Almhult now

Hello, again,

Here’s an update of the past couple of days.

Tuesday, 3/13/07
All of the USA group met today with Buck, Dave & Chris, Haakan, David Oliver, & Ngwiza. It was a very good day. Their help is much appreciated as we find our definition as a family of churches under Doug’s leadership.

While here, we have enjoyed staying with John & Marilyn Denning. They have been very hospitable, loving, and kind. They have made several missions trips to India. In fact, Marilyn lived there for about 14 years as a missionary when she was younger.
We have also enjoyed visiting with Paul, the pastor from India who is staying here as well. The people he pastors are very poor. He also helps leaders of 32 churches who have an average of 100 people in each of their churches. God is moving and many people are being saved when they hear the gospel. Because these churches are located in the jungle, transportation is very difficult for them, as well as for Paul. However, the people really love God and are willing to make great sacrifices to be in church, i.e., walking about 10 km through the jungle late at night. In spite of their lack, they are very generous. Some have Bibles and some do not. Christ is doing much in and through them with the little they’ve been given. The stories he shares are convicting when we realize how much we’ve been given, and our response to those gifts.

Wednesday, 3/14/07
The USA group met again today with Dave, Buck, & Mike Poulton (a key administrator here.) Again, it was very helpful for all of us.

You are all on our hearts and minds in our days away. We feel this time is so beneficial for not only this family of churches, but for the church in Mankato as well. We are looking forward to what God will do among us in the days ahead. Will close for now.

With love,
Pat & Theresa

P.S. We’re thinking of you, Josh, Jen, Heather, Kristen, & Stephanie. Hope everything is continuing to go well there, & in Pittsburg, Stephanie. We’ll look forward to seeing you again in a little over a week.
Love ya’ll,
Dad & Mom

P.S.S.-3/15/07
It was good to chat with Kristen on the phone even if it was for just a couple minutes.

Hello again,

Hope you’re all doing well. We miss you and will see you in about a week.

Thursday, 3-15-07
Today, our last day in England, was a free day. John took Paul (from India), Scott Squires, Pat, and me to Winchester. (Marilyn wasn’t feeling well so she stayed home.)
Upon arriving, we went up on a hillside to get a view of the whole city. (We learned that it’s a city because it has a cathedral.) Again, it was a beautiful, sunshiny day with lots of daffodils blooming – perfect! Next we went to Winchester Cathedral. It was overwhelming – the architecture is beautiful! (Heather, this is where Jane Austen came when she was ill before passing away. She’s buried at the cathedral.)
Afterwards we had lunch at the café by the cathedral (our first time for split pea soup – it was very good.)
Then we went to the Great Hall where King Arthur’s roundtable is located - again, another massive building, with a beautiful garden beside it. (I looked for something for you here, Josh, but knew you were more into guns than swords.J)
The town was very nice to walk through – old buildings, a bridge built in the 800’s (still in use.)
Next on the list was Lily’s Bakery & Tea Parlour in a town close by. However, it had just closed, so we’ll look forward to a traditional English tea another time. (At least I will. The guys weren’t as excited but were willing to sacrifice.) So we took a walk on the footpath beside a river out into a meadow.
On the way home we drove past the farm John used to own, and picked up fish and chips to take home. Delicious! At our house we would have eaten them in the styro containers, but here on china with a lace tablecloth. Fun!
Well, should close for now. Our flight to Gothenburg, Sweden, leaves tomorrow at 6:00a. So will get some rest and write more later.

With love,
Pat & Theresa

P.S. Kristen, thanks for being “up” this morning sooooo early!J It was good to hear your voice and talk with you. We’ll plan to call back at a better daylight savings time when Steph’s there too. Love you lots!

Jen, thanks for letting us know about the call. Dad realized it too and will hopefully remember to prevent wasted minutes again.J

Dear Family, Church Family, and Friends,

Hope you all are doing well. You are in our thoughts and prayers. Here’s what we’ve been doing:

