Oak Tree Down

I made a short appreciation video for the guys who work in our maintenance team.
Enjoy!

Do Missionaries Lie?

Are missionaries expected to lie when things are hard on the field, or are we allowed to be honest? I can start with saying it’s been a rough go for a while. How long is a while? Hmmm, anywhere from three months to two years. Don’t worry. We’re not gonna check out. We’ve just been going through a really dry time in our mission work. We’ve gone in and out of feeling like we’re not really making a difference here at Restenäs. But just because it gets a bit dry doesn’t mean we shouldn‘t stay. Rasmus with a dirty face.

A few weeks ago we (Veronica, Rasmus and myself) had ‘family church’ on top of a high rock overlooking the Ljungskile harbour. Up there, all alone, we talked, read the Bible and prayed together. We asked God, “What are you doing. What do you want to say to us about our future? Please speak to us!” Then we waited and listened. I’m not going to share right now what we heard God say, but I can tell you it was encouraging! You’re thinking, “Dang it! I wanna hear what God said!” Sorry, not yet.  But together, with God, we’re really looking forward to what the future holds for us. God said, “I know the plans I have for you.. plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 Thanks for being our friends and especially those of you who support us through your prayers and your gifts. We’re so glad that you are part of our adventure here in Sweden, and beyond..

My Awesome Wife

Veronica is amazing! We have been going non-stop since early June with mission trips, hosting guests and traveling up and down the roads of Sweden. She prepared all the hospitality rooms for our guests. We had a very special time with some my family who came to visit us for about six weeks. I think Veronica’s humour prevented my Dad from buying an early ticket home. She always made sure we had plenty of food in the car before a trip. And, of course, she did a million more things than I could have done to make sure Rasmus was a happy camper. I love her and appreciate her so much! We took our family and some friends out to the nearby island in our tiny boat on evening. V made the whole food thing rock!


Digital Worship
I recently attended a one-day worship workshop led by Sue Rinaldi, a worship leader from England. God spoke to me during the workshop, but not so much about musical worship. Instead it was about using all my gifts and talents to worship Jesus. (read Romans 12) I’d like to share about one of my hobbies, photography, which has been a big part of my life since I was 14 years old. That’s when I got my first camera. It was a Pentax K1000. I think I’ve owned a camera ever since. And nearly 30 years later, last August, I upgraded to a professional Canon D30! Link One of my dreams is to go on a photo shoot, maybe to one of our focus areas in Asia, just taking photos; nothing more nothing less. The photos would be how I worship Jesus. I don’t know about you, but for me, just to stand, half-invisible, on some obscure steps, in some random city for half a day if I want, shooting people and things. That trips my trigger! I even uploaded my first pics on the Hungarian Stock Exchange the other day. Two of them were accepted! See them here :-) I still get excited every time I pick up my camera, or read an article about taking photos, or see some great shots on a website.

I am planning a serious photo shoot at the end of April 2008: taking photos of our new baby! Now won’t that be a cool event? I definitely want to get a few of those fingers-and-toes shots that I failed to capture when Rasmus was born. I was blubbering way too much to hold the camera steady. This is a picture of me and Veronica looking at the unofficial pregnancy test results.

Question: Will Rob blubber this time around?
Answer: Probably. But I just got to get that fingers-and-toes shot! I promise to upload it if I do.

Me, V's papa, Veronica, my brother Brian, our nephew Josiah and V's sister Cissi on top of a beautiful mountain top on the northern high coast of Sweden. My mom and dad weren't up for the 11 kilometre journey.

Rasmus usually doesn't get this wiped out on car trips, but we caught a rare moment here.


A little digital worship; the view from 'family church' on top of the rock in Ljungskile

Solbacken Project Update

Check out this short, random video I made for our latest newsletter. I took 30 minutes and made some vid shots of the guys working over in Solbacken, our student dormatory. We started the project this spring and hoped to be finished by the end of August, but it will take a bit longer than we want. Still, what an amazing amount of work has been done in such a short time with such few help! You can do anything if you put your mind to it, eh?

