La Sonya

*this is a blog on my thoughts and present feelings. Stories from Germany will come later.* Tonight I am sitting here by the fire. My tummy is full of heart shaped waffles, homemade apple sauce and blackberry jam and I have walked from Oma and Opa's house to Alexa's parents house in the snow. My heart is full. I stood on the driveway in the dark and looked up to God in the snowy heavens and smiled up at him. I know I am a perpetual optimist but how could I not be? I realized tonight that I have been living in Europe for the last several months, I am vacationing in Germany and I am doing things I have always wanted to do. It is snowing and while I am warm and full I can not think of scary or troublesome things. So I let my mind wander and it passes by the usual landmarks; where will I work in the future, will I be able to go back to camp, if I do what will it be like? Will I always wander about like a gypsy? These things didn't bother me as usual. I didn't find any conc

Where I am sleeping these nights was once way off limits to me as an American. I’m not talking pay money for a visa, I’m talking cross that line and get shot, off limits. Also I’m not talking centries ago, decades ago, I’m alking since I was a child. I am talking 20 years ago, East Germany. The history of this place is so recent, these families here were at once time restricted from so many things. They couldn’t have nice things, buy new items, eat whatever they wanted. Can you imagine that? Yet it was so real. I think I would have been there when the wall fell, I would have been shouting for freedom for the East Germans, if I had been more than 6 years old. Makes me wonder what injustices are going on today that I should fight for. Arriving in Berlin was great. We walked around for about an hour until our train came to take us home. The snow was gently falling on Germany’s capital as we walked. Just a little over a month ago some of the worlds greatest leaders were standing in the s

What is faster than a speeding bullet, Happier than a puppy and More content than a partridge in a pear tree? Sonya driving on the real live German autobahn!! Alexa arranged for her friend Patrick to pick me up from the airport Weeze—great name :D We had to take the autobahn to get to the train station. . . he totally offered to let me drive. I was so scared at 100 kmp but he told me I was to slow . . . so I picked up the pace and went to 160 kmp, yet he said I should go even faster! So 180 kmp. Kazam, so fast! Like a lightning bolt. Mario Andretti and Jeff Gordon couldn’t keep up with me. Then once we were at the train station we passed . . . drum roll please . . . a starbucks!! I had just been thinking about that place :o) Patrick bought me a hot chocolate with ginger bread flavoring, yummy. Ahh, what a great start to my holiday. Thank you Jesus for adventure and keeping me safe. Beilfield here I come! I am so excited to see Alexa. I have dreamed of visiting her since we lived togeth

favorite things from Scandinavia tour *no particular order Spanish Ferry Sauna IKEA Contact with new friends around the world Laughing with Ben Food Helsinki/Turku Home Trains

Never thought I would be so excited to see Norway and hear Norwegian. The train trip back home has been long and . . . well long. You se I've had a dream of going to the WORLDS FIRST IKEA since I was first in Scandinavia. To go to Älmhult, Sweden was a dream. When I found out I was doing a recruiting trip through Scandinavia and had one extra day on my ticket I knew where I would use it. So early monday morning we started our pilgrimage to Älmhult. It was magical. I was inspired, impassioned and invredibly exausted :O) A dream come true for me. It really is quite an IKEA town -- hotel, resturant, the store and conference center/offices. It's a cute town. Reminded me of Mayberry. At the train station we asked the ticket lady for help (after we picked up our stuff that they watched behind the counter for free) to plan our return journey with the hopes of not having to get a hotel for the night. So instead we got a night train and this is what it was: (current time almost 4 pm)

We met up with the Bolivian pastor, Pastor Edwin Soto and he graciously opened up his house to us in teh center or Stockholm, just 7 minuets walk from the train station. The Swedish Conference of SDA's own a building that houses three churches, Finish, Swedish and Spanish. It also includes the Soto's apt, offices for the church, Conference offices, la voz de esperanza and other type things, a second hand store and I'm sure other things that I don't know about. I would compare Stockholm to NYC in diversity of people and business, only Stockholm shuts down earlier in the evening. The Soto family was great. They all treated Ben and I like we were family. THey not only opened up their small apartment to us but a Brazilian friend who was getting baptized with his twin, his brother stayed elsewhere for the weekend. As far as Spanish goes I hadn't spoken that much in at least two years. Perhspas since I lived in New Jersey with Maria's family that summer I did my inter

