Kaleb decided he wanted to go to Agape Kirke this morning as they have a kid’s program, and Filadelfia Kirke doesn’t. I must be among the youngest ones at Filadelfia, as opposed to one of the oldest at Agape. They have children in abundance at Agape, and more on the way, from the looks of it. It’s a very young, hip type of place and most of the members speak English, as we found out after church. (Even the pastor is imported from England, but his Norwegian is so good you’d never know it was his second language.) They have a nice coffee and cake hour following their service and a few people with impeccable English came and sat and talked with us for quite some time (first time visitors get free coffee and cake!). It was so nice to be able to talk again! Kory thinks I talk too much in general, but whenever we have visited Norway in the past, I’m pretty quiet and he does all the talking (in Norwegian, of course) so he makes up for lost time. But it’s been three weeks now and my vocal chords were starting to atrophy so I was thankful for the friendly folks at Agape Kirke! Plus we found out all kinds of helpful information from them, as there are many Norwegians there that have married people from other countries. I got the low-down on the Norwegian Language school, public transportation, and directions to a good beach just down the street from where we live (see photo).
There were a few funny/different things about the Agape Kirke that may or may not be just Norwegian. The pastor hangs out in the parking lot before the service, and welcomes people right as they get out of their car. That was a nice touch. (Maybe it was just because it was another beautiful day here and he wanted to be outside - I’m not sure.) And during the service, when they take the offering, they pass around pots (the kind you put plants in) to collect the money. I thought that was a good visual of “sowing seeds” in the Kingdom. Kind of poetic, really. And they always announce that if you want to use your bank card, you need to go out to the lobby to their ATM type machine and you can donate that way if you don’t have cash. (Donations to charities are not a tax write off in Norway so they don’t bother with keeping records.) They have no checks in this country, and most people NEVER carry any cash on them, they just use their debit cards for everything. Pretty funny to do it in church, I think, but it’s practical here.
So after church we headed to Emblemstranda (the beach at Emblem) and soaked up some rays on this unusually hot August day (Kory and Kaleb are sitting on the rock in the photo). It was so hot we couldn’t stay out of the water (which is MUCH warmer than the Pacific Ocean, I must say). This beach is about a six minute drive east of where we live. I’m sure it’s an official “park” of the Kommune, but there are no signs directing you there. Once you turn off the main road you are on a tiny single lane road snaking through quaint little farms on the way down toward the water’s edge. It seemed somewhat like we were trespassing to get there. We encountered a few cars on the road, which had to back up quite a ways before we could pass them. Pretty antiquated, but kinda fun. And the beach was great – full of agates and beautiful stones, (I came home with more than a handful) with crystal clear water, sandy bottom and views to die for. There is just no where you can go in this part of Norway that doesn’t have a view to knock your sox off. It never ends!
We had to cut our time short at the beach because we were invited to a surprise birthday party for Kory’s cousin, Axel. He turned 58 today and his wife had a party – with lots of cakes and coffee. There is just nothing like Norwegian cakes. (If I ever learn how to make the Marzipan cake we had tonight, I’d weigh 300 pounds as it’s hard to stop eating it.) I went to take a picture of Axel and one of his many cakes (the Marzipan was the most photogenic) and he said, “Wait, I have to cut it first.” Apparently, their tradition is to take a picture with the happy smile, holding up the first piece of cake. And strangest of all – they always sing “Happy Birthday to You” - in ENGLISH! These Norwegians figured out how to cross the Atlantic five hundred years before any other Europeans could do it – and they’ve yet to write their own Happy Birthday song. Go figure.
There were a few funny/different things about the Agape Kirke that may or may not be just Norwegian. The pastor hangs out in the parking lot before the service, and welcomes people right as they get out of their car. That was a nice touch. (Maybe it was just because it was another beautiful day here and he wanted to be outside - I’m not sure.) And during the service, when they take the offering, they pass around pots (the kind you put plants in) to collect the money. I thought that was a good visual of “sowing seeds” in the Kingdom. Kind of poetic, really. And they always announce that if you want to use your bank card, you need to go out to the lobby to their ATM type machine and you can donate that way if you don’t have cash. (Donations to charities are not a tax write off in Norway so they don’t bother with keeping records.) They have no checks in this country, and most people NEVER carry any cash on them, they just use their debit cards for everything. Pretty funny to do it in church, I think, but it’s practical here.
So after church we headed to Emblemstranda (the beach at Emblem) and soaked up some rays on this unusually hot August day (Kory and Kaleb are sitting on the rock in the photo). It was so hot we couldn’t stay out of the water (which is MUCH warmer than the Pacific Ocean, I must say). This beach is about a six minute drive east of where we live. I’m sure it’s an official “park” of the Kommune, but there are no signs directing you there. Once you turn off the main road you are on a tiny single lane road snaking through quaint little farms on the way down toward the water’s edge. It seemed somewhat like we were trespassing to get there. We encountered a few cars on the road, which had to back up quite a ways before we could pass them. Pretty antiquated, but kinda fun. And the beach was great – full of agates and beautiful stones, (I came home with more than a handful) with crystal clear water, sandy bottom and views to die for. There is just no where you can go in this part of Norway that doesn’t have a view to knock your sox off. It never ends!
We had to cut our time short at the beach because we were invited to a surprise birthday party for Kory’s cousin, Axel. He turned 58 today and his wife had a party – with lots of cakes and coffee. There is just nothing like Norwegian cakes. (If I ever learn how to make the Marzipan cake we had tonight, I’d weigh 300 pounds as it’s hard to stop eating it.) I went to take a picture of Axel and one of his many cakes (the Marzipan was the most photogenic) and he said, “Wait, I have to cut it first.” Apparently, their tradition is to take a picture with the happy smile, holding up the first piece of cake. And strangest of all – they always sing “Happy Birthday to You” - in ENGLISH! These Norwegians figured out how to cross the Atlantic five hundred years before any other Europeans could do it – and they’ve yet to write their own Happy Birthday song. Go figure.
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