a week feels like a month!

I would say that over the last WEEK not only has my life changed dramatically....Will moving here and the Wellspring team's ministry takes off...but time has slowed WAY DOWN! Will was picked up from the bus stop last week Sunday! I just can not believe it has been so short. I guess he came just in time to get a busy week and weekend, just short of exhaustion. It has been good. The team has been bonding and getting to know each other. It is fun to be sort of teacher-like and provide a place where we can create, evaluate, and have faith. God is showing me great things in how to be a leader too. We were involved with everyone's activity last week. The base is sort of scarce these days and so if we want ANYTHING to happen it is going to be US who does it. We had three times of worship leading at a YOUTH WEEKEND at the YWAM base in Skien, a love feast (with all prep), leading worship at two churches in which the response to us being there was---one: the first church said they had never had anything like Wellspring here before and--two: the second church didn't really respond except for three people from the first church coming to the second and responding again. hmm.

WELLSPRING at Bethel Church in Gjerpen, Norway


I would not say that I was disappointed because that is not my job to do the responding for people when we worship God. I would say that I wonder if Wellspring can do a bit of a better job communicating what worship is. I think we can make it easier for people who have NEVER known what it means to worship---to understand and participate in it. I guess I am glad we had this opportunity right away in our travels. I don't think this is going to be the only time I have this burden on my heart.

As far as personally...this week has been super encouraging. To have Will here is like breathing better. Why breath worse when you can breath better? I can imagine that this time will be a breakthrough in many areas for us as a couple and individuals. Something will happen when we put ourselves together in various places around Norway and Europe. God is about to use us dynamically...but first we have to give each other a taste of what Jesus is like in our lives. I am prepared to let him affect me...and I think he is under the realization that 'I AM TROUBLE' for him too. Those are nice words especially if the Holy Spirit is that TROUBLE that will bring FREEDOM! Than BRING IT ON GOD! Will said he thought his mother would love me when we all met someday...(I think she does already) but she'll say 'OH ERIKA WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY SON? THANK YOU!!' I hope so. There are just some things that a beautiful girl can do to a boy that his mother can not....she just waits in intercessory anticipation. I pray that God can use me to bring Will into a new freedom and strength as a leader and as a man of God. He is a delight to me....and I am honored to spend this time with him. So.....there you have it!


Will tries Norwegian brown cheese....in which I DO NOT LIKE!


WELLSPRING IS ALWAYS UP FOR A LAUGH!
Maria begins her very successful percussion career.

I guess you could say I have peace in my heart!

it's amazing and blue

I love my life right now. I have always been a fan of living, but if I could capture this time in a bottle and then revisit it every once in a while...I would. I don't know what I thought it would be like to have Will here. I maybe thought it would be good not to have to suffer my loneliness ALONE anymore. I perhaps considered my emotional instability to be resolved. I wondered if I would have a closer look at my future in an instant. But you know what I have so far? An overflowing fountain of bubbling joy. I think that is enough. I walk in the halls and I am just LIT UP! Helina, my roommate said to me that she was so glad to see I was joyful. As though other days I am not.....hmm. I think it's a new joy. I sleep like a baby at night. I go to bed on time! I awake to see the possibilities of the Holy Spirit. I think it has to be because of Will. But then I think I am giving him too much credit. He is a wonderful man of God.....but I think that God is much more credible. God has really healed my heart in the last weeks. I have been struggling with a judgement issue by holding unforgiveness in my heart. It started a month ago--and then I was walking through some practical steps of forgiveness and prayer. I felt just two weeks ago that I had connected with God in my heart over the issue and in forgiving this person for those things I can not change----there was freedom. I have seen a BREAKTHROUGH in the spiritual realm and even the communication realm here. It has always been hard to be here...but two weeks ago---it changed. I had several significant conversations and all of them....pretty significant (about me leaving) ended with peace in my heart. I was so careful to guard my heart and then realized that God had already let the overflow of peace flow out. AMEN! Of course that is the story before Will came. So now you might know how I can be walking on clouds. I wouldn't lie about stuff like that. I am a happy person but at times my emotions get me! oh they do. I have to tell them to STABALIZE IN THE NAME OF JESUS! It's good to be honest about how I feel---but not decide my identity because of it. I am constantly in a battle to put my emotions under the authority of Jesus. There is not enough time in this life to see all those thoughts in my head come to fruition. I get myself into dark messes where I am 'looking at my own navel'. So lift your head girl. Get under the authority of your friend Jesus...and LIVE!
Is this a message for you too? I wonder sometimes if we just don't know where to start with the thoughts so we don't ever start getting them under control. I guess my hope and message to you today if you are in this position....is to really ask the Holy Spirit to show you where the lies are....where the unforgiveness is....and what thoughts are not from God. And as a good friend of mine says, 'Have grace for yourself.' I suppose God has enough....but do we?

I must say that another amazing thing exists in BLUE GRASS MUSIC. I thought I would update you on the last weekend...before Will came and before it got REALLY amazing. Look here at these wonderful photos of the cowboys of Norway.

