Peek-a-BOO!!

So this week was fall break. At first I was really nervous. I didn't want to leave the school. But, of course, it ended up being a good time. I went to Trondheim for the week, well mostly a small town outside of Trondheim called Lensvik. My family has friends there that we have known for many years. When my mom went to Hedmarktoppen one of her teachers took her to their family's farm for Christmas and Easter, and we have been in contact with them ever since. When my family went to Europe in 1098 me and my brother stayed there for about a week while my parents went on a missions trip. Then again when i was 12 i went and stayed there for 3 weeks. by myself this time. haha kinda funny looking back. So anyways, many times when i think of Norway i think of Sletta (the name of the farm) and the people there.

The week was really relaxing. I am pretty much fully healed from my cold. It was good to sleep and take it easy. Jorid (the mother of the house) was so wonderful to me. Her hospitality and warmth made me feel so much at home. She was very motherly, which is always a wonderful attribute to have. So overall it was a calming experience, which is good, but for me get's kind boring. =P So not too many eventful things happened while at Sletta. Only a few. And here they are:

1. I crochet a little stuffed mouse for Jorid and Torbjorn's (the father of the house) grandchild. my first time crocheting a stuff animal.
2. On Wednesday i took the boat to Tondheim and hung out with Torstien (the youngest of the kids, who is my age) and Monica (Lars' girlfriend. Lars is the 3 child a bit older than me). Torstien and i went to a new museum called RockHeim which was like a museum about rock history, mainly in the different decades and in norway. it was pretty fun. then we went and saw a movie. it was just fun to walk around the city some.
3. On Thursday we went to the only thrift store i have heard about in all of norway. pretty intense. =P
4. also on Thursday i played handball for the first time. I was pretty darn clueless, but i got the hang of it after a while. Pretty fun!
6. On Sunday (this is out of order) (did anybody notice that when i first posted this i forgot to write something after "this is out of order") we took a hike to this AWESOME little cabin...more like a hut...that Torbjorn and the others had built in the woods by a lake. it was BEAUTIFUL.
5. I had many conversations with Torbjorn. This is probably the most exciting thing because of one very important factor..........Torbjorn does not know english! so we had to communicate all in Norwegian if Jorid or the others weren't around. which happened quite a few times. It was pretty hard...but we did it! YAY!!! The last 2 times i went i could not say anything to Torbjorn. It felt good to have conversations!

So that was my time in Lensvik. It really was beautiful.

On Friday i took the boat to Trondheim again to spend the last two nights with Kristel and her mom. That was pretty fun. Got to see some more of Trondheim. It was super nice to be with a school person. Had a nice time with her mom and her. ^_^

So now i am back at school, and glad for it. I missed it dearly. I realize that when I go back home when this is all done, I will miss Toppen even more. I kinda set a trap for myself. When i am here i miss America, when i am in America i will miss Norway. Such is life i guess.

FIN

So i forgot to make a post on sunday again! YAY ME!! And now i cannot remember what i did last week. So how 'bout i just put up a few pictures from my adventures! Sound good? SOUNDS GOOD!!





yay!!

FIN

Every Sunday it feels so hard to remember all that I did. Perhaps I should update twice a week?? Meh. I would probably forget.

Anyways, this week I have been sick (as the title suggests). This has kinda made the whole week a blur of coughs and headaches. But it has still been a good week none-the-less!

In class we have been working on turning a story into a play. It's the story of the old shoemaker, and the Lord says he will visit him, and the next day he takes care of 3 people in need and it's the whole "whatever you have done for the least of these, you do for me" thing. So that's been going good. I get to play a starving street kid who steals food from an apple lady. It's pretty fun. I get to be a little boy! Yay for playing different genders! ^_^ I think next week we will be done with that for a while and pick it up again when we are closer to the day that we perform it. It's for some celebration...I don't quiet know when.

The play did lead to a very interesting realization for me. We were talking about the goal of the play and what we wanted the audience to see, and someone said that we were basically trying to give them a guilty conscience about caring for those less fortunate. And I was thinking, well that would be hypocritical if we said they needed to take care of others, and then we didn't do that same thing. So I asked May Brit if there were any homeless shelters here and Norway and she said no. Apparently, nobody is homeless. She said there are a few homeless, but they tend to be homeless by choice or drug addicts. Either the real poverty is well hidden here in Norway, or there really isn't any. Norway is the richest country in the world, so I guess it would make sense. It's just so weird for me. I know it's a good thing that there is no poverty, but at the same time it just makes me feel like there is something missing. Christ came to preach the good news to the poor, and we find him amongst those in need. When there is no poor, people's perspective of wealth and money gets distorted, I feel. I dunno. But it will be good to go to Mexico later. For some it might be the first real poverty they see. Weird.

Anyways! There was also a few guests this week, one from India and one from.....FLORIDA! Apparently he lives in Sweden now. but still. =D well i think he does. it all kinda confused me. ANYWAYS! The man from the US is named...um...andrew?...and he is a worship leader type. So for the worship time we have on Monday and on Wednesday he played, and it was super powerful and really really great. I loved it. And the man from India spoke about the untouchables, and how God is moving in that part of India, and how it is super important to pray. Both of them spoke in English, so that was nice for me. Whenever someone is giving a sermon or a devotional, I feel like getting translation would be inappropriate, since we would be talking. So whenever someone is doing one in english it is sooo nice. I found out that there is a church on sundays that has english translation! i am so excited for that! I will for sure go there!

I suppose that is news enough for the week. I always write too much, sorry folks!

Thanks for your prayers and support! Much love!

FIN