The Blind will see...

Yesterday Matt and I found out some sad news about Matt's grandpa. He was just diagnosed with temporal arthritis & has lost his vision in 1 eye. He's on strong medication to prevent it from affecting the other eye. They will be doing a biopsy on Thursday. This all came on very fast. Within 2 days, his vision was gone in his one eye. Matt and I prayed last night that the Lord would heal him! I began to think of how often this prayer of "making the blind see" has been prayed. Jesus healed the blind. He has done it before, and He is able to do it again! I have faith that our Lord will heal Matt's grandpa so he may see his new miraculous great-grandson or great-granddaughter. We talked to his grandpa last night. He was in good spirits, he mentioned to us about his desire to be able to see our baby. I was brought to tears thinking about how badly I also want this! Matt's grandpa is a man of few words, but he made it known to us how much he appreciated our prayers. Again, the Lord is calling us to a time of prayer. Physically we can do nothing from here, so we will pray. We trust, and know from experience that the Lord has no bounds. He heals, He restores, and I pray that He gets ALL of the glory!

Psalm 146:8
8 ...the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.

Last night and into this morning as I lay in bed, I began to think of physical blindness and Spiritual blindness. There are some verses in 2 Corinthians that came to mind.. 4:4 "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." This kept repeating in my head over and over. Unbelievers are blinded. They cannot see the light! Then I read the whole passage.. where at the end, i realized what I have heard time and time again... the way God reveals the light is they see the light in us. Matthew 5:14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden."

I re-read these verses over and over... 2 Corinthians 1-6

"Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

Matt and I really want the Lord's light to shine through us. That is our prayer! We also, want God to heal those who are spiritually blind, through His Holy Spirit.

So today, i will pray, and I am asking for you to pray also.. for Matt's grandpa first. For the physical healing of his sight. That his sight will be restored, and that he in fact will be able to see his great-grandchild! Second, for the spiritual healing of those whom we are here for. The unbelievers who are blind to the gospel. May their eyes truly be opened to the truth, and may they see the Lord's light shining in and through us.

Thank you again for all of your love and support! I can't tell you enough how much your words have encouraged our hearts, and helped us to keep going. Knowing we have your support and love makes things so much easier for us. May God bless you for your faithfulness!

Praying for the blind to see,
Love always,
Jess

pray...

In the past few months there have been few days where i have felt like I had enough energy to get through the day. I have had to learn a lesson though as I have mainly been able to just rest, and on occasion get out for a few hours. As I have been resting, gaining strength, and asking God what He would have me do while I am here, I have been reminded of the first time we came to Sweden. I was very ill, and couldn't do very much for the first week I was here. Matt was out meeting people, doing things, experiencing Sweden, and I was at home, alone feeling sad, discouraged and lonely. Although the situation, and circumstances have changed since then, I have felt similarities in the ways I feel now, to the ways I felt then. I realized today, and in the past few days, that perhaps God is trying to remind me of what I learned when we first arrived. Even though I may not be able to be doing things physically here, like leading Bible studies, coaching figure skating, or meeting with friends. I have an enormous job at hand while I am at home, alone. I have the responsibility and priviledge of praying for Matt, praying for the hearts of the people he comes in contact with. I am his cheerleader when he is on the ice, and off. When I watch Matt play hockey, I am constantly finding myself praying for him. Praying for safety for him, thanking God for Matt's health, thanking God for Sweden... and I realized that when I am at home.. i am a cheerleader here also. God gently reminded me of these verses...

Ephesians 6:18-19And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

Matthew 7:7-8Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Romans 8:26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.


I know Matt is praying that doors will be opened for him, I am praying for this also, but what i didn't really come to understand was the importance of my role, of your role, of all of our roles in this time. When we can't physically be used, when I can't physically help Matt, we have this amazing, and enormous task of praying, interceding and asking God for doors to be opened. We are called to pray in the Spirit, to ask God to move through His Spirit, to ask God to give Matt the words to speak, through His Spirit. Right now, Matt is physically doing the Lord's work, and as I wait for God to restore my strength... i will pray without ceasing. (1 Thes. 5:17)

Thank you so much for how you have been praying for us. Thank you for your faithfulness. I want God to move in mighty ways here. Matt and I are willing to be used, in whatever way. I hope that soon, i will physically be able to be used.. until then... here i am, praying.

We love you all so much. Thank you for your comments, love and support. Matt has a hockey game tonight, and I am excited it is at home so i can go! We miss you and love you all.

