Cafe Jabes

I woke up semi-early on May 5 to work at Café Jabes (Café Jabez in English) – owned and run by the Salvation Army as a place for the people of the community to get a super cup of coffee and have a safe place to chat, interact, listen to multicultural music, and experience the love of Jesus from its workers. (Today, a man said he loves to come to Jabes because the pubs are so much more crowded and not as peaceful or cozy). May 5 was the first day of the reopening, and I loved every minute because Café Jabes has been closed down for the past month or so for remodeling. During the remodeling stage many people would just stop by to pitch in anyway they could from painting, cutting wood, laying down the flooring, to cleaning. Over this last month our prayer has been that people would not see Jabes as it once was, a rundown religious place that even Christians would avoid; also back in the day when it was known for illegal gambling and drugs, but they would give it another chance.
So on May 5 the doors were open 12pm to 2am and the first time to have it open in the daytime. With so much left to do, we somehow overlooked the advertising of the reopening date, so most was by word of mouth and not to mention the big sign painted on the window that read, “free coffee and lattes all day.” This incentive was by far the best idea as people started coming in for the free drinks regardless of the old reputation Café Jabes had. A steady flow of people came in all day and by 9pm the place was packed with 93 plus people compared to 10 to 20 people in the past. One man had told me he would never go to Café Jabes because it was just not the kind of place he wants to hang out and he came back the next week too.

We closed down Jabes for 5 weeks out of faith not really knowing what would become of it or if anyone would even come and God was so faithful to bring the people. Many told me that night, “I was walking by and the music drew me in to see what was going on.” This is exactly what we had been praying for!”

Café Jabes is growing rapidly and God’s hand is in it 100% so thank you so much for all your prayers, God is answering them.

Tallinn, Estonia

April 11 to April 16

WorldBase Director and Senior Pastor, John Henry, Gretchen, and I flew to the capital city of Estonia, Tallinn, (sounds like Tylene or Talene) to help with and attend a Pastor’s Bible Study Intensive class led by Daniel Brown. There were about twenty people total from Estonia, Norway, Russia, Great Britain, and the United States. The Bible study was a benefit to everyone and not only did we have fun practicing the skills being taught but the fellowship was great with a lot of laughing and building good friendship between the members of the European region. We even managed to squeeze in a little sight seeing of the old city dating back to 1300 this was by far the most fascinating city I have ever seen that brought ancient history to life.

Århus, Denmark

March 29 to April 1

I joined a couple from Kristiansand Foursquare Church (Henriette & Kjell Bringsjord) on a scouting trip to Århus, Denmark as they are getting ready to plant a church there. Foursquare has been trying to plant a church in Denmark for many years but until now all attempts have fallen through. God’s timing is perfect. We went on many prayer walks, worked on making connections with others, and drove throughout the city to find a location to start the church; overall the scouting trip was very successful. I won’t be a part of the church plant but I was there to support them, see what it’s like to plant a church, and to know how God can use me in the future to support the church plant team like leading missionary teams there.

Snohomish WA. Team

March 2 to March 12

we had a construction team of 4 people from Hope Foursquare Church in Snohomish, WA. They worked hard on many projects here at Kristiansand Foursquare church and not only were they a huge blessing to the church but they were a wonderful blessing to me also, working with them on construction projects, talking the construction talk and having wonderful conversation of my home state WA. The projects they constructed were a wonderful blessing, and the faith they carried with them was such an encouragement that so many here needed.