A MIRACLE OF GRACE.

GOOD NEWS!

2008-11-20T18:53:00.004+01:00

Okay okay.. it has been a while since I posted last time so I thought it would be time to catch up a little. Wow times has really gone by so fast again.. it keeps on surprising me all the time. so here comes some news!

First of all : for the spring 2009 I will be located in a YWAM base Grimerud,Norway!! I will be joining some prayer and worship ministries and travelling with a team around Norway. so from January until May I will be living back in Norway. I will send you guys a newsletter soon so I can tell you a bit more what is happening and how I ended up with a decision like this. I am so super excited about this coming spring and looking forward to see what God is up to and to go deeper in my relationship with him through prayer and worship! What an amazing opportunity God gave me!

Many things have happened these days! Annika, Lenneke and the rest of the Borgen DTS were here for 1 week in the beginning of November and that was.. SO good! it was so special to get to spend time with my best friend and have Lenneke over at my place and just be able to talk and share and laugh together again. I felt like God really spoiled me during this week and gave me these wonderful people for this time. there is also a person God has given into my life lately and that has also changed my life a lot and I keep praying for God's guidance and wisdom when it comes to this. :)

I am happy! It feels like things are just going wild all over me and so many things happening but still there is peace found in Him. and only Him. I am happy to get to spend Christmas home with my family before leaving again. It's amazing how God also organized someone to stay in my apartment for this coming spring.. I just couldn't believe it! Everything has went so smootly so far when it comes to preparing for the coming spring. For the ones who wonder about my studies.. so yes, I will be away from school this spring. I am going to try to do some courses online and some "distant assignements" as we would say in Finnish. But we will see. I must admit that everything (like EVERYTHING..) is open in my life and no clue what is gonna happen but.. I don't even need to know. He has it totally under control. for now it is enough that I take the first step.

.. so yes.. winter is totally here and it is snow and cold and I am liking it. it is so good. most of the December I will be only working, not doing so much school stuff. I try to finish my school things now before December and get them done. then I can just focus on working and being with family and getting ready for the new move.

Stay blessed.

SPECIAL PEOPLE.

2008-10-06T18:08:00.010+02:00

I started to look through some old photos tonight and then I just had to post some here just to tell to all these people how special they are.
Here comes BEX.. you are such a bold woman of God. I am proud to be your friend and what you are going to do now is something that gives joy to my heart and even greater joy to God. Wow girl.

and here comes MELODIE! and she is getting married so soon!! I can't believe it! she is one of kind. I got to spend those 7 months together with this girl and she amazed me day after day. She is a gem.

The Highway 2006 with BARBARA and ANNIKA. It always brings smile to my face when I think about this week and how Barbie made it all the way from the Faroe Islands for the conference.. and it was stinking cold and not much sleep but so much fun.

My DTS outreach team 05-06. I love this picture (Turid and Oyvind are in the front). We had just incredibly good time together and so much joy in this team. and laughter. What an awesome outreach we had to Canada and Alaska.

.. and then comes this girl. and I don't know what to say about her. She is the best friend I have ever had after Jesus. :) she is really a girl I have learned to know and love and we have spent some amazing years together. ANNIKA is her name.
you remember this evening?! haha. oijoijoi. good times, good times.I miss her and all the weird things we did together. it's funny how I actually was scared of her when we first met on our DTS and it took some time to get to know each other ;) but well well, what happened.

LENNEKE is such an adorable girl from Holland. I think I have had so many enjoyable conversations with her. the first one coming to my mind is last winter in Mali when we were both sick and we had to stay back from church one Sunday. what an encourager she is!! this picture shows pretty well the picture I have about her in my heart :) she is so excited about things. and this picture was taken on our trip to Sweden together.

... oh and there would be so many others!!! Turid also. and Bea!! What a wonderful woman. Well I think I am just missing my Borgen years so much at this moment that I had to do this and I hope this encouraged you. What a blessing it is to have so many awesome friends!!

AND then this movie. after our powerful prayer walk! Kautokeino was awesome.

NORWAY TRIP COMING UP!!!

2008-10-05T13:16:00.003+02:00

I forgot to mention, that..

.. the children choir my sister is leading here in Rovaniemi (www.jippiimissio.fi) is doing a little tour in Norway this winter like they did last year! This time I am able to join them and it gets me really excited!! We have been practising the songs in Norwegian now and it is amazing to hear how excited those kids are to go again and be able to tell about Jesus to other children their own age, and even in another language. I am so proud to go with them. So I will be helping out my sister with practical things and some little translation and we will see what comes up.. it's a lot to do with 40 kids :)

so from 14th of November until 18th of November we will be going to all the way to the North of Norway, to these tiny places called Båtsfjord, Berlevåg, Vadso and TanaBru. I am just too excited to see what God has for this trip.. how He is going to use all of us. And the songs are amazing, I am loving them already :) okay I just had to write it now when I rememberd it so you guys can also remember us in prayer when we go!

" La meg få väre i din närhet kjäre Jesus, la meg bli overrasket av din herlighet.
Du er min Gud, himlenes Konge.
I hjertet mitt er navnet ditt alt skrevet ned."

BEAUTIFUL FALL.

2008-09-23T21:24:00.004+02:00

... and my school has started! It has been 1 month now since I started studyin in the University of Lapland. I must say it has been pretty much different than these past years of my life but also interesting in a way. I have to admit right away that I still don't know if I am gonna keep on studying this subject cause everything in my life is still so incredibly open. But one thing I have been able to understand.. God can use you no matter how small and "not important" you feel yourself. and it has been kinda crazy, this whole fall, struggling back and forth if I am doing right or wrong and if I am telling what God tells me to do and what really is my calling and all these things. and you so easily forget that there are actually people around you, YES, and that maybe God wants to use you right there with those people! and I know this is something that everyone knows and I have know it also, of course, but never really understood it before these days. and it's pretty amazing, it amazes me every day. that no matter how bad I struggle and try to find the way and go back and forth, still God is the same. He does not change. and oh man it is so good to know!! so I must say God has done some pretty incredible things and I am sure He is up to something even greater. Wow.

I miss Borgen and miss those familiar faces around me. But there is time for everything and actually I think it's time for me to be here and go through these things. Sometimes I feel myself a little lonely after those YWAM years and having people around me constantly :) But God is giving new people around me all the time and why should I be sad.. He is with me anyways! and Annika only a skype call away ;)

Well well.. what else. I am still very excited about future and my heart is full of joy and happiness! I am so looking forward to see and wait what God has in store for me. I am greatful.
... and I am planning some trips here and there and hopefully I will see some of you very soon.
Now I think I gotta keep on making pan cakes. My parents are stopping by soon. They just back home from their trip to Norway and they spent 3 nights at Borgen and I can't believe I could not go with them.. but oh well. Soon soon, I will get my chance! Okay.. pan cakes calling me. (Bex and Lenneke : the thought of you two teaching Leivur how to make pan cakes makes me smile every time I hear the word "pan cake" :)

Bless bless friends.

DADDY TURNED 65!

2008-09-04T08:49:00.001+02:00

CRAZY DAYS.

2008-08-23T19:33:00.003+02:00

God is kinda cool.
I am living this life and trying to figure out what God wants me to do and where to go.
And He KNOWS. He knows where He wants me. It's kinda mindblowing every time I think about it. I am loving this kinda life.

It has not been always just easy days here. Some days go by and I am not happy, not where I would like to be, not excited about anything and doubting if this is what I am supposed to do. Some days I am happy, enjoying my life, and pretty satisfied what is happening. My school starts next week and I have decided to start the school and see until Christmas (fall lecture) how it goes.

