From the Editor: Vikings & Jazz Festivals

I can hear you thinking: "What do Vikings and jazz festivals have in common?"

What they have in common is that this is what some of you YWAMers have been up to in Europe this year. Look at you go!

What they also have in common, is that they are part of the stories we have lined up for you in this very second edition of Connected - YWAM Europe news and info. We are very proud to present this newsletter with four stories, one from each European region: Northern, Southern, Central and Eastern/Russia.

We hope they will inspire and encourage you.

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Thanks for reading Connected - YWAM Europe news and info!
Rodney, for EuroCom

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How to reach "the old world"

by Terje Konradsen

As a young student in school I learned about "the rivers in Siberia"; Ob, Yenisey and Lena - three of the largest rivers on the planet. Most of the year they are frozen and serve as ice-roads for motorized vehicles and snow mobiles. In the springtime they become alive again and boats and ships of all shapes and sizes go up and down the river.

This summer YWAM was able to buy a boat in Novosibirsk. A team of four from Kamchatka took it 2600 kilometers down the river to Salekhard, the administrative center of the Yamal Nenet Okrug. After two weeks on the river, three Andrei´s and one Ivan arrived at the first indigenous Christian conference for Finno-Ugric and Samojedic peoples in Yamal. Yamal means the ends of the earth. That´s where Jesus asked us to go and YWAM is already there.

Siberia is as big as the entire Europe, USA and Alaska put together; an enormous landmass full of natural resources for the Russian government to fuel their economic development. But you will find people there too. Let us not forget "the forgotten" in Siberia.

Nadjesta or Dar?

Since July, YWAM has a boat on the river of Ob in Siberia, ready to take teams into the heart of the Russian mainland. It will be based in Salekhard. The Good News Church, our partner in Yamal, looks after it and is using it to reach out to the indigenous peoples in their area. Since we consecrated the boat, two names have been suggested to identify it: "Nadjesta" which means "hope" - a common Russian female name. Another suggestion is a nickname most YWAMers will recognize: "Dar" (for Darlene Cunningham). In Russian it means "gift".

Our prayer is that this first YWAM ship in Siberia will be the beginning of a new fleet. YWAM Russia and YWAM Northern Europe are partnering to see a ship ministry be developed in both regions. YWAMers in Northern Europe are praying to see the release of a bigger ship, and a crew, for service in between our Nordic and Baltic Capitals. From this bigger ship we would be able to serve and equip smaller riverboats in Eastern Europe. These smaller riverboats will be able to reach the “old world” effectively. The Old World was developed and populated by people coming on the rivers to pioneer the land.

The Vikings are coming!

I also learned in school about my forefathers; the Vikings. They used ships "to reach out to the world" as well; on the oceans in the west and on the rivers in the east. Next summer thousands of YWAMers are expected to attend the outreach during the Olympic Games in England. What could be a greater adventure than taking a group of young people in a Viking ship from Scandinavia to England? That is exactly what YWAM will do! This time carrying only spiritual weapons and the message of peace: No robberies or plundering!

A crew is coming together as well as a thousand young Mission Adventurers from YWAM Norway. BBC is interested in making a program about "the Vikings coming back..." and our own YWAM ship, the Next Wave from Marine Reach, will serve as the supply boat as we cross the North Sea.

Pray with us as we press on to obey the word of the Lord!

For more information contact coreteam@ywamne.org.

Regeneration Outreach impacts Jazz festival with gospel

by Jhoana Bello

It was for the 5th year this year that we descended on Montreux for our Regeneration outreach during the Jazz Festival. As often during this time in Switzerland the days were swelteringly hot and thousands of people descended on the Montreux “Riviera” as the lakeside is locally known. They were there to spend the evening going to concerts, tasting the food or just generally enjoying the atmosphere.

Our stage is right at the lakeside and it is a great place to perform as many people pass by there to or from the concerts. This year we had the privilege to receive a team from the South Pacific that ministered with us. Many people watched as this team testified of God through traditional dances, songs and games. The colorful costumes of the Tahiti dance and the warrior cries of the Maori Haka dance were surefire crowd pullers.

There was also much interaction with the crowd. Games for kids and dance lessons as people were invited to learn the Hula dance. And because there was an international gymnastic event in the region there were many delegations of many countries that paid us a visit. The Portuguese delegation especially enjoyed our rendering of Portuguese songs and even volunteered to sing along.

