Gud er God, Hele Tiden

 To the dear people who are reading this blog, Merry Christmas! I wish that I was able to travel back to the US for Christmas, but I got to go to Germany instead, which has been a big blessing.
 I have talked a lot about my life in Norway so far, what living with a multitude of other people is like, and what we do in YWAM Skien. But now, I want to talk about what God is doing Skien; how He is working in the city through us. 
 In general, the Norwegian people are open to spiritual things, whether it is the Holy Spirit or not good spirits. I think that this is one of the reasons why God has met many, many Norwegians in what we would call a supernatural way. Before I go on and share some stories of what God has done, I want to say something about the core of miracles, signs and wonders, etc. The heart behind the supernatural is for a person to encounter the love of God in a tangible way. Praying for people is another way to visibly demonstrate God's heart, His love, and His compassion. 
 Okay, story time. One Saturday night in November, a lot of us from the base went out to evangelize. My group and I got to pray for a man with stomach problems. Not much happened after we finished praying, but when another group met the same man and asked if they could pray for him, he said that God had already healed him.
 On my last team week, my team and I went to a Baptist church in Skien to hang out with the youth group. While we were there, we got to pray for a girl with a sore throat and God healed her.
 Of course, healings are not the only things that God is doing. Another area that He is working with is divine appointments. Let me give you an example. One cold, dark night in November we had a fire drill just as the cafe that we run on Thursday nights was closing. The parking lot which serves as our safe meeting place in case of fires is right next to the disco club across the street from the prison. I guess a large group of people, some wearing pajamas, standing in a parking lot late at night looks funny because people from the club started to come outside and ask what we were doing there. When the fire drill ended and people started to go back into the prison, Melanie, a fellow DTS student and I started to talk with a girl who came out from the club. The girl shared her story with us and we had an opportunity to speak life into her life. Melanie is still in contact with this girl. I have no doubt that it was God who orchestrated things that night to reach this one girl. 
 There are many, many more stories of how God has healed people inside and out and touched the lives of the people in Skien. These are just the events which I have been privileged to witness. 

Team-Weeks

 Team-weeks, ah yes. These weeks are a chance to apply what I've been learning in the DTS and are also the reason why I haven't been able to update the blog in so long. Thankfully, I am here in Skien this team-week so I actually have free time to write.
 So what is a team week? A team week is where my DTS class splits into six teams (hence the name team-week) in order to work with different churches and evengelize on a smaller scale. Usually three teams stay here in Skien and the other three go out to different cities or towns in Norway.
 For my first team week, my team and I went to a city called Haugesund which is on the West Coast of Norway where we worked with a pioneer church that is running a cafe. I think that was the hardest team week so far because I had to drink a ton of good coffee, meet amazing people, and go to one of the most beautiful parts of Norway. Any sympathy? In reality, it was an awesome experience. My team and I were in Haugesund for only six days, but from the moment I stepped into the coffee shop/church I felt at home. Our contact in Haugesund was Nils, a man who is on fire for God and works in the church's cafe. Nils arranged for our team to go to a confirmation class, a tween's smallgroup, and different home groups from the pioneer church in the evenings. In the end, I think that we were as blessed by the people in the pioneer church as they were by us.


 

My team: on the top row from left to right is Nils, Stefan, Ole Kristian, Ole Johannes. On the bottom is Ragnhild, Barbro, Jaanika, me and Lisa.  



The beautiful West Coast



The pioneer church that we worked with.



Haugesund



 The next team-week, I was here in Skien with a team whose specific focus is worship. However, we did not have much worship in the normal sense of playing music. Instead we centered in on living a lifestyle of worship by serving and encouraging people. The most that we did here in Skien was going out to evangelize with the School of Evangelism students and during the weekend of that week, my team and I went to a Christian youth conference called Get Focused for the weekend where we cleaned toilets and spread the love of God to the youth that were there.

