On a journey...

I just had to jot down this random experience before it disappered into wherever forgotten thing disappear to. As I was driving home this afternoon I decided to try out the alternative entry point to my road (the road is going to get dug up and things put in the ground...don't ask me for details, coz I'll have to make them up). As I slowly drove down the gravel (note: temporary road), I spotted a long roll of black carpet rolled up. I wondered why it was there at the bottom of the gravel, but assumed that if it was left there, it should be possible to quite easily drive over it. I was wrong. What happened was that I managed to drive over it with the front wheels of the car, but then the back wheels kind of got stuck on it, and instead of gently driving over the carpet, they dragged it along, and unrolled part of it. This continued until one side of it got stuck at the side of the road. This was all downhill. I tried to reverse, and had a few looks to find creative ways of solv...

The sky is grey, and even if it is possible to sit outside and have a cup of tea (I just had a cup of tea outside), I wouldn’t claim that we have tropical heat (not today anyway). Time passes, slowly and quickly, and I kind of feel like I’m just going with the flow really. Life goes up and down. I miss Fortaleza, and get very excited when I receive email updates from those I left behind. Sometimes I get a bit muddled up because the whole thing of me coming home just doesn’t seem to make sense. I think of Maria who is one of the street girls, now street woman, that I worked with for so long. If someone had time to just totally invest in her life and really show her Jesus, she might get out of the deep, deep, rut she’s in…and Rachel, oh Rachel, who’s had so many ups and downs. She was down last time I saw her, just before leaving. One of my friends in Fortaleza wrote to me last week with good news saying that she’s going with another project to Rio de Janeiro to represent those who live ...

Yes, you can get a hold of mangos in Norway too, although they cannot be compared to the freshly picked, sweet mangos of Fortaleza. Still, being able to sit out on the veranda in the blazing sunshine eating a mango is a bit of a novelty! The gorgeous weather we’ve been blessed with this week has made me remember Fortaleza many times. I was definitely created for warmer climates. Yesterday we spent the day at our cottage on the beach (yes, it’s not by the beach, but on the beach. Built on rock though, as we all know what happens to a house built on sand when the storms come.) It was great to just relax in the sunshine, work on my tan, and read a book (I read ”The Mermaid Chair” by Sue Monk Kid). Even with the 25-26 degrees (it must have been that or more!!), I didn’t venture into the sea; 16 degrees Celsius is still cold, no matter how hard you try to convince me of how refreshing it is! There was also a kite-festival on the beach. Not kite-surfing (although I spotted one of those the o...

17th of May. The day the whole of Norway go into the streets to celebrate. Norway's birthday. The day we got our constitution. The 17th of May really is a very special day for Norway. I guess you could say it's Norway's version of the Brazilian carnival, only different. In Brazil the big question every year during the carnival is how many people got killed, and if the numbers are higher or lower than last year (the image transmitted by the media to the world only shows part of what carnival is all about). Thinking about it, it is also similar to the Brazilian 7th of September, but different. It is hard to explain what this day is like. It’s one of those “have to be there” days. And since I hadn’t been in Norway for it since 2000, it was good to be reminded. At 9 am I got into the car and set off to pick up my brother, who had very kindly agreed to come with me to watch the first parade. As I drove along I saw flags (the Norwegian one, in case you wondered), swaying towards...

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...

A week after stepping onto Norwegian soil, I got on the plane (yes, I know, not very ”global warming friendly”) heading north to YWAM Grimerud, the main YWAM base here in Norway, and the base I’m sent out from as a missionary. I had some wonderful days there participating in a national prayer conference. The conference was great and with nicely spaced out activities, so I finally managed to slow down the pace of life. It was lovely. I was also really amazed and blessed and overwhelmed by the kindness and love I felt from the people at the base. They have faithfully been standing with me in prayer, but I was really touched by so many of them welcoming me home and asking how I was doing. The time there made me feel so much more positive and excited about what lies ahead also. It seems like nothing is impossible for God, and I felt so safe in the trust that He has good things for me. After a few days there I flew (I am a big climate polluter) back home. Since then my life has been quite ...

Driving here in the small town of Sandnes is drastically different from driving in the big-city Fortaleza. There is no action! Actually there is hardly any traffic. I haven't heard anyone use their horn yet, and when the speed limit is 30 kilometers per hour, then people drive 30 kilometers per hour. Not being a very agressive driver myself, I have become influenced by the mad driving in Brazil. It's irritating when the traffic moves slowly. And there is no excitement when people actually use their signal to tell you which way they're turning, and obey the law. The lack of donkeys, horses, cows, recycling carts, and just people in general, stepping into the road at all times means that driving around actually becomes quite a dull exercise. I am also having to concentrate as I approach pedestrian crossings. We're acutally supposed to stop for pedestrians here (shocking, I know), and so I find myself saying "look out for pedestrians, remember to stop at the crossing...