Austin's Blog: 2013

Dear friends,

Hello for the first time in a while! Much has happened since my last update online, so before I begin any of my updates for the year I probably ought to catch the blog up to date for those of you who I haven’t been able to correspond with in the last months. So this is a long one! I'm hoping to keep these every two months; if you'd like to keep updated on my goings-on you can subscribe on the left via email, RSS, or through blogger if you have an account. If you make it to the end there'll be pictures!

The first thing I should mention is that I graduated from my school of biblical studies! It was a long year, one like one of our wonderful trails here in the west of Sweden that stretches long past the horizon, and once completed the traveler looks back on with both a sense of accomplishment and also relief. And it was wonderful. Our last few months hold many memories for me both of studying the bible and of going down to the sea with my friends just before sunset and jumping into the cool water of the north sea, of seaside campfires, of a sun which would hang just above the sky seemingly endlessly until the late hours of the night and rise again before we would wake up. It’s hard to quantify just yet how my studies have changed the way I look at the world, because they indeed do so in so many ways. Knowing the truth changes much, sometimes it’s hard to see it in myself as much as in my friends.

All that time I was wondering what might be next. Studying the bible pushes one along in these thoughts, as so much of it encourages a sense of urgency: Go, help, love, do something good, figure out what these words mean practically. Where should I start? I’m still working on the more permanent answer to that question, but at one point I realized that sometimes the best place to do so is to go through the door that is opened to you to serve and to love. Some time into the school my school leader Matt knocked on my door and asked me to consider the option of coming back to Restenäs for a second year and serving the base and the school as staff for the full next term of SBS. I wasn’t able to answer right away, but both through prayer and through my own thoughts I realized it would be as good a way to start as any, and so I soon accepted the offer to come back and staff.

Once all 66 books were finished I was able to go home for the summer and rest for a short time and spend time with my family and friends - the quality time that those of us who live cross-culturally appreciate in a way that we once took for granted. I was home in America for about 8 weeks, and got to see a lot of friends and spend time with my family. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to come back to the states, so I’m very grateful for the generosity of my parents in buying me a ticket. If I saw you this summer, let me tell you what a joy it was! For those of you who went even a little out of your way to see me, my summer wouldn’t have been the same without you. For those I didn’t get to see, come visit! You’ll always have an available bed at Restenäs if you make it this far.

Another long flight and I was back at Restenäs again, and as I got back the whole summer felt like a dream. Immediately we as a staff faced a great challenge: As Matt and Dima were planning the school over the summer, we had 6 applicants. Visa issues and red tape got in the way of 3 of our students, and as we approached our deadline we only had 3, which is not enough to make the school work financially. None of us were quite sure what to think, and I found myself drawing contingency plans for a year of my life, questioning everything, reexamining my own motives and willingness to serve in whatever way was needed rather than the way I had expected. As we as a staff look back on this, we’re all grateful because it put our attitudes in the right place, put a fire under us to do whatever we were to do well. And just as we came to these thoughts and to our deadline, we found ourselves with a last-minute applicant. We’ve since had one of our staff decide to join the school for the full 9 months and we’ll also be adding a student in January - an option available to those who have completed the 3 month bible school offered in the spring.

Our students have been a joy so far. We have students for this term from 5 different countries: Belgium, Germany, India, Norway, and Sweden, and aside from myself we have staff from Canada, Ukraine, Korea, and Sweden. As we’ve gotten underway and gotten through our first few books it’s been exciting every day to see the word come alive to our students, to see them gain the new understanding of God and of the bible through the inductive method that I got to experience last year, to see the bible in context and realize what it means for the way we live our lives and what the words meant to the original recipients of the letters and books. Our theme this year comes from the book of Galatians, in which Paul tells those believers to “walk in step with the Spirit”, patterns of living which cause us to live lives filled with love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Life on base with so many different people from different backgrounds and perspectives gives us all plenty of opportunities to grow in these patterns! This year has many lessons for me to learn as well as teach.