 My last team-week was probably the most challenging and the most fruitful ministry wise. The city that my team was in is called Sarpsborg, which is near Sweden. There is a lot of spiritual warfare going on over this city and we got to experience some of what was going on. As the week went on, it became a struggle for our team to communicate with one another and we had to fight to keep our eyes on Jesus. If this week proved anything, it clearly demonstrated that it is God who is powerful and will meet people no matter what. And meet people is what He did, directly where they were at. The main place that we saw God work was in the youthgroup of the church we were working with in Sarpsborg. Almost every night, we would have prayer and worship meetings with the youth where we were able to encourage and minister to them. By the end of the six days, we could see a visible change in the youth. Seeing this was completely worth any struggles that we might have had.


The Sarpsborg team: front row is Eva with the baby, Erik, and Katharina. Back row is Barbro, me, Jussi, and Andreas.



The youth room in the church where we worked in Sarpsborg

 So here I am again on another team-week here in Skien. I am with the worship focus team again and we are going to spread the love of God in creative ways throughout Skien. In general, the prayer needs for team-weeks are that we can keep our eyes on Jesus, unity in the team, and protection both in traveling and in health.  

Life with YWAM

Relaxing with the SOE

 It is six-thirty in the morning and my alarm clock is telling me that its time to start another day. Already I can hear the pounding of feet as people run up and down the stairs to and from the bathrooms which, by the way, have showers with glass doors. The sun isn't up yet, but almost everyone at the YWAM base here in Skien is in order for breakfast.
 If I had to describe my life here in Skien with one word, routine would be one of the words that I would be tempted to use. On an average day here, life for a DTS student looks like this: we eat an early breakfast, spend an hour with God (praying, reading the bible, etc.), then we go to class where we learn about a different subject each week. So far, we've learned about the father heart of God, holiness, the bible, discipleship, and relationships. We have a break for lunch at noon and then it is back to class or cleaning the base depending upon the day.


class



waiting for class to begin

 Something interesting that I have learned about life here in Norway is that Norwegians eat four meals a day, most of them consisting of bread. Breakfast and lunch are at what we in the United States would call 'normal times', but dinner, the only hot meal we eat, is consumed around four thirty and then there is super which is eat around eight. The base here in Skien is no exception to eating four meals a day, which is nice because there is always cereal for supper if you didn't get enough for dinner. 
 Weekends at the base are good for two reasons mainly: you get to sleep in and on Saturdays we have a Norwegian specialty of rice porridge which has a name that my laptop doesn't posses the right keys to spell.

 I may have already mentioned this, but one of the best things about living here is the fellowship. Now that it is getting cold, we spend a good amount of time around one of the stoves drinking coffee or tea, talking, and laughing. Sometimes the conversations are deep topics and other times it is just swapping jokes. The atmosphere here is open and it is a safe place to learn how to be yourself. We are working towards being Youth Without Any Masks. 
 Of course, there are many times when we need to be alone and think. Thankfully the cafe culture is big here in Norway and Cafe Tullis is a good place to go for some alone time. However, there is always the chance that you will meet someone else from the base there so visitors, be warned.


Cafe Tullis

   I think that this nicely sums up what my life is like here on a day to day basis. After reading over what I just wrote, it sounds a little repetitive, but that is where people come in. People are the game changing variable and I would have to fight really hard here to be bored.
  

There Is A Generation...

 It feels like it has been a long time since I last sat down to write about what is happening here in Skien. I am sure that many of you are curious what life on a DTS is like, much less life in Norway and I promise that some day soon I will give out more details with pictures. But today I would like to share with you something that God has put on my heart while I have been here: the youth of Skien.

 
 Everything started one Saturday night as I was walking down to the YWAM office building to watch a movie. Our base, the old prison, is located in the bar and disco club district of Skien and after dark on the weekends is when what looks like half the city comes here to party.
 In order to get to the office building you have to walk through the main hub of clubs and as I was walking on that particular night, something caught at my heart. At one of the clubs, there was a long line of rowdy youths from the ages of about thirteen to seventeen all waiting to get in. As I was passing, something happened inside of my heart that is rather difficult to explain. While looking at these youths, I all of a sudden was overwhelmed by a feeling of hopelessness that was coming from these youths. They were pursuing what they thought would fill them, but it is all empty; an endless cycle of trying to find worth and escape from the monotony of life. As I was sensing this hopelessness, compassion for these youths overwhelmed my heart. I saw God's heart for them and felt His longing to be their hope and fill their lives. 
 Now my mission is to meet and connect with the youth here in Skien. There is a great lack of self-esteem among youths in Norway, many come from broken families, and many youths are depressed. Talking with people here that have worked with the youth, I have learned that they are open to hear, but they have a hard time believing that there is such a thing as truth. 
 Please pray that the hearts of the youth would be opened to know that there is truth and for opportunities for myself and other people from the base to connect with them.  