Specific prayer requests:

• For our little baby who is growing lots!
• Matt, as he is having his first Bible study with a guy who he has never had one with before.
• Matt's health. That he can remain healthy for the rest of the season.
• The people who help us to be here, that God may bless them richly.
• For opportunities to share. Doors to be opened, hearts to be opened.. and that the Spirit will help us "fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel"

God bless,
Jess

Encouraged...

Tonight Matt and I were visited by a man whom we had never met before, but who knew about us through one of the churches here. He told us that he had been praying in his car one day and asked God what he should pray for, and he felt like he should come and pray with us. He came with one of our good friends. He started by telling us that he had a word for us, he read the following verses:

Proverbs 3:5-8

" Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones."

They are such familiar words and verses.. one we have all heard before. However, this time it pierced me heart. I have felt a little overwhelmed with being sick, and not being able to do that much. I have been worried about the future with our baby, with where we will go and what we will do. These words came as such a comfort to me. I was so touched by these words tonight. I haven't been trusting God with everything. I have been scared about the health of our baby, as I am sure every mom is. I realized again, as God keeps reminding me.. that I need to "trust" Him with everything! I know He will take care of us, I know He will show us where we should be and what we should do this summer, and into the fall. I need to acknowledge that I don't have all of the answers, my wisdom is nothing. God has the answers and I need to turn to Him in these times.

I also felt so amazed at this man's obedience. He said he felt like God wanted him to pray for us, so he was obedient and shared this word with us. His obedience blessed me in awesome ways. I can't thank God enough for speaking to me through him. Please pray for Matt and I. Pray that we can rely on God, and trust Him enough to know that " he will make our paths straight." It is hard to not worry about the future, and to not be concerned about the present. Please pray that we can focus on our time here, and make the most out of it. That God will use us in whatever capacity He chooses, and that we can both be healthy through it.

Thank you all so much for all of your comments. Matt and I are blessed by them. We miss you all, and thank you for your prayers and love. Matt had a game last week, where he played better than I have ever seen him. I am not just saying this. He really looks amazing on the ice. When i watch him, I am almost brought to tears. He is using this amazing gift that God gave him, in such an awesome way. God is so good to present this opportunity to us. We feel so blessed! He got three goals in the last game. They were all beautiful. He really takes advantage of the larger ice. He has another home game tomorrow. I love being able to watch him play.

I will try to write and let you know how the game went. We miss you all so much. Thank you again for your prayers!

Love,
Jess and Matt

Update from Matt

Hello everyone.

Jess has been telling me that its my turn to update our blog so i will do my best...
Things have been so great so far this time around. As you all know Jess and I are going to be parents soon. Today we went to the doctor and got a ultrasound and we got to see the baby move around, it was so amazing and made it more real for me to see the miracle. Jess has been so great, I'm so lucky to have her in my life and I know she will be a great mom. She has her good days and her bad days but we are still able to do what we need to on a daily bases. If it wasn't for Jess no one would know whats going on here in Sweden she is so great at keeping everyone up to date here.

I just want to say thank you to everyone who is supporting us to be here. We can feel your prayers please don't stop. God is so great. He is opening so many doors for us to walk though. I have been meeting with one of my teammates for the last two years here, we have been doing Bible studies on a weekly bases and it's amazing to see God work in his life and to see him grow in the Lord. His name is Matias he is 19 years old so please pray for him. I have been praying that God would open more doors for me, I've found when you pray that prayer watch out because that's whats He does. I have been getting really close to another guy on my team and I asked him if he would be interested in starting a bible study like i have been doing with Matias and he said he would love to. We will start at the end of this week. God answers prayers! Please pray for him. I really feel the Holy Spirit working on him, his name is Alex and hes 22 years old.

God has been showing me so much since we got here in Sweden. There are a couple of verses that keep ringing in my head and I would like to share them with everyone because they speak to all of us who believe.

In Romans 10:8-15
8But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." 12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

God has been showing me that He will work though us, we just have to be willing to be used. God does all the work. He opens the doors and the hearts of the people we just have to be the planters. God's light will shine though us.

Matthew 5:14-16:14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

I just want to say thank you all for all your support and prayers. Thanks for reading our blog and being with us during our Swedish adventure. Jess and I love you all so much please keep praying for us, please pray that we can be bold and speak truth into the lives of the people we meet here.

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy- to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore. (Jude 1:24)

~Matt

A little under the weather...

The past few days have been really hard on me. I am not feeling the best. I wish i could feel better. I am now 15 weeks, and wishing that i wasn't so woozy. It has been hard to sleep also. Not so much fun! So please pray for me, that God will give me peace and rest.

