"Lasts"

This week has been one of "lasts": our last fikas with different friends we've met here in Sweden, last walks around the city, etc. School ended last week, so pretty much all the university students have left town...that is about 1/4 of the population here in Uppsala so it is pretty much like a ghost town now! This weekend there is a soccer game between some local teams and we are planning to go with some of our Swedish friends.

We fly out of Stockholm around noon on Monday and will be in Munich, Germany until Thursday. Our three days of debriefing there are something everyone is looking forward to; I think we all need the time to process through the past six weeks! We leave Germany Thursday afternoon and arrive in Greensboro, EST, right before midnight.

Please pray that we will run hard these last two days as we wrap everything up here; that we won't mentally "check-out" when we are so close to being done but that we will finish hard.

Our last full week...

This past week has been so encouraging ministry-wise! It was our last full week of ministry and God allowed us to "go out with a bang" so to speak. :) The first week here was so difficult in that we didn't see ANY fruit and everyone was beginning to question if our being here was making any difference in the lives of the Swedes. It has been amazing to watch the hearts of those we have been meeting with began to soften over the last five days, though. Several of us have been able to go through the entire Gospel with different students, and seeing them began to understand what we're telling them has been one of the most incredible things I have ever experienced!

Please pray for Linda, Caroline, and Pia. The first two girls are high school students me and Emily (one of the girls on our team) met this past Monday. We had fika with them the next day and were able to share our testimonies with them and go through the Gospel. Caroline left a few days ago for Turkey where she will be until we leave, but we are scheduled to get together with Linda sometime next week. Please pray that the Lord will continue to work in her heart!

Pia is a precious girl I met when I was here last November. I met her for fika the other day; she is not a believer but is SOOO close! I was able to witness to her again...please keep her in your prayers!

Last night we had an outreach party and invited all of the Swedes we have met over the last few weeks. We had a movie-themed party so everyone came dressed up as their favorite movie characters. :) Not as many people came as we had been hoping would turn out, but we had fun anyway! The STINT team who is here in Sweden for the long haul were there as well, so they were able to meet our new Swedish friends; it seems as though we are passing the torch on to them now that we are about to leave. It is encouraging to know that God is going to continue to work and move in the hearts of these people even after we are gone! :)

In Sweden, I...

(Living overseas is so wonderful in so many ways, but I think one of the best things about it is that you encounter so many funny things and have so many funny experiences! I thought I would write about some Sweden "funnies" we have had so far in this blog post. :) So, in Sweden I...)

1. ...wake up with the sun at 3 a.m.! When they call Scandinavia "the land of the midnight sun" they mean it, folks! It gets dark at around 11:30 p.m. and is light as can be three and a half hours later!

2. ...squeegie my bathroom floor! As advanced as Sweden is in terms of technology, they have yet to make shower STALLS common! For the most part it's a tile floor, shower rod, and flimsy curtain...PTL for squeegies!

3. ...walk on a divided sidewalk! There are two lanes on the sidewalks here: one for pedestrians and one for bicycles! The road IS used but cars and buses are the minority here for sure.

4. ...get mistaken for a Swede! Maybe it's the blonde hair and blue eyes...whatever it is, it's always funny when the cashier at the supermarket tells me the price in Swedish; I can only smile and nod in agreement for so long before she realizes I totally did not get what she just said and that I speak "engelska"!

5. ...usually get a check at the end of a meal that is between 75-89...thankfully the kronar/dollar ratio is 7.5 to 1! It definitely had some people on our team worried when we went to the ICA (the only grocery store chain that there is in Uppsala) for the first time!

6. ...LOVE the sayings our team has, most of which we learned during briefing! Some of these we use EVERY day!
a. ADAPTIBILITY, ADAPTIBILITY, ADAPTIBILITY! (yep, this is one of those daily ones)
b. It's not wrong, it's just DIFFERENT! ...except when it's just flat out WRONG
(we added that last bit after we got to Sweden - it definitely comes into play sometimes!)
c. "Oh, snap!" (there are MANY opportunities for this phrase to be used every day!)
d. Fem Fika - a word we came up with for our girl coffee time before church every Sunday morning...usually at the Sweden equivilent for Starbucks: Wayne's Coffee! (my Daddy would be proud!)

7. ...discovered that NUTELLA is a must! We live on nutella and banana sandwiches around our hostile!

8. ...went to a Mormon church for the first time! There is a "Church of the Later Day Saints" right beside our hostile, and since our rooms are so small that's where we have been meeting for our group Bible studies. I bet the elders never thought the building would be serving a group of Christians when it was built! :)

9. ...never thought I would be able to wear the short sleeved shirts I brought without a jacket! I definitely did not bring enough winter clothes...it has been wayyyyy colder than I expected it would and the rain has not helped much. Me and one of my roommates told each other a few days ago that all we wanted to do was to be able to say, "I am soooo hot!" Well, this weekend we got our wish! It has been in the 80s, sunny, and absolutely gorgeous! And yes, for the past two days me and Ally have looked at each other and said, "We are SOOOOOO hot!" :)

10. ...am always amazed when I talk to a Swede about my wonderful Savior and they respond with the standard, "I've never thought about God before". That's why I'm here this summer! Please pray for us this week as we share the Gospel with these precious people!

For God SOOOO Loved the World!