Some things have changed in my life during this past month and in one way I am happier and more excited than I can remember, I am so excited to see what God is up to! Even though there is still SO MUCH confusion inside of me and things I already mentioned before, I could say that the word of this month is EXCITEMENT. For sure! My heart is beating and it tingles everywhere when I think about my future and all the things God will guide me through.
Seriously.. it TINGLES! :) it's scary and it looks like I have no control over the plans I made years ago about my life, but I can tell you.. it feels good! Just the fact that I don't know is something I have never really gone through before.. or not at this level at least. And it just makes me so excited cause I know God is doing something in me. Something new.

I know this might just sound like a one big mess.. and I can tell you, it surely feels like it almost every day. But then God comes and pours out His goodness and peace as always. His faithfulness. Wow.. what can you say? I am enjoying praying more and more. Just chatting with God. What a Daddy we have guys! Oh well..

..I have forgotten to tell you about The Higway and all the other things! :) it was such a great weekend and I enjoyed having Annika, Lene and Katya here! Milka and Hilla were also here so we had a little DTS reunion. It was really busy so I did not have as much time as I wanted to spend with the girls and that was sad :/ I believe God really touched people during these days and it was such a priviledge to be part of that. I enjoyed playing in the worship band which my sister was leading. Okay I think it's time for some photos.. so here they come!

CONFUSION IN THE AIR.

2008-08-06T09:29:00.003+02:00

WOW..
what a trip I had.
Now I am back home and even more confused than before.
There are just tons of options I could do.. there is so much I want to do. I feel I could run to 5 different directions right now. And the thought I should start studying soon is so far away from me and my heart. I think I just really need to sit down with God and have a talk.

There is one new thing I was challenged last weekend and more than anything right now I would like to go for it and be part of it. It's just something I've always dreamt of and my heart is just bumping when I think about it and how much I would love it. But God has his timing and He will let me know when to go and where. Oh it's just so difficult to wait!!

I had such a good trip. This was a God-trip. God-planned trip 100%. Just they way things went even before leaving, that I got so many days off from work, was a miracle. and then Friday night when I was almost going back home and having hard time, God was up to something and told me to stay. And I am so happy I did.

Okay anyways.. if I pop up into your mind one of these days, shoot a little prayer that I would know what to do and decide. It's kinda funny, I've never been in this kinda situation.. every year it has been quite clear for me where God wanted me to go and be. and now it's like.. WHAT? I have no clue! I honestly don't have a clue where I should be and what to do. I know I will start my studies in September but that's all I know.. that I'll START.

Gosh it's difficult to stay away from YWAM I tell you! :)
and here comes some photos from the trip.
Bless.

BORGEN BABY!

2008-07-31T21:51:00.002+02:00

OH yeah.. I am going to Norway tomorrow! After work I will start drivin alone to Kautokeino. It takes about 5,5h from here. There is a conference where Annika and those guys are part of so I will be joining them tomorrow - I CAN NOT WAIT! Annika I just want you to know that you truly are my best friend and that I have missed you so much. and I am happy to get to sleep next to you again :D heh! cow-workers! On Sunday me and Annika will drive from Kauto to Borgen and then I will drive back home some time on Monday. I am super duper excited to go!!!

I am almost done packing, I know it's gonna be a long day at work cause I just wait all the time that I can go. Please pray that my car would work fine, I am a bit anxious about driving alone long way. I will post lots of summer photos after this trip.. but now.. YIPPIYAYEE BORGEN HERE I COME!

WHAT'S GOING ON..

2008-07-27T12:45:00.002+02:00

..inside of me.
I don't know anymore. God please, speak to me. What to do, where to go. To stay or to go. Where do you want me to be. I am so hungry for you.. I KNOW there is so much more I need to discover and learn about you and I want that more than anything! I want to experience you God, every single day, I want to fall more in love with you.

I will obey you.
Just speak to me.
The way I am living is killing me right now.
I am desperate for a change.

I am yours. I am.. oh Lord.

.Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out.

HAPPY TIMES.

2008-07-07T20:32:00.005+02:00

Summer.. is good times. I am happy. Here is some shots from my niece's birthday party and 2 photos from the choir I was part of at the pentecostal summer conference I told you about.

Johanna and aunt Hanna.

Sini turned 8 yesterday!
Hanna and Minea.

LIFE?

2008-06-28T23:07:00.002+02:00

Is weird.
Right now I just stopped to think about it. How different everything is here now but everything is still the same. I have kept myself so extremely busy these 2 months back home.. too busy. I have been worried about my health and I am going to a private doctor next week just to make sure, I have been very dizzy these last days. And that made me to stop and think that I need to slow down a bit. But on the other hand I enjoy doing things, being part of different projects and meeting people. Still.. I need time to be alone with God. Just me and Him.

I have enjoyed working these last weeks.. I realized it's a perfect time to pray while I am working and there are no customers around! Sometimes I notice people looking at me if my lips are still moving :D but it's fun! it's fun to pray for the people you meet every day, for the co-workers (or COW as Annika would say ;) and for the boss. My co-workers are really nice people and I have gotten some good friends among them. Even though the shop is not like the most desirable place to work, it is good for me now. And it scares me that these days go by so fast and I know it's going to be September sooner than I can imagine and then studies start.. wooo,scaryyyyy.

Praying and planning my trip to Africa. Oh gosh.. I think about it every single day. I just wish I had someone to travel there together with me. But if not, I'm sure God will protect me and be my body guard! Well.. I don't think I had more to say.. I just felt like writing these thoughts down.. I am actually happy. I am so happy :) I have great friends and family around me. Life is pretty good. It IS good. God is faithful. The Highway is progressing, things are moving on. A friend of mine from Faroe Islands is visiting Rovaniemi and I get to meet him one of these days! Sun is finally shining after all that rain. Tomorrow is Sunday and I can sleep as long as I want. I have great things to look forward to. THANK YOU GOD!

MID SUMMER!

2008-06-23T18:57:00.003+02:00

What a trip!! I am happy to back but I am happy I went! We had a good time. Lots of rain, wet shoes and clothes, dirty jeans and umbrellas but oh man, it was all worth it. The best thing was this youth choir. I enjoyed it. So much. They recorded the whole meeting and we had such a good leader and the band. In this conference were about 10 000 people. I met Milka, Ansku and bunch of others and it was so encouraging to hear what they are up to. Sorry Ansku once more that we were not able to talk more.. but The Highway is coming up and you can come up here for that and visit me :)Well now I will start working again and I think we might take a little trip to IKEA next weekend.. but now I gotta go. Internet does not work at my place.. there is some kind of virus in my lap top and it slows everything down and I SO wish my sister's husband was not on holiday!! Otherwise I need to take it to the shop to get it fixed. Have a great week you guys!

UPDATE,UPDATE,A LITTLE UPDATE..

2008-06-13T12:30:00.003+02:00

Hi guys, it has been a while again.. life has been.. busy. I would call it superbusy.
Today is my day off from work. Last night I went to movies to see "Made of Honor" with 2 of my sisters. This morning I slept long, watched 1 episode of "One Tree Hill", ate some good,dark Finnish bread and now I am going to city to eat with my sis and then meeting my friend. What a perfect morning!

Life has been good. God is so good. I am part of "The Higway" conference team ( www.thehighwaynordic.net) and we meet every week to plan and to pray. It's so good to have some YWAMers, ex-YWAMers and future YWAMers in this group, I think we are a good mix :D I am really looking forward to this conference and I know there's a lot to do and so many things unplanned and unsure but God is so faithful and I have been so encouraged every time we meet with this team. I am excited what God is up to!! Apart from work and this Highway-planning, my days just kinda go by. I meet friends, family, go to church. But it feels good.

