mini outreach

This is the second and last mini outreach of the year. We went to a town 50 minutes from Ålesund to be with a small church, The Vineyard. The hospitality of the church was incredible we had meals with 7 different families because they all wanted to bless us. Some really awesome things we got to do while being there are...

Play games and talk about loneliness and being a good friend with a class of 8th graders and invite them to church.
Hangout with some elderly folks.
Help lead a youth party.
Pray with some many different people.
Love on some kids.
Help lead Sunday School.
Clean and help with some fixing at a lady's house.
Prepare a meal and clean for an ALPHA course.
Share with the youth group.
...

19 days till I turn 19

and I just got back from mini outreach and I really want to tell you all about it, so tomorrow, it is a date.

we create.

just an image for your day.
think of 5 people who have colored brains instead of an odd shade of pink...

image found on weheartit.com

That's not normal...

Here is a video that my lovely friends, Cher, Katie, and Alida made for the loneliness project.
They did such an amazing job. They are all so artistic in different ways and so their collaboration was super awesome to see. I spent a little time with them during the process and that was very fun to see the development.
Maybe you should watch it twice, one with your eyes closed because the sound track that Alida made is brilliant.
You can hear my little voice at the end... :)

enjoy

sing song along...

Oh the joys of living in a house with a recording studio!

My "one-on-one"/friend, Gabrielle Keli'i Clements aka Lille Lilla wrote a song and wanted a scratch recording so she gathered Josh, Justin, Gareth, and me to complete the sound and do a live scratch recording. It was really fun to be really artsy and free. I am singing back round vocals.

You can find it here. Turn up the sound cause it is recorded a bit too quiet.

It is called: the little shit who feed me shit

So click on that one... It is about the devil.

<--- this girl can sing

Hungary? YES!

I get to go to Budapest, Budapest. I get to Budapest, traalalala!

New information on outreach:

Dates are: March 7th - April 2nd

I will be in Vienna most of the time but we are traveling to Hungary!

Budapest: April 4th - April 20th (this isn't fo certain but with in a few days...)

Random plans:

Our main goal is to love on people.

The first week we are there we are going to be working with 2 other teams in an evangelistic event! Our part is creative entertainment. :)

In Budapest we are hoping to do a lot of evangelism through art and bringing color and life.

For our debriefing we are hoping to stay in the mountains of Austria, you know the hills are alive!

Farewell.

You are wondering about Japan, right?

I thought I would just be really honest about how I am feeling and then we can all continue praying just with a more unified vision for it.

Most days I don't want to go to Japan, and most definitely not Tokyo.

Everyday I think about it.

I have made so many excuses... But God you didn't say when. You only said Japan, not Tokyo. I could just do a short term mission. I could just go to a smaller part of Japan. Maybe by the coast? I could wait till I am older. Who will support a 19 year old? I can just go to UAF for one year, and then see.

They are all great arguments for a while but then I start to pray about it, and God reminds me that I promised to push on the doors. That he has confirmed to me the base in Tokyo. That he has never failed me. Right now, I am living in Norway, living in his perfect plan.

Yesterday, Fransiska, a missionary to India told her testimony about being there. She was in the same place I am. She did not want to go to India but now she sees why it was her who needed to be there.

God is good.

Creative Project.

This week we are preparing for a community event in Ålesund with our subject being loneliness. The event will take place in May and will be a combination of an exhibition and performances. This whole week we are working together in groups on making something for the event with the subject of loneliness. I joined Andre', Gareth, and Andrew in making a photography collection for loneliness.

Yesterday, I did a lot of research on loneliness and actually started feeling lonely. Along with this came the first tears of homesickness. So it wasn't the most pleasant experience. But it made me really connect. It was really worth it because... today we came up with some really great ideas and it is looking pretty fantastic. We wanted to focus on being lonely in a room full of people. So a series of photographs are coming together.

Also I am working on some words to go with the photos but everything I write just seems okay, so I need to spend a lot of time with it tomorrow.

