Mid-Summer in Åland

I made it safely home last week (though my luggage took five days to find me!).  For those of you who may still be wondering, here's some more photos from my last few days in Sweden.

Sunrise at 3 am 

The Lord is my Shepherd
I shall not want.
He lays me down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters,
He restores my soul.

"Fri Halsning" (unbound neck shackles) ==> "Frelsning" (modern word for salvation).
 This photo taken at a prison museum

From the turn of the 19th century. Reminds me a little of Larsson paintings.  Carl Larsson is one of my favorite artists.

"Hey Macarena!"
Entertainment onboard the ferry from Åland to Stockholm.  Not for me though.  I badly needed sleep, and had a headache. Unfortunately I did not have a room.  That very night hoards of (very drunk) teenagers were returning from an orienteering contest in Helsinki. Drinking and orienteering--what a combination. 

A view from the ferry. Houses on the archipelago outside Stockholm.

An ancient chapel in the woods (12th c.?) 

Maypole.
Being prepared for Midsommar celebrations.
There are perhaps pagan roots to this celebration, much like Christmas and Christmas trees.

Burning, Burning

Like I wrote earlier, it isn't the most peaceful neighborhood we live in.  Before I came here there was a drug related mafia execution.  A few days ago there reportedly was another car-burning. Yesterday the local hair salon was torched.  Tonight it was the car garage. The likely culprits?  If it is anything like what's been going on in the other big cities in Sweden, they are disaffected immigrant teens.  Daniel and Hannah have their car parked in there, somewhere. Hopefully out of harms way.

Thankfully, one of these cars was not Daniel and Hannah's.



  

The Road to Gaza (or Gråbo)

"And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot." --Acts 8:27-29

I want to tell you about an exciting thing that happened yesterday evening.  I was going for a run, exploring the countryside.  While about an hour's distance from home, out in the middle of nowhere, I crossed paths with two men who hailed me to stop so they could ask directions.  They needed to go back to Bergsjön, where I was going.  They had gotten lost, and were walking for more than an hour in the opposite direction!

It was all according to God's plan, of course!  Because the way back was too complicated to explain, I chose to guide them myself. To make the story short, over the course of the next hour, I learned that one of them, Mustafa, is friends with Daniel, the church planter. He knew about my coming, speaking at the church, and leading the bible study last night to which he had been invited.  This is remarkable, because Daniel doesn't publicize his faith to his Muslim neighbors. So naturally I finally asked if he and his friend with us was a Christian. It seemed they said they were Alawite Muslims that don't go to mosque.  

Even though we had passed by a river along the path to Bergsjön, there was no spontaneous baptism like Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch on the road to Gaza.  We can hope, and I think with confidence, that their baptisms will come later!  

And speaking of baptism, I just stumbled across this video of Omid's baptism in Dec of 2011.  Brrr!

Omid is giving his testimony first, which you can read toward the end of a previous blog posting,"It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood."

Daniel the pastor interviewing Omid two years ago before baptism.

 Here are some pictures of flowers and fauna I saw along my run yesterday. Can anyone identify them for me?

Swedish for Aliens at The Space Market

"I once heard a man use a phrase which affected me very deeply at the time, and still does. I am not sure it is not one of the most searching statements I have ever heard. He said that the trouble with many of us Christians is that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but that we do not believe him.  He meant that we believe on Him for the salvation of our souls, but we do not believe Him when He says a thing like this to us, that God is going to look after our food and drink, and even our clothing....That is the ultimate trouble. 'Little faith' does not really take the Scripture as it is and believe it and live by it and apply it."--D.M. Lloyd Jones, Studies in The Sermon on The Mount, "Little Faith," p. 398.

One of the terrific things about this church plant is the pastor's personal library. Daniel has got some great books.

One of the terrific things about ministering to others is that, almost without fail, I find myself benefitting as much if not more from it.

These two terrific things, Daniel's book collection, and the opportunity for me to minister to others, came together for me this week in the two bible studies I led.  The first was Tuesday on Psalm 27, in English for ethnic Swedes who are part of the church plant. The second was yesterday on Matthew 6:24-34, for ethnic Iranians who are not part of the church plant, but who are friends with Omid. This I led in Swedish.

