Ministry Team Track - Lovund

Typically for our Discipleship Training School (DTS) the schedule follows 2 weeks of teaching and then 1 week of the Team Ministry or Outdoor Adventure tracks.  The Outdoor Adventure track has 9 students and 3 staff and their time this year will involve hiking, climbing glaciers, caving, skiing, kayaking, and some other adventures.  The Team Ministry track has 3 students and 2 staff (Jon Peter, aka JP, and I) and our time will be split between going to Lovund and Bodø to evangelize and/or do practical work.

For the week of October 8-13, we (the Team Ministry track) went to the island of Lovund.  Lovund is small, and can only be accessed by boat (there is no driving around the fjords and over a bridge from one place to another like you can in some places), and which only comes and goes a few times a day. The island has 433 people living here, 1 old folks home that has room for 5 people, 1 grocery store, 1 hotel, and is known for the puffins that visit the island around April each year.  The pastor, Hans Arne, and his wife Trude have really been praying and asking for people to come and help, so we were excited to be able to do that.  

On Monday our team left at 5:45pm on a fast boat from Grønøy to Ønoy , which took 2 hours.  We then switched boats to go from Ønoy to Lovund, which took another hour, and we arrived at 9pm.  We had an evening meal with Hans Arne and Trude and then went to the church, where we stayed for the week.

Tuesday we took a tour of the island and then enjoyed lunch at the salmon factory (biggest and major business on the island and where Trude also works).  In the afternoon we began painting one of the walls of the church building that had been rebuilt by a DTS team the year before.  And in the evening Hanna, Paninnguaq, and I were invited went to “knitting time,” which is held at the hotel every Tuesday night for those that want to join.  Knitting is very much a part of the culture in Norway and it was a great way to meet other women from the community.

Wednesday included spending the morning planning for youth club that we would run in the evening on a nearby island. We left at 1pm on a fast boat to Salvær (the island is about 45 minutes away by fast boat, and is where Hans Arne leads youth group one Wednesday a month and a Sunday service once a month).  On this night we had a devotion, songs, and games for the 8 youth (ages 6-15) that live there and then had cake and snacks before taking the 7:30pm boat back to Lovund.  Only 63 people live on Salvær and they have no grocery store, so they have to plan accordingly when they need to visit another island by ferry boat for supplies.

On Thursday we spent the morning putting a second coat of paint on the church wall while JP worked on cutting and framing the inside of an emergency exit door at the front of the church. In the evening we joined a prayer meeting.

Friday JP finished the door in the morning while Aleksander did practical work around the church. Paninngwaq, Hanna, and I made food for the evening youth club and then we all spent the afternoon planning and preparing for youth club. From 6-8pm is for the youth in grades 5, 6, and 7 followed by a cafe time from 8-9pm for all the youth before club continues from 9-11pm for grades 8 and up.

And finally on Saturday we took the fast boat at 7am from Lovund to Ønoy, changed boats in Ønoy for  Grønøy and arrived back at the base by 10:15am.