So many things have changed and also when it comes to relationships, many things are different now. Different people, different situations. Sometimes I find it difficult but then I can always remember Who is right here next to me. I am NOT alone!! Actually next week me and my friend are driving to Middle-Finland for this big Pentecostal conference we have every summer. I am so excited to go and I even signed myself in to this big youth choir (100 people) which gathers at the conference for 2 days and then finally is on stage the last night of the conference and they even record it.. so I am also excited about that! My parents and almost all of my sisters and brothers are also coming to this conference. It's a good place to meet friends from all over Finland, almost everyone is there.. so maybe I'll see you there?

Anyways, I am going to my parent's church this weekend to tell about Africa. They are the ones who have been supporting me during these past 3 years. I am happy to show them pictures, tell stories and share my heart for Garibou boys with these people. It hasn't been easy after I made the decision to come back to Finland and not to go to Mali for this 1 year team. But I am planning to take a short trip in January to Mali. I pray God would really show His faithfulness in this thing as well.

Allllright, I guess it's time to end now. I am going to work tomorrow again, my parents are coming to town tomorrow. It's fun to have my own place where to invite people to come over. I am hoping Annika can come and visit me on her way back to Borgen. I miss Annika. I miss Bex, Lenneke, Melodie, all the Borgen folks, old and new.. but I am so happy I got to meet and get to know SO MANY INCREDIBLE people on my way! And there is more to come ;)
See you guys, keep me updated what's happening in your lives.. I will post some photos after our little road/conference trip next week. I am SO looking forward to it!!!!!!

PHOTOS PHOTOS!

2008-05-20T10:46:00.004+02:00

I know Bex wanted to see how my place looks like now.. so here it comes!

IT IS.. ROVANIEMI!!

2008-05-15T01:59:00.002+02:00

The first thing I must say is that I MISS BORGEN.
It was so difficult to leave.. those guys had organized a nice good bye party for me and I was really touched and encouraged by everyone of them. And I cried all the time. Of course. I enjoyed spending those last days with Bex and I think we had quite some fun in Storhytta and I miss you so much Bex! And everyone else.. Bea,Hanne,Jenny.. everyone.

But now it is time to get used to living in a city again! It actually feels kind of funny to be around some people again and to be able to go shopping when ever you need something and everything is just around the corner! My place is starting to look like a home to me now and I am enjoying living in this apartment and the location is perfect.. it only takes couple minutes to walk to down town and everything is really close. Plus the pretty view from my window.. by the way, Bex I was telling you how warm and sunny it was in Rovaniemi before I left Borgen.. just so you know, it has been snowing almost every day and windy and STINKING cold! :)

I will start working next week. Now I have been settling in, meeting friends and spending time with my sister. There are so many things to take care of! I have been surprisingly busy this week. And I still haven't gone to the doctor as I should have, after Mali trip. But next week. I will! I am also really excited about the coming "Highway" conference in August and it feels like there are so many things coming up I will be involved and I am happy for that. I was a bit scared to come back and to be alone and not having too many people around and yes, it has been a bit different and lonely, but I am doing OK. And I am happy. It's not like the best weeks of my life but I am doing OK and it is enough for me. God keeps on showing me how He is always the same, He does not change. He is always faithful. And I can trust that. Yes!!

Now I gotta go.. I am still up, we are watching "Finland - USA" Ice Hockey World Championships! And it's almost 4am. But that's ok. See you guys around. I will post some photos later.

LEAVING BORGEN

2008-05-01T15:45:00.002+02:00

I can not believe this day is actually coming so close.. and I am packing and ready to leave. We will have a good bye-party on Monday. And oh man all the tears I can already see :) It has been a good spring.

We went for another recruiting trip to Karasjok a week ago. It was really encouraging to attend this youth conference and we got to share about Borgen,DTS,Mission Adventures and other summer mission trips. It was my last recruiting trip this spring and we had so much fun. Poor Andrei has been traveling with us 3 girls the whole spring, there has been a lot of laughter in the car. We have been going through all the Africa memories and experiences over and over and.. over again. It seems like there is no limit how much you can talk about Africa!

Talking about Africa.. I have had a difficult decision making time this spring. I have probably told you already that there will be a 1 year team from YWAM Norway (Borgen organizing) going back to Douentza,Mali, where we worked for 1 month with these amazing garibou boys. This work is quite pioneering and helping Lorna, the local missionary. And my heart is totally in there. But I am going home now and the original plan is to start studying next fall. I still pray that God would show me the right way to be part of this ministry : to actually go there myself or to send others and support them that way. Oh man I love that place and those boys!!

Yes! So many exciting things happening and so many questions without any answers and so many unknown things ahead and doubts. But God sees the big picture and He knows what is coming up next and how He is going to lead me through them. Right now it feels like I can only see the first step of the long stairs but God sees all the way until the last step. And I am sure He knows if it's best for me to go back to Africa now, or in 2 years or in 10 years. Or somewhere else.

Well I gotta go and enjoy these last days here!It's +15C outside and it feels like spring is finally coming! I will let you know what is happening when I get back to Finland.. I can't believe it, it's SO SOON!

SPRING AT BORGEN

2008-04-13T14:12:00.018+02:00

Well well, time surely goes by fast and I definitely need to enjoy every single minute here at Borgen.. I am leaving soon :/

Right now we (Bex,Annika and I ) are actually on HOLIDAY!It was needed and it feels really good. We have this coming week off and we enjoy it indeed. Oh yea.. I haven't told you anything about our trip to Sweden! It was such a good trip!! We drove down to Rovaniemi and stayed at my apartment!! It was quite funny to be there in an empty apartment knowing that this is the place where I am going to live for the next.. years? In the evening we explored the city with Annika and Bex and went to McDonalds.I mean.. of course. What else can you do there?? Oh well anyways.. I am looking forward to move and to see what is coming up next. It's exciting and scary. And I feel really sad to leave Borgen.
(PICTURE/Me,Annika and Bex in Rovaniemi)

ANYWAYS.. we continued our trip to Sweden the next morning! Andrei FORCED (well it wasn't that hard to force us :) to stop in Ikea on our way :D They have stinking cheap pizza I must say. After Ikea break we drove all the way to Rosvik, where this youth happening was going to be held. There were about 30 youth I think.. on Saturday evening there were more people and we got some time from the evening meeting to share about DTS and other ministries we have at Borgen. We had our beautiful, stunning and attractive stand with us and people wanted to know about DTS and other things and it was really encouraging! I felt this church was really encouraging and I enjoyed being there, meeting the youth and getting to know new people. On Sunday we drove back to Rovaniemi, on Monday continued back to Borgen. We had fun. God is good.

One day our base leader Leif decided to take us to his cabin in Kilpisjarvi(Finland). We were so excited to go and get to go ski dooing!! It was Annika,me,Bex,Andrei,Mari,Kristina and Leif. This day was unforgettable and I think I will just post some pictures and let them speak for themselves. :)

The end of April we will have another promotion trip to Karasjok.
Now we just rest, chill and watch "One Tree Hill".
Yes.. we are addicted.
We watched seasons 1 and 2 in couple of days.
Oh well. Too bad would Lene say. ;)

(a little explanation for these pictures..
1. ready to rock Kilpis!
2.everything is still going good, everyone is hanging in there and enjoying the ride!
3. and then.. we took a short cut and got stuck. of course. water on the top of the ice. a LOT.
4. the girls are ordered to crawl back to the track. that was a neverending crawl i must say.

