Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Hej from Stockholm, Sweden !

( For you non-Swedes, "Hej" is pronounced "Hey" and means "Hello" in Swedish! )

Felix & I arrived safely & soundly in Stockholm on Monday night with the rest of our team. Alas, the rain from our days in Paris followed us too! However, today it is the complete opposite - sunny, bright & breezy. Praise God for His beautiful creation!

It's completely gorgeous where we are staying. We're at a youth hostel that started in the 16th century as a farming community, turned into a Christian summer camp retreat site owned by the church and then sold to the city to become the hostel it is today. We're right next to the waterfront! It's a complete change from the hustle & bustle of the urban landscape of Paris.

We've all gotten a chance to SLEEP (as in sleeping in :D), rest, relax and be refreshed by the surrounding nature and each other's presence. We bought groceries from the nearby grocery store - the Swedish language never ceases to amuse me. Everything seems expensive because Swedish Kroner is the Canadian Dollar times SIX! Then we cooked (actually, more as in Head Chef Ray cooked) a satisfying dinner of spaghetti, soup and salad.

Please keep Felix in your prayers as he was feeling the onslaught of a nasty cold last night. Please keep me in your prayers as I found out that the Bible study I'll be co-leading is being advertised as in CANTONESE. (Eek!) Please keep the rest of our team in prayer as we keep learning about each other and about the Swedish-Chinese church here, as well as the youth ministry led by Pastor Billy Lo.

The key word of this missions trip is FLEXIBILITY.

We're going on a prayer walk today! Should be interesting. :)

2 comments:

Rosana said...

Greetings in the Lord! Thank God for your safe arrival. We wil pray for Felix and trust the Lord will boost his immune system to fight his cold. We will keep praying for all STM teams as all of you has to go through weather changes and lifestyle adjustment. Elesa, thanks for your requent posting that keep us in the loop and allow us to be part of the team from a distance. Our family really enjoy reading the blog. Rosana & family

Nelson Estrada said...

Haj to you too! I dont know if the Christian Apologetics crash course came handy this time. Nevertheless, I pray that the Lord will equip all of you as you faithfully serve Him in your respective STM places. By the way, do you still hear ABBA records being played :) God bless you all!
PN