An Arctic Adventure

How to reach “the old world”

The Russian Regions and Federal states

As a young student in school I learned about “the rivers in Siberia”; Ob, Yenisey and Lena – three of the largest rivers on the planet. All three of them cut across the Siberian taiga and tundra and flood out into the Gulfs of the Arctic Ocean. Most of the year they are frozen and serve as ice-roads for motorized vehicles and snow mobiles. In Spring time they become alive again and boats and ships of all sorts and sizes go up and down the river.

Who are living by the shores of those mighty rivers? The “left-behind´s”. When globalization and urbanization had caught their “movers and shakers”, and sent them to the cities, often those with less resources and initiative were left behind. The factory moved to the city as well. Thousands of villages without any future, without hope. No maintenance. Left by themselves to die…..

This summer YWAM was able to buy a boat in Novosibirsk. The boat has beds for a crew of eight people. A small team of four from Kamchatka took it 2600 kilometer down the river to Salekhard, the administrative center of the Yamal Nenet Okrug. Two weeks on the river, three Andrei´s and one Ivan kept on going to reach the first indigenous Christian conference for Finno-Ugric and Samojedic peoples in Yamal. Yamal means the ends of the earth. That´s where Jesus asked us to go and YWAM is already there.

Consecration and prayer for the boat ministry

What did they see by those river shores? Villages, villages, villages. One village man boasted and told Andrei, an Ukrainian YWAM ´er from Petropavlovsk, that he had visited  two other villages in his lifetime. What more to expect in life?

Siberia is as big as the entire Europe, USA and Alaska put together; an enormous landmass full of natural resources for the Russian government to fuel their economic development. But you will find people there too, let us not forget “the forgotten” in Siberia.

Nadjesta or Dar?

Since July, YWAM has a boat on the river of Ob in Siberia, ready to take teams into the heart of the Russian mainland. It will be based in Salekhard. The Good News Church, our partner in Yamal, looks after it and is already using it to reach out to the indigenous peoples in their area. Since we prayed for and consecrated the boat, two names has been suggested to identify it: “Nadjesta” which means “hope” – a common Russian female name. Most YWAM ´ers know what (who) “Dar” means in YWAM language. In Russian it means “gift”.

Our prayer is that this first YWAM ship in Siberia will be the beginning of a new fleet. YWAM Russia and YWAM Northern Europe are partnering to see a ship ministry be developed in both regions. We have started in the end of need. YWAM´ers in Northern Europe are praying to see the release of a bigger ship, and a crew, for service in between our Nordic and Baltic Capitals. From this bigger size ship we would be able to serve and equip smaller riverboats in Eastern Europe. These smaller riverboats will be able to reach “the old world” effectively. The Old World was developed and populated by people coming on the rivers to pioneer the land.

We tested a modern Vikingship at Nordsjøen in Norway

The Viking ship Project

I also learned in school about my forefathers; the Vikings. They used ships “to reach out to the world” as well; on the oceans in the west and on the rivers in the east. Next Summer thousands of YWAM ´ers are expected to attend the outreach during the Olympic Games in England. What could be a greater adventure than taking a group of young people in a Viking ship from Scandinavia to England? That is exactly what YWAM will do! This time only carrying spiritual weapons and the Message of Peace. No robberies or plundering!

A crew is coming together as well as a thousand young Mission Adventurers from YWAM Norway. BBC is interested in making a program about “the Vikings coming back…” and our own YWAM ship, the Next Wave from Marine Reach, will serve as the supply boat as we cross the North Sea.

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Watch the DVD on Youtube:

What happened in Yamal, March 2010?

This has been one of the most remarkable trips I’ve been on in my career as a missionary leader. From the first day we went into “prepared works”. The reason must be that people had committed to pray for us. I had not expected to meet such an expansive work among the indigenous peoples of Siberia. It was overwhelming to get to know one Nennet leader named Peter Khudi. He is an educated journalist and has been a Christian for 14 years. When he had tuberculosis, and was sentenced to a life as an invalid, God healed him and gave him a key role among his people. He is involved in the Bible translation work, discipleship, and do visits to serve on the tundra among the many Nennet families who still live in the traditional way on the Yamal peninsula, east of Novaya Zemlya.

We went to the east of the Urals, on the Asian continent in western Siberia. On western maps you will find few details on this vast area, unavailable as it may seem, and known as the “junkyard” for the Tsars and the Bolsheviks – the home of  unwanted and displaced elements in society. If you move the entire United States, Alaska and all of Europe east of the Ural Mountains, there will still be room for more in Siberia. Here did the Russian conquerors (Cossacks) meet the indigenous peoples in the same way as the Europeans met the Indians and Eskimos in North America several centuries back. It is estimated that around 250.000 indigenous people inhabited Siberia at that time. Today, only a few remains after centuries of oppression, disease and extreme natural conditions. How long they had to wait until the gospel of Christs was  brought to them!

Yamal Ukrog has the world’s largest population of reindeer. Yamal peninsula alone holds just under 300.000 animals. Many thousand Nennets still live the old way, almost like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; breeding their animals and surviving by the flock. West of the Urals, through one of their own, God has sent a revival which has affected 200 families, it was us told. Elia is a Nennet evangelist who God uses among his own people. The hope is lit, but everything is very vulnerable. We hope that YWAM, together with local churches can help this movement in the years ahead. The modern society is at their dorrstep; and oil and gas production might distroy the old traditions. We are in a race against time. When indigenous peoples are forced out of their traditional lifestyle, they become a victim of alcohol and suicidal minds. This happend to Peter Khodi’s mother and father.

I have invited Peter Khodi to Norway in late April. We will try to raise support for his work. After the financial crisis, he has not been able to work full time. (Peter sits behind me in the picture in the middle!) In September I am planning a new trip to follow up with the other leaders in Salekhard. It is a great privilege to be involved!
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS!  in JesusTerje

February 24th: Last UPDATE before departure:

Wednesday, March 3rd, I put myself on a train in Moscow along with 10 other colleagues. The old train track towards the north, takes us through the Russian taiga and tundra, crossing the Ural mountains at the Arctic Circle, and ends on the banks of the Ob River, the last stop before Salekhard, which is the administrative center of the Yamal province. This is the land of the East-Nennets in Western Siberia. Yamal apparently means “the end of the earth”.

This is for us personally an adventure, but also a serious attempt to become involved again with the small Arctic Russian indigenous peoples, a calling that God gave to us in YWAM 20 years ago, while Eva and I were still leaders of the Borgen base .

One morning I had this email from Loren Cunningham: “Dear Terje – I’m so glad for the great vision that you have to go up the Arctic Russian rivers. It allows you to have both your living accommodations and your transportation — to be able to reach people who are untouched in any other way. At the end of Oct. I met with some of our leaders who are working in the Arctic area including one who has worked with you for several years, and we were praying in the area of Nunavut in the city of Iqaliut and it was a time of ministry to the Inuits of that area in both open services as well as prayer times with YWAM leaders. We prayed for a ring of fire spiritually to encircle the whole Arctic area and we are hoping that there can be a time when we can get all of the Arctic leaders together – Kamchatka, yourself and many others from throughout the Arctic Circle. For this Nunavut meeting they were from Greenland and a few other places. May God continue to bless you in your trailblazing and pioneering ministries. In Him, LC.