Peter MacDonald

Today is my last day working at Intermission Youth Hostel. Tomorrow (Monday) is my last “day off” on which I plan to hike, sight see, pack, and tie up any loose ends. We leave Tuesday morning for Amsterdam, where we will stay overnight at the Shelter Jordan before heading back to the USA.

Last Saturday Heather and I attempted hiking all seven mountains surrounding Bergen. After six hours of beautiful hiking and three individual mountains conquered, Heather and I faced a problem: the rain picked up and started pouring. My dry legs and upper body protected in rain gear provided a great contrast to the wetness of my swamped, light trail running shoes. I decided to stop the seven mountain trip: Heather–my hiking partner–had no rain pants and was throwing in the towel; I didn’t want to hike alone. My feet were also suffeciently water-logged. They actually looked more like raisins than they ever have in my life.

Thank Goodness we stopped. Monday I hiked Vidden–the long nearly flat area between the four remaining mountains. Vidden is full of beauty and awe but is pretty long. Traversing Vidden is not normally included in the seven mountain trek: after hiking the first three individual mountains (Lyderhorn, Damsgårdsfjellet, and Løvstakken) hikers usually hike and descend the tallest mountain Ulriken before heading over to Fløyen, Rundemanen, Blåmanen, and Sandviksfjellet, a large clump of mountain tops all rising out of one main mountainous structure. Heather and I were planning on adding Vidden on for fun.

Fløyen sits right near Bergen’s center whereas Ulriken is outside the center. The two mountains are the top two tourist mountains in Bergen. Vidden connects the mountains (via Rundemanen) like a large “C,” one mountain making up each of the ends of the curve.

Hiking up Ulriken and then traversing Vidden took me a little over 8 hours Monday with a guest I met. My legs were dead by the end. I was hiking with Joanna, a Harvard graduate of 2007 working for the yearly Harvard produced Let’s Go Europe! Guide. We conversed and emoted over the long journey; we both enjoyed the company considering we had both planned on hiking Vidden alone.

After a crazy morning yesterday I decided to carry out plans to hike a mountain to watch the sun’s progress from Dusk til Dawn and sunrise.

Last night, bags loaded, four of us YHMers left the hostel around 11pm for a midnight trek. Our target: Løvstakken–one of the seven surrounding mountains that offers the most beautiful view of the city given the lighting conditions and ocean views. I saw one of the longest, prettiest sunset / dusks I have ever seen in my life. Once at the top we set up a tent and went to sleep. I woke up at dawn (~3:30am) and took a picture. We all woke up at 4:45 and watched the sunrise while cooking hot dogs, s’mores, pinnebrød, etc. on a small, disposable grill that is popular here. We then slept from 6- 10 on the top of the mountain before breaking camp and departing back to the hostel at 10:40 am.

Ministry is amazing. Besides the enjoyable hike I had with Joanna, God has been setting up many divine appointments and directing our actions and conversations. We had the privilege of meeting Sophie, a seventeen year old girl from France. God is now working wonderfully in her life and she believes in the Gospel. She stayed here seven nights rather than her original plan of two. We have had so many similar incidents that it is clear how God is working all over to make himself known.

Mid July thru mid  August marks Bergen’s heavy tourist season. Our hostel is filling up now almost on a nightly basis. When I’m neither working nor mingling with the guests I like to play guitar, read, or watch films. Playing guitar has been great since taking somewhat of a break last school year. I signed up for a Bergen City library card and  sometimes check out a book or  movie. I’ve watched quite a few films: Casablanca, All the King’s Men (the 1949 version; I read the book by Robert Penn Warren senior year of high school and just recently watched the new version), etc, etc.

I checked out The Genesis of the Big Bang, a book authored a few men who were part of the group that developed the big bang theory. I am currently reading The God Delusion in which Richard Dawkins (Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford) “focuses his fierce intellect exclusively on this subject [the irrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm it has inflicted on society], denouncing its faulty logic and the suffering it causes.”

I don’t know how to feel now that the YHM summer is winding down. Perhaps the reason that I’m not so sad is because of how I have developed an understanding and habit of lifestyle evangelism. I think this YHM experience is just a gateway in a future and better personal understanding of the story of God.

In my humble opinion Bergen is worth the hype.