After this week we will be done with the main events and art, so in May we will add all the filler pieces.

Photo credit

1: Subject: Marianne Gerber

2: Photo: Andre' Skjeggestad

oh and Cher cut my hair.

mehmeh.

Hello everybody.

The blogging hasn't been very great lately, so sorry.

I am getting very distracted with my plans for next year and Japan. I am confused about what I should do and seek the Lord for wisdom. Psalm 4 has been a really good passage to hang out in.

Outreach is coming up in March and I should be focusing and praying for this. I really need to be all here and not stressed. I so want to enjoy my time here, it is so valuable.

This sounds bad, I am still happy and doing fine, it is just a little bump in the road.

God is good.

Please pray for:

- my health, I am getting sick. Katie and Alida are also sick so pray for them too.

- wisdom for my future plans

- focus for outreach and my time here

Thank you my lovelies.

Anybody want to knit me some socks?

oink.

Norwegians think that pigs say "Noff!" My way of learning = childrens books. During break Alida got out some childrens books out and we sat at the table while I tried to read.

Grimerude.

Tomorrow I take a train back home to Ålesund. I am really excited to be back in the rhythm of life, I left there a month ago! But before I leave here I want to tell you what I have been up to.

The reason we are here is to be apart of the Restore 24/7, which is a 24/7 prayers are worship room. The room started this fall and is planned to go for 2 years.

"The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" -James 5:16

We have had teaching on prayer, many hours of prayer, and then lead some hours of worship in the prayer room.

It has been a wonderful place to be and time well spent.

shhhhhhhledding.

Yesterday night we went sledding! Some of the guys made a huge jump the day before, so I enjoyed an evening of being thrown in the air, flying while flopping around, and then landing in awkward positions.

Please note Katie's tounge, the position of Gareth's hat, and the fact that I look like one of Santa's elfs.

Thank you Ken Robin for the pictures. :)

wonder.

The week before I left Ålesund, our speaker was Sue Rinaldi, I talked about her before... yesterday, I went over my notes on her week again and I was amazed at all the wonderful things she said that I had already forgotten. Some things that I needed to think about again...

TRIUMPH in your uniqueness and enjoy it.

Knowledge is dangerous unless it goes through the heart.

Keep wonder alive, capture it (wonder: to be FILLED with amazement, awe, adoration)

Be aware of a numb or hardened heart.

Art is provoking, be a friend through you art. People are independent and lonely, but they want relationship.

Sue was a great teacher, she talked but also we had discussions, creative group projects, small group encouragement, and lots of different visuals pictures and here are two videos she used.

a good source: God is love? (You can decide if who you think is right or if it is somewhere in the middle, but either way it will make you think.)

And something more fun...

have a lovely day. mwah.

Gareth

This is a normal day of my life... this time is just happened to be at a New Years Part---AY!!!!

a collection of learning from the last three days.

These slightly bad photos are the product of a sick day in bed.

In one of the meetings a speaker gave a word picture of some people or mission fields just seem like a smelly fish, but in that mess is a broken heart.

I liked that word picture so I got out my felt tips and made this. :)

Lately I have been craving deep conversation that really matters, I like to ask people what there dream is. It has lead to two really great conversations with two people I didn't know. Fabulous.

In an apologetics class I learned something really valuable that I have never ever heard in apologetics. Ask Questions. My warped view of apologetics has been a lot of dreaded arguments between Christians that don't listen and other religious people that don't listen. They are like kids with squirt guns, emptying there tanks on each other with there eyes closed. But this man, even though he knew all the right arguments wanted us to just ask people what they believe, make an open atmosphere. A question is an invitation. Statements are closed.

loves.

p.s. I really appreciate getting comments on here. :)

Japan?