.. and too bad we don't have any evidence pictures how 2 girls( not mentioning any names but Bex and Hanna) crawled back to the ski doo and helped the boys to lift it up and we got to turn back and squeeze some icy cold water out from our boots.. it was FUN :)

MALI 2008

2008-03-30T14:57:00.005+02:00

Mali here we come!Air France had
some GOOD food.

Ligretto in Paris...

... and in Bamako.

From Bamako we took a buss to
Douentza. 14h ride.

Douentza. Abosulutely stunning.

Annika and some bananas.

Me,John the Baptist, Mr DJ,
Amadu and Allu.

Our fantastic mosquito nets!

Amadu, me and Allei.

Beautiful Amadu.

Sunrise on the Niger river.

I want to be Your hands.

READY TO ROCK TIMBUKTU!

Sahara.

The streets of Timbuktu.

Girls night at Rita's house :)

Team picture at the "Feet 2008"
YWAM prayer conference in Timbuktu.

Jakob,me and Katya.

Annika needed some teeth treatment.. :)

DOUENTZA

2008-01-19T14:32:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone
Just a quick post to say everything is going very well and I am fully enjoying this outreach and the ministry and everything! Please keep checking our team blog for pictures qnd better updates, it is not really easy to get internet access here.

www.borgenteaminmali.blogspot.com

Be blessed and lots of hugs and greetings from Douentza!
Hanna

FINALLY MALI!

2008-01-12T18:49:00.000+01:00

allllright! THIS IS IT!( Oyvind I really enjoy the cd :)
right now I am sitting in our room under my fabulous mosquito net and trying to catch the mouse running around our room! Mali has been.. AWESOME. Here comes a little update.

We arrived Bamako/Mali last Tuesday late evening. We had an awesome welcome by our contact John and the base leader Issouf. The base is located quite close to town and there are lots of little boutiques all around us and some market places. The weather has been perfect for us.. locals are freezing - we are sweating. Seriously.. some locals are wearing winter jackets!! Oh well anyway.. we have been SO blessed by YWAM Bamako and our local tour guide John, he is just awesome. He has been taking us to down town, to markets and had a cultural orientation for us. Now this week is passing by and tomorrow we are leaving to Douentza!! It is going to be an interesting buss ride across the country. I have been the only who got diarrhea and some fever, Annika also caught a bad flu from Norway but she is getting better now. You can pray for our health, we need to travel a looooong way tomorrow and I was a bit worried about my health but God will take care. As always.

Mali is just so good. It is safe for us as girls to walk alone in the streets, people are friendly and open, and God has arranged us some wonderful surprises. We were supposed to travel to Douentza all by ourselves tomorrow but God totally arranged that one of the local christians happens to go to Douentza TOMORROW AS WELL. So Paul is going to come with us and it is so good to have a local person with you. Just incredible.. also many other things God has just placed on the exact right spots. Yesterday I just sat in silence and awe of how God is faithful. Again and again. It's sometimes so hard to understand.

Mosquitoes have been quite friendly to us, I do not have even 1 bite! This week has been busy even though we have not had a tight schedule,but there are so many new things to learn and to take care now when we are in the beginning of our outreach and in the capital. Some of the girls have got their hair braided and I will also go for it in Douentza. Wearing only skirts has been also one more new thing for all the girls. I think the team is doing quite good and enjoying this time here. God has something very special for this time.Wow.. He is good! Well I should lay down for a while and try to rest so the fever would go down soon. Packing is ahead of us tonight. Early take off tomorrow.

Hanna The red sanded feet

Happy New Year 2008!

2008-01-01T10:56:00.000+01:00

This will probably be my last post for a while now. Early tomorrow morning I'm flying from Rovaniemi to Oslo and our outreach will start in couple of days!

Time home has been incredible. I have enjoyed every single moment. It's sad to leave everyone again but I'll be back soon :) Me, Milka and Hilla are flying together tomorrow! Lene will come and pick us up from the airport and we will spend 1 night at her place before YWAM Norway Worker's Gathering starts on 3rd. And then on 8th of January we kick off for outreach!! Okay I am really extremely excited about this trip.. can't wait to leave!

I want to wish all of you a blessed New Year 2008! I hope this year will be full of God's surprises and His love for you would be shown in extra ordinary ways!

See you.. someday!

Christmas - HOME - Finland

2007-12-25T22:48:00.000+01:00

CHRISTMAS!
I am enjoying being home big time.. here comes some pictures showing you how our family is spending this Christmas! I have enjoyed. I have relaxed. I am happy.

My niece and nephews.

Hanna trying to make a snow angel.

My niece Anna.

Singing Christmas songs together.

Christmas tree and presents!

Hanna is happy!

Santa visiting.

Atte, my nephew.

Dinner table.

Playin outside.

1 WEEK LEFT!!

2007-12-07T22:01:00.000+01:00

I can NOT believe this!! We have only 1 week left.. next Saturday I will be home! I have enjoyed these last weeks but I am also very looking forward to go home for Christmas. These last 2 weeks have been quite intense.. lots of office hours and planning. Annika and I have spend many days just focusing on outreach prep and it has been so good to get things done early and just getting ready for this last week. The last week of the lecture phase will be outreach prep.

We have had a privilege to spend 2 days with a local woman who has been a missionary in Tsad, Africa. She has shared many valuable and practical things for us when we go to Mali. I have been so so so blessed.. really. I feel I am getting more and more excited about this outreach! There are tons of things I need to figure out when I go home (many things I need to get and buy) but it is all so new and exciting and.. I am so happy we are going there. We have skyped with our local contact person/ missionary for couple of times this week and we are looking forward to meet him and his family! It is going to be an adventure.. for sure.

So next Saturday I am going home!! One of our student's parents are coming to pick her up (a Finnish girl of course :) and they take me with them and then we drive to Finland - sweet. I will be home for 2 weeks, flying down to Oslo 2.1.2008. I am happy to go home : see my family and friends back there again. And to meet my new niece for the first time!! She was born couple of weeks ago! I am looking forward to long nights with my family, just talking and sharing what is going on in our lives. And my birthday is also coming closer.. I wish I can have some friends over and have a good day with them! Ohh CAN NOT WAIT TO GO HOME!

I almost forgot to tell.. we celebrated Finland's national day yesterday!! It has been 90 years since Finland became an independent country. Me,Hilla and Milka spend some hours in the kitchen baking some Finnish pastries (the ones with rice porridge inside) and some sweet pies and listening some Finnish music! And of course we decorated the table with some Blue/White napkins and Finnish flags. And Milka insisted that we MUST sing our national hymn so off we went.. oh man. It was fun! I enjoy having Finns here so much!I will add some pictures later.

Annika and I just got home.. we had a pizza night at the base. Everyone was in the kitchen making their own pizzas and it is always much fun. And when the pizzas are done we gather to the living room to watch a movie! Then we walked home and it was so frrrreezing cold and windy that I think I need to go to bed soon and wrap some blankets around me! Tomorrow we are going to Tromso, the whole DTS, to do street / clubbing evangelism. The staff is going already in the morning to do some shopping for the outreach, students are coming later with our base leader. It will be exciting!!

NOW.. bed time. See you later.

OUR OUTREACH BLOG

2007-12-01T20:07:00.000+01:00

hi everyone,
here comes our new outreach blogs.. one of our students, Hilla, will be updating this blog during our outreach in Mali. I hope you enjoy reading it during our outreach! Check it out!

http://borgenteaminmali.blogspot.com/

The Father heart of God week with Finns

2007-11-24T22:07:00.000+01:00

What a week we had last week..