Matt has had two away games this week. The first game was against the second place team in their division. They won 5-2 and Matt had 2 goals. It is so nice to see him enjoying himself and having fun. He had another game tonight, but they lost 2-1. Their team is now in 2nd place. I feel like he is just really in a good place. He feels good, looks great on the ice, and he is just totally motivated to start more Bible Studies with more guys. It is so great to see. I am glad one of us has energy to do things haha.

He promised me he would write so i will make him do that soon, but I know for him it is hard for him to talk about himself when it comes to hockey.. so i can say it cuz i am so proud of him! He is doing amazing. Right now he is 3rd for points on his teams and trails the other guys by many games. He said that some people were asking for the website to see his stats and stuff so here it is:
http://www2.idrottonline.se/templates/Page.aspx?id=389620

Good luck reading it haha. It is all in Swedish, but you can see his points easily! He has another away game on Wednesday, and then i hope a few home ones!!!!! It would be nice to go watch him, as I have only seen 2 games since i have been here.

We have another Dr's appointment on Tuesday where we can hopefully hear the baby's heart beat! We are really excited. God has just blessed us beyond words. When I am sick.. i just try to remember how blessed we are, and how i prayed so hard for this baby. So I will thank God for the sickness.. because it is all for the greatest gift ever!

We miss you all, we really do. Please continue to keep us, the team, and the church here in your prayers. Hopefully you will hear from matty next! Fingers crossed.

So much love,
Jess

Christmas Time Review...

First of all, thank you to all of you for your comments about our amazing news! We are both really excited, and this Christmas felt so different for us in a lot of ways, but knowing we have a miracle comming made it so much fun! I realized I never wrote about our Christmas or how blessed the day was for us. In Sweden, they celebrate Christmas on the 24th. We were so blessed on that day. Some of our good friends invited us to their house where we ate amazing Swedish food, ( Debbie I thought of you a lot that day) we played games, we laughed, sang Christmas songs, read about the arrival of Christ to this earth, and I was just in this blissful state the whole day. When we decided to come to Sweden over the holidays, I was a little hesitant... I knew we would miss our families... that it would be hard to be away, experiencing a new kind of Christmas tradtition. However, i really can't express how the day felt to me. I did miss our families, I thought about them alot during the day, but God just placed peace in both mine and Matt's hearts. I had so many moments where I could just feel the Spirits presence. It was a day where three families who have their own traditions came together to celebrate. It was an awesome day. I was blessed by our friends' kindness. I can't say enough about the people here in Sweden. Everyday we are blessed by them. If you have looked at the pictures of our house.. then you can see all the work they did to make a place for us to call home. They have gone above and beyond to help us, and there isn't a day that goes by that we don't thank God for them!!!! Thank you to all of you!

This last week my parents were here! It was amazing! Just having them here was enough for me. We could have just stayed at home and ate bread and cheese all day and i would have been satisfied. It was extra special because 35 years ago almost exactly my parents had been in Sweden travelling around with my dad's hockey team. They spent their first Christmas together in Sweden, and they have really special memories of this place. It was really awesome to have them here! It was a bit of a harder trip for my dad, as the first night he hurt himself. It was really icy outside and he fell really hard, and hurt his hip. This slowed him down while he was here, as he wanted to go out and practice with Matt and his team. I was really sad for him that he was hurt.. but Matt and I both felt like our time with my mom and dad was such a blessed time. We had a lot of time to rest, and relax together, to play games, and just really enjoy each other. We spent new years eve at our friends house and had such an awesome time.. it was such so much fun. We ate well, talked and laughed for hours, and then were able to watch an amazing firework show but on in our friends backyard. It was just so much fun!!! We did so much more with our parents while they were here, boat trips, many meals with friends, shopping, playing games, and just like I said.. enjoying each others company. We miss them already.. and they haven't even been gone one day!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers, please keep them comming! We are planning to start studying our Swedish this week, we also have some paper work for our Visas back home that we have to start... many many things to start this week. We miss you all so much and love you all! Thanks so much for reading and commenting on our blog. It means a lot to both matt and me. I will keep you posted on hockey things also. Matt has his first game back this week. He is excited to get back at it.

So much love and hoping you all had a great holiday season!

Jess and Matt

Miracles....

