Alive and at Work! = return from M.I.A. adventures

If you aren't seeing many blogs at a time, you should check tumblr as we are most likely posting pictures (and vice versa!) We will be getting back on the train this month, thanks for our patience and click HERE to see more pictures and evidence of August adventures ;)

An allison post

"Strike your explorer's pose" - Jeremiah after we climbed
onto the rocks on the shore of Langesund.

AUGUST HAS BEEN WILD!

A young man from our city's youth group waited a year
to be baptized at this camp. The legacy of following Jesus lives
here at Vegårshei. (That water was super cold, somewhere
around 15 degrees Celsius!)

I can hardly believe where the time goes. Just after our last couple blogs, we went M.I.A. to Vegårshei, a weeklong koselig camp in southern Norway. There Jeremiah and I were thrown into "the lions' den" as local leaders for our city group. WHAT a grand idea (the baptists are big on immersion...ba bump!) Aside from continuing to learn the learn the language and giving our first joint sermon, a host of things crazy things happened, including the electricity going out multiple times AND a quarter of camp infected with an ugly stomach virus. Through it all, we saw God really meet people where they were, and some people meeting God for the first time. (3 people were baptized!)

It seemed like a lot of people were really needing to be set free from something. Our theme was Facade and we talked a lot about hiding behind masks. There were stories, confessions, and even experiences at camp that revealed what people were investing in to hide from who they truly were. I even found myself struggling to pray freely from day-to-day dealing with some of the similar realities that the youth were facing! I felt like I had to prove that I'm useful or helpful to God, but not even as much to God as to myself, resulting in anxiety and feeling really alone. I feel like a dum-dum when I read that because it seems obvious. The God of the universe has done everything to prove my worth and my "stuff" or work doesn't change that. Sometimes I need the help to remember that...we all do. So, these days I'm working on being more than okay with exactly who God says I am. Even if nobody understands that. Or I feel like I'd be a lot cooler if I did "x", "y", & "z". I got to get out of my head, my plans, and into exploring what God has created and how I get to be a part of that.

While at camp we had a day where the youth set up shop in a mission market filled with outrageously fun and creative shops to raise money for supporting an existing ministry in the Congo. Some of those shops included a bubble in which you could walk on water, a water balloon hitman whom you could pay to avenge your enemies, and a station to buy eggs to pelt at 4 courageous dudes (maybe courageous isn't the word.) I was at a beauty station with hair braiding and henna tattoos, naturally. We had several takers, but it was later on in the evening after mission shop when I had people coming up to me asking if I could still draw somethings. Many people asked for 2 things: a cross with a garland of flowers or symbols of faith, hope, and love. I didn't see it at the time, but God gave me really cool opportunities to engage young people in a simple and artistic way. There was meaning in what they asked for and we got to talk about the Jesus fish, and what anchors symbolize in our life, how God's love lives outside of a storybook. It lived in us that night as we examined identity and discarding masks. So life-giving.

Jeremiah and I encountered more beautiful moments earlier this month on a trip to a coastal town  called Langesund (our first fishing experience was here if you recall from an earlier blog with "Arne"!) This time we returned with the intent of getting some work done. Well, we ended up working up some more laughter, fun, and joy than securing intended work plans. But it seems like this trend of just being present and less dependent on how much stuff I can do is really important for our journey here. 

With all these experiences in mind, I'm taking a hint allowing these themes to lead the way for the next steps of our discovery: 
Rest, Surrender, Freedom.

A view of the North sea from the coast of Langesund.