Contentment

I am happy.... :)

In two days it will be our 1 month anniversary for the cafe. So far we have 50 volunteers giving some time in the cafe. We have started collecting coffee and snacks for Cafe Night Light (a state church ministry dedicated to helping woman leave prostitution). We are also in the process of getting Bibles, and the Jesus film for this ministry. Next month we have scheduled our first Mother Help birthday party (we are throwing birthday parties for children in poor single mother homes). We have another of visitors to the shop each day. Most of our visitors are mother groups and parents who are impressed with our play area. And in 2 months a Work and Witness team will be here to help us build the children's room. Things are going very well for us.

I have been thinking a lot about my future and ministry and what I am doing. And I truly love working in Denmark. I enjoy the ministry, the team I work with, the church I am connected to, and the friends I have made. I think God is about to do something big here and I am excited to be here and be apart of it.

Ministry Opportunities

Sweet Surrender Copenhagen in not only trying to start a church and be a blessing to our community, we are also working as a non-profit cafe trying to support foundations in our area. One of these foundations we have chosen to support is called Night Life Cafe. This ministry is connected to a State Church in our neighborhood. They work with bringing women off of the street and out of a life of prostitution. Our cafe has committed to support them in 2 ways. First, we will do a food drive in our shop, asking people to donate coffee and cookies that will be served to the women when they come into Night Life Cafe. Also, we are trying to raise funds for Bibles for them to hand-out. Because most of the women are not from Denmark, we need Bibles written in English, or Eastern European languages. We are really excited to help with this ministry. We have learned that there are a couple brothels on the street next to us, so this is a ministry that directly affects the area we are working in. If you are interested in helping us raise money, or have Bibles you can donate, please contact me at katie_rae27@yahoo.com.

Opening and Adjusting

We are open!!!! A week and a half ago we opened Sweet Surrender Copenhagen with a party and 3 days of specials. The following week we tried to get into the swing of things, trying to figure out how much we needed to buy and produce and train volunteers. It has been some busy times. And even though right now there is not a lot of sleep, and a lot of busy work, things are good. It is exciting to be working in a shop again and talking with people. Planning our activities and groups that will be done in the shop. Also, planning to have a work and witness team this summer to build our children's room is busy work, but exciting. There are so many things ahead and so many things to do to keep going right now, it can all be overwhelming and so adjusting needs to take place.

Through all of the hours I am spending just trying to make the daily business happen in the shop, I am finding I don't have time to get my other work done. My sleeping pattern has been completely rocked and it is hard to find time to do the computer work. So, I am adjusting my schedule and figuring out where everything needs to fit. How, I can get enough sleep and still accomplish everything I need to do in a day.

In the shop things are going well. We are attracting a number of customers and everyone loves the look and feel of our place. Also, we have a number of volunteers signing up to help work some hours in the shop. It is a lot of fun to have people come in and look around and enjoy our place. Now we are moving forward and meeting people and blessing the community one coffee cup at a time!

Here are some pictures of our opening night.

the opening is almost here!

It has been a long time since I have updated my blog. And when I think of all that has happened this month, I don't even know where to begin. We have been extremely busy building and rebuilding and planning. The countdown to opening is almost done. We are now at opening week, 2 days left! I could go into a long explanation of all that we had to do to get the shop ready, but that description would take forever. Instead here is a photo album of all the work we have done in the shop-

progress photos

This week is opening week. We have Monday and Tuesday to finish up everything and then we open Wednesday evening with an event for kids. We continue the party all week long, including a concert on Friday and ending with yummy Brunch on Saturday.

There has been a lot of stress and pressure lately. Exhaustion has almost taken over. I really feel like I have been running on empty for a couple weeks now. But, in the midst of the exhaustion there is some excitement that we will soon be open! 

A Week Of Progress

Sometimes you can spend hours and hours working and everything still looks like a crazy mess or a horribly long process that will never be completed. At least this week was not like that.

I have worked many hours in the shop trying to be the best assistant I can to our DS/Pastor/Project Coordinator/Fix everything guy. This week the task was to prepare for the floor guy and the painter. Both were coming on Friday. Since we have a floor with more waves than the California cost and spots with a drop so dangerous it could be part of the Mavericks surf tournament, we had a lot of prep work to do before the floor guy came to lay the foundation layer. And so the entire week was spent laying a geometrical nightmare of plywood to create a level and stable foundation. Of course with my illogical mind this whole process looked like one confusing mess to me. It became my job to help lift and move boards and to make sure they were screwed down well. Along the way I also did some small finishing tasks to the walls. 