Three months ago I went to a big YWAM Scandinavia conference in Sweden, there I learned about the need in Asia for missionaries, when I heard that many had never heard the name of Jesus Christ, my heart was pulled. A couple weeks after we had a teacher, David McDaniel, who is a missionary in Japan, he informed me that out of the 127 million people living there 1% are Christian. After that I felt I should be a missionary in Japan, but my mind screamed "no!", so after a couple months of saying no, I stopped thinking about it and started to create other plans. However, Japan would still come up sometimes. Last week I was settled in to going to University of Alaska Fairbanks, running and studying a degree that I would be happy to learn all about for 4 years. So I sent an email to UAF asking if they had the degree I was hoping for.

When I showed up to the Workers Gathering in Hamar with all the other YWAMers of Norway, my plans started to change. As we gathered for different meetings I enjoyed learning and fellowship but on the second day they played a video about Asia, giving the facts of how desperately they need missionaries through simple statistics. Japan instantly came to my mind, I needed to go. Then I went to a session on being full time YWAM, it was a small group setting so I was able to talk to some long time YWAM missionaries and then I voiced my feeling of calling to Japan there but I still wanted to go to UAF, really bad. Being home in Alaska sounded really good, over Christmas break I started to realize all the things I miss about home and even just America. I miss my family and friends but also things I never thought I would miss, like being able to eavesdrop on people conversations and talk to little kids, or driving my little car and finding all the things I want in the store. All of these things that I was really missing I was no going to be able to find in Japan.

I went to the prayer room here and started praying while I wrote and drew, the paper says "me in Japan, Tokyo". I was simply opening up the possibility again and God really met me there and I decide to just start taking steps toward Japan. Then I made a check list: Pray, Email, and Look at Plane Tickets.

I sat down and wrote an email to David to let him know I was considering it and see what he thought and hear a little about what was going on there. There was an email from UAF saying to re-email my admission councilor because she was out of the office till the next day, so I resent an email to UAF asking if they had the degree I wanted. Then I kept praying and went on with my day and slept soundly.

Yesterday, when I checked my email I had 2 emails, one saying that UAF had no such degree and one from David telling me that he was excited to hear that I was interested and that when he met me he thought I would be a blessing in Tokyo. I took this as a really great confirmation.

So now I have decided to continue praying about it. And would ask you to pray for me also, this is a really big decision, to go into full time mission at 19.

I am not committed on paper yet or anything like that, but I am committed to push toward this until I can't push any further.

Oh and I didn't realize how close Japan is to Alaska! Way less for than Norway.

A little about what I would be doing: for 6 months I would be staffing at a DTS (like a school similar to mine except with an emphasis in evangelism instead of Art) and then the other 6 months I would be focused on my own mission work in Japan. This would be a 2 to 2 1/2 year commitment.

That is what is up with me right now. I think I could talk about this for hours but I am exhausted of writing...

mk... pray pray pray.

I am thinking it would be cool for different people to pray with me about this each day of the week, so if you would like a certain day just leave a comment on here I will get it all sorted out.

So I rode on a train for 9 hours. That was good.

Hamar

Hello everyone.

I am in another part of Norway now, Hamar. At a conference for all YWAM Norway workers, called the workers gathering. I am really enjoying myself and hearing from really wonderful people who LOVE Jesus. I am so inspired...more later, dinner is soon.

loves.

she.nan.i.gans

Did you know that there is a proper way to spell shenanigans! I didn't till spell check corrected me. I thought it was a made up word that lots of people embraced but it was first used in 1855!

It is such a great word and goes well with the idea of Power Rangers.

(Ramsey, I will be the yellow one so you can be pink. Lars, you can be black...)

2011

Happy New Year, my wonderful friends.

My celebration included a lovely evening of good food, turkey (yes!), some games, fireworks at Alida's friend Jeannette and Tormod's house with Hanna, Andre', Justen, Gareth, and Kristina.

One of my favorite things was standing on the edge of a field on a stone wall, watching 20 different private firework displays ranging from over our heads to miles away. I wonder what it was like to watch the first firework...

Godt Nytt År!