We could not have gone had so many of you not given. We are humbled by how the Lord provided through willing hearts and we give Him thanks! As Paul says, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you," so we are grateful for everyone who has prayed and supported us as we begin deputation.
Norway is the most beautiful place we have ever been. The mountains, fjords, lakes, hills, and skies are breath-taking. As we drove 3000+ miles throughout Norway, Sweden, and Finland, the Lord further impressed upon us the tremendous need of Bible-believing, Gospel-preaching churches and He greatly increased our burden for the souls that believe infant baptism is their way of salvation. Many will claim Christianity but very few would claim to be a "personal Christian".
We began our trip in Virginia, where we flew out of Dulles International Airport to Frankfurt, Germany, and on to Stavanger, Norway. We stayed in Stavanger for over the weekend (it took us that long to recover from jet lag) before heading north. It took us a few days to get to the Arctic regions of Norway. The country is much larger than many realize! Crossing the Arctic Circle was exciting for us!
We visited several towns and cities located in within the Arctic Circle of the Norway, praying that the Lord would open our eyes to where He would eventually have us begin a local, New Testament church. We do believe the Lord is leading us in the direction of one particular city. We are praying the Lord continues to press us toward where He would have us be and that He will open the right doors for us to get there.
We were able to travel to the northernmost place you can get by road in Norway (not including the islands). Though we didn't get to see much because of the very dense fog the Lord used the extra trip to burden us greatly for these northern towns without a Gospel witness. These are towns that few even know exist on the "top of the world" yet they are filled with souls in need of the Saviour.
We spent some time in Sami towns and used the time to learn more about
the Sami culture. The Sami are a native people of Arctic Scandinavia and
their culture is a very large part of Arctic Norway. We were
able to visit several cultural centers, the Sami parliament, and a few
museums to learn more about the people and their way of life. Norwegians
and the Sami people live intermingled and in harmony though each still
practice their own traditions and ways of life and are very much
distinct in themselves. The Sami's traditional religion is deeply rooted
in Shamanism and while many have been "converted" to Lutheran
Christianity certain aspects of the "Old Ways" are still alive and
practiced.
We learned so very much in the month we spent in Norway. One of the
largest "shocks" we received on the trip was the cost of living. While
we had been told it was an expensive country, nothing confirmed that like a few trips to the grocery store. As a general rule
most of the food items were double what they would be in the States. It
really is a country that has everything and a people that need very
little but they do still need to accept the Truth. (Oh, and don't panic, that hamburger isn't $65 USD but it is about $11 USD.)
We then traveled back down south to Stavanger and saw much of the Norwegian coastline. The water was so incredibly blue and clear and the mountains so massive and sharp! We went through many tunnels and across a ferry. The entire time we were just amazed that the Lord had brought us there.
We cannot wait to go back. If the Lord provided the way for us to be back in Norway tomorrow, we would go. As anxious as we are to get to the field God has called us to, we have much to do in preparation. We have our first official meeting this Wednesday in Beaver Falls, PA and we look forward to sharing our burden for the people of Norway while we're there.
Thank you for all your prayers and support! If you have ANY questions
about Norway or our trip, please comment or email us via the "contact"
button on this page. We would love to share more about our trip and our
ministry!
Please pray for us as we begin the journey of deputation. We'd like to fill up our schedule with meetings so we can get closer to returning to Norway.
In His Service,
Please pray for us as we begin the journey of deputation. We'd like to fill up our schedule with meetings so we can get closer to returning to Norway.
In His Service,
