Launching Into Ministry

This week has been an active week for us here in the north of Norway.  On Tuesday we were again at the university promoting the love 101 course that starts next week. We were joined by another YWAM group who are doing their DTS in the south of Norway. We had met them previously and therefore had arranged for them to hang out with us after the ministry time at the university. At the university we split into three groups. One group on the stand, the second doing questionnaires, and lastly people praying for the university and the others in our group who are talking with students. We would all rotate so that no one was stuck doing one thing.   We had some good responses from the questionnaires and the stand which was a positive reinforcement, that we were having an impact. Coming back and hanging out with the other team was nice because it gave us a chance to learn about their DTS, and more about them. It also was great to just be with other people outside our group.

 On Wednesday we had four of the church girls over again. We had a great time doing some creative worship with them, we played worship music and had painted. Some of the pictures that came out were really interesting and seeing the thoughts behind them was great. Two of the girls were particularly gifted with paint and this really shone on that talent. It was a peaceful but fun experience and the girls seemed to enjoy themselves.

Thursday is an early starting day with a 7am prayer meeting. We drag ourselves to the prayer meeting at the town hall which is only situated down the street from our church. The meetings are always really interesting, the Christians are so passionate and we get to learn more about the city. At the meeting we found out that the town is linked as a friendship city with Gaza.  This was brought up because they had invited a representative from Gaza to the International Film Festival that was happening this week. Although at the same time someone had invited a representative from Israel. The newspapers were putting this to be a real issue so we prayed against any conflict and that there would be peace. We then in the evening would join Jesus tent to pray with them, this was a really funny experience. One of the Jesus tent workers wanted to do a fire tunnel of prayer. One because there were enough of us that it would work but also it is a really good prayer exercise. Erin, Abi and me all started to burst into laughter while we traveled through the tunnel. Such a good night but some of us came back with the giggles.

Friday was a day that we went on a prayer walk and that was really amazing. We split into pairs and prayed were we should go and what we should declare over the city. It felt really healthy to be out and praying for the city. At 9:00 we did outreach from the Baptist church. There were some conversations and it definitely seemed to be becoming easier and easier. Jesus Tent had decided to go out on Saturday which was great because it meant that we could go with them. We set the tent up in the town square as the first of the mini blizzards started. The day was hard as the people seemed to be hard and not wanting to talk. Despite this there was definitely an importance to us being there. 

Sunday we joined the apostolic church for their evening service which we led for them. Raphael and Catlin did worship. Clayton did a sermon on prayer and evangelism which was very powerful. It really showed how prayer is definitely linked to evangelism and how we need to show love to the people of the world. Abi and Erin shared their testimonies which showed the congregation how God had impacted their lives. At the end we opened up to do ministry time which some people came up and gave us the chance to pray for them which was great. This week had been a great week with some amazing lessons being learned about God and who he is.

Becks