Ruth Kristin

Hello again!

To the readers that have followed this blog earlier: I'm sorry that I wasn't good at blogging frequently in the last period of my blogging and that I in the end stopped blogging on this site. I sometimes thought about blogging again, especially last summer, in 2012, but I thought maybe it would be too much for me to be blogging at the same time as being a full time student, but last week I got a kick in my but, to put it like that, because of an assignment in my current study programme, and this got me to start blogging again. However, I decided to start a totally new blog and am not planning on using this blog anymore, so if you want to read more from me you can visit my new blog site here: www.mylifeinprogress.co.uk.

It could be that I will come back to this blog, however. Perhaps I will make it into a Norwegian blog. I just got that idea. That's possible, as I now am only writing in English in my new blog, and it's a good idea since I'm originally Norwegian, and it could be good for me to have a Norwegian blog too. I will think about it, but for now I'm concentrating on my new English blog called "My Life in Progress". To remind you; you can find it here: www.mylifeinprogress.co.uk.

I hope to have many readers on my new blog, but if you're one of those coming here to my old blog because of a link on my new blog, I would also like it if you enjoyed reading my old blog as well as my new blog.

No matter what you read of my writings, I hope they can inspire, inform about interesting topics and encourage you, my readers.

Best wishes,
Ruth Kristin.

Lately I've written some texts about having a new start - here on my blog. That is because that is some of the things I've been thinking about lately. And I don't just think about the fact that I've had a new start on my blog or the fact that we every day get a new start when we awaken in the morning. There are many different types of new starts, and we can have all kinds of new starts. Some of these starts has to do with something small. Some has to do with something big.

Sometimes you can experience to forget your food boiling in the kitchen, and maybe you have some kind of accident or the food gets burnt, and then you will have to start all over again to prepare a nice meal. And sometimes it could be that you've had a quarrel or disagreement with someone and need to have a new start in your relationship with someone. Other times you can feel that a part of your life isn't functioning the way it should, and you need to give your self a new start to make progress in that area of your life. At other times we can feel that our whole life needs a big, new start. So there are many reasons for feeling the need of a new start.

I believe that the best and biggest new start a person can have, is when he or she goes from death to life, from sorrow to joy, from darkness to light, and from sinfulness to rightheousness - through the salvation in Jesus Christ, God's Son. This new start can and will be given to everyone who receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour in their lives. When you receive Jesus into your life, he will give you a magnificent, glorious and great, new start in your life - only because of his good mercy and love, only because of his death and ressurrection. God loves every human being so much and longs for them all to be saved and receive his great love and get the wonderful new, fresh start that he wants to give every person. I myself have experienced becoming a new creation in Jesus Christ, through what He has done for me, and I can recommend it to everyone! Life with God is so good, it's the best! :)

But our generous God doesn't just give us a new start when we receive his salvation and become christians. I've experienced that God has given me a new start in my life also after I became a christian. Actually, it has happened many times. For example when I've sinned and then come to God and asked for forgiveness, he has always forgiven me and cleansed me, and then he has given me a new start. Sometimes it could be for other reasons, for example that I've made some new decisions in my life. No matter how it happens, it is always good when God gives you a new start.

Last Monday was one of those days when I had the feeling that I had a new start. It was a special day for me, because I clearly felt it was a new start for me. I had been gone from work some days, because of sickness, and before I came back to work on Monday and started my new week, I had made some new decisions and plans in my life. Because of this I've had a new start in my life this last week, and it has been very good to experience a new, good flow in my life. On Tuesday I wrote a poem about this, and here it is...


A new good flow

I've come into a good flow
in the dance of life
I know that I often grow
and prepare to be a wife

I'm active and happy,
destined to win the fight
I'm living in harmony
with Jesus, my Light

My life will be richer
and grow day by day
when I live with my "pitcher",
the Truth and the Way

He never turns me down
No, Jesus is my friend
I will dance with no frown
He will stand by to the end


And like Rachel Hickson said this morning, in the meeting I was in, we also have to press on, never give up and finish the race. I am going to do that. I will finish the race God has for me.

Have a great week, everyone!

Every day is a new start.
Every day is a new beginning.
Every day is a new chance
to forget about yesterday,
put the past behind
and live in the present
while focusing on or looking ahead to the future.

The future is always changing, because the future is all the time becoming a part of the present. The future is good. The future is challenging. The future is exciting and interesting, because we never know what will come or happen next. We can never know for sure. Only God can. He knows the future, and he is in control over the past, present and future. He is the one who every day gives a new morning, a new start and a brand new day - totally free and without demands of payment. Freely - in his good grace - He gives us a new start every single day of the week. Over and over again we have the free gift of a new day and a new start, a new chance of a new beginning - of our whole life or just a little part of our life. Every day is a new beginning and a chance to experience something new and enjoy life to it's full!

"I can never get away from my God... How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can't even count how many times a day your thoughts turn toward me. And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me!" - Psalm 139, v. 7b and v. 17-18 (Life Application Bible For Students)

If you read this in the evening, and you are not pleased with the day you've just lived through, please remember that tomorrow is a new beginning and a new start, a fresh day with lots of new chances! And if you read this blog text in the morning, you can be thankful that God has given you a brand new day with lots of new possibilities and opportunities to enjoy life and do something meaningful - something that will please both your self and others. When we serve others, we will be blessed our selves.

"A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed." - Proverbs 11, 25 (Holy Bible, NIV)

I hope you all will have many nice mornings and new beginnings and good days this coming week! God bless all of you!

A new start on my blog

Happy new year, everyone! I say it once again, because it could be that you haven't listened to my audio post yet, where I with my voice for the first time have wished all readers a happy new year and also put in a lot of other words with my voice. And one can never say a good thing like "Happy new year" too much, I think.

Well, as you can see I've returned to my blogging business. I've planned to do to it for a long time, but sometimes it takes a while before one actually does what one plans to do...

For almost one year I haven't been blogging here, as some of you probably have discovered. It doesn't mean that during the last year I've forgotten about my blog or haven't wished to write here. Not at all! I have just been very busy in my life, and I've thought about writing here many times, but then I've just postponed it over and over again. But finally I'm back in business!

My new start here on my blogg started a few days ago, when I for the first time was able to post a photo of my self on my blog. It took a while before I got it the way I wanted it to be, but in the end I was very pleased with the result of my posts the 18th of January. And the day after I found out that I could become an "audio blogger" and post audio blogs, and to me it sounded very exciting, so I tried it out, and it was! It was really fun and exciting to try audio blogging and to know that now my voice and greetings could be heared all over the world. :)

Well, let me now give you a little summary of the past year, since it's been so long since I wrote about my life here...

During the last year I have finished my studies in Dance with a good grade that I'm pleased with, and because of this extra studies I have now come up to a higher level in my education, which was one of my goals, so I'm very pleased with that. If you would like to find out about the college that offered the studies I did in Dance, you can visit this adress: www.hitos.no, and you can press "Kunstfag" on the list to the left, if you want to find out about the studies in Dance or other art studies the college offer.

In addition to studying I have, as you know, worked at a school, since last January. I remember I last year told you about how God answered my prayers and blessed me with the good job as an assistant in one of Tromsø's schools for teenagers. I have continued to have this job, also after the summer holiday, and it is still a good job for me that I find enjoyable. I am now assisting four different pupils, that in different ways are disabled or handicapped. I help them, one at the time, in various situations and with many different things.