The Finnish DTS arrived a bit earlier than we expected on Sunday afternoon, 19th of November :) We were so happy to meet them again! On Sunday we got together as staff and in the evening our students had organized a welcome party for them! I was leading this week so I was running around organizing different things and changing schedules with Annika constantly.. what a busy week!

Bex and I spent Monday in Tromso, picking up our teacher for this week and Bex doing some driving lessons. Our teacher came all the way from South Africa and we were truly blessed and privileged to have him here.. for sure. This week was amazing, I just wanted to stick in to my chair and sit in the class all the time but unfortunately I couldn't because of so many other things going on all the time. Annika and I also finished our final project for the BLS - leadership school and we are so happy it is done now and over. This week we also played this "Angels and Mortals" blessing- game and it was so encouraging! These Finns are such a great bunch of people! It was so good to see the class room packed with students and staff and people EVERY WHERE and all the base prayer/worship times together - wow. I was so encouraged. Yesterday they left, we were running and waving and opening the gate for them to go. We miss them already! But I think I will stop by and say hi to them when I go home to Finland for Christmas. They start their Christmas break a bit later than we do so it is possible to me to go and visit them again.

This weekend has been extremely difficult. There are some things in my life I have had to let go and it hurts.. it hurts to let go of something you have held so close and dear. But even though right now it feels like I've got nothing left, I still have everything. It feels like I have had to let go of many of my dreams and hopes for future and now there is only emptiness left. Now it is only me and God. I have no clue what to dream, what to hope, what to do in the future. I have no plans left. Everything is open. Everything is in front of Him. I am totally empty handed. It hurts, it is painful. Tears do not help. But still there is something that brings me joy. There is freedom. Finally freedom. And I am so happy I can fully stand in front of God and say : "It IS yours. I AM yours." Now there is no plans left. Now there is no other options. And it feels good.

God always has the bigger picture. The biggest picture. He knows what He is doing. He is up to something. When He closes something, He also opens something. And I am so happy the way He has led me so far.. I can not believe the way He has brought me through.And I just suddenly remembered how this fall some things have come back to me time after time.. during some worship and prayer times I felt God saying to me and showing me a picture me laying facedown on the ground. Not being able to move. Totally on the ground with my face. And this is exactly how it feels.But.. in this situation when there is pain and hurt.. in the midst of all that.. He is up to something. He is. I know. :)

"Your grace has found me just as I am
Empty handed, but alive in your hands"

SATURDAY NIGHT WITH A PROJECT

2007-11-17T21:55:00.000+01:00

We spent the whole Saturday afternoon, day, and evening working with a project Annika and I need to get done by Wednesday for BLS - school we are taking. This means budgeting our outreach, goals, vision statements, strategies, time schedules, action steps and bunch of other things. So.. we sat down in front of our kitchen table and started to work. Later in the evening Annika wanted to REFRESH me a little bit..

.. so I ended up having a bunch of snow in my neck.

.. this is how it felt after sitting
and planning for 6 hours :)

One on one walk with Hilla on Saturday!

2007-11-17T14:52:00.001+01:00

We had a nice one on one walk on today! there is some snow on the ground and it was still light outside so we went out for a walk and it was beautiful! Borgen is the place to be, I am telling you. I would not change this place for anything else right now.

Some fun times

2007-11-16T23:03:00.000+01:00

We went to Tromso last weekend and I think we had quite some fun.. we had NO CLUE we (Bex and I) were supposed to lead the evangelism in Saturday night and I kind of paniced a little bit but guess who was again bigger than our worries.. yep, He. While I was driving the super duper Mercedes we got a phone call and after that things started rolling and we ended up being at the streets of Tromso twice in that evening PLUS attending an evangelistic meeting with a bible school from Sweden. We did some prayer and prophetic evangelism (sounds scary :) at the streets and I think it was a good experience and challenging as well.. to actually ask God to give some words of encouragement and wisdom and GO and TALK to people, just like that. I enjoyed it! We ended the evening in Burger King and drove back home late.Yes!

This week has been quite different than previous ones. We (DTS staff) were part of a leadership course for young leaders here at Borgen. Some people from Eintroa-base joined us as well as some other leaders from Borgen. It was a long week, long teaching days plus all the DTS work we had to do during the breaks we had from the school. So we were running around this week more or less :) But I am so happy for this week. I learned some new and important things as a young leader. Especially the last day when Jan Torland was teaching about Visionary leaders.. wow. In the end all the "older" leaders as Jan, Terje and Leif, prayed and prophesied over all of us and it was very powerful. Go God again!!

Well well.. now we are only waiting for the Finnish DTS to join us on Sunday!! Yippee! Finally! Tonight we had a pizza+movie night at our place and we still (Annika and I) have to work quite a lot this weekend but then.. we get ready to party with the FINNS! I am honestly so happy they are coming. And I can not believe we are almost done with this lecture phase.. only 4 weeks left and we are going home, it is crazy. Preparation for Mali is going fine and we sent our visa applications and passports last week. You guys can pray for our visas and passports to arrive safely and that everything would go just fine. I am still sometimes thinking about our last year's experience and praying hard it would not happen again. Trust God - it will be fine. Now I am seriously going to bed.. here some pics from last week, when we went to a concert.

NARVIK

2007-11-07T14:27:00.000+01:00

okey, I start from the beginning.
Last week was kind of crazy. Honestly. Annika went down to Oslo for YWAM Norway leadership conference and we had teaching about "Spiritual Warfare". Every single day during last week we had lots of dance, drama, preparing and so many extra things! One evening we spent almost 3,5 hours to practice dance and in the end we finally learned it! All this practice and preparation was because of a local outreach in Narvik coming up in the weekend. We also celebrated Bex's birthday on Wednesday! We woke up 5am in the morning and woke her up with some pan cakes and singing - and she thought that was all.. no way! We had organized a surprise party for her in the evening! That was some fun :)

At the end of the week Oyvind (my outreach leader/staff/friend) came to visit us and it was so good to see him! It was just too bad that there were not too many people at the base and we were just running around ALL THE TIME. I think we worked from 7am until 10.30pm the whole week without too long breaks. But that's how it goes! :) and we survived!! Then on Friday we took off to Narvik! Most of the people from Borgen were involved with this weekend we had in Narvik : 3 churches had organized a fellowship weekend with many meetings, seminars, children meetings and youth meeting. We were so blessed by the people there and got to bless the churches and got good opportunities to encourage people and especially the few young people they have in the church. On Sunday we had an exciting drive ( accidents on the road, ambulances, huge trucks, blinking lights, dirty windows, slippery roads, saw dangerous passings) back home and we thanked and praised God for His protection and angles with us!

Now we have settled down home and are back in the normal routines. This week we have teaching about "Relationships".. good stuff. I will have my day off tomorrow and I am so thankful for that! Now it's really getting to the point that we are starting to get ready for the outreach to Mali.. and I also wanted to ask you to stand together with us in this. The financial situation for some of our staff and students is not very good. We are struggling to get the outreach money. We are booking the tickets to Mali soon and I am trusting God to show His faithfulness once again! :) He has showed it to me so many times. We believe God has called us, our team, to go to North-Africa, next January for coming 3 months and spread His love and message for those people and especially for those street children there. Wow.. I am so excited to see what God has prepared for that time and how we can serve Him in TIMBUKTU! GO GOD! So here we go.. please, remember us in your prayers!! We a great week!

