News Archive
Interns in Norway 2
The second report from the Interns' mission to Arna, near Bergen in Norway.
Sarah Chorley
Well, having come back and cogitating Norwegian happenings, there's so much that God has been doing through us and in us and giving us glimpses of and how to choose something to share?! I think that for me, realising the importance of constant strategic prayer has been highlighted, whether that’s before during and after events, while on the streets, as a team, whatever.
One day 5 of us went to Vos, a town further in the mountains, giving out flyers to an evangelistic meeting that night and starting conversations with people. Me and James (an Ichthus RadNet) were getting a bit frustrated at one point, and so stopped flyering, sat on a bench and prayed that God would show us the people to talk to. So we sat and prayed... 10 minutes later, nothing seemed to have happened, but there was a man sat on the bench opposite. So I nudged James over to talk to him. Earlier that day James had the feeling that he would get the chance to pray for healing for someone’s knees. So during his chat with the man, he asked if his knees were alright, to which the man replied that both his knees were knackered and welcomed prayer for them.
Meanwhile, I somehow got chatting with a lady, and was able to talk with her about how we were working with a church, why we were there and pray for her and her baby, as they were recovering from a difficult birth. So I was really encouraged by that encounter, that waiting on God to lead us to the people he wants us to meet really works!! Prayer is good! So is God!!
Ben Jiggins
God spoke to me about three things in Norway. The first thing he said was 'Norwegians are cool!'. And who am I to argue? The guys at the church we were with are absolute legends. They made us feel so welcome, and have a great vision for what their church is about.
The second thing God said to me was 'teenagers are cool'. I helped out at 3 youth events this week - one discipleship and two youth-service-style outreach events called 'La Casa Feliz' ('House of Joy' in Spanish!). In particular the sixth formers who help to run these events and play in the worship band are great, really chasing God and committed to seeing more young people follow Jesus. Happily these guys are on Facebook so it's easy to keep in touch!
The third thing God said was 'unity is cool'. With two teams of people coming together in one mission, there was potential for problems but it was very much one big team while we were there, and any differences were put aside for the sake of what we were doing. Also, some of the most profound moments for me were during the worship when songs such as 'Ancient of Days' and 'How Great is our God' were sung in Norwegian and English in unison - very inspiring!
Catherine Marsden
Well the last few days of the mission were a compete whirlwind. Wednesday was a particularly exhausting day – chopping down trees at the new church in Espeland, followed by 6 hours at the youth club until the early hours of the morning! I gave a talk about Jesus setting us free and shared some of my testimony. There were about 60 young people there – it was scary but fun at the same time! It was really great to spend more time with the youth and get to know them better. And two people became Christians… wooohooo! The next day we woke up to cannons being fired from the hills which marked the beginning of the Norway National Day celebrations. It was quite a surreal day!
Gareth Owen
Norway was a really formative experience for us all I think. It was wonderful worshiping, spending time and evangelizing with Christians from another country. God actually speaks Norwegian too!
The celebration that was organized for the last Saturday of the mission is probably worth a special mention as it was part of our contribution to inspiring and building up the church in Arna. The evening was presented in a café style and there was lots of fun and games as well as a sermon and worship. It was good seeing the younger and older members of the congregation celebrating together and it seemed to really bring the church family closer together. The highlight for me was Ben Jiggins’ party trick, which you must ask him to perform for you.
Phil Trainer
The mission to Norway was as much of a blessing to us as it was to them. It was such a privilege and inspiration to spend this time with the group from Ichthus and all the people at the church in Arna. It is so exciting to be able to come alongside a church’s ongoing mission; to support and encourage them; to bless them and be blessed by them. The people give so much of their time and efforts towards praying and seeking to reach out to the community. Many of them joined us whenever they could, whatever we were doing. It is so clear that they are thirsty for God’s kingdom to come in their town and to see people come to know Jesus.
Will Graham
It's hard to consolidate my highlights of the Norway mission, there are so many! Seeing the youth so inflamed with love for Jesus was definitely one of the very best, so many of them are mature Christians well beyond their age, and to look at them there was no way that you'd guess that most of them were under 20! We saw a number of young people come to faith in the 10 days that we were there which we are praising God for big time! Please be praying for those that made commitments, for them to get stuck into the churches' youth groups and discipleship groups and to do mighty things for Jesus. Please also join us in praying for those who are now that bit closer to following Christ. We were really encouraged to see people who we invited coming along to some of the different church activities and making friends with out Norwegian brothers and sisters, who we pray will be able to keep in touch with them easily and continue to evangelise to them as God brings them ever closer to the kingdom!
With only 2 days of proper rain we were very fortunate, apparently May is the driest month in Bergen with only 50% of days being rainy! This meant we were able to crack on with outdoor evangelistic events like the 'gratis grillfest' (free bbq) and give out free teas, coffees and waffles with invitations to the events and church services! I even learnt a bit of Norwegian in the process (det er schecht ovarra hach, for di Gud er God å det er sul i dåg!) Yeah!
I'll admit it was physically and spiritually draining much of the time, especially towards the end, but the Holy Spirit was so evidently uplifting us as we prayed together and we were strengthened by God all the way through, even through illnesses and tiredness and the like. God is good! We were so blessed by our hosts, I can't do their generosity justice in words! It was a tough time, but we have been incredibly blessed to be involved in God's work among such amazing people and seeing what we pray is only some of the fruit of the seed that was sown and is still being sown in Norway!
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