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January
-- We attended the Young Life All European Conference in Spain. Young
Life offers this conference every 2 years as a way to encourage, equip,
and spiritually rejuvenate the staff and volunteers involved in ministry.
It was such a blessing to see how God is expanding His Kingdom in so
many countries across Europe and using
nationals to do it. Pray
for wisdom as we implement ideas we learned about developing strong
working committees as well as applying some new ideas for direct teen
ministry.
--After
coming back from the Conference, we rekindled relationships with our Stodgrupp, Young Life Kids, and potential
volunteers.
Pray for:
--4 kids who have signed
up for camp (Andreas, Nicko, Adde, and Josephine)
--The committee members as we begin to try to expand our team.
--Helena
as she considers how being a mom and volunteer could work together as
well as considers if she should go to camp this summer.
February
--In
attempts to help a girl pay for camp this summer, we have
asked her to babysit once a week for Sofia while Keegan and I have a
team meeting. I want to tell you a little about how it's going. I asked her to come to the house
two times just to get to know Sofia a little better so that she would not
be scared to be left with a teenager she didn't really know. The first
time, I figured that she might stay for about 2 hours. Instead, she was
at our house for 5 hours. It was awesome! During that time, she and
Sofia bonded. But, maybe the best part is hearing her open up and share
where she was in the searching process about God. She explained
that she is quite skeptical about Jesus and if He is really God. She
shared that she has a lot of doubts. I asked her how she thinks Jesus
responded to his disciples' doubts. She said, she didn't know and had
little experience reading the Bible. I shared with her the false
impressions that I used to have of Jesus before I started to read and
learn about who He is for myself and suggested that we could start
looking at scripture together. It was so exciting to hear her say that
she was not only willing, but excited and really needed a safe forum to
explore further who Jesus is. Pray that we are able to get started studying Scripture together.
Pray that as she reads about Jesus, she would meet Him personally.
--February
20th Music Night: Two local churches invited Young Life to participate in
a Youth Night that invites local teenage bands to play their music.
They asked Keegan to be the Speaker for the evening. Pray for Keegan as he shares the Gospel
in a way that teenagers can understand. Pray for the kids to hear,
understand and respond to God's love.
___________________________________
Supporting our ministry is so much more than giving money.
It's made up of individuals who go out of their way for other
people. They pray, they do, and they share. We want to start
highlighting what some of you are doing to impact lives.
This
couple is focused on raising their own kids to know Jesus Christ. They
support the local schools and serve on committees at their church. They
went out of their way to impact our ministry by driving to pick up
a Swedish family who was in the USA and hosting them for
an evening.
A Special Thank You to
Steve and Kristy Krecklow!
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To
Be Foreign
or
To Blend In?
After 2 years and 8 months of living in Sweden,
I have come to the conclusion: No matter how hard I try, I will always be
foreign. Despite the fact that Keegan and I have committed
to learn and speak Swedish, surround ourselves in the local
culture, eat Swedish food, go to a Swedish church, and hang out
primarily with Swedes, we are still obviously foreign. It is not so much our
accent (though, that doesn't help ;-0 ), but it
is who we are.
Recently, I invited 6 women to join me in
doing an intensive 10 week Bible study on the book of Esther. It has
been awesome! In our second week of study we came across Mordecai,
the Jew. The fact that he is a Jew, is a
big deal. Apparently, Mordecai is the only instance in the
entire Old Testament where a Jew is introduced as such by a gentile
(non-Jew). Likely, he is introduced as a Jew because he
is a foreigner and not because he was such a great Jew. The culture
he was living in was extremely secular. The Jews who lived there had
assimilated into the Persian culture.
Wow, Did Mordecai hit a cord with my heart! I could
certainly connect to the fact that Mordecai's religious background landed
him in a new land with people of different values and gods. I
suppose Sweden or America
for that matter is not so different.
As I learned about Mordecai, I couldn't help but
wonder if he was sick of being different. If being introduced
by his difference had begun to grate on his nerves. At times, I don't
want to be different anymore. I get tired of being introduced as the one
who comes from somewhere else. I want to blend in. However,
learning about Mordecai made me realize that I don't want to completely
blend. Rather, my uniqueness enables opportunities. Thinking
about Mordecai brought to mind experiences in high school when
I disliked being labeled as "different" simply
because I was Christian. But the truth is, being different comes with
responsibility. As a Christ Follower I have a foreign calling
and I need to take on the responsibilities that come with it. I get
the privilege of representing Christ in all my actions. I live in a
fish-bowl and people are watching. So, who am I pointing to?
Maybe it's time to ask yourself,
am I a foreigner in my own land? Have I assimilated into the culture
around me? What responsibilities do I have as a Christ follower?
_____________________________________________________
To
Support Becka and Keegan Christ in planting
Young Life Vallentuna:
--Pray
for us, for Sofia,
for our families in the States, for kids in Vallentuna,
for leaders, committee, transformation of hearts, and continued
resources.
--Email
us to learn how you might be able to serve in non-financial ways!
--Click Online Giving.
Be sure to designate Becka or Keegan
Christ.
--Write
checks out to YOUNG LIFE, in memo: Christ/ Sweden X2106. Send
to P.O. Box 520,
Colorado Springs, CO
80901.
To Contact Us:
keegan.younglife(atsymbol)gmail.com
*
rebecca.younglife(atsymbol)gmail.com
*
Keegan and Becka
Christ
Mörbyvägen
18
186 32 Vallentuna
Sweden
USA
phone # 815 315 0227 (We are 7 hours ahead of CST)
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