Set Apart

last update here...

2007-08-02T13:47:00.000-07:00

Long time since my last update. Graduated DTS, and now I'm back in good ol' SeaTac, Washington. I've been home for about two months, but I'm leaving again in... 3 days! I'll be joining the "One-Year-Team" to Ethiopia this year!

I'm not going to write in this blog anymore. My new blog is: www.melissaheck.blogspot.com

byeeee! :)

Welcome to Thailand

2007-04-10T00:44:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody!

I'm no longer in Norway... now I'm in Thailand!

Our team left on March 23rd and arrived in Bangkok the next day. A few days later we travelled to Mae Sot, to work with a Thai man here: Pastor Michael. So far we've mainly been doing evangelistic "street meetings" which consist of attention-getters like silly dances, then dramas and testimonies, and sharing the Gospel. Many people have been saved and a few people have also been healed. it's sooo cool to see and be a part of what God's been doing here!

This past weekend, we were at an English Camp for 12-16 year olds which was put on by the Thai government. We had the privilege of teaching about Western culture and about listening and speaking English. We were somewhat limited in what we were allowed to share about the Gospel, but we still could share some! In fact, on Easter Sunday, we did our "Gospel Drama" and we were able to explain it and say that "This very day is the day that we celebrate Jesus' resurrection".

Lately I believe God's been pounding into my mind and heart even more of what the Gospel means... I guess that's because we've been sharing and preaching it SO much. It's becoming more and more a part of my thought processes. I think sometimes I can get carried away in making my relationship with God too complicated. So it's soooo good to realize the complicated simplicity of the Gospel. Christ as a sacrifice, so I can once again be in fellowship with my Heavenly Father.

So, today is our day off. Then tomorrow, we're headed off to the JUNGLE! We will be in different Karen villages for 8 or 9 days. The Karen are a people group of refugees and displaced people. They have been kicked out of Burma (because of the war that has been going on there for 50 plus years) and have been forced to live in Thailand... continually being chased because of war, and living in fear. Please pray for the Karen people and other non-Burmese people groups of Burma (Myanmar).

Thank you all very much for the prayers! So far I've been very healthy and have not had ANY stomach problems! PRAISE GOD! :) Please keep praying that God does mighty things during our time here and for safety (physical, spiritual, etc) and health for our team. THANKS!!! :)

I sometimes miss home, but I'm so glad to be here, and I'm so thankful that I have such wonderful people backing me up at home.

By the way, here's our Thailand Team blog:
www.thailandteam2007.blogspot.com

There you can find pictures and updates of my time with my team in Thailand.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

~Melissa

Spring is in the air...

2007-03-10T05:25:00.000-08:00

Things are changing! Soon we're leaving for outreach. This past week was our last real teaching week of the DTS. We've all been going around saying things like "This is our last breakfast all together on a monday! This is our last Friday of teaching! This is our last weekend all together!" etc. It's pretty weird! It's almost like the DTS is ending... even though there's still over two months left. But just the fact that we all know that we'll all be splitting up, going to different countries all over the world... I guess that makes it seem like the DTS (as we know it) is ending. I guess it is!

But anyway, on Monday, as I was walking to the classroom for the morning teaching session, it was raining. And I was SOOO happy! I was so happy it was raining and not snowing! In my last blog I mentioned that I'm tired of winter and want it to be spring now. Today I was walking around Skien a bit, and I could just SMELL spring! It smells good. But soon we'll be leaving and then it will go from being still a bit cold to being FLIPPING HOT AND HUMID! I'm praying that I'll get used to that kind of weather, aheh. :)

This past teaching week has been amazing. Amazing, inspiring, encouraging, and exciting! The topic was: MISSION. Our teacher was Sigmund Evensen, who was a missionary (or he would say "linguist" or "Bible translator") in Papua New Guinea for 20 years. He is now the leader for Wycliffe Norway. He had so many cool stories, and such a refreshing view on missions. Ah, it was marvelous. :-)

Now we're all running around, getting things together for outreach, preparing dramas and devotions, trying to learn a bit of the language of the country we're going to (that would be Thai for my team and I), etc, etc, etc. I get to be in charge of the Thailand Team 2007 BLOG! :-) As of now, it has nothing on it. But that will change hopefully very soon. So here's the URL if you're interested: www.thailandteam2007.blogspot.com tada!

