God's Good Gifts

God's giving me a trip to England :) A little break from the craziness here, a little retreat to the friends who are like family back in the UK.

I get teary just thinking about it. It has been nearly a year. And my heart is going home for 2 weeks...

Don't get me wrong-- I love Gothenburg. I love the beauty of Sweden. But it is exhausting to be a foreigner. It is exhausting and frustrating to be constantly trying to translate everything so that I can understand what's going on-- both the language and the cultural expectations. Yesterday I figured out how to do my laundry in my building's "tvattstuga" (washroom) and it felt like the biggest victory. I've been lugging my laundry to friends' places to avoid having to figure out the strange electronic system of booking the room here-- all in Swedish, of course. Going out for groceries is exhausting as I try to decipher the labels and get through the checkout with my Swedish proficiency of about a 2-year-old. Most days it's terribly interesting and I can generally hold my rose-coloured-glasses up to my face and greet the day with a smile. But sometimes the smile wavers a bit. Things have been very stressful with the ministry I'm working with, and that pours out into every experience of living here.

(some random shots of my beautiful city of Gothenburg, Sweden)

I cannot wait to fly into my green green haven that is England (even if I do have to go through the dreaded Stansted airport where something ALWAYS seems to go wrong regardless of how perfectly I've packed or carefully prepared). I cannot wait to melt into the presence of my lovely friends I so miss, pouring out our hearts to one another, laughing like there are no cares in the world, and just soaking in one another's presence... I cannot wait to sit and worship with someone on the guitar like we used to. I cannot wait to take long walks through the green green green hills, to read all the signs in English :), and to bask in the English accents. I cannot wait to see how God will tenderly restore the bits of my heart that have been so bruised these weeks dealing with such unimaginable circumstances in this ministry. His TLC is wonderful and always perfectly timed.

So, hej da Sweden! And hello, England from the 10th to the 26th :)
And thank You, Father...
I'm lost without You.