Sweden: Celebrating 50 Years of YWAM

 To start this entry off, I need to correct a mistake in the last entry that I wrote. As it turns out, Andy happens to be a student in the School of Evangelism, not a staff member. With one hundred people, it is sometimes difficult to know who belongs where. 
 Okay, now back to my real reason for writing.
 When I applied for the DTS in Skien, I had no idea that I was entering into YWAM on such an awesome year. This year is YWAM's jubilee year, its 50th birthday if you will. In order to celebrate 50 years of young people bringing God's good news all over the world, celebrations are being held all over the world at various YWAM bases and the gathering place for all of Northern Europe (Scandinavia plus Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania) just happened to be in the gorgeous country of Sweden at the Restenäs base. Restenäs looks like what it used to be before YWAM made the place into a base; a picturesque farming village complete with cows. The picture below shows only the dinning hall, dinning tent, and office building. Restenäs is too large for one picture, but just right for a meeting of over seven hundred YWAMers.

  To celebrate fifty years of YWAM, we, YWAM of Northern Europe, attended meetings for the better part of four days in the foremost building you see in the picture below. A lot of different leaders and visionaries spoke during these meetings and we got to hear stories of how God is using young people all around the world. While hearing the stories was good, some of the best times in the meetings were when we worshiped. Nothing can compare to the sight of all generations worshiping God together in freedom.

                                        
     The cowfield: what a wonderful view to wake up to.                               

An inside view of the meeting hall. It reached incredible temperatures in this room, considering the cold weather outside of the building.

 It is very difficult to celebrate an organization or a movement without honoring its founder. Yes, we honored God without whom nothing, including YWAM would exist, but we also honored the man who obeyed God's call to mobilize young people for the kingdom of God and his wife who is much more than just a help meet to him. The man and his wife are called Loren and Darlene Cunningham and they came to Restenäs to celebrate along side of us the organization they founded. It was a great privilege to hear Loren and Darlene tell of how YWAM began and of their visions for its future.


Loren Cunningham (right) and translator

 When we were not being Youth With A Meeting, it was good to take advantage of the fact that Restenäs is located near a large body of water. Many people went swimming, but swimming looked more like walking on water for some people because the water temperature did not reflect bath water in the least. And also....

                                                                
                                                               ... there were jellyfish!         

 

So what came out of this trip to Sweden? One: I learned that YWAM is a much larger organization than I had first thought and that it has impacted every corner of the globe. Two: I saw that people in Northern Europe are very passionate about seeing revival break out in their countries. Three: I realized that a large bottle of hand sanitizer would be prudent in the future for large gatherings of over ten people. Yes, seriously. Over half of the people at this base came back with some kind of sickness from Restenäs including yours truly, which is part of the reason why its taken me so long to post this. The good news is that everyone is starting to feel better. The bad news is that it is supposed to rain the majority of this coming week.    

Home Sweet Home in the Jailhouse

 First of all, before I go into the detailed explanation of the place where I live and the people I live with, I believe that an update on my suitcase is due. As of Thursday morning, my suitcase arrived at the base with everything in it. I am super happy to have it now, but I also learned a lot through the experience including packing another pair of socks next time I have just one backpack to survive on while waiting for a suitcase. I also want to thank the many, many people who were praying for my suitcase to get here. I can not tell you enough how much I appreciate it. The reason that I have not been able to tell you this important information until now is that just after my suitcase came on Thursday morning, the entire DTS staff and students left for a wilderness trip. I wish that cameras had been allowed so that I could show you the beautiful countryside of Norway, but that is something that you will just have to Google for now. As for the wilderness trip itself, it was a fun way to bond with everyone in the DTS and we all grew closer together as a team.
 Now for the real story; allow me to tell you about the place I live and the people I live with. The YWAM base in Skien was originally a jailhouse that was built in 1891 and before the YWAM redeemed it, the building served as a shopping mall and a night club. No worries though, many people have prayed in this place before this year.

