Bitter sweet....

Hello again friends and family. I am sorry it has been awhile since I last wrote. Things have been pretty busy around here. Thank you so much for all of your thoughts and prayers. God has been faithful in calming our hearts and helping us to refocus and see the big picture. Yesterday I had the opportunity to go with the girls volleyball team and help coach them at a volleyball tournament. It was awesome! They ended up winning the whole tournament, and played amazing! This win meant that next year they could move up to division 2. It would be so awesome because if we were to come back next year, i would be able to actually play. Right after the volleyball tournament we drove to the hockey game. I ended up being really sick and had to spend the first period in the car, sleeping. I missed a penalty shot that matt made.. and scored on.. and i was pretty bummed. I ended up going in for the second and third period. It was really hard to be there, but I am so glad I was. The guys ended up winning 8-4 over the division 2 team they played against. They weren't expecting to win so it was awesome that they won! I was sick all night and into this morning. I am feeling a bit better now. Just achey and sore... but God is so good. I just feel like He is being so faithful in supplying our needs. Matt played awesome last night and got 2 goals and 2 assists.

We had a meeting with the a group of church members last Thursday, but we didn't actually end up talking about us comming back next year. They mostly were looking for us to tell them about our time here. We have both come to realize through things people have been saying to us, that the church and the hockey team have a big part in deciding if we come back next year, but ultimately it is our decision whether we will come back or not. Through some people we have heard that they would like for us to come back. Which is really encouraging. Matt and I really want to make sure that this decision is made with a lot of prayer and thought. We both feel as if we need to go back home first, and take some time to make sure that what we are doing is what God wants for us. It would be really hard to say no to comming back after experiencing what we have here. We have made amazing friends, had amazing opportunities to grow relationships with younger kids, and we have just felt like God has been blessing us in amazing ways. We spent this weekend with some friends eating, playing games and having fika. It was awesome!! I realize how important friendships are!

Tomorrow is a busy day with Swedish class, then volleyball and Matt is going to be sharing at a boys youth night. I am really excited for this. The guys here look up to Matt so much! I am praying that God will prepare the boys hearts and that they will be receptive to what God has to say through Matt. Matt is also really looking forward to this time. Today Matt spent most of the day helping out with the school and their hockey tournament. He is being so great and really has been open to helping out in whatever way he can. Wednesday he has another game away, against their rival team... the STINGERS!!!!! It will be a hard game.

Thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers. This week has been a great week. We both have had time to just be by ourselves and focus on our time with God. Our "white space" .. yes pastor monty I am listening to your sermons online. Keep praying that God will continue to open up doors for us to share. I can't express to you how much i love this place. It is beautiful, the people are amazing and I am in love with the food! haha. Matt and I have really been able to grow and learn a ton here! Thank you to everyone who helped in getting us here. You will never know how much it means to us!!!

Once again, we love your comments and love to hear from you all! We love and miss everyone. God is good!

Love you all!

Jess and Matt