The last year of school in Norway is especially more exciting than in any other place that I have heard of before. Once you are in your last year you immediately become what they call "Russ". When you are Russ you are allowed to do anything you want because you are young and it's ok for you to do it. Fun usually comes wrapped up in doing as many challenges as you can so you can gain a knot to tie around your hat. The more knots you have, the better. The challenges can go from having to sit underneath your desk during a whole class to running naked in your school campus. However this fun tradition hasn't turned out as great as it sounds. There are a lot of dark things that happen during the festivals that happen during "Russetid". Young people often get drunk, take way too many drugs which ends up being very dangerous for them. Many of the challenges also involve having sex with as many people as you can or kissing all the boys in school. Sadly there are also a lot of girls who end up being raped during festivals.

          In the midst of all this darkness there is a light. Three organizations in Norway decided to form a group for Christian students also called "Kristen Russ" (Christian Russ) or "Kruss" who don't want to be a part of the "dark side" of this celebration. Their motto is "Together and present we will make a difference." Being Kruss is not about separating yourself from everyone but being present and being a light in the darkness so that people will see Jesus. In September my friend Thea and I went around Norway in a Kick-Off tour for Kruss. We went to 17 different cities to gather those who made a decision to make a difference in their group of friends, their schools and their city. We were able to share about all the activities we host that they could take a part of by being Kruss and also encourage them to create their own activities to become a community that shines their light before others. I also had the chance to preach in some places. The message I shared was also being shared by many other preachers in the churches we visited all over Norway. I was so encouraged to see that when God has a message to share, He doesn't just do it in one place but he makes it happen in the whole nation! It was truly amazing to see so many young people with a big desire to stand up for their faith and be an example of love and kindness to their friends.

          Our tour was so great! I learned a lot about bringing God into every situation we encountered and that was thanks to my friend Thea. She is such an amazing and inspiring friend. Her relationship with God and with others really challenged me to become more involved with what God can do when seek Him. When we drove from place to place we talked about what we have learned about God and how He has set us free. This lead us to have prayer times for every Kick-Off event we had. We experienced how God would change the atmosphere of our meetings and the response we got from the youth in every place we went to. Even though it was tiring to travel every day the whole trip was so worth it just to see that God is doing something among the young people in Norway and we get to be a part of it!


Here are some pictures from the trip!

Trondheim

Trondheim

Trondheim

Molde

Ålesund

Bodø

Tromsø

So, it's official, I'll be moving out of the YWAM base into town! This is actually quite a big decision for me. It's another chance for me to grow in faith and trust in God. I will have the opportunity to testify about who God truly is in the local community. I'm really excited to get to know the people of Hamar. God has great things for Norway and Hamar is a town God has chosen to be a great influence in an area of Norway that is considered spiritually dead.

          I have to admit that most of the time I see the lack of constant financial support as a negative thing. There are many lies that can come into mind when things don't go the way we expect them to. The lie I tend to believe is that God doesn't love me or that He doesn't want to take care of me. The feeling of abandonment comes in to destroy my motivation to do the work I do every day. But there is always that moment where I realize I am completely wrong. Last Sunday I got to share a small testimony in a church. I asked God to show me what to share, brilliantly, He reminded me about one of the biggest challenges I've had when it comes to raising support. Through this hard time I learned that God must love me very much because he is challenging me.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  

James 1:2-4

 This is what the next season of my life is all about, God showing me that He loves me because He is challenging my faith and trust in Him. Even though it's hard, I am blessed!

          I do want to ask you to consider in joining me in this new area of missions I will jump into. As of now I am in need of people who are willing to support me monthly with whatever amount of money God places in your heart. It can be 5, 20, 50, 100  dollars per month any amount helps! For now my goal is to get 900 USD/ 7,370 NOK per month.

Thanks to all of you who have prayed for me or are still praying for me! Your prayers mean so much to me! :)

Hey guys! 

          It's been almost 8 months since I moved to Norway and it's crazy for me to look back at these past few months. They have been nothing like I expected them to be. It's been wonderful to get to know Norway and the beautiful people that live in this country. Life in the base is starting to get brighter and brighter. I say this as I gaze through my window and see the sunlight shining on the gentle hills of Norway at 10:30 PM. The crops are slowly growing through the farmland around our home. The harvest is great and we the workers are getting ready for the harvest.

          A new season is starting to come. The horizon is looking great, there are amazing opportunities for his Kingdom to come in Norway. However I need your help in order to be able to enjoy these new opportunities. I humbly ask you to prayerfully consider to start supporting me financially with a monthly gift. Any kind of amount you are able to contribute counts! Even the smallest! If you want to know more about why I ask or how to contribute you can click here. You can also talk to me, I'm very open to talk about my job and living situation as a missionary through YWAM. I love my job :) On the right you can also see my budget for the next season.

          SO! The next season starts in August. I will be switching from being staff in the Discipleship Training School (DTS) into being part of the YWAM Lighhouse Hamar team.  I will be sharing an apartment with two other girls in Hamar. The vision of our team is to be a blessing to the youth in Hamar. What we do as a whole is that we work with many ministries that are meant to support youth. These are things such as the local youth café, confirmation classes, camps, and school meetings.