Omid says my Swedish is as good as most immigrants here, so I was challenged to give it a shot with them.  The meeting was held at Omid's apartment, which is in Rymdtorget.  Rymdtorget literally means, "The space market."  I suppose it may not be technically accurate to call his Iranian friends aliens, since they have become naturalized immigrants.  And as it turned out the only one really speaking alien Swedish was me! (The ethnic Iranians have been here for several years already and are well integrated into Swedish society.)  Nonetheless, we were able to unearth and apply some deep truths from God's Word  to our lives.  I think we ministered effectively to a need and area of growth that one of them in particular has in their walk with the Lord.  But as I said, perhaps the best thing for me in all this is that my own studies relating to this has resulted in greater growth for me personally.

One of the sermons I brought with me, in the event that I would need another sermon to preach, happened to be on the passage we studied together from the Sermon on the Mount. In the sermon, I reflect upon the challenging truth, as I have seen it, that many Christian brothers and sisters do suffer drought, famine, and exposure. In the sermon I ask the question, "Is God not following through on his promise?" My answer is that Christ may not be promising The Father will shield his children from such suffering.  God cares for us as a Father, but the evidence of that may not be so clearly seen in whether or not we have the bare necessities all the time. Jesus teaching on the sheep and goats in Matt 25 seems to bears this out.

Here's where Daniel's book collection comes in handy.  D M Lloyd Jones has challenged me on my perspective with this in his chapter in Studies in The Sermon on the Mount: "Worry: Its causes and cure." He quotes Psalm 37:25, which says "I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his children begging bread."  He asserts that this statement is literally true for genuine Christians (not for merely professing Christians).  It reminds me of what I heard someone say on Moody radio last year, that relief agency World Vision's former president said essentially the same, that he also had never seen the righteous forsaken, not his children begging bread.

Van Gemeren's Expositor's Bible Commentary supports this view: "God gives life to his people and supports the righteous with 'bread.' From elsewhere in the Psalm it is clear that the righteous may experience a variety of adversities at the hand of the wicked.  But the Lord comes to the aid of his own.  They are not abandoned.  The children of God are not immune to the experiences of alienation and to the groaning of this world, but they have God's promise that he will not completely forsake his own."

As a musician, "stage fright" has often been an ongoing battle.  Certainly, the audition here last month gave some evidence of that.  But if I remember to take Jesus at his word, as Jones advocates, what have I to be anxious about?  Jesus chided the disciples in the storm at sea, "where is your faith?" He expects the same kind of faith from me. And you.

My Sermon Link

Prayer Requests:

• Preparation for leading a bible study today (Wed) on Matthew 7. It will be with immigrants, and all in Swedish! (Once again, though, Omid will be by my side to bail me out if needed.)
• More street evangelism on Thursday and Friday with Omid.
• Finalize my travel plans for my return home, at the moment scheduled for June 18.
• Making a decision about whether or not to enroll in a second masters (in counseling) at Trinity.

Journal:

My sermon from this Sunday has just been put on the church's website.  Here is the link:  Zechariah 14 Sermon at Göteborg Internationella Baptistkyrkan.  It is 50 minutes total because of the translation into Swedish.  I have Omid to thank again for that.

The bible study on Psalm 27 was fun.  It was enjoyable to teach and apply some of the things I have been learning about Hebrew exegesis, particularly as it concerns Hebrew poetry. To see more clearly God's artistry in the bible deepens our appreciation for the Word, and makes it more interesting and engaging.  Analyzing the structural poetry was new to most in the group, so it took some work. Our close inspection of the text led to some good exegetical questions and observations though, and then a discussion about the confidence we can have now because of God's presence with us, both it's continuity and discontinuity with the psalmist's experience.

One last note. A friend has cautioned me about my sharing things of a personal nature on this blog.  Only a few close Christian friends (you) know about this blog, which was designed especially for the purpose of prayerful participation with me on this trip.  So I felt comfortable sharing so freely, especially as it concerned issues needing prayer.  However, it may be that others will gain access to this blog, and someone referenced (however obscure their identity may be to the reader) might possibly react negatively.  Therefore, "names have been changed to protect the innocent," a photo or two has been removed, and some details deleted.  Thank you for your wise advice...brother (you know who you are!)

Of Chords

Prayer Requests:  

• Bible Study preparation for tomorrow (Tues) evening on Psalm 27. This will be in English, thankfully.
• Bible Study preparation for Wednesday evening on Matthew 7. This will be in Swedish, but for immigrants. Omid will be there, so I don't have to sweat too many bullets.  It will be interesting to see how this works.

