I trust you had a great Christmas and New Year Holiday. Everything is white here and it won’t leave until April. It was great to celebrate all this with my little Church in Gunnarn – which is a fairly big church for this area – which is pretty far north in Sweden. This afternoon, we had a church coffee and cake time after the service and business meeting. Well, now I feel at home. Someone brought some honest to goodness, real, homemade Fruit Cake. That, with hot Swedish coffee makes for sheer delight. Well, maybe it might not be exactly like Claxton, but close enough to bring back old memories. Funny thing - they packed me off with all the remaining Fruit Cake after the fest - maybe they prefer moose meat.

Did I tell you that my Swedish teacher suddenly took early retirement and they can’t find a replacement for her? Do you think I was the cause of her seeking an easier life? Some students are a bit of a challenge, you know.

At least the church likes me. They gave me a huge basket full of fruit, wrapped in cellophane and tied with a big bow. It was one of those baskets like the ones you use to send to your customers at Christmas, when you are in business in the US. My dad was a medical Doctor and I remember as a little boy, how our family always received one of those baskets, just like this one. Only the one we received back then was sent from the local Funeral Parlor. I wonder whether that is what they were thinking about me?

Before Christmas, several fellows showed up at my door on their ski mobiles. They were puling along a trailer with a Christmas tree on it. They even brought tensile and Christmas ornaments. They just cut it in the woods somewhere. I hope nobody notices a prize tree missing from their front lawn. Then, they set the whole thing up, in my living room. But I added the water to the bowl in the tree stand. Into the water I put a few cubes of sugar and an overdose of aspirin – advice from Heloise, you know! I didn’t want the tree to be a headache.

We considered the Bible passage about Aaron’s Blessing, given in Number 6: 22-27. For some strange reason I don’t hear people say, “God bless you.” when someone sneezes. They certainly have enough opportunities with all the sneezing caused by all the colds going around. I don’t think it is their tradition here to do that. What a pity to miss an opportunity to bless someone.

We have some great new opportunities unfolding here. I will meet with some other pastors about these new developments. I will let you know about the results of that meeting, later. Please pray for this part of Northern Sweden and one who wants to run hard after God in this place.

In Christ,

George Wilson