A Reprise

Here's the first email update I sent from my summer project with Campus Crusade for Christ in Sweden! It is crazy to look back on those first few days and the see how quickly I fell in love with Sweden and gained a burdened heart for its people. I hope that with my reflections on that trip, even if they are from the past, you all can gain a heart for this country too and join me and my teammates in ceaseless prayer for the long term team there.

May 17, 2010:

"Hey all!! This is just a quick email update since I've only been in Sweden for a few days, but I thought you all might be interested in what I've been up to so far!

I arrived in Upsalla, Sweden on May 14th after a day of travel (we left on May 12th in the afternoon and arrived in the afternoon in Sweden, flying from Raleigh to Charlotte, Charlotte to Munich, Munich to Stockholm, and a quick drive to Upsalla). Needless to say I'm jetlagged, since I myself flew into Raleigh on the 11th from California! But on the whole, I've had a good amount of energy and I've had no trouble sleeping...probably all the walking we do!
Sweden is beautiful! I love the architecture, and we've been blessed with beautiful and warm weather since we got here which is nothing short of a miracle. Student staffers from last year's team have reminded us repeatedly that their experience was nothing like this--they were freezing and wet the entire 6 weeks! So we're cherishing the sun while we have it!

We spent the first few days in Upsalla getting acclimated, eating yummy Swedish food (my favorite dish so far is the cheese quiche I had for lunch yesterday...and don't get me started on the coffee here-I'll probably never like coffee in America ever again!), and building community as a team. I have especially bonded with the 4 girls who I share an apartment with (we are all staying at a hostel in rooms or apartment suites...conditions are tight but definitely manageable!), but everyone on the team is wonderful and we have been having so much fun.

Today (Monday the 18th) was our first full day of ministry and it went amazingly well! For us, a typical weekday consists of a morning spent with prayer, devotionals, etc. as a team. Then we split up in pairs and go to Nation Lunches. Nations are kind of like eating clubs--each student at the University here selects a Nation (i.e. Stockholm) and this is where they primarily spend there time eating, hanging out at night, etc. and every day these different buildings serve lunch. Anyways, each day we all attend lunch and essentially sit down with students who are eating and try to get to know them We usually ask if we can sit with them, letting them know that we're Americans here for the month to work with the on-campus Christian ministry, called Agape. Then we just engage in regular old conversation, although we do try to ask questions about God, faith and Swedish culture. Really, though, we're just trying to make friends. Often we'll make a "fika" appointment with someone we've had a good conversation with or who wants to talk more. Fika is a staple in Swedish culture: you go to a cafe, meet a friend, and talk for a couple hours over coffee and pastry. Our fika appointments are simply one way we seek to create meaningful friendships with the students we meet, and to hopefully converse with them about their beliefs and our beliefs, to try to answer their tough questions (and learn in the process), and of course to hear what they have to say about Christ or faith or life. On afternoons when we aren't hanging out with our Swedish friends, we might head down to a park or river and do art surveys and worldview surveys with people we approach who are willing to take 15 minutes and talk with us. We use this time to better understand the Swedish culture and in turn how they understand life, God, etc. as well as to meet more people and engage in spiritual conversations. In fact, today I did just that with my teammate Whitney: we met a really nice, interesting girl named Emelie who is new to Upsalla. She was incredibly interested in the art image survey we did with her and really excited to get fika with Whitney and myself, which we'll be doing on Wednesday.

What I love most about our ministry so far is that it's real and up front. We don't pretend that we are here for some purpose other than engaging in ministry and evangelism--yet at the same time it's about more than just showing someone a tract or reciting the Gospel to them and leaving it at that. Our evangelism is relational. And more often than not, we spend time with students here in Upsalla who are very intellectual and quite opinionated when it comes to religion--which many if not most of them reject outright. In seeking to show students the idea of Christianity as more than a religion but a relationship with a true and living Christ and God as something more than a fiction or distant abstract entity, we almost always experience challenging conversations and frustrating ministry. However, while this means that we aren't leading hundreds of people into a relationship with God Church revivial-style, it does mean that those students who do choose to follow Christ--and they do exist!--have a serious foundation for their new faith. This is what we are seeking to foster here, and though this is probably a process so long that I will see only a glimpse of it, I am so excited to see what God is doing in this country--because I believe it is something big and probably downright miraculous. Please pray for our team as we complete this first full week of ministry!

Much love,
Rachel"