July 2010 Update

Howdy from Finland!

Thus begins yet another installment of the life and times of Danny in Finland. We have transitioned into the summer schedule, meaning that the month of July is the time when a lot of people are taking vacations, some in the countryside, others in other countries. There is still constant activity in Helsinki, but after being here last summer, I am aware of the reduction in bodies moving around in the street. You can point out the tourists, mainly by the maps they are carrying, but also by the posture they have as they walk. Our church Espoo House-Church (Espoon Kotikirkko, www.espoonkotikirkko.fi) is still in our summer break. I believe that we have our first time back the first Sunday in August, but then the next week, we head to the Kesäranta campground to have a retreat. Following that, we are back in full swing. The only question being where we are going to meet. We have been trying to move out of the community building we have been using and into what is called the Albergan kartano (Alberg mansion), but the issue with that is that we were going to replace a free church that is currently meeting there now. That free church, at last I heard, needed a large sum of money to afford the move to a larger building. So, we wait. The community building is still fine for our needs, but the kartano would definitely help as we try to grow.
I have a bit to touch on, so I claim now that my story telling may be abbreviated. I know that in the past I have assumed that I wouldn’t write too long in relating stories only to see that fall apart in the next paragraph. Well, onwards and upwards…
Soon after my last newsletter, I spent a little more time with Olli, the Finn I met through my “Talk to a Texan” short-lived but hopefully to be revived ministry. He is a metal head, and well, Finland is the “promised land of metal” (not my words, search for that App on iTunes if you doubt me). He finds concerts and invites me along. His normal set of friends don’t really attend any of the concerts with him, and I enjoy the chance to make an investment in his life. I’ve shared the Gospel with him twice, and he has come to our church one time. Pray for Olli that he will come to know the Lord through either my actions or the witness of a believing Finn. Oh yeah, at the time of our last concert, we were drawing near the summer solstice, so as we came out of the club at 1:30am, the sky still had some light in it. I think that I noticed that the sun started to rise at about 2:45am, just before I got back to my apartment. I could have had another concert opportunity with Olli, but I was out of town when that Ronnie James Dio (google him if you don’t know him) Tribute concert was happening.
Well, June was a push for prayerwalking. Overall, I had three Finns join me. Jouko, a member of our church, Meri, who I met through trying to start a street ministry, and Tomas, an unbeliever with a lot of social anxieties. I had hoped that more people, especially some of the university students, would join in. It was included in a local free church’s Month of Prayer push, but none of their members showed up for the Saturday walks. I had walks on Mondays and Wednesdays as well, but missed one or two because of other activities that arose. Maybe in the Fall I could make another push for it. Pray for Finland. The people continue to hurry about unaware that they need the saving grace that only comes from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I turned 29 back on June 16th. We threw together a small party at the Sivonens, the career family here. I invited some friends through Facebook and a few showed up. Olli, previous mentioned, took the hour bus ride to come, which I appreciated greatly. The Matikkas, Tommi, Maria and Flora came, as well as Sami and his daughter Anina (her name is a palindrome) Nivala. Heidi Sivonen made chili (like we have in the States, the word “chili” here has a different meaning) and some of the sweetest, jalapeño cornbread I’ve ever had. Pretty good for a California chica. We then watched 5 or 6 Bugs Bunny cartoons projected on the living room wall. Yes, I planned that part. Very simple, the Sivonen kids were in bed on-time, and I made it back to Skype with my family. It was nice and low-key.
A couple of days later, I made the trip with the Sivonens to Jyväskylä (let’s go with Joo-va-skoo-la, for pronunciation, round the lips on the oo parts) for the yearly Baptist Summer Celebrations, or Kesäjuhlat for short. Over 300 people attended, including 80 or so of the Karen people of Burma. They are a people who were forced out of Burma because of violence, and perhaps, they will never be able to return there. I performed on the first night with Jere, my roommate, and Seppo, a musician in our church. I think it went well. I met a Finn the next night, and through very simplified Finnish, he complimented my playing on the previous night. Jere is from the Jyväskylä area, so he was kind and invited me to stay at his family’s home, a beautiful, wooden house set in the woods. I was able to spend time with friends I had made the previous summer, and I heard so much Finnish through sermons and songs that I think my brain shut off a little bit. Pray for the Baptists here in Finland. Many of the members are of the older generation and seem to resist the change that the union may need to make to be viable in a changing Finnish culture.