Since August I have also been blessed with another job at the same school that I am an assistant for some pupils... God also gave me the job as a Drama teacher there, and that is both a very challenging and exciting job for me! I really enjoy being with my Drama pupils and teach them Drama and help them develop them selves and their dramatic skills. It's great fun! We've had many nice and funny lessons together, me and my pupils, and I'm looking forward to continuing working with them until the summer holiday. I just love being a Drama teacher and to be with with my Drama pupils, especially the ones I have by my self! But I also appreciate to work with in another Drama class together with another teacher. It is very inspiring and helpful to me to be able to observe and cooperate with a teacher that has a lot of experience behind her, so I also enjoy my time with her class a lot. All in all, I really enjoy my new, good job situation, full of many nice, interesting experiences, and where I each day meet many beutiful, nice people - each one of them unique and created in the image of God - and where no day is the same! Thank you, my wonderful God and Saviour, for your great goodness and blessings towards me! :)

If you now would like to visit the web page of the school where I work, you can go to this page: www.kongsbakken.vgs.no, and if you press "Ansatte" in the list to the left, you will find a list of all the employees at the school, and you will also find my name there. Good luck! :)

Now you are maybe wondering where I've spent my last holidays? Well, in the summer I was just in the North, and I don't want to tell more about that now, but in the Christmas holiday I travelled a lot... I went all the way to Great Britain and celebrated Christmas - in both the Norwegian way and the English way - together with my sister Hanna, her husband Daljinder, and their sweet children Taj Kristian, Jai Ruben and Sunniva. It was so nice to be with them, play with the children and just enjoy each other's company. After some days with them I went to Bergen and visited my parents (www.erling.typepad.com + www.erling.typepad.com/solveig) and my brother Josef (www.josef.typepad.com), his wife Elizabeth, and their lovely children Jakob, Sara and Lars Benjamin. I had a wonderful time with my family in Bergen, and I also managed to get some time with some good friends of mine: Veronica and her daughter, Carina, and Hiwot and her husband Naphtali. It was very nice to meet them all! And of course I managed to attend the new year's meeting in my church in Bergen, Kristent Fellesskap, and there I also got to meet some of my old friends and acqaintances.

Well, time is running as I'm writing this, and I've got much to do, so I'd better stop soon... I had planned to write much more, because I've written some nice texts I would like to put in here, but I just have to do that tomorrow instead. But one of my texts I will put in here, before I end, and it is a poem I have written...


Every day is a new start

a new chance to hear about Jesus Christ
who died on a cross for our sins

a new chance to receive Him in your life
and make Jesus your Saviour and King

a new chance to choose between right and wrong
and do what is good and right

a new chance to give glory to God with your song
and to honour him with your whole life

a new chance to focus on others
instead of focusing on your self

a new chance to thank God for his goodness
and rejoice in his love and care

a new chance to run towards your goal
without looking back or ever giving up

a new chance to look into the beuty of God's creation
and be inspired by his marvellous workmanship

a new chance to trust in God
and seek His Kingdom first of all

a new chance to forget the past and live in the present
with your eyes fixed on Jesus, Lord of all

a new chance to improve your self
and grow with the help of God

a new chance to live in God's peace
and believe in the One who made each star

a new chance to start over again,
to forgive your self and others

a new chance to be a good friend
and live in peace with sisters and brothers

a new chance to see all the good gifts
and blessings you get on your way

a new chance to let the Word of God
control what you do and what you say

Every day is a new start, my friend,
to do all these things and more.

Let never the griefs of your past control you,
but live life to the full - the chance is your!


Have a blessed Saturday and weekend, everyone!

 

Here I am - right before my life in the North of Norway started... This picture is taken on Sunday the 28th of July 2002, when I was having my last Sunday dinner at my parents' house before moving. This was just a little while before some friends were coming over for my farewell party. I was happy and ready for the exciting, new and challenging life that was awaiting me, and two days later I was far up in the sky, travelling and moving to the North of Norway!

Back in Tromsø

Now I've been back in Tromsø for more than six weeks, and many good things has happened during these weeks - both in my life and in the city of Tromsø in general. I'm often busy and have many things to do, and therefore I often postpone writing here, but this evening I want to spend a few minutes just to tell about some of the good things happening here in Tromsø. Let me first share a good testimony with you about a very good prayer request!


A wonderful prayer request: All honour to God!

During my first months in Tromsø God blessed me with many different part time jobs and job tasks. But after a while I didn't have enough jobs and was dependent on schools calling me and asking me to come and work as a substitute teacher or something similar. I never knew when they would call me, and it was a very unstable situation. I knew it wouldn't be good for me to keep on living like that for a long time, and in December I started to look for a permanent part time job.

Some weeks ago my cell group (or bible group) decided they wanted to pray for me and pray that I soon would get a job, and so they did. My leader actually prayed boldly that I would get a job within two weeks. I was encouraged and believed God would answer our prayers.

During the first days after the group meeting I saw some jobs on the net that I could apply for. Two days after I had been prayed for I called a contact person from a school where they needed an assistant, because the job sounded interesting for me, and I wanted to find out more about it. The lady didn't answer me, but I gave her a message on her machine, and she called me back. Then she told me about the job, and in between I told her about myself and my education and experiences. It was a very nice phone call, and it went very well, because the lady became very positive towards me, and after a while she said "I feel like hiring you immediately!". I felt very good about the job after this conversation, and I prayed to God that I would get it.

Three days after the phone call - on Monday the 24th of January - I sent my application for the job, and just a little while after, the lady from the school called me back. She said that I was the person that stood out the most among all of those people that had called her. She continued with saying that they couldn't hire me before the application deadline had gone out, but she told me she had been allowed to let me start working there - training for the job - as an extra person. And I understood she also hoped and thought that I later would be hired officicially. Halleluja! God gave me a job! God heard my prayers! This was wonderful news to me, and I new it was my prayers being answered, and I was very very happy and smiled and laughed alot that day. All honour and thanks to God for his goodness to me! :)

And now there's not so much more to tell. Just a little bit. The day after the wonderful phone call, I started working at the school where I got a job, and I got my on-the-job-training there for two weeks. I liked the job and got very well along with the people there from the very first day. And I have continued to like the job and have continued to learn things and become more and more familiar with the job as the weeks have went by. After two weeks in my new God-given job, I was officially hired - picked out between twelve people, many with even more education than I have. That was also a wonderful message to get! In my heart I felt that God allready had given me the job and that I would get the job officially, so it wasn't a big surprise to me. But it was great to finally hear that I was officially hired and know that I can work in my new job 21 hours a week until the summer and get a good salary every month! Praise and honour and thanks to my good God that has blessed me with this good job! The job is just perfect for me in every way, and it makes me life easier and more stable in more than one way. Now I am working with teenagers, using my skills and also learning new things, from Monday to Friday every week. The job is not too demanding and doesn't occupy too much of my time, so now I also have time to study in the day time, so that's very good.

God is so good! All honour and praise to God for all His goodness!

I hope you've been blessed by this testimony, and know this: God sees and understands your needs, and He wants to meet them! He cares for you and loves you and wants to help you and meet all your needs! And if you don't know Him, he first of all wants to meet your need of salvation. And He already has - through His Son Jesus Christ, that died on a cross for every human being. All you need to do is to recieve the salvation God already has made ready for you. If you receive His salvation you can get a wonderful life together God. Yes, you can get to know God personally! I can absolutely recommend it! But now I should end here soon, so maybe I'll talk more about these things another time.


Good things happening in Tromsø

Many good things are happening in Tromsø these days. One of them is that we a couple of weeks ago had a very good worship-and-prayer-conference here with a lady called Rachel Hicksin. And the coming weekend we'll have a conference with Vince Estermann. That will be exciting! God has great plans for Tromsø and is equipping his people here. Halleluja!

Have a nice winter, all of you!


Happy greetings from Ruth Kristin

Today I have a little jubilee. It's presicely one year since I first started blogging and wrote my first blog entry. I like blogging, and I pray that my readers get blessed by reading my blog texts.

This evening I have been visiting my good friends Hiwot and Naftalem that got married in June, and we had a lovely time together, sharing experiences and expressing love and care for each other. I thank God for good friends like them.

Tomorrow I'm going back to Tromsø, and I'm looking forward to that now...