Since the last update I’ve been quite pleased with all Bergen has to offer. On the city altitude I’ve explored all sorts of interesting regions like the Nordnes Peninsula, the Fish Market, the Rosenkrantz Tower including ramparts and castle, et cetera. Thankfully for me, hostel leaders Haakon and Christer (both around twenty-one) enjoy playing soccer and have invited us to play a few times on one of Bergen’s modern turf fields. I greatly enjoyed the sport and exercise; however, I earned a deep, large blister by continuing to play long after I became aware of a rip on the skin of my heel.

I’ve taken my chances to explore the fjords and the fjells (the sea inlets, fjords, and the mountains, fjells). Working at the hostel, a “branch” of Bergen’s tourist district, I was able to graciously receive three tickets for a nine hour cruise aboard the M/S Bruvik. The ship leaves Bryggen, the old town area, and voyages four hours, stops an hour, and then finishes its whole day voyage around Osterøy, Northern Europe’s largest inland island. We cruised a week ago Sunday–and the weather could not have been better. Unaware that the ship stopped for an hour, but awestruck by our surroundings, Will and I were forced to strip to our underwear and swim in the freezing inland mix of a freshwater stream hitting the salty fjord. The surrounding mountain stream and flowing waterfall mixing with a steep and deep ocean water labeled fjord didn’t quite seem tributary nor estuary. But we swam nonetheless (if you can count running in, submerging, jumping up, squealing like a little girl or baby pig, running out, as swimming).

I’ve also been lucky enough to do some hiking. I hiked up Fløyen a few times, discovering public trampolines at a nearby park. Fløyen is a quick (about an hour up, from the youth hostel) hike that gives the observer an outstanding view of Bergen. I’ve hiked both with fellow YHMers but also with hostel guests as a means to further our relationship and discuss the gospel.

Just the other day, on 07/07/07, my senior-most boss Einar organized a prayer event for Bergen. Seven mountains surround Bergen; Einar organized to have seven groups from local churches hike each mountain and simultaneously pray for the City of Bergen. Three YHMers joined Einer’s group as we hiked Rundemanen. What a beautiful area these mountaintops (and therefore God) provide.

We celebrated the fourth of July with a cookout and later an ice cream social for the entire hostel. We had about 16 individuals at our cookout. I cooked (as I am in the habit of doing) 2 kg of ground hamburger meat in the form of hamburgers along with about twelve hotdogs. We had buns, vegetables, Coke, Pepsi, etc. To finish the meal off we all roasted s’mores with Norwegian chocolate. Our guests–including an Austrian man (an English communication major who explained his love for American sports after meeting me and later proving this true as he named off Red Sox players and briefly proved that he knew the teams associated with every American City) and some American students–really appreciated the gesture.

The ice cream social went well also. We bought a lot of ice cream and toppings. Just like on the bi-weekly free waffle nights, travelers loved all the free food.

I met an American Christian Engineering student and chatted freely with him as he cooked in our apartment kitchen. He was very glad to speak to some fellow believers and enjoy some spices, greens, fruits, and juices that we openly shared. We too were glad to offer him a place to rejuvenate, if perhaps for only a few hours.

I am playing the guitar quite often just for personal enjoyment. I learned how to play “free cell,” a card game superior to normal klondike solitaire because it is much more related to skill and organization than klondike is. Free cell keeps me entertained from time to time as I work reception.

Ministry is great here as well. We try to incorporate ministry in every aspect of us serving the travelers staying here, both in action and word. When I mention excursions, I take them for a twofold purpose: to relax and enjoy the area, but also to better understand and explain the surroundings and opportunities that Bergen has to offer. A very friendly introduction and firsthand advice about Bergen is a great way to start a relationship right from the beginning with travelers. This relationship often continues to meals, Bible discussions, individual trips, etc, where we strive to share the gospel message.

I don’t know what else to say now. It is raining here in Bergen after a stretch of beautiful weather; I think rain is a beautiful thing itself. A friend from the area recently told me, “People ask me, ‘which is the most beautiful fjord?’ or, ‘which tour should I take?’ I tell them, ‘Don’t look at the tour or the specific area, look at the weather. If the weather is nice, everything will be nice.’ ” His advice made me chuckle. I’m happy to get to live here through both rain and sun(even if for a brief while) so that I see the area in a glimpse of what is is. Traveling must be so much more dependent on clear skies.

We’re finally here!

