Fall Update

My friends! Welcome back to the blog! We have been so so busy the last few months, so let me tell you what we have been up to. In the middle of August, we packed up our things and flew to Norway. We came to the south near Stavanger, the 3rd largest city in Norway. Here there is a YWAM base and they run a very well-known Bible Core Course, that we were invited to staff. This base is in a lovely location, right on the beach! We get to see many kite and wind surfers out on the water.

For the first 3-4 weeks there were only staff here, as they shut down during the summer and start up again in the fall. So, the staff came back together to start the new season with some training on how to be leaders, how to be staff, and just the practicalities of the base. There are around 60 staff here (some full-time and some part-time) so getting to know all of them was a big task for those first weeks. We enjoyed some wonderful weather and had time to get acquainted with the base before the students arrived. Then, about the first week of September, we welcomed 12 students for the BCC. And the following week, the DTS staff welcomed about 30 students. Now we are a full base of almost 45 students and 60ish staff. James and I live on the base which is always busy with activity. We try and balance our work and social life but it can be hard when we live where we work and the people we work with are also the people we live with. But it is fun to live in community; it just takes intentionality to have personal time, time as a couple, time with friends, and time with Jesus of course.

As staff, we are involved in many things including grading homework weekly, community contributions, and even teaching. We are each assigned 2 students that we walk with and grade their assignments each week. And then every 4 weeks we switch it up so the students get a taste of how each of us grade. These community contributions I mentioned are just chores around the property that we join in on since we live here. Jobs include cleaning, cooking, and regular upkeep. James and I have often been given the job of preparing breakfast, which isn’t too much work it just involves waking up early – at 6:00! An interesting culture shock we had to adapt to was the Norwegian food culture. Most families here eat only one hot meal a day, and they also eat 4 meals throughout the day. The other 3 meals that are not “warm” or “cooked” are just sandwiches. “Bread and spread” is what it's called. They do the European open-faced sandwiches and they just put ham, cheese, and some veggies on top. It is not bad…it just has taken us a while to get used. But surely it is fine and not too bad for you since most Norwegians are relatively healthy and fit :) Both James and I also had the opportunity to teach during this school. We took on the book of James and each taught one day on one half of the book. We tried to make it fun and interesting by adding in some skits, some activities, and some videos. I think we were pretty stressed about it but God worked with us and we overall had a good time.

In the middle of this 3-month school, there is an optional Israel trip. Most of the students are going and James and I felt like we should join too. So we just got back and had a wonderful time seeing the many places where Jesus did his ministry. What an exciting opportunity it was!

We’ve had some really cool moments in Norway, just being with so many different people from different nations and involving ourselves with the different ministries. I am not an evangelist but there is a ministry team here that goes to the city to do evangelism every week. One night I felt like I should go and I had a great experience. We talked with a few people and just built relationships with those walking in the city square. The next week, the whole base went and we split into groups to try different creative methods. I was glad I went the week before so I wasn’t so scared to go with everyone. My team got to hand out coffee. We actually had quite a handful of people accept our offer of free coffee. But many were confused as to why we would be doing such a kind thing, and in the rain no less! It just gave us the wonderful opportunity to tell them about YWAM and Jesus. And I don’t like pushing people to believe but it was cool to just talk about religion and spirituality with strangers, to see where they are at, and to meet them there. We had wonderful genuine conversations with many foreigners and some Norwegians. We got to pray with some and others just took the coffee and left. But it was another unexpected, good experience.

James has had the opportunity to lead worship at the base and he has really enjoyed it. We all come together at least a few times a week to have base worship with everyone. It is a beautiful community time, praising the Lord and building each other up.

Please continue to pray for me and my health. As many of you know my health has always been a hurdle and we have had quite the battle trying to get my medication here in Norway. So I was 1 month off of medication and things got worse. But praise the Lord the mail came (even though it was 5 weeks late)!

We would also like to ask for prayer for our visas and that whole process.

Also, pray for us just for the future, to trust God, have peace, and live in the moment while we plan for the future.

Thank you so much for reading and hearing from us! Please feel free to message us anytime with questions, comments, and even your prayer request so we can pray for you too!

We are so blessed to have you behind us and we appreciate all of the love and support from our friends and family.

Your friends,

The Rowsells

Here's a video update as well:

https://youtu.be/MyCcKiVn-pY