This is just a little greeting for all of you that are reading my blog. I want to wish all of you a very good, blessed and happy new year with lots of joy and excitement and many good experiences. Whoever you are, I want to tell you that God has a good plan for you. God is The God of Hope. He is love, and he is The Truth. Yes, the Bible tells us that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. God loved the world so much that he gave his only son, Jesus, to save us all. He gave him and let him die for us, so that we should be saved, receive forgiveness for our sins and have peace with God. God loves you incredibly high and wants to give you a very good life. If you surrender your life to Jesus, you can experience the great love and mercy of God and get to know God in a personal relationship. God is so good, and He has only good thoughts for you. He knows you and sees you in whatever situation you are in. When there's no one else who sees you, God sees you. When there's no one else who cares, God cares. He is always there. He is near to everyone, and he loves and cares for everyone. I know he has a good plan for each and everyone on this earth. But he doesn't force him self upon anyone. He wants us to decide to give our lives to him and live for him out of our free will. And I know from experience that the best and most important decicion you can take in your life is to give your life to Jesus and follow Him. "Jesus is the answer for the world today." That's the lyrics in a song, and I believe it's true. I myself have met Jesus personally and received him into my life. And I've experienced many times that Jesus is my best friend, my best comforter, my best strength, my best helper, my best supporter, my only really hope, my life and my joy. He is my love, and I want more and more people to meet Jesus and experience his love, just like I have. Like I've mentioned before on my blog: Jesus is my life. He is my hope. He is my joy. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! I will continue to live for Jesus every day of this new year, 2005. May the Lord bless all of you and give you a very good year! Love and best wishes from Ruth Kristin

Today my brother Josef and his family, my sister Hanna and her family, my parents and my self have been gathered and celebrated my parents' Ruby Wedding Day as well as the new year. We've had a very nice time together with lots of fun and laughter, for example when we were miming different animals. During the tasty dinner meal we surprised my parents with some nice presents from all the children and grandchildren - because they today have been married for 40 years. I am grateful to God for my wonderful parents and happy that they have had many good years together in a happy marriage. I also know that my parents will continue to have a happy marriage for many years to come.

Congratulations on your day, mum and dad!

Now in the end of this text I want to wish you all a blessed and very good and happy new year! May God bless all of you and give you of his faithful love and mercy!

And to all of my friends and family out there: Thank you for all the good memories in 2004!

Happy new year to all of you!

And glory and honour and praise be to God for all his goodness and blessings throughout the year 2004! Praise the Lord! Thank you, Lord, for this year that has passed! And thank you Lord for the good year that lies before us!

Ruth Kristin

Leaving for Christmas holiday in Bergen

I had a nice time in Tromsø in December, and one of the things I did before I left for my Christmas holiday was having a combined moving-in-and-birthday-party. Some of my friends from church came; some of my new Liberian friends came; and my cousin Jonny, who is a clever law student, came to be with me. I was happy to have them all as my guests, and we had a nice time together. Some days later I had to pack my luggage and get ready to leave for my Christmas holiday...

This year I was able to take a long holiday in Bergen, and that was very nice. I also did something new and travelled all the way from Tromsø to Bergen by bus and train, spending two days and one night on the travel. It was a very long journey, the longest I've ever had, and I didn't get so much sleep, but all in all I had a nice travel - the first part joined by a friend. And it was also a cheap travel, because God fixed it so that I only had to pay 150 Norwegian kroner for it.

I reached Bergen the 16th of December, in the late evening, and since then I've been here and had lots of time with my family and some time with some of my friends. A very nice experience was to visit my brother Josef, his wife Liz and their children the 18th of December. Then I hadn't seen them since June, so I was very happy to see them again. And it was so nice and fun to be with my sweet auntie kids and hear them say "tante" (auntie) over and over again. After a while we went out and had a very nice time in the snow, sledging and laughing. The next day the whole family sang "Happy birthday" and gave me nice precents, since it was my birthday and I turned 27.

I continued my birthday the 19th of December with a very good meeting in Kristent Fellesskap in Bergen. We had a wonderful time of worship, prayed for children to be blessed, and we listened to a really good speech by Per Arne Gjerde. He gave us seven advice for becoming happy. After the meeting I spent the day at my parents' place, eating a good dinner with my parents and later on eating marsipan cake, especially made for me by my kind mother. Now and then someone called me to congratulate me, and that was of course fun for me. In the evening I relaxed and watched a film with my dad, and that's something I like to do.


Christmas celebration at Gullbotn

This year my whole family gathered on Gullbotn conference center to celebrate Christmas together. Because we are such a big family we seldom meet all of us at the same time, so this Christmas was a very special time for us. We hadn't celebrated Christmas together, the whole family, since 1998. And last time we all met was when my dad turned 60, two years ago. Now some of us arrived at Gullbotn the 21nd of December, my dad's birthday, and the rest of the family came the next day. My brother Karl Enok came with his wife and two children, all the way from Tromsø, like me. My brother David came from Stavanger with his family, but his step-daughter couldn't come this time. Josef came with his family from his home at Toppe in Bergen. And my sister Hanna came with her family all the way from Leicester in England.

For many days and nights we were all gathered, and we had a wonderful time together, celebrating the birth of our Saviour and Kind, Jesus Christ. I love Him! I love my good friend Jesus. He is my best friend, and He is so good and kind to me. When I met my whole family and celebrated Christmas with them this year, it was a prayer coming true. I had prayed for it to happen, and I'm happy and grateful to God that he let it be the way I hoped for and prayed for. It was so nice to be gathered with my whole family and to spend time with them all, both the grown ups and all my nice auntie kids, that are so sweet and played together so well.

One day I played quite a lot with some of my auntie children, and to my joy I also managed to make a little pyramid with some of the children. Three were sitting like a dog on the floor; two were on top of them, and then one were on top of those two. Many took a photo of it, and I think it looked good. It was very fun to do things like this with the children that I'm a auntie for. And it was nice to watch them play, talk with them, be with them and play with them, hug them and have fun with them. I'm also very glad that they were happy and enjoyed them selves together and became good friends with each other. I know they are cousins and that some of them don't meet very often, so I think it was very nice that they got this occasion to be together and get to know each other more.

It was also nice to spend time with the grown ups in my family and find out more about what's going on in their lives. Sometimes I had nice chats with some of them, and we all enjoyed our selves together, both when we were serving in the kitchen, watching tv, eating nice food, unwrapping presents or doing something else together. Unfortunately, I became sick and had to throw up on Christmas Eve, that is the day when we Norwegians celebrate Christmas, but the good thing was that God let me become better, so that I in the evening could be with my family for most of the time when we were giving each other presents. The next day I became well and started eating again in the evening. Praise the Lord!

The weather was beautiful while we were at Gullbotn, and that was a blessing from God. We were blessed with enough snow for being out playing and for having a nice, beautful view when we looked out the window. The last full day we spent at the conference center, the 26th of December, the sun was shining, and it was really very nice to be outside, even if it was quite cold. This day the parking place was filled with lots of cars, because very many people came to go skiing in the mountains near the place we stayed. This was a wonderful day for our family and all those other people enjoying the nice weather in Bergen, but now when I'm writing this, I have realised that it was a terrible day for many thousands of people that experienced the horrible tsunami that hit several countries in Asia and affected their lives dramatically.


Sorrow, pain and prayers

On Monday my big family said good bye to each other and went to different places. I went with my parents to their home, and so did my sister and her family. Since then we've all been gathered here. Yesterday I went to visit my good friends Veronica and Fred Ruben, and it was good to be together with them. It is nice to be with friends and family, but since Monday I have been watching the news on tv for a long time each day, and it has been very sad and painful to watch the news and hear the stories of all the people that have died, been hurt or lost their loved ones or in other ways have been affected by the enormous catastrophe in Asia. My heart is filled with sorrow, and sometimes my tears are running when I'm thinking of all these sad things that have just happened. I pray that all the survivors get all the help they need, and I pray that God will help both the survivors, those that have lost someone or is missing someone, and that God will help all the helping people that is giving their help to the victims of the catastrophe. Please, join me in prayer for all those that need help and comfort, strength and support, in this difficult situation! Let us all help them in prayer, and if you have the opportunity, it is very good to support the help organisations with money too. If you feel the need of reading some more thoughts on the catastrophe, I can recommend the blog of my father - erling.typepad.com - and the blog of my mother - erling.typepad.com/solveig/. I will also recommend a poem my dad wrote on his blog "To be somebody" - erling.typepad.com/somebody/. I recognised my self and my own experiences when I read his poem about watching a catastrophe on the news, and I think the poem is very good. Please feel free to read it if you want to!


