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Archive for September, 2010

Person Numbers Received!

After more than 10 weeks of not being able to open a bank account, enroll in the Swedish for Immigrants course, or do other seemingly simple tasks, the call we’ve been waiting for came at last.  “Mr. Martin, this is the Skatteveret (Tax Office) and I have issued your person numbers…” Finally, we are now “in the system” and we officially exist!

Here’s Jensina testing her theory about pulleys at  a fun playground in Boden. Also, don’t forget to check out the  Martin Ministry page on Facebook to find out more about us and our ministry here in Luleå.

Category:

Settling in

A new week begins! Along with all sorts of possibilities!!!!

A new week now begins. We’ve had a lot of rain the past week so we are beginning to feel the cloudy side of Luleå. Our neighbor tells us that this is the end of sunshine till next spring. Now also begins the cozy inside time in Sweden, lots of small lights and candles.

We are doing well. The girls are enjoying school and we are all enjoying new friends and learning how to be “Swedish”!!!! So what will this week hold?  For the  kids, Swedish school, a little American school and playing with their Swedish friends. For Tony and Gwen, figuring out how to accomplish their various tasks Swedish style. Tony’s involved with helping set the foundation for a men’s ministry in Luleå and making contacts with some students at the university. Gwen is studying Swedish (& trying to remember to talk in Swedish), going to a Swedish speaking small group, doing American school with the kids, continuing to unpack and set up, meeting with people (of course, over fika!), and keeping the home going! All sorts of new possibilities are out there!!! Stay tuned and we’ll let you know!!!

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Some prayer requests:

  • that our person numbers (Swedish version of SS#) will come very soon. (We’ve been waiting over two months and in Sweden, you don’t really exist until you get these. It’s beginning to hinder things we need to do, i.e., opening a bank account, starting Swedish language classes for Tony, seeing if we can get on the Swedish health care system for renewing our prescriptions and other things.),
  • that an electrician will hook up our washing machine that a friend gave us (this was a special prayer request of Gwen’s) about a month ago (2 electricians have been here, but they didn’t have the proper approval to hook it up!),
  • that the problems with Gwen’s computer and our printer will be resolved (ugh!!),
  • that the claim on our damaged shipped belongings will be resolved.

Thanks so much for your prayers. We’re counting on them!!!

Blessings, Gwen 🙂

Check out our new page on Facebook called Martin Ministry and click on “Like” to help spread the word!

Category:

About us personally, Prayer request

Storforsen naturreservat

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What an awesome time we had!!! These pictures don’t begin to capture the beauty of these rapids. Every few seconds, I had to stop and take another picture! Are they ever powerful!! Truly amazing! From the 1800’s until 1982, loggers were using the Pite River to bring logs down to the port of Pite. They took a different path from what is there today. Too many logs were getting damaged so the loggers made a floatway to “squeeze” the water to where they wanted it to go. Isn’t it beautiful?? The Dead Falls is where the water used to run. What an amazing creation God has made with man’s ingenuity!! We had such fun watching the falls, having a picnic lunch, visiting the Logging Camp Museum and running around in the Dead Falls!!!! –Gwen 🙂

Category:

Learning about Sweden, Norrbotten, & Luleå, Uncategorized

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Relationships

Today, Tony had the privilege to preach at Korskyrkan – our home church here in Luleå – where he was able to share on the topic of  relationships. Included were discussions about the perfect relationship within the Trinity, the relationship between God and humans, and the relationships humans have with each other.

You can click here to listen.

After church, our friends Claus and Christina hung out at our flat and enjoyed fika with us.

BTW…Happy Labor Day to our friends in the States!

Category:

Church

No More Sun Tans!

Our days are getting progressively shorter…and very rapidly! Check out the chart below from http://www.gaisma.com/en/location/lulea.html. By December 1, we’re only getting a little over 4 hours of daylight!

Date Sunrise Sunset Length Change
Today 05:07 19:53 14:46  
+1 day 05:11 19:50 14:39 00:07 shorter
+1 week 05:29 19:27 13:58 00:48 shorter
+2 weeks 05:51 19:00 13:09 01:37 shorter
+1 month 06:41 18:00 11:19 03:27 shorter
+2 months 07:19 15:09 7:50 06:56 shorter
+3 months 09:07 13:32 4:25 10:21 shorter
+6 months 06:41 16:48 10:07 04:39 shorter

Please continue to pray for our ministry as we bring the never-darkening True Light that is brighter than the sun!

Category:

Learning about Sweden, Norrbotten, & Luleå