So much always goes on on these misadventures of mine. . . My agent was from Turku met up with Ben, without checking email that told date and time. Thankfully GOd had me stay at the strain station and Ben arrived! We played in Turku all day doing many things, shopping at a second hand store, playing at the apple store, visiting a church over 250 years old, exploring an old village museum with houses set up from back in the day, hanging out at a cafe bar on the street, drinking lots of OJ, being told we are wonderful people by a random Finish guy, wondering the streets, sitting inside a warm theater with free toilets and eating mandarins from an outdoor market. That night Lisa, the principal from Touivallina picked us up and took us to the school. Wow, Fins are so open hearted and hospitable. They might as a whold be shy , quite people but they treat you well and are kind people. It was fun to be back at a high school. I gave the am and pm worships and talked at two english classes with

Wowzers. I am in FInland! How did that happen? It is one of those places you just never really dream of going. At least I never did! I am at the high school here called Toivolinna. They are 30 min outside of Abo, Turku if you are going towards Helsinki. Helsinki is on the agenda for tomorrow. Check out the school at http://www.toivonlinna.fi/. I arrived in Turku yesterday and by God's grace found Ben without using internet or cell phones! So old fashioned :) We puttered around Turku. Found some cool thrift store and an old church. We then arrived here at the school last night. It's been a day filled with students, worships, english class and excitement. I'm off to put out some EBS fliers and then off to a sauna with a new friend.

I've definitely slept better nights. I'm in a room with three other girls here on the ferry. There was a disco above me (I bought the cheeper ticket) but I did not know about the sad group of Finnish or Swedish youth who would choose to stay up all night sitting outside my door drinking their tax free beer. Down side to the ferry. Youth who drink to much.

Sweet action! It's a piano bar (actually it is more a jazz band stuck in what is kinda like a hallway with a bar off on the other room). They are playing some sweet jazz with a snare drum, upright bass, trombone, piano and singer. It's kinda like they are in the hallway of the boat, but I would rather pretend it's my living room. There is the sweetest old couple up dancing. Really it's like they are dancing in the hallway. I feel as though I'm an intruding on their special time. I hope to travel on a ferry with my husband and be white haired and dance the night away like young lovers dancing the night away. I should tell you before I forget . . . I sang karaoke in Stockholm Center (Stockholm's version of Grand Central Station). I sang ABBA's Mamma Mia, it was some sort of promo for Play-station and things. It was fun. Here I go again. . . my my.

*these are in no particular order. Rachel V Andrea Mom Christopher Dad Pa new friends snow skype IKEA trains sledding scarves coats camp wawona hope thanksgiving feast packages nature space (outer space) books Bible encouragement visitors baking apples spanish french tchad missions knitting wildlife bears/bjorn lions/love swedish hot dog loaf fires candles wooden homes scandinavia norway cottages duvets hotties love encouraging books CS Lewis stick shift charcoal garlic tea hot chocolate dysfunctional pink tea pots popcorn music hiking cultures warm homes potluck kitchens cookbooks internet mail God's unconditional love memories lamps sheep cows with bells walking through forests Fangekasa inspiration motivations boys green purple Advent Christmas tights traditions change constant farms fall good smells Bessaggen Adventure future yosemite campers moose Mowgli Honduras Norway kindred spirits Estonian friends garden friends trees beauty time heaven Christ me

In the start of November Maggi Harrel asked me if I could coordinate Thanksgiving day for the group of Americans. At first it was easy I just told people what to bring and to go to Gabriela's house, that is until last week when we realized Gabriela couldn't host it because her kids had the Christmas concert to go to. I then volunteered Gronvold because I had the space. So that's how I got to host my first Thanksgiving day feast. I was a bit worried on Thursday and Friday but it all melted away. I cleaned up the house and put out my Christmas decorations. Sunday I woke up ready for the festivities to begin. People were set to start arriving at 12 to eat around 1pm. I had to make an apple pie and mash potatoes. (I signed up for mash potatoes because that is my brothers favorite part and I though I should make them in honor of him, although I am sure they didn't taste the same because I didn't have the same ingredients). Everything went great. We had 12 people and 1 ba

