We are 2½ months in Sweden

We are doing well in Sweden these 2½ months. It`s true, it`s different worlds, but still the Global Culture People are everywhere. Some are still living in "their own local world", but the global people concept are becoming the majority. 

Anna is 1 month on leave from InterAct and working as a Nurse in a local Medical Centre for elderly people.  I understand she is a blessing there as well.

I am building a Garden House for us to stay in when we come short term to Sweden.

We have a house but we are renting it out and ….. need somewhere to stay. It was really a answered of prayer that we had no rain in Bleket for 27 days, so we could build the small house (15 sq meter) without a drop of rain on it, before the roof and the paint was on. PTL.
For me to build by hands are relaxing from my ordinary work, building people, families, churches and congregations.

Anna and I are both active during the weeks, but mainly on the weekends to speak in churches. This week we also have a missionary Conference.  

May God bless you building and equipping people for building up people, families, churches and the communities …. on many different levels. Ingvar

Building a small Garden House

We are now in Sweden 2½ month for work and holiday. It^s good to link up again with people in the society and in the churches. I understand that many Swedes have a genuine zeal and desire to serve others who are weak, poor or... lost. But how to do it....?

Now a few weeks I am working with my hands ... building a 15 m2 Garden House, called a Friggebod.

We hope to move from a caravan to the Garden House within about 10-15 days. So far it has been wonderful weather. Not a drop of rain on the new building.

Anna is working a month in a Home Medical Centre here at Tjörn. She and I (together, sometimes in different places) will attend and participate in various services on weekends until 16th September. God is opening doors also in this country. Ingvar

How Great Thou Art

The day before yesterday Benjamin and I went to Mönsterås (between Oskarshamn and Kalmar) to get parts for our garden one-room-house. Suddenly I saw the sign: Carl Boberg Gård (Farm)  and .... we drove 2-3 km outside Mönsterås and there it was:

 

We did not go in (it is private property) but the song sang in me.

How Great Thou Art" is a Christian hymn based on a Swedish poem written by Carl Gustav Boberg (1859–1940) in Sweden in 1885. The melody is a Swedish folk song. It was translated into English by British missionary Stuart K. Hine, who also added two original verses of his own composition. It was popularized by George Beverly Shea and Cliff Barrows during the Billy Graham crusades.  It was voted the United Kingdom's favourite hymn by BBC's Songs of Praise. "How Great Thou Art" was ranked second (after "Amazing Grace") on a list of the favorite hymns of all time in a survey by Today's Christian magazine in 2001.

Boberg wrote the poem "O Store Gud" (O Great God) in 1885 with nine verses. According to J. Irving Erickson:

Carl Boberg and some friends were returning home to Mönsterås from Kronobäck, where they had participated in an afternoon service. Nature was at its peak that radiant afternoon. Presently a thundercloud appeared on the horizon, and soon sharp lightning flashed across the sky. Strong winds swept over the meadows and billowing fields of grain. The thunder pealed in loud claps. Then rain came in cool fresh showers. In a little while the storm was over, and a rainbow appeared.

When Boberg arrived home, he opened the window and saw the bay of Mönsterås like a mirror before him… From the woods on the other side of the bay, he heard the song of a thrush…the church bells were tolling in the quiet evening. It was this series of sights, sounds, and experiences that inspired the writing of the song.

I think the song "How Great Thou Art ..." from Mönsterås is available in all languages ​​of the world, where there is a Christian church. I have been to many small and large churches also "in the Middle of no-where", where it is sung with great devotion in their own heart language.

The question is not

how many languages ​​it is translated to, but is it singing in my heart ... also today. Ingvar

PS

Was it on this road the thunder and nature inspired Boberg?