En dejlig afslutning på et dejligt outreach - A wonderful end to a wonderful outreach

Iførge Alex, som var en af de 11 teenagere, der var med påskens Teens To Children-outreach, så havde vi lige været igennem Helvede. Selv ville jeg måske have brugt nogle andre ord... Men sandt er det, at dagen havde været lidt hård. Vi havde holdt børnemøde for 20 børn, som mildt sagt ikke opførte sig særlig pænt. Og nu sad vi så her i sofaen i Humlebæk og skulle holde det sidste børnemøde. Og vi var trætte. Vi bad for børnemødet, men kun to (kristne) børn dukkede op. Det tegnede til at vi ville slutte TTC med et antiklimaks ovenpå nogle fantastiske dage med dejlige børnemøder og hygge med teenagerne.

Men pludselig kom en mand cyklende på en ladcykel med 4 børn på ladet. "Det var jo dem, vi mødte forleden", udbrød Eva. Og ganske rigtigt. Eva havde stukket dem en indbydelse nogle dage tidligere, og den ældste datter havde virkelig glædet sig til dukketeater og bibelhistorier. Men da tidspunktet nærmede sig, var faderen ikke så begejstret, for han stod lige og repererede hus. Men datteren sagde: "Men se, far, der er også aftensmad!" Og det gjorde udslaget, for faderen var alene hjemme den dag med hans tre børn og en legekammerat. Og så cyklede de til børnemøde, og vi gav den hele armen med sang, dukketeater, bibelhistorier og lege. Og aftensmad! Og nøj, hvor vi hyggede os. Ja, og det gjorde børnene og faderen åbenbart også, for de blev til klokken 20 om aftenen (Mødet sluttede kl 18), og faderen kiggede på vores indbydelse, og sagde: "Hm... Og så skal jeg så lige finde ud af at få forklaret min datters legekammerats forældre, hvad det her lige var. Hun skulle have været hjemme kl 17."

(Bare lidt stemnigsbilleder fra mit teams pauser på vores outreach. Bemærk de våde bukseben: Havet + teenagere = våde bukseben)

(Just some pictures from my team at our cosy breaks between the Easter clubs.)

According to Alex, who was one of the 11 teenagers who attended our Easter club outreach, we had just been going through Hell. I guess, I would have put it differently. But it was true that the day had been rather rough with 20 roudy children at our first Easter club that day. And now we were sitting waiting for the last Easter club to begin. But only two (Christian) children showed up and I feared that our outreach would end with an anti-climax after several days of wonderful children meetings and fun fellowship with the teens.

But suddenly a man came riding a bike with 4 children seated on it as well. (This is Denmark!)

His daughter had got an invitation two days earlier and really wanted to hear the Bible stories and see the puppet shows. Her father had hesitated but the daughter had convinced by showing him the invitation and stating that there would be supper as well. And that convinced the father to go since he was alone with all the children that day and had to cook.

And we all had a really good time! And the family enjoyed themselves so much that the stayed two ours after the meeting had finished just hanging out with with us all. What a fun way to end a wonderful Easter outreach!

"Bibelen - den kender jeg!" - 'The Bible - I know about it!'

"Bibelen - den kender jeg!" Sådan afbrød en lille pige mig, da jeg stod og talte med hendes mor idag for at invitere pigen og hendes søskende til vores påskehyggefester for kirkefremmede børn. Pigen fortalte mig herefter om hendes kristendomsundervisning.
En anden pige sagde: "Hvis det er fra Bibelen, så kender jeg det hele! For min lærer har fortalt os det... Hun er en god lærer. I dag fik vi to kopper kakao og fem stykker slik hver!"
Sikke nogle dejlige børn! Og ih hvor jeg glæder mig! Jeg håber, at de alle sammen kommer, når vi på mandag og tirsdag skal holde påskehyggefester. 7 på Sjælland og 5 på Fyn og i Jylland.
Men først skal vi have et par træningsdage sammen med de teenagere, der har meldt sig til.
Håber, at I vil bede for os, at vi må have nogle gode træningsdage og nogle totalt fede påskehyggefester, hvor mange børn må høre om Jesus og tage imod ham.

