Romjulsfest

There's a season of time between Christmas and New Year's called "romjul" in Norway. It is the time "around" Christmas. Last night we had a Romjulsfest (around Christmas party) with the youth group. Sixteen youth were in attendance, we had Christmas carols punk style, dancing around the Christmas tree, gingerbread house making and eating competitions, and a white elephant gift exchange. The kids had a great time, and I saw three kids last night that had never been to youth group before. I'm having a good time working with the youth.

You'll see some pictures in this post of the romjulsfest. Enjoy! More pictures to come on my Photosite . It's not uploading right now, so I will have to sit tight a few days before I put anything else up. BUT you can see some pictures from Christmas on my Photosite! Enjoy!

Christmas time is here!

Well, we had a GREAT Christmas! On Christmas Eve we went to the Temmeruds' house (the neighbors') and ate Christmas porridge with the almond hidden. Guess who got the almond AGAIN? Me! I won a bag of chocolates this time. Then at 3 p.m., we went to the Hagenes family (from church) for dinner. Since Christmas Eve is the official gift opening day, it was a great honor to be invited to their house. We ate pinekjøtt (salted and dried lamb ribs steamed for a few hours before eating) with bolied potatoes and mashed rutabegas (sooooo good!). We ate until we were full. Then we had cloud berry cream for dessert. Afterwards we opened presents. Then we ate some more dessert. And we ate and ate and kept eating and talking and watching TV movies. Then Tylene and I came home late and got up the next morning at 6 am to get online with our families and open presents. It was great to be able to see my family over the webcam, and they could see me as I opened the gifts. It made not being home for Christmas a lot easier. Then yesterday (Christmas day) we went to David Husefest's family for dinner and to stay overnight. We ate pinekjøtt again and dessert and ate and played games and ate some more. It really was a lot of fun. Now we are finally home and watching Christmas movies. My feet are cold as ice right now though it's not extremely cold outside :) Ahh but it's good to be home and relaxing for Christmas. I have the rest of the week off, so I am looking forward to being able to hang around the house and sleep and read and do the things I don't normally get to do!

Have a wonderful day!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Sending you greetings from Norway for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I am so blessed to know each and every one of you!

Though I am not in the States this year for Christmas I am overwhelmed by the love and generousity I have received from everyone here during this season. I miss my family terribly, but I have a huge family of friends here that have made this Christmas very special! I feel I am truly living the twelve days of Christmas but multiplied into an entire month! We have had Christmas parties and dinners and lunches almost every day not to mention advent gifts every day. I have eaten so many sweets that I think I will have a huge headache at the end of the month! And when it comes to Christmas, there are three official Christmas days -- Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and the 2nd Christmas day (26th). Then there is "romjul" (around Christmas) which is the week between Christmas and New Year's that is often filled with celebrations and parties as well. I am really looking forward to this entire week!

Til mine norske venner: Takk for at dere har hjulpet å lage en fantastisk jul for meg! Jeg føler meg velsignet å kjenner dere alle og det er lettere for meg å være langt vekk fra familien min dette året på grunn av dere! Setter en stor pris på dere og ønsker dere en kjempe god jul og et godt nytt år!

I pray for all of God's blessings for a wonderfully joyous Christmas season!

With love,

Gretchen

So here I am at the church right now getting ready for a worship team Christmas party! We will be practicing some songs and eating the traditional Norwegian Christmas rice porridge called "grøt." You hide a blanched almond in the grøt and whoever finds the almond wins a big, pig-shaped piece of marzipan. Marzipan in Norway is really, really good for all of those who HATE marzipan in the States.

On Sunday I taught the youth kids from grades 6-10 for the last time this year. We finished up our study of Philippians. Then at the second service on Sunday THIRTEEN kids from the youth group came to the service. Thirteen! We haven't forced them to come or even said anything at youth group about coming. They've been coming of their own free will. We don't have anything planned for them in terms of a separate youth teaching or anything on Sundays, so they sit in the services. A pretty large crowd from the youth group has been coming for quite a long while now, which is very impressive. Also, at the second meeting, two of the kids decided to become members of the church. Wow! Their families aren't members at the church, but they decided to become members of their own free will. I am so proud of the kids and so excited that they are growing in the Lord and taking steps toward Him. Just when I think it couldn't get any better with the kids, they just keep growing and living for Jesus. Praise God!

So I leave you now to go and taste the julegrøt. Have a fabulous week!

And finally...

I didn't write yesterday because the rain stopped... Today it was a beautiful, sunny day, and at about 4 p.m. it started raining AGAIN! Argh, I am a little frustrated, BUT we're supposed to have clear weather the rest of the week. We'll see how that goes. ha ha

So last night, we had a "Storskjermskveld" which is simply "Big screen evening" at church. We rented "The Polar Express" and invited everyone from the church for a free movie night with popcorn, candy, soda, and coffee. Nine of our youth came to help. The girls were dressed in black pants and white tops, and they went around serving the guests popcorn and candy from boxes hanging from their necks. The boys, dressed in black suits, handed out free tickets at the bottom of the stairs, and at the top of the stairs they tore the tickets and guided guests to their seats with flashlights. We had only about thirty people in attendance, but it really did feel like a movie theater, and I really hope we can have the same thing next year at this time (with more people coming, of course!) I was helping direct the kids as to what to do last night, and what I was really impressed with was that the kids took their responsibilities seriously and did a fantastic job (while still having fun!). At the end of the evening, I said goodbye to one of the newer boys that has been coming, and he again gave me a hug! It really warmed my heart to see how much he loves to come to youth group, and how grateful he is at the end of it all. Those are the moments where I really realize how important it is for us to minister to the kids and the difference I am making in each of their lives even though sometimes I am just doing small, seemingly "unimportant" things. God is good!

