WE MADE IT!

We arrived just after midnight on Friday night (Saturday morning July 26th). All our luggage made it safe and sound and the cousins were at the airport waiting to pick us up in our new van. We are so happy to have a good vehicle to drive. When they went to start it up and drive it to the licensing bureau to get temporary tabs for the weekend, the battery was dead so the original owner bought a new battery and put it in (which saved us $300!). Such integrity. But the temporary tags were $100 for 2 days! We will register it Monday.

We finally got to sleep around 3am Norway time (6pm Seattle time so we were up about 36 hours straight). We slept in until 11am this morning and within an hour after waking up we got the news that the woman who was renting us her house CHANGED HER MIND! So currently, we are homeless in Norway!!! (We are staying with cousins this week so it’s not a desperate situation until Friday.) We just had to laugh and shout HALLELUJAH because after the taxi driving away in Seattle and the airlines saying there was no way we could get to London, and now the house deal falling through – well, it’s more than obvious that this is spiritual warfare at its best. Satan can’t take anything away that God won’t provide something better. We do have the time pressure that we have to report to the police by Friday with our permanent address and a signed lease to prove we have a place to live, but as I’ve heard, “God is rarely early, but he’s never late.”

So, we are facing an unknown future at this point. (We haven’t told Kaleb yet because he’s just warming up to the idea of being here and was actually enjoying himself today.) We did meet with the woman who was going to rent to us so she could tell us what happened. It’s a complicated situation with the house and her son and which school he wants to go to. We understand why she changed her mind (on Thursday no less – as we were flying here). She was heartbroken to tell us, but we told her about the taxi driving off and the flight over being canceled but we have a God that supplies all our needs so she shouldn’t worry. (She felt so bad about it she even put an ad in the paper for us today saying “housing wanted” as she was trying to find another place for us.) So we prayed with her and for her and left it all at the feet of Jesus. She was quite relieved that we took the news so well so we feel it was our first opportunity to show “Norway” how it works to be walking with God (she is a Christian also). I know it made an impression on her, as well as the cousin that we were with, so we thank God for even things that seem disastrous at the time. But now what?

We looked in the paper today and tonight went to see a studio apartment for rent in the basement of a house in a neighborhood a little ways away from our condo. It was the strangest thing, as when we arrived, the couple living in the house invited us in to the house (the floor where they live), showed us around (but not the basement), made coffee and invited us out to the table on the deck. We sat there and had coffee and talked – for two hours! Finally after much conversation and a few good laughs, they showed us the place for rent in their basement. They were the nicest couple (but not married – so typical of Norway these days) with a three year old daughter. During our visit with them they caught on that we were Christians (maybe Kory shouting HALLELUJAH in the middle of the conversation gave them a clue?). The woman asked, “are you VERY Christian?” to which Kory answered, “I didn’t know that there was a scale.” She answered, “Well, I’m a little Christian,” and I said, “But you’re not married” and she laughed. So then we had a great time telling them about how we were sent by our “Swedish” church to be missionaries to Norway and the trouble’s we’ve had getting here but how God is with us every step of the way. They found it all quite interesting and entertaining and we were thankful that we had a chance to visit with them (and amazingly, I spoke quite a bit of Norwegian in those two hours and they understood every word I said – HALLELUJAH!)

When the hours had passed and we finally saw the studio apartment and realized it wouldn’t work too well for us, the man got on the phone and called his uncle who had a house in the neighborhood where our condo is to see if it was available. It was not, but he said his uncle had already heard about us – that a couple from America was coming with their 9 year old son to live in that neighborhood – so apparently we are big news for this area. How funny. Then the man said he would see what he could do to help us find a place. It was very nice to meet this couple and I’m sure we’ll run into them in town during the year. (Maybe I will call them back to see if they want to attend my Bible study. )

It was about 90 degrees (record heat) today so Kaleb went to the beach with our incredibly gracious host cousins – Odd (pronounced Ode), Turid (pronounced Turrey) and Hege (pronounced (Hey-ga). Hege is four years older than Kaleb and she has done a great job making him feel welcome (now, and every year in the past). Kory and I went to visit the “old aunts” (“gamle tantes” as they say here) and they are just downright giddy that we are going to be here for a year. “We never have to say good-bye!” was one of their first comments. It’s good to feel welcome.

So that ends “Day #1” of our year in Norway. Uff da. We’re holding on tight to God because I think it’s going to be a wild ride.