After leaving our travelers’ retreat in Cesky Krumlov, Team Vikings headed to Vienna, where our hostel had free instruments to play. We met and talked with travelers; Heather and I accompanied two travelers to the Vienna art museum where, besides admiring the fine paintings, Heather got a chance to share the gospel.

I also got the opportunity to introduce Marek, our Slovakian exchange student’s (Peto) brother who stayed with us while working on Cape Cod last summer, to the rest of the team. Marek just earned his Bachelor’s degree from the university in Bratislava (a fifty minute train ride from Vienna) and came all the way from his home town in Bardejov, a much longer ride (around 8 hours). Our team greatly enjoyed Marek’s company and was glad to continue building my family’s relationship with the Kurnat family.

We then traveled to Salzburg, where we joined with the rest of the YHMers and Wheaton OCO director and assistant director Brian Medaglia and Sue Lee at the train station and continued on with all to Mittersill. We stayed in a beautiful castle run by Christians for Christian conventions and retreats while we began our mid-summer retreat.

In Mittersill I got a chance during free time to test my swimming, climbing, and flipping skills in a somewhat large man-made lake complete with inflatable climbing iceberg, water trampoline, floats, fountains, rope swing, diving boards and a water slide. The park was free.

The next day I had no meetings in the afternoon. Lisa and I decided to seize the moment and hike one of the Alps surrounding the castle. We headed out on a long three hour hike of a very tall and satisfactory mountain including steep ascents, rivers, trees, grassy fields, cows dotting the high-altitude fields, and a few run-ins and run-away-froms of the bull cows that were among the cattle (no kidding!). My man-hunt and paintball experience or instinct kicked in and I “booked it” into the woods for safety. We made it down just fine.

We are now in Bergen, a picturesque touristy village of about 200,000 on the Western coast of Norway. The motto, “gateway to the fjords” explains what Bergen is like. Seven mountains circumscribe the town; the fjords ( A long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between steep slopes generally formed by glaciers pressing their way through the land) cut their way through the mountains and stretch away from Bergen.

When people ask, “If you had to choose, where would you live–by the oceans or by the mountains?” I imagine the local response may be something like: “why not both?”

Our team (fused with team Double Trouble consisting of YHM Chair and Traveling Partner Emily George plus Cynthia Ramirez) is excited to finally be and running Intermission Hostel. We have a cozy little apartment downstairs while the hostel lives on the second floor. We can hold about sixty-three people with one to a bed.

We are now setting goals of exploring the area and getting accustomed to the culture so we may better serve those visiting the hostel. We have already worked out a schedule and are planning two weekly free waffle nights and a few weekly Bible discussion nights.

The Fish Market:

I visited the Fish Market the Day we arrived. The friendly sales woman gave me a fresh taste of four different types of fish eggs (among other odd delicacies). I plan on developing a taste for each different type of seafood while I develop a taste for the Norwegian culture.

We have arrived safely in beautiful Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic for our travellers’ retreat / meet up with YHM Chair Emily and travelling partner Cynthia. We are taking the morning easy so far and are planning to eat a large brunch the girls have prepared (even though it is now 1:30 in the afternoon). We also plan to innertube around the natural “lazy river” that circumscribes the inner town.

As for me, I have spent the morning exploring, relaxing, reading, and getting a chance to use the free internet in our homely country hostel. I siezed the moment to upload a bunch of photos from Amsterdam. So if you haven’t already, migrate over to the photos section.

I write from an internet cafe right below our apartment in Paris, France. My team arrived yesterday on the Train Grande Vitesse (TGV, Train Large Speed).

We arrived safely to Europe on Thursday, May 24. We landed in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Our hostel (Shelter City) shared an alley with prostitutes in the Red Light District.

The ubiquitous smell of weed (marijuana) emanating from “coffee shops,” the smell of urine and alcohol inhabiting the tight alleyways, the chattering background “ecstacy . . . cocaine!” and the visual bombardment of explicit sex shows, pornography, and prostitutes boxed in behind thin panes of glass affects most travellers.

The experience gave me a window into the dark creaveses of man’s heart and a silver bullet solution that shows sin is not fulfilling.

We spent our time in Amsterdam making final preparations for the send off of individual teams. We overcame jet-lag, explored the beautiful, winding streets, and began the tangible path of a ministry unlike any other.

