YWAM Central Norway

2010-04-15T13:41:00.008+01:00

There’s a lot of renovation taking place here at Eintrøa these days. We’re glad to have Nils Andreas, our new caretaker since the middle of March, leading some of the rest of us in projects to make our facilities better. He is doing a great job and he works fast too! Right now the old classroom in the main house is being turned into offices.

YWAM Eintrøa is to continue being a part of training and blessing people in the region of Trøndelag, throughout Norway and the Nations. These renovation projects are done to make the base better suited for receiving more people both students, guests and more staff.

Here are some pictures documenting the transformation of the old classroom:

*Our own Mr T –Part of the Wrecking crew

*Our "ancient" hot water tank had to be released from its duty. Here are Nils Andreas and Mr T; carrying its replacement.

*Brenda in action with the brush.

*Evelina taking a break from all the painting.

*Brenda, Nils Andreas and Andreas working together on the new floor.

Good Tidings!

2009-12-16T14:28:00.015+01:00

Winter is here again with the temperature below zero and the ground covered with a thin layer of snow; clearly showing the tracks of foxes and deer that are regularly visiting our base.
We’re in the season of advent; a time marked by hopeful anticipation and preparations. We await the celebration of Jesus Christ, our Saviour; God incarnate coming to earth in the likeness of men.

Here at Eintrøa we find ourselves in hopeful anticipation also when it comes to the future of our YWAM base. This past month we have received answers to some of our prayers for YWAM Eintrøa in very unexpected ways. We have prayed for God’s will for this place to unfold and we have prayed for God to send workers to do the job. We have also especially prayed for families with children to come to the base. In November we were told the great news that three families from UiO Grimerud, which is the main base of YWAM Norway, has decided to come to stay and work at Eintrøa for a year in order to be a part of seeing the base up and running with schools and so on again. Two of the families will move here sometime during spring 2010 and the third family will come later in the summer. This is truly an answer to prayer and once again we see God’s faithfulness. We believe that God will continue to call people to come to Eintrøa to do his work here also on a long-term basis.

This week we have had the privilege to have Jorunn Molvik visiting. Jorunn took a Diciplingship Training School here at Eintrøa in 1996, and after that she served a couple of years as our kitchen manager. Today she is one of our missionaries, and she is working with YWAM Brazil; serving in the city of Rio de Janeiro through organizing among other things hospitality and teams and events.

We thank God for sending workers to take part in his work here at Eintrøa, and we continue to pray for God’s will to be done in this place. For wisdom and resources when it comes to ministering to this area of Norway; and also in training and sending out people. We do believe that Eintrøa should be a place where young people both from Norway and the rest of the world will come and be trained, and also be sent out into all the earth; bringing the message of Christ into various different areas of ministry.

The staff at Eintrøa wish you a blessed Christmas and a Happy New year!

October coming to an end

2009-10-28T11:28:00.012+01:00

October is slowly coming to an end and since our last blog entry we have experienced what joy and refreshment a couple of days with sunshine can bring after a month of rain, rain and rain. :) As the colour of the landscape around us is still changing its costume from the autumn yellow into brown, and the trees slowly get stripped bare; we can remind ourselves of words from a hymn by Casper Johannes Boye. Poorly translated to English it goes something like this;

Soon the voice of the winter storm will sigh:
All things whither and perish!
Let it whither, I know of a comfort,
which remains through it all.

Let every leaf on twig turn yellow,
let every straw whither
The love of God, this I know for sure,
will not change like that

I know where joy has its home
When the splendour of the earth perishes;
Still, like before from Betlehem
A message of life reaches me.

And this Message of Life, the Good News of the Kingdom of God being at hand is what we want to live and also bring to people through the work we are doing here at Eintrøa.

During October we have of course continued with the ongoing routines and tasks such as office work, doing laundry, biblestudy and prayer, participating in some of the kids groups in the area and so on. We also had some days where we did manual work together; like clearing gutters on the roofs or organizing some storage rooms of which some were really messy. There is such contentment in seeing the results of a job well done. : )

We have also been blessed by having parts of a staff member’s family here during this month. In addition to the joy of having more people on the base; they have also helped us with different things, for example replacing the old woodstove in the girl staff house, which we were not allowed to use.
We are really grateful that we now can use the woodstove again, and we’re slowly getting prepared for the coming winter.

We are also thankful that the local church here in “Agdenes kommune” took up an offering for us one Sunday and we have also tried to connect a bit more with the local church and the people there. It is good and important to have fellowship with other Christians. Another place for us to meet with other believers is the LIFT-group in Trondheim; a group of former YWAMers that meet regularly. This month when they came together, there was an international theme with food and clothes from different nations.

When it comes to future plans for the base; we have had some days of prayer specifically for this and we are in the process of working things out. When we have some news; we will let you know, but please continue to pray for us.

Well; that’s pretty much it for this time.

Ha det gott!

Autumn so far....

