Hallo out there - if you are still there... Wow, it's been a while since we last posted here on Xanga. What can we say - since we retuned home from our holiday in SA time has just desapired. And now we are soon in Marts - unbelievable. But even though it has been almost 3 months since our last update, we don't have much new to tell.

We have had visitors since Christmas and both our families are still in crises so with that and work we really don’t get time to much else. We are doing well, enjoying Norway - can't believe how lovely it is to live here. I meet a South African family at work, they live in Oslo (the capital of Norway) so it is proven - it is possible for South Africans to live here - so please come join us

We bought a car!!!!!!!! A really family car, can you believe it... Haven't taken any pictures yet, but will post some soon. Just need to wash the car first... And that can take while.

Here are a couple of pictures from the last while...

Real beauty...

Skiing with friends...

Steffen brother and nephew with friends came to visit...

An afternoon nap - Not bad to be a dog in this house...

Steffen mom came to ski...

Night skiing with Steffen's mom and our friend Heine...

Steffen went on an off pist course, here are the guys on the team...

If you want to ski down, you need to walk up first...

But some people like to walk up, up, up, up and up to drive down in untouched POUDER...

Steffen after a crash - his ski stick didn't like that...

Heine and Katrina's niece and Nephew at the frozen waterfall...

Don't think you can get anymore snow dog than Grace...

I think that was it for now. Don't think it will be another 3 month before we write The ski season ends 3rd of May and then we need new jobs. We don't have any big summer holiday plans, not easy to plan when we don't know where we will be working. But we hope to meet up with Brian & Yolanda in Greece, how cool will that be

But you are more than welcome to come visit - just buy a plane ticket to Oslo and then we will take care of the rest...

Grace and Peace

The Danes...

Wow - it's been over 2 months since our last update but now we're back We have been in Denmark for 2 weeks and the Africa for 4 weeks. Africa was so lovely. Thanks you to all our dearest friends down there - we had a blast!

But it is also very lovely to be back home, we love our flat and Hemsedal - it is so beautiful here. We love our new jobs, think it will be a good season!

Our first day on skis this season...

Our river is almost frossen...

Katrina and Grace out in the snow...

And Grace loves being home again. She is so relaxed and her stress is almost gone...

Here she is very relaxed...

A few pictures from our SA and Namibia trip - awesome days...

Katrina ready to paraglide...

Peter and Therina's graduation...

Our safari in Etosha, Namibia...

Our last day we spend in Hermanus with Brian & Yolanda watching the whales...

Our favorite little sister Amy...

And our favorite mommy...

To ALL our sweet South African friends - we MISS you - we had the time of our lives. Thank you for not forgetting us, for your warm welcome and for wanting to spend time with us... We love you!

Greetings from Norway in minus 10 degrees...

Hallo all you dear friends... Can't believe is has been over a months since I wrote last time - sorry about that. Time flies. Still can't believe we are in mid September, in my head I'm in the beginning of August - yeah I know - always behind...

Our SA trip is 1 month away - watch out - we are coming! Can't wait...

Recently one of our good friends Daniel wrote us an email asking how life is and our life with God. This made Steffen reflect on how to answer and how to describe our lives as it is at the moment. So he wrote Daniel an email I thought it was such a good way he wrote it, that I want to share it with all of you. A lot of you have been asking the same questions in the year we have been away from Cape Town. You all know that it is so different here as there is no church and no Christians. But we love it and we know that God is using the time to prepare for what ever lies ahead. But anyway - here is Steffen thought on this...

I have been pondering on how to fully answer your last two questions - how is our relationship with God going? And our calling? I am very glad that you did ask them, because it has been really good for me to reflect on them and try to honestly answer them. My immediate answer would be – “It’s going very well” – and it is… But you know us “Fine, how are you?” just is not enough. So allow me to try to explain to you (and to me) how we are doing with God and with our calling.

As you know we are on a journey of rethinking church and the expressions of the Christian faith, as we had grown sick of the modern church expression of Christianity and of the exclusiveness of contemporary churches generally.

In answering this question, one of the major factors of our journey and growth now is that God has blessed us with a life void of organised religion. Since moving to Hemsedal, I have not met one single Christian (besides Katrina). This has allowed us to define freely for ourselves how our lives here should stay centred in God and how it should reflect God. And it is really these questions that your questions have led me to ponder. Are our lives centred in God and are our lives different to others – different in a way that honours and reflects God? I would have liked to say that I could immediately answer that yes, and give you plenty examples. But it has taken me some time, to come up with what I think are significant, and not just superficial differences.

