Wednesday and Thursday

Greetings once again! The last couple of days we have had a very busy schedule. It's been a whirlwind of meeting people, fellowshipping, and praying. While it's been a very good time and full of energy, it is also somewhat exhausting.

Wednesday
Wednesday morning, we went to the north part of Stockholm to meet with the pastor, Markus Sand, and some members of the church at Rinkeby. Rinkeby is a very diverse and dense section of Stockholm. In one square kilometer, there are around 15,000 people at about 90% from immigrant backgrounds. It has a very high Somali population and so is in many ways similar to parts of Minneapolis. Our team had met with Markus last year, so it was exciting to hear updates of successes and challenges since last year, and to pray together for a fruitful future. After we ate lunch with Markus and the others, it was on to our next stop; a church in south Stockholm at Bredäng. This church is also placed in a very multi-ethnic community and so faces many challenges (and blessings!) similar to those Rinkeby experiences. It was a sweet time to Fika and pray for wisdom and guidance on how to operate in a diverse and secular culture, and for the continued growth of the Church. The evening we spent with Tord and Martha Larsson in their home.

Thursday
On Thursday we visited the University city of Uppsala and spent the day with the Agape (Cru) staff there. In the morning, we had Fika, talked, and prayed with most of the team (six of the eight who are in Uppsala were there.) After a delicious lunch, we split up into four groups. One group (Marci, Kristi, and Karin) went on a prayer walk through Uppsala, visiting some of the historical sites in the city. Another group (Aron and Tait) had a discussion time about God and Science with a couple of students from Uppsala. A third group (Rachel and Madeline) tagged along to a meeting at a coffee shop with a few other Uppsala students. And the last group (Paul and Carol) met with Barrett Harkins (the national campus director for Agape Sweden) to discuss team development and leadership.

I'll update you on what we did today tomorrow :) Thank you for all your prayer support and please continue to pray for health and rest over the last few days of the project. Some of us are beginning to wear out, and we still have much to do!
~Tait