Reopening the Swedish Mosaics Blog

Well, this wasn’t the pause in updating the blog that we had intended…

But then nothing about 2020 turned out as we intended! I got a good giggle when we received the link to watch this video clip from a church that supports us and cares for us…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs-x16tZZUA

 

Church during a pandemic.  Mission and ministry during a pandemic.  Nothing turned out as we intended.  But God was still at work!

 

In the past, our blog has included weekly updates of life and ministry as it happens here in our little corner of Sweden.  But, thanks to corona and COVID-19, it seems like there wasn’t much to write about.  No language cafés, no Advent and Christmas activities, and the list goes on.

Checking out a local park in Malmö ~ we have done a lot of walking during the pandemic and have loved getting to know our city on foot!

 

 

 

When we could still enjoy being outdoors...

Virtual communion became a reality when restrictions of 8 came into place for public gatherings....there goes the church, said some...God's just got another plan is what we were thinking!

 

We’d like to start again and just share what God is teaching us during this pandemic.  Our motto since the beginning of COVID-19 was “let’s not waste COVID!”  Let’s see what God will do ~ in and through us….  In those moments when we’re really in step with Him, trusting Him every step of the way, even in the midst of this pandemic and the crazy times that we live in.  But also in those moments when we feel really abandoned, like when we cry out “God, where are you?”  How long, O Lord, how long? ~ those familiar words from the Psalms in the Old Testament have rung out in our hearts and from our lips so many times this past year.  Too many times, perhaps, as we have grown weary with COVID and the restrictions that a simple virus brings to our world.

So, Swedish Mosaics blog…be open again!

Hanging out in a quiet stuga (cabin) before life got complicated with residency issues....and we thought living in a pandemic was complicated!

So thankful for this quiet place in the woods ~

This picture could have been taken in the boundary waters of Northern Minnesota

This guy can sniff out a berry in any setting ~ beautiful yummy wild blueberries were still in abundance on the forest floor ~ in October!  Must be because of covid??

Even on grey overcast days, our hearts and spirits were refreshed ~

Let it be known that we had fun exploring and discovering all the different varieties of mushrooms that one can find in the Swedish forest ~ with a healthy respect for each variety!

Translate "healthy respect for each variety" in the above caption as "we totally kept our distance!"  I called this one black death!  It just looked plain dangerous...

They came out in all shapes and sizes and places ~ and we were quite happy to practice social distancing with the mushrooms!

I like to call this photo "on the path to...."  Little did we know then, in October, that two weeks later we would be leaving Sweden to return to the US...in the midst of the pandemic...But God was still at work ~ both in our lives and in the ministry He has called us to in Sweden!