Photo Journal:

Omid and I with two of our victims

Friday night: Omid and I had just been evangelizing these two guys we met hanging out downtown by the river.  As with all other Swedes we've evangelized, these guys don't believe there is a God, and they really haven't even given it much thought. But they came to acknowledge through the course of our conversation that they have doubts, and if God does exist, that they need a savior.  I hope to follow up with them on facebook, but I can't find their page yet.

After speaking with these guys, we found another guy sitting alone, an African man, also drinking beer.  Unlike the other evangelistic conversations, we had to stick with Swedish since his English wasn't good.  He would consider himself Pentecostal,  but is fearful of the last judgment and Christ's return, unsure if he is saved.  He also seemed to me to be lonely and sad about something.  After explaining the Gospel to him, we invited him to come to our church and bible study, and gave him our contact info. He was gleeful when we left him, believing our talk with him was a divine appointment, and we are praying that the Lord will water and grow the seed that has been planted within him, and if possible, that the Lord will use the church as part of this process.

Saturday: I met up with my friend who had taken a long train ride from another city in Sweden to come see me.  She comes from a missionary family, but has a long-time boyfriend who is not a believer.  She argues that the Bible doesn't really say it is wrong for Christians to marry unbelievers.  Later, I met her sister who goes to a church near our church plant. She actually lives very close to the church plant.  I explained to her a little about it and invited her to come.

Sunday: I preached a 20 minute sermon at the church plant on Zechariah 14.  It's a special challenge to boil down into 20 minutes such a large and difficult-to-understand piece of scripture. This time there were only 7 adults in attendance.  I preached in English, and Omid translated into Swedish.  It was video recorded, so I'll probably be able to post the sermon later. Everyone there understood English, but it was translated for the sake of the future internet audience. There was some lively discussion afterward about the fearsomeness of God's judgement and Hell, with one member arguing for the Annihilationist view.  There are a couple members in the group who have grown children that have rejected Jesus as Lord, and this is of great concern for them as loving parents.  My thought now is that what we needed more than a discussion together was a time of prayer together for these lost souls.  How many more concerned parents and grandparents there must be in Sweden, and in all of Europe for that matter. As D A Carson has put it, and later Mack Stiles in his book, Marks of the Messenger, European Christianity has taken the nose dive over two to four generations in this way: 1) The Gospel is Accepted 2) The Gospel is Assumed 3) The Gospel is Confused 4) The Gospel is Lost.  Among ethnic Swedes, re-vival is out of the picture.  Re-evangelism is what is needed. But as I've seen in every case so far, it is evangelism that cannot assume any knowledge of the Gospel, nor any acknowledgement of a Holy God that has been offended by sin. The Gospel has been lost, and buried under materialistic, atheistic hedonism. 

EU-Reka!

My Prayer Requests: 

1. Relationship building with immigrants in the neighborhood tomorrow and throughout the week. 
2. Meeting with my old friend from Malmö, and her sister, also on Friday.
3. Preparing for more street evangelism on Saturday and Sunday to mostly Muslim immigrants.
4. Preparing an adaptation of my sermon on Zechariah 14 for the church plant this Sunday.
5. Preparing for a meeting again with two Mormon missionaries, Elder Hart and Elder Saldutti, next week. 
6. Preparing a bible study for Tuesday on Psalm 27.

My Photo Journal:


Jan and Evelyn Johansson. Jan is an interior decorator, and preached for the church plant this Sunday on the necessity of being born-again.  They are members of the church plant.

Eureka,  musician (not pictured)
I met her in church this Sunday. She used to play as a permanent substitute in the orchestra I auditioned for, but like me, did not win her audition.  How about that! She began attending the church plant services and bible studies a few weeks ago after getting a referral through the internet while looking for a Reformed church.  She is from the Reformed Church in her native country.

Syrian immigrant street preacher from Arabic-speaking church. Church plant member Joseph Löwdin translating from Swedish to English. I handed out tracts and spoke with a few people who looked interested.

Ethiopian immigrant street preacher from another local church. Church plant member Daniel Lundgren translating from Swedish to English.

Weekly bible study group: Simon, Frida (with Nanna), Daniel Lundgren, and Anna.  Daniel has been leading this bible study on Psalms for the last two weeks.  I will lead next week on Psalm 27.  Anna and I have had some good discussions concerning the philosophies of the Integrationist approach to counseling versus Biblical Counseling which she has studied indepth.

