From the January-March 2009 Issue
Letter from North Norway
John and Oline Taylor
John TaylorVisit to Tana
In October in this part of the world the days shorten quickly and the first frost and snow have come, but there can be warm periods. Oline and I set off to drive the 520 miles to Tana. The roads were good and we were looking forward to visiting the new little church there. They have had some problems, but there has been an increase in membership since they started two years ago. Now they face the winter without their pastor and another key family have had to move south for work. Nevertheless, we found them encouraged and with a busy programme.
First we took part in a Saturday morning gathering to which 29 people came, mostly from the village; many who would not be professing Christians. The gospel was preached and valuable contact maintained. There were 10 people at the Sunday service and a good atmosphere. These came from a wider area. On Monday the children meet. They call their meeting ‘The Winning Tea’ — 17 children and 6 adults attended. Some of these were immigrants from Russia and Peru. All were keen to take part and they listened well to the story of the prodigal son.
On the Wednesday we were warmly welcomed at the nursing home in the village and we had a meeting there. Several of the people working in the home seemed attentive to the Word preached. Then that evening back at the hall there was a prayer meeting.
It was a great encouragement for us to be together with these friends. They will need some help in the future and we are praying for a worker who can move there. We also hope to visit them again this winter if heath allows. Since we arrived home we have heard that a lady has joined the church and that the Sunday meeting was well attended.
Back in our own district
Returning to our home area, we have quite a busy programme with regular meetings in Sørreisa, but the group, who are elderly folk, have reached the stage where sickness and pure old age affect the attendance week by week. We have most of our meetings in the home of an elderly couple. The wife (aged 89) plays the organ in our meeting. In the last few months her husband has become muddled. He is 99 years old, but he is quite clear on spiritual matters. We do not know how long we can continue the meetings there. Several of the other members of the group are so ill that they are unable to come to meetings, and one member died just recently, so we do not know what direction we will take.
There are other churches in the area where I preach occasionally and these friends visit one another from time to time.
Summer conferences
Last summer we were at two conferences in our area. One conference was for our denomination and about 100 people attended. There were lots of children and families. There was something for everybody and it was encouraging to be able to spend time together. The other conference was a gathering of the different churches in our district. This was also well attended, with good ministry. The Lord was in our midst.
Our son Charles is working with an evangelistic Lutheran mission. He has camps in our area and visits groups that have youth and children’s meetings.
We do want to thank you all for your support through all these years.