The job of a Salvation Army officer is best described as a lifestyle. (Sweden)

Dagen Newspaper
By Birgitta Waern

December 30, 2014
Translation; Sven Ljungholm

Gratitude is a word that Fanny Ljungholm often returns to. On the year’s penultimate day she celebrates her 30th birthday.

TODAY NEWSPAPER
FAMILY

We determined that eight o'clock on a Friday morning was the time for the interview. For Fanny Ljungholm it's almost mid-day

- With a two year old in the house, it’s sure to be an early morning, she says.

The Ljungholms live  in Stockholm. They returned here, Fanny, Kalle (Karl) and little Majken, after a working spell in Visby, on the island of Gottland. The couple had done internships in conjunction with their officership training in the Salvation Army.

- During the training one will be assigned to a corps where the practical training takes place,  and for us it became Visby, says Fanny.

Fanny's husband Kalle has completed his officership training and is a Salvation Army officer stationed at Kungsholm Corps in Stockholm.

- We began our studies at the same time but because I, or we, became pregnant, I complete my courses a little later, she says.

Now she continues her studies and does her internship in the Kungsholmen Corps. In the spring of 2016, she’ll complete the training.

The foundation of her faith, was learned in the Salvation Army corps (church) in her home town of Nässjö.

- My parents thought it was fine to let me attend Sunday School at the Salvos. And that’s where I remained.

- As an adult, I’ve discovered just how much the leaders in the Scouting program meant to me. That’s where I was fed spiritually, said Fanny.

At the age of fifteen, she decided on a life with God. And just a year later it was clear to her that she had a special calling. After completing her high school disciplines she studied in universities in Linköping and Stockholm and earned a bachelor degree in sociology, an education for which she is grateful. It has provided an understanding of the people she meets regularly in the social work of the Salvation Army, and it's a good educational foundation for work as a Salvation Army officer.

- It was during my time in Stockholm that I met Kalle. We soon discovered that we coveted the same vocation and that was what served to bond us together, she says.

Kalle was born into a family where both parents were Salvation Army officers. Being an officer means that you are reassigned from time to time and so it was for Kalle and his family.

- Currently we are in an interesting development in the Kungsholmen Corps. It’s a corps with many enthusiasts. It will be exciting to see how we can build relationships within the church and outwardly with the community.

Leisure is something that is hard to define. As an officer in the Salvation Army it’s a six day work week with one day off.

- It is no ordinary job, it's a lifestyle, says Fanny.

She spends a lot of time with her daughter, Majken.

- It is so much fun at this time of year. We bake and go out and look at all the Christmas lights. Stroll and window shop. I find it lifts my spirit.

When possible, she appreciates spending time nurturing friendships, old and new.

-We meet up, see and do different things, hang out, talk and share life with each other.

- I enjoy reading. There is a book next to my bed but usually I fall asleep before I even open it, says Fanny laughingly.

How does it feel to celebrate a birthday a week after Christmas and the day before New Year's Eve?

- I have never felt it as something negative. As a child it was always a party with friends and family on my birthday. I looked forward to the time with the many festivals, Christmas, my birthday and New Year.

- The only thing that was amiss was not having a birthday when I was in school, it was always Christmas break then.

Now she wants to continue the life she started. Getting to see Majken grow up and be a part of witnessing that  people become fulfilled.

- I am grateful to be a part of the process says, Fanny.

FANNY LJUNGHOLM

Fakta:

Aktuell: Fyller 30 år den 30 december.

Actual: Turns 30 years old the 30^th December

Önskar sig: En födelsedag tillsammans med sin man, en bakmaskin av släkten och gärna någon upplevelsepresent.

Wishing for: A birthday spent with her husband, a bread making machine from relatives and happily a surprise gift of some kind.

Fanny & Kalle

General's New Year Greeting 2015

GOAL SETTING FOR THE NEW YEAR

Archives - SALVATIONIST 1 January 2011

God’s sovereignty – our fallibility

In the final article in his series on presenting Jesus to a lost world, Major Howard Webber describes two fulfilling encounters that so easily could have been missed -

EVEN when we are concerned about the eternal wellbeing of those without Christ, there is often an accompanying reticence to do much about it. This is caused, more often than not, by fear – fear of what the reaction might be to our feeble attempts to share what is so precious to us; fear of what others might think of us; fear of failure; fear of not knowing the answers to questions that might come our way.

In the past I’ve been told that I must overcome my fear; that with practice I would overcome my fear – but this has not been my experience. I’ve never overcome my fear, or my inherent reluctance to reach out and engage with a stranger. But, as with all our feelings, it is not a case of eradicating them; rather we must not allow them to control our actions and reactions.

‘Lean not on your own understanding,’ says Proverbs 3:5.

Something can appear futile, a total disappointment, with common sense telling us to shake the dust from our feet and move on. Yet for some obscure reason we don’t, and suddenly God himself disperses the fog, does something wonderful and we sense him saying, as often he does to me: ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, Howard, neither are your ways my ways’ (see Isaiah 55:8).