What a start to my trip through Scandinavia! Just getting up at 4:40am is a big ordeal. Then getting up to my world blanketed in snow! Ivo drove me down to Hokksund train station and I missed my train by minutes, but there was still time to make the train from Oslo to Stockholm. Just 6 minutes. In those 6 minutes I had to get my EuRail ticket stamped and find my train. Of course I always panic and can't decide if I am no the right train or not. Realizing I was just before my exit I lug my suitcase to the door to make my dash for it. I get in line to get my ticket stamped after speed walking past everyone, get my ticket validated and turn to look for the track with my train just as I hear over the loud speaker in english ''last call for Stockholm'' Ekk! Quick which one is track 6! Following behind an equally late man, we push through the stream of people going the opposite direction and make our way to the train. I literally got on seconds before they rolled out! Ame

Just so you know I am going to be posting my Thanksgiving adventures. Stories from all three meals and pictures/video too. I will also be posting my adventures from Finland, Sweden and the mother IKEA store. . . . Just not today. I am tired from all the festivities today and have to get up at 5 am to make my train to Oslo, Norway that takes me by train to Stockholm, Sweden that takes me by ferry to Turku, Finland by Tuesday morning. So I am off to bed to sleep what few hours I have left. Many blessings to you on your Sunday night. Ps It's snowing, why does it always snow when I am leaving?

So the other day I was thinking, "Five years ago had God told me where I would be doing right now I would have not believed Him." Really if God had come and sat down next to me while in the Destiny Drama Company bus on tour and begun to tell me that in five years I would be driving a stick shift, big, red bus/van down a dark Norwegian road with a charcoal poultice on my infected ear and my, then new friend, Ben from DDC, to pick up a Bulgarian named Tzveta, at the train station. I believe I would have laughed and said thanks for the funny story. But to have believed it, no way. Let us rewind my life tape and see where I was five years ago. I was back from Honduras as an SM, going through the reentry shock of America and University life again. I had finally been accepted into the touring theater group Destiny Drama Company, after two years of rejection. I was on fire for life, spanish, student missionaries and God. I had a minimum of two years left in University before any lif

Well today the majority of the students have been gone from the school leaving me and just a very tiny group of working students and green house workers to run the place. I must be honest I wasn't very excited about being left behind while everyone else went to an faraway land to do mission work. Especially because one group was going to Honduras, the very first place I lived outside of America. I would have LOVED to visit my old home at El Hogar de Ninos. But alas I was left here to 'run' things. After I saw the light of all the fun, Kaisa, Tiina and I could have I began to get excited. So now after a week I would love to tell you about our tales. All week I worked doing things from cataloging library books, covering new books, planning my recruiting trip through Scandinavia, cooking in the kitchen, taking the trash out and cleaning Solhoug down the hill. The days have been diverse enough and I have been able to listen to great music and books on tape. (a side note about t

In vespers a few weeks ago we sang most all of Fannie Crosby’s hymns. She has written several personal favorites. As we were singing I remember one part standing out to me more than the other songs. It was “I sing because I can not be silent.” How beautiful is that!? Sometimes I find myself singing songs out loud. For example at camp this last summer I found myself singing “It’s a beautiful day and I thank God for __________” How wonderful it was to find myself walking around with that song bursting forth, not worrying about who will hear me, how I sound but just singing with all my heart simply because I can not be silent. The rest of those words are just as profound, as you read the words think about what they are saying. Are they true for you? Do you love to proclaim it? When was the last time you found yourself singing out loud because you were in love with your boyfriend/girlfriend or spouse? If you have, think about when was the last time you sang because you were so in love with

While living in Tchad we, the SMs, used to dream of the Embassy as we drove past it in the Capital. We would imagine that inside there was air-conditioning, plush couches, fountains flowing with CocaCola, AW rootbeer, and cream soda and bowls filled with MnM’s and soo much more. We visualized something of a cross between Disney World and the Marriot. After all when you are in the American embassy you are on American soil we are compatriots lost in a foreign country, we deserve to see something of our homeland. Nevertheless, we never went in, not even when there was a Coup on the capital and all that danger. Having never seen inside we just let our imagination believe what we wanted. February 2001 I received my first passport. I was 16 years old and heading to Costa Rica for my first time out of the country. My picture was bad but the stamps I have received over the last d10 years are cool. I’ve got stamps from Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, United States of America, Tchad, Camaroon, I