These are the things I will be involved in: 

Bible studies: We are looking into starting a Bible Study open for everyone in town who is interested. I want to use what I learned in my Bible School in Tijuana in order to be a blessing to the people in town. The Bible is such a key part in seeing the Lord's kingdom established on earth. It's so encouraging because we can see how the people in Hamar are so eager to get closer to God through the Bible!


Alpha Course: The Alpha Course is a series of sessions that include food and having an open environment for discussion about the hard questions about the Christian faith. This course is not specifically designed for people who are Christians but it's for people who are curious about Christianity. The meetings are meant to create a very easy going environment where people can discuss the basics of Christianity. As the creators of the Alpha Course say it's "an opportunity to explore the meaning of life".

Kristen Russ: At their last year of high school, Norwegian youth celebrate for three weeks in what is called “Russ time”. There’s parties, fun, craziness and often loads of drinking. The “Christian Russ” program helps Christians to keep their faith and share the love of God for their friends in this time. We go on a yearly tour to inspire and encourage the “russ” all over the country. In May we help hosting a festival which gathers more than 1000 russ.

Cafe Uno: Café Uno is a youth café in Hamar, which has been started by the churches in town. Everyone works as volunteers, without any pay, solely because we care about youth in Hamar. The goal of the cafe is to create a meeting place of different cultures and opinions, in which everyone can feel welcome.

          I'm really looking forward to moving into town and start helping out with these ministries. I hope that you feel encouraged by the things God is doing in this small town in Norway! There are many ways that God is moving and I really hope you are able to join me in what God is doing in Norway by giving monthly financial support. Feel free to talk to me and ask me about Norway!

Thank you for reading! :)

          Life in Norway has been way different than I expected. I'm amazed at how much I love living in Norway. It was somehow a scary thought to be here. I was entering a whole new world. New atmosphere, new people, new food and a new routine. I thought the transition was going to be easy but it was not at first. 

         Coming as a foreigner to Norway definitively requires some patience especially if you are from a culture where you're immediately accepted into a group of friends. In Norway it takes time for people to let you into their lives. However as Norwegians say, once you have a Norwegian friend, you have a friend for a lifetime. I cannot fully express to you how happy it makes me when I see the Norwegians come to me and talk, oh and when they smile, that's the best! 

         Before I came to YWAM Grimerud, I didn't have expectations about my time here. All I knew is that one of the biggest highlights in my life was seeing young Swedes getting excited about following God. Now I would have the opportunity to see the same thing happen with young Norwegians. I really do love the mission that the ministry I work with has. 

"To see a movement of young men and women living out God's calling in their lives"     

          The first three weeks I was here I still didn't know what my role would be here. When I first got here everyone knew me as the new staff for the "4.12 DTS" or the young leaders DTS. After a few weeks of just attending the lectures and being able to speak what God wanted to say to some of the students, I was able to sit down with my leader to talk about my future in YWAM Grimerud. He had seen how I interacted with the DTS and how God would speak through me. Since I don't speak Norwegian we decided that it was best for me to work with the DTS for now. I'm really excited to be part of the team even though I don't have full responsibilities this year. I would love to share with you what it means to be DTS staff until the DTS in the next fall. 

          I want to see my opportunities expand in Norway and an essential part to that is to learn to speak Norwegian! I have been praying for an easy way for me to learn. One of the options is to pay for Norwegian classes which would cost about 900 dollars per month. The other way is by full immersion into the language, basically learning as a kid learns a language.  I'm asking God to see which one is the best option, and so far the second one might happen so please pray it does! 

Here is a video of learning some Norwegian by ThatNorwegianGuy: (sorry for some of his language)

I also posted new photos! If you want to see photos of where I live go to the Photos section! 

Hey guys! 

          As many of you have already seen, I'm going to Norway! A whole new season will start now. I'm really excited for this new season in my life. I will be full time staff at YWAM Grimerud! I have seen the past few years as training for missions, but now it's time to start working. I feel mentally and emotionally equipped to start making disciples.

I just re-read the information of the ministry I will be working with in Grimerud, which is called "Make Waves". All I can say is that I am SO excited for it! Their vision is pretty much my vision for the world! This is what it says:

" We want to see a movement of young men and women living out God’s calling on their lives.

We want to raise up a generation that is reaching out to their school, community and to the nations. We do that through serving local churches and arranging events and trips both inside of Norway and abroad. Through this we will see a transformation in our nation, and Norway will return to be a sender of missionaries to the whole world."

Oh I LOVE this! I'm excited for what God will do in me and through everyone I meet.

          I definitively want to ask for your prayers as moving into another culture is not always easy. I am a little familiar with Scandinavian culture but Norway is completely different from Sweden! I am sure I will enjoy it so much but I think prayers will work so well. :) I'm also so excited because I already have all the money I need to travel to Norway! I don't need to raise money for the trip! This is the first time this happens! Thank you Jesus! BUT please pray because I still need money to be able to live there! I already have a few people supporting me and it adds up to 130/ month. I still need 120 to reach my goal! SO pray pray pray!

