Last Week

Hey everyone-

It has really been a hectic week, with so much to tell.  But I am pretty exhausted from everything that has been going on, so I'll probably keep this pretty short.  Ehh... actually that's not very likely.

This Thursday and Friday we spent most of the day hanging out in the city park.  School got out last week, so the normal student places are pretty empty.  However, the weather has been great, so there are a TON of people out chilling in the park, which has been a great time.  On Thursday we met our friend Erik in the park by total chance, and he invited a few his other friends.  We spent most of the afternoon playing a Swedish game name "Kube," throwing the frisbee, and getting into great conversations.  This pattern basically played itself out on Friday too, when we again met Erik and some other girls who we were able to share the Gospel with.  The highlight for me was in talking with Erik.  He doesn't necessarily believe in God, but is open to it and knows that if there is a God it would be a good thing for his life.  I told him he should pray a very simple prayer, "God, if you exist, reveal yourself to me."  He promised he would, and I have been praying fervently that he does in fact follow through.  When we pray for God to reveal Himself he is always faithful, so I am praying God shows up in Erik's life in a big way.

There have honestly been so many great conversations this week I can't summarize them all here... but this would be a great place to plug my Go and Tell on SFC on July 10th!  They're going to give me a whole hour to talk about my trip... the thought of a room full of people being forced to listen to me talk is SO exciting.  Please come.

Anyways, let's fast forward to today.  I went to wrestle with my Swedish friend David, and we had a good time rolling around and learning some technique (even though I had 4 sausages for lunch... that didn't feel so good.)  This was the last time I was going to see him (or so I thought,) and I didn't know if I was going to ave a chance to really get spiritual with him.  But afterwards he gave me a ride back to the hostel, and I asked him very bluntly what is the biggest reason that he doesn't believe in God.  He immediately turned the car off and a fantastic conversation started, where at one point he even admitted "Wow, you just killed all my arguments!" He was so excited to talk about this that he insisted me meet up again while I'm still here (only 2 more days- yikes!) and that we keep up the dialogue on facebook.  So I'll be meeting up with him again, and am really optimistic about conversation in the future.  Be praying for him.

The trip is winding down... we leave Sweden Wednesday morning, head to Rome for a few days, and will be back in the states in a week!  Time is short, but God can still do big things.  Here goes nothing!

In hIs Grip,
Ethan