Juhannus (Midsummer) is huge here, in the sense that everyone either leaves or goes to a park to celebrate it (celebrations tend to include copious amounts of alcohol, by the way). Jere invited me to join him in going to a get-together of the Tampere Baptist church at their campground area. There was definitely a God-moment that happened surrounding this. As I mentioned earlier, Tomas, the unbelieving Finn, joined me for prayerwalking once. Actually, he sent me a text saying that he wanted to come. I was surprised. As we were sitting in Esplanadi park in the city center, I mentioned going with Jere to this Juhannus celebration, and he mentioned that he wasn’t doing anything special except probably getting drunk. I informed him that he didn’t have to do that, but to have a good day anyways. Well, here comes the God-moment. The next morning I was trying to buy a ticket from Helsinki to Jyväskylä to meet Jere, but the website kept saying that I couldn’t purchase a ticket that way. I tried several different methods, but nothing worked. I decided to alter my schedule in a way that would allow for me to purchase the ticket at a travel office. Just as I had decided this, Jere sent me a text telling me to invite Tomas. I promptly did this, and a few texts later, Tomas was going to join me on the trip. The idea popped into my head to try to buy the tickets online again. I changed the number of passengers going to “2”, updated the page, proceeded to the purchase page, and…it worked the first time. So there, I believe was a God moment because Tomas was able to hear the Gospel several times that weekend and see Christians enjoying each other’s love and friendship in the Lord. He came with us to a huge Pentecostal festival (Helluntaikonferenssi) in Keiruu and heard the Gospel there as well. Pray for Tomas that he will come to know the Lord. Up until recently, he thought of himself to be an atheist, but now, he is thinking that there is something more to all of this life.
Moving out of my apartment seemed as though it would be simple. Jere’s family had let us borrow their Škoda station wagon, Mikko, my supervisor, was going to help us move some furniture the next day, and most of everything that was left was just cleaning. We stayed up a little later watching some comedy videos thinking that the next day would be calm and easy. Well, low and behold, at 3am, not an hour and half later, the apartment door opened. I was in a haze because sleep still had a strong hold on me, but I was hearing someone move around in the entry hall. Then some knocks on Jere’s door, then some knocks on my door with a voice saying, “Uh, is anyone there? I am the owner of this apartment.” I got dressed quickly and opened the door to meet Simon, our Chinese landlord who had just flown in from Thailand with his wife and mother-in-law. Now, we knew that they were coming, but through email Mikko had explained that we would be moving out on that Tuesday, and the apartment would be empty on Wednesday. Simon took the email to mean that we would be moved out BY Tuesday. I didn’t tell him that he was wrong at that point. I think Mikko did later, but at the moment I had three people who thought they were going to an empty apartment on my hands. Simon told me to go back to bed while he went and brought his wife and mother-in-law up to the apartment. In his absence I opened Jere’s door to get his take on the issue. He was none too pleased, but we decided that we would get up at 7am to get as much out of the apartment as possible. Mikko would be there at noon to help us move out, but I sent him a message immediately at 3am to tell of our little, uh, situation. Back in my room, Simon and the ladies came back in, had either a conversation or an argument in Chinese (not sure what either sounds like), and then they disappeared. So, at this point I was trying to get to sleep because I knew that the day was going to be very long. Simon and crew returned a little while later. Luckily, our third roommate, Mikko (another guy), had moved out at the end of May, so the living room was available. We had put an extra bed in there, and when I got up at 7, I noticed that the ladies had taken it and Simon was on the couch. Immediately, Jere and I closed the doors to the bathroom and kitchen to reduce the noise of our cleaning. I tried to get Mikko (my supervisor) there earlier in order to get out. He agreed to come at 11am, but then later changed to noon again. With that schedule and Simon telling us after a few hours of cleaning that he and the ladies would actually be doing the cleaning, Jere and I hightailed it over to this new apartment to get as much as possible out of the old apartment as we could. By the time we got back, Mikko had showed up and we managed to get the last of Jere’s things into Mikko’s van. After a little bit of end-fo-contract haggling, we were released from the apartment and now are quite moved in at this new place. I will only be here until August 18th. Jere is getting married on August 14th and then going on his honeymoon. I will then move into the Sivonens apartment on the same day they leave for a stateside assignment. That apartment will be where I spend the duration of my remaining time here in Finland.
