Food For Thought and Body

Pasta Alfredo

Quinoa Salad

 The aroma in Fill My Cup cafe/coffee shop commences about ten minutes after our cook, Mira, arrives.  She is amazing! The aroma of cinnamon, kneaded bread, banana nut bread and chocolate drift from her space, and before we know it, we are displaying goodies for public consumption on trays, under glass, and on racks.  The Espresso machine and the drip coffee makers are humming and sending out messages of invitation. After the fresh breakfast menu is on exhibit, she begins preparing the Plate of the Day, which is usually a pasta or main meat dish.  Sandwiched between all of this, she makes her wheat or white or sour dough breads for the Sandwich of the Day.
But wait...there is more: soups.  She makes a Soup of the Day.  Yesterday, she made a beef goulash with fresh vegetables and herbs. Served with her warm breads, it is a sight to make one slobber. Oh, she bakes with fresh butter and pure cream. Nothing is compromised here. Quality is her main concern.

Thinly-sliced squash

Several days ago, we paid a visit to a local gardener to buy fresh herbs and vegetables.  Mira hand picked squash, tomatoes, beets and herbs.  Today, she sliced the long squash into thin slices that she used in place of noodles for her lasagne, which was loaded with vegetables and herbs.   It was second-helping worthy!






Mira sets an example of Ecclesiastes 9:10a, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might..."  She is an industrious ball of fire who is as busy as a bee from the start of her day to the last roll, bun, loaf, pie, cake and soup.

Lasagne 

She even visits with every customer who comes in!

She prepares the best menu with the finest ingredients and it's expensive.  "If people buy my food, it has to be good."

Mission Corps gives us great opportunities to peek into the lives of people who do what they do with fervor and passion.  Mira's work may seem light or minor, but truthfully, one couldn't manage a cafe/coffee shop without a cook.  She is a key player...and she is a new Christian.  She is an inspiration.

When she invites us to chop, slice or stir, we heartily comply.  When we share devotions and prayer time together at the start of the day, she exhales honesty.  She gets it that God has blessed her with these skills and talents...and she is a hugger, too!

This is what our days are like.  Setting up at 9am for a 10am opening, then laughing, sweeping, cooking and drinking coffee all day.  This blog has been a small glimpse into our daily routine with our cook, Mira.  Pray for her that she would continue to grow spiritually and would continue to be a spiritual guide and example to her children and family members.

 Keep Looking Up... and thank you for reading our blog
J:m and L:nda

" The Glorious Unfolding" at Fill My Cup

The neighborhood meeting place opened up in Arrie, Sweden on September 15, 2015 and it is called "Fill My Cup."  Those of us who had worked so hard the past month on the renovations tried not to have any expectations about our first day.  Some warned us that very few people might visit, while others warned us that we might be overwhelmed - be prepared with a large menu!  Our menu for that opening day included: homemade cinnamon rolls,
Pasta Alfredo made from scratch, Club sandwiches on homemade bread, Quinoa salad, fresh pumpkin soup, chocolate cake, carrot cake, and chocolate chip cookies, all from scratch. Our chef trained in, arrived at 8:30, fired up the kitchen and presented all of this by midmorning.

And, it was good timing
because the people came!  Neighbors, sewing groups, road construction engineers, school children, and church friends made this day a delightful and almost unexpected surprise!
The new baristas gave it their best try and no one sent back their
espresso orders! Gift-bearing neighbors met and sat and visited for a long time.
Newcomers to the neighborhood met old-timers who chronicled the history of the village.  No one seemed to be in a hurry on this less-than-ordinarily windy, and sunny day.  The smell of coffee and cinnamon and conversation permeated the cafe/coffee house, and it felt so good.

When people heard our American accents, they asked why we were here.  They knew we were working that day because we had on YOUR aprons.  Their standard reactions to our explanation of being volunteers here for 3 months to help open Fill My Cup was astonishment mixed with curiosity.  More questions followed and then we told them that our church asked us to serve here.  Europeans volunteer in very limited ways, so this idea of leaving a home country and traveling to a place where you know no one to volunteer is very perplexing.  It is a great conversation opener and an opportunity to share more about our faith.

The inviting aroma of Fill My Cup will change each day as our menu will change daily.  Passersby, cyclists, local business owners, small groups and after-school children will find a comfortable place at our cafe to sit, network, play games, learn more English, discuss business, and taste the menu fare.

