picture time :)

Right now my mind is very confused about whether I've been here for a long time or a short time. I've been here for 11 days now. So far we've gone on a wilderness trip and we've had a "half real" week with teaching. YAY for teaching! Doug Easterday was our teacher for this past week, and he talked about "The Father Heart of God". That was pretty much amazing. Yesterday was the last day of the teaching week, and we had a time of prayer which lasted wayyy longer than it felt like. It was verrryyy good, and afterwards everyone was so energized!

Here's a picture of the DTS Staff:






















And here's the DTS students (click to enlarge):


















Lots of people brought their laptops, teehee.

T Here's Tonje getting tickled!














Hanging out inbetween teaching.

I need sleep!

Hello everyone!!!

Well I'm here in Norway. There is so much to tell and so much to describe, but I really need to go to bed soon. I get up at 6am... breakfast at 7am. OH! They don't use napkins in Norway! Or at least they don't here. What else... we have four smaller meals instead of three meals. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are like lunch food, and supper is like breakfast food! It's very interesting! Anyway, I guess I'll write a little more, haha.

I can already tell that everyone here is going to be really open and awesome! I got to the base a day earlier then when all the students were "supposed" to get there. Four other students got there that day too, so I got to know them... here's a picture I took of us in the mall!

So that's a bad picture of me, but whatever. That's Tonje (who reminds me of ERIN!), Elisabeth, me, Katie (from Idaho), and Martin. tada! It's really weird and cool because even though I've only known these people for one day, I already feel comfortable with them... like sisters and brother in Christ, yay! And even though I've only been at this here YWAM base for a day, tonight when all the other students arrived, it seemed like I had been here a lot longer. That's not bad, just strange!

Annnd there's another Melissa H. here from the Seattle area, who is 18, who has a norwegian grandpa, and a 14-year-old brother. Oh and guess what, her brother Eric went to KMVA. Yeah, crazy. HECKA small world, really huge God, right? right.

Anyway, tomorrow we're going on a "wilderness trip", and we're coming back on Saturday. I'm a teeny bit nervous, cause I don't know what all we'll be doing.... but it'll be okay.

Oh one more thing before I go. We had "meeting" tonight, where the DTS leaders welcomed us and talked some and shared a verse and such. And thennn we had worship. Even though we only had like three songs, and one guitar and a piano, I honestly could just feel the presence of God soooo much. I can't WAIT for more of that!!! We're having more worship tomorrow morning so that'll be gooood.

Okay now I really need to get to bed.

God bless you alllllllll!

"Greetings my most honored nonexistant readers!" -- Martin

I decided to get one of these blogs so I can keep people updated on what I'm doing in Skien, Norway!! I know I already have a myspace blog and all of that... but not everyone can read that, plus(!), this way I can keep everything kind of separate. tada!

So I guess I'll post what I wrote on the way here.

9-16-06
11:06 pm

The plane took off about 40 minutes ago-ish. Me being my procrastinating self, I did all my packing today. After sleeping in until 10:30. Yep. And hey, the only thing I forgot was my iPod headphones. Sad day about that, but my parents will ship them to me along with my new glasses in a couple weeks. So that’s good and dandy. Earlier, we flew over RYC. I was wishing I would have told people to listen for me (or for the plane). And I’m wishing I had my iPod headphones because then I could listen to “Airplane” by Bethany Dillon. It would be oh so perfect . Except for the fact that that song talks of seeing mountaintops and such… and for me, since it’s night time, all I can see is blackness and lights and stars. Speaking of stars, looking out my window I can see the big dipper, straight on. It’s pretty nifty. Well anyway, I tried to see if my laptop would get any internet connection on this here flight, so maybe I could actually talk to someone while flying. How cool would that be? But no such luck. Thus, I am writing this, and will post it later. Well I think I’m about done now. I should take advantage of the next 4 ½ hours and sleep. Tomorrow is a loooong, busy day. I’ll be walking around/riding around on busses in New York tomorrow. One of the places I wanted to stop by was Rupert Gee’s Hello Deli. But I found out on the website that they’re stinkin closed on Sundays. Lame! Hah, but I’ll get my picture in front of it at least. Dude, I almost forgot. The Schwankes, Chris, and Devon came to the airport tonight to say goodbye to me. That was really cool of them. It was weird saying goodbye. But Joanna gave me a letter that I read just a few minutes ago. Lemme tell ya, I had to hold back the tears, cause she wrote exactly what I was thinking. She knows me well. Well, the Tylenol PM is kicking in. Time for sleeping. Goodnight. Safe flight… for me. :]


9-18-06
9:45 pm

I can say with confidence that this evening, I had the best shower I’ve had since getting home from Mexico in May.

Already in only two days, and before even getting to the DTS, I have many crazy stories and memories. Actually, I also can say that already there have been miracles! Long story, but we almost didn’t get on our flight from Newark to Oslo. We had literally less than one minute to check our bags. Praise God that He got us on that flight! Seriously, that was a miracle. Plus, none of us have had horrible headaches or stomach aches or anything like that! And I’m only supposed to wear my contacts for like 8-10 hours, but due to unforeseen circumstances, I ended up having to wear them for about 43 hours straight. But my eyes were barely dry at all! Another miracle.

Now about New York, we spent something like 10 hours walking around, and taking busses. Instead of telling everything we did, and everywhere we went, I will write about what I observed in New York.


1. IT IS HUGE! It just goes on and on and on and on and on and onnnn.
2. There are a hecka lotta people there… and LOTS of Asian and European tourists.
3. The sidewalks are ginormous, to fit all the people.
4. There are really sickeningly sleazy billboards everywhere.
5. There are less homeless people in NYC than in Seattle.
6. THE PIGEONS are extremely unafraid of people. I could have picked one up if I wanted to.
7. Parts of it are really clean and tidy.
8. The people are pretty friendly. Several random people would just strike up a conversation with us.
9. There is a lot of NOISE!
10. People always honk their horns in hopes of making traffic go faster? I don’t even know!
11. All the New Yorkers instinctively know when to cross the street. They always start walking about 2-3 seconds before the walk sign lights up.

Tada!

Today we arrived at the Oslo airport. It was relatively small, but nice. The conveyer belt things at the baggage claim were rubber and not metal. And parts of the airport smelled really cool. I don’t know why.

So ever since I got up on Saturday morning and packed everything, it has seemed to be like one big long day. Everything feels so surreal. Earlier tonight, I was looking out the window of my parents’ hotel room, and I felt almost as if I was living out a story, or a movie. I think part of all of that is the lack of sleep, the “culture-shock” and especially the jet-lag, which goes hand-in-hand with the sleep deprivation. Oh, and ever since I got off the plane this morning, all day long it feels like everything underneath my feet is moving. It almost feels like I’m standing on a water bed and there’s waves crashing under me. I’ve been on so many elevators and escalators and planes and busses etc etc etc, that I think my mind is tricking my body into thinking it’s still moving up and down and all around. It’s kinda weeeiiiiird! Hah.

So anyway, I’ll write more about Norway, and what it’s like later, when I experience more of it. Tomorrow morning we’re having breakfast in the hotel, then we’re going to the DTS base (the prison!). I’ll meet (a few of) the people I’ll be living with for the next 8.5 months. That’s an interesting thought. This still doesn’t all seem quite real. But I am definitely excited. And… you know when you just know people are praying for you? And you can see the effects of the prayers, happening right before your eyes? Well yep, that’s what’s been happening for me the past couple days. So praise God for that! And thank you all for your prayers. Time to get some much needed sleep. Dude, I really need it. I’m starting to have little spells of ‘micro-sleep”. Goodnight, and God bless!