2009-10-05T11:14:00.009+01:00

“Rain, rain on my face. It hasn’t stopped raining for days. My world is a flood. Slowly I become one with the mud…”

Well it hasn’t really gone that far yet, but we have had a lot of rain lately and as the water gathers on the ground it forms streams that flow down the hills around Eintrøa; our Faroese colleague, Tórálvur, has done a good job making channels for the water so that it will not end up in the wrong place.

September is over now and we have been blessed with a lot of visitors during this month. We had the privilege of having Ray and Patty, who are missionaries in Thailand, with us for some weeks and we are very grateful that they took time to come all this way to share their lives, their experience and wisdom with us. They are precious people!
We have also had some friends and former members of our staff here to visit and encourage us, and it has been great to have some more people and some more noise on the base :)

We are also happy to tell you that our new staff member Hyunjin Brenda Lee from South Korea has arrived. She is the first answer to our prayer for more staff-members and we are glad to have her here working with us.

During September we have also continued our involvement in some of the children’s groups that the local church is running. We are also working on some plans together with some ywamer’s in Trondheim to make plans for an evening Bible study course in Trondheim.

On the 1st of October Jan Torland, who was the base leader here some years ago, brought Edwin Fillies from YWAM South Africa and Armando Benner from YWAM Netherlands up here from the Nations2Nations event in Oslo just for the day. We had some time of praying and talking together and they also came with some suggestions for how they can be a part of helping us. We were very encouraged by their quick visit and are grateful that they took time to come here to see us.

On the 2nd of October we had a precious time of seeking God together and we ended up walking along the borders of Eintrøa’s property proclaiming Jesus as Lord, speaking out bible verses and praying.

Another thing to add to the list of things to be grateful for is that we will get some help with the practical work on the base from Nils Andreas, a ywamer from Grimerud (UIO Norge’s main base). He will come here regularly with his family and help us with things we don’t know how to do, and he will maybe bring other people with him up here as well. The practical needs on this base have become quite a big burden on us lately since we have been without caretaker for more than a year now. We are therefore especially grateful for this initiative, which will make things a whole lot easier for us.

Please join us in thanking God for sending people to us to join and help us in serving and to encourage us, and do pray for us as we continue seeking God for vision and future of Eintrøa.

Blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up; God is our salvation! (Ps68:19)

Summary of summer so far...

2009-08-10T14:04:00.003+01:00

Ok; it’s been a while now so I think it’s about time for another update:

Most of the month of July was pretty much marked by problems with the water here at Eintrøa. Our old water pump did not do what it was supposed to do, so we had to get a new one. It turned out not to be the easiest thing to do during July when most people are on vacation, but thanks (many thanks!) to help from helpful neighbours and good phone support from some patient and clever former staff we got a new pump installed a couple of weeks ago. We also received good help from a neighbour this past weekend, as he fixed one of our cars which leaked water. He also fixed the locking mechanism for the bonnet while he was at it. Thank God for good neighbours and former staff!
We do however need to have a caretaker here. There are just too many things here to maintain for us to be able to manage without a caretaker for too long. Please join us in prayer for this, and if you think you are the person for the job or if you come to think of someone else who could be; please let us know.

We have had some guests here at the base during the past month. We’ve had family of people in the local area staying here at Eintrøa while visiting for a wedding or a family reunion. We’ve also had a group of Christians from Hamburg here for two weeks as a part of their “lebens-schule” (=“life-school”) where they come together to seek to know God better.
Last week we had a family from Holland here who came to check out the possibility of coming here to staff. We had a really good time together and were very encouraged by their visit.
It’s been great to have people on the base, and our guests also seem to have appreciated their time here...hm, well maybe except the guy who, while getting ready for a wedding, ended up with shampoo still in his hair when the water stopped working ;) .

We have also learned some new things this summer, like for example how blessed we are to have clean water running in our taps. It's easy to realise things like this when you have to manage without it for a while. Hanna also had to learn how the water system here works, as she was here alone when the water problems started. She really had to learn the hard way (spending quite a lot of time on the phone trying to figure things out as well as going back and forth to the pump room and the water cistern, and also back and forth to the river and to the neighbours carrying litres and litres of water), but has now been able to pass on her knowledge to Evelina with a lot less stress :) .
Evelina has this past week developed her computer skills. The Internet stopped working one day, but with some phone support from Oddmund (a former staff who still helps us with many things) Evelina managed to get it going again. Hurray! She also learned how to do some stuff with our website that should have been done ages ago. Sorry that we’ve been so bad at updating it!

Well; that’s all from us for now. We are still here and God is still showing his faithfulness in different ways.
May God’s peace be with you! Amen!

A Good Report…; a Very Good Report.

2009-06-22T11:32:00.004+01:00

On Saturday we got the message that Brenda Lee, a South Korean lady who has worked with YWAM Wiler in Switzerland for many years, has now received her permit to come and work with us at Eintrøa. We rejoice in this good news and look forward to see Brenda coming here in the autumn.

