Bread Basket of Sweden

On Saturday, August 15, we loaded up the van in Sweden and headed toward Denmark for the weekend.  We had worked hard all week and set out to discover what the Danes like about Copenhagen.  Plus, we wanted to visit a Nazarene church where a new friend of ours would be the speaker Sunday morning.

Painting the pantry

Window seats

But, first what had we done all week besides looking stylish with a paint brush, hammer, saw, and ladder?  Jim and Seth have been busy making window seats and a marble ledge for drip coffee makers.   They still have to design and make a vent-a-hood for the stove.  The handicap lift is in place and the stone paving around the front and side of the cafe for outside seating is almost  finished.  A table in the main room has yet to be built around a structural post, offering more seating.  Oh, and please, someone, remove layers of paint from two beautiful doors so they can be used in the main coffee room.

We have not a problem with their work hours here:  start at 9 and stay with it until the project is finished.   We are partnering with some great help here and praying to see the cafe open by the first of September.

Sweet Surrender Cafe

Back to the first paragraph...we visited the Sweet Surrender coffee house/cafe in Copenhagen on Saturday.  It was cool to see the "sister coffee house" to the one we are helping to open in Southern Sweden and to meet the staff who work there.   This coffee house is located in a residential area with a lot of foot traffic.

Wheat fields

Whereas, Arrie Kulturhus in So. Sweden is located in the "bread basket" of Sweden.    Here, they grow wheat and barley.  The fields are golden right now, but harvesting is beginning.  In fact, Arrie Kulturhus coffee cafe is located in an old grain mill established in 1903.

All around us we see fields that are literally ready for harvest.  Daily, huge combines and tractors and giant grain trucks lumber past our intersection.  This coffee house sits right in the center of a harvest field.  It will become a channel of the harvest, casting a gentle message that those who drop by for a coffee are sitting in a different type of field; they are resting with the Lord of the harvest.  (Luke 10:2)  The harvest is truly great here as people are unattached to the church and the promises found there.   As you eat your breads and grains, please remember to pray for the harvest in Southern Sweden and the Lord's work at Arrie Kulturhus.

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