                                                                        The Base

 

This is the first part of my room in the jailhouse. It is actually one of the bigger rooms here.

 

The second part

  This is the staircase that goes up to the second floor where I live and then the third where the bathrooms are.

The dinning hall

 

A good view of Skien

 

The harbor. I can walk two seconds from the base and see this.

 

The town hall is the white building. The street on the right side of the picture is the one where the jail is.

The main Norwegian State Church in Skien.

 

Okay, now that I've given you a small tour of the jail and city of Skien, let me introduce you to some of the people that live at the base. I wish I could introduce all of the people I have met so far to you and tell you there stories, but I am afraid that it would fill a book since there are at least one hundred people who are involved with the YWAM Skien base this year. Why so many, you might ask? Well, in addition to the DTS, there is a School of Evangelism that takes place here at the Skien base and an awesome dance ministry called Reboot. Most of the students for the School of Evangelism and the DTS live here at the jailhouse, along with the staff for both schools and the base, but there are some people that live off base too with their families or in apartments. Life at the base is great. At lunchtime, the basement dinning hall is packing with people and there is always someone to talk with. There is such amazing diversity and wholesome fellowship here. I could fill volumes with how great this place is, but as not to waste your bandwidth, I will simply say that I will only be able to introduce you to people on a basis of picture by picture. 

These beautiful girls are my roomates, minus one who abides in the neighboring cell. From left to right, it is Martine, Ase Marie, Tina (who is our neighbor), and Rebekka. They are all kind, generous, and extremely patient with me when I try to speak Norwegian.

 

From left to right this is Jussi, Knut, Christina, Philip, Martin, and Ashild. They are all my fellow DTS students and except for Jussi, who is Finish, they are all Norwegian. 

 

From left ot right it is Jannika, Hannah, and Andy. Jannika and Hannah are DTS leaders and Andy is a School of Evangalism leader.

 

A view of the Skien's town center.

 

           

The Adventure Begins

 As I write this, I am sitting safe and sound at the DTS base's lounge, my new home. Actually, safe might be an understatement because the DTS base used to be a prison. But more about that later. 
 Okay, I know I said that this blog would be about more than just me and the beautiful country of Norway, but the story of how I got to the base in Skien from Florida is rather interesting and my parents, who are probably up by now checking the computer every five minutes, just might want to know the fine details of their child's journey abroad.  
 There were some highlights in my trip to Skien like seeing the fjords and countryside of Norway from the train to Skien, waking up on the plane to behold the stars and moon as never before, and then finally meeting all of the staff at the base, but the main point is that I am here by the grace of God: literally.
 If you were to ask me what God was speaking to me throughout my journey, the answer would be that He was telling me to trust Him. The plane I took to Philadelphia to make a connecting flight to Oslo was delayed both in taking off and in landing by storms. After getting off the airplane in Philadelphia, I ran to my gate and with no time to spare for a bathroom stop or dinner, I got on the plane to Oslo. I was the last person on and minutes later we were in the air. Needless to say, my suitcase is missing in action. For all you praying people, please pray that it comes soon. 
 Did I also mention that I experienced the grace of God a lot on my journey here? Sleep plus me plus planes equals one tired person the next day, so figuring out the Norwegian train system and then getting off at the right stop to catch the bus to Skien was something I definitely did not do alone. Thanks also to everyone who was and is praying! I have no doubt that your prayers opened doors in my travels.  
 So back to trust. Even if you have figured out what this has to do with trust, please let me explain. There were times in my travel where I had no idea if I was going to make a connection and I asked God what the heck was going on. All He said was "Trust me Emily". I had to trust that He was calling me to Norway, that I was supposed to be at this school, and that God was going to come through for me. Long story short, He did. There is a verse in Proverbs that says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." I trusted in God, although my flesh screaming at me to panic, and He led me straight here. Even now I am trusting in Him still to come through for me. My God, our God is mighty to save.
 Next time I write, I will give you, my readers, a tour of the Skien base and an opportunity to meet some of the people here via this blog. For now, there are no pictures because the necessary equipment to connect my camera to the laptop just happens to be in my suitcase that is coming sometime hopefully soon.   