I applied for my first visa in August. I was still living and working at Camp Wawona when that went on. It was quite the ordeal. It was hard to get into town and I ended up sending the paperwork overnight to my dad so he could get my money out of my bank and send it to the embassy. It was a close call. I came to Norway with the expectation that I would only have to pay the ‘club dues’ only once. I finally received my visa papers and went in to the Police to get it officially put in my passport. It took me at least four visits to finally go when the office was open. (they are only open one day a week and then they were having meetings so they opened on another day. . . government offices) Finally they put in my visa and noticed that the expiratory date was for December 24 due to the fact that my passport was expiring in February 2010. The nice lady at the Police told me that I shouldn’t have to renew my visa or pay for it. . . at least that’s what I understood her to say. After visiting

I'm trying to sleep but I can’t seem to find it. My mind just keeps running instead. Perhaps I’ve just got to much on my mind. I’ve been thinking lots about my future and what I’ll be doing in five years. I’ve got dreams. My waking dreams entail many things. I’m not trying to be picky with God, I’ll go where ever He sends me but I just have things I would like in my life. I would like a home or a flat. A place to call my own. A place where friends can come over and veg on my couch, or students can come and feel as if they were at home. A place that people can come to and feel safe and welcome. I would like a job that challenges me. Something that keeps me thinking on new ways to do something. I want a job that keeps me busy and active. No desk for me please. I want to be challenged to get people motivated, inspired, empowered and to find new ways to show them that they are not alone. I want a job that offers me freedom to think, plan, create and explore. I want to try new ideas t

Dear creators of Skype, I can’t thank you enough for creating free video conferencing. It has helped me survive these last few months here at my new home in Norway. I can call family and friends and share a few words and looks. It’s amazing what a few faces can do to help lift moods. I have been able to eat supper/lunch/breakfast with people in California, Tennessee and Texas. I have been able to see every bite of a luscious looking corn on the cob, watch my friend cook her loaf in the microwave and sip tea with my kindred spirits thousands of miles away. Using Skype has helped me to bridge the gap of too many miles. Most recently I have been blessed with the opportunity to worship with my old friends in California as they had their morning staff worship. I was able to listen to their prayer requests and then take them to our Heavenly Father in prayer. How amazing is that? I was able to feel like I was sitting right along side Derek as he gave the worship thought. I was able to ask Rya

I love making hot tea; I love drinking it, serving it, the while process. I am also old fashioned and dislike greatly microwaving or electric hot water makers. I prefer to do it the same way my grandmother did it (at least I assume the way she made it), on the stove in a teapot. That was one of the exciting things about having my own kitchen was that I could use my stove to make tea when people come over or when I want to sip apple cider before bed. My flat here in Norway came furnished with lots of things, including a mini cheap teapot, that doesn’t have a whistle hole. I was using it all the time and once when I had a lot of people over we had to refill the little guy lots. Then one day when I was cleaning it out because it had smelt a little funny I noticed something on the bottom on the inside. On closer inspection I saw it was three tiny rust holes! Gross, I had been drinking nasty water. It’s a wonder I didn’t die or something. So on the shelf my teapot went to never be used agai

This is me drinking the "Pesto-Lemon Head" tea concoction that is supposed to kill anything bad in your body. It's nature's way of weeding out the virus. Here's to health and happiness.

I had hight hopes of posting a lot of blogs this weekend. Unfortunately i don't seem to have much energy to do that seeing as how I've come down with what feels like the bubonic plague (don't worry it isn't actually). I don't understand how I could go all of last year working at GCA without getting sick once and now I've been sick twice in the last 5 months. The same things wrong, head ache, neck ache, clogged head, sore body, no energy. Maybe it's my tonsils? Whatever it is I am not happy with it. Last night Tzveta gave me a Russian Steam treatment. I sat on a wooden chair wrapped in a sheet. There were wool blankets all around me that I was tightly wrapped in. I had my feet in a bucket of hot water with a cool cloth on my head. The most intense part of all was the pot of steam underneath me making me sweat. It lasted for about 3o min then Tzveta rubbed my hands and arms with the cool cloth and I had to rest for 30 min before I could get up. I am not sure i

I need to go to bed but I must write this first. I've been reminded of my life back in Africa. The power has gone out and I am writing now to you by light of my lantern [on paper]. Perhaps I am a true romantic at heart or a pioneer spirit but I love this. I often wish it was always like this. This is my true love. Rustic. Simple. No frills. Just me, the lantern and . . . the lights just came back on. . . boo.

