November 1st 2015 Mini Outreach
Butt soccer, evangelism, old people, great food and hiking, that is what my last week consisted of. Five of us from our base in Aalesund left and headed off for our mini outreach to Stranda, a town 2 hours away on the same fjord as Geiringer. Safe to say it was the most beautiful little town I have ever been in and the people we were with were some of the most incredible people I have ever met.
We arrived on Monday to a house smelling of fresh salsa and cooked meat and to our delight our hosts had made nachos with fresh moose meat from Sweden as well as the best salsa I have ever tasted. After our meal we enjoyed an early rest in our super comfy beds so that we would be ready for the events coming the next few days.
Tuesday we spent the early part of the day in a meeting with the local church talking about what different options we had for ministry and evangelism. The pastor was a really neat guy who was super zealous for the youth of Norway and was really excited to have us come speak with the kids of the area. He fed us fresh picked pears and told us of his summer home off on the coast and even invited us to stay in is summer home if we were ever in the area. Shortly after we were finished at the church we went home and prepared ourselves for the youth and night.
The youth night or Krikk as it was called here was just insane. The kids, who were from 16-19 years old, were all so happy and open to have us join up in their games. Wes and I were thrown into a soccer game that had a few changes to the rules. Initially we had to sit on our butts and scoot around instead of running, next it was crawling, then jumping on one foot, and then a few other. It was one of the most unique games I had ever joined in on, but the kids were fantastic and welcomed us into the games without any hesitation. The night concluded all too quickly, but we made some really cool friends there, and I really hope while I’m here in Aalesund that I’ll get a chance to go back and see some of the guys again.
Our next day had a bit of a slow start. We found out that there was a works session for most of the kids in this part of Norway so the confirmation classes we were supposed to speak at were actually cancelled so that left the last 2 days we had here empty. Even though it was a drag that we didn’t get to continue with those classes, we really made the most of it.
The day continued with now the only confirmation class we had. We did our shpeal, but didn’t get a whole lot of interaction from the kids unfortunately. The pastor on the other hand was full of questions, and really good questions too. Not a single one of the questions was the typical Christian questions so it challenged us, but we had a blast answering them. Sometimes even being surprised ourselves that we had answers to the questions he was asking.
That night we had the honor of joining an almost 200 year old missions group. This group was founded back in the 1800’s and has been helping with missions and praying over missionaries ever since. It was a really neat experience and the folks who were there were really neat. Most of them were quite elderly, so they spoke limited English, but of those who did speak English, we heard some incredible stories and were lucky enough to share ours as well. The same pastor who we were with at the confirmation class came to the mission’s night as well and blessed us with a few Swedish hymnals. Now I’m not going to lie, he wasn’t the greatest singer, but it was really cool hearing him put it all out there for us and sing like there was no tomorrow!
The night came to an end with some snacks, more handpicked pears, a lot more conversation, and plenty more stories.
The last 2 days we didn’t have any plans because they were all canceled. So instead of sitting around and doing nothing our host took us on some adventures around Stranda. He showed us his favourite hikes and a few local churches and farms. The views he showed us were absolutely incredible! Walking hundreds of meters up above the fjords looking down into the valleys full of farms and tiny town houses. The last two days were just magical, every moment seemed like a dream. The weather was perfect, the company was great and the views were just insane.
At one point on our last hike I left the group for a bit and hiked down to the edge off a cliff where I thought I could get a better photograph, but when I arrived I couldn’t figure out how to capture the moment with my camera. I just sat on the moss and blueberries, feet dangling off the edge and embraced the view, thinking about how incredible it is that God was able to create such a work of art. The fjords so deep and intricate, the mountains so strong and solid. The moss so soft and comforting. Every little detail, perfect in every way. It was just one of those moments you never want to leave.
Before we left to go have our last supper in Stranda we took a paddleboard up into a mountain lake and ripped around for a bit is some super calm, super cold water. Poor wes had purple feet by the time he was done on the paddleboard, but it was certianly worth the trip up and down again.
Our last day ended with the meal to end all meals. We ate at my adopted Norwegian grandma’s house again at we left having eaten, basically, out weight it food twice over. The main course consisted of delicious salmon and potatoes with fresha pears and carrots, but it was the dessert that really got us. Wes and I having eaten half of the dessert that was on the table. Ice cream cake, lefsa, and berries and syrup. Eat time we finished our plate of dessert more was thrown on our plates, and since we didn’t want to be rude…. We just kept on eating till finally we finished everything off that was on the table!
We said our goodbyes and thanked our hosts over and over again for such an amazing week and then rolled out. Reminiscing on the experiences we had the entire time.