And on Tuesday, we're all having one last Team Week before outreach... with our outreach team, if that makes sense.

So today is a Saturday... I have to buy a backpack, do laundry, help with the Thailand Team 2007 newsletter, work on the blog, and maybe learn/practice some more dramas or something.

COUNTDOWN TO MY BIRTHDAY: 11 days
COUNTDOWN TO THAILAND: 13 days

Happy March!

2007-03-01T12:13:00.000-08:00

I read the following verse this morning. It strikes me in some way, but I'm not sure what that way is. So I'm chewing on it.
Jeremiah 2:13 ~
My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

What is sin? Sin is what separates us from God. In this verse, sin # 1 that the israelites were committing was forsaking God, the spring of living water. Sin # 2 is replacing the spring of living water (God) with their own failing, broken cisterns. hmm... I need to keep chewing.

Anyway, a couple days ago I came to the conclusion that the culture shock I've been experiencing in the past month or so (to different degrees), must finally be going away! I figure this, because I feel like myself again. I didn't realize how much I didn't feel like myself until I actually felt like myself again. What does myself feel like? Happy, joyful, and sometimes hyper... or typered (tired+hyper=typered).

Yep so right now I'm on a Team Week here in Skien. Today I played with two little kids for two hours. The three-year-old spoke a little bit of English because his dad speaks English to him. That was so much fun, being able to communicate with a little kid! (I miss that... being able to talk to and understand little kids. I miss being able to communicate with elderly people, too.) We taught each other colors. And other things. It was marvelous. It was grand.

Next week is another teaching week. A man who was a missionary in Papua New Guinea is coming to teach on Mission! I am so very excited!!!

And that is all.

Goodnight, God bless, sweet dreams.

Latvia, Skudeneshavn, Lovefeast, etc.

2007-02-21T05:05:00.000-08:00

May I start this blog by saying... I'm sorry for the lack of updates as of late. I guess it's been a bit busy.

Secondly! May I say... I'm ready for Spring! Snow is nice and beautiful and all of that. But it's also cold. I'm ready for Spring. hehe.

So I found out some more things about Thailand. I'm leaving 2 days after my 19th birthday... March 23rd. Also, we're taking a flight to Moscow, staying there for 7 hours, then flying to Bangkok. I really hope that we'll be able to get out in the city for a couple hours while we're in Moscow. Oh, that would be so cool! But we shall see.

Here's what's been going on since my last update...

MINI-OUTREACH IN LATVIA!
Some highlights:
- It was a verrrry somehow refreshing time for me! Thank you for praying! I got enough rest!
- I got to teach "Father Abraham" to a bunch of people. That was way fun!
- We had a "house church meeting". The people were SO free and in love with God... it was inspiring! :D
- We got to spend a day walking around Latvia's capitol, Riga.
- Again, thanks for praying... we had great teamwork and team unity. Our team had a LOT of fun there!
- We went to many peoples' homes and schools... it was cool to see how God worked through us even though we weren't even doing that much... sometimes we were just there.
- We helped set up a missions conference. We made a "missions cafe".

I'll put up some pictures from Latvia later.
Next up... KEN HELSER WEEK!

The teaching topic was kind of journaling... it's a specific way of journaling. The technique is that you write down God's thoughts... conversations with God on paper. Pretty cool! The thing is, Ken only teaches on journaling for like an hour or two the WHOLE week. The rest of the time, he just goes with the flow... he plays the piano and sings, he tells stories, he prophesies and prays for us, he shares his heart with us. Unfortunately, I was only able to be there for about half of the week, because I got sick again. But during the time I was there, it was so great. He talked about living from the heart, and letting your mind be submissive to your heart, rather than the other way around. He's like a grandpa type person... there's just so much of God in him. I think I learned more this week from the way Ken is than I did from what he actually said.

What else...
Ah yes, REUNION!
From Friday to Sunday that week, there was a reunion for former DTS students of YWAM Skien. So we had a TON of people in the base during that time. I actually don't have much to say about the reunion, because I was in bed most of the time, being sick.

SO, then last Monday night, we had an...
AMERICAN NIGHT!
That was quite lovely. We ate rice-a-roni and chocolate chip cookies and watched the movie, Elizabethtown. We had it at Lyndee's (an American staff) apartment... it was me, the other Melissa, and Katie, and then Evan joined later.

