Sore bodies and friendships

An Allison Post 8) -


Its almost like you don't really have to TRY to stay fit around here, without a car that is. I kept telling God while I was in the states 'I'm going to get back into shape' and 'oh yeah, ill get back on my workout regiment after my cold goes away'... good intended practices and semi motivated projects that didn't amount to too much for too long. That busy-ness I mentioned in my last post didn't help me either. I really did want to get back on the being-fit-horse, but I bet you can understand how excuses, and convenience, can get in the way of things.

I'm paying for it now! There are SO MANY hills, and mountains are 'no big deal' around here. Some sweet people from the church provided us with a few bikes to use upon arriving, mind you it'd been at least 2.5 years since I'd ridden a bike. I'd been previously banned from biking and almost walking altogether after I got hit by a car (twice), on foot and on bike. Jeremiah and I joke that I might have 9 lives. We got on our gifted bikes with big adventures in mind. We couldn't get to the next block before one of us knocked a chain off the cycle and the other nearly road into oncoming traffic! It wasn't too long before we remembered how to ride those silly bikes and now we can really feel cool...feeling cool also means sore thighs and buns. There has GOT to be a cycling seat pillow out there for us!

Beautiful Åletjern,
it was worth the trouble to get there.

As I mentioned at the top, part of really living here is getting to share the outside with other people. We've started to make friends, who have already helped us to discover so much already! Recently, we biked to a lake called Åletjern, almost a 10 mile round trip up a mountain. (Why do I always find myself trailing Jeremiah?!) It was much better coming down than going up!! While there, we learned that it is imperative for the Hursts to review our swimming technique for maximum survival, and that you should look before jumping off a diving board just in case you land on some angry ducks...a scary and amusing sight for us bystanders! We also shared henna tattoos, carefree conversations, and plenty of wild blueberries we picked in the forest. While taking in the lake, our conversation topic shifted to what it means to be a good friend. We took turns sharing what's really valuable to us in being known by friends.  My friend Christina shared a spin off of Warren Wiersby's quote with me that sounded so wise. I can't fully remember, but it said something like "Kindness without honesty is Sentimentality but Honesty without Kindness is Brutality". It resonated with meWe're focusing a lot on what it means to care for people through this perspective of friendship.

Christina and I enjoying a handful of our successful
blueberry picking. Searching for wild blueberries in Norway is
one of THE summer thangs to do with friends!

Awesome friends with amazing stories,
showed us a good volleyball time!
(Left to right, Mohsen, Jeremiah, Jamal)

So that's just one of the many meaningful gatherings of friends that we've been a part of where we realized the next day, I can't move comfortably today. We enjoyed another one of those on Thursday playing volleyball at a local park downtown near the center of the city. We found out that THIS is the cool scene where all the foreigners to come and play in the evenings. Jeremiah said to me "I think this is the first time I've been the minority in Norway". There were dudes of every shade everywhere! (that dude comment to be addressed in a future blog.) At first there were 6 of us, then 10 of us, then 12 of us, our team doubled in size with still more people waiting to play! It was so much fun, 30% of the time I had no idea what to do with the ball. My team didn't completely disown me though, and that was awesome.

Celebratory post 3-hour volleyball picture!
(top left to right, mohsen, jamal, jeremiah
bottom left to right, allison, marit)

In both of these spaces with friends, I've seen that part of my work as a Christ-follower is to simply know people for who they are and to value how awesome God thinks they are. In a lot of conversations we've seen that people are longing to be heard and the opportunity for real relationship happens when we listen and actually engage with people around us. Living in that kind of harmony is bringing
us a lot of peace, and the potential to break in to secret gardens that we often aren't even aware exist in ourselves, and that's pretty rewarding...even if that means I have to do some extra stretching when I get home.