One last greeting - for this time at least!

Time goes fast and it's time for the last update from us for this period. At the turn of the year, our mission assignment ends and we begin a new chapter in life.

Adam, Anna, Eliah, Kajsa, Staffan & our dog Sally!

First of all, we just want to send a Christmas greeting from all of us! We are all doing well and are grateful to be home in our own house again. The children have landed well here in Örebro, and a little extra joy for all of us was that we got our little dog Sally back from Brazil to Sweden in September.

The autumn has been an intense and quite challenging period for us, as we have both landed here in Örebro, but also managed a move and an end in Brazil. The trip to Brazil in September was important and valuable but also very intense. We had the opportunity to thank and say goodbye to CIBI and FEPAS and also personal friends we made during our time in Brazil. It was very emotional and quite sad, and therefore very good that we could go both Anna & Staffan.

We emptied our house in Brazil, which we had made into our home with the dream of staying for a long time. It was quite tough to pack up and sell what we could not bring home to Sweden. At the same time, it was an important part of the process to end our time there.

Now we are back in Örebro and have continued to work with the mission (EFK), Anna mostly with contact directly with FEPAS in Brazil and their projects. Staffan works with various areas in the mission, with project reports, participation in conferences and visits to churches.

In early October, we got our house back, which we rented out while we were in Brazil. We are very grateful for that and it feels great for all of us to come home! Most of all we can see how important it is for the kids to be "home" again. They are back at the school they went to before we went to Brazil and continue to build relationships with their friends. This year has meant quite a few moves for us as a family and several different schools for the children, so it feels important to be in Örebro and stay here for some time now. Of course we dream of Brazil and hope that the opportunity to go there again will come, but right now we have to follow what God is doing in Brazil from a distance and continue to pray for the country.

THE FUTURE

When the employment at EFK ends, Anna will start working as a counselor at the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry here in Örebro and Staffan will work as head of the communication and fundraising department at EFK for a short period.

The work in Brazil continues and EFK is in the middle of the process of recruiting successors to our position. Nothing is ready yet, but there are several interesting people that the mission is talking with, and we hope everything will fall into place, so that new missionaries will be able to move to Brazil in August 2022. Feel free to join and pray for guidance in this process and that God frees up the finances needed.

The work with the anti-corruption project, which we were involved in and wrote the application for to be able to start, is now in under way! In November, Anna-Maria Jonsson (our regional director), was in Brazil and participated in the official inauguration of the project. FEPAS, which carries out the project, has hired an educator and a social worker and the leaders of the groups in the seven cities have been selected and started their education. The work of finding people who on a voluntary basis want to join the groups in the seven cities is underway. It feels very positive and hopeful! Please join us and continue to pray for the project!

THANKS!

This blog post is the last one we will post this time around and we want to take this opportunity to thank you for your support, your prayers and your encouragement! It means so much to us. We are so grateful for all the greetings we received from you in various ways, especially during this time that was so different from what we could have expected.

We also wish you a blessed Christmas and New Year!

Many hugs from Anna, Staffan, Adam, Eliah and Kajsa Jenemark

Greetings from Norrland

Hey friends,

Time runs fast and we are already at the end of May. Here is an update from us in the Jenemark family.

Returning to Sweden

Now we have been in Sweden for just over 2 months, we arrived on 13 March, and then moved up to little Starred, which is located 25 km outside Härnösand up in beautiful Norrland. Here we have had the opportunity to rent a house, and we enjoy it. Beautiful views, restful environment and close to Anna's family. The kids go to a small village school, and they find it so nice to meet other children and also have school "for real" after almost 1 year with school online (via zoom).

It was the very difficult situation in Brazil with the pandemic, and also how it ultimately affected us as a family, which meant that the situation was no longer sustainable but we had to go home. We are grateful that Anna-Maria Jonsson and Linalie Newman at EFK helped us in that situation and also asked us to go home.

What is the situation like in Brazil?

As you may have seen on the news, Brazil has been heavily affected by the pandemic, and at its worst in March/April, the hospitals were full and the situation was very serious. In recent months, we have continuously received reports from our friends in our sister church CIBI about how members, pastors and other community leaders have become ill and also died. It has been and is a very tough situation, please pray with us for them for comfort, strength and hope for the future!

Missionary life continues

The year that passed was very different, and while we loved being there and enjoying our mission, of course there was a lot of what we wanted to do, which could not be carried out due to the pandemic. Helping the children with their school also took a lot of time and effort, something that we probably first discovered fully when it was decided that we would go home to Sweden for a break. The toughest part was probably for Anna, who after returning home went on full-time sick leave due to fatigue. We do not yet know when she will be fully recovered, but we are pleased to see that her powers are slowly returning now that she has a chance to rest.

So, now we are missionaries in Brazil, living in north Sweden. That's how it can go. I, (Staffan), continue to work full-time remotely and via screen, and it works well, even though I miss Brazil and being there. I work partly with continued support for CIBI and the social branch FEPAS in communication and planning issues, but also with writing articles, project texts and other things that need to be done for the missions organization we are working for. Having said that, it is also important to say that our mission continues, and that continued missionary support is needed in the future. Having a missionary family in located in Sweden means higher costs for EFK, compared to when we are in Brazil.

The future

The timetable for the way forward is not yet clear, we do not know at present when or even if we will be able to return to Brazil. Initially, our idea was to return to Campinas in August, but due to the very serious situation in Brazil and Anna's sick leave, it is not possible. Our conversations as a family and with EFK continue, pray with us that God leads leads the way forward.

THANKS!

Although it has been a very strange and tumultuous year, and although the future feels uncertain, we are so grateful to all of you for all your support, encouragement and prayers. An extra thank you also for the gifts we received to help with our sudden return journey back to Sweden, it came as a great encouragement in a shaky time. thanks!

Most of all, we are grateful to God, we can see so clearly that He has his Hand upon us, and leads us through turbulent times, we have felt so carried by Him. Thank You, Lord!

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Have a blessed summer!

To pray and thank for:

• Thank the Lord for His protection and care over the past year

• Pray for strength and recovery for the whole family, especially Anna

• Pray for EFK's sister church CIBI in Brazil, for protection, direction and hope

• Pray for guidance for us as a family in terms of the future and the way forward, that God opens the right doors at the right time

Ibland går det inte som man tänkt...

Vi vill berätta att vi, (Anna & Staffan), tillsammans med Anna-Maria Jonsson och Linalie Newman på EFK har beslutat att vi som familj ska åka tillbaka till Sverige för en tid av återhämtning.

Covid-19 situationen i Brasilien är mycket svår och verkar inte lätta samtidigt som den här tiden av restriktioner, lockdown och homeschooling har slitit hårt på oss som familj. Vi kommer att åka hem i mitten på mars och vår förhoppning är att vi kan resa ut igen efter sommaren.

Detta har inte varit ett lätt beslut, vi är tacksamma för vår tid här och hoppas Gud öppnar dörren för att återvända snart.

Be gärna för allt det praktiska som måste ske i samband med hemresan och att vi är visa i våra beslut, att Gud leder för nästa steg vidare och att vi får en god tid av återhämtning.