ministry

A new day.... Today, we are going to go to a nearby neighborhood that is about a 50% immigrant population. We are going to go door to door and ask them if they would like any help with anything. i.e. washing dishes, cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, taking out the trash.... I must admit that it is going to be a bit difficult for me, but I am asking for help from God... =) I just want to look at these people like Jesus does. It is often so hard to see people through Jesus' eyes. I hope that it can be a blessing to someone today. I hope we can portray Jesus in a way that is accurate. After that, we have been invited to the house of someone here in the church. They are going to make dinner for us and also some really good cake, I hear.... =) This is the day that the Lord has made!

Denmark Update (Please read if you have time)

Well, as some of you know, I am in Denmark at present. I have been here for almost one week, and will continue to be here for one more week. We have been doing a bit of intercession and some spiritual warfare. It has been a good time so far. The team is getting some good experience with prayer, and I am being quite challenged as well. I had a huge challenge getting here. I guess I could share with you all what happened... We left from Skien, Norway around 7 o'clock Monday evening. We were headed for Kristiansand in the south of Norway, which is about a 3 hour trip. We arrived safely in Krisitansand and slept there for the night. Early the next morning, we got up and headed for the ferry. The ferry to Denmark is about a 4 1/2 hour trip. We had a fun time on the ferry, and a fun beginning of our drive in Denmark. We got off the ferry on the very northern tip of Denmark and started our way south to Copenhagen. We were very glad to see that the speed limit went from being only 80 KM/h to 130KM/h. We were making much better time. The sun was out, and the car was moving quickly through the country. When we had just about reached the half-way point, I noticed a strange noise coming from the engine, which was positioned directly under the driver's seat where I was sitting... I decided to pull over and check it out. When I took a look at it, I could see nothing wrong. I decided to turn on the car and see if I could locate the problem. I could hear a very loud noise coming from the piston chamber, but had no idea what it could be. I decided to take the next exit and go to a gas station to see if I could get a better answer there. As you might have guessed, no help there. I called back to Norway to let them know the situation, and after about an hour and a half of waiting for them to call me back with an answer, I was told that I didn't have a problem, but rather a challenge... =) I had an opportunity to work on my Danish, and also figure out a way to get the car working and the team to Copenhagen. That wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear, but I kind of almost expected it. By this time, it is getting very close to store closing hours, and I just barely found a mechanic right next to the highway. I asked them if they could help me out at all, and as you might have guessed again. They couldn't do anything for me. The team and I decided to pray. We wanted a miracle. And we wanted it right away! =) I turned the car back on and guess what! That's right. The noise was still there... Not exactly what I had hoped for... by this time, the noise was really loud and was really making me nervous. I asked the team what them felt we should do, and we all decided to try to make it to the next city, where we had planned to take a ferry. It was only about 41 km away. I was still a bit nervous about continuing, but I kind of felt it was what we were supposed to do. so I continued on the road. I drove that thing very carefully and only about 90 km/h. When we got to the point where we only had 19km to go, we were thinking this would all be ok, and we would make it. No sooner had we said that that the engine suddenly just gave out. I felt something fall off the car and I saw smoke billowing out from under the car. Or should I say 'mini bus'. On top of that, the accelerator didn't do anything. I quickly pulled it over to the side of the road and shut it off. I am remaining calm, but am rather stressed out in my head. Over the next 2 hours we were just sitting in a freexing cold vehicle 'figuring out what to do'. One of the team knew someone in Denmark, so they gave them a call. That person got a hold of a towing company for us and eventually came and got us, and took us to the train station in the next town we were headed to. They took the mini bus to a mechanic and would contact me when they knew the problem. The whole while I had been communicating with the Norway Base director and one other leader letting them know what was going on. We eventually got on a train to Copenhagen. The train ride was quite some hours, but we finally made it and were very happy to have arrived 'safely'. We thanked God for getting us to our location. I cam to find out over the next days that we were going to need a complete new engine, and after that found out that the mechanic could not find the right engine for us in all of Denmark. Problem. We found one in a northern city in Norway, and are having it driven to us by someone at the base in Norway. That person will take the team back at the end of this week, and I will stay behind with the other car and drive it back when it is fixed. I am sorry for the condensed story, but if I wrote every detail, you would be here until tomorrow... =) I already apologize for the length as is. I hope this was educational! =) god bless!