Friday 3/16/07
We left with John & Paul this morning at 6:00 for Heathrow airport. There we met up with Buck, Doug, Scott, Bud & Suellyn, and Frank & Susan. We left for Gothenburg around 9:30a and arrived around 12:30a. So, with another one-hour time zone change and daylight savings time in the U.S., we are still 6 hours apart (10:00p here is 4:00p there.)
Christian (the pastor in Gothenburg that some of you met in Pittsburg) and his friend picked us up at the airport. They took us sight seeing and then out to eat lunch at a Persian restaurant right by their church. The food was delicious – some had salmon and others lamb, then crisp Swedish cookies with coffee for dessert. Yum!
Then we went to the church close by. The church meets in a big building in an area of town where there are many immigrants. Some of the church leaders are moving to this area to be able to minister to these immigrants more easily. Rent is somewhat cheaper here too since most people don’t want to live in the area. In their church they also have a 2nd hand store to help the needy, as well as some food they give away to those in need.
After lunch, we rested on couches in their meeting areas and in the 2nd hand store. Haakan arrived in the afternoon, as he had flown back on a different airline.
After resting, we had fika with leaders at Christian’s church, and leaders from churches in Uddevalla and Horred (maybe others???) [Buck talked about fika (pronounced fee ka [a sounds like u in umbrella]) when he was visiting in Mankato.] It’s a time to eat and fellowship. They served open-faced sandwiches and Swedish cookies with coffee, tea, and Coke. Again, no styro, but china cups, saucers, and small plates. Very nice! We also got to meet Haakan’s wife, Gunilla (sp?). We hope you can meet her sometime. We invited both Gunilla and Jan (the lady who administrates many things at Haakan’s church, including his trips to the U.S.) to come with Haakan to visit in the U.S. sometime.
Following that there was an evening service. Worship was great! There were many nations represented; so again (as at the conference in England) we sang worship songs in several languages. There were prophetic words and prayers for the group at large and for some individuals. It was all very positive and encouraging.
After the service, we rode with Kaj (pronounced Ki [long i]) and Laila (pronounced Lila [long I]) about an hour south to Horred. Kaj pastors a church in the forest on what used to be a church campground. They took us to a little cabin there on the grounds to spend the night. We had a very restful sleep.

Saturday, 3-17-07
This morning we walked down to the church on the campground to meet our interpreter. His name is Goran (pronounced “Yur an”-a like father). He looks very clean-cut now, but his testimony let us know how different he had been at one time. The short version is that he was a radical, tough guy with long hair who thought, as a child in Boy Scouts, that Christianity was boring. However, God planted the seeds then and years later God spoke to him one night while he was drunk telling him he was going to hell if he didn’t change his ways. That got his attention and he started trying to find out if the Bible was really true. That search led him to a church meeting where a man was praying for the sick. The people were getting slain in the Spirit, but he thought the man was pushing the sick people down (which was making him very angry.) So he went up, thinking that he was going to punch the guy out if he touched him. Instead God punched Goran out for about 15 minutes. He said it felt like someone hit him on the chin and knocked him out. Anyway, he’s still radical, only now for Jesus. He has seen many miracles when he traveled with a preacher in places where people were desperate for Jesus – those with no opportunities to go to doctors or anyone else for help; Jesus was their only hope. He said one time he saw a little boy’s rotten leg grow skin and become whole right before his and many other peoples’ eyes. He longs to see those things happen again. He is another one whom we invited to come and visit in the U.S. He is married and has 3 children who attend the church school.
The church building is a little outside of town. It is very large, nice, and recently built. We took a walk to the lake that is near their property. There are several buildings on the property – other cabins like the one we stayed in, the original church building (which used to be where the campers met), and 3 buildings the church moved onto the site to serve as classrooms for their school. The new church building also has school classrooms inside, as well as a sanctuary, fellowship hall, kitchen, and a big gym.
After spending time with Goran, we met others from the church that were there for meetings regarding a youth conference coming up around Easter, as well as another event. Then Goran drove Kaj and us to Kaj and Laila’s house in the town of Horred. They live right on the main street. Their home used to be the site of a store that Laila shopped in as a little girl. Kaj and Laila are in their 60’s. They have 11 children and 40 something grandchildren. All of their children are serving God and most of their family is in the area. The house they live in now is very small, which allows them time for other things besides taking care of a big house. (One of their daughters and her family live on the farm where they lived before this home.) One of their sons, Simon (whom we met at lunch), did a lot of the work on the inside of their home, since they tore down what was there and re-built. It is beautiful, yet efficient and functional.
While Laila finished preparing lunch, we walked across the street with Kaj to a textile shop. In the front of the building is the shop and in the back a factory. They have beautiful linens, mostly for the kitchen. It is a business that has been in the same family since the 1600’s. The original owner was a Christian and it was amazing to see the machine (on display in the shop) that he used to make the fabric. Many threads and the design the machine was to do was on a punch card system. It was like an early version of a computer. It was a great picture of the creativity that God can give someone.
Then we went back to their home for lunch. Buck says Laila is the best cook in Sweden. The meal she served was delicious and it looked like a picture in a cookbook.
After cleaning up, we all drove to visit Trolls and Briget (sp??) [a couple in their church who are working with Jews in the former Soviet Union – helping them return to Israel.] We had a really good visit with them, hearing about all they were doing. We really felt Jesus in our conversations.
Next Kaj drove the 4 of us up on a mountaintop to see the site of George Seaton’s castle, built in 1917. The castle was burned up in a fire in 1921 and Mr. Seaton died about a year later. They have pictures of what it used to look like in a pavilion close by. Now all you can see of the castle are some foundation stones; however, the view from the mountain is beautiful. It was also a good reminder to focus on storing up treasure in heaven, rather than on earth where you can lose it.
Then we stopped by Kaj and Laila’s youngest daughter’s house to meet her and her family. She and her husband have 5 small children, from about 7 or 8 years old to 9 months. Her husband helps lead worship at the church.
Then we went for supper at Kaj and Laila’s oldest daughter’s house. Her husband, Steven, is one of the elders. They have 9 children. I think all of them live at home except for a couple. They range in age from 26 to 10. Another elder (Eric), his wife (Elizabet), and some of their children also came for the meal. The house was full of children, all ages. Even though people think the Mankato church has big families, it wouldn’t seem like it here. In Sweden the average number of children per family is around 1.3. However, in the church they are being fruitful and multiplying.J It was very fun. We had great conversations. Everyone has been very friendly and made us feel very welcome.
After supper, we stopped and picked up 2 of Kaj and Laila’s grandsons who were spending the night with cousins who live close to Kaj and Laila. After dropping them off, Kaj and Laila took us back to the cabin.
After church tomorrow, Kaj will drive us to meet Buck and Patty. We will stay at their home until we leave on Thursday. So, bye for now.