We loved the sound of a full house on our opening day.  God gave the owner, Juliene, a song that she shared with the volunteer/workers during our pre-opening devotion time on our second morning, The Glorious Unfolding by Steven Curtis Chapman.  Have you heard it?  God gives us promises,  He asks us to believe them and stand on them.  Remember, we had no grand expectations about our first day, but God had a plan and He is unfolding it for Fill My Cup in glorious ways.

When you come to Sweden, drop by Fill My Cup, sit by the fire, have a bowl of soup, meet a new friend and be amazed!

Keep Looking Up!  and thank you for reading our blog.
J:m and L:nda

Sweden! Fill My Cup is Open for Business!

It all began in March 2015 when we were asked to come to Sweden to help launch the opening

of Fill My Cup, a coffee house/cafe ministry outreach located in the the small community of Arrie, Sweden.  We have seen God move in powerful ways as He has been faithful to bring so many helping hands to lift this ministry off the ground and into operation.  We open Tuesday, September 15 and we have prayed over every square foot of this cafe that it would serve as an inviting place for all who stop by for a cup of coffee or for lunch.  This past month of work and preparation has been filled with  days of sore muscles, days of laughter, days of rest, and days of challenge, but it brings us to the day of opening and service to this community.  Though we have met many new people, now we get to pause and build relationships...with purpose.

We are celebrating because we are Open for Business!  God's business!  

Keep Looking Up!  And thank you for reading our blog!

J:m and L:nda

Open For Business...

Hillsong Church Copenhagen

Coffee with Katie, the Barista

We took our seats on the train leaving Copenhagen, Denmark headed toward home in Malmo, Sweden.  We reviewed the photos of beautiful Copenhagen that we had taken that day and reflected on our time spent with another Mission Corps Barista volunteer, Katie, from San Francisco.  Then, we opened this calendar that we had picked up at Hillsong Church Copenhagen and began to flip through its pages.  "Did you attend Hillsong today?" the lady sitting across from us quietly asked.   Conversations on trains and busses in Scandinavia are almost unheard of.  Most passengers sit plugged into earbuds or headphones.  Some actually read newspapers.  Yes, we had attended Hillsong services that morning, so our conversation was open for business.  That's where she attends, taking the train across the sound from Sweden into Denmark each Sunday.  She asked us if we had met an Asian greeter that morning.  "Yes," we replied, "Michael and his wife, Karen."  Out of hundreds of church goers that morning, we had met her daughter and her son-in-law!   Out of hundreds of people boarding that train that late Sunday afternoon, we had sat across from a lady who, along with her daughter and son-in-law, were heart-deep active in not only Copenhagen's Hillsong church, but also a part of planting a Hillsong church in Malmo, Sweden.  In fact, as a result of an announcement in church that morning, we had planned to attend one of their first church-planting meetings in Malmo this Wednesday night.

It was not a chance meeting that we had sat across from a lady who was part of this church-planting team.  She asked us why we were in Sweden, and we told her that we were working in coffee shop/cafe ministries.  She agreed with us that this ministry is one powerful way to reach the young generation in Scandinavia.  "Our country has lost an entire generation, but God is working through different ministries to reach this younger generation and bring them back to Him."  Coffee ministries are strong and are open for business, too.  We were encouraged to have this conversation with a total stranger, yet, not a stranger in our circle; instead, a fellow believer.

Both of her children are believers and witnesses for Christ and her husband, a captain on Norwegien Cruise Lines, is a strong believer who has organized Bible studies with fellow believers. Again, a little church open for business.  She asked about our family, and we shared that our son and family are sincerely involved in their church.  We shared that he was in the hospital.  She took his name and will take him to the prayer warriors at Hillsong.  Certainly, their church is open for business. 

Now, with European nations opening their borders to thousands of refugees, the existing church must be more than prominent and boldly multiply itself everywhere.  The church has to turn up the volume and be seen as stations of difference, hope and ministry.  They must be open for business!   Believers have the responsibility to seek ways in which we can be a part of something bigger than ourselves.  After all, we have the reason for our hope and our testimony should always be open for business.

Keep Looking Up...and thank you for reading our blog.
J:m and L:nda