Next...
TEAM WEEK IN SKUDENESHAVN!
For so long, people have been telling me, "You have to go to the west coast!!! It's so beautiful there!". So for a long time, I've really been wanting to go to the west coast of Norway. And finally, I got put on a team going to the west coast, yay! We were on an island called Carmøy, in a town called Skudeneshavn, or Skudenes. It was such a quiet, cute little town. Good times there.

Then, this last Monday night, it was the guys' turn to throw a
GIRLS' LOVEFEAST!
All week prior, we were really worried that the guys didn't really have anything planned... haha. And then the morning of the Lovefeast day, in class, they finally gave us some information. Theme: none, time: 6:00pm, dress code: nice, sidenote: "since this is a lovefeast, love you all!" So... we got all dressed up, showed up ready to go into the basement at 18:00 sharp. And as we went down, it was a "grandiosa lovefeast". Grandiosa is a type of frozen pizza. And then there were mattresses on the floor, for us to sit on... and there was some really crappy "entertainment". Then they only had like two pizzas, it was burned, the guys ate it all, and they put out cereal. Basically it sucked, and some of the girls were starting to be sad/mad. During this time, many of us girls were thinking/saying "This HAS to be a joke!"

AND THEN, IT WAS A JOKE!

Praise the LORD it was a joke, haha! The fire alarm went off, and we all lined up outside the prison, and then some cars drove up and took us driving around for like an HOUR, and then we finally got to the Bedehus (prayer house/church-type place). All the guys were lined up, ready to escort each girl in, and take her coat. They were waiting in there to serve us some cider stuff... and then as soon as we were all there, they opened up the other room, where there were these fancy tables set up, with place settings and flowers petals and candles and the works. It was so good! Then each girl got escorted to her seat... and there was live music and entertainment and a playlist of songs that girls like and good food and dessert... they did a great job. And then! Ole had a speech for the girls, and they gave us each a personalized card with encouragements and words they got from God when they had prayed for us.

Then they put on dance music at the end. That was fun! So all in all, they did a VERY good job, and we were all SO glad it wasn't what we thought it was at first.

THIS WEEK
We have an Australian teacher who's living as a pastor and evanglist in France. He's teaching on Evangelism. It's some more quite challenging teaching, because of the way he says things sometimes. But it makes us think! I love that. He has a focus on PASSION for the lost... and how we should share Jesus because of the intense passion that God has for the lost... and that we need to get GOD'S heart for the lost. Anyway, it's really good. But I'm sick again, so I didn't go to teaching today. I'll be going back again tomorrow.

Prayer that I will stop getting sick would be GREAT! You can pray that I don't have a lung infection or anything. And that I'll get better soon.

Friday night through Tuesday night (I think?), we have winter break. I'm staying here at the base, along with probably all the other foreigners, and maybe some other people, I don't know. It will be a nice chance to relax.

Okay I guess that's it for now! I will try to put pictures up real soon. LOVE YOU ALL, MISS YOU ALL, GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

Psalm 139:4

2007-01-21T13:21:00.000-08:00

"Before a word is on my tongue, You know it completely, O Lord."

No pictures today. So, this last week we had teaching on Spiritual Warfare, from a lady named Hanne something or other. Tomorrow (Monday) morning at 2:00am, I'm leaving with 6 other people for Latvia for two weeks! We'll be visiting a one-year team there, and working with them! I'm not exactly sure yet of everything we'll be doing there, but I think we're going to be working in schools and making house visits. It should be really interesting to go to this part of Europe, and see how these people live. Other DTS teams these next two weeks are doing their outreach in: Estonia, England, Finland, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden. There's also a team of staff going to Madrid!

Not too much else going on as of now. When we get back from mini-outreach, we will have the (much anticipated) Ken Helser week. He will be teaching on Journaling, but apparently he teaches on many things, more than just journaling. So many people have said that it was their favorite teaching week of their DTS. But (haha) I'm trying not to get my hopes up too crazy high.

In other news, I think "culture shock" is taking its beginning stages among the other foreigners and I. Which would make sense, because apparently studies have shown that culture shock sets in between the 4th and 5th month in another culture. I've been here something like 4 1/2 months now. It's not a huge deal, it's just weird. I don't gid to explain it right now though. (gid = "norwenglish" for "bother").