And then there was....two.

2009-06-12T20:09:00.004+01:00

It is soooooo quiet in this house; the only sound to be heard right now is the humming of computers.
This week the number of people present at Eintrøa has dropped to half. Well; since four members of our staff are temporarily away for different reasons, we were only four here to begin with, but even so; there is truly a noticeable difference being only two instead of four.
On Tuesday Christian Brack, who has been a part of this base since 1997, packed his car, left Eintrøa and is now heading for new horizons. Today Iver, who has been working with us since last September, also packed his belongings into a car and left, with plans of attending a DTS after the summer.
It is sad to see good friends leave, but such is life and life does go on.
The other day we looked at a staff-picture from last October and if I don’t remember it wrong, we counted to 12 people on the picture. Ecclesiastes talks about different seasons, and this is obviously a season with less people, but we do pray and hope for another “people-season” to take over soon; a season with people coming instead of going.

This week has not only had its share of breaking up, but also of things breaking down. We were on our way down the hill heading for Lensvik the other day, when we suddenly heard a scraping sound from beneath the car. It turned out that the muffler had partly fallen down and we had to fix it temporarily in order to get the car to the garage. Yes, we keep learning new things whether we like it or not ;) The car is still driveable but sounds like a tractor, and will hopefully be repaired next week.

When that has been said, we should also mention that a lot of things actually have been fixed this past week also. We had former members of our staff; Oddmund and Christopher, here during the weekend and they both did a great job fixing computers and electrical problems. We are very grateful to friends who come and serve us like that!

Sometimes when there is so much maintenance that needs to be done which takes up SO much of our time and energy; it is easy to lose courage and wonder what we’re doing here, but then sometimes we suddenly get a reminder:
The other day we read the latest newsletter from the Hefley’s who once upon a time were students at Eintrøa and are now working with “Water For Life” (www.waterforlife.org), helping communities in need to develop systems for getting safe water and thus showing God’s love in a very practical way. Reading about the work that they’re involved in is certainly a great inspiration, and a reminder of that it is actually possible to make a difference on this planet. The newsletter also served as a reminder for us of why we are here at Eintrøa. The reason that we spend hours and hours on -at times tedious- jobs like mowing lawns, preparing beds, repairing things, cleaning houses, sorting out mistakes in the bookkeeping, changing anode rods etc. etc. is that we believe that Eintrøa is not done yet serving as a place through which people are equipped for life and ministry. We are here because we want to see His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

Det går mot sommer

2009-05-18T15:37:00.003+01:00

Det har vært helt fantastisk vær her i Trøndelag nå i vår. Det er grønt og fint, og i hagen blomstrer det. På lørdag var noen av oss på tur på Fjølåsen, og på søndag feiret vi 17.mai med tur inn til Lensvik og grilling av lam på ettermiddagen.

Evelina er for tida på Skjærgårdsheimen og tar del i lederskolen de har der. Neste uke reiser Tórálvur og Gunn-Mari til Færøyene og så videre til Søgne for å forberede bryllup. Og mot slutten av juni reiser resten sørover for bryllup og videre ferie. Så det blir noen uker denne sommeren uten folk her på Eintrøa. Men vi har to grupper som kommer her, ei gruppe fra en tysk meninghet som har vært her flere ganger tidligere, og for første gang, ei gruppe lærer fra de kristne friskolene i Norge. Vi er veldig glade for at vi kan tilby Eintrøa for ulike arrangementer.

Til høsten håper vi på å ha SBS. Det blir desverre ikke noen DTS ettersom vi er så få stab, og ønsker å bruke ressursene våre på mer lokalt arbeide, og kanskje også noen weekender. Stå gjerne sammen med oss i bønn for høsten. Be for nye ledere og flere stab generelt, for økonomien og for framtida og visjon.
Ha en flott sommer!

Vår på Eintrøa

2009-04-30T16:20:00.004+01:00

Ja, endelig er våren kommet. Vi sitter ute i sola og koser oss. Etter at noen av oss har reist, bl.a. til Grimerud og Skien i et par uker, så er vi tilbake i Trøndelag. Evelina reiser snart på lederskolen på Skjærgårdsheimen, men resten av oss blir her i mai. Så vi håper på en fin måned der endel ting for framtida faller på plass.

Invitasjon til Eintroa-dag [klikk overskrift for a lese hele posten]

2009-01-29T20:49:00.004+01:00

Eintrøa har i løpet av det siste året gått igjennom store forandringer, og vi befinner oss for tiden i en hvileperiode. Vi har blitt oppmuntret av å se tilbake på Guds trosfasthet vi har opplevd i hverdagen og i arbeidet Eintrøa har drevet de siste årene. Framover ser vi nye ting som Gud har for oss, og vi ønsker å bruke tida nå til å forberede for det som kommer. Vi bruker tid til å søke Gud om retning for Eintrøas framtid, og ønsker å invitere dere til å delta sammen med oss.

