If you can’t go to Ecuador, then come to Malmö!!

Since September 2023, we have been participating in a mission’s course that has been offered by our partners here in Sweden, The Uniting Church of Sweden (Equmeniakyrkan).  The goal has been to increase awareness about mission in our world, in a time when participation in missions has been sluggish at best.  So, we met last September 2023 in Jönköping, then online via ZOOM in October, November and December. 

Feeling like a bunch of college kids again on the SVF campus....even though we never studied there when we were at North Park College in Chicago ~

Being in the classroom again ~ can be fun, but having to do it all in Swedish adds its own separate challenge :-)

Got the chance to visit this church in Jönköping and reconnect with a bunch of family campers that we met last summer 2023 out at Nybostrand near Trelleborg....priceless!

 

Okay, one could say that this is a fika room with a view!

And then….

Everyone went out to do a cross cultural mission experience somewhere in the world.

 

Except that….well, things got quite unstable in Ecuador.  Several people ended up canceling their trips to Ecuador, which then meant that those who wanted to come down to Malmö and experience cross-cultural ministry opportunities (without ever even having to leave the country) ended up being a bigger team of five Swedes….and two Americans thrown in just for good measure!

Our local team working in Malmö had already met in February for a day of prayer and fasting, doing some important pre-visit prepping for the team that came from Jönköping

 

Walking and praying....praying and walking!

We had so much fun planning our time together:  a little language café experience, a serenity worship service at our local ministry partner in Malmö, then walking around in significantly diverse communities in our city, praying over the streets and schools and youth clubs there. 

 

And of course, being in Malmö, we went on a hunt for the best falafel in town.  We were not disappointed!

The mountain of veggies that were available to pile on to our falafel rulles ~ yummy!!

We spent a morning together looking at different resources available to us for how to share the truth about Jesus with those God brings into our worlds, wherever that may be.  Another great afternoon of sunshine and warmer temperatures allowed the team to get out on the street to offer coffee and conversation.  We wrapped up the weekend with fika (of course!), tacos (of course!), worship and church fika (of course!)

Spending the morning together around the books and resources that make ministry come alive in this amazing city called Malmö!

 

You don’t need to leave the country in order to see the world…especially when the world has come to Malmö!