After all this moving excitement, I joined the Sivonens in going to Heinola to meet with the Pauls, the short-term IMB family here, for a few days of final hanging out. The Pauls are leaving next week for California and then to Fort Worth for seminary work. They had hope at one point to add a third year here, but with the birth of their daughter, Adelaide, moving back to the States was a better option. It was a really nice time there. The kids were almost always down at the lake swimming, we had sauna each night, I ran the grill one night, a crazy storm came through and nearly wrecked the patio furniture, I watched the kids while the Pauls and the Sivonens had a debriefing session, and we just enjoyed each other’s company.
After we had said our good-byes, the Sivonens and I headed north to Kesäranta for, I thought, only a camp the next week. I did not know until either on the way or actually there that we had come early for a celebration for a Finnish family who are working through Wycliffe Bible Translators. I had met the father last summer just days before they left out. It was a nice time, though, sitting through 3 sessions of presentations was a bit rough my brain (all in Finnish and with words I had never seen before). Everyone had gone back home on Saturday, so Sunday was a day to just be in the lake. We managed to get to a local church’s evening service and stayed a while talking with people there.
The next day brought about the commencement of a children’s camp that would last until that Thursday. It was hard trying to relate some things in Finnish to the kids, but I kept it simple. I shared a testimony through Jere’s translation on the first night. Ping pong is always the hit at these camps. On the last night we had a thing called a huviretki, amusement hike. An orange string was tied around different posts along a path. The children took turns being blindfolded, and followed the path around the main building. Along the way there were different stations that were intended to be entertaining to these young’ns left in the dark. The first station was one adult who would make noises at the kids, splash water in a bucket as the kids would try to step over an inflatable alligator, and throw water at their feet just to get them to jump. My station was next. We were supposed to be an airplane that took off from some jungle. The children would stand on a stainless steel plate and put their hands on the shoulders of one of the adults. Then two of us would lift it up the plate, making erratic movements but not going very high, while the adult upon whom the kid was resting their hands squatted down. The illusion was they had been lifted much higher than they actually were. We then asked the kids to step down from the plate while it was still in the air. It was only a few inches up, but many tried to jump off…with some hilarious results. At one point we instituted a storyline in which the plane was crashing and they had to get off quickly. Yeah, big fun. All this, and I got to be the night watchman that same Wednesday night. I had managed a 3-hour nap earlier in preparation for this, but the night was still hard. After a few battles with some guys who didn’t want to go to sleep, I settled into a rocking chair, reading a book from my iPod (yes, that’s possible), and playing some games on it as well. It never really became dark, just darker from 1am to about 3am. One girl was nice and relieved me of my duty at 5am for which I thanked her several times. We finished up the camp, did some major cleaning, and parted ways. Pray that the Gospel hit home with the kids and that they will be lead to faith in Christ.