New year's conference

These days there's a new years conference for young people being arranged by Kristent Fellesskap in Bergen. Last evenign three people received Jesus as their Lord. Halleluja! This evening I joined the evening meeting with my dad, and it was a very good meeting. The precence of God was there, and God spoke to us many times in a very clear way. My friend Silje was the one having the speech, and she did very good. My dad also contributed with some advice, when Silje had a little interview with him. Several people came with words from God, and many young people came forward to receive The Holy Spirit, and at least one person became a christian. In the end of the meeting God spoke a very good and clear prophetic word to us through my father, Erling Thu, who is a prophet. It is important for us to love the Word of God and to love The Holy Spirit, and see that the foundation is in place in our lives, because the Lord will use us to help people and bring them to Christ, and many of us will travel to nations and be used by God to change many nations for Him. That is a little summary of what the Lord said to us this evening.


New year's eve and Ruby Wedding Day

Now it's become very late, and I have to go to bed, because tomorrow is new year's eve and my parents' Ruby Wedding Day. We will have a family celebration here at my parents' place, and that will be very nice, and I'm looking forward to spending the day with my parents, my sister and her family and my brother Josef and his family.

I will try to come back tomorrow, the last day of the year, and share with you some of my thoughts and experiences on the special day that it is.

God bless you all! And thank you for your attention!

Best wishes - Ruth Kristin

Lessons in life

After a couple of months with no blogging I have finally made some space for writing a new blog text this evening. I have been thinking about my blog now and then and have wanted to write here, especially lately, but now I felt it was time to actually sit down and make a new blog text, without postponing it anymore.

Now I have lived almost four months in the city of Tromsø, and I still really enjoy living here. During these four months in the city, there has been a lot of action in my life. I think "action" is one of the words that describes this period of my life the most, because there has been so many different things happening and going on in my life - often very many things at the same time - and often the tempo in my life has been very high, in the same way that the tempo in action movies are very high. But sometimes the tempo can become too high, and if one doesn't take good enough care of one self, one can become sick and get the need for a break. This is what happened to me one month ago. I got sick and needed to stop working and slow down the tempo and take better care of my self. During this period God has been with and helped me with some difficulties and learned me some lessons. He is so good and faithful, and He never forsakes me, even if I make mistakes or go against Him. He is always ready to forgive and forget, and he blesses me and helps me with His loving kindness.

Now I want to share with you some of the things that I already knew, but have learned more about, this autumn in Tromsø:

• It is very important to take good care of one self.
  
• It is very important to listen to God and follow the guidance of The Holy Spirit.
  
• It is very important to not compromise and to not go against your own values and beliefs.
  
• It is very important to trust in God.
  

Salvation in the city

Before I end I also want to tell you all that during the last weeks four young ladies, that all know someone in the church Kristent Fellesskap, where I belong, have received Jesus as Lord in their lives. Halleluja! And glory to God! :-) Two of these young ladies are my friends, and I was very happy when they both decided to live for Jesus. And I also have other good contacts in the city, so I'm looking forward to see how God will continue to use me and what will happen here in Tromsø in the future.

New friends from Liberia

Recently I met some ladies from Liberia, and later I was invited home to one of them. She is called Rose and comes from a big family, and her parents have come here to Tromsø with most of their children, the children's spouses and grandchildren. They have been living as refugees in Ghana for 13 years, and have now started a new life here in Tromsø. Lately I've talked with most of them, and I have become friends with Rose and some of the others in her nice family. I have visited Rose's place many times and been able to bless her and her family and also be blessed by them.

May God bless you all, and have a nice time until the next time you "read" from me! I will now end with a little poem written in October...

• My life
• My responsibility
• My privilege
• My gift
• from the Creator of Life
• I will live
• for Him
• He is my life

Ruth Kristin Thu, 07.12.2004

Moving into my new apartment

Seven weeks ago, on Friday the 13th of August, I successfully moved into my new apartment, that I'm renting in Tromsø. I managed to move all my things from the island Vannøya and to the city of Tromsø, because I received very good help from some kind helpers from the church. They came - a whole gang of six men - and helped me to get all my removal load out of the flat on Vannøya and into cars. One of the cars were a proper furniture van, and we managed to find a place for everything.

Together we had a nice travel from the island and to the city. We arrived at my new place a bit late in the evening, and I then discovered I had exchanged my keys by a mistake, and the key to my new apartment were lying far away in "my old flat" on Vannøya. It was a tragicomic happening. I prayed to God for help and called my landlady and told about the situation. She and her husband was gone for the weekend, but after some minutes they had found a solution and called me back. In some minutes a relative of the landlady came, locked him self into the house and got hold of an extra key for me. That was really good, and I thanked God for his help in the critical situation. I really needed to get my things out of the big van before the morning, because the car was only rented for 24 hours, so it was good I got to move into my apartment the same evening. If not I would have needed to store my things somewhere, and everything would've become more complicated.

When my door was open my helpers helped me carry all my things and put them inside. The next day I was worn out because of all the stress and hard work connected to the moving, but I was also very excited and happy about having moved into my new place that God has blessed me with and were looking forward to living in Tromsø...


New jobs, new contacts and new experiences

When I came to Tromsø I had no job, but really needed one or two part time jobs. Three days after moving I went to a nursing home in the area and asked for a job. Within a couple of minutes I was given a job there - it was fantastic! I was very happy and blessed, because I needed a job, and the nurse that gave me the job was also very happy and blessed, because they were in need of workers at that time, so I was just like a gift coming right into their hands. I soon started working there and have been working there quite a lot, mostly in the weekends, and I like it and find it a nice place to work.

The day after I got the job at the nursing home I went to a school nearby my house and introduced my self and said I was available to work for them if they needed me. The week after the inspector called me and asked me to come and work one day. Since then I've had the joy of working there some days as a supply for both assistants and teachers.

My third week in Tromsø I started my study of dance and met most of the students in my class. My sixth week I met the rest of my fellow students. We have study gatherings for three days now and then, and so far we've focused on modern dance and jazz ballett. The gatherings have been very fun and interesting. On my first gathering I experienced something very good. We were all going to wear something personal and tell about it. Then I wore a t-shirt with a cross and the message "I AM A WITNESS". When it was my turn to tell about my self and my t-shirt, I boldly told the whole class that I am a christian and that Jesus means very much to me. It was a very good experience, and after that I got some good talks with some people in my class.

In my forth week in Tromsø I worked a lot in the school nearby, and the week after I was blessed with yet another job. I started working as a supply at another school, on something we call "sfo" - that's where the pupils come when they're finished at school. And since then I've worked a lot there, and I really enjoy working there. I've manily been with the six-year-olds, and they are so cute and very nice to be with. I really like being with them, and I also like my colleagues there. It has been fun to work there, meet many new people, learn new things and use my self in the contact with the children. During my time there I've become good at painting the children in their faces - that was someting I can't remember I've done before, and I've really liked it. Last week I was also a supply teacher one day at the school and know that they will continue to use me as a supply teacher if they need me. In the coming weeks I'll continue working on the "sfo", but mainly with older pupils, and hopefully I'll get some more lessons to teach as a supply teacher.

Recently, some time after a job interview, I got the message that I got the job I applied for, so now I've been blessed with a new part time job. God is so good and has now blessed me with many jobs, and in other ways he has also blessed me and taken care of me and helped me these last weeks.

