Well, yesterday ended up being a 'slight' bit busier than I had anticipated, which is what led to the absence of yet another day's entry. This is going to have to be a long entry if I'm going to try and cover the events of the past few days before they fade out of my memory (assuming I have enough time today to cover everything I need to), so sit down and hang on tight... we're traveling a few days back in time.

Friday "officially" kicked off the International Discipleship Camp week here at Skjolden, as our mono-national group of Americans (and fairly non-diverse at that: all white, almost all from Colorado) was joined by people from Norway, Latvia, and the U.K. We've had eight more people in all join us, so the hostel is approaching max capacity. Some people had to leave on Sunday and Monday because of work commitments, while others are still filtering in (the group from Belarus is expected sometime on Tuesday). So far the roster looks like Marita, Monica and Olav from Norway; Max, Volva and Inna from Latvia; and Steve, Debs, Gill, Adam and Jane from the U.K. (one more, Lydia, won't be arriving until next week), plus our large American contingent.

Adam S. (from Colorado, to differentiate him from Adam C, from the U.K.) and I chopped down a tree just up the river on Friday afternoon before everyone started showing up. The person who owns the piece of land upriver from Elvheim wants to clear it off, so he's letting us take whatever we want for wood - you cut it, you can have it. Adam has a dream of making a wood table out of hewn and stripped logs, so he picked out a tall, straight tree that will hopefully fit the bill for the project. It ended up being a major task - the chainsaw he was borrowing from Edvin broke (the pull-cord snapped right off), so we switched to the tried-and-true, old fashioned method: an ax. The tree was a tough old son-of-a-birch, though, so it took an extensive amount of chopping (with a dull and loose-headed ax, no less) before we got the tree to start to fall... and immediately it got caught in another tree. We ended up chopping through the entire tree before we got it to finally fall. Hard work? Definitely. But the satisfaction in exercising my dominion over nature was worth every drop of sweat, sore muscle, and blistered palm.

Doing some good man-work with another guy (or guys) is always good for the soul. There's been times where I've felt like I've had trouble really connecting with Adam - it has nothing to do with anything he's done or said, but the fact of the matter is that, although we're fairly close in age, our lives and backgrounds are fairly different: he's in professional ministry, i'm a "retired" hobo/nomad; he's married, I'm not; Midwest, Northeast; people tend to go to him for answers, while I try to inspire people to ask questions; he's a leader, i'm more of a "herder" (whatever that means... i just made it up); and multiple other differences in taste, style, and methods. That being said... he's a brother in the Lord and a student of the Word, a great leader, and it's been really good to get to know him better, learn from someone who's wiser and more experienced, and of course do some quality man-work together when the occasion arises. I strongly believe that working together with other Christians (a.k.a. "service projects") builds a sense of community and fosters true fellowship better than almost anything else.

Friday evening we shared a meal with those who had just arrived, and Darrell led us in a discussion afterwards about what it means to abide in Christ. We also managed to get in a game of football (note: soccer = football overseas, so that's what I call it) in the afternoon. My friend Jan (pronounced "yon") was the only to make it from Skjolden, but it was good to see him again - I've been praying for him and a few other guys all this past year, so it's been good to be able to quickly re-connect and strike up conversations anew with him. Later that evening a few of us headed over to the fjordstava (sort of like a community center) to catch the second half of a Euro Cup game. Jan had arranged for us to watch it on the big screen over there and to be able to stay past the "official" closing time. Adam S. decided earlier in the trip that since he was going to be in Europe during the Euro Cup, he should at least try and follow the tournament and get excited about it, which was such a brilliant idea that most of us have latched onto it. Croatia was the team I picked to root for, so I was quite excited when they took a 1-0 lead around the 86th minute... only to see Turkey score as time was expiring and then win on penalty kicks. Crushing. Fortunately, being a sports fan from the Boston area, I'm used to heartbreak, so I managed to sleep that night (unlike that night in October of 2003 when I walked the streets of Cedarville for hours, muttering to myself "Aaron Bleeping Boone... ah gosh... I hate life...").