'The Bible - I know about it!'
That's how a little girl interupted me today when I was talking with her mum to invite the girl and her siblings to our Easter clubs for unchurched children. The girl continued telling me about her religious education in school.
Another girl said, 'If you are sharing from the Bible, I know it all! My teacher told me... She is a good teacher. Today she gave us two cups of cocoa each and five pieces of candy.'
Such lovely children! I am so much looking forward to the coming days. On monday and tuesday we will have 12 Easter clubs in different parts of Denmark. But first we will meet with some teens and train them to work together with us.
So I would appriciate your prayers very much! Please pray for some nice training days and some awesome days of outreach with lots of children getting to know Christ.

Arbejdstilladelse etc. - Work permit etc.

Igår fik jeg en dejlig mail. Jeg har nu fået min arbejdstilladelse fra Schweiz. Det er helt vildt, at den er kommet så hurtigt. Jeg ved, at det normalt kan være ret svært at få den, og derfor har vi ansøgt om den i meget god tid. Så det er jo bare halleluja til det.
Det har også været ret opmuntrende med alle dem, der har skrevet og ringet den sidste måned for at fortælle, hvor begejstrede de er på mine vegne over denne nye mulighed for at tjene Gud.(I vil åbenbart virkelig gerne have mig ud af landet??!!)
Sidste men ikke mindst er det dejligt at se, at jeg nu har fået lovet yderligere sponsorstøtte på ca. 1000 kroner. Det er 20 % af, hvad jeg har brug for at stige, så det er en virkelig god begyndelse.
Ja, der er meget at være taknemmlig for.

Yesterday I received a wonderful email. I have now gotten my work permit for Switzerland. It is quite something that I have gotten it so quickly since it often is a difficult thing to get such a thing in Switzerland. That's why we applied so early. So a big hallelujah to that!
It has also been encouraging the past month to receive lots of mail and phonecalls from people who are excited about this new step in my life. (I have started to wonder if the Danish people really wants to get rid of me??!!)
And an other encouragement is to see that I have had a raise in my support of 140 Euro which is 20 % of the raise I need to make this possible. I believe this is a good start.
Yes, there is a lot to be thankful for.

Søndagstur på stranden - Sunday Walk on the beach

Med Martin og Cindy efter en god lasagne.

With Martin and Cindy after a delicious lasagna.

Kursus i Sverige - Teaching in Sweden

Det var sååå hyggeligt og dejligt at være i Sverige i den lille by Örkelljunga tæt på Helsingborg. Skønne mennesker! Fra både Canada, Tjekkiet, Sydafrika og Sverige... Jeg skulle undervise fredag og lørdag, og kursisterne var virkelige ivrige efter at lære en masse, så der blev fyldt godt på. Det var egentlig meningen, at der kun skulle komme fem personer, men der dukkede alligevel ti personer op, som deltog begge dage eller delvist. Der var en god interesse for at række ud til børnene omkring kirken, og der blev endda talt om at sende nogle over for at være med på vores sommer-outreach med Teens To Children! Spændende, ik?

Klar til afgang fra Østerbro - Ready to leave Copenhagen

Klar, parat, start - Ready to teach!

Kursisterne laver gruppearbejde - The participants are discussing in pairs

I had such a good time in Sweden this Friday and Saturday where I was teaching a course for children's workers. Nice people! From Canada, Chech Republic, South Africa and Sweden. The people were really eager to learn a lot. There was supposed to be five people at the course but somehow we ended up with ten different people attending all the time or some of the time. There was also a good interest in reaching out to the unreached children and they even talked about sending some from their church to participate in our summer outreach with Teens To Children here in Denmark. Exciting!

Sverige - Sweden

Fredag og lørdag skal jeg undervise en lille flok børnemedarbejdere uden for Helsingborg. Jeg vil sætte stor pris på din forbøn. Jeg skal undervise alene, så jeg er "på" hele tiden. Vil du bede om masser af energi og også for, at Gud vil tale til alle dem, der lytter gennem undervisningen. Tak!

Friday and Saturday I will be teaching a small group of children workers in Sweden. I would really appriciate your prayers. I will be the only one teaching and that's a bit tough. Please pray that I will have enough energy and also that God will use me and speak to the people at the course through the teaching. Thanks!

Molly, Viggo, Sally og stormvejr - Molly, Viggo, Sally and a thunderstorm

I dag lørdag havde jeg den glæde at have besøg af fire dejlige tøser. De skulle hjælpe mig med at indspille et dukketeater, vi skal bruge til vores påskehyggefester for kirkefremmede børn om et par uger. Pigerne gik op i det med liv og sjæl, og de gjorde det virkelig godt!

