Steppingstone Journey

Friday, October 23, 2015

The Swedish Bus Driver Stood Up...

The cutest mother herded her three young children and an empty stroller onto the public bus. The bus was almost full, but the three wandered around with their walking sticks like free-roaming cats.  They stirred with wild energy, touching several empty seats and turning to each other to declare their mooring.  Their birth order was evident.  During these two minutes, the passengers were quietly amused.  The frazzled Mom zigzagged around them to the front of the bus and scanned their bus tickets.  Then, as the seven-year-old child dangled from the high, front bus seat, an amazing thing happened.  The bus driver put the bus in park, stood up and moved down the aisle toward the children.  The Mom latched the stroller to the bus' safety belt and straightened up. The bus driver bent down, and in the kindest, softest voice we've ever heard, spoke to the children.  Their little faces turned in attention.  At that moment, you could have heard a pin drop on that bustling bus.  The conversation was in Swedish, but as he asked questions, the children politely pointed to the seats they wanted.  He lifted up each child, granting their request, and buckled them in.  Each one tightly held onto their walking stick.  For a brief 4 minutes, that city bus was tranquil and still.  The driver straightened up, walked back to his seat, started the engine and carried on.
Several quiet stops later, they arrived at their location.  Hopping around on the sidewalk, they were happy about going somewhere.  They continued on their journey, no one in a straight line, the Mom still pushing an empty stroller.

Inspiration at its best.  Most likely, we will never see that same bus driver again, but he made a strong impression on us.  Actually, we admired how he cooly handled an otherwise disruptive commotion.

To speak softly right in the middle of disruption, is not easy for most of us.  He disarmed the birth-order struggle as well as assisted the mother.  Is that his character or a learned behavior?

We find ourselves in these situations all the time:  work place, classroom, family gatherings, board meetings, and more.  We can't always grant specific requests, but we can ask questions to find out which seat is desired.  We know that asking the perfect question in a caring tone can often accomplish more than we could have imagined.

We are practicing!

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







Thursday, October 15, 2015

How We Measure

When traveling or living overseas, it is so easy to miscalculate mileage and miss an exit, dress unsuitably and freeze, misidentify currency and pay twice as much, overlook time change when crossing a border, or scorch a cake to death in a Celsius oven.  We know because we have done all of this.  If Imperial-System-of-Measurement minds underestimate the power of Math, we should hope they never travel to a Metric-System-Measurement country: they will pay too much, get lost, arrive late, or eat their own burned food!

Kilometers vs Miles
When we drive in European countries, we ride in near silence.  Why? Our minds are clicking to calculate how many miles to our next destination; to illustrate, 'If a 10K is 6.2 miles, and we are 50 kilometers away then our address is approximate 30 miles further.'  "Yes, that's right," we say, " St. Louis Track Club taught us all the K's.  We should arrive at 2100 hours then."



Celsius vs Fehreiheit
"It's 5 degrees Celsius in Tellinn right now," the ship's public service announcement informed us.  "Let's do the math right now before we get off this boat.  Maybe we should take gloves and  wear a hat." Pause.
"Oh....it's 41degrees F, and it's sunny.  I'm not taking gloves."

"It's 1 degree Celsius in Helsinki right now," the ship's public service announcement informed us.
"Uh...1degree Celsius.  That sounds dangerous!"  Pause.  "Oh...it's 33 degrees F, but it's damp and foggy.  I'm wearing my gloves and a hat."

Oven Temperature Conversion
Take one chocolate cake batter, pour into dish, place into Celsius oven, set at 191 degrees C.
Results:  caked baked for 40 minutes at 375 degrees.  Burned chocolate cake.  Scrape off burned cake top and sides, conceal with icing.  Consult Celsius Conversion Chart next time.



