Moving NorthYWAM Vilhelmina : Lappland

After nearly 8 years at Restenas, Phill and Anneke Taylor are ready to pioneer a new YWAM base in the north of Sweden. The Vilhelmina : Lappland base opened on 12 May 2003.

“We want to go the few, rather than the many,” says Phill. “They have the right to hear the gospel as well. Our outreach focus will be the ends of the earth.”

God has given Phill and Anneke the task of training “young King Josiahs” in the things of God, so that they can “…take the land” as 2 Chronicles 34 says. The training will come in the form of a wildlife (Vild-marks) Discipleship Training School and teaching young men and women to study the Bible.

Phill and Anneke are inviting teams and individuals to join them in bringing life to Lappland. There is much to do: prayer, labour and finances; and they need as much help as possible.

Is God calling you to get involved? Email them phill.anneke@swipnet.se

New YWAM Base in Dalarna

YWAM Dalarna, beauti-fully situated outside the

To light spiritual fires in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe and to train, mobilise and send missionaries into all the world.

YWAM RESTENÄSTo know God and make him Known

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Azerbaijan is not the sort of place to do street evangelism. In fact, as it is a Muslim nation, we cannot even...

Teachers stood with tears in their eyes as the Filipinos danced and shared cultural stories and testimonies of what Jesus has done...

Moving NorthGoing South

Outreach updatesBase leader’s greeting

School calendarSpring newsletter

To Sweden and Beyond

Challenges with visas and travel tickets, unexpected requirements at borders, going back to God for solutions in unexpected circumstances – these were all part of the Swed-ish/English DTS outreach. But it was a great opportunity for the three teams to put into practice what they had learned in the classroom!

The team in Hedemora, Swe-den:

“We spent our first two weeks up north in Vansbro and Dala-Järna, and then on to Hedemora. There we spent much time with the Lutheran church, visiting the confirmation class and pensioners, and participating in prayer meetings. On Sunday we shared in that church and an interdenominational church, with testimonies, songs and words of encourage-ment to people.

“The “fruit” we saw was a door open wide for YWAM and the new base to be established in that region this summer. The churches were happy with what we accomplished and are looking forward to the new base starting, but we received so much blessing through them as well! Experiencing the fellowship and unity among those churches was fantastic. In our ten-week outreach in Sweden, Finland and Latvia, that week was the best of them all for me!”

– Markus, team leader

The team in Azer-baijan:

“Azerbaijan is not the sort of place to do street evangelism. In fact, as it is a Muslim nation, we cannot even enter as missionaries, but rather as “tourists”, to teach English. However, we found this to be a valuable way to meet people and form relationships,

Phill and Anneke Taylor have been serving at Restenas for

about 7 years.

Mike and Lotta Stevens will be pioneer-ing the new YWAM base outside the town

of Hedemora.

YWAM, Restenas 239, 459 93 Ljungskile, Sweden * www.ywamsweden.se (Click on Restenas) * restenas@algonet.setel: +46 522 210 20 * fax: +522 202 45 Postgiro 89 61 56-7 * Org nr. 858500-5633

Where in the World are We Going?

Dear Friends,

A growing number of people are alarmed by the developments in our world these days. The war in Iraq along with many other trouble spots like Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Indonesia and the Philippines; the scourge of famine and natural disasters; racism, hate, SARS and AIDS viruses, loneliness and greed – all these factors contribute to a world full of pain, hurting nations and hurting people.

Is there an answer to all of this? Jesus told His disciples, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’

and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against na-tion, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. . . . And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Mat-thew 24:4-7, 14).

Jesus went on to say: “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (vv. 32-35).

There is a loud voice in the world today calling for peace, and demonstrations for peace are commonplace. Yet we can be confident of this, that Jesus is clearly stating in the verses above that things will not get better. In fact He states that the opposite will be true.

If we didn’t know Jesus, the days in which we live would be scary indeed. But with Jesus we can look forward with certainty that the future is in His hands. We know which way the world is going, and that’s not a pretty story. On the other hand, we and you are among those who have taken the biblical injunction seriously to ‘go into all the world and preach the gospel’. And that’s where we’re going!

