Bergen!

Bergen – what an amazing city! We arrived here just in time to enjoy the celebration of May 17. As we stayed at Ester’s house with her incredible parents we got the family feeling which is typical for Norway, a nice breakfast in the morning followed by the parade downtown, and then eating rømmegrøt (a kind of porridge – yum yum!) in the afternoon. That evening, on their actual national day, we spent some time just worshipping and coming before God’s face and honoring Him, as well as interceding for Bergen and Norway. We ended the night downtown watching great fireworks. Such a fun experience for us non-Norwegians!

We had the privilege of leading worship at Ester’s church Kristkirken on their Sunday service. 

On Monday we attended and lead worship for a service at Norkirken, which is Mary’s home church and a great supporter of D.O.W. It was a good time of connecting with Pastor Svein Høysæter again, and together with Norkirken and their sister church we enjoyed good fellowship with barbeque and soccer afterwards. I (Joy) love how they value family a lot, how the different generations come together as one unit. I believe seeing this really pleases God’s heart!

During our time in the Bergen area were very blessed with sunny weather, as we experienced what is recorded as the hottest day ever in May so far! We actually went swimming in the sea one evening! After traveling a whole lot, we loved staying at a cabin in Kvamskogen, an hour outside of Bergen, up in the mountains. While there we had some days of debrief from the tour, reflecting on it and learning from better and worse situations, as well as just reminding ourselves and each other about what God has done during these months. Sometimes as we constantly move forward in life it’s hard to see, but as we stop for a moment and look at what God has done, gratitude fills our hearts. The result of that is that there is a genuine response of praise to Him. Bill Johnson once said “Show them God and they will worship!”, and as we first see Him and His works, we can’t help but bring to Him the worship that He is so worthy of!

A well needed time of rest, and special time of connecting with the different home churches of the team that we thank God for!