Have a wonderful evening!

Falling, falling down

I decided to keep a journal of how many days it has rained... this is day #2

And the rain keeps coming...

I am a little pessimistic these days about the rain. It seems like it has been falling consistenly for eight weeks or so with little or no break in between. I think in the last two weeks, we have had one day of sun. One day! Combined with the darkness -- the sun comes up at 8:45 a.m. and begins to set at about 3:30 p.m., it makes for some pretty dreary days right now. Thank God for Christmas, music, and friends to keep you going in this season. It truly is, how do you say, annoying with all this rain and darkness. I have a little confession to make -- I have been praying for snow. At least it would brighten up the grey days with some white. Dear Jesus, please bring some snow!

Otherwise, I am quite tired with the busy-ness of the season. Tonight, I am glad just to sit down and breathe a little bit.

Talk to you soon!

Christmas time is here...

Happiness and cheer. Fun for all that children call their favorite time of year...

There's something about Christmas that breaks up the monotony of darkness and wetness that we have in Norway right now. The sun comes up at 9 a.m. only to start going down again at 3:30 p.m. Coupled with rain almost every day for the past four weeks, it makes for a pretty dreary day sometimes. So it is nice to have Christmas! Downtown, the streets are decorated to the max with lights and Christmas trees. I would go downtown every night if I had the chance just to look at the lights. Then you have the baked goods all around along with julegløgg (Norwegian cider). And then you have candles EVERYWHERE. What a nice treat in the middle of such gloomy days. I am even starting to pray for snow (don't tell in the others in the house though -- I've been begging them not to pray for snow because I don't want to shovel it!). It would really take the gloominess out of this weather, that's for sure. As long as it's not as much snow as last year, I'm OK.

Well, I will finish my Christmas shopping today and get gifts sent home. So excited!

Youth group went well on Friday night. We had fifteen kids and the youth pastor, Kenneth, that works at one of our churches in Estonia was with us (and Adam, our youth pastor was in Estonia working with Kenneth's youth group at the same time. Fun huh?) Kenneth's a Norwegian from Stavanger, working as a missionary in Estonia. He brought a couple of the kids from the youth group he attended in Stavanger -- one led worship and one gave his testimony. Kenneth shared a great message about serving God while you're young. It was good time, and I really believe the kids got a message that sunk deep into their hearts.

Well, I gotta go now. Blessings to you all,

Gretchen

Life has been busy and great

Well, it's been a bit since I last updated, but fear not, I have not died nor have I gotten sick again!

Last Friday we had 19 youth-- yes, 19 youth! The kids are inviting their friends and their friends are inviting friends, and it is just so much fun. The kids are getting fed a lot of truth, and they're loving it (though I don't really think they realize why they love to be in youth group... we know why!) I am looking forward to Friday. Should be fun.

On Monday, we took a little excursion to the zoo with everyone living at the WorldBase right now... The WorldBase is like a boarding house, where we have separate rooms (or share with the same sex) and common living areas. The boys live downstairs and the girls live upstairs... we have strict rules about it all! Right now there are three guys and two girls, and we have a blast together. Let's just say that we can't get through any dinner together without laughing our heads off like crazy.

Anyway, it was rainy and dreary and boring outside, which was a GREAT reason to go to the zoo. It was really a lot of fun because there was almost no one there, and the animals were really lonely, so everytime we came up to an exhibit they would just come out and do stuff for us... I have never, never ever liked monkeys before in my life, but I had to admit that they were really cute... but it's only because they were lonely! ha! It was quite funny -- five 20 year olds wandering through the zoo We then went to the mall and went shopping, shopping, shopping and then went to the grocery store for food. It was like we were this little family... LOL Tylene (the other girl) and I sent the guys home with the food, and we walked to the bathroom store to get some repair parts for our showers in the house. Let's just say we came home really cold and really wet because it was raining and windy and the bus we wanted to take never came... then when we finally got the bus from the mall we had to stop at the college and wait outside again for the bus that took us home. I was ecstatic to sit by the heater when we FINALLY got home.

But the highlight of the day was when we left the zoo to catch the bus to the mall, and at the last second we found free Norwegian gløgg at the reception desk to the zoo (it is like Norwegian Christmas cider). We all ran to grab some... but lo and behold the bus comes and we all had to run to the bus. Bryan was at the bus stop. I was not to far behind, realizing that we can't take the gløgg on the bus, so I frantically tried to drink as much as I could. I threw away my full cup of gløgg, so I could get on the bus. Then Tylene and Andy come running behind. Tylene gets only one sip of gløgg before throwing it away. Andy in a desperate act of trying to finish his gløgg tips his head back and tries to drink it all, and it spills all over his face.

And the best part... the bus didn't leave for another four minutes! LOL Joke was on us...

Talk to you all soon! Leave comments!