After I moved to Tromsø I've made many new contacts, have made new friends and have been used by God to bless other people. God has taken care of me and helped me and blessed me in many ways, as I've given examples of, and I've all in all had a very good time here in Tromsø. I've really enjoyed all my new and exciting experiences, all my new jobs and contacts. It's been an exciting time for me. No day and no week has been the same. And I really like to live in Tromsø and experience all these good things that God let me experience. All honour and thanks to my good God for for all his blessings and goodness towards me!

God bless you all!

Greetings from Ruth Kristin in Tromsø

This is my last evening here on Vannøya for a while, because tomorrow I'm moving to the city Tromsø. Now the summer is soon over, and on this special evening I want to look back at the summer and write a little summary about this memorable summer in the north...

For the first time in my life I've spent my whole summer holiday in the north of Norway and haven't put my feet in the south for one day. Usually I spend most time in the south, but this year I changed my plans and decided to only be here in the north and to be most of the time on the island that I still live on. It didn't sound so great or interesting in the beginning, because during the whole year I live here in the north and spend most of my time here on the island, so that's normal to me. But it has turned out that it was a good thing, because I've had a very nice and memorable summer here in the north. Now I'll mention some of the good things I've experienced this summer:

• I've tried working in the fish factory in Torsvåg, like I told earlier on. All in all I've worked there six days this summer, and that has been a very exciting, interesting and nice experience for me.
  
• I've attended a very good bible week in Harstad. There I had fellowship with many good men and women in God's family, got to know new people and met old friends, received brilliant teaching and had a very nice, relaxing time.
  
• I've got to know more people and made new friends here on Vannøya this summer, and that's one of the best things with staying here in the north this summer. If I had travelled to Bergen in the south like my original plan was, I wouldn't have met all these people and experienced all the things I now have. Now I have had a unique summer, experiencing many nice things and being blessed with getting to know more people and getting new friends.
  
• I've been blessed with lots of nice, sunny and warm summer weather, and I've experienced the nice, bright summer nights here in the north - the sun never goes down for two months. One of these evenings - it was a really nice summer weather that day - I used a bike and took a very long trip with it. I travelled all the way to the place I used to live in before, the little "village" called Vannvåg, to visit my good friend Karen. It was a very long bike trip - several kilometres - and at the same time it was a wonderful trip that evening and night. In the middle of the journey I stopped by at some friends' house to have a break and was invited to eat a nice fish meal with them - they had just started eating. And then I stayed there and enjoyed the nice meal and friendly conversations, before I after a very long break continued on my way to Vannvåg. And as I kept on cycling, it was so beautiful outside in the nature. The sun was shining on the quiet water, the grass on the island was very green and the mountains and the whole scenery just looked really wonderful. It was so nice to be outside cycling that evening! It was a special evening, a very nice evening. But actually it was past midnight when I had my last part of the journey. And it was completely light, and the air was fresh and full of different nice smells. I even saw a little "reindeer kid" that crossed the road, and I was "attacked" by some birds that flew over me and put their feet on my head - that was not so fun. All in all I really enjoyed the trip, and when I arrived in Vannvåg my friend Karen was very happy to see me and we had a wonderful time together. I stayed with her for three nights, and I then also got the chance to visit some other friends in the area. All in all a very nice weekend.
  
• Later in the summer I spent some days in the city, and that were some really nice and fun days. The best thing that happened for me this time was that I got a very nice apartment. I went to see two different apartments, and God blessed me and let me have the best one, the one I'm moving into tomorrow. It was a really nice and big flat, and I'm looking very much forward to moving into it.
  
• My friend Elisabeth joined me on my way home from the city and stayed with me some days here on Vannøya. That was a special and memorable time too. I was blessed and very happy to have Elisabeth visiting, and we really had a nice time and enjoyed our selves on the island. One evening we played volleyball on the beach with some young people, and that was good fun.
  
• Last week I was invited by someone to a place called Sandfjord. I went there in a boat with some friends, and we joined a bunch of people gathered there. It was a beautiful, special place on the far west coast of the island - where we could see into the horizon and actually see and feel that the earth is round. I really enjoyed spending the evening there, having a barbeque and talking with people out in the hot sun. Before we went home I picked up some nice stones from the shore, to bring with me for collection, and I also had my first bath in the see this year - it was a special, refreshing experience!
  

Now the time has gone and it's long past midnight. I have to end here and go to bed soon, because I've got a long day moving day ahead of me in some hours.

I have lived on the beautiful island Vannøya for two years now, and I can absolutely recommend this as a holiday island. I have really experienced that this summer. It's been very nice and fun to be on a holiday and sometimes be like a tourist here on my "own" island this summer. Now I don't only have memories from the normal work days here on Vannøya, but also from the nice and memorable summer time I've had here this year. All in all I've had two interesting and special years here on Vannøya, and there's so much that could've been said about those two years, but for now I will leave it with that. I just want to add that God has really been with me and helped me and blessed me through these years. God is so good, and He never forsakes me. He is always with me. He is always faithful. He is always good. Thank you, God!

Now I'm looking forward to moving to Tromsø and starting a new phase in my life.

Thank you for your attention, everyone, and have a blessed time in August!

Ruth Kristin, after the 12th of August - in the night

Now I will continue writing about the last couple of weeks…

Travelling to Bergen
First I want to mention something that happened on my trip to Bergen when I was flying down all the way from the north to take part in my friend’s wedding. In the airport in our capital Oslo I saw a famous Norwegian politician, a lady named Anita Apelthun Sæle. After a while I went over to her and introduced my self and started talking with her. She seemed a bit surprised that I – someone she didn’t know – contacted her all of a sudden, but she was friendly and continued talking with me. Inside the aeroplane I was allowed to sit next to her, and after she had finished writing two very nice greetings – one for me and one for my class in school – we sat there talking with each other during the whole flight between Oslo and Bergen. It was really nice and interesting talking with this lady, and I felt we soon became friends and got along very well. I like to meet celebrities, like I also told this Christian politician, and I’m crazy and bold enough to go over to them and talk to them. But this time I was extra blessed, because I got to talk for a long time with this famous lady and therefore got to know her on a more personal level. I was also blessed by the things she wrote to me. One of those things was this: “You are frank/candid – a very important skill to take care of.” I think she meant that I was brave and bold in contacting her, and that’s true. Many times I’ve been bold and done things like that, things that many people wouldn’t do. The good thing about it is often that I get a great reward or a blessing in one way or the other, and at the same time God uses me to bless other people.

Travelling home from Bergen
Let me now focus on my travel home from Bergen. On the last plane, the one going from Oslo to Tromsø, I sat next to a cosy and friendly woman. She was a tourist from Austria, and I started talking to her in German. For the first time I used my German skills in conversation with a tourist from a German speaking country. I did my best and managed to understand most of what she said and make my self understood by the use of German, a little bit of English and body language. I became good friends with this lady from Austria and had a very nice flight together with her. Her name was Aloisia, she was in the sixties, I think, and this was her first holiday in Norway. We gave each other our addresses and phone numbers, so now I am blessed with a friend that can host me any time I decide to visit Austria. God is good!

Nearly home
When I came to my ferry’s quay at Hansnes, I met a young guy called Ronny. We got along well, and on the ferry he introduced me to a young lady that was working on the ferry. When she was finished selling tickets, she sat down with us, and the three of us sat there talking together during most of the ferry trip to Vannøya. It was nice talking with these people, that were not so much younger than me. I was also blessed by getting a free ride with Ronny’s uncle from the quay at Vannøya and to my home in Vannareid, one of the villages here. Later that week Ronny showed me around at his work place, but I’ll tell you more about that later…

Finishing the school year
In week 25 I had my last three working days at the school, before the summer holiday. These days I, the other teachers and our pupils were tidying, finishing art work, watching movies, playing and doing other activities that was necessary or suitable this last school week. On Wednesday the 16th of June the class I’ve had the most was gathered for the last time, because the next day someone was going to an official arrangement in the commune where the Crown prince of Norway would come and visit. So on that Wednesday I held a farewell speech for the ten pupils in that class. I also gave each one of them a little good bye gift and wished them a good summer. It was a fine day we had together, and it was good to say some nice, finishing words to the class and give them a little gift each. This was good for me, because I’ve got a permission for one year and will not work in the school the coming school year. When some of the pupils gave me some farewell letters that last week, that was very nice and touching. As I told my pupils, I think I will miss them, at least a little bit, and I hope I will be able to come and visit them a few times.

