Well I ended up spending a week in Norway (30th Jan-5th Feb), which was pretty amazing. It was all a bit random, the way it all happened. I was talking to one of the other people who I work with here on the base, about being mentored; this was the Monday before we left (24th), about the sorts of things that we would be walking together in, and it came out that she would be heading to Norway to do teaching about a lot of the same things. So she suggested that I go away and pray about coming as well, and let her know the next day. Being part of a mission’s organisation, and having a faith in Christ, I thought this was probably a good idea, so I did. This is where it gets fun, having prayed about it I felt that God said yep I should be going, for more than just the teaching, to see what was happening at the base we went to, and also to meet the people. The amazing thing is on the Monday, when we had talked, I had just under £30 to my name, and on the Tuesday, when I got up and checked my bank, I had had a deposit of about twice what I needed for the ticket. The next totally mind blowing thing was, when I went to book my ticket, I was able to book onto the same flight both there and back, which really was crazy, as when she had booked her flights two months earlier, there was only 2 or 3 seats left. Then another thing happened; when we checked in we had seats next to each other in both directions (all I can say is, God, WOW).
Norway itself was stunning; the temperature was at around -10, which felt very cold, but it did mean there was snow knee deep, which, compared to English snow, is amazing. I do not think I have ever seen snow lie so deep on the ground. The base we were at was on the edge of a huge frozen lake, with mountains on the other side, into which the sun would set, but it would linger on the tops of the mountains for a while, which just made the place breathtakingly beautiful.
(a picture which really does not do it justice)
The thing that we went to be apart of for the week is a 24/7 prayer room, in which you always have someone manning the room, with times of worship, intersession, and communal prayer mixed into the week. It is hard to describe really how amazing the place is, God’s presence is so strong, and the leaders of the room are the most humble guys I have met, so open to learning and growing. It was such a privilege to be able to visit. I also learnt so much during the week, and am now going back over it all and spending some time putting it all together. All in all I saw so much more of God’s faithfulness when we step out in the things he is telling us to do, and the blessing that comes with that.
