Today we woke up to a nice breakfast. Kristian had a nice morning scheduled for us to do a little touring in the town of Jyvaskyla. We started out with a little ice skating on the lake. Ice skating in Finland! Why? Because it’s cold here and you can!
This wasn’t just a skating rink though, this was a plowed path around the whole lake. I think it was a couple miles long. Which, ya know, sorta took the fun out of it. It was kinda hard. We’re in Finland though, that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Can we endure the heat? Can we endure the cold? Good times!
After we went to the lookout tower and then to a nice lunch. Kristian has been here before and he likes nice food. We eat pretty fine today! I’m glad the enduring thing doesn’t apply to the food! (Just the candy).
Early afternoon we went to the mansion that is to be the meeting place. The believers from out of town will stay in the rooms on the second floor. The first floor has the kitchen, the small fellowship area, and the main room for the services. It is an old building and I did not quite think to research the history of the place. It was adequate to our needs, but a little more room would have been nicer.
The believers really came together to put this on. Some donated money for the food, some for the building. Many did setup/cleanup/food duties. All the believers were happy that they were able to come together and have a good time in the Lord. I was quite impressed and Bro Kristian and Bro Petteri are two young men who had the inspiration to do this, yet even the elders came and had a part.
Setup being completed, we headed back to Bro Petteri’s to change for the service. Bro Kristian and I reviewed my notes, and he marked the scriptures for easy access to translate during the service.
As we head back to the mansion, Bro Gideon’s car with a group of Africans is in the ditch. A couple other cars are shuttling the group up to the mansion. Two other cars can’t get up the small hill to the mansion. It’s time for service to start, and Bro Kristian is starting to stress. I tell him that everything is fine, we’ll get through it, all is well, don’t stress. He looks at me with his calm features and tells me he isn’t stressed. I know better though.
Though the devil was trying to fight us, we are more than conquerors. As I’m helping push a car up the hill, some of the brothers are greeting me and asking how I like Finland so far, expecting it to be very cold for me again. No, it is like Minnesota or South Dakota, this isn’t the first time I’ve pushed a car up a slick road!
It’s an odd feeling here, I feel like I’m in Russia, which shouldn’t be odd, it’s only 400km east. It’s just that the building is old and slightly cold. The language is different, and while it’s not really similar to Russian, yet the music is dominated with minors and what I “imagine” Russian music to be like.
One day when we went to Helsinki, then we went up to Kuopio. It was fast time–I was fasting and praying.
They sing, the Russians and all, some of them were there, and the Finns. They sang a beautiful song, “On Golgotha.” And all their songs are in minor, very sad. There was an Englishman down at the bottom below the tower, drunk. We led him to Christ when we come down. ~ WMB 51-0719
They called me up to preach and I spoke on “Beholding Christ”. The translation I found was very difficult. Finnish is…longer. It just takes longer to speak it with its cadence of pauses and longer words. It is the most difficult single language I have preached with it being translated.
It takes time for the people to “warm up”, and it’s not just because it’s a little cold in the building. The Finnish people are very conservative and reserved. They are definitely shy to start with. As I continue to preach, people begin to warm up. So between the language pacing and the people, it is difficult to really get going, but by God’s grace I continued on and things began to get smoother.
We had a nice service and some fellowship following. Mostly sandwiches with lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers. This is pretty standard and available no matter the meal. Still, it is a filling meal and easy on the stomach. We have some nice fellowship as I was able to greet LV and Maria whom I’ve not seen for a while. Most of the rest of the group is still warming up, getting the courage to talk to the American, and test their English – a very scary proposition for the Finn.
Another late night fellowshipping, and we return to Bro Petteri’s house. Kristian tell me breakfast is back at the mansion at 9. No sleeping in for the preacher?
And any pastor’s wife knows to watch him on Monday if he’s had a big day on Sunday, because he’s… You just better let him sleep, I guess, on Monday morning. Be the best thing for him to sleep it off. And that’s a good thing, because that’s what God let Elijah do, kinda sleep it off. ~ WMB 59–0609
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