One more busy week :)

2007-10-28T20:51:00.001+01:00

This week was quite busy with many little extra-things. The weekend has been great and I got to sleep in and also get some things done. I finished the 2nd book we need to read for the Basic Leadership Skills - school and now it's only a report to write! Everyone of us has been quite tired after the super duper week in Rovaniemi and it took some time to recover from that :) We have been talking about the Rovaniemi people the whole week so I guess they made quite a good impression :D

Now we are getting ready for the coming week. Last week we had teaching about "Identity in Christ" which was right on the spot and such a good teaching. The coming week is about "Spiritual warfare". On Friday we will pack our cars and drive to Narvik for the weekend. Basically the whole base is going there and we will be part of a conference organized by different churches in Narvik. The DTS will be responsible for some children meetings and youth meetings so we are gonna be busy preparing dance and drama and some other things this week! Me and Lenneke will be leading this weekend, while Annika is down south in Oslo in the YWAM Norway leadership week. And it is only couple of weeks and the Finns are coming up here!! We are so happy to get them here and hope to have some REAL FUN together and bless them!

I will add some photos now, I do not have too many photos from last weeks but I will get more later. Now I think I will try to start writing my book report and then go to bed. Have a blast week friend where ever you are!

Me and my niece Anna
in Rovaniemi,Finland.

Katri and Lenneke.

..And we had SO much fun!

Tinni and Antti.. no words
to describe. They are GREAT :)

WHAT A WEEK!

2007-10-21T20:57:00.000+02:00

FINLAND - ROVANIEMI, Palojarvi

We took off on Sunday morning and had an interesting drive down to Finland. Some lamps broke in our vans so we spent around 1 hour in a local Statoil, fixing the cars. We had a fun and safe drive to Rovaniemi and I enjoyed been able to understand EVERYTHING it said in the road signs!!

Rovaniemi was GREAT. We stayed in a camping center called Palojarvi with bunch of other YWAM'ers and this week was just so good. Dan Baumann from California was our teacher for this week, teaching about "The passion for Jesus" and really challenged us. This teaching was right on the spot for me - the timing could not have been better. Wow.. God is just so faithful and always right on the spot. The Finnish DTS has 9 students and 8 staff - what an awesome bunch of people!! I loved being there from the first night. And all the way starting from the first staff meeting we had on Sunday evening when we arrived, I could see God's hand upon both schools and how He was rejoicing over us.

We also got a chance to visit a local youth club one afternoon and do some other ministry things. I visited my sister one day and had some time in town. This weekend we were also part of a youth camp organized by YWAM at the same base. It was lots of fun and good times together and this morning we said goodbyes and drove back to Norway. What a LONG drive! God really protected us on the road and helped us in so many ways. Now we are happy but tired and back home with many bags of Finnish bread :) I am so happy. So so so happy. I got to know so many new people and once again God showed me more of His goodness and character. What a mighty God we serve. Tomorrow we are starting a new week, Helen Wilson is going to teach about "Identity in Christ". We also need to get more into outreach planning and I know it will be a busy week.. I will add some pictures later! OH yea we are leading base worship tomorrow so I guess I should start looking some songs..

well, THANK YOU ROVANIEMI people and most of all.. thank you God!
ONLY 3 WEEKS UNTIL THEY COME HERE!!

Be blessed.

a weekend

2007-10-13T00:11:00.001+02:00

It's weekend again!! It has been such a long week with tons of things to do and prepare and plan and it feels so good to realize it is Friday again. Yesterday Annika and I were invited to Hanne Eliasen's home in the evening, just to relax and it was so good. Hanne is such a blessing for us. Today we did not have teaching at all, we had some prayer time together as a group and did some other things. In the evening we had a fun party -- now I am so tired. Tomorrow morning we will drive down to Turid's house for brunch. It is Yang Hee's good bye party at the same time.. Yang Hee is leaving to Spain with her BOYFRIEND DAVID!! Just a couple of days ago they told us they have decided to start a relationship! It is actually happening.. some people ARE DATING in Borgen - what a miracle! We are all shocked but happy for them! I will miss Yang Hee though. Tomorrow we are also going to pack and get ready to take off to ROVANIEMI! I am just so extremely happy we are going down there for a week. Well anyways now I think I need to get some sleep so good night and have a great weekend.Bless.

This picture was taken on Thursday morning.
It is amazing how much snow we already have!

The view from my window.

We had a little party on Friday night,
some games and dressing up of
course :)

Jakob and Lene.

Lenneke, Bex, me and Annika. (and Annika
asked me to add that she is NOT pregnant
for real, just to make it clear :D)

Lene, Jakob, Katya, Milka the Superman and
Hilla.

FIRST SNOW!!

2007-10-09T22:21:00.001+02:00

It came this morning. Scary.
Cold. Winter is coming
AGAIN.

We got our first snow this morning..
it was snowing the whole day.

Milka, one of our Finnish students.

The classroom and our teacher for
this week : Terje Konradsen

And here is our new kitchen boss..
Sigurd!! He was a student last year,
now the Borgen kitchen manager.
Wow!

This picture is from our
dining hall during the dinner.

People hanging out after class.

The door signs.

And this is MY ROOM in our
apartement.. cosy cosy!

And my bed.. we still don't have
real beds but this is good :)

I am free.

2007-10-06T09:13:00.000+02:00

Through You the blind will see 
Through You the mute will sing 
Through You the dead will rise 
Through You all hearts will praise 
Through You the darkness flees 
Through You my heart screams, I am free! 

I am free to run 
(I am free to run) 
I am free to dance 
(I am free to dance) 
I am free to live for you 
(I am free to live for you) 
I am free 
(I am free)


His mercy and forgiveness is new every morning.
Also for me. I can not understand His goodness towards me.
I only want to praise Him
and give Him all the thanks and glory - He deserves all that and much more.
He set me free! He paid a price for me.
Just to have me.
His blood paid everything so that I can live free.
What a God we serve.

I am nothing without you Jesus. Nothing.

it's October now!

2007-10-03T14:55:00.000+02:00

time goes by so fast. too fast sometimes.
last week we spent in Tromso with the whole DTS + youth team from Borgen. it was such a good week : challenging teaching, evangelism, youth/kids/Sunday meetings.. and milk shakes. I enjoyed to be in town. It is such a blessing we can spend some time of the DTS in town and see some people and go out and reach out. We are also super blessed to have the Baptist Church as our "home" in Tromso and they are so helpful and blessing us richly. 5 young men got saved during this week! We had an Australian teacher teaching us, doing evangelism and having seminars at the University of Tromso. What a GREAT week!

now we are back home. right now I am sitting in my bed in my own room and having a little break before going back to Borgen for dinner and evening teaching. This week Hanne Eliasen is teaching the DTS about "prayer and intercession". I wasn't able to be in class today because of the leadership school that I am part of but I heard from the students that it has been very inspiring teaching. we have also started to plan and prepare more for our outreach to Mali now!! Checking tickets, vaccinations and I have started to fill visa - applications. We will get visas through Germany. I pray this visa - applying project will be a bit more easier than last year's.. :)

I am so happy to go to Finland soon for 1 week. I can meet my family and friends again, speak Finnish when I go to stores and most of all.. get some Finnish bread. Ohhh. By the way, Andrei and Mari + their children, are here at Borgen now for 1 week and it is good to have them around!

Now I think I need to go. Tomorrow is my "Morning OFF" day and I am so thankful for that :) I can not wait to have gym tomorrow evening, Annika has prepared some cool things for those hours and after that we are having Borgen staff meeting. Next weekend we are off. And Annika's sister is coming all the way from Faroe Islands to Borgen and it's gonna be great to finally meet her!

