YWAM updates - OCTOBER!

It's been two months!!

I took a walk to clear my head. I hoped that my many tramps around the city on evangelism had familiarized my directionally-challenged self with Alesund enough to get me to the famous yellow hotel, which housed free coffee and cozy atmosphere. Perfect for sitting and writing a blog post which had been put off for much too long.

To my delight, I found my way across the city to the hotel without having to ask for directions. That’s a score in my book.

Now I’m sitting here with my blue tumbler of free coffee, my earbuds murmuring Chance Pena, looking out the window to the street where Norwegians pass by, heads bowed and hands stuffed deep into their pockets. 

The past month has been a blur.

Sunday marks two months in Norway. 

A lot has happened since my last proper post. I’ve been sitting here going back through all my photos and journal entries I’ve made in the past month, and wow, it’s been a lot. Where is all the time going? 

If you asked me what the biggest challenge so far has been… I’d say that it’s been finding that balance between resting and also being present where I’m at. The days are so full, it’s easy to get mentally/socially exhausted and want to just check out. So it’s been a balance to find time to myself while also being present and joining in with the fun that’s happening here 24/7. 

The lecture topics the past few weeks were Identity, and then Lordship. Both were incredibly impactful weeks for me spiritually. During identity week, Holy Spirit deeply touched me and spoke to me so personally, which was such a precious thing. I love discovering new joys in him every day, and uncovering more and more hidden delights in him that I didn’t even know were possible. What a good God we have!

And then Lordship week was intense but so good. It was talking about surrendering every part of our lives to Jesus, submitting ourselves and our dreams and our desires to him to have his way in every area. It was convicting, and freeing, and just so beautiful. I laid down a lot of things that week that I hadn’t even realized were weighing on me. 

I also had the opportunity to be re-baptized in the Norwegian Sea on Friday, October 25. It was something that had been in the back of my mind I think since I came on DTS… I wanted to get baptized again as an adult, to declare that my faith is my own, and I’m 100% all in for living for Jesus. 

When I was 12 I was baptized, but looking back, I think I had a lot of feelings of insecurity and feeling like it was what was expected of me, and it just isn’t a joyful memory for whatever reason. When I was 12 I went through a season of really feeling insecure and disliking myself, and I think that really tainted the experience for me.  It wasn’t that my baptism wasn’t valid the first time.  I just wanted to redo it, between myself and God.

That may have been one of my favorite memories from DTS so far. I felt a release as I came out of the water, a sense of joy and peace and freedom that I hadn’t really felt for a long time. It was frigid (everybody was out there in puffer jackets and beanies lol), but it was exhilarating and something I will never forget. Then the whole DTS came and laid hands on me and prayed over me and my life and I think I was crying for joy.

Thank you Jesus.

My baptism in the Norwegian Sea. October 25, 2024. Praise Jesus for the joy I’ve found in him!

Last week we didn’t have lectures, because our base was hosting a five-day event called Hap far Sunnmore (Hope for Sunnmore), where multiple churches and christian oranizations came together to bring hope to this region through nightly worship meetings. That week was also our mini-outreach. During the day, we would go out onto the streets and do street evangelism, inviting locals to the event and having conversations with them about Jesus. This was very difficult for me and stretched me out of my comfort zone in new ways. 

If I’m honest, I struggled a lot with the evangelism side of things, just because it felt so new and foreign to me – approaching strangers in the streets to ask if I could pray for them, etc. However I am also really grateful I was stretched in that way. It was really good to see the importance of sharing my faith and not just keeping it to myself. Also great practice for outreach!

The worship meetings every night were also incredible. Each night of the event I got to witness multiple people come up to receive Jesus – So many of them were youths! You guys, there really is so much hope for the young generation. There’s such a hunger in them for the real thing. It was absolutely incredible to see so many youths come up for prayer and dedicate their lives to the Lord. Also every night there were multiple healings! It was incredible to witness how God is moving not only in the nations, but even right here in Alesund. 

During my down moments, I’ve been enjoying going on walks out to the docks that overlook the sea and the mountains. Alesund is so stinking beautiful. I don’t want to take that for granted. 

Praises: Praise God for the ways he’s moving here in Alesund and at our base, for all the salvations, and for the hope and joy and community here. 

Prayer requests: Pray for us as we learn about and practice evangelism this week. Also pray for all of the outreach teams, which are in preparation to go to the nations in just six weeks. Pray as well for health – there has been a lot of sickness (cold/flu) going around here!

Thanks for reading. I hope this brain dump makes sense.

 If nothing else, be encouraged… God is working. 

How is he working in your life?