I have never really let anyone know of my deep desires and prayers. I have spent hours upon hours crying out to God asking Him to help me to be ok with things in my life that i can not control. One of those things for me, is having children. Matt and I have been told in the past about the obstacles we would have to go through in order to have a child. When Matt had cancer, he was told that there would be a large chance that he wouldn't be able to have kids. We were both thinking that maybe we would have to go through a long process of trying to concieve. However.. God has worked an amazing miracle.. and today i can say that God is so faithful in answering prayer.. and Matt and I are three months pregnant. I am crying as I write this because even writing it.. it doesn't seem real! I can't stop praising God and thanking Him for this amazing miracle that is being "knit together" as we speak. I feel so in awe of His amazing hand in our lives. He really does know my deepest desire!

I found out that I was pregnant while I was at home with my family watching my sister's children. My brother in law was in the hospital and was very ill. I thought that I was feeling tired from watching the kids, and an emotional week prior.. sending Matt off to Sweden alone. I had this feeling that maybe i should take a test to see if I was pregnant, but I really didn't think anything of it. When i took the test... while i was waiting that dreadful few minutes.. I prayed so hard for God to answer my prayers. I also prayed that if it wasnt' positive that He would help me to cope with the news. When i went back to read the test.. I was sure it said that i wasn't pregnant. I cried. I began to pray that God would give me strength and then I shook it off.. and decided i wouldn't mope around but would continue on with my day. About an hour later.. i started to think about the test.. and what it read. After thinking about it.. i realized i had read the test wrong!! I took 3 more tests simply to confirm, that I was in fact pregnant!

It was kind of a crazy time for me. I was leaving for Sweden in one week, and I was without my husband, and i had no idea what I should do. God really went ahead of me and worked it all out. I was able to get an ultrasound and find out that i was 8 weeks, and everything looked good! I decided to wait to tell Matt until I got to Sweden. I had this amazing plan about how I would tell him! I had it all worked out, however when i got here.. and after I saw him, things didn't go according to plan.... Once we arrived at home, I was overwhelmed with emotions from seeing our new house, and feeling so blessed. The first minute that matt and I were alone.. I just blurted out ... " I am pregnant". Not so romantic! haha He turned white right away and didn't know what to say.

Since then, we have laughed, cried, and been so excited about what is to come. It is such a scary, emotional, blessed thing!! We both feel that God performed a miracle, and we are so excited about what is to come. I feel like God's timing was perfect. We have an amazing house, that i feel totally comfortable in, we have awesome friends surrounding us, and we are doing the Lord's work. God is good! Today we went to the midwife we will be seeing here, and she told us how much of a miracle it is that Matt and I are pregnant... knowing Matt's history. I feel like God wants to use our baby already for His glory. I want Him to have ALL of the glory. He performed such an amazing work in our life, and we are forever grateful to Him.

Matt and I feel so happy, grateful, safe, and blessed. Please pray for us during this time, and pray for our little baby. Someone very special to me, wrote me an e-mail and reminded me about Pslam 139. I have read it over and over again the past few weeks. I get stuck on verses 13-16

"13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be."

Amazing. God is knitting our baby together right now, and He already knows all about him/her. What an awesome comfort. We love you all so much, and we were so excited to be able to share this news with you! Please pray for us during this time. Pray that God will grow us into the kind of parents He wants us to be. Pray that our baby is safe, and for God's hand in our lives. Pray for opportunities to share, and pray that God indeed gets all the glory, honor and praise.

So much love!!!!!!

Jess, Matt, and our little miracle!

Our Swedish home...

Hello Friends and Family!!!! Here is a short video of our home. We love it so much and feel so blessed to be able to stay here. It is such an amazing blessing and we can't stop thanking God for it! There aren't any photos of our bedroom.. as it is not in the best shape, but i will take some and post them soon. Thank you for all of your prayers. We miss you all.. and love you all. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Luke 2:13-14

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Swedish Pancakes....

Hello there friends and family!

What an amazing time of year! Lights twinkling, the buzzing busy people, the smell of a new swedish Christmas tree! I love it. I have to admit I was a bit nervous to be away at Christmas time. I wondered if it would feel the same, if I would feel at home, and comfortable. Although i do miss our family and friends... i have to say that God has already made this Christmas so special for Matt and I. We have a lot of first this holiday season. Last week we got our first Christmas tree. It is small, and not so pretty looking, but Matt has been SOO excited about it since we got it. We had the option to get a Danish tree.. which i have to admit was beautiful and full and the man told us that the needles wouldn't shed. It would have been nice to get that one, however Matt insisted we get the "Swedish" tree, as we are in SWeden! It is perfect! I love it. In Sweden then don't put up their tress until right before Christmas. So we are going to decorate it and put it up tomorrow. I will post some pictures of our house and of our trees hopefully tomorrow.