Stykket handler om Sally, der så gerne vil være anderledes og blive lagt mærke til. Men Molly fortæller hende en masse spændende historier om dengang, Jesus gik på jorden, og Sally indser, at når man har Jesus med i sit liv, så har man fået noget virkelig specielt - på den gode måde. Mens Molly fortæller, dramatiserer Sally og hendes ven Viggo historierne.

Og ja, der var tre roller, men vi skulle også bruge en, der kunne være stormvejr og bage pizzaer til os andre, så... fire piger var helt perfekt.

Og når man så slutter dagen af med at besøge Anna, som er den dejligste veninde, man kan forestille sig, så tjaa... kan det vist ikke blive så meget bedre for idag.

Today Saturday I had the pleasure of a visit of four lovely girls who were to help me record a puppet play for our Easter Clubs in two weeks time. The girls gave it their best and did an excellent job.

The play was about Sally who wants to be different and really special. But when Molly tells her about Jesus and the exciting things He did when He was on earth, Sally begins to realise that to have Jesus in your life is the most special thing that can happen to you. And while Molly tells the stories about Jesus, Sally and her friend Viggo performs it all for the children.

And yeahh, we had three caracters, but four girls. So I invented a fourth job: To be the sound effects for a thunderstorm and to make pizzas for the rest of us... Perfect!

And then the day ended with a visit to Anna, who is the most wonderful friend anyone could wish for. So I guess the day could not have been any better.

En hyldest - A tribute

En hyldest til de venner,
Som ikke forsøger at lave mig om
Som ikke forsøger at fikse mine problemer med hurtige gode råd
Som holder med mig
Som er til stede med mig i livets omskiftelige faser
Og bliver ved med at være der

Disse venner er årsagen til,
At jeg ændrer mig
At mine problemer finder en løsning
At jeg selv kan indse, når jeg ikke har ret
At jeg kommer videre
Men forbliver tro mod mig selv

A tribute to those friends,
Who don’t try to change me
Who don’t try to solve my problems with a quick advice
Who take my side
Who are present in the different phases of my life
Who stay present

Those friends are the reason,
That I change
That my problems get solved
That I realise when I am wrong
That I move on
But stay true to myself

EBU Afslutning - Our last TCE weekend

Så blev det tid til vores sidste weekend med EBU-kursus (Effektiv BørneUndervisnings-kursus) i denne omgang.

Det var vildt fedt at høre kursisterne fremlægge en bibeltekst for børn.

Og så var det tid til uddeling af diplomer...

Festmiddag...

Påskeæg til Hanne og jeg (Tak skal I have)...

Og farvel. Snøft. Håber, at det er et på gensyn!

This weekend it was time for our last weekend of the TCE-course (Teaching Children Effectively-course) for this group.

It was so awesome to listen to all the Bible lessons that the students had prepared.

And then it was time to hand out diplomas. (First picture)

And to have a celebration meal. (Second picture)

And Easter eggs for Hanne and me. Thanks! (Third picture.)

And then goodbye for now. Hopefully we'll meet again.

Kagemand - Pastry man

Min far kan alt! Jeg ved godt, at det mest er noget, man siger, når man er fire år gammel, men her 30 år senere er jeg ikke nået så meget videre. Til mit forsvar vil jeg dog sige, at jeg tror, at mine fem søskende alle vil give mig ret.

Lad mig nævne i flæng:
Min far reddede engang en dreng, der havde fået skåret halspulsåren over. Han klemte åren sammen med de bare næver, indtil ambulancen kom.
Eller hvem af os husker ikke, dengang tre generationer af kvinder i min familie (Jette, Mor og Mormor) forsøgte at sy en vinterjakke til Jette. Og da frustrationerne havde nået skyhøjder, overtog min far simpelthen bare symaskinen og syede en vinterjakke. Hvor svært kan det være, når man har sin bondelogik?

Er du overbevist? Hvis ikke, så lad mig komme med sidste skud på stammen, som jeg har moret mig en del over i dag.

Min far skulle skulle være alene med mine små søskende Miriam og Marcus på 5 og 6 år en dag. Men lige så snart deres mor, Hanna, var ude af døren, påstod Marcus, at hun havde sagt, at min far skulle bage kagemand. Min far, der jo helst vil gøre alle glade og tilfredse, gik ud i køkkenet på trods af, at han ikke kan huske en eneste gang i sit liv, hvor han har bagt. Han fandt en opskrift og ingredienser. Så langt så godt. Men... der manglede gær. Hmmmm.... Hvad gør en klog? Han kigger skabene godt igennem for alternative løsninger. Og finder et vaffelpulver. Han blander dejen dog med mindre væske og former en kagemand.

