On the night of August 29, two friendly and enthusiastic couples arrived at Finca Alamo. They had taken responsibility for the first 60+ trip after Finca Alamo had been rebuilt and renovated over the past two years. These four were Toril and Per Gunnar Frantzen from Måløy and Ester and Ole Kulterud from Valdres. They arrived early to prepare a good welcome for the rest of the group that arrived a day and a half later.
Per Gunnar had volunteered at Finca Alamo in 2024 and was thrilled. When he learned that there was a free week in September this year, he jumped at the chance – together with others – to fill the place with 60+ friends.
Måløy managed to fill some of the 17 rooms. Valdres was then contacted, and they quickly responded with several couples. Soon more people were interested, resulting in a group of 30 friends from 9 different churches. Måløy, Valdres, Oslo, Molde. Hallingdal, Stord, Tønsberg, Eiker and Hønefoss. With the hosts from Drammen Sande, there were actually 10 churches gathered.
It was an extra pleasant and edifying week. It quickly became apparent that this way of putting together a 60+ trip was very successful. There were many good, pleasant and edifying conversations and get-togethers that were primarily characterized by gratitude. Here were friends who have known each other since their youth, but perhaps had little contact. When you meet more than 50 years after you were young, there is a life lived in between. There have been trials of different kinds, and the gospel has worked in different ways, bringing out grateful hearts despite the fact that many things may not have turned out the way you dreamed of when you were young.
The love for each other and for the body of Christ was very clear and noticeable both in pleasant activities, meals and in the edification.
During the week, the group visited Estepona with its beautiful beaches and old town, the white town of Casares and Gibraltar with its cliffs and monkeys. Restaurant visits were also included, but most meals were prepared in the kitchen at Finca Alamo by skilled cooks in the group.
There was a sense of well-being, humor, seriousness, warmth and gratitude to be found whether you met friends in the kitchen, in the pool, on the beach or looking for wild boars that had visited the garden at night.
The evenings with home-cooked dinners and lots of other goodies, edifying and grateful speeches, funny stories and poems, songs and music, good conversations and getting to know each other’s lives and hearts. it has created memories for life!
We asked Tore Gangsø:
What impact does a trip like this have on the community of friends?
The experience here has been extraordinary!
“I think the significance of a trip like this for the church and for society is more than many people realize. And forging such ties between places, as we’ve experienced here with friends from many churches, has eternal value.
We are built up together, and bound together with the ties God gives.
I would say that this place can be a meeting point where bonds can become even stronger.
Obviously it has an extra value when we’re in our 60s, but it’s also hugely important for the next generation.
We gather here without it being planned as a convention or meeting. But we have a good time together and share God’s word with each other. It becomes edifying. You notice that it gives something and creates something again that I believe is right and important.
To be allowed to know and experience true brotherhood and community in one’s old age, I think that’s extra important.
And I experience it here. I’ve talked to different people, and they say this is far beyond what they actually intended. They experience it as something completely new in their lives.
Then I think it has values. And I hope and believe that this will also be of great importance for the future and for the next generation.
Some photos and comments from the trip are also shown on Finca Alamo’s Instragram account
A chat with
the ladies in the kitchen
In the kitchen, Ester and Toril have reigned supreme, along with a number of good helpers. We had a nice chat with them about their experience of the trip.
How do you think the trip has been? Has it lived up to your expectations?
Ester: Much, much better than expectations. It’s been way above the expectations I had at least.
And Finca Alamo is something completely different from what I thought it was. It really has been a great experience for me in every way.
Ester, how did you react when Valdres received the invitation? Was it just yes right away?
Ester: Yes – yes right away. No doubt about it. I didn’t have to wait many days to let you know that here we come.
How do you think it has worked with food and the whole arrangement? There’s a lot of food involved in a trip like this with so many people.
Toril: Yes, it’s worked really well. With such a nice and talented chef(with a smile to Ester). It was absolutely great. Without her, it would have stopped for me. So yes, we’ve worked so well together.
But then – that’s the community we have when we plan! It has given us so much. We’ve learned from each other and we’ve had a fantastic community in the kitchen. Without any pain!
After all, you’ve chosen to do a lot yourselves here in the kitchen instead of ordering food. Is that something you would recommend to others?
Toril: Absolutely. Because there will be movement and more community and we can work together.
Ester: Yes, there’s a great community in the kitchen. It’s been a pleasure to work, I don’t think it’s too much. It’s a job with purchasing, you have to buy food and you have to cook, but it’s worked well.
Ester and Toril with a good laugh: Yes, it’s fun to go out and shop and spend money. Other people’s money! 💰
Do you have any tips for other 60+ groups planning a trip?
Ester and Toril with even more laughter: Hire us as your chef. Call Ester and Toril and we’ll come along for the ride 😊
Toril: No, to be serious: it’s important to plan well in advance. Fill the fridge with drinks and lots of water and then plan your dinners and lunches. Then everything goes much easier. And make sure you have something strong to carry when you go shopping!
We would like to emphasize that being here has been a foretaste of heaven.
Being together with so many friends from different congregations as there are here, it’s – well – it’s special! Yes, ten churches – I don’t have words – I’m almost in tears. It has made us very rich. I mean – we’ve come much closer together. Truly a foretaste of heaven. We recommend this!
And we’ve learned from each other. Toril smiles: “I’ve learned to make cauliflower soup in a new way.
Is there anything you would adjust if you were to do it again?
Toril: Maybe even better planning with a shopping list for each day.
Do you think it’s better to cook here yourself than to go out to eat?
Toril: Yes, we’ve been out to eat, but the food is better up here (with a twinkle in her eye and a laugh – the group had a bad experience at a restaurant a few days earlier). But I think it might be nice to go out to eat a couple of times.
And then there’s the atmosphere in the evening – when we sit outside. Now we’ve had Tore and Ruth here. That’s also put the finishing touches to the trip.
Ester: I think we’ve been very lucky to have them here. Very lucky. We can say we’re on vacation, but there is one thing that is the goal. We can’t forget what the main thing is, and we’ve really been able to share that here. I feel really rich when I leave here. We’ve made a lot of new friends in a way. Even though we were friends before, we now experience it in a different way. We’ve got a lot to work with. You know what I mean?
To think that I will inherit the others. And they will inherit me. That’s what’s kind of been going on here. Yes, I think that was huge. Because then I really want to save as much as possible so you get a big inheritance!
Toril; That’s why we’ve planned everything together. It’s to strengthen society. And strengthen each other, that’s our goal. The community in private and when we sit together, right? Sitting together and gaining experience from each other.
We have been one united flock, it has been noticeable
Toril: We would also like to say that we are very grateful to our hosts here, Karin and Kjell. It means a lot to us that they are here! I’ve grown particularly fond of Karin, who has been such a steady and good mentor during our stay!
We return home strengthened. And look forward to three years from now. We’ll be back, and we can’t wait!
Ester: But first we’re going to the seaside this summer – a separate senior group from 10 churches 😊
At Finca Alamo
Out to see and eat