Garage and leaves Originally uploaded by dreams with faith So the other day I went for a photo hunt with my friend Joar. He's a great nature photographer so I went to learn a few things and be inspired. These pictures are what came from it. I hope you enjoy them and the colours they offer, because now all those vine leaves are gone and I miss them terribly. Love from Skotselv, La Sonya

So I’ve always been one to not be afraid of dressing in what makes me happy. If I want to wear bold colours I do, if I want to dress in tights the colour of purple flowers, I do. In fact once in high school I had a sweater that I loved to wear, it was bright yellow and as my best friend put it, it was the colour of playdoh. I decided long ago that it’s okay to dress in my own fashion. Sure sometimes I stand out and feel a bit funny but for the most part I enjoy what I wear. I enjoy adding different styles from people, cultures and other inspirations. I was recently at a fair here in Norway. Something similar to the State Fair of Texas, booths, food, culture, machineary, hand crafts. It was a lot of fun. Erin and I wandered through the stalls looking at everything from homemade knives to Peruvian llama hats. But the best part of this fair was when we were waiting for Bjorn Age (her husband) and Bjorn Aron to finish their rides in the fairway. Oh, the style tips I was able to get! It’s

For Pete’s sake, October 3, 2009. I can’t believe it’s snowing. I am sitting in my flat listening to a sermons as I eat my breakfast and I look out the window to see something floating around outside. What is that? Great, snow. If it is snowing today only the third day in October, what am I going to do after just one month!! Now it’s coming down more obviously, not so much a mini flutter but more of a salt shaker falling. Happy Sabbath. I’m excited about snow, but I’m just a bit fearful, although I will like the idea of sitting next to my wood stove enjoying the warmth while I look outside at the snow. But really? October 3? My mom is going to the state fair of Texas on Monday. It’s still in the 80’s Fahrenheit /high 20’s Celsius in Texas. Here I woke up yesterday and it was -3 Celsius/26 Fahrenheit. Of all the crazy things. Snow. In case you were wondering, it’s still snowing outside. Things are beginning to turn white. And I know those of you from the north, west and everywhere else

Norwegian mushrooms Originally uploaded by dreams with faith This mushroom I found on a road that loops around back to the school. It makes me think of magic places in fairytales. I don't eat them but lots of the other European's told me some are edible and others are not. Maybe one day I'll try one. . . just click on the picture to see others on my flikr account.

Velkommen Ben to Skotselv! My friend from university has come to EBS to volunteer for a few months. Boy am I excited! I met Ben at Southern when we were both in Destiny Drama Company. As we both realized yesterday, that was a long time ago. He's here to help with the PR things, he's quite productive as he's already edited a brochure, made me business cards, updated the webpage and is almost finished with the news letter. But really I'm glad he's here because he brought me a few of my scarves and he is company to have in the office during the day. Now when I get the 11:30 munchies I can at least have someone to sympathize with :) All through college we had crazy adventure with Destiny, the photo lab, and listening to music class, now it will be exciting to see what crazy things happen now! And we get to listen to Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack, re-live Destiny intro music, talk loud, kill flies, and eat vegan food! If you know Ben give him a shout out if you know me,

One of my favorite songs in Nandjere, the tribal language in Bere, Tchad. Ka Kang De. Enjoy! http://africaaviationministry.org/20090610-20090808-video/mvi_0406.avi

A couple weeks ago we had the Lord’s Supper at church. We were not at the Skotselv church because of plans to go up to Fredhiem (the health treatment part of the foundation in a town 30 min away). The church wasn’t planning on having so many guest, they knew we were coming but then several other visitors who were on holiday came through as well. We had a beautiful full service. I’ve always enjoyed the renewing of my covenant with God during those services. I have so many special memories connected with that service. I remember my first time that I took the bread and juice, I remember as a child staying back during the foot washing service and hearing a children’s story, I remember being at the Student Missions retreat and sharing the service with my fellow first time SMs. I also remember the Sabbath where the real meaning finally hit me, that Jesus gave up so much for me. I remember last year at GCA walking upfront as an Elder in the church to help read and pass out the flat bread and

