​Ann Marie Korswing first became active in the World Day of Prayer movement 65 years ago, as a 24-year-old newlywed in the city of Umeå in northern Sweden. The involvement continued during her years in Mozambique, where she and her husband Rune served as Methodist missionaries from 1958 until December 1975. A nurse by profession, Ann Marie designed and oversaw the construction of a hospital that now is one of only three teaching hospitals in Mozambique.

”In Mozambique, the Day of Prayer celebrations lasted an entire day,” she remembers. ”We began with Bible studies in the morning, followed by lunch and then the main worship service in the afternoon.”

After returning to Sweden, Ann Marie was elected to the Swedish WDP Committee which she headed from 1986 to 1997. Her first international conference was the Centennial Jubilee in New York 1986, ”a very memorable experience”. She also represented Sweden at the IC meetings in Jamaica (1990), Australia (1995) and Cape Town, South Africa (1999). She also participated in several European meetings. The first one she attended was held in the DDR when Germany was still divided into East and West, and Ann Marie recalls the hardships this entailed for the delegates, with extreme security measures and ”strange” food options. ”But foremost in my memory are all the fantastic people I’ve been privileged to meet through the World Day of Prayer,” she says.

After stepping down as Committee chair, Ann Marie remained on the Committee as an adviser to her successor, Barbro Karlsson, and she still attends committee meetings in her capacity as ”honorary member”. Next year she will celebrate her 90th birthday.

Honored by the WDP Sweden Committee