First of all, we are people of truth and we are to be trusted! It does not initially to be a huge thing, but I have found that there are very few truthful people around – at least where we live. It is a place of extreme gossip and slander, in the social circles and in the work places. It is really horrible. In this place – we stand out in daring to speak the truth and by refusing to gossip (though admittedly, we have fallen in that trap occasionally, I would be a hypocrite to claim otherwise), but we are working on it.

Second, we stand up for justice and fight for those who are treated unjust! Our work place treats people very badly. Especially people from Eastern Europe who have come here to work and who does not know the language. They exploit them and try to cheat them from their rights. Katrina especially has stood up to the Hotel leaders, to speak for those who are ill treated, and continually spend her energy pursuing justice for them – and have made great advances and won great respect, among the people whom she has defended and among the leaders also – though they consider her a nuisance.

Thirdly, we are a refuge for those who are weary. We found that our place has become a place of rest from the world. That people come here to relax, to take a break from the race, from the pretences and expectations of their social circles. It has become a place where strangers have become known. Where people have come, for different peculiar reasons – through friends – friends, etc., and have found a place to unload their burdens and worries – which is great. We have had some great experiences were we have been able to speak to people about the deepest things of life, on one of our first encounters, really amazing.

I think in this way, God has expressed himself naturally through us, and this God inside us, does attract. He does bring new life and he does refresh the weary, and he is hope, and he is comfort to the discouraged and broken hearted, of which are many here – though many do not know it themselves.

Our calling is still building community (church), in what form it may take. Though we are still not in a hurry to get started, we still have some learning to do and some shaping to be done to us.

I will hopefully start my Masters next October at Durham University in England http://www.dur.ac.uk/theology.religion/postgrad/ It is a very old, renowned traditional university, I don’t know exactly how I found it, but I feel that is where God is leading me. So I will apply soon and see if they accept me – I just have to get my last grades and my transcript from CTS first!!! I want to do a taught degree, which means I will go there for the trimesters, while Katrina probably stays here.

I don’t know if any of what I just written make sense. What I am trying to say is that we are doing good and learning with God, how to live out the values and the talents that he has put in us, in a nonreligious society that knows nothing

of God and of the essence of Christianity. It is great, we try, we fail, and we try again. Loving God and marvelling at his patience and care for us.

Grace and Peace

Steffen & Katrina

Hallo all our dear friends from all over the world. Today we got internet in our flat - praise God! So now it's time for an update from Hemsedal, Norway.

We have been back here in Norway for one month now but oh my, does it feel a lot longer. That's not a bad thing, just to say that it's so lovely to live here and we enjoy it so much, that it feels a lot longer than one month since we were in Denmark. The highlight of this month is that we got a dog!!!!!!!!!!! Yep the most lovely beautiful dog in the whole world. She is a Labrador, 9 month old - so bacislly a teenage puppy...It a long story how we found her, but we fetched her an 8 hour drive from here, but it was all worth it. We named her Grace and it suits her so well. We were inspired by a preaching by Rob Bell where he talks about Grace and Peace and what it means. It was quite a while a go but we decided that if we were to get 2 dogs we would call them Grace and Peace - for now we only got one dog, but she is indeed graceful with the most loving eyes. Well enough talk -here are some pics from the first week we had her...

This is the picture I saw on the internet and decided that she was the one...

Her first night in our home with her favorite new ball...

On a long walk where she needs a break - the guy that had her before never gave her enough walks...

She LOVES everything that has to do with water, the more dirty the better - very yeaky mud is her favorite...

And she loves being near us...

We think she is so beautiful

On the weekend we had our danish friend Kent visiting and they went on a walk/climb to one of the nearest waterfalls...

Kent enjoys Norwegian nature...

On Tuesday we took her on a 5 hour long mountain walk, oh boy she enjoyed it, but she was so finished afterwards - but it was a stunning walk.

Mud - just love it love it love it...

The slopes without snow...

When we came home we took her in the shower as we always do to get all the mud of. Normally she just gets dried with a towel and then she walks into the living room. But after we came back from the walk - this is how she looked after shower - Steffen didn't get to dry her cause she was to tired to stand up... So she fell asleep right there on the bathroom floor...

Here is a video from the walk where you can see all the beautiful norwegian nature... We talk in danish but you can enjoy the scenery and get a feel of the place where we live....

Some of our friends up here - we had a waffle night - I love making and eating waffles

 Well, a whole entry about our dog - but that is what has happend in our life lately - been in dog world... We enjoy the summer and love living here, not much more to say than that...

Grace and Peace

Steffen & Katrina

Hallo all you lovely people that look at our website. Just want to let you know that we will only be writing again in April when we get internet at our new home. Right know we work to much and with out internet at home we dont have time to update.

March will be so stuffed with work but April should be better and we get our new flat on the 1st of April. CAN'T WAIT!

But until then - dont forget us and pop by again in April.

Love from Katrina & Steffen