The nervewrecking trip back to Stockholm

God always always comes through for me, even in the most desperate of situations. Like yesterday night when I got to Copenhagen at 6pm, I found out my 9pm train to Stockholm got canceled and there is only a 4:03am one. It was freezing outside - since I was already in Scandinavia - and the train station closes at 1am. Which means Gabriel and I would be stuck out in the cold for 3 hours. Plus I had already booked a hostel in Stockholm for the night which meant loosing $23 euros in addition to loosing my toes. I wrote an email to the hostel in Stockholm explaining the situation hoping they will not bill me for the first night in case they were the compassionate kind :s

So began the mad search online at a 2euro per hour internet kiosk for a hostel at walking distance as we would have to walk back to the station at 3:45am. Everything we found was booked and overpriced. And everything that was affordable and nearby was fully booked. So I prayed. And we found another website with the same hostel listings and guess what, the cheap and 3-min-away hostel we wanted, had room! More than enough room! In just 2 mins....however that happened I do not know, but I am sincerely thankful.

We we walked over, slept for a good few hours and caught our 4:03 am train. Im now in Stockholm in my lovely hostel called city lodge. Can guess what, they are the compassionate kind. They said that even though it is their practice to do so, they didn't bill me for the first night. God is so good :)

I have two full days of rest, last min gift buying and packing then its full speed ahead to sunny skies and warm weather!

My last church service

The Chaplin was sweet enough to move the English Christmas service to tonight, the 15th of Dec (10 days earlier) just so I could go :) It was a simple service, only a handful of people turned up but most of them were very dear to me. After service we had a nice quiet fika and a very very long but warm goodbye.

The Coolest Sunday Morning yet

Yesterday morning, Samuel Awe (Ah-weh)- one of the nice people I met in th eEnglish church service 2 week ago- called me at about 8:30am to tell me there was going to be an English service at his home at 11am. Samuel is one of the many African PhD students here in Lulea Tech University. As I didn't know where he lived exactly, I met him at the church near his home and he took me to his place. On the way to his place, he told me that that his wife had just delivered their third son last week and after the service they were going to officially name the baby and have a dedication service.

Church in a home setting like this was really really cool, in fact because my home church in Singapore is a small family church, it felt familiar. We sang hymns, we prayed, there was preaching and there was a summary and Q&A as well. Plus there were cute little kids running around the living room, so yes, just like Changi Baptist Church :)

The message was taken from Genesis 34, about Shechem and Dinah. We learnt the importance of weighing our choices, heading God's wisdom in making decisions, valuing the things of God and not the world.

The baby naming and dedication was awesome, I felt so privileged to be able to witness this and be there for it as I was practically a stranger to this home and the friends and family in it. So I am one of the blessed few to have met darling 'Timothy Testimony Oluwatimilehin Awe' in person.

Next week the service will be in a church in town. They usually book a small room in a church, but this week the church needed the room for something so it ended up being at a home. So guess I know my how my Sunday mornings are going to be from now on :D

English Service

Tonight at 7pm was my first English service here in Sweden. It was of course very different form what I was used to, but I was blessed by it. There were about 20 of us, all students at the university. Some were on exchange others here for the long haul to do their Masters or PhD. I got to sing a simple Swedish chorus, pray from the Psalms and have a very catholic style communion where we walk to the front, take a big wafer and all drink from the same imposing silver chalice. I thought it was really cool :) I made new friends from Iran, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Cameroon, plus I discovered that friends I knew all along from the exchange group are brothers and sisters in Christ too. I think there's only service once a month in English, but Samuel from Nigeria told me there's a church somewhere off town that he attends so perhaps they have English services there I can attend. I'll speak with him tomorrow and get the details. As for now, I'll just attend my Lukas group meetings on Thursday evenings :) I'm so thankful I'm still connected to THE Body in some way.

Cotton Candy Skies

I think the sky speaks for itself.
Simply, literally, Divine.

It's amazing that God would paint such beautiful scenes for us to enjoy. Standing before a sky of powder pink, lilac and baby blue makes me feel so insignificant and small. But I'm inspired, and my soul is awakened to sing, "My God how great Thou Art".I'm reminded that it is my Father's world and that He does speak to me everywhere. And today He chose to speak to me by dipping the clouds in my favourite hues and saying, "It's time you looked up, my child".

GodStop.

Today, I finally stopped. And I think God was waiting all this while for me to stop, but you know Him, He's a gentleman. He waited about three weeks for me to stop and the moment I did, He rushed out to meet me. Kinda like when the prodigal son returned and his father ran out to meet him. It was glorious, serene, overwhelming, humbling and uplifting all at the same time. My God knows exactly what I needed and He met me. All I needed to do was stop.


Ever since I arrived my days have been long, fun, hectic, packed with activities. Even on Sundays, yes there were no English services though I must have asked a dozen people, but I realized that even if there had been, my Sundays were spent traveling on trains. Probably that's why I felt like the prodigal son, I've not been at a worship service in what feels like an eternity. Especially since in Singapore church was not a Sunday morning slot, it was my Fridays to Sundays and it spilled into my weekdays, and I loved it.

