Ministry outside of Sweden

In this season, team Swanson is located in the US on “furlough,” “home ministries,”

“home assignment,” “itineration”.  No matter what you choose to call it, we manage to live for an extended period outside of our local ministry setting in Sweden to catch up with our ministry partners ~ both supporters and personal friends and family ~ who are caring for us, praying for us, and supporting us with their finances.

 

Back during my Africa years, my beloved Congolese and Central African friends would call this “vacation.”  In one sense, it was vacation from the responsibilities, and stressors, of ministry as it happened on the field.  But this is hardly any vacation!  In fact, we struggle to find time for vacation, that really dedicated time off from work responsibilities when you can just hang out in your pajamas till you want to and drink as many cups of coffee while just hanging as you want!

Our faithful travel companion ~ 2001 Buick Park Avenue ~ the home assignment car that we enjoyed in 2016-17 and has now been loaned to us for this 2022 home assignment!

 

Yet we miss the rhythm of ministry and recognize that we have to establish a new sense of rhythm in ministry in this season.  We love the itineration piece!  It’s so important to us to get back with our partners and give an update about the joys and challenges of these last 5 years in Sweden.  How did we set up life and ministry there?  What challenges/obstacles have we met?  How did your church in Sweden handle life and build community during the COVID pandemic?  And the list of questions goes on.  Is this still a viable and Kingdom building ministry that our partners want to continue supporting and journeying with us?

After wearing my crown of flowers at the Covenant Gather annual meeting all day long on Swedish midsommar, 24 June 2022, we managed to meet up with a friend who is a Swedish professor at a university in Illinois and enjoy this lovely strawberry with whipped cream scone in Kansas City.  Long live Swedish summer!

 

At the beginning of our home assignment, I started counting the numbers of miles we were traveling to each visit, and the number of beds we were sleeping in as we moved around the Midwest.  I was quickly reminded of a time back during my Africa years when colleagues were counting things…. number of interruptions in the day, number of times they had to move as missionaries.  And I realized, yet again, that counting the things that are negative about a particular experience ~ like how much we are traveling in this season ~ is just not helpful.  It’s focusing on the negative, which risks blinding out all the positive and good things that God is at work doing in this season.

Yeah, that moment when you realize the cap on your newly purchased water bottle wasn't properly closed, causing water to spill all over the bag that had the newly printed Swanson missionary prayer cards in it...yeah, that moment!

 

So I’m now counting the number of smiles and words of encouragement that we’re hearing along the way…how God is at work in our partner churches and in the lives of family and friends.  It’s a much better counting system.  And there’s a whole lot more joy in the counting.

 

One more thought….

When I was a kid and we would go on a long road trip (which often involved camping adventures in the tent, but that’s a whole other story!), my dad would always toot the horn whenever we drove over a new stateline.  It’s a habit that my sisters and I continue to do, even in our adult years, although both my sisters who live in NW Indiana say that it doesn’t count when you cross the Indiana border into Illinois (or vice versa), since they often have to do that several times a week because of work responsibilities that cause them to drive into Illinois.

 

Enjoy a few pictures of some of the state lines that we have driven over since arriving in the US in June.  FYI flights don’t give you a chance to toot the horn, but we have enjoyed visits to California and Texas as well.  God is good!

A bad storm somewhere on the road.  Bring it on, summer in the Midwest!!

One of several times crossing the Illinois state line...

A different perspective on crossing the state line into Illinois...the things you can learn as you drive around the US!

Is this when you ask me which is my favorite highway to drive on into the state of Indiana?  This was just moments before we got a flat tire on the highway....but wait a minute, we're not counting the negatives here!

Iowa....we were just driving through!

We drove several times in and out of Kansas enroute to the Covenant's annual meeting, Gather.  You really have to look into the distance to see this is Kansas!

That other home state that we love driving into!

Crossed into Missouri going to the Covenant Annual Meeting ~

This one is thrown in just for good measure ~ it has nothing to do with crossing a state line, but everything to do with finding joy in the journey.  This was how you had access to fresh pancakes in one of the hotels where we have stayed.  They think of everything!