So here I still am, in the middle of a cow pasture along the west coast of Sweden. Being on staff means a few different things: I will be preparing teachings on some of our books and giving lectures during our class times, and I’ll be doing my share of grading the work of our students and helping them out with understanding the text and the assignments whenever I can. I’m also our school’s representative in the operations meetings for the base where we organize work duties, and I’m also a part of the team that operates the café and provides fika some nights of the week. I live in a big yellow house called Bjorkbacken where most of the unmarried men on base live, and as our autumn turns to winter we’ll be loading the furnace with wood each day and keeping the place tidy for guests. I take part in the staff meetings on base and help out in some of the base functions - in a few weeks we’ll have an international night and I’ll be talking to people about Thailand.

Another thing that is a bit different this year is that I actually have some free time! My duties keep me busy, but my commitment is (only) for about 35-45 hours each week and I get my nights off and some weekends too. It’s been so much fun living here and actually having some time to make friends and cook meals and have fika. I’ve also gotten away a few times - A few of us were able to travel to Örebro and listen to a full day of lectures by one of my personal heroes of the faith, the anglican bishop N.T. Wright. My notes are elaborate, but my favorite memory of the day was when I was sitting in the front row before the lectures began and he sat down next to me and introduced himself to me.

I also was able to travel to Iceland for a weekend to take part in a meeting to pray for the country and for the city of Reykjavík and learn about the place and about YWAM’s involvement there. We corporately conversed about the future of YWAM in Iceland and in northern Europe and also went into the streets and talked to people about what their thoughts on the state of the country were. We were able to meet with our ministry’s founder, Loren Cunningham, and with all of us together it felt very similar to a family reunion, both with old friends to reunite with and new ones to get to know. Iceland is wonderful and I hope to be back soon - we will be sending teams from the mainland for a week in May and If I can afford it I’m hoping to go back them.

I can see I’m getting a little long-winded here; if you’d like to know more about what I’m up to feel free to ask. I would like to share a few of our prayer requests:

That we as a base and as a school would strive toward a collective excellence in loving one another and growing towards a spirit-filled life.
That our students would be strengthened to persevere in their studies and to stay motivated towards not only the completion of their assignments but also their own personal growth and understanding of God and of their own callings and identity.
My own personal walk; both in the short term, that I would continue to grow towards righteousness, and that God would speak to me about where the next steps should be after graduation at the end of June.
That I uphold my staffing commitment with integrity and do the best I am capable of in serving the base and our students and preparing my teachings.
Finances for our base - there is a constant need for financial support for upkeep and to make everything work, as all of us rely on support for our own livelihoods.
Our students’ tuition. In YWAM we all rely on God for our finances; If anyone would like to sponsor one of our students let me know and I can connect you.
The students our current schools: aside from SBS we currently have schools in discipleship, prayer, and communications. For growth, provision, protection, endurance.
For our upcoming schools: In the next two terms we will have discipleship schools in English, Swedish, and Korean and 3-month schools in worship and bible studies. We pray that God will send students to Restenäs for these schools! If this might be you you can find more info at ywamrestenas.se.
For my language learning, as I am hoping to get better at Swedish this year.
My personal finances: I’m still looking for my full support for the year, and yet my supporters have been so very good to me and I should have enough to get to christmas from my current level of monthly support and the one-time gifts I’ve received. If you’d like to help me make it through the year you can contact me via email. If anyone would like to donate airline miles that would be a tremendous blessing as well.
Also, my iPod's screen cracked and is almost dead after 5 long years of faithful service, if anyone has one they aren’t using anymore it would be a big blessing. I’m also hoping to get a basic swedish cell phone to keep in contact with my swedish friends and for work.

Thanks so much for reading! If you’ve gotten this far I’m really blessed at your care for my words. I’d love to be in touch; I’m available online, through phone, as well as through post. (Letters are the best!)

email/skype/facebook: roberts.austin@gmail.com
Post: Austin Roberts/Restenäs 239/459 93 Ljungskile
U.S. Phone (Google Voice): 1-816-419-0399

With love and fika for all,

Austin

As promised, Pictures!

