) because it’s taking me ages to get started on this presentation and it...

Sat here in the kitchen of the flat I have been staying in while here at YWAM Grimerud. I leave tomorrow so I figured it’d be a good moment to sit down and write a little bit in my blog. It’s already dark outside and it’s only 4:30 pm. I suppose that’s why we talk about it being dark and cold in winter. It’s dark and it’s certainly cold. Outside everything is covered in snow and it’s beautiful. During the day the sky is spectacular and it almost takes my breath away when I look at creation and realise its part of the beauty that is in God’s heart. It’s been a nice week. The first few days were crazy. Hundreds of YWAM staff and students packed together for the January staff conference. As usual I felt a tad overwhelmed by the vast amount of people I didn’t know...but then I could nip off to the flat or the prayer room which was a welcome retreat from people. Good conference which reminded me again that YWAM truly is a mission organisation and gave me a good overview of what YWAM Norway ...

I realise I haven’t written since Kansas City. The good news is it isn’t coz I got stuck for days at an airport because of the snow chaos we’ve had in Europe the last week or so. I arrived last week Tuesday to a grey and rainy afternoon. The snow arrived the next day and has stayed since. It’s nice to have a white Christmas, especially when you can have a fire lit in the fireplace and plenty of blankets to keep warm. It was lovely to see family again. The children have grown so much and wee Julie (my youngest niece) is beautiful. It’s great that she lives upstairs so I get to see her a lot. And I had a lovely evening baking vegan gingerbread cookies with friends. I am so thankful for family and friends! Adjusting and being back in Norway has had its ups and downs. Lots of jetlag (when it’s 2 am and you’re wide awake, I think you can define it as jetlag). It was slightly adjusted when I had an early morning dentist appointment, but I’m still getting to sleep really late. So much for the...

It’s nice to have free WiFi at the airport, especially since my flight is an hour delayed and I arrived early. Today so far hasn’t been without a bit of drama. I had a lovely morning in the prayer room. As I was finishing off my packing my friend who was taking me to the airport knocks on my door. Her catalytic converters on her car had been stolen during the night. So she’s calling the police and her insurance company while I’m finding my other friend to see if she can find a car to borrow from someone so I can get to the airport. My friend (whose car was robbed) ends up managing to get her car fixed in time to go to the airport so our back up vehicle was given back to the owner, but it was a little bit interesting there for a while. At the airport I got to spend an hour and a bit having coffee with 3 friends who came with me to the airport. It was lovely. We talked, prayed and cried a bit. I am so thankful for friends. Anyways, might read my book for a bit and hopefully my flight won...

It’s been a beautiful day! Freezing cold, but beautiful. Church was great! Focus on the poor and suffering. Such an interesting way to end my time, with a sermon that cuts right to my heart. Had brunch at the “Waffle House” with a friend (had never been there, but had heard about it and figured it was better late then never to try it out). My clothes still smell like the inside of a “waffle house place”. Then I spend some time in the prayer room. Today is the day of prayer for the poor and suffering so the whole day was devoted to that focus in the prayer room. It was good. So so good! After that some of my housemates and I drove downtown and went ice skating! It was great fun, but very cold. So cold we just had to go get coffee afterwards. I had a very interesting Irish Cream Vanilla Latte with steamed vanilla custard in. Hmmm...not quite sure what I think about that. This evening was spent at home. We decorated for Christmas, rearranged the furniture and then just had cake, cheese an...

Last night at Hope City I felt so loved and like I really am part of a family here...which I am leaving shortly. Anyways, I got prayed for and I got hugs and kind words from people. It was a good choice to head down there. I love the loving presence of God at Hope City and I love how the people there love so well! What a privilege to have been a part of it! And it’s funny how sometimes when you get out of your own little “world” and get things into perspective, the mountains and things that overwhelm you don’t seem so overwhelming anymore. I was thinking yesterday about Hebrews 12 and how it talks about “laying aside every weight and fixing our eyes on Jesus”. Moving is a weight and I don’t want to be weighed down, but want to let Him carry the burden and choose to fix my eyes on Jesus. This morning I got up kind of bright and quite early. I headed out and took the licence plates off my Golden Chariot (car) because it’s getting sold today. Mid-way through unscrewing the plates I realiz...

I had great aspirations of writing through the leaving process similar to when I left Fortaleza, but it just hasn’t happened. Time has gone by really quickly, yet there have been moments of feeling like it’s been slow motion. It’s the strange dynamic of transition which I’ll never get used to. I think I’ve known and realised that I’m actually leaving for good, not just on holiday, but really moving for a while. I started “packing” on Sunday...4 bags and a box lighter and later, I am still having to choose things to get rid off to accommodate the 2 bags of 50 pounds each limit I have on the plane. Plus my hand luggage of course, which I have a strong suspicion will be a tad heavier and fuller than usual. Reality has started to hit home...yesterday as I sat in the prayer room I was flooded with emotion. It is sad to be leaving. Yes, there is excitement that there’s something new ahead, but right now it’s quite sad. And that’s ok. And on top of the managing the emotions of leaving, there’...