Last night we had an amazing time, as we went to a Christmas market/fair called "Liseberg."It was amazing. Full of lights, games, Christmas smells, and it truly made me feel like it was Christmas time. There was even an outdoor skating show where the Swedish national champion skated. It was so much fun. We were so blessed to get to go with our good friends Peter and Louice and Lucas their little boy. He had the most fun playing games, and riding some rides. I had this strange moment when we were walking through the park.. i just had this realization that we were in Sweden.. and it is Christmas time.. and how cool that is. It is amazing. God is sooooo good, and I can't stop praising Him for His amazing hand in our life.

Tonight I made Swedish pancakes tonight for the first time ever. I was so nervous.. but it was so fun and they were DELICIOUS!!!!! It felt so great to make them! We have such an amazing home to spend our christimas in, and we really do have amazing friends who are like family to us. I feel blessed beyond words. Lets not forget the reason for the season. Jesus came to this earth to seek and to save. What an awesome time to remember when he arrived. We love you all. Matt promised me he would write.. so we will see if he finds time. His hockey is going really well, they are on a break now, but still have practice. He is third for points on his team and has only played 9 games. I am so proud of him for working so hard. It is awesome to see.

Love you all and miss you all.. here are some pics from the fair..

Hello to our faithful readers!!!!

I was thinking today that I didn't really have much to write about, but I know it has been awhile since i last wrote.. so i will try. Things have been great here.. i love our house, i love our friends and God is really just so good! The past few days Matt and I have not been feeling the best. Matt came down with a cold and i have been trying to get used to the time. It has been pretty crazy, but it also has been nice to just get to spend time with my husband. The past few years have been such a crazy rollar-coaster of a ride for us, and the past few days I have just been able to be thankful for togetherness with my husband. It is just a blessing, even if we both do feel gross and sick ;)

Matt has had a game since i last wrote. He played very well and had a great time. He told me he missed a penalty shot, and he was so mad he made up for it with 2 goals and one assist. Their team won 4-0. Today he has a home game, and I am hoping i feel well enough to go. I love watching him play and i get so sad when I can't go. This last week there was a newspaper article written about Matt. From what we were told, it was an awesome story about Matt's journey with cancer, his history with hockey, and his reason for being here.. to tell people about God. What an awesome platform to have. I pray that everyone who reads the article will be blessed by our God's grace and provision.

Please pray for us this week, as we will be getting a better idea of what we will be doing this term in Sweden. We just simply want to be used, in whatever way we can be. Thank you for your support, love and prayers. I will be updating again soon after Matt's game tonight. Perhaps tomorrow, or tuesday. We miss you all and love you. Thanks so much for your comments also, Matt and I are truly blessed by them.

Blessings,
Jess and Matt

Finally here...

What an amazing feeling to finally be here with Matt and feel totally at peace! I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it was to walk into our new house and see all that our friends had done for us. I was brought to tears as soon as I walked in the door. The house is filled with love and has an amazing feeling in it. Everything is more than I could have ever imagined. I just kept hearing the verse in Ephesians 3:20,21

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen"

He really has exceeded any expectations that I had. Matt and I both feel humbled by this whole experience. Our friends worked day and night to make a place for us where we could feel at home. It is amazing. I wake up praising God, and thanking Him countless times for the friends we have here, for the home we have here, and for the ministry He has provided for us here. We are truly blessed! As soon as i get over the jetleg i promise to post some pictures. The only times i seem to be fully awake right now are when the sun is down, and the pictures wouldn't do our house justice.

Since I have been here.. Matt has played one game. It was so awesome to get to go watch him, and i know i am a proud wife.. but I truly have never seen him play this well in all of my time watching him. He is playing with such passion, control, and confidence. His last game he had 3 assists. He is playing with one of his best friends on the team, Mattias. Mattias and Matt have developed such a special bond. They began to have discipleship times together last year, and they will continue this year also. I would love to go into more detail about Matt's ministry opportunities, but i feel like it would be best if he got to share it. I will force him to sit down and write haha.

The team they played on Friday tapes some of their games, and posts the goals and important plays on youtube. Matt is number 10 and his friend Mattias is number 16 on the red team. This way you can see what I see when I watch him play here.

Thank you so much for your love, support and prayers. We really cherish them. We are so lucky to have so many people who pray for us and support us in this amazing adventure God has provided. We miss you and love you all.

Jess and Matt

Answer to prayer...

Well, we finally have some plans in place. (By the way... I wish i was better at writing on here. I have more time when i am in Sweden. ) So, right now i am in Canada, and Matt will be joining me next week. We will be here for a few days and then back to Colorado. Our plan right now is to leave by the 17th. The hockey team has been waiting for matt, so we are trying to get there as soon as possible. Also, my visa has come in for Sweden!!! Such an answer to prayer. God is working things out in His timing.