Kanskje har du allerede vært en sterk støttespiller for Eintrøa i mange år, kanskje har du bare vært innom her en gang på en weekend og har lyst til å ha mer kontakt med oss, eller kanskje du har hørt om oss og ønsker å bygge et sterkere bånd til oss? Uansett hva forholdet eller kontakten med deg er, så gjenkjenner vi hvilken velsignelse det er å ha venner som står med oss. Derfor ønsker vi å invitere deg til en dag sammen med oss på Eintrøa.

Datoen er lørdag 28.februar. Vi kommer til å starte med lunsj kl.12.00, og avslutte med kveldsmat kl.20.00. Vi håper at måltidene kan bli ei tid for felleskap og hygge.

Denne dagen kommer Kel Steiner til å være sammen med oss. Han har jobbet i YWAM siden tidlig på 70-tallet og har erfaring fra Filippinene, Mikronesia og Sverige. Han bor nå i Colorado Springs og jobber som YWAM’s Assistant Field Director for Asia og Stillehavet. Programmet kommer til å bli helt enkelt. Vi ønsker også å dele litt om hva som foregår på senteret, hvem vi er og hva vi jobber med på Eintrøa. Det vil også bli bønn sammen for Eintrøa.

Vi håper å se mange av dere her den 28.februar.

Vennligst meld deg på før 20.februar så vi kan handle inn nok mat. Hvis du ønsker overnatting, så gi oss beskjed om det. Prisen for 3 måltider på lørdag har vi satt til 150 kr.

E-post: info@eintroa.no
Telefon: 72 49 01 00

A New Year

2009-01-12T11:06:00.016+01:00

2009 is here. There have been a lot of changes here at Eintrøa the last months. Benjamin and Tanja Holt finished as leaders here from the 1st of January. We do not know at the moment who will be the new base leaders, but we do have a new temporary leadership team. The base is going through a "winter-season", not only literally but also metaphorically. Many of our staff have finished their commitment to Eintrøa at the same time, but we have not had many new coming. Also we will not be running any schools this spring, but instead we will be more locally focused.

Also YWAM Norway has had a leadership change. At the workers' gathering at Grimerud in January Alv and Margaretha Magnus handed the leadership responsibility of UIO (YWAM Norway) over to Andreas and Åsne Nordli. Alv gives Andreas further the baton in picture 1, and in the next they are prayed into the office.

We just got back from Christmas holiday and the workers' gathering, and the base was completely covered in snow. In the picture we see Tórálvur trying the get the car out :-D

January DTS cancelled

2008-12-17T19:59:00.000+01:00

Unfortunately we have had to cancel the Discipleship Training School in January, but we are aiming to start a School in September 2009 or January 2010.

Contact us for more info.

Phone: +47 72 49 01 00
info@eintroa.no
Or click here

Movie clips 2

2008-11-17T16:50:00.006+01:00

Back on Eintrøa

2008-11-17T12:50:00.007+01:00

So, we made it back to the base :-) We had a stop at Grimerud, NLF. Well, only a few of us had to go there. The others stayed some extra days in Søgne (due to 1 cm of snow..!!)

The DTS had to start preparing for the confirmant weekend with the Frøya-confirmants as soon as we got back.

Last week the prayer team from Grimerud visited us to encourage and pray for the base and us. Later in the week the seminar with Graham Powell took place. It was a week that greatly encouraged us. We received good teaching and ate good food.

Sandnes trip

2008-10-27T13:16:00.013+01:00

We have now been on the road (or on the "train-tracks") for almost a week. We stayed with Jan Torland and family in their wonderful house in Sandnes. During the stay there we visited Sola kristne senter, Vigrestad misjonshus and the Baptist church in Sandnes. We met a lot of wonderful people, and we talked about Eintrøa and our work there.

Gunn-Mari talking about the importance of reading
and studying the Bible

The youths studying Philemon diligently

Visiting the Sandnes Baptist church

Kristin made a delicious apple cake for the open
house for people with connected to Eintrøa

The long dining room table was the heart of
the fellowship at the Torlands

Graham Powell seminar

2008-10-23T14:34:00.005+01:00

11.-14. november (torsdag til fredag) arrangerer vi pa Eintroa et 4 dager seminar med den anerkjente taleren Graham Powell, forfatter av boken "Christian, Set Yourself Free". Temaet er "Frihet i Kristus".

Seminaret koster kr. 2.000 (inkl. lost og losji). Pamelding pa tlf. 72490100, 90825145 eller info@eintroa.no

11-14 november (Tuesday to Friday) we at Eintroa will arrange a 4 day seminar with the acknowledged speaker Graham Powell, author of the book "Christian, Set Yourself Free". The theme is "Freedom in Christ".