Så Marcus fik sin kagemand, og Hanna fik et chok, da hun kom hjem noget senere.

Men det største chok fik jeg nok i dag, da min far sidder og spiser en af mine hjemmebagte spelt-boller og siger: "Den smager virkelig godt! Kan du ikke give mig opskriften, så jeg kan bage nogle selv?"

(Min fars kagemand - eller var det Marcus'?)

My dad can do everything! I know this is something we say when we are four years old but now 30 years later I am still on that track. To my defense I want to add that I think all my five siblings will agree with me.

Let me give you some examples:
One time my father saved the life of a boy who had cut the main artery in his neck by accident.
Another time three generations of women in my family (Jette, Mum and Granny) were trying to making a winther coat for Jette. But when their desperation reached the ceiling my dad simply sat himself by the sewing machine and finished the coat. How hard can it be when you have your farmer logic?

Are you convinced? If not let me share the latest incident which has amused me all day.
Some days ago my dad was looking after my youngest siblings Miriam and Marcus (5 and 6 years old). As soon as their mum, Hanna, had left the house, Marcus claimed that she had said that my dad was to make a pastry man. Well, my dad cannot recall even one time in his life when he has done any baking but what do you do when you want to please everyone? He went to the kitchen, found a recipe and all the ingredients. So far so good - except he was lacking yeast. So... what to do???? He searched the cupboards. And he found: Some waffel mixture. He mixed it with less fluid and made a PASTRY MAN!
Do I need to mention that Hanna was very surprised when she returned home?

But I must add that I was very surprised too today when my dad was eating one of my homemade healthy rolls and said, 'So can I have the recipe and make some myself?'

The picture shows my dad's pastry man.

Snebolde - snowballs

I sidste uge var det meget trist at være københavner. At sidde og se TV med al volden, der foregik næsten rundt om hjørnet. At cykle i kirke søndag og se udbrændte biler, ødelagte veje og butikker.
Men... der var nu også lidt at grine af, så jeg kan ikke lade være:
Mens unge danskere smed med brosten, kanonslag og det, der var værre, så havde de åbenbart 150 norske sympatisører, der smed med snebolde mod den danske ambasade i Oslo. SNEBOLDE???
Nordmænd er bare for nuttede! Og hyggelige. En af mine norske venner kommenterer dog dette og siger, at fra norske børn er helt små, lærer de at betjene en snebold som et våben. Ser man det!
Det får mig til at tænke på forrige søndag efter kirke. Magnus på 5 år smed en snebold efter mig, og som den (gode?) børnemedarbejder jeg er, så smed jeg en tilbage. Herefter sluttede hans små venner (Marie, Caroline etc) op omkring ham og råbte "Alle mod Dorthe". Umiddelbart kunne dette lyde lidt skræmmende, men heldigvis var de utrolig dårlige til at ramme.
Og hvad vil jeg så sige med alt dette? Øh...: Jeg er så glad for, at børnene i min kirke ikke er oplært af nordmænd.

It was sad to live in Copenhagen last weekend. Some thousand young people were very upset about the government so they started a lot of violence. They through paving stones, maroons and worse after the police. It was sad to watch it all on TV and to bike through town Sunday on my way to church and see burned out cars and other ruined things.
However, some things made me laugh, so I can't help it:
Apparently the Danish youth had 150 Norwegians in Olso who sympathised so much that they started throwing snoballs at the Danish Embassy.
SNOWBALLS!!!???
The Norwegians must be the nicest nationality on earth! However, one of my Norwegian friends explains this incidence by saying that from infancy the Norwegians are taught to use the snowball as a weapon...
This reminds of something that happened to me last Sunday after church. One little preschooler threw a snowball after me and as the (good?) children's worker I am I threw one back. What I hadn't thought about were all his little friends who started yelling, 'All against Dorthe' and throwing snowballs after me. This might seem like a very scary moment but actually not even one hit the target...
So what am I actually trying to say with this blogpost...? Well....: I am SO happy that none of the preschoolers in my church have been taught by Norwegians.