What else, God is good! He has really been showing me His faithfulness and unconditional love lately. He's so good! :D

Anywho, I have to pack for Latvia! If anyone wants to pray, here's what you can pray about! Good health for all the teams, enough rest (both physically and spiritually, in God), team unity/teamwork, and last but certainly not least, for God to work through us, letting His will be done in these countries!

Farewell all of you, and God bless!!!

Be, be honest. Be, be, be honest!

2007-01-12T08:11:00.000-08:00

Hey people!

Yes, so, for Christmas break, I spent a few days in Mandal, with Solbjørg and her family. We spent some time in the main part of the town. It was sooo cute. And such nice nature!!! Here's some pictures!

Then I took a bus to Oslo and met Therese there. She showed me around the city a bit. We ate at McDonald's, haha, it was awesome! And I saw the castle where the King of Norway lives!

On the 28th, we drove to Hamar, for the New Year's Festival, at the main YWAM Norway base: Grimerud. There were something like 300ish participants there I believe. Most of them age 15 and up. Many DTS students and staff from our base and other YWAM Norway bases went as staff. We had duties... cleaning, cooking, etc etc etc. Also, the Norwegian staff got to lead smallgroups.

Anywho, at Grimerud, they have a prayer room... it's soooo nice, and cozy ;). I went in there one day, I had it all to myself for the majority of the time. IT WAS HEAVENLY! There were different stations (or walls)... one was the World Wall, meant to pray for the world, and the missionaries out in the world. As I sat there, curled up on a mattress, with a blanket, with lit candles and soft music... looking at the World Wall, I suddenly remembered how much pain and suffering is in the world. And I asked God a question... I asked Him why He would allow a world He created and loves so much, to be in such bad shape. Basically, the cliche "Why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?" question.

I already knew the answer... the whole "it's a result of sin" thing. Which is true, I know. But God showed me something else. On the "World Wall" of the prayer room, it had a picture of the world, upside-down... and it said "How does GOD see the world?" I think sometimes we focus too much on all the pain and suffering in the world. Don't get me wrong -- there are a lot of problems... and a LOT we can and should do to help improve things. But God reminded me that while there are things about the world that are... less than lovely... the world, and all its people still are God's creation! He still loves the WHOLE world. And there is still SOOO much beauty in the world! Look around at nature! But not only in nature... also in people. Whenever someone does something good or praiseworthy, is that not a piece of God's beauty? Even if only a small piece? And a sunset, or breathtaking views of mountains and seas... is that not a piece of God's beauty???

We have so much around us to be in awe of.

Anywho. Here's some pictures!!! (of my time in Oslo, and of the New Year's Festival and Worker's Gathering)

Sooo... what else... yeah, the Worker's Gathering:
Twas very good! I really really enjoyed being able to meet people from other YWAM Norway bases. I even met some more foreigners! We had a lot of good teaching from different people. One of the teachers was Duncan Smith, from Toronto, Canada. We also were able to go to different seminars, and see what our other opportunities with YWAM Norway were. I don't think I'll get any more details about the Worker's Gathering though. But it was really cool!

I had a very nice break! One thing I learned is that it has become so much easier for me to adapt to different places, and to moving around, and to living out of a suitcase. Cause that's what I did for about 3 weeks straight. But it was really good! And it was sooo good to get "home" to the base! Only... when we got there, there hadn't been anyone in the prison for over a week or something. So it was FREEZiNG in there! It was so cold I could see my breath ;) ;) ;) (that's for you, Joanna!!) It's finally back to normal temperature again, pretty much. (which is kinda.. not warm... but at least it's not freezing!)

MOVING ON!
Sorry, this is getting reallllly long.
buuut... I'm continuing anyway!!! :)
So this week we had teaching on WORSHIP from Rudi Myntevik (a Norwegian worship leader) He is now living in London, writing songs in ENGLISH! He played a couple of them that he's working on for us in class... :) you can go to his myspace HERE --> http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=62242647 ).

