Week 2

The Lord is moving in Sweden! Watching His plans unfold is a delight that I have been blessed with experiencing daily. There are countless stories that I could write about on this blog, in which the Lord brought us to someone unexpected in a crazy way. An example of this would be one of our new Swedish friend J, which we met while hosting a bike wash on campus. J didn't even have a bike, yet was brought into conversation by a teammate of mine. As it turns out, J studied in North Carolina three years ago, and became a Christian during her time in the States. When she returned to Sweden, she had no Christian community to grow with, and no ideas about how to live for the Lord or share her faith with her friends or family. Today, J, one of my teammates, and I met up to get fika (talking and drinking coffee). She was initially concerned that we were part of a cult (which is a common stereotype of Christians in Sweden), but was soon talking openly with us about our faith. We were able to discuss the main points of Christianity as well as dive deep into some of the doubts and questions that have been on her heart since she accepted Christ three years ago. The three of us talked for about two hours, discussing Christ, life, and studying the Bible. She is extremely interested in growing in her knowledge of Christ, and had many questions for us about how she can share her faith with her friends and family (people rarely discuss religion or belief in God. Often, best friends do not know each others opinions about God). We purchased J a journal, and are going to be meeting with her every Monday to study the book of Ephesians together. Also, J is interested in meeting the long-term staff here, which will be both a blessing to her and an encouragement to them! Praise the Lord. This story is an example of the Lord allowing us to witness Him answering our team's prayer that He would bring the silent Christians of Uppsala into community. This is so cool to be apart of, and I am daily astonished that the Lord gave me the gift of being here to serve Him. Now, I have to go do laundry! :)

Finally in Sweden!

Hej Hej!
We arrived with in Stockholm safely and hit the ground running! We are staying in a hostel in Uppsala, and there are several other guests here as well. We have spent a ton of time out in the city already, and it is completely stunning. My team and I are still recovering from sleep deprivation, but we have already had some amazing experiences. Today we went onto an area of campus in pairs, and started some conversations with Swedes. It was completely amazing to actually be doing the work that we have been waiting so long to do! My teammate and I had good conversation with two girls, and we plan to meet up with them later this week. Praise the Lord for His the opportunities that He has given us to serve Him here, and for the way that He is guiding us through our time here! It's 11:18pm here, so I need to cut this blog short, but more to come later! -Mere