This week has been hard for me.. being home and remembering that I will be gone for Christmas, but i feel as though the timing for us to be in Sweden is what God wants of us. We have amazing friends in Sweden who are like family and I feel so blessed to have them there waiting for us to arrive. I know they will take good care of us over Christmas.

Please pray for us as we prepare for our trip. We still have many things to do, we have lots to remember, and we have very little time to do this all. God has truly blessed us this summer, and we feel more than excited for what He has ahead. We want Him to move in mighty ways and we want more than anything to portray the love that He has for us ... to others.

Thank you to all of you who still read our blogs. I promise to be better. I will start this week.... and it will onlt get better from here.

SO MUCH LOVE from us!

Jess and Matt

Prayer for Sweden... Visas... and so much more!

hello to our friends and family and blog followers,

This summer has turned out to be quite the experience for Matt and I. We were apart for most of the summer. Matt was in Colorado, and I was in Canada with my family. We thought it would only be for one month. One month turned into two, and two turned into three. We were apart from April to August. I was so upset at first about the length of time that we would be apart, but God really had this amazing plan. I had the best summer with my family. It was such a blessing to be able to be here. I know how hard it will be to be away from my family for a long period of time this year, so this was such a blessing to me. Matt also had a lot of work at home which is another huge blessing. Praise God for His provision!

Now, we are awaiting our visas for Sweden. The plan now is to get a work visa for a year so we can be in Sweden from October until April or May. I have been waiting to finalize things but i am praying that this week it will all be finalized and we will be ready to book our ticket to SWeden. Please pray for us as these next steps fall into place. While we are in Sweden we are planning to apply for Matt's perminant residency in Canada. We are hoping by the time we get back from Sweden that all the paper work will be done and he will have it. God has also provided in amazing ways sending us an angel to help us through this time.

I feel like through this summer i have been filled with so much doubt and uncertainty.. the other day as i was walking along a back road in Saskatchewan I was overwhelmed with an urge to pray aloud. As i was walking along this dirt road that never seemed to end.. i realized that God was trying to speak to me in this time. This dirt road was like the road that Matt and I are on. We both know there is an end to it, but we get tired and hot, and feel like it is the same dirt road we have been on a million times. AS i continued to walk, i cried out loud to God to show me what it was He wanted for our lives... As I stopped and looked out into a feild filled with crops.. as far as the eye could see.. i was brought back to the verse in Matthew 9:37

"Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few."

The harvest in Sweden is plentiful.. and He has called us to be His workers. Matt and I are so excited for this next term in Sweden. It is longer so we will have more opportunity to get our roots in. Please pray for us as we begin the process to get going. We trust that His plan is for us to be there. All he asked of us to do is GO.. .and that is what we are hoping to do.

Thank you for all of your prayers for us this summer. I will be updated this process as we find out new information.

lots of love,

Jess and Matt

Back to reality...

So, Matt and I are back in the U.S.A. It has been a bit hard getting used to the time change for us. It feels a little strange to be back. It is so great to see family and our dog Ricky, but I miss our friends in Sweden, the food, the sea, and so much more. I am excited to start working so we can get back there as soon as possible.

Tomorrow is Matt's birthday! I am trying to plan something special for him. I really want him to know how important and loved he is. I will let you know what we end up doing> He doesn't like his birthday very much, but I will try to change that for him.

It is hard to not get stressed about the next step in our life. So many decisions and unknowns.. but I am really feeling God's hand in all of it. He is calming my heart and helping me know He is in control. Please continue to pray for us in this time in our lives. It is exciting, scary, crazy and so much more.

I am really excited for this weekend. One of my best friends from High school is comming to Colorado to visit. I can't wait to see her and to catch up. We havn't seen each other since our wedding.

I MISS SWEDEN SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!

Lots of Love,
Jess

Hejdå Sverige!

SO MUCH SADNESS!!!!! Today was a very hard day! We had to say a lot of goodbyes. . . well more like a lot of "see you laters". No matter what it was.. it was so hard to know that tomorrow we wont be here. It is hard to know that we wont walk by the sea, or see our dear friends whenever we would like to. It is so hard to say goodbye even if it is just for a few months. It feels good however that my heart is here. It feels good to know that I am feeling more and more like Sweden is home. Honestly.. the people are what make it home for us here. we are so blessed. I know I say it alot but we have made some amazing friends here. We have felt so loved, accepted and taken care of. I will be forever thankful!