European Currency
This one is always tricky.  We have to remember where we are.  About 19 of the Euro countries use the Euro.  Nine countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Sweden and the United Kingdom) do not accept the Euro.  So, we have to remember what is circulating in our own pocketbooks: rubles, pounds, Kunas, Kronas, or Krones, etc.
Many of the European countries use coins for paper money.  Pockets get heavy and vexation increases when we want to buy bottles of water but do not have a pound to our name.  Or, maybe that coin is a pound...no, it's a Krona!

Military Time
Time in Europe is measured in 24-Hour Time, commonly referred to as Military Time.
The 0001=12:01am and then all the digits through 1200 are easy.  If you like to arrive in time to catch your train, but you have difficulty adding, then you might not want to travel in Europe.  If your train in Germany leaves at 1620 on Platform 8A, you had better think fast, be there, or you may be catching the 1840 train.

Traveling is always a cultural and educational experience.  It forces us to consider how other cultures live and how we can navigate outside our own comfort zones.  Since have been so deeply involved in other cultures and with other language groups for so many years, traveling abroad gives us a reasonable assessment and a slightly different perspective of population dynamics.  We begin to understand the cultural challenges that newcomers experience.

"...but we are after a far better country than that-heaven country... We are truly strangers and pilgrims on this earth..." (Hebrews 11)  Heaven: no time, no currency, no temperatures, no distances...just unity.

Keep Looking Up....and take off in a new direction!

J:m and L:nda







Saturday, October 3, 2015

Never Say "Just..."

Mira, our fabulous chef
We knew that Fill My Cup Cafe was bracing for a big Saturday.  A complimentary newspaper article about the cafe had just been released a few days earlier. In faith, we expected a hungry community to sample our breakfast buffet.   Our chef was ready.  She spent the night in the big house. We were up early to set up the outside tables, spread linens, and bake, bake, bake!  Then it happened:  the bake, bake, bake part didn't happen.  No electricity!  This meant no bacon, no American pancakes, no coffee!  One of three phases of the entire electrical system was down.  "Lord," we prayed, We need power - your power!  Help!"
Phil, maintenance guru
God shows up in many ways.  To the rescue was Phil, the owner/maintenance guru.  Honestly, there is not a thing that this guy can't fix!  Within 20 minutes, we were frying the bacon, brewing the coffee and singing.  Our doors were about to open for a grand day....we could feel it.

And, just like that, the neighborhood kids took the lead! After that, it was all fun...until water streamed from under the dishwasher and into our work floor area.
On the other side of the counter, families were filling their plates with fruit, scrambled eggs, fresh breads, and pancakes.  "Don't panic," our chef said.  "Call Phil."  We did. He came.  He fixed!

Today was our best day of service out of the three weeks that we have been opened. We faced some very challenging opposition within the first two hours, but a team of willing souls successfully countered the difficulties to see a delicious ending.

Customers are curious about the Americans who serve at Fill My Cup. The majority of Swedes are not interested in church or God.  They certainly avoid any discussion about religion, almost aloof and cautious about the topic. Many of them are unaware of the double meaning of Fill My Cup.  However, there is one matter that raises their curiosity: volunteerism.  They will pause to ask us why we are here in Sweden.  It is not that we are Americans nor that we are living here for three months that piques their curiosity. They want to know how we find these volunteer opportunities.  And so, we tell them about our connection with our church and our assignments through the church.  They are genuinely interested, but not invested, at that point.  However, with curious reservation, they often ask where we have served and may even ask about a particular experience of ours.  We are amazed at the avenues of opportunities that God uses.  We have an opportunity then to ask them where they attend church.  Gulp!  A vast majority do not.  But, we tell them about the International church we attend while living here.


We had an AHA moment several weeks ago at our International church when a fellow Christian said that we should never say JUST when we witness to just one person.  "Never underestimate the power of the planted seed," he went on to say.  "See that seed become an orchard!"

Once again, Fill My Cup has filled our cup.  It has been an amazing day filled with challenges and promises.




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