My first week in Northern Europe

This experience has started off extremely well. I have a team of 26 students and 10 Campus Crusade for Christ staff. The students are from the University of Tennessee, UNC Wilmington, Duke, Lenior Rhyne College, and UNC. I am a part of a fun group that loves the Lord and is on fire for sharing His truth in Sweden.

We had a long and draining plane ride to Sweden, but it was definitely a learning experience. On the flight to Frankfurt, Germany, I was not sitting beside anyone I knew. On an eight hour flight, I sat in the middle of two people who are Russian. I went into the flight extremely discouraged because I like to talk to people and wanted to talk with students from my project. The girl sitting to the left of me just spent a year in California as an International student. Her name is Natalie. We talked for a while about her experience in the United States and what Russia is like. She was actually wanting to sit with someone in her group of eighty students. So both of us wanted to be sitting beside someone else, initally. During the flight, I felt a great need to go through Solarium, an image survey that we use to get into spiritual conversations, with her. I asked her if she would like to go through a survey, and she happily agreed. As we went through Solarium, I could gage that she probably didn't know the Lord. We talked about some spiritual things, and she told me that she believed it is possible to know God personally and that on a scale from one to ten that her desire to know God perosnally was about a 6 or 7. I then asked her if I could share with her how I believe it is possible to know God personally, and she agreed with excitement. We went through the gospel, and she told me that no one had ever talked with her about this before. She was more interested in the gospel than anyone I have ever shared it with. She thanked me for sharing it with her and told me she had a lot of things to think about. We talked about God and His purpose and plan for our lives for a while. She did not believe she was ready to make the decision to place her faith in Christ, but it is evident that God is working in her heart. Please pray for Natalie's heart and that God would show her how much she needs him. The lady on the other side of me,Nina, was also Russian, and she was a Christian. Nina has spent 12 years in the US and was persecuted as a Christain in Russia. She was extremely nervous to return for this first visit. Please pray that she will have a good experience and that God would use her while she is there.

Our first few days in Sweden have consisted of getting to know the city of Uppsala and training. We have met up with a team that has already spent a year here. They have shared with us things that we can expect and ways to be more effective as we engage with students. Today was my first day meeting students. My partner and I ate lunch with 3 girls named Emma, Anne Louise, and . We were able to talk with them about Sweden and what we were doing here. We learned about their school and got a glimpse of what they might believe spiritually, which is that they probably haven't thought about God much. They have a Christian friend that wants to come to America. We are going to hopefully meet up with them again. Please pray for their hearts and that God would prepare them for what we have to share with them. Please also pray for all of the students we are going to meet this summer, and that God would provide good conversation and fill us with the Holy Spirit.

The area of campus that my group is going to be at most of the summer is the Education department which is a great commonality being an Elementary education major myself. Please Pray that God would use me as His hands and feet this summer and that He would bring a revival to a country that is Spiritually desolate. Thank you for your prayers. They are definitely needed. This summer is going to be extremely challenging, but God has big plans for it.

I will try to update as often as I can, but I don't get a lot of free time. Thank you for your interest in what is happening and your prayers!