Last week I had a talk with the administration in the school about my year at Vannareid school. It was very nice to talk with them and sum up the year that had gone by. They also gave me some advice concerning my jobs in the future, and these were good and helpful. I have been privileged to work with a good administration that has supported me and helped me in various ways. I also have had a very good co-operation with my other colleagues, and I have learnt a lot through working with them.

This last school year has in many ways been a challenging and tough year for me. I’ve been through many tough situations and periods this last year, both in my working time and in my private life. It has also been a year with many new experiences and much learning. And of course there has been many nice and memorable moments too. God has been with me and helped me through everything I’ve experienced, both good and bad, easy and difficult.

Now that I have finished the whole school year without getting a sick leaf, I have won a great victory. God has brought me through this year by his grace and with his help. All in all I have had success and gained more wisdom and strength through this last year. Now I have finished this year with strength and dignity, and in victory I can sing with the new Norwegian pop idol, Kjartan Salvesen: “I’m standing tall. I’ve been through it all.”.

Yes, I’m standing tall – by the grace of God! :)

A totally new experience
Now I’ll tell you about something I’ve experienced after the school year was finished. As I mentioned my new pal Ronny showed me around at his work place. He was working in a fish factory, and I thought it would be interesting to see how things were and what was going on there. I had never ever been in a place like that before, but Friday the 18th of June Ronny showed me around in the fish factory in Torsvåg here on Vannøya. There was not so much work going on in the factory at the time, so I saw a lot of machines and got many explanations, but I didn’t really know what most of the work would look like or be like in practice. Later that day I got the idea of asking if I could try to work in the factory myself, and that’s what happened! I was allowed to work there, and started my new summer job Sunday the 20th of June. This day I took part in many different work duties, and they were all part of a process of receiving and making ready 15 tons of fish for exporting. The whole work day was a totally new and fun experience for me. I learnt how to cut off the fish heads, how to take out the guts and the blood from the fishes, how to pack the fishes in boxes and how to pile all the boxes. I thought it was nice to be part of this work process. Last week I also worked at the fish factory on Wednesday and Friday, so now I’ve tried working there for three days. On Friday I was happy when I got to learn something totally new again. This day my group and I worked with some nice cods for a period of time, and then I learned how to use some machines and to do different necessary things to prepare the cods for export. I was told that the cods were being exported to Spain, so in some days there could be someone in Spain eating a nice cod fish touched by the hands of Ruth Kristin in the north of Norway. :)

It has been hard work, but also very interesting and exciting for me to work at the fish factory in Torsvåg. And after I first visited the place Ronny has introduced me to his colleagues, his family and several of his friends. I have been very social and visited people and made many new acquaintances. I even joined some young people having a party with alcohol and tobacco last Saturday evening. I found it a good opportunity to meet people, talk with them and to learn more about their culture.

All in all
All in all my two last weeks have been quite packed and filled with many new and interesting experiences. Next week I will continue to work in the fish factory and probably also continue visiting people here on Vannøya. But first I am going to a bible conference in Harstad, and it starts tomorrow. And now it’s already past midnight, so I have to end this blog writing and get ready for bed quite soon.

I wish you all a very good week! If any of you would like to give me a comment on any of my blog texts you can write me a mail to this address: rudydudy@yahoo.com.

Greetings from a woman of worth – Ruth Kristin – standing tall

(Most of this text was written Tuesday, 29th of June.)

Hello again! I’m back in business! :) It’s been a long time since I last wrote a blog text, and that’s mainly because I’ve had many things to do and because I’ve pushed the blogging into the future. But now I’m taking my time to blog again, and I hope that you all will find something of worth and something giving encouragement in this blog text of today.

As I’m writing it’s evening, but the sun is shining bright as in the day here on Vannøya where I live. When the weather is good the sun is shining both night and day, and it never gets dark this period of the year. That’s because we are privileged to have the “midnight sun” here in the North in the summer time. That means that the sun never goes down, and when the weather is sunny and you’re in the right place, you can see the sun shining by midnight. It’s a bit unusual for me, and it sometimes makes it harder to sleep at night, but all in all I like this light period of time and thinks it’s nice to be able to enjoy the sun late in the evening and in the night.

This evening I would like to focus on the last period of time and tell you about some of my experiences this period. I’ll start with what happened the weekend I travelled to Bergen a couple of weeks ago…

I came to Bergen to attend the wedding of my good friend, Hiwot and her fiancee Neftalem. They got married on Saturday, the 12th of June, and I was happy to join them in the celebration from the wedding ceremony started and until the wedding party was over in the evening. It was very fun and nice for me to attend this wedding and celebrate the wonderful marriage between the beautiful bride Hiwot and her handsome groom Neftalem. They come from Ethiopia and Eritrea, so this was an African wedding with very many guests and with some other ingredients than in Norwegian weddings. One of the differences was that there were no speeches being held during the wedding party. In stead they did something that’s not common in Norway – they played African music and let those who wanted come and dance and enjoy them selves. I also took part in the dancing some times, and I liked it. I also liked meeting people I knew and in addition getting many new acquaintances. The wedding day was filled with Christian worship, good prayers, serious promises, sharing of rings, joy and smiles, photographing, happy music, spontaneous dance, tasty African food and many other memorable ingredients. I thank God for bringing Hiwot and Neftalem together and pray that God will bless them and give them a wonderful and rich life with grace and strength from Him.

The day after the wedding of Hiwot and Neftalem I joined my brother Josef and his family and took part in the Sunday meeting in the church “Kristent Felleskap” (Christian Fellowship). It was a very good meeting, and it was good to worship God, hear His word and meet many brothers and sisters in His family. After the meeting I spent some hours playing and having fun with my sweet “auntie kids”, Jacob, Sara and Lars Benjamin. In the evening I relaxed in the home of my good brother Josef and his wife Liz. The next day I travelled back to the North of Norway, but that is another story…

And that story I have to tell another day, because now it’s getting late, and since I’m sick and have got fever today, I should go to bed soon.

Maybe I’ll be back tomorrow, and then I can tell you about some of my experiences from the last couple of weeks. Until then, have a good night everyone!

PS. My mother told me that a lady she knows in India thought I had so nice blogs. This is a little greeting to you, Brenda: Thank you for encouraging me! Have a blessed summer in India!

Ruth Kristin on Vannøya ("Water island")

Meeting some in my family
Meeting some of my friends
Meeting brothers and sisters
with a love that never ends
Sharing food and sharing fun
Sharing work and sharing sun
Eyes and smiles meet and talk
Words and laughter do their walk
Being open, being real
Sharing life and sharing zeal
A caring heart, a friendly hand
helps me find my future land

Ruth Kristin Thu, 18.05.2004

I haven't got much available time, and I need practise in saying things shortly and without too many details. It can be good to be detailed, but not always.

I now want to mention some things from the last weeks that has stands out and doensn't happen every day:

* I had a very nice Easter holiday, and most of it I spent in Bergen, visiting and fellowshiping with family and friends. It was a really good holiday, where I also attended the brilliant Easter Conference arranged by Christian Fellowship.

* A friend of mine has sent me two packets in the mail - within one week! That was two great surprises, very fun to receive. I have to make sure I thank her really soon.

Now the minutes are flying away, and my evening lesson is coming soon, so I have to stop with this. Finally I have come back to my blog, I have written some good things, and I have succeeded in not being too detailed! :) Now I am pleased with my self, and I hope my readers are too...

Have a blessed evening, all of you!