Without his knowledge, a bachelor party had been devised for Jere. His good friend Juho, who lives perhaps 10 hours by car away from Helsinki in the city of Oulu, put together a trip to what could be called an “extreme” amusement park, a bucking bronco ride, some ATV tracks, some trapeze setups, two paintball ranges, and the topper…the bungee jump. We had lead Jere to believe that we were going to Heinola for his end-of-service evaluation. His civil service is up next month, so there was no reason to question the story. The problem that we were having was how far along the trip could we get before he realized something was up. I thought the moment that we were getting into the van in which sat Miikka, Jere’s friend, we had been found out. Even after Miikka had given Jere the traditional, Finnish bachelor party clothing (that is, anything that is ridiculously obnoxious… in this case, bright blue pants with purple trim, a blue soccer shirt, and a neon-orange cap) that Jere had figured it out. I hadn’t followed the Finnish conversation, so I was going on assumptions. It wasn’t until we were passing the exit to go to the supposed meeting house in Heinola did it hit Jere that there was more to the story. He still didn’t know what was going to happen. We stopped at the next ABC, which is a gas station/restaurant/mini-mall/coffee shop, and forced him to drive to the final destination in Mikkeli. There, we met two groups of his friends, one were the brothers and cousins of his wife-to-be, Elina, and the other group of guys I knew from the previous summer (13 guys in total). We had pizza in the city center of Mikkeli and then headed off towards the amusement park. Only until we were pulling into the park did Jere understand the plan. The first attraction…make him do the bungee jump (or here, the benji). It took a while, especially when the girl in front of him took 15 minutes to finally work up the courage to jump. Jere actually went over fairly quickly to a round of applause from the rest of us. A few more in our group jumped afterwards, but then…then came the big show. Paintball. We apparently had rented time for two hours. It was awesome, painful, awesomely painful, and painfully awesome. The two different fields made it nice for variations on the game. It was our 7 against their 6. I learned that to know that you were hit, there had to be an intense pain just under the orange paint on your clothing. Totally worth the trip. It took two days before I had accounted for all of my bruises. Nothing like being in a war situation with orders being barked out in a language you’ve only studied for a year. The only way to top this was to head for a cabin on a lake. One of Jere’s friend’s family summer cabin was near Mikkeli. We spent the evening eating, joking, having a sauna, and watching a soccer game. The next day was swimming and hanging around. We concluded the party with prayer and some praise choruses. Cleaned up, and headed home. Pray for Jere and Elina as they are being wed in Multia on August 14th. They are a very godly couple and represent the future of Finnish Baptists.
In conclusion, this summer is a time of transitions. As I mentioned earlier, the Pauls and the Sivonens are both leaving Finland. The Sivonens to return next May, and the Pauls will pursue whichever direction God leads them in. If that is back here to Finland, then I think that they are quite content with that, and to somewhere else, content as well. Pray for the Pauls as Jason, the father, pursues study in seminary, and as Heather, the mother, tends to their daughters, D and A (I haven’t gotten permission to use their names), and pursues whatever she is lead to pursue. Pray for the Sivonens as Mikko, the father, will be teaching at California Baptist during their time in the States, and as Heidi tends to the three children, B, T, and P (again with the permission thing). I believe that unless my time is extended for a month, I won’t cross paths with the Sivonens in Finland again, at least not during this time around. Also pray for Jeremy, a soon-to-be Journeyman, his time in orientation, and his travel over here. He should be here in early October if all goes well with his residence permit application. We will be roommates in the Sivonens’ current apartment and will be focusing on university student ministry in Helsinki while continuing to support the church plant that the Sivonens help start. I am starting to meet people in the university cafeterias in preparation for work this Fall. I have already shared the Gospel with a girl from Spain, but I would like to start a group for college students before the year is up. Sidenote: pray for a Finnish sister, Meri (of whom I mentioned during the prayerwalking section). She is part of a team in Italy which is part of a larger missionary activity for the Mediterranean region. Pray blessings on her work and her encounters with unbelievers there.
In conclusion, Part II the Sequel: Danny Finally Wraps Things Up, thank you for your prayer support, the letters that are sent, and the comments on my Facebook. I find it all very encouraging. Pray that I will see how God is wanting to use me in my remaining 9 months in this beautiful, but lost, country. Pray that Finland will see the rays of light breaking through the darkness, realize that they need that light, and that that darkness will come crashing down to the shouts of hallelujahs and amens.

God Bless You.

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