But here, I've learned that being involved at church was not a want, it to me now feels like a need. It taught me how to depend on God and be constantly thankful, constantly praising. I've just had so much going on that I didn't notice that all-too-familiar God-shaped hole forming in me. And tonight at about 11pm, in the quiet and stillness of my empty house I was prompted to worship...truly worship not just read the devotion like I usually do, but to sing and reflect as well.

It's strange because tonight is the only night I've decided to stay in for the evening so far. I've been coming home past midnight a lot and because I start my day early I am just too tired to really take time to be with God. And the only reason I stayed in is because I am the only one among my roomies who doesn't have a bike and I didn't want to walk alone to the party. And I had actually spent the whole day looking for a bike and was quite bummed out that everyone managed to find one except me.

But now, I'm glad I had a quiet night in with three friends and a simple dinner. And once everyone had left I obeyed the prompting and listened to 'Indescribable' by Chris Tomlin. I was immediately reminded of my initial reaction when I arrived in Lulea, one of wide-eyed wonder at how beautifully God had crafted this place with its lakes and forests and wild flowers. And as I began to pray I was reminded that I worship God because I was meant to do it, when I don't, that is when that feeling of lack that is so easy to ignore and so hard to put your finger on surfaces. The need to worship is extremely real, it is a balm to the soul and I think the song 'From The Inside Out' by Hillsongs puts it well - "My soul cries out to worship you from the inside out". It couldn't be truer, I needed to say "Lord you are awesome and I praise you", I needed to sing "And I found myself in You, Lord". I'm going to just worship like this on my own until the English service at the end of September.



I'm so glad I skipped the party and just stopped tonight. The others may have gained a reputation for being cool (but yeah, who said partying is the coolest thing to do), but I met God. And though He didn't say very much, He spoke into me and reminded me of the reason He created me- to worship Him. Not because He needs to be worshiped but because when we don't, we will eventually realise an emptiness that nothing else can fill...we're just wonderfully wired to need constant interaction with our creator. How awesome is that?

Counting My Blessings

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us...
Ephesians 3:20

Truly the Father of heavenly lights has struck again bringing good and perfect gifts (James 1:17) to overwhelm and reassure me. It's been amazing how from the very first time I mentioned that Lulea Tech has accepted my application, so many people have offered me their prayers, support, winter wear, advice, backpacking gear, webcam and recipes for simple home-cooked meals. But there's more!

A week ago, I realised that all my scrimping and saving since March combined with my holiday job's salary would pay for everything I need ( only because I have been graciously lent so many itmes) including my round trip air ticket. I didn't have to ask my parents to pay for anything, but my mum graciously paid for $400 worth of skincare supplies that would last me 6 months (becuase she knows that skincare is not a priority as far as I am concerned and that I would much rather use my money for something else). However, there was somethign else I really wanted but did not have the money for because I did not want to touch the reserves that I would have to use in Sweden - Eurail passes. The magical ticket that would allow me to traverse the European continent without boundaries.

So I prayed. I prayed for 3 nights, that somehow God would provide $1000.
And you know what? He did.

Last Friday night my mum gave me a thick wad of $50 notes, they were from my uncle Sadas and aunty Jinni. I went over to thank them the next day. "I just told your uncle that you're leaving and he just decided to give you $1000. He didn't even think about it", my aunty said. They figured that a few hundered when converted to Euros would amount to hardly anything, so they gave me a thousand.

God met my needs exactly. The Eurail passes cost me SDG$1200, but I managed to find a cheaper air ticket that cost $200 less; everything added up perfectly.

Then early this week, I got news that another $1000 was heading my way from another aunty. I may negotiate and take just part of it so I do not offend her, but I will explain that I do have enough to survive on. I'm so full of gratitude, I can't quite express it words. I did not even ask anyone for extra funding but God somehow stirred their hearts to help me. And it is not even like I'm going there as a missionary or volunteer - it's a student exchange and I plan to have fun...not the most noble of situations.

There have also been other ways that God has shown me He's taking care of all the loose ends for me. He's blessed me with friends in Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and London...people I've met or come to know of compeletely out of happenstance. Even the Swedish visa which would have taken 8 weeks took about 3. And then I've discovered that the uni I'm going to has a Chaplin and christian student meetings and there's a Lutheran church in the vicinity that has English services once a month. I attended a Lutheran play-school, so things will be some what familar I guess :) Then I found out that I can get my hands on a special letter that will allow me to take 30kg instead of just 20kg on the plane! Not great for carbon footprint though 0_o

So thank you God, thank you wonderful people of Changi Baptist (esp Tracy, Aunty Lee Hoon, Aunty Siew Lee, Unlce Peter & Aunty Dorcas), thank you Shaun friends for scrambling to make time to be with me before I leave and thank you family, (esp Mummy & Naina, Jinni Atteh & Aiyao Mama, Ani and Perema).

I'm so blessed. Luck has absolutely nothing to do with it.