Ruth Kristin, 03.05.04

I am back again...
Finally I am back on the net to write some words in my blog, after several weeks with no blog writing or any "sign of life" from me. Through the last weeks I have experienced both some difficult situations and some uplifting situations. and I've had many things to think about (and I still have). In the midst of this period I have sometimes thought about my blog and wondered what to write here and when to take the time to do it. Now I see there are so many things I could write about, and many words could have been said about some of those things. But today is a special day - it's my sister's birthday - and I have decided to leave all those other things and rather give attention to my sister instead...

My sister's birthday
Today is my sister's birthday, and I gave her a phone call earlier on to congratulate her on her 31st birthday. I sang her a birthday song and had a nice little chat with my friendly sister. After that phone conversation I have spent some time thinking about my beautiful sister, my sister that is so precious to me. And here is a poem I've made for my sister:

*

My sister

My sister is special,
loving and kind.
She's full of warmth,
and she often smiles.

My sister is beautiful
in looks and in heart.
She laughs and shines
and creates fine art.

My sister is caring
and gives of her self.
She often helps me
feel good about my self.

My sister is also
crazy sometimes.
She comes with ideas
and enjoys being wild.

My sister is unique
and precious to me.
She's always been there,
she's shared life with me.

My sister is Hanna,
and YOU ARE THE BEST!
May all of your days
and your life be blessed!

Love from your sister - Ruth Kristin.

*

Beautiful, little Sunniva
My sister Hanna is not the only one having a birthday today. Her beautiful daughter has also got a birthday - on the same day as her mother. One year ago little Sunnica was born, and now she is one year old today. On the coming Saturday the family will have a special arrangement and let Sunniva be blessed and prayed for by people in the church. That day they will have a party and celebrate Sunniva being a child of God as well as being a one-year-old girl.

Here's a little poem I have made for Sunniva in Norwegian:

Sunniva, du er nydelig.
Du er enestående og unik.
Jeg ønsker du av gode ting
i hjertet må bli rik.
Du har ei god framtid
som ligger foran deg.
Jeg ønsker deg Guds nåde
og glede på din vei.

Love and best wishes
I hope that both my sister Hanna and her daughter Sunniva is enjoying this special mother-and-daughter-birthday. I love you very much and I wish you all the best, both of you. I couldn't give you any ordinary present today, but I give you these poems I have written today. I have written them from my heart, and my heart cares for you. So please let my love reach you and bless you through my words - just where you are, far away in England.

Much love to Hanna, Sunniva and the rest of the family
from your sister and friend Ruth Kristin, that never stops to care about you.

This evening a little girl was born into this world. Her name is Matilde, and she is my new niece. I was happy and thankful to God after hearing these good news, and I thanked God for Matilde and prayed that God would bless her and her family.

Congratulations to my brother, David, and his wife Lene!

And welcome to this world, little Matilde! I am sure you are a beautiful girl, and I care for you and are looking forward to meeting you and getting to know you. I will continue to pray for you, dear Matilde, and I will try to be a very good auntie for you. God bless you, Matilde!

I also want to say congratulations to Matildes big sister, Veronica, and her big brother, Jonathan. Congratulations both of you! I think you will like to have a little sister to share your lives with.

Maybe none in my brother David's family will be able to read this text, but hopefully they all will get the chance to read this one day. And if not I can tell them that I have broadcasted the news about their new baby girl on the world wide web, and I think they will like it.

Life is wonderful. Life is full of changes. And a great and dear message was brought to me today - a message of a big change in our family, and a message that will mean many changes to the proud parents and the nearest family. And I pray that the precious new living creature that was born into the world today will be a great blessing and mean a positive change for many people in the time to come. God's plans for Matilde are very very good.

Thank you, Lord, for Matilde! Thank you, Jesus!

Welcome, Matilde!


Love from your auntie, Ruth Kristin - "tante Rutti"

On Sunday evening I came home from my short weekend trip to Bergen. I traveled to the city where my parents live on Friday morning and went back to the north on Sunday. This was a short stay in the city of Bergen, actually the shortest stay I've ever had there after moving away from the south of Norway. Still, it was a very nice and important stay for me, and I wouldn't have missed it. I went all the way to Bergen, so that I could join in on the big celebration of my mother on Saturday. You see, my dear mother turned 60 on Valentines day, the 14th of February, and my dad arranged a big party for her. It was one of those one-time-experiences that never comes back, and it was important for me to be a part of it and to show appreciation and honour to my special and dear mother. I did not want to loose this occasion, but really wanted to join in on the party and celebrate my mum with my family and friends of my mother. My mother turns 60 only once, and it was natural for me to come to the big celebration we made for her.

The party we had for our mother went really well. We enjoyed a very nice and tasty dinner, a good desert and many different sweat cakes. In between the eating, there were many speaches and other little contributions - given by different people that wanted to show their appreciation of my mother, Solveig, and honour her. It was very nice to sit and listen to all of the good words people were giving to my mum. I knew about most of the things being said allready, but I liked listening to all the nice things that were being said about my mum. And I also liked to take part in honouring my mum on her birthday. In the middle of the party I read a personal poem I had written especially for my mother, and then I became so touched that I had to take some short reading breaks to be able to read on. But I continued to read after a few pauses on some seconds, and afterwards I heard people saying nice things about the poem, and some aunts told me that they too and my mother too had become touched by my poem. Later in the party I also contributed with a song I had made in occasion of my mothers birthday. I sand the song in a microphone in front of all the guests, and I felt it went very well. I got many nice compliments about my voice and the song afterwards, and that was really encouraging for me. On my way home from the party I also realised that I hadn't sung a song in a microphone in front of a crowd before. At least I can't remember that. And I felt happy, proud and pleased with my successful song contribution to honour and encourage my mother. It was really nice to experience that my singing went so well, to hear all the fine compliments I got and to realise I had done something totally new and thereby taken a new step in my life.

I really thougt it was nice to be part of celebrating and honouring my special and wonderful mother. She is the best mother on earth and beats the rest, like I wrote here on Mother's day. But my mother is so much more and means a lot to many people. She is really a special person, and I love her very much. But to me, my mother is first of all my mother - and I call her "mor" in Norwegian. She is my good, dear mother, and I am thankful for all that she has given me and all that she is for me. I love you, mother! (I know you are reading my blog, so I think it's ok that I say this to you here.)

All in all I had an enjoyable stay in Bergen this last weekend. It was very nice to join in on the celebrating of my dear mother and to meet many family members and friends of the family - because most of them I don't see very often. And some of my family members, my sister Hanna and her children, I was able to spend some more time with than the others, because we all lived in the house of my parents. And I was really happy to meet them and spend some time with them again.

Now I have been a couple of days on the island where I live, and I have experienced some positive changes in my daily work at the school here. God is with me and is helping me to do a good job and handle the challenges of each day. He is so good to me, and I love him, my God and Saviour!

I wish you all a very good week!


Ruth Kristin, Tuesday evening, 17th of February.

Today it is "Mother's day" - what we call "morsdag" - here in Norway. I will now write down a little poem that I've made for my mother. I'm writing this on my blog to honour my mother and to give her a little joyous surprise on this day.

*

My mother

My mother is the best
My mother beats the rest
There's no one on this earth
like the one who gave me birth

I love my dear, good mother
She's warm and very kind
She's caring like no other
Today she's on my mind

*

Congratulations on your "Mother's day"! Gratulerer med morsdagen, mor!

Thank you for being such a wonderful mother! Thank you for everything!


Much love from your daughter Ruth Kristin.

Today I'm back home after spending the weekend in the nearest city, called Tromso. I've had a very nice and relaxing weekend in the city. Now I will mention some of my experiences from the last days.

Thursday evening I went to a group gathering with my bible group. This group is a part of the church "Kristent Fellesskap", and we met in the home of a very nice married couple. This husband and wife are warm and friendly people and served us tasty food and different things to take away our thirst. During the cozy meal we talked and shared thoughts and episodes from our lives with each other, and after this we spent a lot of time on worship and prayer. We had a really good time together and experienced that God moved among us and encouraged us as we spent time in His prescence and prayed for each other. During that time I was used by God to bless and encourage some of the others in the group, and that was a very good experience. Thank you, Lord, for your grace and goodness!

