Lighthouse pizza party!

Well, I haven't been so good at updating lately -- life has been really busy, and at the end of a busy day at the office, the last thing I want to do when I get home is be on the computer. But anyway we just had a Lighthouse pizza party! Lighthouse is the group of youth from 6th-10th grade that meet every Sunday and serves as a bridge between the children's ministry and youth ministry and between the youth ministry and the church through serving. David and I are leading Lighthouse right now. We saw that there was a need to get the older youth used to the younger youth, so we decided to have purely a social evening with homemade pizza and tons of games and competitions and film making. Our goal was acheived -- the interaction was superb between the age groups and every one had a really fun time. I am really tired though because I have had kids at the house since 4 p.m. today to start preparing for the party, the party started at 6p.m., and everyone left at 9 p.m. But anyway, yes, we had a REALLY good time together, and I am glad we had such a wonderful evening. Pictures to come!

Blessings and good night... Also another fun piece of news, one of the boys that has begun attending church and youth group over the past month has come back to Jesus! He was invited by one of the kids that was saved in the summer, and now he has turned back to Jesus. So exciting! Good night!

A long while

Hey all! It's been a few days since I last updated, and to be honest the last thing on my mind is to update the blog, BUT shame on me, I need to keep you all updated.

Last week, we had our first OFFICIAL snow of the season. And yesterday, we had our first OFFICIAL day of snow where it didn't all go away in a matter of hours. And it is pretty cold out here right now -- about 25 degrees outside, and we are getting ready for a VERY cold week, with the temps not going over 25 degrees. So, here are some pictures of the first official snow that stuck!

Friday we had Uturn again with 17 kids! It hasn't fallen below 15 for the past three months. Febe, our national youth leader came to teach on the importance of living good, loving, and encouraging relationships with each other. Then on Saturday and Sunday, we also had the national youth leaders' meetings for Uturn Norway. There were six adult leaders and six student leaders (youth from the youth groups). The meetings were in Kristiansand. Febe spoke to us about our relationship with God and challenged us to spend time with the Lord. John Henry spoke to us about the qualities each leader needs to develop. Febe also challenged us to love others more than we ever have before in the year 2007. She gave us the assignment to spend 45 min. with the Lord and write a Psalm to God about our current state of life. Then we shared what we wrote. It was a heavy atmosphere but reassuring knowing that everyone is going through something or has gone through something, but God is there with them through it all. Saturday night, we went out to dinner at Mother India, (with what other kind of food than Indian!) and I had a very good time talking with Idar and Julia, two student leaders -- maybe I had a little too much fun! I felt completely comfortable with everyone and in my Norwegian speking skills. Wow! It's amazing how much fun I had esp. now that I know those on the youth leadership team better now and have a very good handle on the language.

Other than that, my week is pretty quiet and not much is happening. I will be meeting tomorrow night with a friend of mine from church that just joined the worship team. We're going to sit at the piano, and I am going to go through a bunch of worship songs with her. Will update when I have another minute. Until then, God bless!

Lazy days...

Today has been somewhat of a lazy day... Tylene and I had the opportunity to go to Oslo this weekend with John Henry and Lisbeth, who were going up to attend a wedding there. So we took the opportunity to go with them and spend all day Saturday sightseeing. We had a really good time, first of all because it was the two of us, second of all, because it wasn't hot out, and third of all, because there were barely any people at the museums. We came back last night from church about 8:00 and were both really tired. I got up late today because I couldn't get up any earlier! I had to go back to sleep!

The fellesmøte went well last week. I thought there would be more of an evangelistic thrust to the meetings, but what I saw the Lord do in the meetings that I went to was phenomenal. I was only able to attend the first two meetings. The first evening the speaker spoke about how we need to be honest with each other when we are going through difficulties, so that we can support each other and be victorious. The second evening, he spoke about how we need to let God take care of our pain, so that we can let go of bitterness, forgive, and move on. I heard that on the third evening, he spoke about how we need to encourage each other and work in the gifts God has given us that we could be a healthy church body. All in all, what he spoke about is “right on” with many Christians I know in the city – how they need to let go of their pain, be healed, and start doing what God has made them to do. And if we have a healthy church, we will have a healthy focus on evangelism! Thank you for your prayers. I could sense that the Holy Spirit was very strong in the meetings I attended.

Next week, I will be on a live webcast to my home church, Pathway Christian Fellowship! I will be there for both services for a few minutes... It should be a ton of fun to see you all! Talk to you soon... Gretchen

Well, things keep right on rolling here, and God is good! My very red eyes, which were a cause for concern the last few weeks were no more than just irritated. We had 16 youth last night and spoke about being "A Living Fellowship" -- about the importance of being there for each other and serving each other and looking out for each other. We spoke about how proud we were of the kids -- about their service in the church and how they look out for each other. It really put a good feeling in their hearts, and when it came time to clean up afterwards, the kids were quick to jump in there and help! What a great atmosphere. One of our newer girls to the youth group brought three of her friends last night! THREE of her friends... soooo exciting!

Then next week, we will be having “fellesmøter” for the entire city. (Fellesmøte means “together meetings). This is an annual event when all the churches in the city come together at the big state church and worship and pray together for the city. For the entire week there will be meetings every evening, and I am truly looking forward to these meetings – to praying for the salvation of the city together, worshiping together, and meeting new people in the city.

God is so good, and He is moving! I will keep you all updated!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

"One minute to minute to midnight... one minute to go... one minute to say goodbye before we say 'hello'!"

Well, goodbye 2006 and hello 2007! Last night Tylene and I went to the Temmeruds to celebrate the evening. We ate and ate and ate AGAIN (good thing I am taking up ballet again!) and waited until midnight where everyone in the neighborhood set off the largest "home" fireworks I have ever seen in my life. It was literally a war zone of booms and pops and bursting light in the sky. There were a group of us extremely frightened onlookers that would huddle under the eave of John Henry and Lisbeth's house everytime someone would light anything from a sparkler to a battery of fireworks. It was quite pretty, but very dangerous all at the same time. All I had to say is that I was glad I wasn't downtown where drinking and fireworks cause even more dangerous situations.

I am looking forward to this coming year... I am ready to move on from last year -- from all its stress and challenges and ready to move on in discipline and following the Holy Spirit at His every move.

It will be a good... wait, no a GREAT year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!