Wednesday, May 19, 2010
final look into Gabby's scandiland adventure DTS 09/10
first off please forgive me for the lack of updates! i planned on writing one before outreach to France in Feb, but instead, here we are in May =)
i'll start off explaining a bit of my first time leading an outreach team! I, Mitch, Mal and their baby Silas led an amazing group of artists to spend 5 weeks in Paris, and 3 weeks in southern France, Nimes. Ministries included street performing, leading church services for a church that worked with the homless in Paris, living and learning about the city, learning to be in the world but not of it! a good example of this was hitting up an english speaking open mic cafe night every monday! this was a place where we could be around local artists and perform any pieces we'd like to share, ex: songs, poetry.
In Nimes we taught English at a Catholic highschool and middleschool. because it was a Catholic private school, we had complete freedom to share our relationships and experiences with God. So fun!
leading a team for the first time was quite hard for me. i learned a lot about the humility it takes to be a leader, and how to be confrontational in love and grace. it's one of those stretching moments you experience with God because he loves to mold you into his likeness. praise him!
Okay so now i've been back in Aalesund for 3 weeks and diving head first into our last month of the DTS! so many fun events happening, especially with spring a coming =) Norway had their national day on the 17th, including national costumes, ice cream, BBQ, and parades! One of my favorite days in Norway! Our DTS is having their Grand Finale concert on the 29th where students in each creative track perform their final pieces. This years theme focuses on God's love for diversity in his people. I look forward to seeing the incredibly talented and gifted students give glory to God through their art!!!
Well, i'll be heading to America june 13th, spending a week first in Washington st. with the boyfriend and his family. then off to my little home of an island Kaua'i! I cannot express how deeply excited i am to be with loved ones again and just share our love for Christ together again! Hope i can meet with some of you and have a good chat and or prayer..i'd love that.
So thank you for reading the little i've shared, please feel free to ask ANYTHING you'd like!
i love you.
God is doing incredible things in my life here, in this blessed place with blessed friends <3
your friend,
Gabrielle
Sunday, January 17, 2010
end of the year start of a new
i see it time for an update! i decided to combine dec & jan because we had christmas break from the middle of dec till jan 2. so there has been a lot going on these past couple weeks and i will attempt to summarize the goods of it.
being away from home during holiday season gifts the feeling of nostalgia. and with my two house mates gone for their hometowns i was left alone with the house to myself. but oh boy did i love it! waking up in an empty house is a joy for me! i spent the first few days without leaving my house, staying in my jammys and watching old movies. =) then hosted a slumber party christmas celebration with a late supper (not dinner) on christmas eve where we talked for hours and ate goodies, tried to watch White Christmas but fell asleep. because we like to party we woke up at noon and opened gifts and cooked the best bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, and cinnamon rolls ever! the BEST! so you can see my christmas time was spent with good people, and good food.
I celebrated my new years in a town near Trondheim because I got asked to volunteer as staff at a youth conference called NÅLK, a bit north from here. I got to meet maybe around 60 Norwegian youth from the ages of 13-18. it was great to actually be in the norwegian culture, sometimes our base can be so international i dont get much exposure to the core of the culture. so this was an interesting and fun challenge. surprisingly they hungered for teaching on christianity and got deep into topics asking questions and being open to how they think and feel. they admired the camp for having less of an attitude of "lets just have fun" and thanked the leadership for the seminars and being open for discussion. im sure you could say it was more of a disciplship training camp ;) im very happy i got to be a part of it.
Right after the conference was a workers gathering at the main ywam base in norway called grimerud. here i experienced for the first time -20˚F wheather! mmhmm, freezing, dry, cold. but extremely extremely beautiful! most of the bases in norway meet at this gathering once a year and have worship, seminars, and fellowship. its nice to get connected after the break, although it can be a bit overwhelming with all the people. after having our cars freeze it took us a bit of work to get back home, but we made it! in pieces, but it didnt take us long to get ourselves back together again, happy and safe and warm =)
ok i think this shall be all for now, there will be an update in feb, because in march we leave for
OUTREACH! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!