Yours for the sake of the gospel,

Kel Steiner

Base Director

town of Hedemora, will open its doors this summer. This new base will focus on the Dalarna region as well as the far-away corners of the earth through GENESIS, YWAM’s video-conferencing ministry. GENESIS will be fully inte-grated into the base, providing an open window to the world. The people of Dalarna were in the past known to be leaders of the rebellions, daring to stand up for justice and righteousness. We long to see the people of Dalarna take on the challenge of today, not for the kingdom of Sweden, but now for the Kingdom of God! ;ldsjfldsjfljdlfjld Praise God, as we have already raised over 350,000 kronor towards our purchase and establishment budget of 2 million kronor. Please pray with us as we seek financial partners to be able to complete the pur-chase of this property. Outreach teams are already booked for July!

GOING SOUTHRestenäs Christian School helps with Impact World Tour

Some of our Restenäs staff spent a month in Denmark helping with the Impact World Tour in several cities. They needed more hands – and so a team of our school children (and a few parents!) spent a long weekend helping out. The young people threw their energy into the many tasks involved in setting up the venue, cleaning, rearrang-ing seating and stages for different performances each night, as well as praying for the evenings and for those attending. Over 400 people made commitments to Jesus, to be followed up by local churches taking part in the event. Can you imagine the “impact” this made on our young people, as they played a significant role of service, and saw answers to their own prayers?!

The main building at the new YWAM Dalarna base

“Dalarna” cont.

The Island Breeze Team There are many stories of how God used the

Island Breeze Team in schools, evangelistic meet-ings and churches during their five months in and around Sweden. About 40 made commitments to Jesus or to serve Him in missions. Here is a report from Denmark:

“Teachers stood with tears in their eyes as the Filipinos danced and shared cultural stories and testimonies. One student ran out of the room crying. The girl said there was no hope for her, but God touched her, and Christian teachers have reached out to help her. At the same place a boy

in a wheelchair received Jesus.

In another city, 12 Fili-pino residents who saw a street performance cried, laughed and sang along with the old cultural songs. At a later per-formance three of them wept as they asked Jesus into their lives. They are now attending a church, and some of their friends

have also given their lives to God.

In their three weeks in Den-mark, the team p e r f o r m e d over 50 times. It was fantas-tic to hear their gratitude to the Scandinavian people for sending missionaries to their country 150 years ago. So Scandinavians, do respond to God when He calls you to GO!”

Jonas Bergström helps set up the Impact Tour venue by carry-

ing chairs.

The Filipino team in action.

and we spent a lot of time praying for the nation and for our students. Although we were there for less than the regular teaching quarter, we were amazed at the results we saw in the friendships we built! The very last weekend, two girls that we had befriended made the decision to ac-cept Jesus as their Saviour! Becoming Christians in a Muslim land is a monumental step, and we’re so thankful that they will be discipled by other Christians we know there.”

– Katie, team leader

The team in south-ern Russia:

“As our team prayed before our out-reach, God spoke to us from Romans 5:3-5, that ‘suffering produces perse-verance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint . . .’. We expected a difficult time in Russia, but God’s plan was different! For three long weeks, we had to wait in Sweden for the invitation letter for our visas. We worshiped and prayed daily, but we felt useless. As the leader, I had an inner struggle: Is it right to go, do we just need to wait, or is God telling us to change our plan? Privately, I set a date as a deadline for receiving the invitation. If it didn’t come, we’d change our plan, lose money and time, and I’d confess I’d made a mistake in hearing God’s voice. On the exact date of my deadline, we received the news that we had the invitation! We were so excited to go at last to southern Rus-sia to serve the Lord! Yet the waiting time beforehand was perhaps when God taught us the most. As it says in Romans, perseverance built our

“Island Breeze Team” cont.

Mission TripsAre you interested in going on a short mission

trip this summer? Teams go to Ukraine and Esto-nia. Dates: June 28 - July 18. For more information

contact Niklas Bidås.

niklasbidas@hotmail.com

‘The Team in Azerbaijan’ cont.