Phew, I am tired! Another day is done, they seem to be speeding past! We had staff meeting, Family meeting, I picked up someone from the bus station, worked on some paper work and finally got home in time to clean my flat. Tonight we filmed another Cooking with Sonya & friends. It took awhile, but it's supposed to. We laughed and giggled and worked on our English skills :O) We baked apple pie, Sonya style. I'll let you know how it tastes tomorrow! Tomorrow I get to go to the police station and get started getting my personal number so I can have insurance, a bank account and finally be allowed to play with Erin and Bjorn Age Vik! (that way if I brake my arm I will be able to get it fixed) It makes sense really ;O) This weekend I went for a Sabbath hike with some friends. I was able to talk about lots of exciting things, everything from Andrew Peterson to Three Cups of Tea. It was a fairly easy hike. A piece of cake compared to Besseggan! But most things are after that. It w

I’m not often sick for home. I was cured of that as a child when I spent the night at my bestfriend, Dana’s house. I was homesick and she had me sit in the homesick chair as we played with the animal dolls from the 80’s. It was great I was cured for life. However I do sometimes wish people could be here with me or I had certain items of comfort, but never to the point of no return. A week ago or so I was wishing I could have my camp padres here in Skotselv with me though. I think it was all the outdoors and the crazy adventures in it that made me miss them. We were at a river that reminded me so much of the river Merced that flows behind Wawona and I remembered the great falls that were just the right temperature of cool. Then when I looked around at the river in Skotslev I though how different things would be if they were there. Princess and I would be talking on a rock or Scott leading us on a crazy trail by the river. Beth and I contemplating the world, Anthony and Chelsea and I pl

Almost one week ago I was preparing myself for a nice little mountain hike. Little did I know that it was going to be of epic proportions. On Thursday morning, 10th of September I awoke at a very early hour, 4 am (okay I’ll be honest I was supposed to get up at 4 but it was cold I and my bed was warm so I got up around 4:15 :O). I dressed in my best hiking gear; which was my smartwool long sleeve shirt, smartwool socks, my tennies, jeans and topped it off with my purple Camp Wawona staff shirt. Of course I took along my Georgia Cumberland Academy hoodie and the fleece that Erin is letting me borrow till my new jackets come in. I was ready to go. After a four-hour drive to the Besseggen ridge we all unloaded out of the two vans and were ready for our epic adventure!! We had to take the ferry across the lake so we wouldn’t haveto walk in and out in one day (that’s a long journey). The ferry ride over was exciting but WAY TOO COLD. The wind was blowing and we weren’t used to such chill,

Tonight was great. I finally have my own kitchen and now I finally have my own food to cook. I went shopping yesterday (which will have to wait till the next story to tell about those adventures) and bought a few staple items. Included in those things was an avocado which I was given. I decided tonight to check that avocado for ripeness and found it to be the perfect time for it to be devoured. Then that's what I decided to do, I cut it up and put it on a plate. Then I realized I had nothing else to put on it. . . until it hit me like a speeding train, "I have onions I can put with it." Then I realized I can also put some of my diced tomatoes with it to to make a salsa. After mixing it all up and being ready to eat I realized something else. . . who would want to eat it just like this by itself. Here's where it gets really exciting. I got out my flour and salt and baking powder, mixed it in a bowl and made tortillas. It was fantastic. I haven't felt this self rel

I am taking a moment to sit down and write. As I sit here I am waiting for my date to be ready. Yup, I’ve been here for two weeks. Two weeks of intense learning curve for my job. I’ve struggled to understand WHAT IN THE WORLD I’m supposed to do. I’ve tried to grasp and put into practice the things I have learned at my various jobs and from my various classes. But as it always is when you start a new job –it’s rough. I’ve decided I will work here for the rest of my life so this date better be a keeper. This way I will never have to learn a new job, ahh, it would be so much better than having to be the new person who doesn’t understand anything about their job. All these stressors are what lead up to tonight and my date, did I mention that my date is HOT. I didn’t think so, might just be the hottest date I’ve ever had. You might be wondering how this date came about, well let me tell you. I needed to get out and stretch my legs and let my mind relax. So a walk is what I decided on. I, b

