from economic protests to small green islands

I am told via my elder sibling, who was informed via wikipedia, that Faroe Islands translates to "sheep" Islands. This is confirmed to me through our local contacts. Early this morning Koala and I will be leaving these Sheep-laden Islands, and should be into Grimmerud, Norway by sometime tonight, via Copenhagen and Oslo.

The last couple weeks have been pretty full, but I am thankful to say at least they have been full of goodness. The last week of Iceland involved a trip around the Island, to the towns of Egilstadir in the east, and Akureyri in the north. Each of these places taught us a lot about the value of meeting together with other believers, even when small in number. Sharing in the personal setting of homes warm with love was a privilege.

The last few days in Reykjavik also provided a few more opportunities to share our book and traveling-photo-exhibition, in a couple different cafes, and a couple different churches as well. I continue to be surprised how God has directed my words by the wisdom of his Spirit, rather than any "insight" of my own. I'm seeing that so much of what God needs us to be is simply available.

(cafe rot)

(islenska kristkirkjan)

You may have heard about civil unrest regarding the economic downfall of Iceland. We were able to see a small bit of what was happening. It was very eye-opening in regards to my understanding of world affairs, and human beings in general.

For the last week, we have been in the Faroe Islands. We have been blessed by the natural beauty, lack of commercialism, and small percentage of tourism in the area. These islands are definitely one of the most unique locations on which I have ever set my feet. Even more than this, we have been able to partner with the local YWAM team to share our project with the body of Christ here on the island. More and more we are blessed to see how his body transcends buildings and denominations. We have shared mostly in church buildings, but also in church meetings held in homes.

(koala and our faithful translator, eydstein, at the salvation army)

(faroe fish factory)

...one of the church meetings from a home also networked us into the opportunity for a tour of a local fish factory. If you ever get to take part in a house church, maybe you may also be blessed with a similar sort of field-trip.

So, once again, Koala and I have packed up, and are prepared to hit the sky. I am learning to specialize at slumber in upright positions. I look forward to writing from Grimmerud.

pre-teen post

the landing was abrupt, but koala and i have arrived here in the faroe islands. i actually wasn't aware when the wheels touched the ground, but it was good to know we were safely on a solid mass of land.

we are living in a cozy house here, run by ywam. the staff and their friends here have been extremely warm and welcoming.

today, we plan to head to the northernmost island to share in the weekly youth-meeting at a church.

i just wanted to post this because:
1. i've been meaning to keep a blog that is both frequent and fresh.
2. to let you know i have the intentions to post something more extensive regarding the rest of our time in iceland.

so, a more mature blog post is on its way. for now, this awkward, pre-teen post will have to do.

leaving iceland

here i type from a tired state of mind, but i wanted to keep all faithful readers updated on what's happening. it's 3:26 am and i haven't slept tonight, so forgive me if i use improper grammar, diction, or syntax.

about 4am reykjavik time we'll be leaving our home here for the airport, so we can fly from here to Copenhagen, where we will then rendezvous with our friend Anna to pick up some books. We will then fly from Copenhagen to Torshavn, the main city of the Faroe Islands. We plan to be there for about a week, and we're looking forward to visiting what we've heard is such a unique place.

please do pray for favor with the clerks, as we are carrying a lot of luggage with all the materials for our project and exhibition. weight restrictions in europe seem to be extremely tight, so we need an overwhelming portion of understanding with whoever will be checking them. do pray that koala and i look extra cute.

i'm tired now, but i look forward to communicating the happenings of this last week or so here in Iceland. it seems to have been fruitful.

time for some strawberry yogurt + granola to calm this unrested stomach.

It's Not Nearly as Cold as You Would Think.

Please do forgive the delay in posting. I guess I didn’t realize how many things would be taking place all at one time. I would have preferred to let you know I was heading to Iceland before I was actually here. But now I guess it is too late for that. I now write to you from Reykjavík (I arrived early morning on January 3rd.) Yesterday was my one-week anniversary with Iceland.

Some technical information:

Reykjavík is the capital city of Iceland, though it is not a massive city. The greater Reykjavík area is home to about 200,000 people (there is somewhere around 300,000 in the entire country).


In land area, Iceland is approximately the size of Kentucky.


Temperatures? Actually it’s not that cold right now. I hear it does get cold here, but since we’ve arrived, it’s usually in the high 30’s Fahrenheit. This week they say the temperatures are dropping, but we’ll see. I saw in the newspaper yesterday that it snowed in Madrid, while we are without snow here in the much more northerly latitudes.


Another oddity is the amount of Darkness. If it’s a cloudy day there will be about five ours of light, and if it’s clear, maybe around 6 or so. Most of the time here it’s been cloudy, but it’s gradually clearing up. When it is clear, the sky seems to be in a state of constant sunset, which I find to be quite nice.



Language. Icelandic is certainly the most used language in everyday life, but most Icelanders, especially the younger generations, speak in English quite often. At least when us English speakers are present, they will switch between the two languages with ease.