Forget the meatballs.. Let's eat slugs!

Okay, check this video out! They say that one slug can multiply itself 700 times in a summer season. That is disgusting! They ate my basil plants while we were in Cambodia, and when you step on them they leave a sticky goo on your shoe. Now, one Swede has gone too far.. he has decided to make them a delicacy. Check it out. Click on the title or the image to go to the video page. Then click on the video image to watch the video.

Return from Cambodia

No scratches, just a few bugs in our tummies; we all returned safely to Sweden after a wonderful three weeks in Phnom Phen, Cambodia! Tailor and Rasmus both have a fever today and some others have the irregulars bowel movements, which is often to be expected. the only problem is, we have become too used to sharing the details over a meal, which completely grosses out the others at the table. Such is the fruit of living and eating together on a mission trip.



I added some more videos to our YouTube account:
http://www.youtube.com/user/chabarang.
You can subscribe to our account there also.

We want to thank all of you who prayed for us during our time in Asia. We felt totally taken care of by God and by you all. You can officially tell everyone you meet that you spent three weeks in Cambodia with us, because you were with us in spirit.

Video - Countdown to Cambodia

Well, they're all here and ready to go. Our Cambodia team along with all the other Summer Mission participants have been arriving on our doorsteps these past few days. Today is Monday and we leave in less than 24 hours. Our team members' names are:

1-Rob(that would be me :-)
2-Veronica(& Rasmus)
3-Sarah(V's friend from her DTS)
4-TJ(The young man in the video a few blogs down)
5-Kaisa(my co-leader)
6-Philip(a tennis player from Nässjö, a town in Sweden).

We have a fantastic team!

Visit this blog every few days for more updates.

Khmer rouge trials

Here is an article I got from the Cambodia News feed a few days ago about the Khmer Rouge Trials. Keep an eye on these events, as they will have a big impact on this land.

Cambodian Cop Targets Sex Tourists

Cambodia is stepping up efforts to stop sex tourists who exploit children. Kao Thea of Phnom Penh's anti-trafficking and juvenile protection unit represents the police officers who are leading the fight. Click on the photo to read a BBC report on the sex slave industry.

Listen to an audio report from NPR. If audio doesn't start playing, click on Launch Standalone Player at the bottom right-hand corner of the NPR screen.

Growing up in the 70's

A powerful thought hit me while reading the Lonely Planet Travel Guide recently. Many people my parents' age will no doubt remember what happened in Cambodia, how the country was shut off from the world and turned into a peasant work camp virtually overnight by the Khmer Rouge. If you lived there and even appeared to be educated, wore glasses or spoke two languages you were immediately executed. Others were tortured almost to the point of death, but kept alive until they confessed to "something.. anything" that could be used against them, to be accused as traitors of the regime. Only then were they taken to the killing fields and executed with the over one-million other victims.

It was while I pondered these facts that the thought hit me: "While Cambodians were suffering on the other side of the planet, I was spending my summers playing kick-the-can and complaining about having to eat my spinach" (I never really believed that Popeye story).

Now, 30 years later, as I prepare for our summer mission trip, the perspective is becoming so much clearer. Our team of six will most likely be ministering to young, orphan children, fruits of the victims who survived the tragedy of the past 20 years of Cambodian history. Children whose parents are drug addicts and can't take care of them.

Wow! That's awesome, to think that seven people who probably have never experienced the tragedy the Cambodian people have, will be able to bring faith, hope and love back into the hearts of those people, one person at a time.

More info on our trip coming soon!

Youth on a mission :-)

I made a short fund-raising video for one of our summer mission trip team-mates. Taylor Ross is 15 years old and is the son of one of our YWAM Restenäs parents, John and Donna Ross. The Ross family has been an integral part of our campus since 1999.