The cost of the seminar is kr. 2.000 (incl. food and accomodation). Please register on phone 72490100 or 90825145 or e-mail info@eintroa.no

Visit, birthday and other things

2008-10-08T15:40:00.005+01:00

Kristine Holt is 6 years old! She was lucky enough to have two parties; one together with her class and one with all of us:-D Last Saturday Evelina took both Kristine and Elisabeth out for a walk in the rain. I think they climbed up to the very hidden (and small) cave up on "Mt.Zion". Since the party was a suprise party, we had to get them away. Cakes, taco, presents and sweets were made ready. People filled the Holt's house....waiting, waiting and waiting. Then, they arrived, wet and with blue faces (not from the cold, but from the blueberries that had eaten). I think we really did suprised her.

This week also seems to be the week of visitng us ;-) Last week John had his parents visiting. Oddmund came for the weekend, yesterday Johnny Norman suddenly showed up. And, John had more visitors, and Anki (some of you will remember her from a DTS here some years ago) stopped by together with her fiancee and her mother. And, later this week Mogens will come here from Denmark. Wow.....I think that was all...but so nice to see people again. If you have not yet planned to come here to see us....well, there are plenty of rooms this autumn as we are not running any schools.

Eintrøa people around in Trøndelag...and planning trip to Sandnes, Kristiansand and Bergen

2008-09-29T14:54:00.005+01:00

We don't only sit here at the base....;-) Almost every weekend Jenny brings one or two of us up to Levanger and to Smelteverket. This last weekend Astrid went up.
Also, Gunn-Mari and Tórálvur went to Klæbu to help out with cooking and washing for the pastors that were gathering for the weekend. They had a good time, but were exhausted afterwards.....so tired that they went down to Trondheim afterwards and sat in a coffeeshop for 2 hours :-D

At the moment we are planning to travel around to some places in Norway. We will soon post some dates here on the blog, so keep checking it....

Staff days at Eintroa

2008-09-23T11:05:00.007+01:00

We have been busy now for 2 weeks, listening and spending time together with Ray and Patty McConnell. They were here for our staff days. The topics were communication, interpersonal relationships, conflict resolution and counselling skills. The 2 weeks went very fast! But we were all challenged! I think that these weeks have been a good foundation for us to work on strenghtening our unity and fellowship. We also had lots of fun and good food.

On Wednesday we ate a nice meal together, and had some great time fellow shipping.

Movie clips from Eintrøa

2008-09-15T11:27:00.008+01:00

Nadja running up the famous
Eintroa stairs!!!

The trees are blocking our view....
so we chop them down ;-)

Evelina washing up.....

Updates

2008-09-12T19:01:00.012+01:00

SBS staff to England

The SBSers, Tórálvur and Gunn-Mari have been in England. They joined in with the staff-training at the King's Lodge together with SBS staff from all over Europe, yes, even from Egypt. Jennifer Cuthbert came over from Canada to challenge us. We spent time looking at reasons behind the schools we are running. Questions like:the importance of observation, how do we teach more inductive, how to assess and evaluate well and so on.

Goodbye Nadja!
Last week was Nadjas last here. She is heading towards Australia in the beginning of October to do a YWAM school, the Introduction to Primary Healty Care (IPHC). There were 2 goodbye parties even!! That is how much she will be missed.

What else?
Well, of course we have worked some as well......and relaxed....had some fun.....below are a selection of photos of us:

Life at Eintroa in pictures [click here]

2008-08-26T10:54:00.012+01:00

After the summer break it is back to business here at Eintroa. After five days at the GoFest in "sunny" Stavern, southern Norway, we spent twelve hours in our antique VW Caravel to get home to our beloved Eintroa.

Since then we have spent our waking hours shining up the base, as well as building our staff unity (= eating, playing games, hanging out etc.).

Below are some pictures from these last three weeks. We intend to update this blog regularly with pictures and stories – so if you want to stay informed about the fascinating events at Eintroa these coming months, please visit our website once in a while! (If you are using an RSS news reader you can subscribe to our blog in order to receive any updates automatically)

What you have missed out on so far:

The official GoFest

The "unofficial" GoFest

Back to "work" at Eintrøa (then we got some Danish workers that we "needed" to entertain...)

Why is only Nadja working?

The "hired" help

"The foreign labour force" working hard to harvest this year's blueberry crop....

"Rest less, work more!"

Olympic berry cleaning

Bible study conclusion: Peter = stubborn man

School of Biblical Studies 2007/2008 finished

2008-07-23T11:36:00.004+01:00

The School of Biblical Studies 2007/2008 has now finished after 9 months of hard and rewarding studies. Below are some pictures of students and staff from each of the 3 terms. The SBS will not run this fall, but on 10 January 2009 we will start SBS term 1 - click here for more information.

Term 1 - September-December 2007

Term 2 - January-March 2008

Term 3 - April-June 2008

Rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem

2008-06-13T14:37:00.007+01:00

The SBS has now returned from the Exile in Babylon, and under the instruction of Nehemiah they have rebuilt the walls around Jerusalem. Gunn-Mari who taught the book provided the students with brick (biscuits) and mortar (chocolate spread) so that they could fortify the city. The exiles in Nehemiah spent 52 days on completing the wall, but our enthusiastic students managed in approximately 52 minutes.