On Friday among other things I enjoyed playing a game with my nephew, Daniel, and my niese, Kristina. And on Saturday I had an nice, long chat with my sister-in-law Ingebjørg. It is good to have someone to share thoughts and experiences with sometimes.

On Sunday I joined a very good Sunday service with the church. I came early to the school where we have our meetings, because I was the one standing in the entrance welcoming everyone this day. It was good to do this service for the Lord, and then I also got the chance to greet some new people. One of them have actually very recently given her life to Jesus, so it was very nice to greet her when she came to her first church service in "Kristent Fellesskap". After the meeting I talked with a new lady from Ghana for the first time and felt we got along very well. She actually said she would come and visit me here on the island where I live, and I really liked that and was immediately interested. We exchanged phone numbers and will make an appointment with each other later on. Now I feel I have a new friend, I am looking forward to receiving her as my guest.

This last weekend I've been encouraged and blessed by spending time with my sister-in-law and other christians, by spending time in the prescence of God and by listening to the word of God. During the weekend I've made some new plans and goals for my self, and I am ready to continue my life here on Vannoya.

Before I end my blog session for today I will type a poem that I wrote in the end of my Christmas holiday, on the 3rd of January:

My life is exciting
My life is bright
My life is expanding
when I'm living right

My life is exciting
and full of new life
My life is often changing
and one day I'm a wife

My life is exciting
No day is the same
I'm living my life
trusting in Jesus' name

Ruth Kristin Thu, Monday evening, 26.01.2004

A new week of my life is soon over, it's saturday and I have a self made pizza in the oven, that soon will be ready to be eaten. I thought I would take this oppurtunity to write some words in my blog, and this time I want to tell you about the week of my life that is in it's ending face.

I've had a week with many variations. By that I mean that I've experienced many different situations, and also the weather has been changing here on the island where I live.

Now my pizza is finished. I've just taken it out of the oven, and it looked really good. So now I'll take a break in my writing and go to eat my pizza. I think it will be very tasteful and good.

I'm back, and my stomach is full. The pizza was nice, but it wasn't the best that I've made or tasted. But now I'll tell you about some things I have experienced this week.

This week I've experienced both difficult and pleasant situations at work. I especially found it interesting being together with a group of girls when they listened to and talked with a health worker. It was good that these girls got the information they got and that they could freely ask and talk about all the things they had on their minds.

I also want to mention some things from my free time. One afternoon I was invited to the principal's home to eat a special dinner from the north of Norway with my colleagues. Most of us came, and on my way to the dinner I had a very nice view on the sky. As I sat in the car to one of my colleagues, I saw the Northern Lights - and it was really fantastic! I have seen the Northern Lights many times, and it's never the same, but most of the time I've seen it in the white colour version, and it's not always so big. This evening it was tremendous. The Northern Lights was filling almost all of the sky. I could see it whereever I turned to look from within the car. And it was full of instant changes. It was moving and changing fast, and the vague colours of pink and green I could see in the beginning just became stronger and stronger, escpecially the pink. So after a while I could see a big "belt" of strong, clear pink light, and it was really beautiful. Yes, the Northern Lights were really so wonderful and nice to watch this evening. I've never seen it so big and full of life and colours in one go like this time, I think. At least it was one very special sight that I saw. But as I said the Northern Lights is never the same from time to time. It's unique every time you see it. And this week I have seen it more than one day, actually. It's just that I wanted to mention this time, because it was so special. It was just wonderful, and it would be so nice if I had a camera and could film it as I saw it, but I couldn't. I really like to see the Northern Lights, but some times it's extra nice and fun to see it. You see, sometimes the lights are extra fantastic and beautiful and you get an experience out of the ordinary when you watch it.

Before I end I will also mention another part of the nature, and that is the snow and the wind. The weather has been changing, as I said. Some days we've had a clear, calm day with no wind, but this saturday it's been really windy here. When I went out to pick up the post today I saw it had been snowing a little more, and I noticed the wind was really blowing. Later on I've had some longer walking trips outside. One time I went to the school to do some work, and right then it was not much wind outside. But outside the school I could see the wind had been blowing and had moved the snow. I bent down and studied the nice pattern the wind had made in the snow. I found it fascinating. When I went back home, and when I went some minutes later went to visit a friend, it was very windy, and the snow was blowing around me. I took a break on my way home from the school and just stood there and felt the strong wind hitting me and putting snow on me. I found it fun and fascinating to watch the wind as it moved the snow on the ground - over and over the snow was blown into the same direction.

I have had some nice moments this week, and now I have shared some of them with you. The rest of my nice moments I will not tell about, because I want to keep them as my own secrets.

I hope you have liked to read about one week of my life. I wish you all a very good coming week!

Rudydudy, Saturday evening - 17th of January, 2004

After having spent my christmas holiday with family and friends in Bergen and Stavanger it was time to travel home to the north yesterday. My journey started in Bergen with a fantastic view of the sunrise from within the airoplane. Some time later we landed in Trondheim, where I had to wait for about one hour before I took a new plane up to Bodo and finally Tromso. When I looked out onto the sky in Tromso I saw it was filled with beautiful and flaming red colours - giving us a great view. After some hours on the airport I travelled by bus to Hansnes, the sentre in the commune where I live. Not long before we arrived there I saw some of "the northern lights" when I sat in the bus, and I felt happy that I was back in the north and could see this special phenomenon again. When I finally was safe out of the bus with all my five collies, I was met by a beutiful view on the sky: I saw "the northern lights" right next to the moon on a dark blue sky, and it was really nice. I grabbed the opportunity to make a lasting memory out of it all, picked up my camera and took a photo of the fantastic scenery I was shown. Some minutes later I travelled with the ferry to the island called "Vannoya", a very nice and big island with majestic mountains, lots of reindeers and many other specialties. Vannoya (literally meaning "Water island") is where I have my home, but I had to get into a new bus after arriving on the island, and there I sat talking with a lady I had just gotten aqainted with until I after about half an hour had reached the house I live in. The bus driver was so kind that he took a little extra drive for my sake and stopped the bus right outside my home. I went out of the vehicle, and soon my friendly neighbours came out to help me. I was happy to see them again, went over to them and gave them hugs and wished them a happy new year - "Godt nyttaar!" in Norwegian. The evening went by with different activities, some neccessary and some not so neccessary.

Today I was "back in buisness" and had a full working day as a teacher. During one of the breaks between the lessons I was blessed to be the one having "the inspection" (watching over the kids) and being able to watch a magnificent scenery on the sky at the same time. We saw many beatiful red colour beems, lying on top of and sometimes mixing with the very nice and clear blue colours in the sky. That's how one could describe it, but it's of course too beautiful to manage to explain it fully in only words.

The weather yesterday and today was really wonderful, and it was good to be back in this beautiful part of Norway - where both the nights and the days are filled with majestic beauty given us from our wonderful and creative God. I love you, my Creator and my God! Thank you for creating me, Lord! And thank you for saving me through Jesus Christ!

Ruth Kristin on Vannoya, Tuesday 6/1-04.

Hello everyone, and welcome to my blog! My great dad, Erling Thu, has helped me to create and open my own personal blog here on the world wide web. He has also made the title to this post, but from now on I will do all the work here my self and write my own titles and texts.

I think it's exiting to think about that I'm now starting my own blog, and that people from all around the world can read my words here on my blog from now on. Yes, I'm now doing something really exiting and interesting. I'm doing something new, something I've never done before. It will be interesting to see what this blogging will meen both for me and for all visitors on this blog.

My life is exiting and changes happen often. Now another change has happened: I have started my own new blog, and I have now become a "blogger" like my father and mother who has been brave and been blogging for a while.

I welcome you all to my blog, and I also want to wish you all a blessed and happy new year!

This is not the last words from me. I'll definately be back and blog some more! :)

Have a good evening, everyone!


Happy greetings from the new blogger - Ruth Kristin.