march 2nd, i and my friends mitch, mal, and their baby silas, will lead a team of 8 to France! we will spend about 4 weeks in paris, and 3 weeks in a town south of france called Nimes. our ministry will include street performances, working with the homeless, and working with the students in highschools. this will be my second trip to France so i am very happy to return and reconnect with the friends i made!
thank you God for my beautiful friends and family who read my blog about your work in me and this dts. you are a faithful father and i love to learn to love you! may they be blessed with your unconditional love and acceptance. may they experience you on new levels and recieve what you have for them everyday. in jesus name aaamen!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
housemates! it was "dress as your roomies" day.
so here we are! left to right: silje(as me) emilie
(as silje) and me(as emilie)
here are my lovely small group girls and i having
a slumber party! this is a pre-pore nose strip and
cucumber picture. you could say it got pretty crazy..
some of us at a youth halloween party!
ooh yea..and my unexpected visitor for two months! boyfriend jake
(in the middle). happy little camper i was =D jaren, his friend
also came for a visit. and then we partied....sept to nov.
i see it time for an update =)
it is soon the end of november...and we havent had snowfall yet. i'm not sure how i feel about it, i guess i'm ready for it being as how the beautiful fall leaves have fallen, and the earth could use some snow. hasn't rained much, however, we had thunder the other night which was exciting.
enough about weather. i have to remember where we left off. the students continue to amaze me. with their upbeat and willing attitudes, new and fun ways of doing things, sure is refreshing to be around. i found all 24 of them in the dining hall one evening with their mattresses on the floor, and the projector screen on the ceiling watching Into The Wild. a fun bunch they are.
teachers so far have been incredible as usual. 2 weeks or so was a teaching called, Plumbline. It helps show you who you've given authority to speak over you in your life. Whether it be lies, truth, or misguidance, everyone has interprated what others say a certain way. This can cause their "plumbline" to sway, and therefore building a crooked and unstable view of themselves. after you realize and come to conclusions of lies you believed, hurts you've received, and truths you've chosen not to believe, you give it all up to God. let Jesus be your Plumbline, and start building from there. if this seems a bit confusing, it is. and like many things can only really be understood if experienced. and i recommend all to look into it. last year, God met and transformed me in such a beautiful way. this year, God is continuing to process revelations i had last year, and deepening them. this is quite uncomfortable, but gladly leads to growth.
this last week of teaching was a favorite for me. possibly ranking top 5 (including the teachers from my dts) topic: worship and intercession. how we learned: we worshipped..and interceded. all week. how fun! had i to choose which topic to have the most hands-on learning technique, it would be this. how i fell in love to worship! freely, with no agenda or time slot. we worshipped through song, soaked, interceded, discussed. the week was the most refreshing cup of water i've ever had! grateful as ever these days for the God of goodness, and faithfulness. i needed that cup, and there He was, pitcher in hand =) tussen takk Pappa!
i think this shall be enough talk for now...next comes pictures! thank you for the prayers and support dear friends. you are highly loved and appreciated.
<3
gabrielle
enough about weather. i have to remember where we left off. the students continue to amaze me. with their upbeat and willing attitudes, new and fun ways of doing things, sure is refreshing to be around. i found all 24 of them in the dining hall one evening with their mattresses on the floor, and the projector screen on the ceiling watching Into The Wild. a fun bunch they are.
teachers so far have been incredible as usual. 2 weeks or so was a teaching called, Plumbline. It helps show you who you've given authority to speak over you in your life. Whether it be lies, truth, or misguidance, everyone has interprated what others say a certain way. This can cause their "plumbline" to sway, and therefore building a crooked and unstable view of themselves. after you realize and come to conclusions of lies you believed, hurts you've received, and truths you've chosen not to believe, you give it all up to God. let Jesus be your Plumbline, and start building from there. if this seems a bit confusing, it is. and like many things can only really be understood if experienced. and i recommend all to look into it. last year, God met and transformed me in such a beautiful way. this year, God is continuing to process revelations i had last year, and deepening them. this is quite uncomfortable, but gladly leads to growth.
this last week of teaching was a favorite for me. possibly ranking top 5 (including the teachers from my dts) topic: worship and intercession. how we learned: we worshipped..and interceded. all week. how fun! had i to choose which topic to have the most hands-on learning technique, it would be this. how i fell in love to worship! freely, with no agenda or time slot. we worshipped through song, soaked, interceded, discussed. the week was the most refreshing cup of water i've ever had! grateful as ever these days for the God of goodness, and faithfulness. i needed that cup, and there He was, pitcher in hand =) tussen takk Pappa!
i think this shall be enough talk for now...next comes pictures! thank you for the prayers and support dear friends. you are highly loved and appreciated.
