Culture shock

Well, if the news isn't already out, I will share it here... I won't be home for Christmas this year! I am sad that I won't be able to see you all, but at the same time, I am excited to see what a Norwegian Christmas is really like. I want to be here for at least ONE Christmas!

Last night I had a wave of homesickness that was entrenched in some culture shock. Last night we practiced about twenty different Norwegian Christmas songs for church, and I knew only about three of them. I couldn't follow along with the music much less the words to try and sing the songs. I was REALLY longing for the old, familiar Christmas songs back home as I sat at the piano confused and frustrated that I couldn't get the hang of it all.

Then on the way home I heard a few songs from the Nutcracker ballet on my Mp3 player's radio... homesick again... My family and I almost every year have gone to see the Nutcracker ballet with a live orchestra. (sigh) I will really miss Christmas this year. This is the first time I have ever been gone for Christmas, so it will be a bit challenging this year, but I know that it will be a lot of fun here and of course, God is with me through it all!

And again...

Sorry that you haven´t heard from me in a while folks! Again, this past week, I was sick with the stomach flu. That marks my third time being sick in one month and sixth time being sick all year. As of now, I have begun taking my vitamin supplements regularly AND will be staying with my sleeping habits... that should knock out all sickness and build up my apparently weak immune system again. My body is on the mend. I am still not able to eat much nor do I have a huge appetite. Thank God the nausea´s gone though. I am still quite fatigued -- just hoping it won´t last for long!

In a burst of energy today, Tylene and I decorated the house for CHRISTMAS! The other day Julia, John Henry´s daughter, thought we were just really weird to decorate for Christmas in November. "It´s after Thanksgiving, and it´s almost December, so why not?" is my thought. I received a nice-sized box of decorations from my parents that I still have yet to put to good use. I think we´ll use it to decorate upstairs. :) Too bad the boys won´t be able to enjoy the girl´s decorations! he he

Well, thank you for your continued prayers. Please continue to pray that I get well quickly and that my immune system builds up again.

All is well that seemed to go well...

The teaching time last night went well I think! I struggle sometimes with my Norwegian, and last night was one of the nights I struggled quite a bit to express what I wanted to express. I spoke about running life´s race -- our goal is Jesus, we need to leave behind all that we did before, and we need to not give up when things are difficult. The kids said they understood what I spoke about, so I pray, dear Lord, that it all sunk in and made an impact on their lives.

Lighthouse (the meetings we have on Sunday evenings with the youth from 6th-10th grade) has mainly become just those in 6th grade which can be a good and a bad thing. The older youth would rather be up in the Sunday meetings instead of being with the younger kids which is a bit of the goal we have in mind, is that the older kids attend and are part of the evening meetings. At the same time, it means that we are a small group of kids on Sunday evenings and we have less discipleship time with the older kids. Sooo, with all that said, I think David (the other Lighthouse leader) and I will need to pray and discuss about the direction for Lighthouse in the future. Please pray that God would give us vision and mission for the next 6 months to one year.

I am on to my devotion time now and perhaps a cup of coffee or tea later with my good friend Maria.

(As the rain just keeps falling outside)

Uturn again was super!

So last night we had 15, yes 15! kids at youth group. Two of the kids were new last week and came back this week. So cool! And the kids learned about being bold for Jesus. God is moving... :)

Tomorrow I will be teaching the youth about pressing on the goal for the prize in Jesus (Philippians 3:14-16). I am excited! Please pray for God to work through me tomorrow.

A little old-fashioned or the real deal?

I decided today that keeping my "To Do" list on paper is SO MUCH more psychologically pleasing than to keep it on the computer.

Ever since the entrance of my new Mac PC at the office, there have been some way cool changes in my time at the office. Things just get done more quickly and efficiently. It is fun to be on the computer again. One of the little nifty inventions that came along with the Mac is a program called "stickies." It is virtually Post-it notes for your PC desktop. Stickies are great when it comes to short notes, but when it comes to a to do list at the office, it just doesn't work for me.

There are constantly things to be done at the office, which I don't mind at all! When I use stickies, I put the tasks on a note. As I receive more tasks throughout the day, the note gets fuller. When I finish a task, I delete it off the note, and all the other tasks are still there.

Here's the problem I found: I don't like stickies because I can't physically put a cross out line through it. I just have to delete it off the list. And I actually don't see that something has been done. I just see all that I still have to do. I became frustrated that I didn't feel I was getting anything done.

So I went back to paper today, and life is just a little bit better. I look back and see ALL that I actually did accomplish today. Praise God!

And to top it all off, my cold is much better! Thanks for the prayers... until next time, Gretchen

Life just gets better...

