tall spires, tall deeds.

Stockholm is beautiful. As we de-boarded the bus from Helsingborg, and began to transport our mass amounts of luggage up to our hostel, we were sweating and tired and frustrated with unruly baggage, but we were also struck by the peace of large, slowly falling snowflakes.

For the first few days, we were able to meet up with our school leader, Paul Childers, for a sort of pastoral visit. Paul was on his way through Europe as part of an around the world trip for photogenX and some of the other ministry work He is a part of, so he was able to make a quick stop to connect with us. We were able to discuss the tour thus far, as well as discuss the logistics of what is to come. It was refreshing to do business in person, as well as watch CNN, discuss world politics, and visit the Nobel Museum, amongst other things.

(santa klara kyrkjan: certainly not our normal venue)

During our time in Sweden’s big city, Koala and I were able to connect with one of the state churches in downtown Stockholm, Santa Klara Kyrkan. It is not uncommon in Sweden to see massive, beautiful churches, but it is quite unique to work with a church whose action can back up such tall spires. It was always a surprise to consider the variety of walks of life that the people were coming from: within a matter of an hour, I talked to a Romanian Gypsy (we spoke in Spanish), a Pakistani, a Chilean, and a Frenchman from Algeria – and these were just a few of our acquaintances. The church has a large influence in the community of downtown Stockholm, as they minister to the homeless, immigrants, and prostitutes on a regular basis. I was taken aback at all the activity and people that come through the building on a daily basis: this is certainly not a church that is sleeping.

They allowed us to share a small bit as part of their prayer meeting, and they also had us pray for a couple of the women in the church who are committed to working with local prostitutes on a regular basis. It was evident that we weren’t necessarily telling this group something new; more so, I think, or at least my prayer is that we may have been an encouragement for them to continue in a direction in which they are already moving.












Later in the week we were able to connect with a couple of other churches, New Life - an international church which includes upwards of 45 nationalities - as well as Tomas Kyrkjan – a smaller church with a beautiful mix of traditional liturgy and more “modern” forms of worship. We stayed around after these services to introduce our project to those who were interested. This always provides for great conversations and new connections.

One of my favorite quotes from the week came from the pastor of Tomas Kyrkjan, an American citizen who has become the pastor of a Swedish congregation. In trying to describe the origins of the Swedish language, he stated:

"If German and English had a baby, it would be Swedish."

This was certainly a statement for the ages, but Koala and I were thoroughly impressed as we eventually heard him give a sermon entirely in Swedish. Impressive I must say.


The time in Stockholm was a challenge in that we had not been able to pre-arrange any sort of events with the churches. The ways in which we were able to share were blessings considering the short notice with which they were planned, but we sometimes found ourselves frustrated, wondering how the project was really going anywhere. This was a good time to keep in mind the deeper goals behind this project, knowing that this is information that must come into the light, whether we are able to share in huge church settings, or just single conversations, one by one.

from nazareth with warm regards

This last week in class was very enjoyable. We had Ashley Smith come to us all the way from South Africa to speak to us about the prophets in the bible, and some of the history behind the city of Jerusalem. It was evident that he had a lot of wisdom to share on these topics. Also being in Jerusalem, it was an amazing place to be learning about such things.

A theme that stood out to me was how the Israelites were thinking that God was only concerned with the outward appearance of their sin, when in fact God was more concerned with the inward attitude of their hearts.

Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Amos 5:23-24

As the Israelites would often go astray, God sent many different prophets to show them that what He was seeking was their hearts. Even when the Israelites didn't listen, God used other nations ruling over the Israelites to make Israel into a nation that understood who their God was. From Ashley's teaching this week, I see that God is not a back-pocket God to be used when things go awry, but he is a God that we should involve in every part of our lives, internally and externally.

...

Over the next week, our school has divided into smaller groups of about five people, so that we can go out and tour the different locations where Jesus lived, walked and taught around the land of Israel.

I am on a team with Carmen (Georgia), Christina (Florida), Tara (Oregon), and Sung Ha (Korea). Yesterday we left Jerusalem in our rental car, planning to go up to Caesarea and Mount Carmel before settling in Nazareth for the next few days. Early in the afternoon we stopped for a quick stretch on the beach in Caesarea. As we returned to the car we found that our car had been broken into, and four of our bags had been stolen. Christina's Camera, Passport and credit-cards were stolen, along with one of Carmen's bags, Sung Ha's laptop, camera, and all of his pictures, and my bag containing my laptop and external hard-drives. We filed Police reports in the area, and are currently praying for something miraculous to happen.

Right now we could really use your prayers for the situation. We realize the odds of this situation are not very good for our things to be found, but we are also trusting in a God with whom there are no obstacles. Pray for our things to be found, but pray also that this can be an opportunity for whoever took these things to encounter the love and forgiveness that is found in Christ. Our Bibles and journals are in these bags, so who knows; maybe they will find the truth and love that is found in God's word.

We're told that sometimes the people just take the main valuables from the bags and then leave whatever else they don't need or want behind. Even this would be a blessing as there are a lot of other less valuable but very useful items in these bags, i.e. chargers, glasses, clothes, journals, bibles, etc

Carmen and Christina have gone back down to Jerusalem to get a new passport for Christina at the US Embassy. Tara, Sung Ha, and I will be staying here in Nazareth for the next couple days, and after that we may be moving on, possibly to Bethlehem.

It's a bit frustrating, but I'm believing God's purposes in this are far greater and run much deeper than anything I know. Your prayers in this situation would be so much appreciated, both for the recovery of the stolen goods, favor for Christina at the US Embassy in Jerusalem, and the direction God is leading our team for the rest of our time in Nazareth and wherever we may end up going later this week. Prayer can change the way things are.

Thanks for once again taking the time to read. Have a blessed week!