Jeg flytter til Schweiz - Moving to Switzerland

Det var en sen fredag aften i december. Lige før, jeg skulle i seng, ville jeg checke mine emails. Måske skulle jeg have ventet til næste dag med det...
En af mine mails skilte sig nemlig ud. Den var lang, og jo mere, jeg læste, jo mere måtte jeg ryste på hovedet. Min første tanke var: „Det her er jo fuldstændig vanvittigt!“

Mailen var et spørgsmål fra vores Europæiske hovedkvarter i Schweiz. Spørgsmålet lød kort fortalt: „Vil du flytte til Schweiz og lede vores børnemedarbejderskole og al øvrig efteruddannelse i EB i Vest-Europa?“

„Det vil jeg da ikke engang overveje“, tænkte jeg. Men en lille stille stemme inden i mig svarede: „Jo, prøv alligevel at overveje det!“ Og med disse tanker gik jeg i seng. Behøver jeg sige, at jeg ikke fik sovet særlig meget den nat?

De næste dage tænkte jeg en masse tanker for og imod. En af de første tanker, der talte for idéen, var, at Gud flere gange gennem 2006 havde talt til mig om at forlade Danmark og være til velsignelse for flere nationer. Dette havde han både sagt gennem Bibelen og på anden måde. Det havde været lidt forvirrende, men Gud havde sagt, at han nok skulle fortælle mere på rette tid. Var dette rette tid?

Der gik dog ikke lang tid, inden jeg virkelig blev fyldt af glæde og fred i forhold til denne nye udfordring. Alligevel valgte jeg at bede over det i ca. 1½ måned. I januar tog jeg til Schweiz for at finde ud af mere.

Og som du nok har gættet nu, så sagde jeg ja til jobbet!!!!!
Men hvad med…? Og….? Og…?
Herunder har jeg forsøgt at besvare nogle af de spørgsmål, som måske melder sig nu.

(Foran vejskiltet, der peger ind til vores hovedkvarter.)

Hvad indebærer dette nye job?
Min titel bliver „Coordinator of Education for Western Europe“. Som før fortalt kommer jeg til at lede vores børnemedarbejder-skole i Schweiz, hvor jeg har været lærer de sidste fem år. Jeg skal være leder for de andre medarbejder i vores uddannelsesafdeling. Den består ca. af seks personer. Jeg skal naturligvis også lede alle de medarbejdere, som kommer til Shcweiz nogle uger hvert år for at undervise (ligesom jeg selv har gjort). Der er ca. 40 lærere. Derudover skal jeg være med til at arrangere forskellige kurser for vores medarbejdere fra Vest-Europa, så de kan få basal videreuddannelse indenfor vores arbejde med at nå de kirkefremmede børn og træne nye ledere til dette. Jeg kommer også til at bruge tid på at forny vores undervisningsmanualer til børnemedarbejderskolen, videreuddannelsestilbudene m.m.
Når der bliver tid, vil jeg kunne tage til forskellige lande og hjælpe med at undervise f.eks. EBU-kurser.

(Vores hovedkvarter - Kilchzimmer - set fra en bjergtop.)

Hvornår flytter jeg?
Man ønsker, at jeg skal have mere bibelskoletræning, end jeg allerede har, og derfor vil jeg over de næste fire år tage seks semestre på en bibelskole i England. Jeg regner med at tage de første to semestre fra september til december i år og derefter i december bosætte mig i Schweiz.

Kan jeg sove godt om natten?
Det er et stort ansvar, jeg har sagt ja til. Alligevel sover jeg godt om natten...
Det første halve år vil jeg have mulighed for at blive lært op af de nuværende ledere, inden de flytter til Spanien og Frankrig. Herefter står jeg på egne ben.
En af de rigtige gode ting, jeg har fået med hjemmefra, er en tro på, at hvis Gud kalder, så giver han også hjælpen undervejs.

Hvad føler jeg?
Jeg glæder mig! Jeg får masser af (gode?) idéer til nye tiltag, og jeg går hele tiden og planlægger store og små ting i forhold til at flytte. Selvfølgelig er jeg spændt på at flytte til et nyt land, skulle finde nye venner, en ny kirke osv. Men jeg tror på, at Gud vil være med i det hele. Samtidig sker der en masse nyansættelser på vores hovedkvarter i Schweiz i disse år, så når jeg flytter derned til december, vil vi være en god flok på min alder. Det ser jeg frem til.
Jeg kommer til at tale engelsk med mine kolleger, men jeg er startet på at genopfriske mine tyskkundskaber, så jeg også kan begå mig i Schweiz.

(Nogle schweiziske køer, som KUN taler schweizertysk.)