I could not believe I was with men over 45 who were passionate about blue grass all Friday! They loved to talk about themselves too....about how great they are, how awesome their equipment was, their studios, their tours, their experiences in AMERICA....and all the blue grass musicians that they idol. To tell you the truth...I don't really care. I just came to play the music. I had never played before and that was something these people had a hard time swallowing. They of course have wrapped thier lives around this music so to meet someone who is only 1% passionate about it....and 99% humored by it was not their time to impress. Nope.....didn't care about it all. I just had a really fun time playing those fiddle licks. It was a real music gig. I got paid and everything. The money I got will help me pay my rent for the rest of my time in Norway. YEAH! God knows my needs. Of course....how will we get to Poland for the evangelism week? Don't know...but we shall see how God works it out.

Any gigs you want to hire me for? blue grass, classical, irish? I am open to learning!!!

The wait is over....but has begun again.

Will has come to Norway!

I am so calmly overwhelmed by it all. It really was just me picking him up from a bus stop...but really-----IS HE REALLY COMING? IT'S SO SURREAL! I stood at the pink hotel (in photo) for a half an hour with my heart in my toes and a prayer on my lips watching for the bus to come around the bend to enter the city center. Oh that strange peace was over me. Then...

the bus came!

I wished I could see into the window of the bus to catch his eye, but I just waited until the man I recognized (with the great looking scarf and H&M jacket) came out to step upon the ground that I know----and is completely strange to him. In two seconds, there he was. I realized how nervous I really was. We hugged and got his bags from the bus before they pulled away. So......now what?

It's just strange and wonderful. He lives at the base in jail cell number 15! I lived there for two years myself (and strongly disliked its feeling of a jail). He will get the experience of this first hand which is a crazy way of doing life together. I am so thankful for this time. I guess if I ever talk about Skien, the jail, Norway, my friends from here and the food again....he will understand. I do not take that lightly. There is so much I can not be light about. God is truly good and making these things come to pass. My nerves are calmed, but my heart stirs. What is God really going to teach us while we spend three months in Norway with a small team and a skeleton sized YWAM base? I have the inkling that my relationship with God is going to be great....I will need to hear His voice on every level!

Perhaps you were unaware of the fact that this is my last year here. I will be finishing my time in Skien come June! I am very desperate to finish well here and be released from the leadership to move forward with my life. I am so grateful for what I have learned while here in Norway and will never forget the times God taught me great wonders in His name. I look forward to see myself somewhere else and there is peace in my heart. I have to be thankful for the fact that my heart is not running from Norway. It might have been some months or a year ago. I enjoy it here now....finally. Then as I decided to go the decision was harder---but God has been making it clear to me since last June and through this year. I made my decision last week upon speaking with the base leader here. Maybe Will likes it so much that he wants to stay? Well then we have to fear the Lord about that----and it will work for me to be in the states and him to be here. However, I just don't see that happening.....but God is in control.

I look forward to hearing from Will what he thinks of the culture, the food, the people, the clothes, the ministry....blah blah blah. I will try not to be overbearing but let him fend for himself a bit. That is the only way to get a real CULTURE SHOCK. I would be mean to not let him experience that for himself. It's the only way I could hear God speak to me. Culture shock is a way to get foreigners close to Him. It works.

This week is busy with many things on our plate----a leader weekend with worship and lots of practical work plus two church events on Sunday. And adding a member to the team is not an easy task either. So....there is much to keep in prayer as I seek wisdom from God. How to be the leader of this team and what He is speaking to us about these events coming up. The first couple times we are together as a team will indicate how we are for the rest of the time. I want to hear what God has to say about it. That is where the life is!

Thanks for reading my blog. To all of you who were faithful to declare your faithfulness to a blog that sometimes is a bit boring. I hope that this helped you. I got an inspiration to share a lot today....enjoy and please comment to help me clear my thoughts. any advice??

check out the new WELLSPRING blog at .... wellspringskien.wordpress.com


so yes, the wait is over as it is said on the title of this blog. the wait for Will to come is over...but in my heart I am still waiting. I am waiting to finish my time here in Norway. I enjoy it as I go...but I am in fact in another special count down. These next three months are so special to me. I wish you were all here with me too!!!

blog thoughts

so you want a new post?

I will do it very soon. I tell you there is

SO MUCH TO SAY---God has been transforming hearts and changing my whole team!
SO MUCH TO SEE---roommate adventures, Wellspring on the road to Mandal
SO MUCH TO SING--Will is coming to Norway in three days, a new season for creativity
SO MUCH TO SELL--this could happen....when I play with a blue grass band from Sweden!
SO MUCH TO SAND--we will be doing some hard core construction work on building a third floor
SO MUCH TO SOW---seeds of fellowship, health, and good time with Jesus! to ALL!!!

do you want to know more? let me know by adding a comment. otherwise it is just my boyfriend William who reads this and it seems funny for me to keep this blog going on if he is the only one who cares. so.....do you??