We are wrapping up our time in Sweden now and we don't have much time left. It has been amazing to see God continue to work in the stories that I mentioned before.
One in particular is the story about a young athiest named Eric. Eric was the one who previously upon first meeting with our guys stated his views rather bluntly that (edited version) the Bible was worthless. He has continued to meet with some of our guys, and beyond that started to introduce our guys to other Christians he knew. This is really rare because there are not many young Christians in Uppsala. Through Eric we have now met 3 young Swedish believers who basically want to talk more about what we do and want to get involved with the ministry here. Eric continues to be willing to meet and talk and it is encouraging to see that God has brought and is bringing Christians into his life to help him process the gospel.
Another story is of a guy named Andreas. We met Andreas when he was sitting with his friend in a cafeteria. He told us that he is agnostic and his friend who was with him was a Christian from Stockholm. Andreas wanted to meet up again to talk and then invited some of our guys to his house (this is a big deal culturally). He wanted to talk more and brought up spiritual things pretty early in the conversation. God is definitely working on his heart. Andreas had to leave early during the first meeting but what was also really cool was that his friend turned to us and said, "I believe that in this meeting God revealed His heart for me to share my faith with my country". This may not sound like a big deal, however culturally this is huge. Swedes don't want to stick out...they actually have a word for it. The goal is to be "Lagom" which means: not to little and not to much but just enough. This spirit of lagom has really invaded the church so that believers don't talk about their faith at all. After coming here for several years now we are are seeing this spirit of lagom begin to fade among young believers. God is working in the hearts of the Swedes.
Another story is one of a girl named Osa. Osa met some of our students and invited them over. They talked about the gospel. Osa was somewhat fascinated and asked many questions. One of our students asked, "Osa, what do you think of Jesus?". Osa replied "Swedes don't talk or know much about God, I think after hearing you talk it is because we do not know this Jesus that you have talked about. If we knew this Jesus as you do, we would talk about Him." It is a beautiful thing to see somebody who previously had no idea of God in her life, know is putting the gospel together in her life.
There have been many other things going on this summer as well. Another short story is of how God is reaching the many refugees here. There are alot of Afghan and Farsi refugees in the city. They are hurting and broken people. God has raised up a couple on staff with Crusade to reach out to these people in Uppsala. Yesterday we were able to see a Farsi woman place her faith in Christ. Many of these people are without hope and broken. It is amazing to see God reach out to them, restore and redeem them.
Thank you so much for reading. I will post pictures below. Please continue to pray for us as we close things down and have final meetings with students. Also please be in prayer for those who are still lacking support in funding this trip.
Thank you so much once again!
Britton and Brooks
Cultural Moment: This is what happens after a Swedish High School Graduation. They get into the backs of trailers and ride around town for hours. These are decorated with tree limbs and they throw presents to the crowd and the crowd throws presents back....this was hilarious...the sailor hats they are all wearing are their graduation hats....we thought they looked funny, but then realized for some reason we were cardboard squares on our head when we graduate....suddenly sailor hats made more sense.
This was at our MidProject Retreat. God blessed us with being able to go to a monastery, that is housed in an old castle. We had to leave our hostel in Uppsala because they had a big group coming in that booked before us. So through a friend found out about this place. When hearing what we do, they gave us an amazing discount and God really blessed us there. It was so refreshing to take a break for a couple of days to reflect and recharge!! One of the coolest moments was when doing a tour of the castle they led us to a music room and asked if anyone played the piano to demonstrate the acoustics. One of our students did, and he played the song I have linked to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-4wUfZD6oc . It was one of those moments that time just stopped and God's beauty was on display. Hope you enjoy the song!
