Our Time in Drøbak

Before we moved to Oslo, we lived in Drøbak for some years. It was an exceptionally good time together with many dear friends, with a great deal of fellowship, fun and happy laughter. The friends were extremely loving and did many things for us children. My mother was also extremely hospi­table and caring. She liked to make things good and enjoyable for the friends. We didn’t have an indoor bathroom in our home, so once a week we went to the home of Ole Kristiansen to take a bath. I still remember in the winter being wrapped up in woolen blankets and carried back home after we had our baths.

The Kristiansen family is one that I remember with fond­ness from my childhood. They especially enjoyed children. We were so happy when they took us to the beach and spent time with us just playing and having fun. All of this contrib­uted to our bright, happy childhood. In my mind it is like a beautiful garden filled with all of the angels, Jesus, God and the friends.

I remember old brother Thorolf Eriksen as an extra good and fun-loving man. He was a pilot on a boat. I especially re­member once when we were on a boat trip, and it was very rough. The coxswain asked Eriksen to take over the wheel. I remember seeing him standing at the wheel so quietly and confidently. With him at the helm, I felt that Jesus was also present in the boat and that he would pilot us safely into the harbor, which he did.

When I was about five years old, I fell from a five-meter-high rock behind the meeting hall in Drøbak. “Oh, now I’m really going to get hurt,” I thought as I tumbled down the slope. Then something amazing happened: I distinctly felt angels’ hands catching me as I landed, as though I had fallen on a soft blanket. I ran home to Mama radiant with joy and exclaimed: “The angels caught me! I didn’t get hurt!”

My favorite Sunday school teacher was in Drøbak. He was my favorite because he held the absolute shortest messages, so it was much easier to remember what he said. Generally speaking, I didn’t remember very much from long messages, and consequently, they weren’t of much help to me. I wonder if today’s children might feel the same?

There was also a shop in Drøbak that is a lovely childhood memory. It was a candy store called “Children’s Paradise.” At home I usually connected “paradise” with heaven. I remem­ber standing outside the shop and looking at the window dis­play.

I let my imagination run wild. I imagined how glorious ev­erything would be in heaven. I could see all kinds of sweets of every color and shape before me. I was especially fond of jelly—it was my favorite dessert. I was certain that I would get to eat as much jelly as often as I wanted when I got to heaven. It was some time before I realized that heaven was more than just streets of gold, joyful music and “Children’s Paradise”!

When I think about the time in Drøbak, I can’t possibly for­get Elise Pettersen. She held children’s meetings and Sunday school for us. Her godly life made a lasting impression on me. She was unmarried and very simple and natural in all that she said and did. She also had an ability not to take herself seri­ously, and she laughed readily at her own mistakes. And she was fantastically gifted at telling stories—especially Bible sto­ries from the Old Testament. This gave me an insight into the life and deeds of the heroes of faith from an early age. Be­cause of her living faith in God, she was a powerful drawing force to the Son.

My father lost his carpentry workshop during this time, so we had little income. Once we had so little to eat that my mother didn’t know what she was going to put on the table. On that very day, after my mother had prayed because she was at her wits’ end to know what to feed us, Elise Pettersen came in the door and said shyly, “I bought something for you while I was out shopping.” God had moved in her heart to go shopping and buy milk, bread and other essentials. She was really like a messenger at the right time. We had many similar experiences with her.

Sometimes, Elise would live with us for several months at a time, and she helped my mother for a good part of my child­hood. In my childlike mind, she was like a strong tower—a sign of God’s unshakable goodness. Her dark, flashing eyes were almost black, and if some unknown friend came to the door asking for me, she fixed her piercing eyes on him. Some of my school friends didn’t dare come to my house because of those black eyes of hers. She was, of course, doing this to pro­tect me.

When she helped us at home, I remember she always had her Bible in one hand while she stirred the pot. She laughed, prayed and had a fantastic sense of humor. In the midst of her work and toil, she had time for us. For her, everything was so natural and unpretentious.

When I was 15 or 16 years old, I felt that there were a num­ber of people who didn’t like me. This was a difficult time, and during this time Elise Pettersen implored me not to stop going to the meetings. She told me she would give me ten crowns every month if I kept going. This made a great impression on me, and I continued attending the meetings, not so much for the ten crowns, but more because of her good and warm heart.

Examples like this can stir many an unmarried sister to wake up. You can have a fantastic effect on people far into the future when you live for God in simplicity of heart!

I felt that many of the people who frequented my child­hood home had a hidden life with Christ in God and did not live before the face of man. This made a deep impression upon me. They were like lighthouses and mountains around Jerusalem—it was so good and safe. Because of their words and actions, they were a protection against evil. I feel certain that many of them would quite literally have given their lives to save me. That’s how tangible their love was for me.