Daniel and Hannah Norén, the church planters who are at the moment in the US visiting their church planting supporters. Their support goes through a large organization which many of you know but for security reasons they have asked me not to name.  They are letting me stay in their flat, and Daniel is checking in with me by Skype frequently.  He is my official mentor for the "Cross Cultural Field Study" I am doing here with Trinity, though Omid is also mentoring me as we are side-by-side evangelizing.

Hussy Cowboy

Two nights ago, after our evangelistic conversation with an atheist named Annika who has both homosexual and heterosexual attractions, we ran into a Swede named Åshilde and her friend, a 51 year-old Cuban-American recording artist named Umberto who goes by the stage name "Hussy Cowboy." He heard us speaking English and asked us to point him to a bar. We got into a funny conversation with him for a few minutes.  He is a very outgoing guy.  He invited us to come hear him sing the next night on the Gay Pride Week Festival stage.  This we did. He was happy to see us, and wanted to chat some more.  He eventually asked me what I'm doing here, so I told him that since I am studying to be a pastor,  I had an assignment to meet people and talk to them about the Gospel.  He lit up and asked me if I would tell him about the Gospel.

Well, there was actually no time to even begin the conversation.  But we exchanged numbers, and arranged to meet the next night (tonight) after the Gay Pride Week Festival parade.  Meanwhile, he had to take care of some business with one of the stage event coordinators, which gave Omid and I a chance to talk with Åshilde again.  Small talk and polite conversation eventually led to some deeper questions of faith.  She also informed us that Umberto was gay and is not her boyfriend as we had mistakenly assumed.  She calls herself an atheist, though she had a terrifying encounter once with what she believes was a ghost, and so she admits that a spiritual world must exist.  It was challenging news to her when I told her that God is the source and perfection of love.  She is instead hopeful that she will find unconditional love in a man.

In several other friendly conversations we later had with other Swedes hanging out at the Festival, this is the common response: I am an atheist who believes in something spiritual, like an afterlife and that there is a reason for everything.  Their defeater beliefs, those beliefs which undermine all other arguments for the Christian faith and the Gospel concern Creationism, the history of patriarchy in the church, and belief in miracles.

This morning we hit the trail again, this time going to two outdoor flea markets that immigrants frequent on Saturdays.  There we handed out tracts, a few bibles, and lots of Jesus Films to the passersby.  I was able to get into several conversations with people, usually in simple Swedish, concerning the faith, inviting some to come worship with us.  One of them actually came to our church this evening!  At one point, though, some hard-core Muslim hotshots tried hammering us with arguments which lasted well over a half-hour.  Their main argument was that the Koran is perfect, and since there are many differences in the manuscripts of the Bible, the Bible cannot be trusted. I was told that I must study the Koran for myself before I have the audacity to evangelize Muslims.  It was just a way for them to try to shut me up, and behave aggressively.

Tonight while riding the tram into the city center to meet with Umberto the singer, Omid and I ran across two Mormon missionaries, "Elder Hart" and "Elder Siduoretti."  Both are 21 year-olds from the US who have been in Sweden for two years. We had a discussion with them about the differences between Mormon and classic Christian doctrine, particularly concerning the Gospel and the nature of God and Jesus Christ. We exchanged numbers with them at the end of our ride, hoping to follow up with each other later. They remarked to us how  it was a breath of fresh air for them to speak with us because we showed interest and were respectful.  Our meeting with Umberto was also pleasant.  But boy, does he have some crazy ideas!  Essentially, he believes in aliens, and that God is probably an alien himself. Kooky as he is, he is a very interesting, kind and laid back guy who has a very non-judgmental attitude. He also volunteered feedback to me about how I shared the Gospel with him.  (It was very positive, complimenting me on my respectful attitude.) I've agreed to look at the "research" he says he is going to show us about aliens, in exchange for his agreement to look at the expert opinions I send him.  Omid wonders what the point of meeting with him really was. Who knows but God. (I have since learned that his ideas bear resemblance to what is reportedly believed by Scientology).

It has been a great experience doing all this evangelism with Omid.  He is Swedish, he has a gift for apologetics, a lot of experience with evangelism, and he is a science teacher who can better answer some of the more scientific objections that are raised in response to us.  He is also very encouraging and has offered me good advice and feedback.

