It’s nearly midnight and we just got back from a three hour praise service in downtown Aalesund. Agape Church did an outreach to the community and asked all the other churches in the area to come together to just worship God in the biggest performing arts building in the area. It was a free Christian concert called "Aalesund Unites" where people could invite their friends to come along. The place was packed. They had great music and special effects – it was a huge success. I’m sure we were the oldest ones there as it was mostly teenagers and young people and many made a commitment to live their lives for Jesus. The pastor only spoke for about five minutes in the middle of it all and he started his talk off with: “America just voted in their first black president - history was made this week," (and the audience went wild), "and Obama's slogan was 'it's time for a change,' and that's what I'm asking you all tonight - is it time for a change in your life? Time to accept Jesus as a Savior? Time to surrender and let God be in control?" Interesting marketing. I invited my pal, Vestina, from school, and she came with her boyfriend, so I got to meet him. They both really liked the music but they cut out at the half time break. I’m sure they had their fill, as I went to a church service with them just before the concert. She had told me about a “meeting” she went to a few times in the city, but she was thinking it might be a “cult” so she wanted me to go with her to check it out. So, I took the bus into town late this afternoon and met up with her and we went there. It wasn’t a cult at all, it was just a modern day church. (I saw one of Kory’s cousins’ sons there as well.) It was definitely geared for the younger set with very loud rock music, lights turned out, candles burning, fog machine, the whole nine yards. I’m guessing, based on my experiences tonight, that buying into a company that makes hearing aides will be a good future investment. Come thirty years from now, I’m sure the majority of the population will be deaf or hard of hearing, as my ears are still ringing from all the loud music (I could feel the drums vibrating off my chest and throat).
Kory and Kaleb had a far more interesting day than I did. Kaleb went to yet another birthday party this afternoon then went over to Tobias’ house and watched him assemble a new remote control truck his dad just brought him back from America. He also read a 743 page book in his spare time. Kory spent the whole day over at his cousin Odd’s house putting trim around a door and installing new kitchen countertops. It was a beautiful day today too and I am still feeling guilty about the fact I didn’t even go for a walk outside. I wrote a story for an Advent devotional for our church back home, went grocery shopping, spent a lot of time praying and took a nap. Not exactly my ideal Saturday, but tonight made it a bit more memorable.
Oh, the Ice Cream Truck came around– a combination of our kid’s Ice Cream trucks in America and the Schwanns frozen food home delivery service. The ironic part about the truck here is that it sells food WAY cheaper than it can be bought in a store. One dinky ice cream cone (or popcicle) sells for about 24 kroner in the store (just under $5), but if I buy it from the guy who drives it to my front door, I can get one for less than 5 kroner (under a $1). He also sells frozen “organic” salmon and uncooked shrimp – all much cheaper than the stores. (Buying wild caught salmon is no longer possible in Norway – all the fish is farmed! But now they have “organic” fish farms.) So we pay the highest prices for things when we buy them in a supermarket. If we were to go to all the individual sellers of things (the fish market, the bakery, the butcher), we could buy them all for less money. We pay for the convenience of only having to make one stop, I guess. It’s so opposite of America. But I find that to be true of a lot of things here. In America, the price for electricity goes up in the winter when we use it the most – same with the water prices going up in the summer and then they drop prices in the “off” season. It’s the opposite here – even the price of gasoline goes down every weekend because they know people are more likely to take a road trip then. And the funniest thing is that employee’s paychecks are the fattest when they are on vacation. The government doesn’t tax vacation pay because they know people need a little extra money to spend during that time, so their take home pay is higher when they AREN’T working. What a concept. It’s funny to me, but it’s all very “normal” for Norwegians. I guess we all tend to think what we are used to is normal, and that must be why Vestina thought that church service was a cult – because it isn’t something she is used to. I know Kory is used to me by now, but something tells me he still wouldn’t think of me as “normal.”
Kory and Kaleb had a far more interesting day than I did. Kaleb went to yet another birthday party this afternoon then went over to Tobias’ house and watched him assemble a new remote control truck his dad just brought him back from America. He also read a 743 page book in his spare time. Kory spent the whole day over at his cousin Odd’s house putting trim around a door and installing new kitchen countertops. It was a beautiful day today too and I am still feeling guilty about the fact I didn’t even go for a walk outside. I wrote a story for an Advent devotional for our church back home, went grocery shopping, spent a lot of time praying and took a nap. Not exactly my ideal Saturday, but tonight made it a bit more memorable.
Oh, the Ice Cream Truck came around– a combination of our kid’s Ice Cream trucks in America and the Schwanns frozen food home delivery service. The ironic part about the truck here is that it sells food WAY cheaper than it can be bought in a store. One dinky ice cream cone (or popcicle) sells for about 24 kroner in the store (just under $5), but if I buy it from the guy who drives it to my front door, I can get one for less than 5 kroner (under a $1). He also sells frozen “organic” salmon and uncooked shrimp – all much cheaper than the stores. (Buying wild caught salmon is no longer possible in Norway – all the fish is farmed! But now they have “organic” fish farms.) So we pay the highest prices for things when we buy them in a supermarket. If we were to go to all the individual sellers of things (the fish market, the bakery, the butcher), we could buy them all for less money. We pay for the convenience of only having to make one stop, I guess. It’s so opposite of America. But I find that to be true of a lot of things here. In America, the price for electricity goes up in the winter when we use it the most – same with the water prices going up in the summer and then they drop prices in the “off” season. It’s the opposite here – even the price of gasoline goes down every weekend because they know people are more likely to take a road trip then. And the funniest thing is that employee’s paychecks are the fattest when they are on vacation. The government doesn’t tax vacation pay because they know people need a little extra money to spend during that time, so their take home pay is higher when they AREN’T working. What a concept. It’s funny to me, but it’s all very “normal” for Norwegians. I guess we all tend to think what we are used to is normal, and that must be why Vestina thought that church service was a cult – because it isn’t something she is used to. I know Kory is used to me by now, but something tells me he still wouldn’t think of me as “normal.”
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