I just want to say thank you... to our friends here. You have made our time the best! We have really loved getting to know you all and we can't wait for the next time! Please pray for us! We will miss you, we love you all!!!! To our Swedish family.... words cannot express the way I feel... you have given us more than we could have ever imagined.. you have made Sweden home for us! Matt and I really feel like you are family! We will miss you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now i am bawling... so i had better wrap this all up. Please pray for our flight, for the border, for our visas... and just that God will keep our hearts calm. I am brought back to Jeremiah 29:11.... " For I know the plans I have for you, declares the lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." God is in control.... and His plans are much better than ours.

I love you all... thank you for all of your prayers! You are the best!!!

Good-bye Sweden... i will miss you! Until next time .....Hejdå

I don't want to leave....

It is really hard to write lately. I feel like all i have to say is that i will miss it so much here, and that i am not too excited to leave. The past week has been so much fun, helping our friends renovate their living room, going to birthday parties, hanging out with our friends... and it just feels like the time has come so fast. We have four days left here. FOUR!!! I can't believe that the time has almost come to get back on a plane and go back home. It is so hard! It is hard because we love the people who we have come to know here. It is hard because we feel like this is where we belong, and on top of it all the weather has been amazing for the past 4 days!!! I have loved walking around and just taking everything in. The sound of the water, the cute white houses, everything that I will miss so dearly when we are gone. I can't beleive how amazing it is that I get to wake up each day, look out the window and see the sea! It is such an amazing blessing!!!

Last time I wrote I told you that Matt was going to be speaking in church.. that was last Sunday. It was awesome! God really used him... even though i have heard Matt's story a thousand times.. each time it feels like the first and I am overwhelmed with how far God has taken my miracle husband. I am so proud of how far he has come.

The next few days will be busy ones. We will be saying our goodbyes, packing, cleaning, and getting things organised to leave. I am so nervous to leave. I am feeling like this next chapter of our life is so uncertain. I feel the need to control and want to see how it all turns out.. but this week God brought me to a verse that has been in my thoughts constantly....

2 Corinthians 5:7 ~" For we live by faith, not by sight."


I am really trying to trust God with our life. I know He is in control, and I am trying to let His peace guard my heart and mind.... but it is a daily battle for me.

I don't know if I will write again before we leave. I will try, but i feel like when i write i get really sad and it gets hard to have my feelings come out. maybe i will try to make matt write. haha. We will miss Sweden.. our amazing adventure.. and we are praying for God to bring us back here to this awesome place... this blessed place... this place that we are starting to call home.

We love you all!!!

It is amazing to me how it can be SO sunny and beautiful one day and a blizzard the next! I had the most amazing day on Wednesday... the sun was shining and i took a long walk outside and took pictures of almost everything in sight. I realized as I was walking... that i don't take enough time in my day to simply thank God for all He has created. He is simply amazing! Walking has always been a way of slowing down my thoughts. It was such a beautiful day!!! The next day, Thursday... we woke up to a completely different kind of day..... it was snowing like crazy, windy and cold. I also realized that those are not my favorite days... by far haha.

Now with only two weeks left, I am really feeling the reality that is quicky comming. We will be leaving. It has been so amazing to hear everyone ask us to come back. It feels amazing to feel like they support what God has brought us here to do. Matt and I have been talking alot about the next step ... we know that if we were to come back (which is a good possibility) that we would want to stay for a longer term. We have found that in 3 months... it is hard to get things started. If we had more time, we both feel like God could open some amazing doors. AS much as I would love to start thinking about next year... i am stuck thinking about the next month. As of April 16th, my American Visa runs out. Matt and I are planning on heading to Canada so we both can work. Matt has to aquire a visa from the border and have a bunch of paper work filled out. We wont find out until we are at the border if Matt can in fact work in Canada. It is so easy to feel anxious about it all.. to feel uneasy about everything... But I know who is ultimately in control... and HE knows our hearts desires, and HE knows what is best for us. So i trust... or at least try to.

Please pray for our final two weeks. Matt speaks in church on Sunday, and although he acts like he has it all under control, and is calm... i know he is nervous for it. He is showing a video that the news did on him about how he had cancer, survived and his journey back to hockey. OUr very special friends helped Matt translate the text to Swedish. THANKS LINDA AND LOUICE!!!!! I sometimes get lost in thinking about how amazing Matt's story is. God took Matt on the most incredible journey.. through hardships, fears, tragedy, sickness.. and so much more. But then I look at him now... playing hockey.. living a dream... and am overwhelmed at God's amazing faithfulness and love. Matt gets to play hockey, and serve our God... and that is the most amazing thing!!!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers. Please pray for Matt for this SUnday, for Matt's visa and for our trip home. I get so nervous about getting sick ....

