Sweden Glory Ring Testimonial

Myk Herndon ~ February 2002

Myk Herndon, Gresham, Oregon
March 11, 2002

On March 1, of this year I left from San Francisco, where I had been teaching one of the training courses for my company, for Stockholm, Sweden, where I was to begin installing one of our software packages on the 4th, the following Monday. Carefully packed in my suitcase, along with all the other necessities of travel, was a glory ring you had made for the nation of Sweden. 

As I had before, in Austria, I set aside Sunday to go in search of the one it belonged to. I decided to begin my search at the Stockholm Vineyard. One of the reasons for this was the Vineyard Music CD, "Winds of Worship - Sweden" which had been produced in that church. Never having been in Sweden before, and not having a lot of time to research the location of the church, I set out from my hotel room on Sunday morning with enough time to get to the general area where they church is located, in the northern district of Stockholm called Solna. What I did not know was that there are two ways to get to Solna, and two separate train stations. I managed to take the wrong train to the wrong station. When I got out of the station, I felt a bit disoriented since nothing looked familiar, or as I had expected it would. So, taking my bearings and trusting in my ability to navigate just about anywhere I turned my back on a gentle nudge and headed off, and promptly got lost. The fortunate thing was that there is a city map in just about every bus stand in Sweden, so I quickly identified where I was, and that I did not have any spare time to get where I wanted to be. This time, I set out trusting in the Spirit to guide me. 

From that point on, I never took one step in the wrong direction. The Lord even showed me a short cut to get to the meeting precisely on time. This was a Vineyard, however, and the meeting did not start for another ten minutes. In the meantime, I met a young man from South Africa, working in Sweden as an engineer at Nokia, and we shared in our common language through most of the rest of the day. Again, I felt right at home, and it seemed that I would find who I was looking for, when I saw that there were a number of flag wavers during worship, which was a very moving experience for me. That direction in my search would change during the announcements. My South African friend gave me a running abridged interpretation of a lot of what was being said, and one of the things he told me was that they had announced that the pastor, Hans Sundberg, would be traveling to Russia to participate in a pastor's conference there. 

He then told me that the prayer team leadership would be praying for him. The leader of the prayer team, Helena Ketoja, and one other woman came up, laid hands on their pastor and prayed for him. I did not need to know what she was saying. The prayer carried an anointing that did not need translations, and it was at this point that God pointed her out as the one to receive the ring. There is something about the Swedish language, and the way it is spoken that is very distinctive. The creators of The Muppets parodied this distinction in their character called the Swedish Chef. There is a lilt to the language. It has a kind of bounce to it that can be funny if it is exaggerated. But when this quality of language is focused in prayer, it takes on an awesome quality. I first heard it in Helena, but was later to hear it in other individuals and in the congregation as they spoke the Lord's Prayer in unison. As it is in most Vineyards, after the announcements, they took a short break for coffee. Now, it must be understood, that coffee and a roll in Sweden is a national institution known as Fika. (pronounced feek'a). In our little church in Oregon, we have one pot on one table, and a majority of folks will wander by and get a small cup during the break. 

The Stockholm Vineyard is not much larger, but they do like their fika. They had three tables, with two large pots of coffee on each one. When the break was announced, EVERYONE, got in line. I was encouraged to get in line quickly or risk not getting some. What I did, was take the glory ring out of my backpack. It gathered quite a bit of attention on its own. One fellow, in particular was very interested in it, and he asked what it was, and what it was for, and what I was doing with it. I answered all those questions, and told him hat I thought that Helena should have it. He introduced himself as Mats Joelsson, one of the associate pastors, and told me that I had made the right choice. And then he asked me if I would like to present it to her as a part of the service. As visions of Austria danced in my head, I said I would like that. At the end of the break, a few more announcements were made, and then by the sound of the words I could tell they were introducing me. My South African friend confirmed that by saying, "That's you." I went forward with the ring and expressed by gratitude for being given that place, and I told them of my friend, Jennifer Joy, and her ministry, and what it was like to be her errand boy. I asked Helena to come forward and I gave her the ring and I told her what it was and what it was for. I was to learn later that the tears in her eyes at the time came from a deep feeling of the encouragement of the Lord. It was a very touching moment, and many would come to me later and in varying levels of English proficiency telling me that Helena was the one to receive the ring. 

After the message, we entered into another time of worship, and I rejoiced to see Helena with the ring held over her head with the ribbons and scarves running down her back as she waived it back and forth. Helena is only about 5 feet tall, with red hair, and deep understanding in her eyes. After the meeting, she came up to me and asked how the ring was to be used. I told her she seemed to be doing just fine. Two days later, I came back to the church for a prayer meeting. I got the feeling that the prayer ministry was meeting with groups of kinship groups and teaching them various models of prayer. When I walked in, Helena was sitting at a small round table with three other leaders, discussing what they would do that evening. The glory ring was on the table, and open, next to her open Bible was her copy of Have Glory Ring will Travel!  At the beginning of the meeting, she showed the ring to those gathered and said some things, which were not interpreted for me, but it was evident that she had started to do her homework. 

That evening, as that meeting broke up, the pastor's wife came to me, and made me promise that I would convey a heartfelt thanks to the maker of the ring. She confirmed again, as one who cares for her people, that the ring had found its proper place, and that the timing of its arrival couldn't have been better in Helena's life. Helena told me that she felt encouraged again to dance as she once had. There are other stories to tell of those two meetings and of the new friends I have in the Kingdom of God around the world, but this should be enough to express my appreciation for being given the opportunity to be sent on another errand by the maker of HIS Glory Rings.

Myk

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