Bishop N.T. wright with my school leader Dima

Bjorkbacken, my home for the year

Some of our staff members at a wedding

My housemate Viktor dressed up for the wedding

Josefine the goat getting into trouble

My friend David in Alingsås

The coast in Ljungskile a few kilometers from my house

the seaside in Reykjavik

Reykjavík from the steeple of the lutheran church

Restenäs staff with Loren Cunningham in Reykjavik

My friend Linn dressed for an adventure

Hello again!

I had meant to write an update sooner. My studies have been keeping me very busy, but I wanted to write a bit again and let everyone know how things are going with me. Thank you all for your continual support, both through your thoughts and through your prayers, and for those who have sent letters and those who have supported me with finances. These all mean much to me. I haven’t updated in a while, so I just wanted to say that things are going really well. Things are cold here in Sweden, but the days are slowly becoming longer and warmer. It is a joy each day to see the sun rise a little earlier and set a little later, and we have each other to keep company with and our studies keep us busy.

I'd like to do my best to describe to you all what I’m actually doing out here, and why nine months out in the countryside is such a perfect setting for my studies. Most of our class consists of free time to work on our assignments. However, we do spend somewhere between one and three mornings a week in class being taught about the book we are currently working on, covering the structure and historical background of the book as well as the lecturer’s understanding about how the book ought to be interpreted and applied. Here is a basic description: In the School of Biblical Studies, we use what we call “The Inductive Method”. While there are other ways to study the bible inductively, we use a format that we follow for each of the books. Sometimes we have special assignments, but aside from some minor changes here and there our study of a book will usually go something like this:

We will start by reading the book aloud in one sitting. For the larger books it can be quite a challenge to get through, and we will read together and trade off chapters or listen to a recording and read along.
Color coding the whole book using colored pencils in our bible. The colors correspond with different observations we make, which vary depending on the book, such as people who are described and commands that are given. We all were supplied bibles to begin the school, and as the year goes on our white pages are slowly becoming a rainbow.
Using a computerized charting program, we make simplified titles for each paragraph, and then print those out into a chart where we trace the structure of the book. We divide the book into segments, and then combine those segments into sections and divisions. In doing this for each book, we’re able to see the way the book is structured.
We will write a summary a few pages long about the important information about the book. Some of this will come from the book itself, but it will also come from research about the authorship and historical background of the book. We will cover some of this information in class, but some of it will come from bible dictionaries and commentaries. The purpose of this is that in order to truly understand a book, one must consider who is writing it and who it is being written to. Some of the differences this makes are surprising!
For each segment on our outline, we make a chart. In filling out this chart, we make more detailed observations about what is happening in the passage, and from those observations we interpret what the passage would mean to the original readers. The goal of this is to understand what the passage means for us, finding the truth behind what is being said that is timeless and can be applied to us.
In all of these previous steps, we are studying the bible in order to understand what it means and how it affects us, so the next step is to apply it! We will write two essays – one on how the truth of the book affects our worldview, and one on how it ought to be practically applied in our own life. Aside from writing about it, we are also encouraged to commit to changes in our lives and to take actions not only for our life after SBS but also in our daily lives.

And there’s the work for one book! We will do this roughly 60 times - a few of the books are combined, there are special assignments for some of the books that will be somewhat different, and we study the book of Psalms in weekly assignments as we go along. And things are going well. I miss you all, of course, but I'm busy enough that the time seems to fly by. In a given week we might spend 50 to 60 hours between working on our assignments and attending class and serving through our community work duties. And life here is also very good. Life on the base is wonderful, and we have a peaceful community with my classmates, our staff, the staff and the students of the other schools here on the base, the support staff on the base, and the families who live here. It is a diverse family, and a wonderful one. We learn much not only from our studies but also from our life with one another. My life is wonderful, and I am learning to be content with what I have, because it is truly good. I was able to travel over my winter break to central Europe, and and I’ll also be able to get off the base and go exploring in a few weeks when we have our spring break. But for now, I am here, studying the bible and chopping wood and washing dishes and sharing life. I hope things are well with everyone.

Here are a few pictures! There are plenty more on my facebook account, so feel free to check those out as well.