The event every evening was the Samoan Fire dance. A traditional dance from the Island of Samoa that involves juggling with burning sticks. After this fire dance a testimony was given and an Altar Call went out. Through this every day several people gave their life to the Lord. One of our participants tells this story: “Each night people would come forward to commit their lives to Jesus and then we would pray with them. One night I noticed a guy come forward and I later asked him why. He then proceeded to share his story of pain, family rejection, and how he was searching for someone or something bigger than him that he could trust in, that could motivate him and give his life meaning. He said that night he knew it was Jesus and that tonight was the night to make a choice to trust in God.”

There were several similar stories as 50 people made a choice to follow Jesus and beyond that many more seeds were planted as 1000 people heard the gospel, either for the first time or as a reminder that God is still looking for a relationship with them. Overall we are thankful that we could have this opportunity to minister in Montreux during the Jazz Festival. We believe it will have a lasting on impact on Switzerland and much beyond as people return to their home country.

You can find more information here: http://www.ywamlausanne.com/new/opportunities/outreach-regeneration

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A dream to see a community transformed in Romania

by Carmen Busch
from YWAM Targu Mures, Romania

"I dream to see a community transformed".

Those were Nadja’s words one morning in January as we gathered as a team (YWAM Targu Mures) to review our calling and commitments. Let me tell you how God led us to this community.

It was a dark, muddy spring day as we (there were three of us girls and one baby) piled into a newly acquired Dacia (the only Romanian make) and headed towards the mountains in hopes to find “the community” we thought God was leading us to.

We went from village to village, praying as we drove. We were amazed by the beauty of God's creation contrasting the poverty of the houses erected by men. There weren’t many people out, which was surprising for this time a year. At some point we reached what seemed to be the end of the road. Somewhat disappointed we turned around to head back. That's when we saw a church and decided to park the car and go inside.

One man stopped and offered to give us a tour of the church. As we politely listened we couldn’t help thinking about what might be on the other side of this village, so we thought we’d ask. The man told us in broken Romanian (he spoke mainly Hungarian and smelled like he had one too many drinks), "Oh you don’t want to go there. That is a very poor village, with mostly Hungarian gypsies and no one ever wants to go there."

But oh, how we did! Excited, we said our goodbyes and off we went on this “kind of” road. Again we parked by another church and to our surprise we were shortly surrounded by people telling us their story.

This is how a love affair began, between this poor community and us as a missionary base. The opportunities are endless since there is just one run-down school with only one teacher for all the kids of all ages. There is no doctor’s office, no police station, no fire station, and no store at which to buy groceries. The people are starving both literally and figuratively for attention and affection.

Further outreach to this community is now one of our long-term goals for the base.

I hope you are equally blessed by this opportunity and I am confident that shortly we will rejoice together in the ways God chose to bless these precious people.

More than “Just a house”

by Denis Holt with Belinda Chaplin

The Republic of Georgia is a small country in the Caucusas region of the former Soviet Union. Some time ago the staff of the Tbilisi base stood on a little hill overlooking the city of Marniuli in an unreached area of Georgia, asking the Lord what part we could take in reclaiming this land and its people for Christ. We felt we were to establish a “foothold” in the city of Marniuli. So we began looking at houses and eventually something suitable, and in December began raising the money to purchase it. Within one and half months we had the 42,000 dollars we needed!

But when we went to look at the house again, we got the sad news that we could not buy it. We prayed hard! Months went by and one place after another fell through. In August we unexpectedly found out that the first house was now available. Within two weeks we were able to buy the house without one problem!

We remembered some of the Words of the Lord given to us as we prayed. My family would not live there but it would be a new ministry “birthed” out of the already established base. In the end it was exactly 9 months from when we started praying for this “foothold” in Marniuli until the time of purchase…

So, here we were with a house, but no staff or ministries to use it. Even before I signed the papers, I had two Azerbaijani families tell me of their desire to work in the Marniuli region! And previously an American couple had shown a desire to work in this region: They arrived the very next week after we purchased the house.

There is a famous line from a movie that says “If you build it they will come”. Some people tried to discourage us in this vision- “well, it is taking too long, maybe it is not the Lord’s will”. “You know none of the current staff has a vision for living there so, maybe it is not the right time”, etc. But now we see that this house was God’s plan all along and He is the one building the ministry – birthing it out of our base to serve the Maniuli region for His glory.

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