Thoughts and Photos from the first weeks of classes...
Well, here is whirlwind tour of the first weeks of classes here in Trondheim. We started it off by inviting freshmen at their orientation activity where organizations promote their groups (see picture below of all new students in the courtyard of the engineering campus of NTNU, Gløshagen) for grilling down at the Marina that first weekend. Unfortunately, we learned a little too late that there was a huge scavenger hunt activity planned for freshmen that same day....live and learn....so we had a lot of left-over hotdogs, but still had fun with our team and a few older students who showed up! :)
The rest of the week proved to be much more successful! :) We had our good friends, Paul and Sunia Gibbs flown all the way over the big pond to help us with music outreaches on both campuses and in a cafe downtown. They were great (with the music and just to spend some good time in conversation with them) and the students seemed to really enjoy their music. Live music in cafe's and cafe's on the campuses is not common at all, so we definitely piqued people's curiosity. Many said they had been going to the school for 5 years or more and had never heard of them having live music. Praise God for opening the doors for us! Our goal was mainly to get who we are out there and to provide an environment to begin building relationships with students. It was also a great opportunity for people to invite their friends to.
We did have some divine appointments with people and now know that there may be future possibilities to do similar things like this again. It was tough to go up to people and talk with them, but overall people were very positive and though most were not Christians, they enjoyed the music and didn't seem too hostile when they found out who we were. However, we could definitely sense the aversion to the name of Christ and found it hard to read people many times. These things are always learning experiences and give us a greater insight into the cultural climate we find ourselves in. But I do think we broke some ground and the relationships we made will hopefully be long-lasting.
It was a busy week with the music outreaches (every day of the week), planning for the semester, Brett and I moving, me starting up Norwegian language class again, etc. but we know God was doing great things. We have much to share with you about our upcoming semester plans, but those will come next!
Tonight I am heading off to choir practice with a choir I just joined last week. We meet every Thursday night usually and it is made up of mostly Norwegians and some internationals, however I am the only one who is in the process of learning Norwegian- everyone else seems to know it well! So it is a challenge, but so are all attempts at meeting new people. I just know that it will be a great opportunity to not only be able to get back into group singing, but also to build relationships with new people, and be forced to become better acquainted with the language and culture! But I won't say it isn't scary! :) Just need to ask God for courage and humility and plunge in!
The fliers I made up to pass out to students- I'm trying to step out and attempt some creativity :)
Well, here is whirlwind tour of the first weeks of classes here in Trondheim. We started it off by inviting freshmen at their orientation activity where organizations promote their groups (see picture below of all new students in the courtyard of the engineering campus of NTNU, Gløshagen) for grilling down at the Marina that first weekend. Unfortunately, we learned a little too late that there was a huge scavenger hunt activity planned for freshmen that same day....live and learn....so we had a lot of left-over hotdogs, but still had fun with our team and a few older students who showed up! :)
The rest of the week proved to be much more successful! :) We had our good friends, Paul and Sunia Gibbs flown all the way over the big pond to help us with music outreaches on both campuses and in a cafe downtown. They were great (with the music and just to spend some good time in conversation with them) and the students seemed to really enjoy their music. Live music in cafe's and cafe's on the campuses is not common at all, so we definitely piqued people's curiosity. Many said they had been going to the school for 5 years or more and had never heard of them having live music. Praise God for opening the doors for us! Our goal was mainly to get who we are out there and to provide an environment to begin building relationships with students. It was also a great opportunity for people to invite their friends to.
We did have some divine appointments with people and now know that there may be future possibilities to do similar things like this again. It was tough to go up to people and talk with them, but overall people were very positive and though most were not Christians, they enjoyed the music and didn't seem too hostile when they found out who we were. However, we could definitely sense the aversion to the name of Christ and found it hard to read people many times. These things are always learning experiences and give us a greater insight into the cultural climate we find ourselves in. But I do think we broke some ground and the relationships we made will hopefully be long-lasting.
It was a busy week with the music outreaches (every day of the week), planning for the semester, Brett and I moving, me starting up Norwegian language class again, etc. but we know God was doing great things. We have much to share with you about our upcoming semester plans, but those will come next!
Tonight I am heading off to choir practice with a choir I just joined last week. We meet every Thursday night usually and it is made up of mostly Norwegians and some internationals, however I am the only one who is in the process of learning Norwegian- everyone else seems to know it well! So it is a challenge, but so are all attempts at meeting new people. I just know that it will be a great opportunity to not only be able to get back into group singing, but also to build relationships with new people, and be forced to become better acquainted with the language and culture! But I won't say it isn't scary! :) Just need to ask God for courage and humility and plunge in!
The fliers I made up to pass out to students- I'm trying to step out and attempt some creativity :)
The back of the fliers- really felt God put these words on my heart to describe our mission
Paul and Sunia performing at SIT cafe at the NTNU campus, Dragvoll
Again Thursday and Saturday night at Boco Choco cafe downtown
Brett and I with Sunia at Lade in Trondheim- I have missed her!
This has got to be one of the most hilarious "jumping pictures" I've seen yet: Chuck, Brett, Magnus, and Paul
This has got to be one of the most hilarious "jumping pictures" I've seen yet: Chuck, Brett, Magnus, and Paul
At least being in the rainy season yields some beautiful skies- downtown Trondheim
Preaching at Betel's Unbad youth meeting (meet every Friday night)
1 comment:
yay! i'm glad you posted the pics! how was the speaking thing? (like that great descriptive word - "thing"?) i have been thinking about you guys lots. praying for you always!! LOVE YOU!
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