Have a super duper weekend everyone!

a new try!

2007-09-21T15:08:00.000+02:00

okey.. I promised myself to give this blogging thing ONE MORE try because it's such a nice way to post new pictures and write what is going on up here and in my life. so as we started a new DTS again it was just the perfect time to start updating this page again!

We have just finished our 2nd week of this 2007/2008 DTS! We are 5 staff (Lenneke/Holland, Bex/New Zealand, Bea/USA+Germany, Annika/Faroe Islands and me) and 6 students! I will post some pictures so you can see their beautiful faces! :) First week of this DTS we had orientation, lots of information, going through YWAM values and many practical things. We also did a trip called "Arctic Adventure" in the mountains and it was quite fun, wet and rainy though. This week we had teaching about "The Word of God" by our base leader Leif Braathen and it has been such a good week! This weekend we are off and getting ready to go to Tromso next week! We have a very interesting week ahead of us..

Next week we will have teaching about "Evangelism" by Vince Esterman from Paris. We will be staying at local Baptist Church, also doing some local outreaches and leading come children clubs. The teaching will be at the University of Tromso, we will be doing evangelism right after class in the University!! I am so excited about this week. There are some exciting things happening in Tromso and we get to be part of it and I bet it's gonna be some fun!

Annika and I are really enjoying living in our apartment. Now we both have our own rooms : Annika staying in living room and me in the bed room. It was quite cozy to live both in the tiny bedroom but we thought to give a try to live separately :) But anyways. The fall is coming to the North and the colors are just STUNNING.. as you can see from the photos. or actually you should come and see it yourself, the pictures can not tell you the whole truth! Last night we were walking home from staff meeting and God blessed us with some incredible Northern Lights, I have never seen them dancing like that with many colors and they were huge! I am telling you that God is blessing is with His amazing creation!! Sometimes I can only praise and worship Him for all the colors and beauty we have up here.It is so beautiful. I would not change this to anything else!

I am really enjoying living here and being with these people. And I am also starting to enjoy playing my violin again and I really want to start using it for God.I have a desire to grow deeper in worship this year. I pray God would give me bigger and bigger heart for this school and for all the students, they are such a great bunch of people! God has been faithful, so faithful. Sometimes I feel like He is blessing me so much, more than I deserve. But I know His love for me is something so big. And I pray my love for Him would grow and grow every single day. He IS my everything.

This is the new DTS 2007/2008

From the left up: MILKA (fin), LENE (no),
KATYA (rus), HILLA (fin), LENNEKE (nl),
JAKOB (greenland),HANNA (fin), HANNE (no),

From the left down : BEA (us), ANNIKA (faroe is),
REBECCA (nz)

One beautiful drive to Tromso

Beautiful colors

Last night we heard some terrible news..
one water pipe at the kitchen basement
had broken down so we had to turn off
all the water in this building until
the pipe got fixed.this meant
we could not prepare fish and potatoes
for dinner as we planned. so our dinner
ended up looking something like
this : pan cakes, ice cream, whipped
cream, bananas, chocolate, fruit, jam,
caramel topping and so on. Life at Borgen
is not that bad, huh? ;)

Karasjok!

2007-04-23T19:04:00.000+02:00

We left to Karasjok on saturday morning.Bjartur overslept a LITTLE bit but we got to kick off pretty early :) we had an amazing drive to Karasjok : sun,warmth,blue sky,no hurry and good talks. In Karasjok we drove straight to the Pentacostal church which was organizing and hosting the youth conferense. There was a team from Oslo Filadelfia Bible school so they were doing many things there. 7 youth got saved during the weekend, 1 baptism and other good things. We had Borgen stand, got chanse to talk about DTS/MA in sundaymeeting and got some good contacts and people interested doing MA and DTS. Just before leaving we visited an evangelistic center where many ex-alcoholic/drug addicts live after becoming christians. That was the BEST part of the trip : I was so encouraged after all talks with those guys and their generosity was something. Bjartur and I were so full after all the food,GOOD food,that you can not imagine.

We left Karasjok on Sunday evening. We had quite an exciting ride back to Borgen :) No gas stations open, too many reindeer on the road and it was THIS close that we hit one. God send angles to protect us - for sure. My hands were shaking and I didn't know if I should laugh or cry after I realized we didn't hit the reindeer. Good driving Bjartur and good angels God. Anyways we made it all the way to Borgen late but safe and our trip was great.I'm so happy we went there. Lots of fun.

Today I slept in a bit and then Bjartur and I started to wash Mercedes.That was job.It took like 4 hours for 2 people to wash one car!It was fun though. Now I've been packing and cleaning and getting ready to move again! I believe it's gonna be good to be down at Turid's place. Yes,now I will go and get something to eat.Getting hungry here.

Promotiong - promoting!

2007-04-20T18:01:00.000+02:00

NLF is over now.Finally.It was a week here ar Borgen where all the leaders,the main leaders,of YWAM come together for one week to seek God,discuss and decide about important things.It was quite fun to be there,to listen and hear people from different bases and leaders.And to be there and part of important decsisions.It gave me a bigger picture of YWAM Norway. I couldn't say too much on the conversations cause sometimes I didn't have any clue what they were talking about - LOTS of new things.But fun!And good to talk with others working with DTS's in Norway.

so now.. the main thing is to promote.I will go to Karasjok early tomorrow with Bjartur to join a youthconferense (80 youth from the North) and we have some time to tell about DTS,MA and Borgen generally.I'm happy we got the promotion powerpoint done!After this event I will join the team and go to Hånningsvog for 4 days.Then it's Reboot-touring and my main thing there is to promote and have a stand + projector with powerpoint running. and of course translating in Finland. there are so many cool things happening and I'm getting all excited! I sent one more application form today to one young man.. I pray we will get lots of YES answers!!

It's nice here now - sunshine and a springfeeling.Helen is coming soon!!I'm moving down to Turid's place on monday. Korean DTS is delayed 1 month because of visas.They have 5 students but none of them has visa yet - it takes almost 2 months for them to get it. Oh yea Lenneke -thank you for your card + Kit Kat!It really made my day. I gotta go to Finland and buy some more Kit Kat,Norway doesn't know such a thing as Kit Kat. Okey I think I gotta go now,pack,do some laundry and call Annika!I miss her.I got some new music today so I'm very happy : new Toby Mac and new Chris Tomlin. New worshipsongs - hallelujah! OH by the way.. I believe we will get some new staff here for next year.. :D I have FAITH.

Now I will go.Bless you!

GOOD MORNING WORLD.

2007-04-15T16:19:00.000+02:00

I was bored - I ended up here. I had such a good time yesterday.. first I got to sleep in,relax in the morning time and 4pm Turid,Olga and I drove up to Tromso!We did some shopping (or more looking,trying,trying again - ended up bying nothing) and went to cinema. We watched ''Music and lyrics'' and I enjoyed so much. Man I laughed a lot. We got to sit in the first row - first class people to the first row ay?

It was good to just be in the city.and Burger King.We picked up one guy from the airport - he is gonna be part of the YWAM Norway leadershipweek. We got back home safely. Turid is quite cool, I like her. :)

Today we went to Clarkes to celebrate Thomas! It is his 1st birthday today! Now,actually RIGHT NOW,I should go to livingroom and help prepare for the sundayschool. I will play some songs. OH yea and the leadershipweek is starting tomorrow.. I will be in the worshipband and also partcipate the week. Exciting. It's going pretty nice here,I'm preparing to move again! Helen is coming soon and I will be moving down to Turid's house! Oukkidoukki I gotta go now and get some things done. I really don't know if anyone is even reading this but I write anyways :D Bless you.