Saturday we spent some time studying and discussing in small groups the idea of making Christ the center of our lives. Part of the question is, do we trust Him? Really, truly, absolutely? Do I fully believe that God has my best in mind as He orchestrates my life? Would god be so calloused as to sacrifice someone for the greater good of the Kingdom? Tough questions. I think, if I were to be brutally honest, I would have to admit that I probably believe that God is trustworthy, that He has both mine and the Kingdom's best interests at heart and can realize both simultaneously... but I'm not sure that I fully "know" it yet. There still seem to be too many inconsistencies between what I believe and what i see to let me mind relax and fully grasp the concept. Maybe I could say that I believe, but that I probably don't fully trust... yet.

Anyways, on Saturday afternoon everyone went on a hike up to Osen - a few stopped and turned around at the waterfall, while everyone else powered on up to the lake. Cody almost realized his dream of catching a sheep on the way up - there were a couple of sheep hanging out in a cave right beside the trail that looked prime for catching, but they managed to elude his grasp and started careening down the mountain... but not before they led Cody right through a ginormous patch of fireweed. Ouch. Sort of a double-whammy... didn't catch the sheep, and his arms burnt like crazy from getting fireweed on them.

Karlis and Jan came along on the hike, and it was great to have a chance to talk to them some more and try to connect on a different and deeper level. We stayed pretty close on the way up, but they ended up hiking down with some of the other guys, and I heard later that Adam S. and Cody had an awesome chance to really clearly share some of the Gospel with them. I must admit, I had some mixed emotions when I heard that... the first was "Glory, hallelujah!", but my next thought was "Gee, how come I didn't get that opportunity? I've been praying for them, investing in our relationship the entire time I've been here, last year and this, and hoping for a chance to share the Word with them, and someone else gets that opportunity?" I know, real mature. But I really did struggle with feelings of jealousy and uselessness for a while until God moved my mind to an even scarier thought - would I have shared the Word on the walk down, or would I have sacrificed the importance of the Gospel for the sake of maintaining a relationship? Or, to put it more bluntly, do I care more about someone's relationship with me or their relationship with God? Yikes... talk about super-convicting. Whatever the case, I think that God worked everything out in His best interest - putting people at the right place at the right time. I need to learn to be satisfied with my role, while still seeking to discover what it truly is.

I decided to walk back from Osen instead of piling into one of the cars - I needed some alone time (which I'm sure all good introverted homeschoolers can appreciate) and a chance to think some things out. The only catch was that someone else decided last second to join me on the walk back. I struggled to not be totally snobbish and purposefully anti-social, because I was slightly peeved that "my" time was being imposed on. All things considered, it ended up being a good chance to get to know someone better, which hopefully was only slightly spoiled my originally rotten attitude. I was counting on getting some down time on Sunday afternoon, but that ended up getting postponed due to good weather - when it's nice and sunny in Norway, it's time to drop everything and hike. So Joshua, the Adams, Cody and I biked part of the way while Olav, Monica, and Max shuttled the rest of the gang (us included) to the trailhead in their vehicles. We hiked up Molden, which is a 1100m mountain that stands at the beginning of the arm of the fjord which Skjolden sits at the end of. It was a fairly reasonable climb, and there were some utterly fantastic views along the way and once we reached the top. Cody and I tried our hand at sheep-catching again,but alas, no success... I got my hands on a sheep, but it proved too fast, strong, and fearless for me to hang on to. Next time...

I was pretty knackered by the end of the hike, but managed to muster enough internal fortitude to head out for a game of football we had planned with some of the local guys once we got back. I had to do a little arm-twisting and persuading to get anyone to join me, but we managed to get a good rousing game of 5 on 5 going eventually. I'll never be mistaken for a proper footballer, but I am getting to be slightly less awkwardly horrific out on the field. I busted my lip up pretty good when I caught a ball right in my face, but it served to make me look way more hardcore than I really am so I couldn't really complain.

Today has turned into the relaxing day I'd been hoping for. I skipped a trip to visit the stave church at Ornes - it's a sweet place, but I went there last year and needed to do some catching up on journaling (obviously) and resting. Plus, I needed some extended me-time. So, it's been a laid-back afternoon, which is just what I needed. I missed my Sabbath yesterday, so it feels good to be able to have one today instead. I'm realizing that I need to make journaling a higher daily priority so that I can do a better job of covering the events and my thoughts when they're fresh instead of trying to recall and recreate them a few days down the road. Plus, it makes for a lot of writing all at once. Now, though, I need to get going and do a little bit of tidying up before everyone else gets back.