Wednesday, September 10, 2008

New semester

Well i've been back in Sweden almost 3 weeks and it has been an interesting and exciting time back. My first week and a half back was really rough. I had really bad jet lag, worse than i've ever experienced before. I felt disoriented, confused, a little bit homesick, and sick on my stomach every day. Thankfully I started feeling a lot better once I got over all that and got adjusted to the time change again. I spent one weekend overnight with the staff at our church. It was a nice relaxing weekend out in a house in the woods somewhere in a house that was built in 1858. It had a lot of nice apple trees around as this time of the year in Sweden the apples are ripe and ready to pick. We had a nice time of prayer and planning and it was a nice time to get to know the staff better. I also went this past weekend on a retreat with the whole church about 60miles from here. We had some nice times of worship and grilling out and another good time to connect with the Swedes at my home church here.
Last Thursday we had an evening at a Cafe at the University where we invited people to come who wanted to hear more about what the local churches here are doing and hopefully get involved with them. One group sang some cafe style songs and then I got up and sang some worship songs and informed the students about our international service. It was a nice night and about 100 students showed up.
This past Monday night we had our first international worship gathering of the fall and about 20 students showed up. We had students from about 6-7 countries show up. It was a really great time of worship. I was in charge of the music and the preaching so it was quite a lot to do, but I really enjoyed it. It's my first time preaching here in Sweden and only like my 2nd time really preaching in front of a church. The new students really seemed to be excited about having a place to connect with other Christians since most students on campus are not and just like to party a lot. This is a nice alternative for them and also a nice place to get away from the partying for a little bit and come worship together. Pray for us as we seek to connect with more new students international and Swedes. Pray for me as I will be teaching some more for our services this fall and leading our home group. Pray that more Swedes would be encouraged to be a bigger part of this international service and really connect with these international students. I really believe God has brought some of the students here from countries we cannot go as missionaries so that we can connect with them and share the gospel while they are here. Pray that the Swedish Christians here who are students will see what God is doing and join in that. I look forward to hearing from all of you as well! Also check out my newly updated pics from our first service and a few other events at http://www.flickr.com/photos/17394877@N05/ . Look under the title August-September 2008 pics. Thanks!

God bless,

Adam

3 comments:

Charlene said...

Hey Adam, really wonderful work that your are doing. Keep it up. I know God is going to use you in a mighty, mighty way as he already have you focused on this wonderful mission. I will definitely keep you in prayer and please again send me how I can donate to your mission. Thanks. Charlene Tilghman (ASL) at auntileen2@yahoo.com. God Bless you and your efforts.

Anonymous said...

hey!
it's really great to hear how things are going for you over there. Ben and I think of you often, and with this new schoolyear started, we're really remembering our first weeks over there last year.
We pray that God uses you this year to reach not just the international students on campus, but a lot of the Swedish students who are searching for more...
only about 3 more weeks until the baby gets here, and we'll be sure to send you pictures when he/she makes their way into the world.
God Bless!!
Angela

Unknown said...

Adam,
I love the video! It is so cool to hear that God has sent to you people that would not hear about Him in their home countries. Awesome!

Thanks for your service.

Sheryl Wood