Marianne raising the banners over the wall

Emil is inspecting his section of the wall.

Hari is about to close the doors before the Sabbath (Nehemia 13:19).

Alex is about to put the final bricks on the city tower.

The finished wall!

Old Testament Banquet

2008-06-03T10:11:00.004+01:00

While studying the book of Esther, the SBS decided to arrange an Old Testament Banquet. This was under the inspiration of the many banquets in Esther. We invited the whole base for Wednesday dinner in the SBS classroom, which had been decorated Persian style. The only requirement for people to enter the room: They had to be dressed as an Old Testament figure. There was no lack of creativity! The burning bush showed up, as did Noah's Ark, Balaam's donkey, and also different kings and prophets. It was great to see the effort people put into it, making it a successful evening.

Noah's Ark on the top of Mount Ararat

A crazy prophet

Pharaoh and Abraham

The Burning Bush

Balaam's Donkey

Pharaoh with King Xerxes in the background

Tressa Jones on the SBS

2008-05-14T19:50:00.009+01:00

If you are considering the SBS, I whole-heartedly recommend it! I must confess I was a bit nervous when I first toyed with the idea of doing an SBS. I had heard my share of horror stories about the workload and intensity. While SBS is no-doubt a challenge, it is doable for any person with a willing heart and every bit WORTH it. God rocked my world in so many ways, as I set aside just a few months to dedicate myself wholly to His word. And what a blessing to be ABLE read and study His word full time. After all, if the scriptures are the base of all we do and believe as Christians, ministers, and missionaries it is only right to really know and understand the Bible well.

During my time in the SBS, I grew to not only know and appreciate God in many new ways, but I was also able to more fully "get" those difficult parts of it that you normally just skip over if you don't understand. The course forced me to take God out of the box I had put Him into and see Him more clearly for who He really was to the people in the Bible AND who He is to me. I now have a much fuller understanding of the cultural base, importance, and purpose for each book in the Bible.

On top of that, God spoke every day into my personal life through His word, making each part being studied more relevant to me and my area of ministry. There were many beliefs I maintained vaguely, but through the SBS, I was able to confirm and back up so many of those beliefs. I now feel that I have a great deal more authority in all that I say, teach, and do. The SBS is a vital foundation for any life or ministry. I consider it a powerful tool for a lifetime of serving God to the fullest!

Tressa did the School of Biblical Studies I and II at Eintroa from September 2007 to 2008.

September 2007 DTS

2008-04-19T13:57:00.010+01:00

Back row, from left: Peter (Ghana, staff), John (Denmark, staff), Barbara and Gerben (the Netherlands).
Front row, from left: Evelina (Estonia, staff), Jenny (Norway, staff), Maija (Finland), Sigrid (Norway), Jeremy (USA, staff), and Torgrim (Norway).
Across: Verners (Latvia, school leader).

On 14 March 2008 we had the honor of graduating 5 students from the September DTS here at Eintroa. Below DTS-staffer Jeremy gives us a report from this school.

Lecture phase
If you think the Discipleship Training School is just a 6 month Bible school, you're mistaken! For the first time in most Discipleship Training Students’ lives, they are studying, working, eating, and living alongside of people from all over the world. Yes, you will indeed study the Bible, but it is not just through mental study that God will mold you.

During this past DTS lecture phase, we spent 2 weeks on an island, a few hours away from Eintrøa. There we helped a local church with some of their after school activities. One of things we learned is to work together more as a team, to honor and really hear what the other team members have to contribute, as each one contributed in a unique way!

Another week that stands out is the week on "The Fear of the Lord". Most of the students had never heard a teaching on that. Most churches tend to just focus on the intimate part of God. But what we tend to not stress so much is that God is holy, and that he can’t abide with sin. Because of this, God can only be intimate with us because of what Jesus did. A simply point, yet one that tends to be overlooked and this was quite the topic of conversation for a couple weeks.

Outreach phase
So you think you know the people you've been with for the past 3 months, eh? Well, the outreach to Brazil was a perfect opportunity to get to know them even more.

For this past DTS, we stayed in a house that the local YWAM-base owned, near the city center of Recife, Brazil. This house is used a few times a year to run a 2 week trial period for boys who live on the street but who would like to start a new life. If they successfully complete this trial period, they then go to the main YWAM base in Recife.

