The trip to Scandinavia...Forming a Cohesive Group

   Al and I had planned in the past to go on a tour of the Scandinavian countries, but had to cancel due to health issues. This year, everything seemed to fall into place to make the trip at the end of August. We were excited about the prospect of finally getting there. Al was looking forward to seeing the fjords in Norway and the ruggedness of the north. I was hoping to see the Northern Lights even though they occur most frequently in the winter.

   After picking up our luggage at the airport in Stockholm, Sweden, we walked to a predetermined place where other people on our tour were supposed to gather. Many representatives carried signs from their companies, but there wasn’t anyone from ours. Feeling a little anxious, we sat down on a bench.

   While Al and I huddled together trying to decide what to do next, a woman sitting at the end of the same bench pointed to the red tags on our suitcases and said that she and her daughter were also on the Scandinavian tour. Her daughter was searching the area for the representative from our company, but finally gave up and returned to the bench. We introduced ourselves, discovering that they were also from the United States, one from Wisconsin and the other from Michigan.

   After waiting several minutes, we spotted a slender, middle aged man with dark features, holding up a sign with the name of our tour written on it. What a relief! Evidently, he had been helping a couple whose baggage never arrived. They followed close behind him and immediately received much sympathy from the rest of us.

   In lieu of their suitcases, someone from the airlines had given the husband and wife each a plastic tube containing a t-shirt, underwear (one size fits all), a toothbrush and a few other amenities. That was all they had, besides the clothes they were wearing and a carry on bag. We told them that we would be praying for their luggage to be returned quickly; and eventually it was delivered to them somewhere along the route. But what a way to start a big trip!

   An introductory meeting and dinner were scheduled for later that evening. Our guide, Andrei, announced that since over fifty people had signed up, the company had split us up into two groups. Both would follow the same route, but would travel in different buses and stay in two different hotels most of the time. The other guide had suffered from a heart attack the day before the tour started and was in the hospital. Someone else was on the way to take his place. Since he hadn’t yet arrived,    Andrei was planning on hosting two meetings that night, running from one hotel to the other!

   As it turned out, people were very friendly and it didn’t take long to get acquainted with the other twenty-four members of our group. Most of us were retired. The majority were from the USA with the exception of a few from Australia, three sisters from Malaysia and our guide, Andrei, who was from the Ural Mountains of Russia. 

   Several had signed up for the tour for the same reasons as Al and me, anticipating seeing the rugged beauty of the coastal cities north of the Arctic Circle and perhaps even catching a glimpse of the aurora borealis. Future articles will tell more about our experiences in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, but a highlight for me was the bonding that took place between the people in the group from the very beginning of the trip.

   Traveling many miles together by bus, ferry and train; eating most meals in common; praying for and helping each other; and experiencing new things together, like sitting around a fire in a Sami tent in Lapland for a special “Reindeer ceremony,” created strong bonds between us. By the time the tour ended, we had grown very close.

   As one woman expressed it, “You all have become like family!” It was a remarkable transformation in such a short period of time, a good example of what the followers of Christ are to become. Oh that all Christians would be closely knit together, like one family, caring for and loving each other. Help us, Lord.

“May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17: 22 NIV (taken from Jesus’ prayer for all believers)