When I first met TJ (Taylor), he was about 8 years old, too smart for his britches and sassy. One day I spotted TJ and another young boy climbing out of one of the windows onto the roof of the dining hall. I told him he should get back inside, that they could fall and hurt themselves. TJ assured me in a loud voice, "It's okay, I've already broken my arm twice before."

We would be honoured if Taylor could join us on our trip to Cambodia, but he needs to raise his own funds to pay for his trip. He still needs around $1,500US. Please check out this short video below and pray about helping him out. If you decide to do so, feel free to contact us any time and we will make sure that Taylor gets at least 50% of your gift ;-) HeeHee Kidding, of course. We'll give him 75% No! I'm still joking. Seriously, we will give it all to TJ, because we want him to go!



For more info on Taylor ross visit the Ross website www.rossmanna.com

Keepin' it simple

Grandma (Mormor) and Grandpa (Morfar) thought I was going to India, so they bought train tickets to stay with V and Rasmus for the week. This is just a simple video of us doing Swedish-type things when the weather is nice. Notice, we're all wearing jackets? Hmmm! Love this Swedish summer. So unpredicatable.

If you're wondering about the sailing ship in the credits, you can visit www.elida.se to see more. You can read it in English by clicking on the flag on the bottom right corner of the website.

Family reunion!

They're back home! Veronica and Rasmus are home. Finally, I can get back on a schedule and eat normal food again. I celebrated by buying some pans flowers and planting them in pots and in the garden before they arrive. Veronica says her favorite thing about being home this time is seeing her family pay all that attention to Rasmus and love on him.

Indian visa denied

You may remember, I was waiting for the Indian embassy to grant me a tourist visa. It turns out they got suspicious about my reasons for wanting to go, so they forwarded my application to the 'higher' authorities in India. They told me it would take anywhere from two to six months to get a decision. Makes you wonder what they're thinking when it clearly said on my application 'from 3 May through 21 May'.




Well, the date for me to leave has passed, so I decided to cancel my application. The man at the embassy asked me, "But sir, don't you want to keep waiting for a reply?" Sigh! Patience is a virtue, every day, for something, isn't it? But I feel good about not going. I know God has a reason for the closed door.

So now I am trying to connect with the CRIT folks over Skype. Ironically enough, India, although they have some of the most skilled and learned IT people in the world, do not have the world's most reliable internet connections. So I am stuck waiting by my computer to connect with someone at CRIT, even if it for a few moments. I am determined to get connected at some point!

They were right!

I have the week all to myself. Rasmus flew up to Övik with his Mamma on Wednesday to visit his Mormor (Grandmother) and Morfar (Grandfather). V's old orchestra flew her up to play first violin with them in a co-concert starring a famous Swedish musical group called Triple & Touch.



So I've been able to stay up till the wee hours of the morning puttsing around, blogging and eating really unhealthy food. Sure, it's novel to do whatever I want, whenever I want. But I still miss my wife and son! Like today, she SMS'd me telling me she threw up right before she left for the concert. Not 'coz she was nervous, but because she had the stomach flu. And I can't do anything about it except pray.

Good thing is, they come home this Wednesday!
P.S. The classical music you're hearing is some of the music V played today.
nkss

Rasmus swinging

Rasmus has a little swing just beside our home. It hangs from an apple tree branch. FInally the weather is nice enough so that he doesn't have to wear that big, fat coat!

How to win a year's supply of diapers

A while back Veronica tried to enter Rasmus in a Pampers photo contest. Except the website wouldn't launch his picture, and after several attempts, time ran out.



So Rasmus'winning photo had to forfeit the prize. But tenacious Veronica never gives up easily! she spotted another contest sponsored by Pampers; this time, a video contest. Each week they would choose one winninng video to recieve a year's supply of diapers. So V entered Rasmus in the contest, and this time, it actually launched.

Well, then we sent out a billion or so emails to close and faithful friends, who graciously voted for our video. (Of course, there was no doubt that even without our billion or so emails, Rasmus still would have won the contest ;-) Thanks to everybody who voted! I want to invite each and every one of you to come and celebrate with us by changing at least one of his diapers!