I loved the way Rudi taught... often he would just sit on a stool and there would be this atmosphere of discussion, and figuring things out together... all of us. He was so real, and so down to earth... it was soooo nice and refreshing! One of the first things we did, was look at all the "christianese worship words" like: worship, praise, honor, glory, blessing, exalt, etc. These words are used so much in worship/praise songs... yet do we really know what they mean? And do we really know what we're doing when we're having "worship time"? When the pastor says, "Let's praise the Lord"... what does that really mean?? Does it mean "Let's stand up and sing songs"? It was very good/challenging to consider these questions. Rudi’s idea on what worshp and praise should be, is a response to what God is/has done in/for us. It should be thankfulness, from our hearts, to God… as a response! And it should be HONEST! He also brought up how in the world of worship, there is a culture; the songs we sing, the way we sing them, whether we stand or sit or sway or kneel…. close our eyes or clap our hands… etc. that’s all part of the “culture” That doesn’t mean it’s bad… it just is. But it’s whether or not we really mean what we’re doing/saying/singing. Challenging stuff to think about! Basically, we just need to BE HONEST before God… because… do we really think He’s pleased with cheap words that we don’t mean? He’s more interested in our obedience, and our honesty. ACK, there’s sooo much more good stuff to say about this teaching week… but I can’t get it all down!

So I will now tell of the SNOW!
Yes… we finally had some more snow, for goodness sake! I mean, I’m in NORWAY! It should be cold and snowing!! It’s said to have been the warmest winter here in like 50 years. Which is why there has been an extreme lack of snow. Actually, I think my lovely little home in SeaTac, has had a lot more snow than what I’ve seen while I’ve been here in Norway. How can that be? Kinda funny actually. But ANYWAY, we got snow yesterdayyy!!!! Get this… the snow here has a BLUE TINT to it!!!! It’s amazing! (oh and some parts or Norway have REALLY RED sunsets…. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.) Yep, so yesterday, for gym, instead of playing soccer, or doing aerobics, or running up and down stairs…. We had SNOW GYM!!!!!!!! We were to “dress warm for snow activities”!!! Then we just spent like almost two hours doing team snow games… seeing which team could build the biggest snowman, etc. And then just having a big snowball fight, pretty much. I don’t think I’ve had that much fun in the snow since I was like 9 or 10 years old or something! I PLAYED in the snow! I had not done that for such a long time. Mmm, it was good. And then TODAY, we had some extra time, so we had “fun time”… in which we drove to this forest place, and we hiked a short while…then we played capture the flag in the snow. I’ve never liked capture the flag… but the fact that it was in the snow, in a forest, made it better. J

And tomorrow is Saturday!

The end.

God bless you alllllllllllllll!

P.S.
If you made it all the way through this long blog… WAY TO GO!!!!!!!!!!! You have patience, my friend.

catching up...

2006-12-22T00:05:00.000-08:00

FIRST OF ALL,
Monday, November 27th we started the week out with another LOVEFEAST. This time, us DTS girls planned it for the DTS guys. Theme: Army of God! :D We did lots of fun stuff, and as far as I know, I think everyone had a good time! I had a great time. Oh, I got picked (without knowing beforehand) to be one of the competitors in the guys vs. girls random, crazy competitions... stuff. Here are some pictures! :)

So that was the Lovefeast!
That night, Pelle from Switzerland arrived. He was our teacher for the week. Topic: THE HOLY SPIRIT.

That was a very good, very cool, very thought-provoking, very refreshing week! That Friday we had a "Holy Spirit Night". I can't possibly write about all the things that happened throughout the week! But I'm glad they did happen! :) The whole week was kind of a "you had to be there" thing because like I said, it's so hard to explain all the details! But it was good!! :)

Don't really have any pictures from that week.

Next up...
TEAM WEEK HÅNES:

The coolest thing for me was getting to spend three days in the elementary school there. We didn't actually do much while we were there, which is very uncommon... usually we have to plan all this program and games and dramas and devotions and whatever else. But we were kinda just... there. Hanging around. I was with Janne (leader) in the 7th grade class. Those 7th graders were awesome, I miss them! They were so sweet and so friendly and open. And they spoke English to me! Voluntarily! It was so cool!! I also got to sit in on a couple English classes... that was so interesting!! One day I even got to be in a 3rd grade English class! They were so sweet, and funny and crazy!

Anyway, here's some pictures from Team Week Hånes...

YAY!

