Warm and beautiful

The first week in April we were in Piniscola, Spain, joining the ECM (http://www.ecmi.org/) Biennial Conference. We were two families from the Mission Covenant Church in Sweden, a missionary couple in Spain and ourselves. Over 300 people, ECM staff and coworkers as well as supporters, meeting old and new friends. Hearing David Ruiz teaching, reports on developments on the different European mission fields and also some free time.

We were able to share something about the situation in the northernmost part of Sweden. I also had two seminars on Being Christian in a world of science. Which gave quite some interesting discussions.

Once again we heard about Europe, the only continent where the church diminishes, but also about signs of hope for the Christian Church in Europe.

Papa Luna was the name of our hotel. The castle in town was once the refuge of a pope, Cardinal de Luna or Benedict XIII, while he had a rivalling pope in Avignon. We learned about this history when visiting the castle. The castle on the isthmus is today a geautiful place to visit with a nice view on the surroundings.

In the Netherlands

Last week we spent in the Netherlands. Apart from meeting our families we spent time with people in several churches, supporting missionary work in Sweden through ECM (http://www.ecmnl.nl/), in order to show something of the work of the churches in the north of Sweden. We lived in Zeist during the week, with friends who opened their home for our family.

Autumn was beautiful in the Netherlands. Leaves are gone from the trees by long in Kiruna, where winter reigns by now, but not so down there!

We had severeal meetings at the Free Evangelical Church of Huizen. We have had contacts with this church since many years and it was good to meet them again, as well as people from some other churches.