September and happy times…

It is September and we are enjoying our time in the borrowed apartment just down the road from Grimerud. We are blessed. We have had some wonderful moments in the weeks that have passed and I shall try to retell some of the highlights….

In mid-September we spent a weekend at Solstrand, a beautiful place on the south coast of Norway, with Per Eiriks home church, Hånes Frikirke. It was a very relaxing and refreshing time. God blessed us, with some much needed rest. It was so nice to meet this wonderful church. I was touched by the way they met us and blessed us. They prayed for us and sent us out as their missionaries.

The following week we had the pleasure of attending a Mission Adventures course at YWAM’s base in Kristiansand. This is a very beautiful place right by the water, and the sun was shining every day. This course was very useful in our preparation for Austria. Mission Adventures (MA) is a one of YWAM’s outreach concepts. MA seeks to see whole youth groups going together on outreaches. YWAM organizes the outreach and seeks to serve the youth leader so that he/she may concentrate on leading their youth group.

At this point we are not thinking that we will start an MA in Austria, but we hope and pray that we can put everything in place so that whoever God calls can come and do it. Also, we are already looking at the possibilities for receiving teams from Norway next summer.
The main highlight of September was our trip to Austria. Together with a group of YWAM leaders from Norway we went to Austria to “scout” out the place where we are going to rent. We went to a little town about 20 minutes south of Wien. It is wonderful town, with about 4000 people. YWAM has had its office here for some years now. The complex where the office is situated has great potential. YWAM rents its office space here. We will live in one half of one of the apartments here, and the other half will be the YWAM office. … Yes, I have already placed all the furniture in the apartment… in my head and it looks really nice. I am happy IKEA is just a five minutes drive away. The apartment needs a good portion of love… and a handy husband that knows how to fix all the things I have no clue about. I think it will be quite nice in the end… I am really looking forward to getting started. I feel humbled by the things that we get to be a part of…

If you are now wondering… ”what is it these people are going to do”…I will give you a summary… After Christmas my husband and I will be moving to Austria to become contacts for YWAM. YWAM is an interdominational mission organization. Today, there is no YWAM base in Austria. YWAM, Austria has asked YWAM, Norway to take over the responsibility for YWAM in the country. We will be the first two people from Norway that move down there to run the base. We will work with the needs of the local churches to provide whatever expertise YWAM may offer. Furthermore, we will receive teams and try to encourage Austrians to go out into missions. In all this we are fortunate to have Bruce Clewett, the former national leader of YWAM, Austria at our side, working with us. If there are heroes in God’s kingdom, he must be one of them. We sat glued to our chairs while he told us the story of how God has opened incredible doors in working with the different churches in Austria. We really look forward to working and learning from him.

We hope you enjoyed some of these highlights and that you will stand with us in prayer. In order for us to be able to go to Austria we also need financial support. We have had some promises from people that would like to support us. That is really encouraging. Thank you so much! We are very grateful for those who wish to support us.

At the same time we must admit that our saving accounts are decreasing. So, please pray for us that we will see that more people join to support us. I don’t believe God wants us to worry about money that is why I am not afraid to ask for your prayers concerning this matter.
Thank you for all your prayers these last weeks. We have felt a confirmation that this is really what God wants us to do. And our everyday life here at Grimerud is better. It has also been nice to hear from some of you that have been praying for us – that touches us. Thank you.

Prayer requests:
-Please pray that we will make the right decisions concerning teams that we might receive next summer.
- Pray that we will continue to build a good relationship with Bruce Clewett
-Pray that we will receive more of Gods heart for Austria, - that we will have His eyes, ears and speak His words as we meet with people. Pray that we will have the wisdom of God.
-Pray that God will send people to Austria that will join us to build up the YWAM base
-Pray that we will have the financial support partners that we need, and that we will establish fruitful relationships here in Norway.

Yours in Christ,

Kristina and Per Eirik