Lots of love and blessings,
Jess and Matt

Getting sad....

It feels so strange to have the days go by so fast. I feel like we were just unpacking and soon we will be packing to head home. Each day it gets harder for me to accept that we will once again leave. I feel so weary of these times. Packing, unpacking, not knowing where we will be next. The hardest thing for me about leaving this time.. will be leaving our friends. I want you to understand how much God has blessed us when He blessed us with amazing friends. The past 3 nights we have spent our time at our friends Peter and Louice's house. It really feels so comfortable to spend time with them. Even now.. thinking about not being able to walk to their house whenever i want makes me want to burst into tears. She has become such an important part of my life. Her and Peter have been amazing friends to us and they are truly like family to us. Their son is turning two in 10 days and he has just brightened our life also. He loves Matt and loves to play hockey with him.



I feel so lost with the feelings I have. I don't understand why we have to come, and leave... i crave consistancy. I am a planner.. i like to know what i am doing it and for how long. God is truly showing me that His timing is the ONLY timing. I am really trying to accept how things are.. and I am trying to just be thankful for the time that we have had here.. but still i dread leaving. The next two weeks.. i am going to try to soak up my time here. Take lots of pictures, videos, and hang out with friends. Please pray for us as our time comes to an end. It is hard for Matt and I to leave. We really hope that God's plans are for us to come back again next year.



We will miss our friends so much!!!!! They are the best!!!! We owe them many meals!



Lots of Love,

Jess and Matt

Hej allihopa!!

Hello everyone!

Wow... i am stunned at how fast the time has gone by. Today we have exactly three weeks left here. It causes me to feel many different emotions. I feel so sad to leave again.. Sweden starts to feel like home for Matt and I. God has blessed us with amazing friends, who are life family to us. It feels so strange to have to say good-bye to them soon, and not know what God's timing will be for us to come back.

Matt and i both feel as if God wants us to come back for at least another term. We feel like He has more planned for us here and we want to be obedient to what He has called us to. I have to admit it is hard for me to not have something more stable and perminant.. like a home or a steady income.. but God is slowly teaching me that He is in control. He planned this all, and as long as I am yeilding to Him and my husband that things will work out for us.. just as He had planned.

Please continue to pray for us in our last weeks here. We really want God to move in mighty ways. He already has been.. Matt was able to share the gospel message with one of his good friends from hockey last week! Praise GOD! And Matt also talked with the guy he has been discipling about the importance of asking Christ to come into his life. Matt said that from his response.. he believes that his friend is a Christian! This is so encouraging to us! The best part for Matt is how is friend always calls him and asks him where he should read next. He has already gone through John, James and now first John. Matt said that he can see the Holy Spirit transforming his life through God's word.

Hebrews 4:12,13

"12For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

God is doing such amazing things, and we are so thankful to be able to be used in it all. In the next few weeks we have many things to do. We still will be attending swedish classes, Matt is still coaching, and i still have figurskating and volleyball. However, on Sunday the 15th, Matt will be speaking in Church.. giving his testimony and sharing about what God has done while we have been here. Please pray for him as he prepares for this. I am sure he is nervous.. even if he doesn't say it to me! haha.

Thank you so much for your prayers, support and love through our whole journey. Please pray for us as we head back. It is really hard to leave our friends.

Blessings,
Jess and Matt

Prayer...

My heart truly aches in this moment. Today we found out that someone that we had been getting to know, a girl who is my age, lost her baby girl. She already has a little boy, and was 5 weeks away from her due date. She went into labor yesterday. The delivery was said to have been fine, but then there were some complications. She passed away in Jesus' arms this afternoon. My heart aches for my friend.. for someone I was comming to know. What an incredible loss for her. Please pray for her. Please pray for her family! Today when i was praying I asked God why things like this happen.. why it had to happen to her.. He brought me back to a verse He has been taking me to the past few weeks...

Ephesians 1:11

"11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will"

God knew that this would happen.. He knew He would save this little girl from all the sin of the world and take her right away back into His mighty, holy, and protecting arms. She is with Him now. It is so hard to process it for all who are left here. Her mom, her dad, her big brother... I know that there are no words that i can say.. but we can pray and trust that "HE WILL WORK EVERYTHING OUT IN CONFORMITY WITH THE PURPOSE OF HIS WILL".

~Jess