So that brings me to...
This last Teaching Week on LEADERSHIP!
Our teacher was a man named Mike, from Germany. His real name is Marion, I think, but he goes by Mike. Anywho, he told that he wanted to share life and experiences, rather than theories and lectures. He talked a lot about our authority in Christ, and how as humans, we have authority... because that was God's intention with Adam and Eve. Just check out Psalm 8! Anywho, it was cool! Also, for me a lot of what Mike talked about was kind of a reassuring of other things I've learned from past teachers. It was almost like God was tying a bunch of things from the past three months together, before break, so I could "chew on it". hehe.

And thennn...
Friday, the 15th was the day of the YWAM SKIEN CHRISTMAS PARTY! It was quite a new type of experience for me! You see, Christmas in Norway is very formal. At least the parties are. At least that's what I've seen and heard! So, we all dressed up a bunch... like prom dresses and whatnot... and then we had this dinner! It was a traditional Norwegian Christmas dinner. It was very tasty! Then we had dessert and afterwards, we ALL (something like 80 or 90 of us) put on our coats and scarves and went to the center of the city (which is like... RIGHT THERE), and walked/ran around the big Christmas tree singing Christmas songs! We were so loud, and out of sync with each other! haha, it was great. Then we went into the basement of the classroom, where there were decorated tables set up and candles everywhere and dim lights, and stage (for the entertainment)! This was another one of those "you had to be there" times. But there was a whole lot of funny sketches and songs etc etc etc put on by lots of different Skien YWAMers.

Unfortunately, I don't have that many pictures of this night... but here are the ones I do have!

And, now I'm on Christmas break! I've been staying with my friend Solbjørg and her family since Saturday. It has been soooo nice and sooo relaxing! Oh it's wonderful! I miss everyone back home and it's SO weird not being home for Christmas... but I'm so thankful that God's taking care of me here and providing warm, welcoming, friendly, hospitable people for me to stay with! I feel so at home, even though I'm not at MY home! Tomorrow I'm leaving for a place near Oslo, to stay with my friend Therese! I'll have Christmas with her and her family!! That will be very nice, to have Christmas with a family!!

Well then, I'm going to sleep now! Long bus ride tomorrow from here to Oslo!

I'll post pictures and tell of my Christmas vacation later on. :)

GOD JUL AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

God bless you all!!

want to see some pictures?

2006-11-19T03:44:00.000-08:00

The last couple weeks have been really busy, but really GREAT! On Wednesday the 8th, I head out for a Team Week to a place called Søgne, near Kristiansand. It was such a packed program, and we were so busy all the time, but it was SO amazing! I can't even explain how or why, but it was. We did a lot of "church work" (teaching sunday school, leading youth meetings, giving testimonies, working with confirmants, giving devotions, doing dramas, songs, dances, etc etc etc) and we went to a couple schools too. The picture below is Team Søgne, we sometimes referred to ourselves as the "Dream Team" just because we all fit together SO WELL. It was totally God that picked that team out so perfectly.

Left to Right: Markus (team leader), Hanne (team leader), Linda, me, Solbjørg (Sol), Tone (and Markus' daughter, Lydia in Tone's arms), Amund, and Sindre.

This was the room us girls slept in. Right before we left it. Notice the butterflies on the wall... the room was decorated with these butterflies, which was very funny/cool because before we left, Malin (DTS student) said our team would be like a butterfly, spreading joy. Then we kept running into butterfly things wherever we went. :-) I miss sleeping in that room with those girls. It was so much fun!

We got a home-cooked dinner every day. The hospitality of these people was absolutely incredible. I never knew how much I would appreciate hospitality! And how much it shows God's love. It was SOOO nice to be in a warm HOME, a REAL home, with a real kitchen and a real bathroom, eating food that they bring to you! The prison can get kinda cold.

This is just a glimpse of the beautiful nature in Søgne. As we were driving around the area, I often found myself just staring out the window with my mouth dropped open, being completely in awe of the nature all around me.

Maria, Lydia, and Sindre... en, to, tre, HOPP! Right before we left Søgne.

In the car on the way back to the PRISON! :) We were all quite tired.

