last update here...

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

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...

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!

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.

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

"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!

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.