          It is only through adversity that we learn. I have noticed that the most significant moments of growth in my life happen in adversity. Many times we complain about hard times in life. I believe that as humans we are always looking for someone to blame for all the evil in the world. Most of the world blames God, and as some say if there is one God then it's his fault. We don't like taking responsibility for our own mistakes or acknowledging that we live in a broken world with people who do bad things which have brought sickness and death to many. Yet it's God's fault that we sin.

         I know I have blamed God for the bad things that happen in life. He is the God of the universe, above all authorities, healer, owner of riches and much more. He is sovereign. Why can't He just fix my situation? Why can't he just heal? Why can't He just give me the money I need? I have said to Him: you are God why don't you just give me what I want?  It's just our selfish hearts that lead us to believe that life is all about us. We have been taught to believe that God will only do what is good for me. But have we ever asked ourselves what is good to God? What does good mean to Him?

          This summer has been hard. I've had nothing to do, which has left me with a lot of time to just think. My thoughts just lead me to being worried or scared. I noticed that in my life I don't really spend much time just being with God. I was explaining to a friend about how I've been having a hard time spending time with God. I know that this is not ok but I've been worrying about all the money I need to raise in order to go to Norway. I was tired of trying to get somewhere but there was always a problem that came after another. I lived in fear of problems. I've been carrying a weight that Jesus promised to take. I have been worrying if God will provide or not. There is one thing my friend said that really struck me. She said "You know what Steph, I don't really think that this is about the money and how it will come. It goes beyond that. This is about how much God wants to be with you. How He wants you to set your eyes on Him only. You need to realize that He loves you and wants you to only look at Him."

It's not about our problems, it's all about desiring to know God and the love he has for us. 

          That's what this summer has been all about, learning that the alone time I spend talking to God is the most important time in my life. I have come to the conclusion that knowing God and living every moment of my life conscious of his presence is all I have to worry about. I listen to preachings and they are all redundant to me. All I can think about when I hear them is that there is no way people will live the life Jesus expects us to live unless they spend time knowing God. I am offended that when we teach we don't emphasize that spending time with God is the most important thing we need to do. In almost all of my personal applications for all the books in the Bible I said that it all comes down to knowing God personally. You can try and try to be "good" or do "good" but if you don't know God then what is the point of it all? If you don't spend time knowing God then how can you know how to love? The most beautiful thing about this is that God desires to know us more than anything. He longs for us to talk to Him about what we think and what happens in our day. One thing I know for sure is, to know God is to truly live.

          "It is our duty to live in the beauty of the presence of God on some mount of transfiguration until we become white with Christ. After all, the deepest truth is that the Christ-like life is glorious, undefeatably glorious. There is no defeat unless one loses God, and then all is defeat, though it be housed in castles and buried in fortunes."  - Frank Laubach 
                                     

     

   Unexpected, that's what this summer has been for me. I've only had so much time to try to understand all the things that happened. This season has been slow and hard to deal with but it's in these moments where we have the opportunity to grow closer to God. It's hard but it's worth it. I will share more about what I have been learning this summer in the future. For now I just want to share this letter that a man who was called Brother Lawrence wrote 300 years ago. It is from the book "Practicing His Presence". I read this and I was challenged.

"The Lord knows best what is needful for us. What He does, He does for our good. If we really knew just how much he loves us, we would always be willing to receive anything from his hand. We would receive the bitter or the sweet without distinction. 
          Anything, yes everything, would please us just because it came from Him.
         The worst possible afflictions and suffering appear intolerable only when seen in the wrong light. When we see such things as dispensed by the hand of God, when we know that it is our own loving Father who abases us and distresses us, then our sufferings lose their bitterness. Our mourning becomes all joy.
          Let all your employment be to know God. The more you actually know Him the more you will desire to know Him. Since knowledge is a measurement of love, the deeper and more intimate you are with Him, the greater will be your love for Him. And if our love for the Lord is great, then we will love Him as much during grief as in joy.
          I am sure you know that most people's love for the Lord stops at a very shallow stage. Most love God for the tangible things He gives them. They love Him because of His favor to them. You must not stop on such a level, no matter how rich His mercies have been to you. Many outward blessings can never bring you as close to God as can one simple act of faith.
          So seek Him often by faith.
          Oh, dear friend, the Lord is not outside of you, pouring down favors. The Lord is within you. Seek Him there, within...and no where else.
          Let the Lord be the one, the only , love of your life. If we do love Him alone, are we not rude if we busy ourselves with things trifles, trifles which do not please Him and some which may even offend Him? Be wise and fear such trifles. They will one day cost us dearly.
          Dear friend, would you now begin, today, to be devoted to the Lord, in earnest? Cast everything else out of your heart. He would possess it alone. Beg of Him that favor.
         Do what you can, and soon you will see that change wrought in you which you are seeking.
         I cannot thank Him enough for the relief He has given you.
         I hope, by His mercy, for the privilege of seeing Him face to face within a few days.
Let us pray for one another."

-Brother Lawrence

Practicing His Presence by Brother Lawrence & Frank Laubach, pg. 105-106. Seed Sowers Publishing