Today was possibly the last day we will ever see Andreas. Early Tuesday morning he flies to Australia to attend Bible school at Hillsong for at least one year. He’s been a good friend to us and he's gone out of his way helping Kaleb get adjusted to life here in Norway. He lives just a mile down the street and also goes to Agape Church. He has several part-time jobs, one of which was Kaleb’s religion teacher at school and the other as a leader in the afterschool program. Andreas has a heart for God and for kids and he will be missed. We can’t think about how sad we will be that he’s leaving, rather we think about how happy we are to know him and that he has been part of our lives while we’ve been here in Norway. He came over tonight to say good-bye so we were glad to have the opportunity to tell him what a blessing he has been to us. He was our angel just when we needed one.
We attended Filadelfia Kirke this morning and heard a sermon from one of the board members. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the same person preach twice there as they have a constantly revolving pulpit with many guest speakers from around the country and the world. They also use those gifted in their congregation or those who feel they have something on their hearts to share, so it’s always good preaching. I like their style. Afterwards I was introduced to some English speaking newcomers to Norway (and the church), who have a desire for a home fellowship group, but in English. After the service we had a little meeting about when and where we should meet and if we should just have fellowship or a Bible study – and they all wanted a Bible study, so that’s good. We’ll start in one week and meet at our house. It should be interesting as they are all refugees from different countries in Africa. I’m excited to get something going and see what God does.
This afternoon (and on into the evening), we had Kory’s mom’s cousins over for dinner. Kory’s mom was born on the Solevåg farm, which has been passed down from oldest son to oldest son for at least the last 500 years they’ve kept records, and chances are, for hundreds of years before that. The current occupant of the Solevåg farm is Kory’s mom’s first cousin, Olaf Solevåg. He has two brothers and two sisters. Olaf was here for dinner last week with his brother Terje and their wives. This week we invited his sisters (Kitty and Oddrun) and their husbands (and one of their sons) for dinner. They are all “gamle folk” (old people – which is relative now that Kory is so old), but it's fun for Kory to talk to them as they have many crystal clear memories of Kory when he was young, of their visits to America, of life on the farm. They aren’t making so many memories now, as much as reliving them, but it makes for good Sunday afternoon conversation around dinner and a cup of coffee. And this is the first time we have visited with them when I've understood anything they've said. They talk with such a thick dialect that I have been afraid to have them over before now as they talk to me like I understand them perfectly and I’m not sure if I should smile and nod my head in agreement or look concerned and shake my head in disbelief. I’ve been able to fake it most of the time when we are with them (we have dinner with all of them every time we come to Norway), but I’ve wanted to wait to have them over until I felt I had a good enough handle on the language to give it the ole college try. I surprised myself as I was able to track most of what they talked about. But they do all like to talk at the same time which makes understanding them nearly impossible, even if they were to speak English.
At one point one of them said something to me and I just said back in Norwegian, “I don’t understand a word you are saying – what is ‘doe-ka’?” as I had never heard that word before. When I hear a word I don’t understand, my brain checks out of the conversation and tries to figure it out. It wasn’t until the son said, “deres” that I understood. “Deres” is the proper Norwegian word for “you all,” (she was refering to Kory and I) but “doe-ka” is their local dialect word for the same thing. How the heck I am supposed to know THAT? Sule, the area around Solevåg, has some of the worst dialect words. Textbook Norwegian would say “I don’t know” as “Jeg vet ikke” (pronounced “y-eye vet ikka.”) The Ålesund dialect says the same thing as “Vet-chick-a,” which I think is bad enough, but those from the area around Solevåg (which is only a five minute drive from where we live but considered “the country”) they say “hit-cha pile-ing.” That is nothing even CLOSE to the original expression and many from within Norway can’t even understand “those country folk” from Sula. Communication is supposedly 90% non-verbal so I hope I am communicating to them that I love them even if I don’t understand them. I think they are super nice people, but honestly, I wouldn’t know if they weren’t.
We attended Filadelfia Kirke this morning and heard a sermon from one of the board members. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the same person preach twice there as they have a constantly revolving pulpit with many guest speakers from around the country and the world. They also use those gifted in their congregation or those who feel they have something on their hearts to share, so it’s always good preaching. I like their style. Afterwards I was introduced to some English speaking newcomers to Norway (and the church), who have a desire for a home fellowship group, but in English. After the service we had a little meeting about when and where we should meet and if we should just have fellowship or a Bible study – and they all wanted a Bible study, so that’s good. We’ll start in one week and meet at our house. It should be interesting as they are all refugees from different countries in Africa. I’m excited to get something going and see what God does.
This afternoon (and on into the evening), we had Kory’s mom’s cousins over for dinner. Kory’s mom was born on the Solevåg farm, which has been passed down from oldest son to oldest son for at least the last 500 years they’ve kept records, and chances are, for hundreds of years before that. The current occupant of the Solevåg farm is Kory’s mom’s first cousin, Olaf Solevåg. He has two brothers and two sisters. Olaf was here for dinner last week with his brother Terje and their wives. This week we invited his sisters (Kitty and Oddrun) and their husbands (and one of their sons) for dinner. They are all “gamle folk” (old people – which is relative now that Kory is so old), but it's fun for Kory to talk to them as they have many crystal clear memories of Kory when he was young, of their visits to America, of life on the farm. They aren’t making so many memories now, as much as reliving them, but it makes for good Sunday afternoon conversation around dinner and a cup of coffee. And this is the first time we have visited with them when I've understood anything they've said. They talk with such a thick dialect that I have been afraid to have them over before now as they talk to me like I understand them perfectly and I’m not sure if I should smile and nod my head in agreement or look concerned and shake my head in disbelief. I’ve been able to fake it most of the time when we are with them (we have dinner with all of them every time we come to Norway), but I’ve wanted to wait to have them over until I felt I had a good enough handle on the language to give it the ole college try. I surprised myself as I was able to track most of what they talked about. But they do all like to talk at the same time which makes understanding them nearly impossible, even if they were to speak English.
At one point one of them said something to me and I just said back in Norwegian, “I don’t understand a word you are saying – what is ‘doe-ka’?” as I had never heard that word before. When I hear a word I don’t understand, my brain checks out of the conversation and tries to figure it out. It wasn’t until the son said, “deres” that I understood. “Deres” is the proper Norwegian word for “you all,” (she was refering to Kory and I) but “doe-ka” is their local dialect word for the same thing. How the heck I am supposed to know THAT? Sule, the area around Solevåg, has some of the worst dialect words. Textbook Norwegian would say “I don’t know” as “Jeg vet ikke” (pronounced “y-eye vet ikka.”) The Ålesund dialect says the same thing as “Vet-chick-a,” which I think is bad enough, but those from the area around Solevåg (which is only a five minute drive from where we live but considered “the country”) they say “hit-cha pile-ing.” That is nothing even CLOSE to the original expression and many from within Norway can’t even understand “those country folk” from Sula. Communication is supposedly 90% non-verbal so I hope I am communicating to them that I love them even if I don’t understand them. I think they are super nice people, but honestly, I wouldn’t know if they weren’t.
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