Tomorrow I will join two others from the church who go into the city center once a week to hand out tracts and partner with another larger church called Agape that does street preaching.  Omid assures me that it is a very good church.  He believes that it would be good for me to do this so that I can see how Swedes react to this, and because my identity as an "American visitor" will be an asset in approaching onlookers, in order to ask what they think about what they have been hearing and hopefully find opportunities to dig deeper with them.  Speaking with immigrants and handing them tracts is one thing.  But handing out tracts to Swedes who I know will be irritated by the preaching is another thing.  I'm not totally convinced I want to do this yet.  I'm willing to be a fool for Christ, but is it worth it in this case?  Is this method really effective for this post-Christian society, the most rapidly secularizing society in the world? I suppose the only way to find out is to give it a shot.

It's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

"Får Inte Djur!" Translation: Please do not feed the sheep....But always feed the kids ice cream!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Warm enough to wear a tee shirt, if you are a Somali man....

...And warm enough to wear almost nothing if you are a Swedish woman.

Many, if not most, of the immigrants here are unemployed and living off of government welfare. My ethnic Iranian friend Omid tells me it is not because most immigrants here do not want to work.  Rather, the work they can get doesn't pay as well as welfare pays them if they simply stay at home.

In order to encourage adult citizens to have children, because of the negative growth rate (1.67 children/woman), the government also mandates employers to give parents 16 months vacation from work for every child they have.  The father is required to take two of these months himself. This vacation is paid for by the government.  The government also pays parents, regardless of whether they have a job, a set amount each month for every child until the child turns 16. This is encouraging the immigrants who live off of welfare (and therefore who typically do not integrate into Swedish society), to have many children.  But it is doing little to encourage ethnic Swedes to improve their birthrate. (Nor, might I mention, is sponsoring Gay Pride encouraging the birthrate either!). To ethnic Swedes, having lots of children, if any, encumbers their freedom and independence....

...So if you want to have children, and don't want to bother working outside the home, come to Sweden! You've got it made....

...But your young bucks might find it harder to impress their girlfriends. It's much more expensive to own a car than in the US.

But let's be practical.  With public transportation like this, who needs a car?
Do you see the woman in this photo?  She is hidden inside a black burka while waiting for a bus.

Omid and I planning our attack

I met Omid yesterday and we discussed how we might do evangelism together in the coming weeks.

Omid is a 28 year-old ethnic Iranian who has grown up here in Sweden.  He is a science teacher for high schoolers, and belonged to a religion very antagonistic to Christianity (you can guess which one) until a few years ago, when he became a skeptic with suicidal thoughts.  He had a recurring dream that he was drowning. It was then that he decided to read the Bible, in search of answers to life.  Eventually, he had the dream again, and instead of struggling to save his life, he surrendered it to Jesus, who was holding him under.  He drowned but came up suddenly into penetrating light. When he woke up, his depression and anxiety had evaporated into thin air. He had met Jesus, and he has never been the same. Dreams like this, he says, are becoming common among Iranians.

For three years now, Omid has been a Christian, and an energetic witness for Christ through preaching at the church plant and through evangelism on the street and with the church plant's book table in the expansive neighborhood marketplace.

I asked him to explain to me the Gay Pride Week Festival that is going on now in Göteborg, and suggested that we take this opportunity to do some evangelism together.  This was an exciting challenge for us both.  We decided first to come up with a plan about how we would engage people in conversation, and how we could steer it toward the Gospel.  He suggested a method he had heard about Americans doing elsewhere, one which I had been planning to use myself with the college athletes at Trinity, so we immediately set about brainstorming how we would use it in this cultural context.  Essentially, the plan was to interview people on the street or in the park where the Festival is happening. I'd tell them I'm from a Christian college in the US and I want to write an article for the school paper about views on Christianity at the Gay Pride Festival.  Omid would simply be with me to translate if needed, and also give me critique afterwards. 

Once we arrived downtown yesterday evening, and began walking toward the tents set up along the main drag, I suggested we pray together before we start to engage in combat. So as we were walking along the promenade, we prayed.  Then after a few minutes of looking for someone who might be open to a conversation, Omid asked me if he should choose.  He was getting impatient.  I asked him if he had seen anyone that looked like a good target. He said, yes, about half the people we'd seen already.  Feeling the pressure of the situation, like standing on a 30 foot diving platform though not knowing how deep the water really is or how cold it will be, I finally saw a couple that looked somehow more approachable.  I dove in!

