My studies in Sweden

Hello again!

I had meant to write an update sooner. My studies have been keeping me very busy, but I wanted to write a bit again and let everyone know how things are going with me. Thank you all for your continual support, both through your thoughts and through your prayers, and for those who have sent letters and those who have supported me with finances. These all mean much to me. I haven’t updated in a while, so I just wanted to say that things are going really well. Things are cold here in Sweden, but the days are slowly becoming longer and warmer. It is a joy each day to see the sun rise a little earlier and set a little later, and we have each other to keep company with and our studies keep us busy. 

I'd like to do my best to describe to you all what I’m actually doing out here, and why nine months out in the countryside is such a perfect setting for my studies. Most of our class consists of free time to work on our assignments. However, we do spend somewhere between one and three mornings a week in class being taught about the book we are currently working on, covering the structure and historical background of the book as well as the lecturer’s understanding about how the book ought to be interpreted and applied. Here is a basic description: In the School of Biblical Studies, we use what we call “The Inductive Method”. While there are other ways to study the bible inductively, we use a format that we follow for each of the books. Sometimes we have special assignments, but aside from some minor changes here and there our study of a book will usually go something like this:

• We will start by reading the book aloud in one sitting. For the larger books it can be quite a challenge to get through, and we will read together and trade off chapters or listen to a recording and read along.
• Color coding the whole book using colored pencils in our bible. The colors correspond with different observations we make, which vary depending on the book, such as people who are described and commands that are given. We all were supplied bibles to begin the school, and as the year goes on our white pages are slowly becoming a rainbow.
• Using a computerized charting program, we make simplified titles for each paragraph, and then print those out into a chart where we trace the structure of the book. We divide the book into segments, and then combine those segments into sections and divisions. In doing this for each book, we’re able to see the way the book is structured. 
• We will write a summary a few pages long about the important information about the book. Some of this will come from the book itself, but it will also come from research about the authorship and historical background of the book. We will cover some of this information in class, but some of it will come from bible dictionaries and commentaries. The purpose of this is that in order to truly understand a book, one must consider who is writing it and who it is being written to. Some of the differences this makes are surprising!
• For each segment on our outline, we make a chart. In filling out this chart, we make more detailed observations about what is happening in the passage, and from those observations we interpret what the passage would mean to the original readers. The goal of this is to understand what the passage means for us, finding the truth behind what is being said that is timeless and can be applied to us. 
• In all of these previous steps, we are studying the bible in order to understand what it means and how it affects us, so the next step is to apply it! We will write two essays – one on how the truth of the book affects our worldview, and one on how it ought to be practically applied in our own life. Aside from writing about it, we are also encouraged to commit to changes in our lives and to take actions not only for our life after SBS but also in our daily lives.

And there’s the work for one book! We will do this roughly 60 times - a few of the books are combined, there are special assignments for some of the books that will be somewhat different, and we study the book of Psalms in weekly assignments as we go along. And things are going well. I miss you all, of course, but I'm busy enough that the time seems to fly by. In a given week we might spend 50 to 60 hours between working on our assignments and attending class and serving through our community work duties. And life here is also very good. Life on the base is wonderful, and we have a peaceful community with my classmates, our staff, the staff and the students of the other schools here on the base, the support staff on the base, and the families who live here. It is a diverse family, and a wonderful one. We learn much not only from our studies but also from our life with one another. My life is wonderful, and I am learning to be content with what I have, because it is truly good. I was able to travel over my winter break to central Europe, and and I’ll also be able to get off the base and go exploring in a few weeks when we have our spring break. But for now, I am here, studying the bible and chopping wood and washing dishes and sharing life. I hope things are well with everyone.

Here are a few pictures! There are plenty more on my facebook account, so feel free to check those out as well.

Voyaging out onto the frozen sea by my house

A nice sabbath afternoon spent down by the sea.

A Restenäs sunset over the icy sea

New years eve along the Danube in Bratislava, Slovakia

Our Christmas card! This is my Restenäs family, as of december.

Tack för att läsa! Hej då!