The Bible and MPW

For our second week of teaching, a Norwegian guy named Lars Olay came and taught about the history of the Bible. This week was a little harder to stay focused than with Gawdatt because of the type of teaching. I felt like I was back in school...I guess I am back in school. It was quite a bit more interesting towards the end of the week.

MPW...mountain peak worship was the focus of our outdoor trip this past week. We took an hour long boat ride to an island called Bolga then hiked around to our base camp. It was so beautiful. There were massive boulders everywhere. It was so amazing getting to climb on rock that didnt fall apart...it was great. We stashed all our gear and hiked up to this huge split in the mountain then hiked through it to the other side of the island. Before we reached the other side, I was smart and droped my knife into a crack in the rock and it took 3 of us to find it. I was not to happy about almost loosing my only knife but with Gods help we found it. We walked along the rocky coast all the way back to our camp, it was definantly an enjoyable day. The next day we hiked up the main mountain on Bolga. The view was pretty sweet, it was so windy up on top that you could lean forward pretty far and the wind would hold you up. We spent time on top worshiping, singing songs and praying for the surrounding communites. The 3rd night on Bolga was a solo night where we all recivied a tarp and some rope and we were sent of to go to different parts of the island and spend the night by ourselfs. This was so that we could just have some time to reflect and pray and not be distracted by the outside world. It was a really cool night other than the fact that me and all my stuff got soaked...oh well it was an experience. Thursday we took another boat to a smaller island called Melaoy (dont take my word for the spelling on this one) and hiked up about half way to this beautiful cabin sitting on a fresh water lake. We then hiked up to the tallest mountain on that island. My two roomates and me have started a tradition of every mountain peak we reach we stand on the cairne and get a photo. MyThe view was incredible, from the top I could see Engavagen (the town the YWAM base is in), the boat harbor, I could see Soranoy (my local outreach point, every other weekend me and a group of 4 others go to this small island and work with 5-16 year old kids and teach english in the school and just build relationships with them) anyways back on track, we hiked back to the cabin and had a nice warm, dry night just worshiping and having a ton of fun. Sleeping there was nice but I decided to sleep on the porch on the picnic table and again had a briliant moment when I rolled of. Again it was another experience, this one I hope to not repeat.

It is weird to call Nordtun home but in a way it is really cool. All I know is that its good to be able to say...its good to be home.

First week back to school

Ive been here in Nordtun, Norway now for 12 days. Every day im here I learn new and amazing things. The weather here is not very consistant...rain, sun, rain, and so on so it has been very interesting getting used to the cold wet weather. So far we have climbed up the 2nd biggest glacier in Norway. Its called "Svartisen", meaning black ice. This was the first time I have ever done any ice climbing and I definantly think im going to stick with rockclimbing. Ice climbing is amazing however im not so sure about the cold.

My two roomates Nathan and Daniel and a friend from germany, Lars took a bouldering trip. The hike wasnt bad, about a 20 min walk/scramble from the base. Its kind of a bummer how the rock seems to just fall apart here but that just makes me become a more cautious climber.

Next we hiked up a 2000ft mountain called "Risnestind". This mountain is the view I have when I look out my window. Every morning its one of the best parts of my day. After the sweet hike, we had a norwegian style barbaque on a beach about 20 mins away. It was nothing like back home on the warm beaches of Florida, however it was nice.

Finishing up our first week of class, I have taken in more info than in a long time. Our teacher this past week was a guy from Egypt named Gawdat. He was so halarious in class and had a cool way of keeping me focused. He liked to draw pictures however all his pictures consisted of was lines, circles and dots. Every time he drew one, the whole class laughed. To end this amazing week, one of my roomates Nathan and I decided to start a campfire right by the water. (About a 10 min. walk from the base). A good size crowd came out and joined us and we had a great time laughing, worshiping and just hanging out.