Hanne (staff) had a haircut day on Saturday (the 18th). She did such a good job on everyone! Afterwards there were people walking around all over the base, with new hair and big smiles!! :D

Moving Onward!!
On Monday, November 13th, we started a new Teaching Week. Our teacher was a Dutchman named Tjebbo! The topic was Evangelism, but his teaching seemed to be on other subjects too. He talked a lot about the will of God. He talked about other things too, including some about evangelism and "city mapping". His teaching techniques are different, but really cool. He said he didn't come here for us, he came for God. He came to the DTS not to give us answers, but to "frustrate" us and to "provoke" us. He wants us to actually search out the answers for ourselves. Well, this was the most challenging teaching for me personally so far. I think that's because it did make me think so much. It challenged sooo much of what was already in my mind... and it made me re-evaluate myself and so many things I've believed. It did "provoke" me and "frustrate" me, but in a really cool, good way. It was SUCH a good workout for my mind. And it kind of forced me to take all my questions to GOD, rather than just taking every word of the teaching and not really processing it. That was realllllly good for me. I'm so glad Tjebbo came here to "frustrate" and "provoke" us.

Anyway!
This past week has been another Team Week. I'm on a team that stays in Skien this week. Since I couldn't be home for Thanksgiving, my loverly parents sent me a "Thanksgiving Survival Kit", to be shared with my American friends here on Thanksgiving. But unfortunately, some of the other Americans were out on Team Week during Thanksgiving. SO, we celebrated it on Monday instead of Thursday!! Here are some pictures!

hehe, it was a very "humble" Thanksgiving lunch. We bought turkey lunch meat, instant mashed potatoes, "buns", a pastry, corn chips, and kiwi at the store, and we pulled it all together with some apple juice (instead of sparkling cider) and some jam (instead of cranberry sauce). It was fun!! :)

Clockwise from left: Evan (from Canada), Melissa (from Auburn, WA), Katie (from Idaho), and me! So there we are. Before we ate, we went around the table to say something we were thankful for! yay! Little did I know that ON Thanksgiving, we were going to have an actual "American Thanksgiving meal" with the whole base (or with all who were not OUT on Team Week). It was nummay. :)

NEWS:
Last teaching week, Søren announced which countries we'll be going to for MAIN OUTREACH! The countries are: Thailand, Ethiopia, Ecuador, Botswana, India, and Laos. We were given the weekend to pray about where we wanted to go/where God wanted us to go... and then on Monday we had to hand in a piece of paper with our preferences... numbered countries 1-4. This next Teaching Week, they're going to announce the outreach teams! That means that I'll find out where I'm going and who I'm going with! I'm really looking forward to next week. Not only will I find out where I'm going on outreach, but the teaching topic is "The Holy Spirit". Apparently the teacher is going to go through all the spiritual gifts and practically teach about each one of them. And (hehe) they're changing the schedule a bit in the end of the week, in order to "make time and room" for the Holy Spirit. So it should be pretty nifty! haha.

Anyway, tonight I'm headed off to a state church youth club thing. Kasper has the intro, Tonje has the devotion, and Ole, Kasper, Søren and I... are going to lead worship. Yeah. I have no clue why I accepted this task. oh my word. What am I getting myself into? haha. Well... the "team goal" for this team week, as well as my "personal outward goal" is to do something new in ministry, something we haven't done before. SO... this is definitely a challenge... and at least it will make me meet my goal, haha. Plus, I'm praying that God will just sing for me. That would be nice.

Here's some pictures from our "Team Gathering" lunch today at Helene and Markus' (staff) house:

Therese, Helina! (too much coffee Helina!)

Kasper, Tonje

me, Kasper

Tonje, Søren, and Helina!

Søren played a German song for us, yay!

I love it when Tonje laughs!

And then someone decided to shake their face in front of the camera, and take a picture of it.

So Ole did the same.

As did Tonje.

Hey, hvorfor ikke? It looked like fun.

Well I guess that's all for now!!
God bless you all! And Happy Late Thanksgiving!!!!

***edit***
I almost forgot. I'm in a band now! Go to www.myspace.com/jumpingoctopi to hear our first single. ;)

What Is YWAM?

2006-11-17T08:02:00.000-08:00

Real update coming later. But for now... here's a little humorous look at what people say YWAM stands for:

Yes, We Arrange Marriages.

Young Women After Men

and my personal favorite...

Youth Without Any Money

Now of course these are all silly, and made up by YWAMers for a good laugh. We all know YWAM really stands for Youth With A Mission. But the others are funny too ;)

pictures PART II (plus other random things)

2006-11-05T09:44:00.000-08:00

So blogger is finally letting me post pictures again!
I took this picture right outside the base when it snowed on October 31st.

Melissa frolicking in the snow!

