Hello Dear Friends and Loved Ones:
June 19, 2012
Greetings from Ål in Hallingdal, Norway!
During the last week of August 2001 - just before 9/11 - I was preaching here at Kilden (The Fountain Church) Kirken. A lot of refugees had come to Norway from Muslim countries because of the Kosovo War and other strife in the Middle East. There was a refugee camp near Gilo about 30 miles from Ål.
I inquired of Pastor Helge and Karin Svanåsen, if anyone was trying them reach them with the gospel of Christ. They knew of no one doing that.
Then I asked Karin if she as a School teacher giving them classes in Norwegian had invited them to our crusade and their church. She answered that she was not allowed to do due to a new law forbidding a school teacher to talk about Jesus in the school
I shocked her by saying that it seemed rather DUMB to me that the wife of a Pentecostal Pastor would obey an unrighteous law imposed by politicians with their agenda, instead of obeying God.
She squared her shoulders, saying that she would obey God. The next morning she invited them to attend. Eight Muslims accepted the invitation and all eight gave their hearts to Jesus Christ. During the next 2 years Helge and Karin put 20,000 kilometers on their van by transporting refugees. Four hundred and fifty four visited the Church a total of 3,000 times. Two hundred and fifty four had accepted Christ and they had baptized 76 Muslims.
As more and more refugees kept coming to this area during the past eleven years, Pastor Helge has baptized nearly 1,000 Muslims to Jesus Christ in their small Church. I count it a joy to have helped them get started and have preached here several occasions since then.
They are now expecting some more waves of refugees from the Middle East as war looms over that area. Time is short and we must work while it is day, for night comes when we will be unable to work!
See you this WEEK-END in Saskatoon and at our Summer Camp Meeting at New Sarepta June 29, 30, July 1,2.
In God's great love & care,
Pastor Max Solbrekken
