I believe solely in all Your promise

I can't believe I've been here over a month! Crazy. And each week seems to fly by SO fast. I often find myself thinking, "No way, it's Monday again?! No way, it's Tuesday again?! No way, it's Wednesday again?!..." you get the picture.

So this Monday is the first Team Week! They split everyone up into two groups… one group stays in Skien, the other goes out. Then the next Team Week they switch it around. And within those groups, are another 2 groups. Pretty much. I’m in the group that stays in Skien this week. We’ll be doing lots of church work and such. Going to youth groups, Sunday schools, etc etc etc.

Anyway, last night I went to see the Reboot show in a town called Larvik. Long story short, I could have auditioned on Thursday to join Reboot for one of the Team Weeks, buuut, I wasn’t prepared, and I sorta chickened out. But there I was watching Reboot, wishing so bad that I would have auditioned. Sooo I talked to a couple of them, and it sounds like I’ll have a chance to audition in the beginning of November! YAY!

Yep sooo, I slept in today. It was MUCH needed. This past week I didn’t get nearly enough sleep, so sleeping in til 11ish felt SO good!

Here’s some pictures from the “Lovefeast” on Monday:

Did you know that the Norwegian word for "worship" is "lovsang"??

This blog is going to be long.

First of all, thanks for the prayers! My leg is better, my ankle is almost back to normal, and my cold is almost gone. Praise God!!These past few days have been really busy and I've been pretty tired. BUT! They've also been super fun and amazing. First of all, on Monday night, the DTS staff threw a "Lovefeast" for all us DTS students. It was a "Seven Seas" theme. Quick story about that… we were supposed to dress up as something having to do with the sea… and whatnot. I had nothing to wear though, and since I’m cheap, I didn’t want to go and spend a ton of money on the costume. Earlier that day in teaching, we were discussing a little bit about how God is our Provider. So anywho, it was down to the wire and I was planning as being seaweed. But my costume was gonna be really lame cause it was just stuff I already had. Haha. But then a few people were going to the second-hand shop nearby and I just decided to go with them to see if I could find something really cheap to “spice up” my costume. So we went, and apparently the lady there found out we were from YWAM. She then let us borrow the clothes we picked out, as long as we would bring them back. Isn’t that cool?! So I got a much better costume… and I still didn’t have to pay anything. Yay God!

So yeah, we had the lovefeast, and I ate sushi and shrimp… I didn’t exactly like it, but I ate it. And that was kinda fun. Haha. The staff put on entertainment for us… they even wrote a couple songs and sang them! And at the end we all danced for quite awhile to random songs like “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson and the “Blue-da-ba-dee” song. Twas great fun! Then we had limbo and I was the last one to make it through, teehee. I'll try to post some pictures later.

Anyway, this week our teacher has been the base leader, Runar Byburg. The topic was discipleship/God’s character. He has put a lot of focus on teaching about hearing God’s voice though too. His teaching style is really cool… he adds in a lot of stories and examples from his own life… that really helps to make the things he’s teaching about seem like reality. Which is good! SO, lately, I’ve been praying a lot/thinking a lot/learning a lot about hearing God’s voice. We read “Is That Really You, God?”. Then on Tuesday in my small group, we “practiced” hearing God’s voice. We prayed over each other and it was realllllllllly cool and encouraging. I won’t go into detail, but I’ll just say that we did hear from God. I‘m not exactly sure how much of it was actually God. But yesterday Runar gave us some good tips on distinguishing the different voices we hear; God, ourselves, the devil, and other people (especially their expectations). He also said the only way to “get better” at hearing God’s voice… is to (drum roll…….) practice!

Anywayyy, Wednesday I had church work, but I ended up not having to give my testimony this time because we were helping the church set up a flea market. That was pretty much an answer to prayer, because I didn’t feel prepared yet to speak one minute in Norwegian. Hahaha. Yeah.

So yeah, then todayyy was really cool! It was Ragnhild’s 22nd birthday, yayyy! So yeah, this morning there was a base meeting where we had worship, then reports from Reboot (who just got back from Poland), some more “announcement” type things, some words from Runar, and then some prayer and seeking God for vision in 3 different areas of ministry. Yyyep, then there was teaching. Today Soren taught on relationships. Then we split up the guys and girls and Janne talked to us girls. Mmhmm then we had lunch, and then we went to Creative Commnications Class (KKK in Norwegian, haha). When we stepped into the room though, it was set up a lot different than usual… and it was kinda dark and there were candles lit. Then our CCC teacher, Andreas said that God had something else planned for class time today. And yep He sure did! It was just a really good time of much needed seeking after the Holy Spirit, being in His presence, praying with each other, being broken before God, and just being with Him, praising Him. None of us (I think none anyway) wanted to leave! So then we had sports. And instead of going to play soccer, a bunch of the girls got to do aerobics. Solborg, one of the DTS students, led us in aerobic routines! Dude, it was pretty hard! But it was fun! And afterwards I felt like I had gotten a really good workout!

Yeah then we had dinner and took showers and had supper… and now here I am. I’m so tired, but so refreshed at the same time!!!

So that’s a majorly summed up version of what’s been going on the past few days.

OH!!! A couple days ago, we found out which countries we’ll be going to for mini-outreach (two weeks in other parts of Europe). They are: Latvia, Finland, England, Estonia, Sweden, Scotland, and Denmark. We were given a day to pray about it and write down in order which country we wanted (or felt like we should) go to. That was hard! Haha. But I know God will bring me to the right country!

OH OH OH! I get to kinda volunteer at a youth conference called Get Focused during our Fall Break in the beginning of November! It’s gonna be November 3-5 and DELIRIOUS? Is gonna be there! And so is Reuben Morgan, the worship pastor of Hillsong Australia! So that means I get to see Delirious? In freakin NORWAY for free! Teehee.