I had a great day... It was a little crazy at first. It just seemed like anything and everything begged for attention at the present moment and that everything was flying around my head not finding any place to land. BUT I was able to laugh the entire day and not stress too much. Then I met with my AWESOME accountability partner. She is truly a gift from God, and we just had an inspiring time of prayer and warring in the Spirit for each other in our weaknesses! God is so awesome, and I am so grateful for my accountability partner!

I am doing much better today. I still have a cough and a bit of a sore throat and infected eyes, BUT again, I am much better. Thank you so much for my prayers!

Until later -- Gretchen

Please pray!

I have been sick for a week now! I am coughing like a madman without any throat lozenges, and I have little or no voice. Then to top it all off, I have pink eye... so please pray that I would get well quickly! Thanks!

Went to the doctor

Thank you everyone for praying for me. I am so grateful for all of you. Yesterday, after the cold had turned into a sinus infection I got pink eye! Crazy! So I went to the doctor today, at the prompting of the Lord, and I have a basic cold (with congestion, larygitis, and a cough -- I can't even laugh without coughing!), but my eyes definitely are infected. So I received some eye drops, eye salve, and decogestants from the doctor. I am glad I went even though it was quite a hop over there. So yes, I hopefully will be getting better quickly. Continue to pray for me and for all the others who have been smitten with this horrible cold!

Still...

Yes, I am still sick :( Please pray for me to be better! It feels like I have a bag of rocks in my throat, and today (day 5) by far has been the worse day of sickdom!

I survived!

Well, with pain in my throat and congestion in my nose, I survived all day today at the office and all night at Uturn. My battery was running pretty low at around 3:30 p.m. today and wasn´t back up again until Uturn. But, God was faithful and said that He was going to be with me when I spoke tonight and was He ever! I spoke about 1 Tim. 4:12, the verse that says, "Don´t let anyone look down upon you because you are young but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity." In the Norwegian Bible, the translation is a little more unique, "Do not let anyone look down upon you but set an example for the believers in words, in behavior, in love, in faith, in spirit, and in purity." I really spoke deep tonight and said that people see teenagers as lazy, inconsiderate, disobedient people. Teens like to rebel against their parents and against society. But they can change the way society sees them; they can be rebellious against what society labels them as by being an example to others around them of what a Christian should truly be. They are responsibile to make the change, not the adults aroundt them, not others, but they are responsible. And I said we need to be an example in our speech -- are you swearing? are you breaking others down or buidling them up with your words? Our behavior- are we obedient? Do we respect each other? Our love- do we love with the love of Jesus to those around us who need it? Our faith- do we believe in New Age "out there" theology, or do we truly believe in Jesus, the only way to Heaven. Our spirit- are we doing things with a glad heart? Our purity -- are you taking drugs? Stop! Are you drinking? Stop! Are you having sex? Stop! Are you looking at pornography? Stop!

We need to live lives so that people will not have any reason to look down on us. We need to live lives so we can gain others´trust and respect. The kids want to show that they are mature enough to handle life, well, they need to step it up.

It was a VERY strong time. One of the other youth leaders said "Gretchen that was truly a power teaching tonight!" God was truly with me because I didn´t feel capable at the moment at all. I am so amazed. You should have seen the conviction He brought into the room tonight. The kids were quiet and were thinking a lot. He was truly speaking and dealing with very deep issues tonight. When I brought it to a close, the kids had a minute to confess to the Lord what it is that they needed forgiveness for and asking Him for help to live lives that are pure for Him. I am so glad that He was there, and that He spoke through me because I am feeling so sickly right now!

THANK YOU everyone for you prayers. I know that you were truly there with me fighting in the spiritual realm. God bless and good night!

Sick again!

Yes, so after the youth weekend, I got sick again, this time with a headache, sore throat, fever, and runny nose... I would like to call it "the Asker flu."

Tomorrow I am teaching the youth group again. Please pray for me as I prepare my teaching tonight! I will be speaking on the passage "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young..." I don't want to be sick tomorrow!

Blessings!

An INCREDIBLE weekend!

This last weekend I was up in Asker (4 hours north of Kristiansand -- not too far from Oslo), and we had a youth weekend for all the youth groups in Norway. We had 65 total in attendance (15 kids and 3 adults from our church-- the largest attendance we've had from our church at any one of these youth gatherings.) It was an INCREDIBLE weekend.