Hvad så med Evangelisk Børnemission i Danmark?
Dette har været det allersværeste at forholde sig til. Det er ikke rart at rejse fra så lille en medarbejderflok, som vi er lige nu. Men da Gud begyndte at tale til mig i starten af 2006 om at flytte til udlandet, sagde han, at jeg ikke skulle bekymre mig om EB i Danmark, for han ville sørge for at få udrustet dem, der skulle ansættes i EB i fremtiden. Det løfte klynger jeg mig til!
Det er dog en aftale med vores europæiske ledelse, at jeg får lov til at tage til Danmark i ny og næ og hjælpe med en lejr, Teens To Children-fremstød eller f.eks. et EBU-kursus. Det er jeg rigtig glad for!!

Hvilke behov har jeg?
Jeg har behov for en masse forbøn, for jeg får brug for masser af visdom, gå-på-mod og viden for at kunne løse denne store opgave.
En anden udfordring er det økonomiske. Min løn m.m. skal stadig komme ind via gaveindtægter til Evangelisk Børnemission. Alle medarbejdere på vores europæiske hovedkvarter er fortsat lønnet/støttet fra givere, så de frit kan hjælpe over hele Europa. Og… jeg får faktisk brug for mere økonomisk støtte. Min løn kommer ikke til at stige, men jeg har brug for flere penge til udgifter til min tjeneste og til øget rejseaktivitet. Faktisk får jeg brug for op til 5.000 kroner mere om måneden. Jeg vil derfor sætte stor pris på jeres forbøn for, at dette må løse sig.
Samtidig vil benytte anledningen til at sige, at hvis nogen skulle have lyst til at begynde at støtte mig økonomisk eller med forbøn, vil jeg være meget taknemmelig for det. I så fald kan I sende en mail til mig på vores danske kontor: ebdk@ebdk.dk.

Jeg vil selvfølgelig fortsætte med at bringe nyheder om min flytning og mit nye job her på bloggen.

It was late one Friday evening in December. Just before going to bed, I decided to check my email. I should maybe have waited until the morning…
One of the mails caught my attention. It was long, and the more I read, the more dazed I became. My first thought was; “This is crazy!”

The mail was a request from our European HQ in Switzerland. Their question was, to put it briefly: “Will you move to Switzerland and coordinate our Leadership Training Institute for children’s ministries and our Education Department for Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) in Western Europe?”

“I couldn’t even consider it!” I thought. But a little voice inside me answered; “At least think about it!” With these thoughts in my head I went to bed. I hardly need to add that I didn’t get much sleep that night.

The following days my head was full of thoughts, both the pros and cons. One of the first pros was that God had spoken to me several times in 2006 about leaving Denmark and being a blessing for more nations. God had spoken both through the Bible and in other ways. It had been very confusing at the time, but God had also told me that I would know more at the right time. Was this now the right time?

It didn’t take long before I was filled with joy and peace about this new challenge. But I still decided to pray about it for one and a half months. In January I travelled to Switzerland to find out more.

And as you probably have guessed, I said yes to the job!!!!!
But what about…? And…? And…?
Let me try to answer some of the questions that may have arisen in your mind.

What does this new job involve?
My position and title will be Coordinator of Education for Western Europe. As I’ve already explained, I’ll be in charge our Leadership Training Institute in Switzerland where I’ve taught for the last five years. I will also be the coordinator of the Education Department there, which has a staff of six attached. My job will also include arranging different courses for our workers in Western Europe, so that they will receive further training in missionary work among children etc.
When there is time, I’ll be able to visit different countries to help with teaching there. E.g. with TCE courses (Teaching Children Effectively courses).

When will I be moving?
CEF would like me to have more Bible School training than I have at present, so over the next four years I will cover six semesters at a Bible School in England. I count on taking the first two from September to December this year and thereafter finally moving to Switzerland in December.

Do I sleep at night?
I’ve taken on a huge responsibility, but despite that, I sleep well every night!
The first five months I’ll be trained by the present leaders of Education (Paul and Audrey Reid and Philippe Mayhew) before they move to Spain and France.
One of the great things I take with me from Denmark, is the belief that if God calls, He will provide the necessary help.

How do I feel?
I can’t wait! I’m constantly busy planning and preparing the move. Of course I’m excited and nervous about moving to a new land, making new friends, finding a new church etc. But I believe that God’s hand has been in this from the start.
I’ll be speaking English with my colleagues, but I’ve also started to freshen up my German so I can manage daily life in Switzerland.

