Sent by God
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12. Engineer Göransson |
Sven speaking: As the duty in Vällinge came closer to its end, it was time to look for work. I would have much preferred to get a job in Stockholm. The reason was partly because of the contacts I had there. During the service at the combat school, I quite often stayed at Leif’s or rather in his parents' home during the weekends. Thus, I had got to know a lot of young people in Bromma and I really felt at home there. I saw a job ad from a consultancy firm in the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) industry, CG Colleen in Alvik, which seemed very interesting. I sent in my application and was called for an interview. It was the vice president, a big fat man, who conducted the interview. "I see that you are doing non-combatant service," he said, "Are you a Christian?" "Yes, I am," I replied, thinking that now I probably wouldn’t get the job. But I did! Prior to this new phase in my life, I prayed to God to give me strength to be a living witness of the Christian faith and its power before my new colleagues.
Feeling a little weak in the knees, I went to work the first day. I wondered how it would be and how I was going to tell my colleagues that I was a Christian. But see, this was no problem. Everyone already knew that I was a Christian. The day before, the vice president had walked around and explained that a certain Sven starting his job tomorrow was a Christian and thus you had to think about what you said. This opened up many conversations about my Christian faith. At this time, people in the Pentecostal movement greeted each other by saying "Peace" to each other when they met fellow-believers or talked on the phone with each other. One of my colleagues who had heard me use the word "Peace" during a phone call came to me and said: "I think it's great that there are people in this world who can greet each other with peace." After this, he greeted me with “peace” as I arrived at work quite frequently. One Saturday, this man and I were working together alone in the office. We sat in separate rooms with an open door between us. He was looking for a drawing and became more and more irritated when he couldn’t find it. At last he shouted: "Göransson, close the door!" He was about to curse. On another occasion, some church leaders participated in the TV program "What does the Church say?" One of the participants was Willis Säwe, the director of the “Filadelfia Church” in Stockholm at that time. During this program, Willis Säwe was the only one who dared to stand up for the Bible being the infallible word of God. My previously mentioned colleague approached me that following Monday morning: |
"Willis Säwe must be stupid thinking that there are no errors in the Bible?" "Yes, and we share the same faith." "Do you believe that Jesus walked on water?" my friend continued. "Yes, I do." Then he shook his head and went back to his room. But I followed him and asked: "Why are you shaking your head?" "You do understand that it is against the laws of nature?" replied his friend. "You have to be stupid not understanding that the person who created the laws of nature is also the master of them." I was active in the work of the Filadelfia Church in Bromma and Vällingby in my spare time. A free church is dependent on the members performing most of the work in their spare time. I was one of them. I was the Sunday school teacher in Hässelby, among other things. I seem to remember that you, Leif, was in charge of that Sunday school. Of course, I participated in other church services as well. The Filadelfia Church rented the “Nalenpalatset” for a time and arranged café evenings there for people who did not normally come to our churches, says Sven. "I," I say to Sven "remember one time when we were at Nalen and you had a newly purchased hat with you. When we took our coats after the gathering, your hat went missing and your comment was simply: Well, I guess there was someone else who needed it." Sven continues: Another activity you, Leif, and I indulged in was to hand out 50 copies of the magazine “Evangelii Herald” every week. (Evangelii Herald was discontinued in 1993.) We visited homes around the Pentecostal Church in Bromma and asked if they wanted a magazine. In this way, we visited many homes and invited people to our church services. When I moved from Bromma, I wrote a little letter that we handed out to the homes that had received the magazines, explaining that I was about to move. Several people responded to the letter and expressed their gratitude for the magazines. Some even apologized for not coming to church. I hope that some people became believers through this work. One day when I was at the Pentecostal Church in Bromma. I experienced the Lord speaking to me. God was telling me that now was the time for me to resign from my engineering work and go on to pursue Bible School. I sat at a table in church and wrote my resignation. When I submitted it to the boss, I was naturally called to his office. He thought it was sad that I had to leave after such a short time, only 15 months, because I had shown good aptitude for what I was doing. "But," he said, "I understand that you have motives which I do not understand. I can’t do anything but wish you good luck." When someone resigned they usually arranged a farewell party with a lot of alcohol included. That wasn’t something I was very fond of and this I told my colleagues. At the same time, I really wanted to arrange party for them. I invited them to such a party on a suitable floor in the Pentecostal Church in Bromma. "You are all welcome to bring your wives and others who you would want to include. There will be coffee, cookies and a cake. Furthermore, people from the Pentecostal Church will arrange a program." All my colleagues including the managers came. We sang and played for them and I testified about my faith in Jesus. Afterwards, many of them told me that this was the best farewell party that they had had. One of my colleagues who, occasionally, could be perceived as a little "foul-mouthed" came up to me afterwards and said, "Sven, I've been feeling sorry for you but now when I’ve seen all these nice 'sisters', I have changed my mind." |
