An Ending; therefore, a Beginning

The end of lecture phase, the beginning of a new adventure in Japan

Well, look at that. It’s been a month since I posted. It’s crazy how time flies here. The days are long but the weeks are short. A lot has happened since I’ve last posted. I’ll recap quickly the main events and include as many pictures as I can to keep your interest.

First I just want to say, though — thank you to all of my people back home, who keep in touch and ask how I’m doing and pray for me. Really, it means so much to know I have a community back home cheering me on.

This has been such a rich season. Lecture phase (the first twelve weeks of DTS) is drawing to a close now, and we are preparing for our ten week outreach. I fly out for Japan on Monday, Dec 16, and we’ll be arriving sometime on the 18th (ish).

It’s so crazy to me that outreach is already upon us. I have so enjoyed being here in Alesund that honestly, the thought of leaving makes me sad. It’s been such a beautiful season of growth, deepening in my faith, and settling into a quiet confidence in the character of God.

Earlier this month was a large YWAM conference called “Worker’s Gathering”, where all the YWAM bases in Norway met together for five days of worship, teaching, preaching, and overall just getting to see a larger part of God’s heart for the nations. Our base also had the privilege of doing the opening ceremony, in which we learned and performed the song “Rise Up Lazarus”. I got to sing vocals, which was so cool. I loved seeing other YWAMers from all over Norway, but also bonding so much with my own base that week.

Writing track has been such a fun and cozy space. Since there’s only four of us total (two students and two leaders) it really feels more like hanging out with friends than anything. It’s some of my favorite times of the week when we sit down with our coffee and notebooks, and chat about life and poetry and writing and just have a lovely time. A few weeks ago we had a huge snow here, and so we had a writing track snow day. We sledded down a huge hill in the park across the street, made snow angels, threw snow at each other, danced around, got nice and cold before coming inside to some of Suze’s killer hot chocolate (literally, best hot chocolate I’ve ever tasted). I love my people so much.

I’ve also been doing so much reading. First of all, I’ve made it a goal to read through the entire Bible cover to cover by the end of outreach, and I’m well on my way to doing so. That has been a really special journey and I have loved getting to know the Lord better through his Word. In addition to that, I’ve been reading a lot of books… I finished my ninth book just today. That’s been a great way to take some time to myself and decompress after being surrounded by people 24/7.

I have also been bonding with my outreach team! There’s 13 of us in total, and it’s been fun to get to know them all better with hangouts, movie nights, and team meetings. I can’t believe it’s already time to think about packing…. It’s insane. I’m a little nervous, but also so excited to see how God works through our ten weeks in Japan.

Also this week we are having a 24/7 prayer room! That has been so cool. I helped set it up last weekend, and Tuesday we kicked it off. The idea is that you can book hour-long slots at a time, to go into the prayer room and spend undistracted time in prayer and intercession for various topics. I had my first shift last night, from 2-4 AM, and that was so special to have that time alone with the Lord in the secret place. I have a few more hours booked this weekend, and I can’t wait to see how the Lord meets me there.

One of my favorite parts of the past month was Track Week, where I was with my writing track every day for a week, spending time working on my project for our Creative Exhibition. The exhibition was a time to create a piece to be displayed to the public and to the base as a whole. All the creative students made pieces, and last Saturday night we had the event. I was so happy with how my piece turned out.

I made a display called “PAY ATTENTION” which was a compilation of 165 lines of poetry, quotes, poems, thoughts, questions, etc. which I had written within the past few months. I spent hours writing them all out by hand, and then a couple of days setting up the display to look like a small tent, lit by twinkle lights. It made me so happy to see people lingering there on Saturday, really just soaking it all up. The exhibition was one of my favorite nights of DTS so far (although there have been many).

Overall, this has been such a beautiful season. I am so grateful to be here. There are so many times I just stop in my tracks and look around me and realize what a privilege and blessing it is to have this time. This time is so precious.

Very likely, it will be a bit before my next post, since I will be in the throes of transition once more, heading into outreach. Also, many of you likely noticed that I’ve kind of disappeared on social media. That was purposeful. Honestly I just get really fed up with social media and find it to be more of a hinderance to my life than anything else. However, since for a lot of people it is their only way in keeping up with what I’m doing, I’ll try to post on my YWAM page once in a while with some pictures and updates. Thanks for understanding. :)

Praises: Praise God for all that he’s done in my life and in my heart here during the lecture phase. He’s so good. Also praise him that we get the opportunity to go on outreach and share his heart with more of the world!

Prayer requests: Pray for outreach! Pray for peace, and pray against any fear or anxiety that comes so easily when traveling and getting out of your comfort zone. Also I would appreciate prayers for clarity and peace of mind when it comes to making decisions about the future and what comes next after I get home from DTS!

Thank you for reading and keeping up with my adventures. God is good!

Until next time —

Abbs