What about CEF in Denmark?
This has been the most difficult issue for me. It isn’t a pleasant feeling leaving a little team as we are at present. However, when God began to call me in the beginning of 2006, He also told me not to worry, as He had already prepared the future of CEF in Denmark. I’m trusting in His promise!
A part of the agreement with our European leadership, is that I will be allowed to visit Denmark from time to time to help with camps, Teens to Children, or TCE courses. This is something I’m extremely grateful for!

What do I need?
I need to be covered by prayer and I need wisdom, courage and knowledge to deal with this new challenge.
Another challenge is the financial one. My salary still has to be covered by gifts to CEF. All staff at the European HQ is paid and supported by gifts so that they, in turn, can help throughout Europe. In actual fact I will need an increase in my support. My salary will remain the same, but I need more money to cover expenses and especially the increase in travel. This will amount to up to 700 Euro extra each month. Therefore I would greatly value your prayers so this need can be met.
At the same time, I would like to take the opportunity to show my gratitude to anyone who would like to support me financially. If you would like to know more about how you can support me in prayers or financially, you are welcome to mail me at our office, ebdk@ebdk.dk
I will continue to put more information about my new position on my blog together with other news so thanks for reading :-)

(The pictures are all from Switzerland.)

Endelig sne??? - Finally snow???

Igår læste jeg følgende ordsammensætning på en af mine norske venners blog (Pers). Der stod: "Endelig kom sneen". Nu har vi jo altså også fået en del sne i DK de sidste dage. Og jeg vil bare sige: Jeg forstår det simpelthen ikke. Jeg forstår ikke, hvad den sætning betyder. Hvad laver ordet "endelig" i samme sætning som ordet "sne"??? Jeg er helt lost! Hvis det nu havde været ordene "Endelig" og "forår" i samme sætning - ja, så var jeg med! Nej, tro mig: En københavner som mig forstår dig ikke, Per! Det skal man vist bo nord for Larvik for at forstå.

We have a blizzard going on in Scandinavia. And to my big surprise I read this sentence on a friend's (Per's) blog yesterday, 'Finally the snow has come'. And I don't get it! I don't understand this sentence. I don't understand the meaning of it! What is the word 'finally' doing in the same sentence as the word 'snow'??? I am totally lost! If it had been the words 'finally' and 'spring', then I would have understood. But believe me, Per, a city girl like me do not understand you. I guess you have to live north of Larvik to follow your lines of thoughts.

Ny ven - New friend

Det ser vist ud til, at jeg har fået en ny ven. En lille sørøver på 5 år, som dukkede op til vores B'Tweens-møde (for 9-13-årige) idag i håb om at komme til at slå katten af tønden. Det kom hun nu ikke til, men vi hyggede os alligevel.

Og jeg vandt i stopdans.

Og her sidder en af anden af pigerne, Simone, som jeg også har kendt siden hun var fem år (og også sneg sig med til børnemøder, hun var for ung til). Hun sidder dybt optaget af Bibelen, mens de andre piger vimser omkring og gør sig klar til at gå.

Kan man ønske sig mere på en mandag eftermiddag?

It seems like I've got af new friend. A little Pirate at the age of five showed up at our pre-teen-meeting today. We had a really good time together.

And I won a traditional Danish dance contest (second picture).

And the last picture is of another girl who comes to our pre teen meetings. I have also known her since she was 5 years old and was too young compared to the rest of the children at the GNC meetings she attended. Today she was totally focused reading the Bible while all the other girls were buzzing around getting ready to leave.

Can you wish for more on a monday afternoon?

EBU - TCE

Tak for forbøn. Vi havde en rigtig god weekend. Jeg glæder mig til næste gang, hvor vi skal høre kursisterne undervise en bibelhistorie. Det bliver spændende.
Og så var det som altid superhyggeligt at overnatte hos min kollega Hanne sammen med to af kursusdeltagerne, Pia og Pia. Jeg ville have taget et billede af vores morgenbord (7.15 lørdag morgen) men glemte det.

Thanks for your prayers. We had a really good weekend. I look forward to the next time we meet, when each of the students will teach a Bible lesson. How exciting!
And as always I had a good time visiting my colleague, Hanne, together with two of the students. I wanted to take a photo of our breakfast table (7.15 Saturday morning) but forgot.

Rod eller EBU? - Mess or TCE?

