Long Last week....

This past week has been very busy. On Monday we had a day to relax, do laundry, and go to the grocery store. It’s so interesting working with foreign money. 100 krones= $15. So now when I see 99 k I have to take out my handy calculator and divide the price by about 7. It’s crazy. I also taught dance for the first time for Rebekah. She has a beautiful facility for ballet so it will be fun to work with her.

On Tuesday we began the big move from their current activity center to the old church building that is next door to my ground floor apartment. It has become quite the project. One of the interns had her birthday on Tuesday so we planned a surprise birthday party for her. She was clueless and very surprised. I put a fun play list together for it… K-Smooth still has it!! (That was for my fellow RA girls). I met two Swedish girls, Sarah and Louise. They are studying at Holaved School here in Tranas. They are studying children recreation and development. It’s like psychology in the states. They are so sweet. Me, Cristin, and Allie hope to have them over for dessert and a movie.

On Wednesday and Thursday, we continued the move to get ready for hosting a dinner/coffeehouse for the Holaved students to come and hangout with us. We had a pretty good turnout for the first time. About 6 or 7 students came. We hung out, ate, had Fika, and played games. The game “Signs” is really fun! Ask me about it the next time you see me. They stayed and hung out until 12am! It was fun to spend time with young people and it was a great time to unwind after 2 busy days of moving.

Friday was busy also, but in the evening we got to relax a bit. Went to check email and talk to my family. When I finished that, there was man who is playing baseball this summer talking to Allie. (There is a baseball team here in Tranas and players come for the summer to play on the team locally, from the States, Canada, or Nigeria.) He just asked her if she was a Christian and started to talk to her about her faith. He said he liked talking to people about their beliefs. He called himself an agnostic and took what he liked from religions such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism etc. I came in halfway through the conversation and listened for a while and asked some questions. He is lost, but I could see that he was also searching for the truth. He averted the conversation away from Sin and the Sovereignty of God. But what non-Christian would really want to talk about that anyway? It’s scary to think that we are sinners in the eyes of a God who is in control of our lives. It was so hard to get clear answers because his truth was so twisted and confusing. The beautiful thing about that conversation is that God’s truth would come out of his mouth. It was AMAZING!! That was encouraging to me and Allie when we debriefed about it afterwards: that God was in the midst of that conversation. His truth is always there even when someone doesn’t see or believe. I was encouraged by it because you knew that God was working in his heart. Every time he would say something, he would change the subject or sweep what he said under the rug. Pray for him. I want to respect him so when you pray for him, call him “Nicodemus” because he searched and found Jesus.

On Saturday we cleaned and went into town. Got some personal souvenirs. Saturday afternoon when we got back we cleaned the Johnson’s house because they left for a few days and needed their house cleaned. Having 10 kids it’s easy to get behind on the laundry. I have never seen so much underwear!! We came back and made dinner and watched a movie. “You’ve Got Mail” is officially one of my favorite movies. We had digestives and peanut butter and I added chocolate chips, accompanied by tea I am rediscovering my love for tea and peanut butter.

Sunday at church I sang in both services. It was so nice to serve in that way. The church I am working with joins with the local Methodist Church in the mornings and in the evening we have our own service. In the morning we had communion and it was beautiful. First our church went up and we stood around the altar while the minister served everyone communion. Then the Methodist members went up and they were predominantly older folks. It was a beautiful picture of the gospel as they knelt down, humbling themselves like children before God. I thought how easy it is to forget that even people with years of wisdom and experience still come before God repentant, in need of their heavenly Father to scoop them up, forgive, and love them.

My host family has two boys and expecting their third. We had a scare yesterday and she was rushed to the hospital. She was feeling very sick. Praise God she and the baby are healthy! They were charge of Open House after the evening service so his younger brother and I got food ready for that. It was my first project to do on my own. It was a success.

This week there is a ballet camp that I just found out about this morning. I am teaching ages 9 and up and 6-8 year olds. It should be fun. I have to start planning for those tonight.
I told you all I would be posting a long one! Please pray that I would be encouraged by what I am doing here. I have been feeling weary so pray that God would reveal ideas for my senior project and plans for after school, as I am teaching and serving her in Sweden. I love you all, praying that God inspires, grows, and encourages you!