The time we were there, they weren't running one of the trial periods so we got to live there. The guys lived in a room upstairs while the ladies lived in a room downstairs. About twice a week, we had worship and prayer together in the mornings, which was followed by Portuguese lessons or a trip to a local ministry project in a local slum. In the afternoons, we visited other ministry projects scattered throughout Recife, or played and did basic medical care for street children. When we had time off, we ate lots of ice cream! Yummy. :-/

Sometimes it was tough. 11 people, all different ages and backgrounds created quite some interesting moments! Just the way different people brush their teeth, or spread jam on their bread can be an eye opener. People are indeed different! Yes, we all know that on one level, but a DTS outreach can reinforce that even more. God uses this special "time in a bubble" to mold you. It's like fast forward. What might take 2 or 3 years to do when just living a "regular" life, can take place in just 3 months during your DTS outreach!

The next DTS will start on 19 September 2008. If you're interested in knowing more, then click here

Third term of the SBS under way

2008-04-16T22:04:00.003+01:00

The School of Biblical Studies here at Eintroa has entered its third and final term, during which our four hardworking students will mainly study the Old Testament prophets.

Time is going quickly and almost before we know it the SBS 2007-2008 will be over and the class will have graduated. At the end of June they will be able to boast that they have studied the whole Bible.

The next SBS will start in September, and if you are interested in taking part in this, then now is the time to apply. If you don't have the opportunity to do the full 9 months, it is also possible to do only the first 3 months (with the option of continuing later). If you would like to know more, then click here.

We are looking for more staff for the next school, so if you have done an SBS and would like to be part of establishing the SBS here at Eintroa, then get in touch. This is a brilliant way to be part of teaching people to study God's Word, while at the same time providing you with the opportunity to mature in your own Bible studying and teaching.

"Snake"-bread on Mount Zion

2008-04-16T21:52:00.003+01:00

Now that the evenings are getting warmer, the SBS-class last Tuesday evening went up to the hill above Eintroa, which we usually refer to as Mount Zion. There we made a nice fire so that we could bake bread on sticks - which some of the students called snakebreads. Here are some pictures from this nice trip.

Hanna, Kristine, Hari, Toralvur and Emil - patiently waiting for the breads to be done

Alex getting more wood for the fire

It can get a bit chilly when the sun has gone down, so Hari is warming his hands over the fire

Farewell winter

2008-03-14T14:47:00.005+01:00

The days here at Eintroa are getting longer and lighter, the trees are budding, and the snow is slowly melting away. This has made us conclude and hope that winter is over and spring has arrived.

Even though we this year have had a relatively mild winter at Eintroa, there has been some snow - giving the snow lovers the opportunity to play in it. Here are a couple of short video clips showing SBS staffer Kristine and her Finnish friend Saana sledging in the white hills above the base.

SBS term 2 - Open Weeks

2008-01-18T14:29:00.000+01:00

The second term of the School of Bible Studies started on 7 January so the students have already been working for almost 2 weeks. They have just finished studying the last books of the New Testament (except Revelation which is at the end of the school).

Next week they are starting with the Old Testament, and we would like to invite you to join us for one of our open weeks – during which you can enjoy a week of teaching and also get an introduction to the inductive study method.

Below is a list of the open weeks, which we are offering this term:

23-25 January: Genesis with Henrik Strømberg
(teaching starts on Wednesday afternoon)
11-15 February: Leviticus with Jokim Schnoebbe
25-29 February: Deuteronomy with Julian Spriggs

If you are interested in joining us, please contact us for more details. If none of these weeks fit into your schedule, feel free to ask about other dates.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-24T14:04:00.000+01:00

This is the time of the year when the hearts of most poeple grow soft and when care is important. We all want to be good and show love to one another. It is a great time!

It is the time when we can remember the great gift of God to His creation - Jesus. We remember how He showed ultimate goodness to us all.

May God bless you this season and the new year that is just ahead of us. Remember Gods goodness and love as we also strive to reach out to one another to show the same.

From all of us at Eintrøa

SBS 2007/2008

2007-11-20T00:54:00.000+01:00

The first term of the SBS 2007/2008 here at Eintrøa has recently passed the halfway stage.

Our eight students from five different nations arrived here in the middle of September, all having the goal of studying the Bible to get to know God better. Despite different backgrounds and nationalities, they have all gotten to know each other quite well, and both students and staff are having a lot of fun together.

SBS 2007/2008 staff and students
Top row (from left to right): Alex (Germany), Kristine (Norway, staff), Hanna (Sweden)
Middle row: Enneke (the Netherlands), Sonia (USA), Hari (India), Øystein (Norway), Tórálvur (Faroe Islands, staff)
Bottom row: Gunn-Mari (Norway, school leader), Tressa (USA), Emil (Norway)

In the first term the students are studying most of the New Testament, in the second and third term they will turn their main focus onto the Old Testament. After having completed the 9 months, they will have studied the whole Bible, and in the process will have read through each book around 5 times.

The second term starts on 7 January 2008, and if you already have completed the first term (SBS 1) or the BCC/SBScc, and think that the time is ripe to continue with your Bible studies, feel free to contact us for information and application forms.

Also if you are interested in joining us for some days of teaching, feel free to contact us for details and dates on open weeks. This is a good way to get an introduction to the inductive study method, while you at the same time will get solid teaching on one of the books in the Bible. This could also be a way to see whether you would like to join us for the next SBS, which will start in September 2008.