We have been having small group Bible studies on Tuesday morning and during ours today I had a "wake up" moment. The lesson was on the supremacy of Christ and how, since He is all-powerful and in control of everything, we can trust Him with every part of our life, with every area that concerns us. In light of that and the discipleship time I had later today, I have been overwhelmed with an intense love for these people like I have never felt before. When me and my group went out to do witnessing outreaches this afternoon, I had this incredible desire to just tell EVERYONE I came in contact with about my amazing Savior! Georgina, Lauren, and I were able to witness to three high school seniors and I had the most in-depth Gospel sharing experience with them that I've had since coming to Sweden. It was just like the Lord gave me that today because He knew I needed an outlet to share Him in the way I was longing to!

I am so thankful that God loved me so much that He saved me...and is allowing me to share Him with these precious people in Europe this summer.

Uppsala Update

This past week was a busy one with all of us trying to meet as many students as we could every day! We had lunch at the Nations every day except Thursday (which was a holiday here) and then did different outreaches at the various colleges on campus in the afternoons.

This coming week I am hoping to meet a Japanese girl named Marie for fika; I met her a few days ago and was able to witness to her. When I suggested we meet for coffee one afternoon she thought that was a wonderful idea! Please pray for our time together! She has an exam on Monday so hopefully we'll be able to meet the following day.

On Friday, Kayla (a girl on our team and also one of my roomies!) and I had lunch at the VG Nation and met two precious girls from Uppsala named Lisa and Sandra. They were the most outgoing, social Swedes I have met since we arrived and were so much fun to talk to! They seemed excited about fika one afternoon this week so please pray that we will be able to share the Gospel in depth with them then.

Please also pray for the others on our team; several of them have already met for follow-ups with different students and have really been able to witness to them. Just pray that these Swedes will want to know even more about how they can have a relationship with Jesus Christ!

Krykan, Kubb, & fiKa

We are finishing up day #4 in Uppsala!  Our plan landed in Stockholm (after a LOOOOONG day of traveling!) Thursday afternoon and then we took a van to the first hostel we stayed at in Uppsala.  We were there Thursday and Friday night, and then yesterday morning we moved to another hostel in the city and will be here for the remainder of the trip.  The rooms are set up apartment style and it's closer to the heart of campus...a better deal all around! :)

The missionary STINT team in Uppsala had dinner ready for us our first night here and it was wonderful to reconnect with them since I had already met them when I was here in November.  Before we ate we had a rousing game of Kubb in the backyard; it's a Swedish game that is a cross between bowling and cricket and it has fast become our team's favorite!  We've started a ritual of playing before bed every night!

Friday morning we had an in-country briefing session with the STINT team leaders (information about what we'll be doing in Sweden, background about the culture, etc) and then had lunch at the cafeterias on campus - meeting students and witnessing to them.  Several members of our team were able to get contact information and are hoping to meet up with the same students for more in-depth spiritual conversations this week.  That afternoon we had a scavenger hunt around the city that started at Domkrykan, the church that is at the center of Uppsala and the most beautiful part of the city, in my opinion!

Before church this morning, all the girls on our team went to a nearby coffee shop for our first group FIKA (traditional Swedish tea time); we enjoyed our hot drinks and shared our favorite Bible verses with each other. :)  I am so blessed to be sharing this month with so many precious, Godly young women!  I love them dearly!

Please pray for us this week as we began our ministry here in earnest.  We will be meeting with students daily and are praying for divine appointments with them all, hoping to share the wonderful Gospel message with them!  Please also pray for Emily, one of our team members, who will be flying in tomorrow to join us here (her sister got married on Saturday and so she is having to come in a few days later).  

Going, going...

...almost gone!
We leave the hotel tomorrow at 11:30 and then fly out at 2:50 that afternoon! Our route is Greensboro, NC to DC to Munich to Stockholm! Please pray for our safety as we travel and for the safety of two of our team members who will be joining us in Sweden later this week.

These past few days in Greensboro have been wonderful; the training we have received has been so helpful and I have loved meeting everyone on our team! We have an amazing group and we have all become family in such a short time. :) I am so excited to see what God is going to do in us and with us over the next six weeks!

God is GOOD!

We are currently in Greensboro, NC for our three days of briefing before we fly out to Sweden on Wednesday! As of yesterday afternoon, I honestly did not think I was going to be here today. I was still around $1,000 short of the money we had to have raised before we fly out and about $2,000 short of the total cost for the trip. But at literally the last minute, God provided over $900 for me through the excess funds I had from the mission trip to Sweden I took over Thanksgiving break this past year! He is so good and I am praising Him for allowing me to be here in NC right now!

Support

Well...the countdown is on! Four more days until we leave for briefing in Greensboro, NC, and then exactly one week from today we will be on the plane headed for SWEDEN! I cannot wait!

Support wise, I currently have $2,000 of the $5,000 necessary for my trip raised. If God has laid Sweden on your heart of the desire to give, any financial help would be wonderful! Over the past few months, the verse that says, "He who has called you is faithful" has been such an encouragement to me. I know that since He has called me to serve in Sweden this summer, He will make a way for me to go. I saw Him provide above and beyond the expenses when I went to Sweden last Thanksgiving and believe that He is able to do that again this time!

Please pray with me that I will wait on the Lord and that He will continue to provide in His way, in His time.

Agape Sweden

Hello!
My plan for this blog is that everyone who helped make this mission trip possible for me will be able to stay updated on what takes place during my time in Sweden! Our team will be flying out
May 13 from Greensboro, NC and will return June 18.

As you read the posts and look through the pictures, please pray for me and everyone else on the team that we will be able to show Agape - God's unconditional, unending love - to the Swedes!