I guess I have always been something of a ‘home bird’ and have never felt the call or the pull to the mission field. However, as a child I loved reading books and hearing or watching the stories of Gladys Aylward, ‘The Inn of the Sixth Happiness’ serving God against all odds in China; and Dudley (?) Gardener ‘The Angel with the Bushy Beard’ a Salvation Army Officer ministering in India, and I day dreamed, maybe one day I will do something similar. I have always known my purpose in life is to serve God through the ranks of The Salvation Army as an Officer and in twenty seven years I have been very happy working through my calling in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. However, in some ways these last three years, since being married to Sven, I have been taken me out of my comfort zone, had my eyes opened, my horizons broadened and like in the prayer of Jabez, have found my territory increased as Sven has now taken me into Eastern Europe on numerous occasions.
For those of you who follow Sven’s blog or our antics on Facebook you will know that it is not that long since we returned from our ‘Mission to Latvia 2011’ trip with twelve others in our team.
The amazing smile and tight, tight hug of greeting from Azan, the female Officer as she responded to me knocking on her home door at 12.30am on Monday morning. The message of our coming for some reason had not reached her and her husband but she made me feel as if there was no-one in the world she would rather have seen. I’m sure that’s not true but she certainly appeared absolutely delighted to see me and Sven asking for help to get into our booked accommodation.
Next came the children. The little boy who now takes a running jump into my arms every time he sees me. His older sister who has taken a shining to Sven and cried as we were saying our goodbye’s last night, stating: ‘Please don’t go … please stay with us forever’.
Monday evening we organized an impromptu Shashlik Party (marinated pork on skewers, Russian style) for the children of Sakarni with the help and support of both the Officers and the Cadets. They invited us to have it in their new building that we had not yet seen. It was hard not to be deeply moved when we sensed something of the delight and pride the Officers had in this ‘new safe place’ for ‘their’ children. A property that is nothing short of a miracle, a very real answer to prayer. In this building, the best in the village, we found a large veranda, big enough for us all to eat under on a wet, cold and what could have been miserable night. Three shower rooms, a fitted kitchen, a worship / activity room, a computer room(with computers donated from some of our previous visits) a lounge / games area, rooms for storage and a second veranda at the back leading on to spare land that will in time be made into a suitable, safe area for the children to play football etc. Many people have and continue to make lighter work in the development of this property, including the children playing their part in helping to prepare the ground for the flooring. It’s theirs and they love it! We were very well blessed to discover that on such a fowl night every child in the village turned up to see us and to share in our celebrations. We were very well blessed to hear them pray again before we ate together. To be made aware that in their praying they asked God that next time we visit them Sven will not need his wheel-chair, some prayer (!), but we thank God for this expression of love towards us and something of their understanding and faith in our Healing Christ. We chatted together, with the help of the Officers and the Cadets translating for us. We laughed together … played together … shared stories of happy memories from our previous visits and as always we came away the richer.
Glad Ljungholm
2 comments:
great reading, keep it coming tell more fantastic
You guys are amazing. I am so grateful to have you for friends. I love you and miss you both. I hope and pray that you are able to find your niche in Liverpool, a city of many needs.
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