John 3:16 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life.

Johannes 3:16

Så älskade Gud världen att han gav den sin ende don, för att de som tror på honal inte skall gå under utan ha evigt liv. 

In any language this verse sounds cool. Finding the reference on the side of a boat in the Gränna Harbour was a surprise but a pleasant one. May Sweden come to know this to be true!

En Månad i Sverige

I know that this is a bit late in coming together and means that things on the blog will be a little bit backwards... but let us take a look at the month of September which I spent in Sweden.

September 3^rd Arrived in Sweden

September 4^th Råslätt's dagen (a community day of sorts in Råslätt. Met quite a few people who live there and work with OM and or the church)

Sept 6^th Welcomed to the office. Met the office staff.

Sept 8^th Attend Spåk Cafe (speech cafe) Hosted by the Red Cross to help non swedes speak swedish with each other.

Sept 10^th Attended the Living Room (hehehe) which is the youth meeting of the church that OM works with. The youth meet in the OM apartment where I happened to be staying.

Sept 11^th Church's birthday celebration. The members made cakes and gave them away to the people in the community.

Sept 11^th to 12^th Visited a church in a place called Rimforsa. We led a youth meeting on the Saturday and a church meeting on Sunday morning. The word for 'church' in swedish is Kyrka. The church that we visited is called 'Brokyrkan' which means 'The Bridge Church'.

Sept 11^th Dinner and birthday party with some of the other singles.

Sept 13^th Attended the Spåk Cafe

Sept 15^th Attended a house group (cell group) at the home of a lebanese family.

Sept 16^th to 18^th Travelled to Stockholm with Isak, David and Magdalena for a meeting about an upcoming activity with Luis i Öster (Light for the People) and Folk och Spåk (People and Speech, the name of Wycliffe Bible Translators in Sweden).

Sept 18^th Attended 'The Underground'. This is a youth centre run by the city during the week. Omers and members of the church run it on Saturday nights.

Sept 19^th Mushroom hunting :); Church at Råslätts församlingsgemenskap Kyrkan (The Parish Community Church of Råslätt). This is the church that most of the Omers in Råslätt attend. Many in the congregation are former OM ers including the pastor; Dinner with some of the singles plus a student from the university.

Sept 20^th Josephine Tan from 'Touch Nature'in Nepal visits and gives us an update on what is happening there.

Sept 21^st. Leena arrives to check out the ministry in Råslätt. We share the apartment.

Sept 22^nd Visited a house group. One family and a bunch of young people attend this one.

Sept 24^th Attended the Living Room Youth Group.

Sept 25^th Attended a meeting for the 'Vision Team' going to the Logos Hope in October. Gave a 5 minute presentation on adapting to a different culture based on personal experience.

Sept 26^th Church; dinner at Field Leader's house with Leena (from OM Ireland) and Sharaz (from OM Pakistan).

Sept 28^th Attended the Världens Chans (A world of opportunity). A missions expo at various bible schools. Done in cooperation with Luis i Öster and Folk och Spåk. I attended on this day only at one Bible School.

Sept 29^th Spent the day cleaning and doing Laundry and saying good bye to people.

Sept 30^th Last minute goodbyes and departed Sweden.

Vi Ses Sverige (See you later Sweden)

Ok so I did not keep up with the updates as much as I thought that i would have in the last few weeks.
Finland was an awesome time of resting, and thinking and praying and connecting with people.
The last 4 weeks in Sweden were filled with so many different things.
From church visits, to attending the local church; from mushroom hunting to moving in Fika; from speaking english to speaking swenglish; from meeting new friends to meeting old ones; from eating candy to eating beef; from the polka dancing pig to Willy's.
So much has happened and I have learnt so much... and while some moments have been difficult... I have enjoyed my time here... and would not trade it for anything.
Did I mention meeting people...
Vi ses sverige!

So today I have two sleeps left before I leave Sweden.
Today we went to a bible school... or maybe a bible school class to talk about missions. How cool is that. I was knew what was basically being presented but didn't understand that much. However I was able to talk a little bit about some things.
It is always encouraging to see young people taking time to follow God with there all.
Ok so on the way home we stopped at a candy shop... ok so I bought some!
It has been incredible seeing so much of Sweden and swedish culture... a bit overwhelming at times but I like it.

Rimforsas Brokyrkan (The Bridge Church of Rimforsa)

So this weekend myself, Martin, Isak, David, Abel and Anton drove two hours to a place called Rimforsa. We arrive Saturday afternoon and left on Sunday afternoon.

On Saturday evening we led a programme for the church's youth. It took the form of a TV programme with Martin as the host. The rest of us were guest that Martin interviewed about the various topics that were highlighted that night.

The programme was bases on, The Call, Friendship with Jesus and Sending out.
Each one of us had various experiences that we could draw on to compliment each topic. Abel also did a Rap song that he composed himself. Abel and Anton are both teenagers in the Råslätt youth group. Then we had a short break for FIKA (a swedish traditional breaktime filled with goodies to eat). After the FIKA there was a time of prayer and worship. The evening went quite well and the youth responded positively to it. I didn't understand that much as most of it was in swedish but it was still cool. When Martin interviewed me, Isak acted as my translator. We also did a short skit, that I was able to participate in... it was a short part and I was able to speak English.

We stayed with a local family... they took all six of us in... and spoiled us that night and the next morning.

At church the next morning the people were very welcoming. The service went well. This time Martin interviewed me from the front with Isak translating again. Isak and David also spoke about various things that OM is doing. Martin gave the message. The lady that we stayed with chose to sit next to me to translate a little for me even though she is not that confident with English. It is amazing how many people here speak good english but are shy to speak it.

For me another cool things was meeting a young swedish lady who grew in Thailand where her parents were missionaries. She attended an international school so she was relieved to hear english spoken again.
God really is doing something in Sweden!