Thassos i sikte: June 2009

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Visit in Närke

We have been to Torp. :-)
We almost forgot to take any pictures but here is one from the car...
We had a good time though!
Went to some services, met friends (our Sweish friends from Thassos among others), had great food, saw some sun, ran to not get too wet, bought books in the bookshop... and stuff like that, that you do at a good christian conferens.

And then we had the oportunity to spend some time with Lenas
onkel and wife that not live to far away from the conferens.
Going to onkel Olle we passed by Kvarntorpshögen
(it's a big pile made by man during the world war 2 when they produced oil there)
with "Konst på hög" (A pile of art)
where we actually remembered to take some pictures.
As you can see there is a wounderful view from this pile of cinder.

Our green house

We (Kenneth) have made a green house!!
We have some tomato plants that we think will enjoy their new home.
(at least we hope so, anyhow we think the green house is very nice)

We got an old window from someone at Blocket, cool!
So as soon as we got home from our trip to Torp we got started
and 5 hours later we were happy owners of a little, recycled greenhouse
Not bad at all, I must say.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

One may wonder...

One may wonder... we say we want a focus on Macedonia but we only write about Thassos...

But when reading Acts 16 you'll see how Paul is going to Macedonia and Neapolis, that is Kavala (right next to Thassos on the mainland).

It's Kenneth who got the calling for Macedonia many years ago now. Then he thought of the country north of Greece. But he ended up on Thassos and was told that this is part of the Biblical Macedonia. But we wouldn't mind to go more north aswell, but we start off here and then we'll see...

Monday, June 15, 2009

Swedish summer

I must say that I did enjoy the weather more in Greece. But it also has it's charm to sit inside with a nice cup of tea and hear the rain on the window and the wind in the trees.
And it was fun to come home and see that our sallad is up and the gooseberry grown bigger. I'm very happy for our gooseberry bush and can't wait for the day I can eat my first berry!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Tour of the island

Thassos is a wounderful, beautiful island! Lots of green and nice sites.
And what struck me is the peace that one feel on the island.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me

you can do nothing."

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Our first blogg!!

Now we've arrived to Thassos for a week of fellowship, sun, prayer, worship and good food. We pray that God will lead us as we're making contact with the people here.

Facts on Thassos

Thassos is the most northen island in Greece, in the province of Macedonia. It is a very green island with high hills that makes a beautiful scenery, and there is also some really nice beaches.
There is 16000 inhabitants on the island that count a circumference of 91km. Thassos town is Limenas but there is also several vilages on the island.
To get to the island you need to take the boat from Kavala or Keramoti to either Limenas or Skala Prinou. The seagull will make you company all the way hoping to get something :-)

The vision (english)

1996 Kenneth got the calling through a dream to go to Macedonia. At that time he didn't know that such country existed , more than mentioned in the Bible. But the same morning a Christian magazine, “Light for the peoples”, came with the mail and landed on the floor with an article about a missionary family in Macedonia facing up. The first that caught Kenneth's attention was a quote of Paule “Come and help us” Acts 16:9. Kenneth then felt he would have to wait for at least 10 years before fully stepping into the vision.

During the years he has prepared himself with bible school and work in different congregations to get experience. There has also been lots of trips to the area, among other in 2001 when he was working as a guide on Thassos. Until then he had thought that Macedonia only is the small country in former Yugoslavia. Now he found out that the area in northern Greece also is Macedonia.

During the time in Thassos Kenneth got to know some Christians, Dimitri and Gordon. Together they started to have services for tourists in a pavilion by the sea. These became popular and now they have a small congregation on the island where Dimitri is the pastor. This fellowship is the base for our mission in Macedonia.

On February 7, 2009 Lena became part of the vision as we got married. Lena has been in mission for some years with YWAM, youth with a mission, and love to do more missionary work. After a few visits to Thassos she got a feel for the people in the area. Kenneth think she's an important part of the puzzle and to see the vision come true.

Kenneth is a pioneer with many visions while Lena is of more calm and stable character. We complete each other well.

After one year of marriage we decided to make our way south. For two years we were having the privilige of staying on an island with a small english/greek speeking fellowship as a base for our mission. Our mission was simply to preach the gospel in the area. Our main focus has been on the youth. Now we are back in Sweden but the church on Thassos is still serving the Lord on Thassos. And we hope that we continuously will be able to bring in teams and do other outreaches in the area. And maybe in the future come back on a more long term base.

Visionen (svenska)

1996 fick Kenneth i en dröm Makedonien som en missionskallelse. Han visste då inte att landet existerade, mer än som omtalad i Bibeln. Men den morgonen trillade ett Ljus i Öster-tidning in genom brevinkastet och landade med baksidan upp, där var en artikel om en missionärsfamilj i Makedonien. Det första Kenneths ögon fastnade på var ett citat från Paulus ”Kom över och hjälp oss” apg 16:9. Kenneth upplevde då att han skulle få vänta över 10 år innan han skulle få kliva in i kallelsen på allvar.

Under tiden har han förberett sig med bibelskola och arbete i lite olika församlingar för att få erfarenhet. Det har också blivit många resor dit, bla 2001 då han fick arbete som reseledare på ön Thassos i norra Grekland. Det var tydligt hur Gud hade sin hand med i det. Kenneth trodde innan dess att Makedonien endast var det lilla land som tidigare ingått i fd Jugoslavien. Han upptäckte nu att området i norra Grekland också heter Makedonien. Under tiden i Thassos lärde Kenneth känna några kristna på ön, Dimitri och Gordon. Tillsammans började de anordna gudstjänster för turister i en paviljong vid havet. Dessa blev populära och nu är där en liten församling där Dimitri är pastor. Den församlingen är vår bas i vår Makedoniska mission.

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Den 7 feb 2009 blev Lena del i kallelsen då vi gifte oss. Lena har flera års erfarenhet från mission genom UMU, ungdom med uppgift, och vill gärna fortsätta med mission. Efter att ha vart med på ett par resor ner till Makedonien var det lätt att känna för människorna i området. För Kenneths del är hon givetvis en oerhört viktig pusselbit som fallit på plats för att klara uppdraget. Kenneth är visionären och pionjären medan Lena är den trygga, stabila typen. Vi kompletterar varandra bra.

Efter ett års äktenskap besämde vi oss för att flytta söderut. Under två år har vi haft förmånen att få bo på en ö med en liten engelsk/grekisk gemenskap som bas för arbetet. Vår mission har helt enkelt vart att predika evangelium i området. I huvudsak har vi arbetat med ungdomsarbete. Nu är vi tillbaka i Sverige men församlingen tjänar fortfarande Herren på Thassos. Och vi hoppas att vi även fortsättningsvis ska kunna ta med team ner och ha andra missionssatsningar i området. Och kanske en dag att vi åker tillbaka mer långsiktigt.

Thassos i sikte

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