This week fear is our topic for discipleship. As we talked with the younger boys yesterday, a little 5-year old shared that he is afraid of gunshots...it really brings home to me the reality he lives in. He's only 5, but still violence is so real in his life. And today in the prison one of the boys shared about how he's afraid of dying when he leaves prison because he's doing time for killing someone and is afraid of vengeance. As he shared I could tell it was really deep. I shared with him the promises of God from the Bible, but said that although God is our protector, we need to allow God to take charge of our life. He was very moved by what we shared and we led him and some others to receive Christ in their lives. A powerful time, which I am still feeling impacted by. The urgency and reality of these boys I think will always touch my heart. It is something I will carry with me even after I leave; and I know I will miss being able to go in and minister to and get to know these boys who have very strong life-stories, but who are just kids after all.
Tomorrow is the 17th of May. But for any Norwegian, this particular date isn't like any other date in the year, it's the 4th of July of Norway. And this year I am actually here. However, some preparations had to be done to get ready for tomorrow. One was getting my national costume down from the loft. I got it a few days ago and tried it on. It's a wee bit tight, but I think it'll be fine. This evening I ironed (or rather started ironing) the blouse which is hand embroydered and made of linnen (so those of you who have a clue about fabrics, know that linnen is the opposite of no-crease material). And the second part of the preparation was polishing the silver. I tried the "foil-in-hot-water-with-salt" method, but I don't think it worked too well. I did a bit of polishing with toothpaste after that and it looks alright. At the end of the day I'm the only one who will notice the level of polishedness of my silver. I have also got my camera on charging re...