This is the weird-lookin' ketchup dispenser. It looks like a lung. hehe.

Presenting Grandiosa, "Norway's most-eaten pizza". People seem to be almost a little obsessed with it sometimes. It's very popular.

And this is Brad, putting lung ketchup on his slice of Grandiosa pizza. Brad taught some of us a very cool trick having to do with... matches! And I can do it! I'm so happay! But alas, I don't have a picture of that. :( Maybe someday I'll get a picture of me doing the match trick though.

Helina took a picture of me having quiet time in our "bathroom without a toilet/shower room/laundry room/dressing room" which used to be a kitchen. It was quiet in there... so that was where I went, teehee.

Ohp, now it's not letting me post pictures again. Oh bother, that's a poo.

The base is SOOOO empty right now. Fall Break started on Friday night, so almost everyone is either at their homes, visiting friends, or at the Get Focused conference (which I was planning on going to, but that kinda didn’t work out… but I’m okay with that). So I’ve been here with no more than 3 or 4 other people here at a time -- or less. It’s SO quiet! Strange. But it’s been kind of nice in a way, because it’s sooo much easier to actually GET ALONE with God! When there’s 60 other people living here, getting alone with God becomes a difficult thing to manage. However, I will be very happy to see everyone again when they get back! It’s amazing how much everyone missed everyone on the first Team Week. But it makes sense, because we’re always with each other! So we get to know each other pretty stinkin’ well!

Anyway, PRAISE THE LORD, I'm finally almost over my flu!! A huge thanks to all who have been praying for me! So maybe you're reading this, thinking to yourself "Well now that Melissa's feeling better, what should I pray about for her??" AH! Have no fear, I can answer that question! heheha. You can pray that I stay healthy, and that the others here stay healthy. You can also pray for my upcoming Team Week, which will begin on Wednesday morning. My team is going to a town on the southwest coast, about 2 hours or so away from Skien. We’ll be staying in a church (with no showers! That should be interesting ;). We will be giving lots of testimonies and devotions and doing some evangelism I think… I’m not too sure what else. We’ll be visiting churches, schools, youth clubs etc. So anyway, prayers for effective teamwork (I’ve discovered that that’s sooo much more important than I used to think) and effective planning/preparing. But most of all, that we can rely on GOD and clearly understand HIS will, direction, and plans for this Team Week. That would be MOST wonderful!!!

Again, thank you all muy mucho much for the prayers!!! Or in other words, tussen takk!!!

GOD BLESS!!!

byebye for now.

sickness, Latvia, pictures, etc PART I

2006-11-03T07:05:00.000-08:00

First things first...
I found out where I'm going on mini-outreach! I'm going to Latvia. We'll be working with a YWAM base there.. they already have stuff arranged for us. Funny story behind that... I believe that's the same base that I e-mailed a few times about doing my DTS there. haha. What a co-winkadink.

So yeah, I've been sick since Thursday, October 26th. So I've mostly been in bed for the past 8 days. But everyone has been taking care of me, they're so sa-weet. Tonje bought me candy... TWICE! Yeah, in Norway they have kids programming at night instead of the morning, and it's like a "thing" for the parents to buy their kids this "TV Candy" and they eat it while they watch Saturday night cartoons. So even though there's no TV here (which is fine with me!!), Tonje bought me TV candy, teehee. Here's a picture:

My smallgroup made me a cookie, writing a little message that God gave them about me when they were praying for me! Here's a picture:

You can't really see it, but it says, "Melissa, stand in God's waterfall." teehee! I like it.
And here's a picture of me and part of my smallgroup, taken a couple weeks ago or something:

Yep, that's Marie, me, and Therese. My smile's all cheesy but OH WELL!

In other news,
it snowed here for the first time on Halloween night. It didn't stick or anything, but it was still exciting. I went out in it for like 1 minute. And took pictures! If you look close, you can see the snowflakes.

Dogonnit! It's only letting me post 3 pics in this blog... weirrrd. I'll just post another blog. tada!

TO BE CONTINUED...

I believe solely in all Your promise

2006-10-21T03:42:00.000-07:00

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"??

2006-10-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-10-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

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!)

2006-10-08T05:45:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-10-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

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!

picture time :)

2006-09-30T01:33:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-09-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

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

2006-09-19T23:11:00.000-07:00

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!