My cell phone has miraculously been unlocked so now it can work internationally. The cell phone chip was passed down to me from Andrew, and to him the missionary before that, it goes back many generations. Here’s the scoop on what has gone down with this little phone. I thought I had ruined my chance at having it unlocked due to the fact that I foolishly had punched a whole bunch of numbers in at random not realizing that I only had 5 chances to put the correct one in. I was just being silly and going punch number happy. Then I decided to get serious about unlocking it and ‘called’ in the technical people. They advised me to contact AT&T so I being wise, after being foolish, took their advice. I skyped the 800 number from AT&T and was thoroughly disappointed in myself. They were so nice and helpful. They tried their best to help me but alas they number they gave me could be of no use if the opportunity to put it in my phone was gone . . . I was pouty and grumpy after Skyping AT

My Dining room Originally uploaded by dreams with faith Feast your eyes on the cutest flat you have ever seen! I took some pictures on Friday like I said I would. I hope you enjoy looking at them. Just click on the picture and it will take you to flickr where you can look at all the notes I put on the pictures to describe things. While on flickr you can make your own comments on the pictures with notes or just a comment. Please do, I would love to hear them!! Enjoy. Love, Sonya

Today was my first church service and Sabbath school experience. It was very eye opening. First of all was Sabbath School (SS), we sang some Norwegian songs which were very nice, then we broke into groups for the lesson study. One group was Norwegian, the other group was English, an Australian and myself the only native English speakers, yet we were in a group of about 25 or so. We are talking about love and how to love. Then we read about how perfect love cast out all fear and the discussion turned to what kind of fear are we talking about because the Bible says it is good that we should fear God. So my new friend Zoran was translating for his parents who spoke no English but Macedonian, and Zoran was saying something (I’ll be honest it was a bit hard to follow) and he was giving examples and said, one kind is we should run from the beer and the other kind we should all run towards the beer. “What in the world did I miss”, I thought, “perhaps it’s a cultural explination or I wasn’t pa

I did my laundry last night. I learned there are two kinds of soap for clothes – one for whites and one for colour. Norwegians really like to sort things out. They sort all their trash – paper, glossy paper, glass, metal, compost and restfall (everything else). So of course they should sort their clothes. I however don’t want to so I just bought soap for colour (let me know if there’s a reason I should sort). Along with my soap that’s unscented I bought fabric softener. Don’t use it much in the states but we use it here because we are green and line dry our clothes. I washed them last night and they should be dry sometime today (if the sun comes out and warms things up). Down side to that is I have to iron more because my shirts will be a bit wrinkly and have a fold crease from the line (any tips on how to fix that without an iron?). I will admit though it’s nice to be green but not as green as Africa.

Thought you might enjoy a video.

I’ve got a brand new Ikea duvet cover and pillow case that I found in the linen closet. I knew I was in the right section of the world when I went through customs x-ray security and the plastic tub for my purse was from Ikea :o) I plan on making a journey to the Ikea home base one day. Until then I’ll go to our local Ikea with Erin this week. Don’t you wish you were here with me!

I’m home at last! My first real home. I arrived in Oslo yesterday and drove with Erin 2 hrs to Skotselv. Now I’m actually home for the first time in months. It was a bit hard to believe. Everything is beautiful and so cute, Scandinavian cute. From houses, barns, big fields, tons of trees, small roads. I love it. I think I’ll like it here just find. We drove into Skotselv and looked around at the school Quite nice. I met several people who’s names I’ve already forgotten due to lack of sleep for such a long time and due to the fact I have never heard these names before. (I’m glad my name is a universal name, thanks mom and dad) At the end of our tour I saw my little flat for the first time. So cute and homey. I wish I had taken some before and after photos. But I hope you like the after photos at least.

What a night/day/morning! I rushed to catch my Minnesota flight. Crammed my backpack under my seat, bumped my head sitting down and arrive in Minnesota to find out I have to go on a long journey. At least the directions to get to the other airport/terminal were given to me in English. . . four moving sidewalks, find ground transportation, Humphrey terminal, outside airport, check back in . . .so confusing. Luckily a nice lady who worked there and was on her way home walked me to the public transportation train ( a subway) that would take me to the other ‘terminal’. Then I had to walk to through a really long car garage dragging my carry on suitcase with me. I tried to hurry because I had no idea what time it was and I didn’t want to miss my flight to Iceland. I must have actually been walking quite slow because when I started through the garage I was in front of all the other passengers, then they all (5) passed me up! So I’m the last person in line at Iceland air to get my boarding