It’s the season of meetings


Ascension weekend, which is still an official long holiday weekend in many European countries, was the kick off weekend of what was to become a season of meetings.  Steve and our pastor, David, were elected to be delegates to the annual meeting of our partner denomination, Equmeniakyrkan (The Uniting Church of Sweden).  Barb went along as a general conferee, which meant she had time to do some wanderings around town.  And the town happened to be….Jönköpping!
One of the perks of being a general conferee...fika in a sweet highly recommended little café...worth the walk and the raindrops to get there!
Ah, Jönköpping….that beloved city in Småland, where many of our friends from our North Park College days spent their first study abroad months studying at SVF (Södra Vätterbygdens Folkhögskola).  In some ways, it was almost like making a pilgrimage to a holy land ~ in the sense of many of our friends, and our friends kids, have spent significant amounts of time there….studying, learning about differences in language and culture, even religion.
Texted this photo to several friends while I was there ~
Småland pride was in uber abundance (as in, wow, these guys are really proud of their region of Sweden!).  Through the drama, the cuisine, and the music, conference goers were treated to a lot of Småland history and culture and food. 
Småland is the region of Sweden where a lot of people who emigrated to the US in the 1800's came from....that could have been our grandmother!

It didn't look like a lot of food on the plate, but was plenty enough to fill us up ~

Everyone had been talking about this typical Småland dessert ~ the crowning jewel on a lovely evening.  Rice pudding (more like a custard) with whipped cream and cherries.  Yummy!

Barb’s favorite: the young Swedish baker, Andréa Brändström, who won the Hela Sverige Bakar 2017 (it’s the Swedish version of The Great British Bake-Off.  Check out this video clip of her wining the contest:

Andréa had baked a cake, and then while we were eating our Småland delicacies and being entertained by Småland drama, jokes and music, she was quietly decorating the cake that she had baked.  Four participants won the chance to go up and taste her cake when it was done…..what a shame to cut into and eat something that was so beautiful!
She was having so much fun ~ it was just so elegant!
  
Then one week later, it was time to meet the RHP (Refugee Highway Partnership) leadership team, who are bringing the RHP annual roundtable to Malmö in February 2020.  We were a small group of volunteers who welcomed them, who all felt a bit overwhelmed, perhaps, at the enormity of the task that lies before us as we prepare for this important meeting.  But we (not only Barb and Steve and pastor David), the pastors working here in Malmö, see it as a great opportunity to welcome the world from around Europe who are working with refugees to visit and learn from our multi-cultural city.  MALMÖ!!!
Can we take on this challenge??
Then, just two days later….it was like being with the organizers of the Equmeniakyrkan’s annual meeting…wait a minute, it was us being with the organizers of the Equmeniakyrkan’s annual meeting…because the meeting in May 2020 will also take place in Malmö.  We were counting the number of volunteers, against the list of jobs that need to be taken over…we sure have our work cut out for ourselves this year!  MALMÖ!!!!!  We’ll be introducing a bit of Skåne pride (Skåne is the name of our southern region here in Sweden) when Equmeniakyrkan comes to Malmö next year.  Funny reflection:  the year’s theme for Equmeniakyrkan is “to the ends of the world”.  Some Swedes think, in fact, that Malmö will be the “ends of the world”.  Well, it might be the ends of Sweden, literally!
Planning Equmeniakyrkans Annual Meeting in Malmö
Planning 2020 will be a big deal, friends.  This Annual Meeting regularly hosts over 1,000 people in attendance.  Can we do it, Malmö and Region Skåne???

Bring on 2020!  Think of the childhood storybook "The Little Engine That Could"....
I think I can, I think I can.  With God we can, With God we can!!

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