It wasn't a cannon-ball, but it wasn't a belly-flop either! It was more like a swan dive--beautiful, but not enough points to win gold. It ended up being a conversation that must have lasted well over an hour.  Annika, a tipsy 47 year old bisexual, and her 20-something nephew, were eager to discuss with us the questions we had. The golden moment came about halfway through, when Annika began asking me questions herself. Both say they are atheists who believe in Darwinianism but also a spiritual afterlife. They refuse to take the existence of a holy and perfectly loving God seriously, though I think through the encounter we managed to plant some seeds.  Seeds of thought and seeds of love.  Seeds of thought concerning the goodness of God and his holiness, humanity's fallenness and depravity, and God's plan of salvation and ultimate restoration in Christ, a rescue from our fallen condition which they desire but have failed to see, let alone believe. Seeds of love for "religious people" like us, who in their minds had only tried to shame her for her sexual choices.

Omid and I will set out again tonight with the same plan, only I'm going to try to do better at sensing when to leave the conversation.  He pointed out to me that it was pretty evident they were not willing to see things differently about half-way through our conversation, enjoyable though it was.

Idioter med Biblar

Smörgåsbord, the Swedish way. This is Frida, Daniel and Hannah Norén's next-door neighbor.  She is studying to be a music and math teacher, and is a youth leader at a Lutheran church where her father is a priest. There are very few Swedes living in this neighborhood, which is full of immigrants, most of whom are on welfare. What are the chances they became neighbors like this?  It's all according to God's plan.

Over the river and through the woods. It was getting late after the bible study, so I walked grandmother Anna back to her apartment. It is literally over the river and through the woods!  Stepping out of the woods, we walked past this Vietnamese Buddhist temple.

Outside the front entrance to the Buddhist Temple.

"Bibliotek" means library. Right now it is Göteborg's official Gay Pride Week.  Even the public library in our neighborhood is promoting it. Swedes value individual freedom and support for the underdog. Gay pride is a manifestation of these two values.  Of course Swedes contradict themselves: they also value their socialistic system which strongly limits individual freedom and choices.  So while homosexuality is celebrated, it is also outlawed to preach against it, and bible believing Christians in general, are scorned. "Indioter med biblar." I probably don't need to translate that for you. While I was waiting to audition on Monday I stepped out into the hall from my practice room and overheard the chef from the cafeteria grumble these words to someone on the other end of his phone.

Photo Journalist?

A resident of Bergsjön riding the tram with her guard dogs. It can be a dangerous neighborhood. Almost everyone who lives here are immigrants, typically refugees.  This woman sounded like she was from the Balkans. Recently there was an Albanian mafia shooting (execution?) very close to where I am living. 

Community gardens in Bergsjön?

A Somali (I presume) Muslim girl juggling a soccer ball. She is wearing gloves, a hijab, a full length skirt, and a jacket. That's not because it is cold, because it isn't. And I'm sure she can juggle the ball better without the skirt.

Presumably another Muslim immigrant.

Circular stairwells are everywhere in Scandinavia it seems. It's one of those cultural distinctives I have trouble understanding as an American. They seem very impractical, but make for a great photo!

A view of a nearby residential neighborhood. Downtown Göteborg is in the distance behind the hill.

Fancy bird houses in the woods. This one is log cabin style.

Bergsjöbadet. This is from a platform about 10 feet above the water.  If I get a wetsuit, maybe I'll try jumping in. The water's got to still be pretty cold.

Local boys having fun. Bikes are very important for many people here in Sweden--there are bike trails and bike lanes everywhere--and like almost anywhere else, bikes here are especially important for the kids.  Yesterday I walked past a boy  riding with a little girl sitting on the frame. I saw them go down a big hill, out of sight. A few seconds later they both started howling. I ran to help, along with about twenty kinds playing nearby. The girl had gotten her foot stuck inside the front wheel, jammed up to the ankle between the fork. Talk about traumatic. I wish I had a photo for you, but I lent a helping hand instead. So much for photo journalism.

These boys were fishing.

Two new 10-year old friends I met on my run today. Roberto, a Roma (Gypsy) from Spain, and Tony, a Serbian. Both were born here.

Country gardens. Don't know what's in the little houses, but I'm hoping to find out.