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We thank God for all your prayers while I was in the hospital. My body was retaining fluid so we decided to go to the local clinic to get it checked. The doctors sent Elbita to the emergency room at Umea hospital to undergo several tests to identify the cause. To our surprise, she was admitted to the cardiology floor and we waited until they were able to do a heart catherization to determine how her heart was working. They determined that the heart was stable and working fine, but changed some of her medications and will have her come back for an ultrasound of her hip, as soon as they have an opening to do one. We were blessed that the doctor in charge of her care occasionally preaches at a local church in Umea and speaks fluent Spanish. (God takes care of the little details to bless us).

We noticed here that the patient is encouraged to eat in a common meal room that serves ‘healthy’ food options. In the morning,a typical swedish breakfast is available self serve style. A menu is provided to choose your lunch and dinner that the staff prepares and serves. Fika is available every afternoon. If you choose to, you can have your meals served in your room. All the staff was willing to make the effort to speak English and was very thoughtful. We made sure to thank everyone for all their help.

The beautiful orchid was a welcome gift from the pastor and his wife on behalf of the Birch church. It reminds us of the beauty of God’s creation.

Sunday services are always in Swedish and English. It is a blessing to hear God’s word being preached, sing praises, and then have fika and fellowship. We are praying for God to give the increase and that someday the church will have its own sanctuary. This will allow for more growth, no need to set up every Sunday, and the building could be used all year long for activities. Please join us as we lift this need in prayer that God will provide the best location and the resources needed.

On friday night we got to experience having “fika” with a couple from church. We had such a delightful time that we talked with them for several hours that night. They made us feel very welcome and comfortable and we talked about each of our cultures.

The swedish people are very warm once you take the time to get to know them. We talked about the importance of studying God’s word and the need for revival of God’s people. We look forward to deepening our relationship as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Every thursday evening we meet with our homegroup. Our hosts or someone from the group prepares dinner and we all eat together. As you can tell by the picture, we have a full house (We have had up to 15 people). This group is formed of many different nationalities. We have been part of this group for about 2 years via the internet, but now we are thankful that we get to be with everyone, since we were already familiar with them.

In the past we went through the entire bible as a group using “The Bible Project”. We start by praying, eat together and then review the previous Sunday’s sermon and everyone shares their thoughts and questions we have. We finish with a season of prayer.

Today we helped set up and break down for the recordings for the Sunday sermons this summer. We also helped with lunch for the recording crew. Big delicious homemade grilled hamburgers and fries helped recharge everyone. We ate outdoors and fellowshipped together.

Tonight our host family invited a dear friend, Dienyaba, from Senegal. She brought a dish from her home country and came with her daughter. We have met Dienyaba several times before and discussed some spiritual topics and ended up giving her one of the necklaces Angele put together for us that has a little bottle with a mustard seed in it. We shared the parable of the mustard seed and told her that this can be a reminder that all we need is the faith of a tiny mustard seed to see God do great things in our lives.

We stopped by one afternoon to see how Angele was coming along with her pregnancy. Her belly looked a lot bigger than a couple of weeks ago. She offered to make us a quick snack from her home country, Togo, called *zwoe’. You can find the recipe on youtube by typing *zwoe*. It consists of peanut butter,flour,ginger,cloves,cayenne pepper and was delicious. It can go great with bread and jelly.

Angele has been helping us by preparing some material for arts and crafts that Elbita will do with some of the ladies one day. On that day we discussed some baby names and she showed us a list that are suggestions for the parents in Togo. Each name has a different meaning and most are ‘spiritual’ in nature and some for the day they were born. We are standing by and ready to take care of Geordy when the new baby comes.

Our friend, Marcus, from the Home group invited us to his home for lunch today. He prepared a dish from his home country, Hong Kong, called Tum Yum. It consists of fresh noodles, onions,mushrooms,coconut milk,ginger, lemongrass,red peppers,Tum Yum ‘paste’ and fresh thyme. When we arrived we were presented with a very nice table setting, linen tablecloth, cobalt blue plates and light blue glasses. He showed us to his kitchen where he was preparing one of his favorite dishes. He told us of the importance of eating this dish as soon as it has been cooked.

Most of the ingredients were ‘fresh’, including pinched thyme leaves on the meal from a small pot. He cooked this meal on a wok. We had flavored water with our meal and then enjoyed some hot tea afterwards. Marcus is a very humble person, even though he has a PhD in agriculture. He is on the technical crew at church and comes to our son’s home group every Thursday night. Thanks for a wonderful lunch Marcus!

Bakfickan(‘back pocket’) is a place in downtown Umeå that provides breakfast and lunch Monday to Friday, all year long to anyone with alcohol, drug problems or do not have good finances, Local restaurants donate most of the food and the city also helps fund this important project. The picture on the right is our walk with Arto from the bus stop to eat lunch here. The middle picture is us eating lunch with a picture of the ‘founder’ of Bakflickan (‘Lars-Eric Åhlen,known as Larson’). A buffet is set up with a hot meal, water and coffee and there were 3 staff members who replenished the food and kept the place clean. People could also take some bread and sandwiches home with them if they were available.

Arto, a church member, took us here to show us where to share God’s love.