What a retreat!

What a wonderful time of worship and fellowship!

What miracles!

On Friday Sept. 17th, there were 49 of us who stayed overnight, on Saturday 5 more joined us.  The plan was to use the little kitchen at Viubråten Feriesenter, since the big kitchen would be so much more expensive. In retrospect, we saw that there was no way we could have managed with that tiny kitchen, feeding so many people. What a miracle then, that the tiny kitchen broke down shortly before our arrival (a water pipe broke), so that we were allowed to use the big one, without extra costs. The Lord saw what we needed, even before we thought about praying for it!

As you know, Norwegian weather is stable unstable. September had been very wet so far. During our retreat, staying in old-fashioned, simple cabins and houses, the weather was mild, at times even sunny. The rain stayed away from most of our treasure hunt in the forest and our outdoor grilling, and started to pour down just as we left, about 5 o’clock p.m. on the Saturday. The Lord had mercy on us!

It was great to crowd together in the fireside room, late on Friday night led by Paul Kirby and Pastor Timothy, singing “Dona Nobis Pacem” and worshipping before going to bed. On Saturday Janet Kirby shared her thoughts about focusing on the positive aspects and the power of story telling. Adults and children alike enjoyed hunting “tyttebær” in the forest after dividing into teams appropriately (?)  named: “On Eagles Wings”, “Marthas and Marys”, “Kononoia” and “The Last Shall Be First”. Eric, Atila, and Paul grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for us in the great out of doors, and we all sat and fellowshiped with other ALCers and got to know each other in a more personal way.

And all the cakes… They were like the two breads and five fish. Where did all the cakes come from? There seemed to be no end to them…

Thank you, everyone who took part and made this possible! And thank you for all of you who stayed with us in prayers and carried the retreat that way. Thank you Lord for a wonderful time!

Fellowship Committee
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