We traveled up on Friday night. Some went in our 10 seat van. Others went in a car. And five of us (this includes me) took a 5 hour bus ride. After a series of failures to get a third car, we decided that we had to take the bus which was more comfortable than sitting in the 10 seat van with luggage on our feet! :) After we arrived, we had a session with worship and a message about good relationships between boys and girls. Then we ate "pizza boller" (pizza rolls) and hung out for the rest of the night. We set a series of rules for the kids from Kristiansand, which we called "The Big Four" (yes, taken from SC4Y camps...) and talked with our kids that night after the session about our rules. (Be where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there, no illegal stuff, respect others things, and no flirting!) And much to everyone's surprise, each of the kids followed the rules to a T -- we didn't have to talk with any of them about the rules. I was so impressed!

On Saturday, we had breakfast at 9a.m. followed with a short session of worship and prayer for the day. I was able to speak prophetically into one of our students' lives, and it touched her so much that she began to cry. Then it was time for the kids to break out into different workshops, such as worship, why it is so important to read the Bible, hearing God's voice, and our identity in Christ. In the afternoon we had what was called "naturisti" which is a very popular Norwegian activity. The kids were split up into teams made up of different kids from the different groups. The leaders of the Asker youth set up a series of questions / activities for the teams to fulfill in different parts of the forest in Asker. This took about 2 hours and afteward we had hot dogs roasted on the fire along with marshmallows! :) Afterward we went back to the church and had some free time. I was able to talk with a couple of the girls about parents and drinking and our Godly attitude towards these things. Then three other girls and I played a rough game of catch in the girls' room. Mind you, there were sleeping bags and mattresses on a linoleum tile floor, so it was slippery! We divided ourselves into two teams and tried to take the ball from each other. We often found ourselves falling onto the floor or being tackled by a member from the other team. It was such great fun!

After dinner that evening, we had another session. The Asker Foursquare youth band played, and the kids were wild with excitement. In the middle of the worship, about 10 guys cleared out the chairs from the middle of the room and jumped and danced. It was soooo exciting for me -- something I had never seen since the days of when I was in camp. I have never seen Norwegians so excited in worship before! Febe, our national youth leader spoke about holiness and making room for God in our lives. After her message, there was a time for the kids to respond and receive prayer from the leaders. I prayed for about five girls. One received physical healing. One received a prophetic word and emotional healing. One re-dedicated her life to the Lord. One wanted direction regarding an unsaved boy that she liked at school. The last wanted prayer for her spiritual life to be even deeper with the Lord. Other leaders that prayed for students saw some that were baptized in the Holy Spirit, some were saved, others were healed, and others confessed deep sins and made steps toward repentance.

God worked SO MUCH this weekend -- something I have not seen before in Norway. Thank you for all your prayers! He is truly turning this nation to Jesus!

Busy as normal!

So it has been incredibly busy the last 2 weeks. I am completely better, and I do have to say that it was the quickest I have ever gotten over a cold in my life-- just 2 days! Thank God for friends that pray and for sleep! :) My advice when you're sick -- get people to pray for you and STAY HOME from work. It really does make a difference.

Last Friday, we had a Halloween party for the youth group. About 12 kids attended and almost all of them had GREAT costumes. My favorite costume was of one of the boys who wore a suit coat, a cap, and some sunglasses. He was a blindman without a walking stick. VERY creative, I thought! We had a wonderful evening with "gross" games, costume competition, food, and a movie. You can see pictures by going to http://gepik.photosite.com (sorry that the dynamic link isn't working.)

Sunday, I finished my month of teaching on Sunday by talking about the man Epaphroditus in the last portion of Philippians 2. The whole month, I have been teaching on Philippians 2 and really talking about serving each other and how when we serve each other, we are served in return because everyone is serving each other. And by our serving each other we are showing a good witness for Jesus. I really have such a fondness to teach the youth now that I have grasped the language so much better, and my heart for the youth has grown about 10 times more in the last month. There is just this boldness to speak the truth now and not to be afraid anymore that I might offend someone. These kids need the truth, and I don't want them to be destroyed by the enemy. So every once in a while I need to confront them with hard questions, but it is to save them from their lives turn into messes. It has gone well with the things I have confronted already. I am so pleased!

This weekend we are going to Asker (4 hours north) for a big meeting with all the youth groups in Norway. I am excited-- there are 17 kids from our youth group going which is the largest amount ever that has come from Kristiansand! Please pray that God would make us as leaders bold to speak into the kids' lives and that kids would be saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, and sent home on fire for Him.

I'm gonna go right now and post pics on the net of the youth Halloween party. And I am going to get cozy in a blanket or something... it's about -5 C here right now (about 28 F or so), so it is cold. And it did snow A LITTLE BIT last night... yes the winter is upon us.

Good night!