Her på billedet ser du lidt kaos i mit hjem. Normalt er jeg stor fortaler for orden. "Ordnung muss sein". Men: Jeg er ved at forberede mig på EBU-kursus (Effektiv BørneUndervisning) her i weekenden. Og denne gang skal vi arbejde en del med at fortælle bibelhistorier med indhold. Og hver gang jeg skal undervise dette emne, som strækker sig over mange timer, så forbedrer jeg og forbedrer jeg undervisningen, for at gøre den optimal for kursisterne vel vidende, at mange af dem virkelig synes, at det er svært at fortælle bibelhistorier.

Såååå - ja ... lidt kaos må man leve med i ny og næ.

Bed gerne for os her fredag og lørdag, når vi arbejder med bibelhistorierne. Næste gang skal kursisterne selv undervise en bibelhistorie.

On this picture you see some chaos in my home at the moment which is really unlike me. 'Ordnung muss sein!' But I am preparing for our TCE-course this weekend. And this time we are going to have a lot about the Bible lesson and that always seems to be a subject that can be improved since it is quit difficult for the students to feel comfortable about teaching Bible lessons themselves (which they will do next time we meet). So please pray for us this Friday and Saturday as we go through this subject.

På weekend med familien - Family trip

Eller ihvertfald næsten...

Her i weekenden havde min menighed kirkeweekend med 130-150 mennesker. Det var utrolig dejligt at være med. Der var en god stemning, og det så ud som om, at rigtig mange fik rigtig mange gode snakke rundt omkring. Selv var jeg lejrchef, så helt vildt mange dybe snakke blev det ikke til, men jeg hyggede mig alligevel. Og så synes jeg jo, at det er sjovt at få logistikken til at fungere og løse små og større problemer - såsom da nadverbrødet var blevet spist til morgenmad...

Billedet viser nogle af børnene, der vist også råhyggede sig.

Or almost...

This weekend the church that I attend went on a church retreat. We were 130-150 people present. It was really good to be there. And there was a really nice and relaxing atmosphere. It seemed like many people had some really good conversations going on. I was organising the camp so I didn't have time for a lot of deep conversations but I had a good time anyway. As you might know I really enjoy organising and solving small and bigger problems - such as when we realized that the bread for communion had been eaten at breakfast by mistake...

The picture shows some of the children having a good time too.

Back in business

Ja, nu må jeg vist tage mig sammen og skrive igen på min blog. Efter min ferie gik jeg ligesom i stå. Måske fordi der ikke har været så meget at skrive om ud af over en masse kontorarbejde og planlægning. Og det er vist ikke så interessant at skrive om... Men hvem ved. Måske er der pludselig en masse spændende her på bloggen.

Well, I better put myself together and continue writting again on this blog again. After my holiday I never really had anything to write about except lots of office work and planning. And that is not that interesting to write about... But who knows - maybe there is suddenly a lot of great news on this blog.

Standby

"Din computer forbereder standby..." Og switch - så er alt sort. Det irriterer mig altid, men det er jo bare for at spare strøm.
Nå, men det, jeg egentlig bare vil sige, er, at jeg også forbereder standby. Jeg skal nemlig holde ferie. Og det bliver en telefon- og computerfri ferie. I sommer fik jeg ikke holdt ferie, men nu har Gud virkelig velsignet mig med en ferie (tak til jer, som formidlede Guds velsignelse!!!), så nu er bikinien pakket og passet fundet frem. Og derfor går Bloggen her på standby. Men ånd nu ikke alt for lettet op, for jeg vender tilbage i februar!!!!

'Your computer is preparing standby...' And schwitz - everything is black. It never stops to annoy me even if I know that it is just to save the power.
Well, what I really want to say is that I am also preparing standby. I am going on holiday. A telephone- and computer-less holiday. This summer I didn't have a holiday but now God has really blessed me with a holiday (thanks to those who passed on God's blessing to me!!!), so now the bikini has been packed and the passport found. And therefore this blog is going on standby too. But don't get too excited - I'll be back in February.

B'Tweens

I dag havde vi så første møde i vores B'Tweens-klub, som er en sammensmeltning af min børneklub og Majs B'Tweens-klub. Vi havde et rigtig hyggeligt møde. Vi håber og beder til, at der vil dukke endnu flere børn op de næste gange, og vi håber også, at vi kan få engageret nogle flere ledere. Men alt i alt en rigtig god begyndelse!

Today we had the first meeting in our new group, B'Tweens. It is a union of my Good News Club and Maj's Junior Youth Challenge group. We had a really cosy meeting. Now we hope and pray that even more children and pre-teens will attend during the next weeks. We also hope that it will be possible to recruit some more staff. But altogether it was a really good beginning!