Just doing my job

Credit for the title of this blogpost needs to go to Rhonda E., missionary colleague working in Sweden since 2014.  She is fond of posting photos of experiences related to her ministry with this caption “just doing my job”.

Throughout my years of working in cross cultural settings, whether in Africa as a nurse or now in Europe working among refugees, people often are curious to know “what is it that you do???”  It is especially important to let people know what we are doing, as we are dependent on ministry partners to share of their prayer and financial support with us.  It was always so easy, during my Africa years, to describe what a normal day would look like, especially in my years in Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire).  The day often started at 6am with an early morning walk, the local market arriving at my back porch, spending the day at the hospital, with nursing students, teaching nursing classes, drinking tea and hanging out with colleagues at the end of the day. Or perhaps the day included a village trip, prenatal or preschool clinic complete with nutrition assessments, vaccination programs, health education, and a lot of fun getting back and forth across red clay dirt roads in Congo or the Central African Republic.

In recent months, my “job” has been to transition and integrate into life and ministry in Sweden.  This has included language study (an ongoing process, I might add!), participating in church events and hanging out with others who are also in the process of integration into life in Sweden.  We have set aside this first year of transition to focus on language and culture learning ~ focusing on Swedish language and Swedish culture.  We thought you might enjoy having a sneak peek at what that looks like….Enjoy!

Malmö coastal city

Love her smile and her heart that beats for Jesus!

The island of Ven on our day off

Church on the square in Limmhamn

 

Of course they serve fika at the grocery store to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the grocery chain....check out the box of crayfish in Steve's grocery basket

Then there's fika at Ericks' hjälpen, one of the second hand shops in town

Fika photo just for fun ~ check out the kardemumma bulle (cardamom roll)

Välkommen till kräftskiva (welcome to the crayfish party)...check out his party hat!

Our host for the crayfish event

It's not just about the crayfish, but also about the crayfish hats and crayfish bibs and crayfish napkins!!!

Here are the kräftor....and these babies aren't even from Sweden, but are Chinese crayfish...oh the world that we live in!

Having a little bit of fun with this picture....I really didn't eat them like that!  It was quite a lot of work for quite a little bit of meat, and definitely an evening of Swedish culture

Some of my favorite new things since coming to Sweden....a bike helmet, freshly picked kale and raspberries from the garden ~ and sunshine!!!