A grumpy man came to his door and, when offered a Jesus DVD, said very gruffly: ‘Don’t ’ave a DVD player!’ 

Thinking he might have been delighted to be given a copy of the only video copy we possessed, my colleague rummaged in her bag and presented it to him triumphantly, only to be met with a disgruntled: ‘Don’t ’ave a video player!’

We, very naturally, felt like walking away, but I asked: ‘How long have you lived here?’ He gave me a strange look. ‘Eight years,’ he replied. ‘Is it a good area to live in?’ I inquired.

One question followed another and with each one he slowly thawed, eventually inviting us into his home. He never has seen the Jesus film, but he is now a friend. Since that first unpleasant encounter, this former jockey has given me fuchsia cuttings, taught me about horseracing and allowed me to pray with him and explain the salvation message. We could so easily have been controlled by how we felt on the first encounter – and walked away!

None of the men who signed up for the first night of the Christianity course in the SA hostel turned up – but four others I had asked that very night agreed to give it a try and thoroughly enjoyed it. 

The following week I discovered one of them had moved out into a flat and another said he couldn’t make it. So where were the other two? Then I saw a friend of theirs by the front door.

‘Alex, have you seen Steve and James?’ I asked.

‘No, I’m looking for them. Thought we could go for a walk, it’s so nice.’

‘They can’t,’ I said. ‘They’ll be with me at seven. They’re on a course. Why don’t you join us?’

‘No,’ he replied, ‘I’m going to get them to come with me.’

I was angry at his determination to take them away, but tried not to show it as I made my way to get ready.

Seven o’clock came and went. I waited. No one came. After 20 minutes – disappointed – I decided to give up and go home, but Alex popped his head round the door.

‘Have you seen them?’ he asked.

‘No I haven’t,’ I answered, trying to smother my feelings towards him. ‘Why don’t you sit down and rest your legs!’ I suggested. 

He did, and I sat opposite him and asked him how he was coping. In answering me he went on to describe his life and open his heart in an extraordinary way that would never have happened had anyone else been there. After 90 minutes he allowed me to pray for him, accepted a booklet on Jesus, thanked me and departed.

I would not have missed that time with Alex for the world, but I could so easily have done so. How inscrutable is our God! He is the evangelist not us and he knows what he is doing even when we don’t! 

salvationist@salvationarmy.org.uk

Howard Webber is a retired Salvation Army Officer (Pastor) and lives in retirement in Bournemouth, UK. He's a regular and much valued contributor to this blog site. 

SALVATION ARMY WRITER WINS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD

15 June 2011

MAJOR Howard Webber's Meeting Jesus: Inspiring Stories of Modern-Day Evangelism has been named Christianity magazine’s Book of the Year. The book, published by The Salvation Army's UK Territory with the Republic of Ireland, was a runaway winner, receiving an overwhelming 82 percent of readers' votes!

The Awards are part of the Christian Resources Together Retreat at High Leigh in the United Kingdom. Launched in 2010, Christianity magazine's Book of the Year category celebrates quality, original, Christian-themed writing that offers something special to readers. Last year’s winner was Breakout by Mark Stibbe and Andrew Williams, published by Authentic Media.

'Meeting Jesus' is about the author's encounters with ordinary people, encounters which are made extraordinary by the transforming power of the gospel. The book is not about overwhelming success - but it is about the reality of what happens when people meet Jesus and about the kind of change he can effect when given the space to do his work.

Steve Morris gave Major Webber's book five stars in his review in Christianity magazine.

He wrote: 'Fred is high on drugs and doesn't want Howard, the then Salvation Army captain, to come round to his flat because it is in chaos, rather like Fred himself. They meet, instead, in the cafe at a supermarket in a nearby town. But the road isn't straight and we follow the twists and turns of Howard and Fred's relationship – through missed promises, desperate heartache and self-destruction and final redemption.

'This book is perhaps the most extraordinary one I've reviewed since writing for Christianity. It is a series of stories of evangelism on the hard side of life. It is painfully honest and lists as many failures as successes, as many deaths as new lives. It documents Howard Webber's spiritual battles too.

'It is perhaps the most moving set of accounts I've ever read and the most hopeful. It is all too easy to see the role of being God's ambassadors as reduced to preaching, or set among those who we love and are safe. But this book challenges us to be where Jesus would be, with the down-and-outs, with the hopeless and the broken. It looks the cost of such ministry square in the eye and carries on just the same.'

Ruth Dickinson, Editor of Christianity magazine, adds: 'I want to commend Howard Webber for this great achievement, all the more phenomenal because, as a first time author, he didn't have the same following as the other more well known writers on the shortlist. What I loved about Meeting Jesus was the way it documented his "failures" as an evangelist as well as his success stories. It's very rare to read something so honest and so inspiring at the same time.'