Prayer for Burma

2007-10-07T07:36:00.000+01:00

Wedensday October 3. was a day of prayer and fasting at the base for Burma and the situation the country is in.

It is a privilege to turn to a God who care for the oppressed and hear the cries of the poor. So intercession was made for the people of Burma, the leaders both political and religious, for the Christians who have not been free to worship before this. Prayes were also made for the missionaries who now have to choose to stay on their own risk or to leave the country not knowing when they may return. The country is in great need both for prayer support but also people who can serve the people. Our prayer is that one day it will be possible to send people to help rebuild a nation which have not been under a Biblical rule for decades and see the principles of God established in the nation.

God have a plan for your life...

2007-08-06T13:30:00.000+01:00

Still spaces for a few, but time is running out!
Most Christians know that God have a plan for their life. We are commited to help you see your calling and get into the plan God have for your life. Through the Discipleship Training School (DTS) you get training and oportunities to try out the principles of the Bible. You can test your giftings in a safe invironment and get to know God the kingdom of God i a new or deeper way.

For those who have done a DTS, the School of Biblical Studies (SBS) is a good next step. By diving in to the Bible to gain understanding, seeing the schripture in its context give a much greater understanding of the saving plan of God.

Through these schools we aim to help the Christian to get a deeper relationship with God.

For further reading check out our website at www.eintroa.no. For School of Biblical Christian Worldvew (SBCW) see the schools own pages. (start April 2008)

Mini DTS on outreach to Germany

2007-07-19T22:48:00.000+01:00

After 10 days at Eintrøa in Norway it was time for the gang to fly down to Germany. The purpose of the stay in Norway have been to get to know each other, know God and do things together.

I Germany they will join in with German youth to reach out to local people on the streets, in churches and so on.

Soon we will post pictures from the trip.

Mini DTS

2007-06-08T09:18:00.000+01:00

Hurru up if you want to be a part of this summers Mini DTS.

It is only room for 3 more participants!!

6 adventurers in India!

2007-04-25T13:58:00.000+01:00

The MDTS has been in India for close to one month. They have been having a wonderful time learning about the Indian culture and contributing to many areas. So far they have worked with an AIDS ministry and have led meetings for children, youth, and church services in various villages. The team has been visiting an old people's home and working with a variety of people groups and classes just as they hoped. One student, Silje, said this about her times visiting children in the slums, " The children are very contact-seeking, and in spite of their poverty, they are really full of joy and energy... :) " They have also endured a share of challenges, but have often remarked about the Lord's sufficient mercy and grace! Thank you for praying for this team and for all the beautiful Indians they are loving each day. They are excited to travel to the Himalayas next week and will spend 10 days trekking while praying for and learning about unreached people groups. Please join with us in prayer for the team and the ones they are praying for! The Kingdom of God is being spread a little more in India and we give God all the glory for this! Psalm 115: 1

Men in action

2007-03-19T07:57:00.000+01:00

The last weekend more than 25 men met for a mans weekend, to encourage eachother and and to meet for fellowship. In the beautiful surroundings of the base it was plenty of oportunity for quiet meditation and involved talks.

The 3 teachers of the weekend delivered messages on the mans place in the family, the church and in society. It was also an encouragement to not hide ones faith in the privat compartments of life, but to be a Christian man at home, in church and in society.

A faith that can stand

2007-03-05T21:31:00.000+01:00

A faith that can stand. Stand in the preassure of science, the preassure of populistic media, the preassure of politics and entertainment.

Many conclude that the best cure is to avoid mixing the faith with whatever seems so threatning, and take their holy faiht into the protective framework of the church. There we meet little resistance to our belief. Still Jesus call us to influence!! Influence the world that so shamelessly accuse and challenges the basis of all Christian understanding.

Science is not evil, politics are not bad, media is not only for the propaganda of the liars - It was founded on Christian values. Science saw its beginning with people who wanted to explore the wonders of Gods creation. The main idea of western society - rightousness and care for the weak, came from the Bible.

The corruprion that since have happened is partly due to the idea that faith belongs to the private sphere, and the church, not where people are - this idea have even been spread by the Christian leaders. Now, however have time come to reclaim the historical roots of Biblically founded values for life and fellowship.

A place in the sun

2007-03-03T08:09:00.000+01:00

Welcome to YWAM Central Norway!!!

We have been training people since 1973 through Discipleship Training Schools (DTS). After becoming a part of the University of the Nations in 1991 we have added more schools.

Training can be compared to a place in the sun. In an environment of learning, where students, tutors and staff live and learn together in and outside of class, we all grow and develop.

Believing that the Bible have a standard we can live by, and looking at what it mean to make God Lord by study of His character make the foundation of all the training on the base.

Come join a community of people who want to know God and make Him known - Theory and application hand in hand.