With our love,
Pat & Theresa

P.S. Thanks for the e-mails, girls. We plan to call soon for conversation rather than background noise.J Love you much! Hope Steph is home by now, and Josh, Jen, and Stephanie are having a nice visit with David & Teresa. See ya’ll soon.

Love,
Dad & Mom

Hello, again,

You’ll probably get all these recent postings at the same time since we had a few days without computer access.

Anyway, before I forget – we gave some of the offering from the church to Paul from India. Also when we were in Gothenburg, we saw Anders, so we asked about his son. He said God had healed him completely about 14 days after the car accident. We were excited to hear that. He said to tell the church how much he appreciated your prayers for Elias. Also regarding the part time job he now has, he feels it will turn into full time very soon, which is another answer to prayer. Praise God!

So for what’s been happening:

Sunday, 3/18/07
We went to church in Horred this morning. Worship was great! They had some songs in English and Swedish, which we appreciated. Pat preached with Goran interpreting - a word about a seedpod that was ready to burst forth. It was very good. There were prayers and prophetic words afterwards. We were blessed to be there.
After church we went to Kaj & Laila’s for lunch, and then drove with them for about 1-½ hours to meet Buck and Patty. Since we had time, Kaj drove the scenic route, so we saw some beautiful scenery, the ocean, a Dutch windmill, a wind farm up close. . . (Unfortunately our camera quit working Sunday morning before church.L) Upon connecting with Buck & Patty, we said goodbye to Kaj and Laila, feeling like we had made some good friends.
On the way to Buck & Patty’s, we had time to reacquaint with Patty. We also saw where hurricanes had cut a path through the forest – 2 years in a row. Many trees were lost.
Upon arriving at their home, we met Anna (16 yrs. old) and Aaron (17 yrs. old), and got to see Samuel again. It’s been good to get acquainted and re-acquainted. [We also met their two black cats, Scruffy and Stealth.]

Monday, 3/19/07
Spent the day visiting and catching up on laundry. Took a walk with Samuel to the nearby lake, and saw where more trees had been lost from the hurricane. Luckily it didn’t destroy homes. We also went with Buck to pick up our train tickets for Thursday, and to shop at IKEA. [The owner of IKEA is from Elmhult, so this is the first store that was built.] Aaron and Patty fixed some lasagna for supper, so we had a nice meal together and a relaxing evening in their home.

Will close for now. Hope everyone is doing well.

Love,
Pat & Theresa