I'M SORRY,oh so sorry.

2007-04-09T12:09:00.000+02:00

Back in this blogging thing.

I was pushed and pressed especially by one kiwi girl who doesn't know how to use myspace.. to update my blog - so here we are! (Bex I still like you :) it's good that someone pushed me to do this.) so I'm sorry for not updating.

So lots has happened since Christmas I can say.We are back from our outreach (Norway/Russia) and I'm still in Norway, Borgen. It's pretty quiet here at the base now : the students left, some staff left and that made a big hole. I'm still enjoying my time here, it has been relaxed but also I've got some work done.I am very much looking forward our promotion tour (happening in the end of May) when we (me+some of the youthteam) go to Finland to promote DTS and Borgen.And then I wil stay home for 5 weeks.Wow!

I was outside yesterday the whole day with Clarke's and Turid and some Korean staff. It's beautiful up here. Yesyes yee - this is it. I think I will start updating a bit more regularly from now on.. right?? Enjoyable Easter.

Merry Christmas from Finland!

2006-12-24T23:21:00.000+01:00

On my way home.

Beautiful,beautiful Finland.

Christmaseve.

Star.

These are the special times.

DTS 06/07

2006-12-01T20:03:00.000+01:00

Some pictures from this fall coming up.. it´s crazy how time is just flying. It´s december already! This week was amazing.. we had a teacher coming from Bergen/Western Norway and he really challenged me during the week like others also. Busy time - outreach is getting closer but so is christmasholiday! I´m travelling home at 16th together with Annika and it´s so soon.. we have our last week of teaching left, outreach prep and christmasparty. Wow. I´m so excited to go home! But some pics now.. here we go. Enjoyyy!

Sweden!

2006-11-26T21:53:00.000+01:00

Leading worship.

Lenneke enjoying her time!

Sweden-Kiruna-Livskallan church.

Tony Price preaching.

Pizzaparty!

Partypictures

2006-11-21T15:51:00.000+01:00

We had Bea's birthdayparty last saturday, Bea is part of our DTS staff, an amazing lady! And wow - what a party we had.. surprises and everything. So here we go, some partypictures, take a look and learn how to party!

Bea and some guests.

Leivur and Markus - partying it up!

Take a look at these girls! :)

Cherob, Annika and Bex.

Pictures coming!

2006-11-19T02:24:00.000+01:00

I will add some pictures,also old ones, just to make it able for you guys to see them. New ones will come later, I promise you :) I just found out yesterday how to add these pictures so just wait :) We just had a birthdayparty and I gotta go to bed soon, it's getting late.

Arctic Extreme 2006.

Home sweet home.

My sister, her daugher and I. On our way to a wedding.

Hanna and Barbara. YWAM worker's gathering august 2006.

Annika and I at Geoff's birthdayparty.

Finnish taking over!

2006-11-13T12:13:00.000+01:00

In the picture : having a party(a VERY short one) at the last night finnish DTD was here!

The finnish DTS arrived yesterday!Oh man it's so good!Our DTS just got back from Tromsø on friday and it was great to come back home and relax for awhile.. on saturday we had Sigurd's birthdayparty! Cakes, ice cream, movies, COFFEE.. that kinda stuff :)

It's good to have the other DTS here. I have two girls staying at my room and at least I enjoy it! We are gonna have teaching together this week about ''the pain of the heart''. Great teaching, I'm telling you.. after this week it's only couple of weeks left! I can't believe it, weeks just pass by. I will go home for christmasholiday on 16th of December and celebrate my birthday on 18th. Annika will arrive Finland on 27th and we will join the YWAM youthconference called ''The Highway'' (www.thehighwaynordic.net) A GREAT CONFERENCE. It's gonna be a blast.. the finnish DTS is also joining the conference. And after that Annika and I have planned to spend couple of days at my summerplace and just relax before taking off for the outreach!

I'm so so excited. I just can't believe God has given me so much and so many opportunities and this year has been hard but SO GOOD. I can't wait to see what God has for me in the future! Right now I feel I should stay here and staff for another year but there are so many opportunities.. but Borgen is my home and I feel God telling me to stay. But we will see. I just take day by day.

Oh yea I promised some pictures.. :) don't worry, they will come. Someday :) I have my day off today so I'm enjoying it with all my heart. But now I gotta go and print some stuff for Jung Im. Let me hear from you people!

Visiting Funland.

2006-11-04T16:06:00.000+01:00

Like I said earlier, I just came back from Finland yesterday. The Borgen youthteam wanted to borrow me from DTS for a one week so I could join them and go to Finland. The youthteam organizes different kind of activities for kids and youth and this time they organized an event called ''sport-x'' in Finland. They have done it earlier in Norway for couple of times but now they felt God giving them opportunites to reach young people in Finland. They asked me to join them, to lead a musicworkshop and do translations and so on. I was SO excited! I love my country and my people and I wanna see them receiving Jesus in their lives!So I took the challenge and jumped into Toyota and here we went..

Muonio was our destination. We were gonna do sport-x at schooltime on wednesday, have a devotion at high school on thursday and a youthmeeting in the evening, and go to the junior high on friday morning to have a devotion. Sport X turned out to be great! I led the musicworkshop from 9-15 with many awesome young and talented people while others were leading dance/drama, creative and indoorhockeyworkshops. We presented the Gospel and invited them to youthmeeting. Couple of my ''bandmembers'' wanted to join me and play worship in the youthmeeting! I was so happy for it! I don't think they even knew what the word ''worship'' meant but ohhh, their hearts were open! 14 people showed up to the youthmeeting we had the night before leaving. It was powerful, I believe God really spoke to some of them. Everyone of us (team) shared what Jesus means to us and we have some funny things and dramas, we had worship and so on. There were couple of young peole that God really put in my heart. I will keep on praying for them and I hope to see them again and share more what God has done in my life. God loves those kids SO MUCH!

It was VERY sad to leave Muonio. Just before we left, Timo (our contactperson), asked us if we wanted to be interviewed at the radiostation. We said yes! Suddenly they wanted me to sing and play one song which I played(and gave a short testimony) in the same morning when we had a devotion at junior high. Wow.. so I sang and played and they recorded it :) it was great. After that it was time to leave and say goodbyes. Thety were very willing to have the team back and I'm sure God will give them more opportunities to work together.But the week in Muonio was amazing for me.. opened my eyes more and more, to see the love that God has for young people and the fact that He can use also me to reach to them!! I was very happy to help the team and serve God through translating, leading workshop, leading worship, giving testimonies, singing and playing for Him.

Now we are back at Borgen and tomorrow we are gonna go to Tromsø. Packing, unpacking and packing again :) But I love it. God is so good! After one week in Tromsø the finnish DTS is gonna come up here and spend one week with us. Exciting! Now I gotta go and do some laundry.

God I love you. I love you more than anything. I'm so thankful for you, for everything you have done during this week. For everything You have done in my life. I wanna learn to love You even more.

A brand new blog!

2006-11-04T13:58:00.000+01:00

hello people. some people put some preassure on me that I have to create an english blog so here we come now. I try to keep this page updated as often as possible.right now we are pretty busy here at Borgen, I just came from Finland yesterday and tomorrow we are gonna take off and go to Tromsø for one week. lots of things going on but I will write some more what happened in Finland + pics.. soon.