Okay I’m really tired, I should go to bed.

Prayer request...

Yesterday I learned of an opportunity I have...

Reboot is a team of 7-8 people who tour around to different churches and schools putting on their show, presenting the Gospel through singing, dancing, and preaching. That's my understanding of it anyway!

All of the DTS students have been presented with the opportunity to join Reboot as either a singer, dancer, or "tech" and tour with them for a couple weeks in December. Since the Reboot team lives here at the prison, I've had the chance to talk to some of them and ask them questions about Reboot and whatnot.

So when the staff told us DTS students about joining Reboot for two weeks, something inside of me jumped! I'm thinking about joining as a dancer. I think it would be fun. But then at the same time, I'm really unsure about it. I really need to prayyy about it. So any prayers backing me up for guidance concerning whether or not I should do this Reboot thing, would be AWESOME!!!!

Just a few quick things I've observed about Norwegian culture:
1. They don't say "God bless you/bless you" when people sneeze.
2. When they hug, they touch their faces to one another.
3. They say "For example" a lot! In English and Norwegian!
4. Most of them have never had a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. (I got to see someone eat one for the first time!)
5. They eat a LOT of bread!
6. They drink a LOT of milk!
7. They drink a LOT of coffee! (black coffee)
8. Many of them don't use napkins except for special occasions.
9. They tuck their pants inside their socks.
10. Almost ALL of them play soccer, and play it well. And it's called Futbol.
11. They really like candles. But I don't know if that's just here, with the people at the base, or if it really is a Norwegian thing... to like candles a lot. :)
12. The Norwegian term for "I love you." is used extremely sparingly. When telling their friends that they love them, they instead use a term that means "I dig you.", whereas "I love you" is a MUCH more cherished expression. Isn't that cool?

I know there's more, but I can't think of them right now.

P.S!
I caught a cold that's going around the base right now... and I've also been having pain in my ankle and in my right leg (I have no clue what caused it in my leg!) So yeah, nothing serious, but it would be wonderful if you could remember just my... overall health, in your prayers. haha. YAY! thanks! LOVE YOU ALL!

Jeg gir meg tilbake til deg (that song is ringing in my head, yay!)

Hello all!

Today I went to a church filled with old people! But it was really cool cause there was this African music group there. They were so full of JOY! It was awesome seeing how such a different culture praises God! Come Spring, I will go on outreach for two months… though we don’t know yet where we’re going. But I think I’m becoming more and more fond of the idea of going to Africa. Whereas before, Africa was the very last place I would have ever wanted to go. Now I think I actually want to go!

Anyway, half of this last week of teaching was from video tapes of Loren Cunningham, talking about giving up our rights in order to obey God’s calling on our lives and reach people for Christ. It was pretty challenging, but exciting and inspiring at the same time. The second half of the week our teacher was a former DTS Skien student named Geir Edvin who taught on Team Life and Relationships. He gave us a lot of helpful tools to use in teamwork situations. I know it’ll be reallllly helpful when Team Weeks start. And then he wrapped up the whole week by instilling in us to really find our identity in what God says about/to us. It was goooood.

Team Weeks are coming up fast! If I’m figuring it right, each person will only go on 2 Team Weeks… because it’s every other week, and the whole DTS is split up into two groups… Alpha and Omega… and yeah I don’t feel like explaining the rest.. Especially since I don’t entirely understand it myself. Haha.

Ooo… prayers for my ankle (it’s been hurting) and for my church work (it’s kind of challenging) would be AMAZING!!! TUSSEN TAKK!

MUCHO LOVE TO YOU ALL!!!!

***edit***
I just thought I'd add that a few nights ago, I had the privelage of explaining baseball for like a half hour to a couple people. It was fun! I didn't even know I knew that much about baseball. Actually I don't know that much... it just seemed like I did, haha.

Hei! Jeg heter Melissa. Hva heter du? Jeg er i Norge! Hvor er du? Du er i byen Seattle! Jeg er ikke i Seattle. Du er! Jeg snakker engelsk. Ja!

The above is my limited knowledge of the Norwegian language so far. Yesterday Ragnhild (staff, and my mentor!) began a Norwegian course for us foreigners. So that's what I learned. It means...

"Hi! My name is Melissa. What is your name? I am in Norway. Where are you? You are in the city (of) Seattle! I am not in Seattle. You are! I speak English. Yeah!"

Anyway,
I've been learning lots lately. One thing that keeps popping up in my mind is something that Runar (base leader) said on the wilderness trip. He told us that not being ourselves is an ungodly thing to do. We are made in the image of God. Sometimes, we try to be someone or something other than who God created us to be. But since we are made in God's image, we are more like Him when we are more like ourselves. There has been a strong emphasis and encouragement in these past two weeks for us to BE OURSELVES. Because when we're ourselves, we are who God created.

This week is our first REAL real week. Yesterday we started "duties". My "duty" is cleaning the dining room with Helina (from Estonia) three times a week. It kinda reminds me of doing lobby at Dairy Queen... only it doesn't suck. :) Tomorrow night is my first time at "church work". I'll be helping out at a Baptist church with their Junior High and Highschool choir group. Should be interesting seeing as how I've never ever been in a choir. But hey, challenges are good, right? Once a month there will be a discussion group at the church too.

Tomorrow we're also getting a new teacher for the DTS. He'll be here til Friday, and he's teaching on relationships and teamwork.

There's so much more to say... but my mind is kind of done for tonight. hah. So here's some pictures!

This is Therese, the other Melissa, me, and Tonje, yay!














Here are some pictures from the base... :)

































GOD BLESS YOU ALLLLLL!