<3
gabrielle
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
hei venner! (hi friends)
my adventures in scandiland begins! it's fun being back in norway! the culture shock was less of an issue this time around, which is nice. the new things for me are working as dts staff, living in an apartment, and cleaning for a woman 2 hours a week and getting paid 20 dollars an hour! (norways minimum wage) so far as dts staff i co-led a wilderness hike for the students and staff, organized the worship schedule, small groups, small intercession groups, and helped my school leaders with some of their responsibilites. =) i'm having a lot of fun learning from God how to do this. he's been such a teacher this year! last year during my dts he was such a gentle husband for me, and to get to know God in this way is so exciting.
the students this year are so wonderful! i can see their hunger and desires to draw near to God and i'm excited to see their heart, and what God will do with them. we have 12 different nations out of the 24 students! mostly american, then norwegian, dutch, swedish, finnish, australian, south korean, icelandic, german, mexican, swiss, and canadian. how fun! they are a bunch of social butterflies excited to be here.
the apartment i live in is 3 minutes walking distance to the base. so sweet! i live with two norwegian students from my dts last year. emilie, and silje (pronounced emilia, and silia) we are all very different but love each other and have a LOT of fun living together. we love our house very much. its very koselig (kooshli) as they say in norwegian. haha=) it means cozy. i love cooking for myself and my house mates! my american friend brought me bisquick and i think i've tried every suggested recipe on there, even the strawberry shortcakes! yum! if you have any easy, inexpensive recipes send 'em my way! i'd love to try them.
anywho...i am very happy here. and excited for all the new wonderful things god will show me this year. its a new season for us. i love him very much and am trusting him in every area of my life. pray this faith continues and he keeps doing what he does best! i love you and am praying for your well being. thank you SO much for your support, whether it be financially, or spiritually, or an encouraging email. =) it helps a bunch. if you have questions feel free to shoot me an email! i'd love to hear from you!
-your friend,
gabby
my adventures in scandiland begins! it's fun being back in norway! the culture shock was less of an issue this time around, which is nice. the new things for me are working as dts staff, living in an apartment, and cleaning for a woman 2 hours a week and getting paid 20 dollars an hour! (norways minimum wage) so far as dts staff i co-led a wilderness hike for the students and staff, organized the worship schedule, small groups, small intercession groups, and helped my school leaders with some of their responsibilites. =) i'm having a lot of fun learning from God how to do this. he's been such a teacher this year! last year during my dts he was such a gentle husband for me, and to get to know God in this way is so exciting.
the students this year are so wonderful! i can see their hunger and desires to draw near to God and i'm excited to see their heart, and what God will do with them. we have 12 different nations out of the 24 students! mostly american, then norwegian, dutch, swedish, finnish, australian, south korean, icelandic, german, mexican, swiss, and canadian. how fun! they are a bunch of social butterflies excited to be here.
the apartment i live in is 3 minutes walking distance to the base. so sweet! i live with two norwegian students from my dts last year. emilie, and silje (pronounced emilia, and silia) we are all very different but love each other and have a LOT of fun living together. we love our house very much. its very koselig (kooshli) as they say in norwegian. haha=) it means cozy. i love cooking for myself and my house mates! my american friend brought me bisquick and i think i've tried every suggested recipe on there, even the strawberry shortcakes! yum! if you have any easy, inexpensive recipes send 'em my way! i'd love to try them.
anywho...i am very happy here. and excited for all the new wonderful things god will show me this year. its a new season for us. i love him very much and am trusting him in every area of my life. pray this faith continues and he keeps doing what he does best! i love you and am praying for your well being. thank you SO much for your support, whether it be financially, or spiritually, or an encouraging email. =) it helps a bunch. if you have questions feel free to shoot me an email! i'd love to hear from you!
-your friend,
gabby
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