After arriving here last Saturday morning, and taking advantage of scraps of time in which we could catch up on sleep, Jeong-Heon (whom I will now refer to as Koala) and I attended three different church services last Sunday. The churches were gracious enough to allow us to introduce our project, even though they met us only very briefly before their services. We didn’t by any means show the entirety of our project, but it was good to be able give a brief picture of our project and start telling people what we plan to be up to here in Iceland for the next couple weeks.

And it certainly isn’t of our own accord that Koala and I have been able to just walk into these churches to share. In planning for our time in Iceland, we have been blessed with some amazing local contacts (with whom we are now friends) who have been planning, organizing, and facilitating different venues in which to exhibit our materials. Tinna Schram, and Elizabeth Ingólfsdóttir have each taken an extensive amount of time to help Koala and I as we begin to arrange venues to share our book, photography, and experiences. They were each involved in the past with different photogenX Discipleship Training Schools in Kona, and so they’ve participated in similar photography projects and advocacy work.

(the book, for sale in Café Glætan)

(elizabeth, tinna, and koala.)

This week we started to set up different events, mostly around Reykjavík. As we have walked around town with Tinna and Elizabeth, proposing the publication and other material to different café’s, venues, and galleries, we have been surprised to see people’s openness to allow us to share our project on such short notice. Much of this tour has involved stepping forward, even when we haven’t always had scheduled events, and it is cool to see even this early on in the tour that things are still able to come together in such a manner. It is evident that the Lord is working - opening doors where we would otherwise not be capable.

(cafe rot, where much of our work gets done, thanks to stefan and the cool atmosphere.)

This last Thursday, we were able to have our first official exhibit, in a café in downtown Reykjavik, called Kaffi Hljómalind. My small advert: It is a cool place, with an entire menu of organic, fair trade coffees. They had a cool community space, in which we were able to set up an exhibit of our photography. We were also blessed with some amazingly talented musicians (there seems to be a plethora in these parts) who played music while guests came to see photos. As we announced in the café that we were having a photo exhibit towards the back of the shop, we eventually had many new acquaintances, which whom we were able to share more about the issue of human trafficking. It was beautiful to see what God is already placing on the hearts of individuals for the issues of this world, and it is a privilege to share with them something that speaks of hope.

(sharing about the book in kaffi hljómalind.)

(kristo and einar provided a wonderful musical atmosphere.)

(elizabeth's father, ingolfur.)

So, for the week to come, we have an increasingly busy schedule.

Monday it looks like we will be heading to the eastern side of these lands to small village by the name of Egilstadir, home to about 1,800 people. Tinna has contacts with a guesthouse/church in the area, so we will be sharing our project in a smaller, more personal sort of setting in the Icelandic countryside.

After we return to Reykjavik on Wednesday or so, the schedule is as follows:

15th: Thursday: Photography Exhibit in Café Rot: 8:30 – 11:30 PM
16th: Friday: Presentation at Islenska Kristkirkjan: 8:00 PM
17th: Saturday: Café Glætan: Photo Lesson+exhibit: 1:00 – 6:00 PM
18th: Sunday: Presentation in Vegurinn Church: 2:00 PM
20th: Tuesday: Exhibit at Local Youth Center: all day

It’s exciting to see what God is enabling us to be a part of for the short time that we are here in Iceland. We would value your prayers for these events, and even for the various interactions we have throughout our time here. Pray that the Lord will use this project to direct people to ways that they can actively begin seeking His Kingdom, a Kingdom marked by Faith, Hope, and Love.

a change in title.

You may be wondering why I chose to alter the title of the blog at this place in time and history. “Donde Esta Timoteo?” did its job for its time, but recently, the Lord has put something new in my heart, or at least a new description of it.

This last December, as I was home driving on Interstate 82, from Ellensburg to Cle Elum Washington, I was pondering, and the thought came to mind, “Everywhere is a place you can go.” Some may say this is arguable, but the way I see it, there isn’t a place you couldn’t travel to. Though there are national borders and visa restrictions, I would like to think that all portions of the planet are accessible in some way or another (in some cases we would have to be more creative in making travel arrangements).

So, there was the beginning of this idea, which I believe was dropped into my brain by the Lord. Then, as I prayed about this idea slightly more, it was sharpened into something more specific: “Everywhere is somewhere we must go.” Jesus told us to go into all the world (Mark 16:15) and as His followers, we have the privilege of taking seeds of His kingdom with us wherever we go - seeds like justice and love and mercy and hope and life (momentary and eternal).

In Psalm 145, David talks about the kingdom of God.

All Your works shall praise You, O Lord,
And Your saints shall bless You.
They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom,
And talk of Your power,
To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts,
And the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
(verses 10-13, New King James Version)

So really, is there anywhere the kingdom of God mustn’t flourish? God wants His love to be known in the deepest parts of the Amazonian Rainforest, in the brothels of Bangkok, in the Holy Land, in Zimbabwe, in remote villages in Eastern Iceland…