Prayer

 Over the past few weeks, I have been astounded by and deeply grateful towards the many people who have told me that they are praying for me and my time in Norway. To those of you who are praying, I thank you sincerely. Your prayers are precious to me. 
 If you wish to partner in prayer with me or you are praying, but are unsure of what to specifically pray for, here is what my family and I are praying for in regards to my time in Norway and beyond. 
 Firstly, we are praying for unity among everyone at the DTS in Skien; that everyone would be of one mind and one purpose to seek God and His will. 
 Next, we are praying that God would open the ears of everyone at the school to hear His voice and that He would use us for His glory.  
 We are also praying for protection and favor with traveling in and out of the various countries that the different teams from the school will be going to. 
 Additionally, we are praying that God would open the hearts of the people that we minister to so that they can come to know Jesus and see their lives radically changed. 
 Please also pray for the leaders of the DTS in Skien for wisdom and strength throughout the school year and during the mission trips. 
 Finally, I have one request of my own that is dear to my heart. Please pray for strength and protection for my family.  They are behind me in support 100%, but I know that it is also difficult for them to have me go.
 Thanks again to everyone who is praying. Ha det bra! (Goodbye in Norwegian.)  

Prologue

 Hi there dear reader! My name is Emily Huyck and I want to invite you to embark on an adventure with me through the medium of the Internet. 
 In about two weeks (eighteen days to be exact), I will be traveling to Skien, Norway in order to attend a YWAM Discipleship Training School there for nine months. YWAM is, for those of you who are not familiar with it, a missions organization that trains and sends missionaries all over the world to minister, train, and disciple. A Discipleship Training School typically puts its students through two phases: the first is a school phase where the students are taught for six months and the second phase sends those students out into the world for a two to three month missions trip.  
 I think that now is a pretty good time to reveal my purpose in writing this blog. This blog is not solely a travel blog nor is it merely an account of an American's mishaps while living overseas (although some of those will probably occur). The Discipleship Training School in Skien, DTS for short, that I am going to has the mission statement of "Jesus to all with salvation, training, and a call to action" and I think that it in part shows the purpose of this blog which is to report what God is doing through me and around me in Skien and, eventually, the world. This is about a lot more than just me, the wonderful people I am going to meet, and the beautiful countries I am traveling to; it is about Jesus and seeing His kingdom come to earth. 
 So, if you simply want to hear about Norway or funny travel stories, I recommend finding another blog. There are probably some really good ones out there too. I am not trying to be rude, just blatantly honest about the nature of the content which you will find here. 
 Anyhow, now that I have stated my purpose and reason, I am sure that there is a little head scratching going on as to why I elected to go to Skien (pronounced like Shane as far as I can tell) Norway.  

 Well, I have known for quite some time now that God was calling me to the mission field and when the question came up as to where I would go for training, YWAM stood out among the many, many options. Once I chose YWAM, I quickly learned that it has almost as many options in Discipleship Training Schools, so it basically boiled down to the focus of the school (each DTS has a slightly different focus; like basketball or missions in Asia), which led me to the city most Americans, including myself, have most likely never heard of until now; Skien.  
 In closing, I'll leave you with some facts about Norway/Skien so you don't have to Google them when you are done reading this. Skien is the capital of the Telemark Region in Norway and has a population of around fifty thousand people. The average temperature during the Summer in Norway is around sixty-six degrees Fahrenheit and only five percent of the Norwegian population attends a church. Norway also boasts a royal family, King Harald and Queen Sonja, and while Norway is known for its fish, they do cook and eat other meat... like reindeer.

The dutiful writer