We departed Amsterdam. Five quick train rides and a two hour backpack (during a Hamburg thunderstorm) later we arrived at our hostel: a clean, semi-modern pad atop a hill over looking a large ocean shipping port. Exhausted and hungry, we then trekked through Hamburg’s own “red light district” (an experience more pornographically explicit than our first) into a cheap grocery store. We got back to our hostel, ate yogurt and cereal, showered and crashed.

The next morning I ate a solitary breakfast amidst a hostel filled with students and families mostly belonging to groups. Facing the exclusive nature of high-school groups, I sat down on the porch overlooking the bay, munched my bread butter and cheese, and prayed: “God, please send someone to sit and talk with me as in your plan that I may share your gospel.”

Within the next few minutes, as I progressed to sip my hot chocolate, Andrew walked up to my empty table at the far end of the cafeteria, outside, on the porch, and asked, “mind if I join you?”

I smiled warmly and replyed, “of course not, sit down.”

“Thank goodness, an American!” Andrew is from Toronto and travelling Europe alone for a while. We are both engineering students. Not only was God fulfilling his plan for this summer, but He was also reminding me, I believe, that He answers prayer. By the end of the evening Andrew excitedly told our team (after a home made dinner of spaghetti and long conversation) that he wanted to believe in God and Jesus. He was excited because he discovered that this belief is a choice: God loves us uncoditionally and offers us a choice whether we accept that love or not.

Please keep Andrew in your prayers as he continues to seek God in the Bible and through prayer during his summer travels.

From Hamburg we moved on to Luxembourg City, a beautiful city containing aged city walls and fortifications in a country of luxurious hills, grass, and enviromentMeeting travelers proved difficult because of some school groups containing upwards of 70 students were all we seemed to run into. Once they left we met travelers much more easily. In our off time Will and I got a chance to explore the region and learn some of its history.

We are now in Paris, France. The TGV was a breeze compared to the goliath task of finding a place to stay (which we did in Hamburg) and then finding and checking in to that place. We backpacked and waited all over Paris Yesterday - a Paris busy with Saturday shopping. We found our cozy apartment and repeated the Hamburg pattern - eat, wash, crash. We luckily sit right over an internet and telephone cafe so we’re all getting a chance to make some correspondance. We attended a Catholic Mass today at Notre Dame Cathedral.

Please pray that we can find more lodging in Paris as well as a successful way to meet travelers (as we are currently staying in an apartment). Our plan as of now: play frisbee at tourist attractions (ie, front lawn of the Eiffel Tower) and hope to accidently hit some innocent bystanding tourists.

Thanks for your support. Please keep us in your prayer.

Welcome to petemac.net. I’m glad you made it.

This summer four students from Wheaton College in Illinois are going to share the gospel message of Jesus as the Christ with the traveling community in Europe. We are Team Vikings–an extension of the larger Youth Hostel Ministry. We are one of five teams (or fifteen total students) traveling and remaining stationary throughout Europe.

Team Vikings is:

• Lisa Crystal
• Peter MacDonald
• Heather Nelson
• Will Duvall

Our goal is ministry to the world’s traveling community. We are reaching throughout Europe with traveling teams, stationary teams, and hybrid teams that will carry the gospel in word, service and deed.

The traveling community is very alive in Europe. As some Australian girls put it: “[back home] world travel is more encouraged than a college education.” Youth Hostels–cheap hotel-like accommodations for teenage to middle agers (15~40) are spread through Europe and full of young people searching the world and searching their soul to find both what is “out there” and what is “in here” (points to own heart). Youth Hostels therefore by nature foster an environment inclined to sharing of ideas, good times, and experience.

Our goal is to join that crowd by sharing in word, action, and deed how Jesus Christ has personally transformed our own lives.

I leave for Wheaton College early Tuesday morning. Once there our teams will make final preparations before departing for Amsterdam on Wednesday afternoon.

The basic layout of Team Vikings’ itinerary for the summer follows:

• Arrive in Amsterdam and overcome jet lag
• Travel for three weeks, seeing Europe while sharing our faith with the traveling community
• Take a brief break with all of YHM including full-time Office of Christian Outreach (OCO) director Brian Medaglia and assistant director Sue Lee
• Run Intermission Youth Hostel in Bergen, Norway for five weeks
• Return Home, decomission

Please keep us in your prayers. Pray for safety, courage, divine appointments, and powerful encounters.