Finally after many, many hours of labor, cleaning, and preparing I met the floor guy Friday morning and this time he went to work. After we spent days ripping six layers of carpet, wood, and cement flooring out, it's kind of defeating to watch almost that many layers being put back on. Well, not on every part of the floor but on some of the lowest parts. Still it makes you think why didn't we just stop at the first layer of carpet. That would have saved us a lot of work. Well, most often it takes a lot of work to do a job right. We will now have an even floor throughout the shop and there is not the threat of the floor breaking beneath us anymore. So, yes all of that work may have been hard and long and set us back on our time schedule, but we will be able to guarantee that our customers won't fall through the floor. And even though it does not have the final flooring on it, it does look like a beautiful glassy sea instead of a coast line.


Friday evening I also met the painter and left him to spray the first primer layer. I am so excited to walk into the shop on Saturday and see how bright the white makes it. Also, I am excited that the amount of dust in the shop has dropped enormously.

So this week we see progress because it is beginning to look like a building we can use instead of a construction site (as long as you don't look in the kitchen, bathrooms, or storage rooms).

Yes, there has been a lot of sweat, blood, and tears (I really did start to cry when the vacuum cleaner died on me with still half the shop to go). Like anything in life it takes getting some bruises and shedding some tears to grow to a better place. :)

Help! We Need Some Supplies

Right now we are in the middle of remodeling the main cafe room and building the coffee bar. It has been a long hard process.  This week I met with the CEO of an industrial kitchen supplier here in Denmark. He is in the process of drawing plans and providing a list of suggestions for the kitchen appliances. The blessing of this is that the Founder and CEO of this company (H. W. Larsen) has come to see our place because they were interested in our idea of a non-profit shop and are preparing all plans free of charge. But, they can not provide us with all appliances free of charge. So, we are looking for help in being able to purchase much needed Kitchen and Bar items. These prices are actually discounted prices that they will give to us. Here is the list of items-
Item                                   DKK         USD
Espresso machine             17,788          3,086 (has been donated! THANK YOU!!!)
Coffee grinder (Espresso)      4,995             867
Coffee grinder (Black coffee) 4,375     759
Coffee brewer (Black coffee)  3,173      551
Display cooler (small)          3,750      651
Tapestry for wall                  1,500      260

Dishwasher                         22,089    3,832
Baking oven                           5,505       955
Toaster                                   1,961       340
Blender                                   5,019       871
Hand blender                           3,346       581

If you are interested in helping us out. Please email me (or leave a comment with your email address) and I will give you more details.

playing or working... a month of progress

Today marks my 1 month anniversary for my second term in Denmark. I can't believe it has only been a month because I feel like I have been back forever. We have been working hard in the shop. I have been in the shop, almost every day, slowly work away at all of the many projects and many tasks it takes to make a cafe. The past week I have gotten to add cementing walls to my list of experiences and tasks that I have accomplished while doing ministry. It has been a time of work, work, work. But, all work and no play makes Katie a boring girl. So, during the times of chipping and sanding away at floors, walls, and ceilings I have found ways to keep myself and others entertained. Let's just face it, I am good at finding crazy things to do. Like-

deciding to climb out of a window just because I can do it. :) But, really we have made a lot of progress in the shop. We are a day of work away from the professionals coming in. The professionals will paint the whole shop with the sprayer and lay the flooring. We have been delayed with the floor. When we discovered the hole that goes from our shop to the basement and that part of it was rotted wood, we had to stop and now wait for it to be examined before we can continue on. The only plus side of this is that because it is a building problem, and not just our problem we will have some help paying for the repair. To see the progress of the shop check out this photo album- sweet surrender copenhagen

At least all of the work has not been the gross, hard, dirty, exhausting kind. Last week we met with two different coffee suppliers. It was so nice to discuss and taste coffee, and of course it resulted in an over-caffeinated Katie. But, they had fresh Kenyan to try- I could not resist! We have chosen our coffee supplier. :) Now we are almost a coffee shop. We just need the espresso machine set up!

Our opening date has been moved to the first of May. We are still in need of Work & Witness teams this summer. We are also in a real need to purchase items for the shop. We still need kitchen and bar appliances. If you are interested in helping us, please email me. Thanks!