sjellebro, denmark

needing clouds.

So this is the last day of "the track." Sitting in an s.bucks in the Copenhagen airport. I never knew that this is what it would be. But it's become true.

Now it's here, the last day of an 18-month long school, and now I'm waiting to say goodbye to a friend in the airport.

Life can be so complicated. And life can turn around and be so simple - cold, but straight-forward.

Lord, would you bring some clouds to cushion this landing?

pinetrees, smokestacks, and holy water.

Finland is a country of approximately five million people. According to wikipedia, there are over two million saunas in Finland. This equates to about one sauna per household. The amount of sauna-ing that transpired during our stay in Finland left our skin feeling rejuvinated, to say the least.

During our time in Tampere, Finland, Koala and I were able to share our project with 6 different church groups, plus one night which combined a couple of young-adult small groups. Sometimes the times we shared were brief and summarized, but there were also many times where we were able to share on a much more in depth basis. Especially encouraging/mind-exercising were some of the conversations we had on the night with the small groups. Koala and I shared some of our experiences as we normally do, but the night turned into more of a multi-faceted conversation in which we discussed the potential of Christian involvement with matters relating to human trafficking, which naturally flowed into a time of prayer for the sea of needs that are present for these topics.

(koala, sharing at the Come Home group)

(for one exhibition, we had the help of a professional lighting engineer. his knowledge of kelvin variations and angles of illumination proved to be most useful. he also let us use some photos. keetos antti. photo: antti hiltunen)

(photo: antti hiltunen)

(photo: antti hiltunen)

(photo: antti hiltunen)

(photo: antti hiltunen)

Saturday the 7th, the first night we arrived in Finland, we were sharing with Vapis United, a youth group at the Free Church in Tampere. As I have done a few times before, I was sharing about one of our class’ experiences, telling the story of when we handed out flowers to some of the Prostitutes of Amsterdam’s red light district. As I spoke, I began to be re-impressed with the realization of how powerful such a small gesture of love was on that single rainy evening last spring. As I look at my daily life these days, I see how I often become forgetful of the power of the love of Christ that resides in my heart. I can so easily go about my days, forgetting how love of Christ that lives in my heart has the power to transform the world around me, including individual people and their relationships, in addition to larger, more complicated entities, i.e. communities and red light districts.


As we travel to different communities, churches, schools, and other groups, Koala and I continue to share our experiences that have been most relevant to these issues of human trafficking. There is always a bit of variation in how the stories are shared, but still, often it is hard to feel that we are sharing anything of significance, as we ourselves have heard and told our experiences far more than we can begin to recount. One evening at one of the youth meetings, with the Come Home group, also at the Free Church, one of the pastors we met (who was also our translator) proved to be a deep encouragement to us. His work consists largely of traveling to the public schools throughout the entire nation of Finland, teaching about Christianity as well as sharing about his own personal relationship with Jesus. We were encouraged by the ways that he continued to keep his walk with the Lord fresh even in the midst of consistent message giving. One of the verses he spoke struck me profoundly:

...The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Numbers 6: 24-26

And I’ve heard this over and over in church benedictions, and I always remember having liked it, but I guess I had forgotten about it. In it I saw though how even with heavy luggage, repetition, and weary feet, we can continue in what God has directed us to, even just because is face is dwelling on us, granting us the peace of his directed gaze.

(holuoksa sinappi? (btw, this spelling is probably wrong.))

(each thursday the church gives out free pea soup to citizens of tampere)

(i don't know if they had napkins)

(they told me how to say pigeon in finnish, but i've since forgotten)

(tampere, in its early days, was driven by industrialisation)

(pyyhajarvi means holy lake. we would later swim here.)

(there are no cars in finland.
the most common form of transportation is sled-dog mushing.)

(sauna: 125 degrees centigrade.
pyyhajarvi: .5 degrees centigrade.)

(seppo + hanna (harrakka) taipale)

(päivi + the k-bear)

It would be hard to mention our experience of Finland without mentioning our beloved hosts, Seppo and Paivi Taipale. They showed us much about what it means to follow Christ in the normal, day-to-day living. They were kind to introduce us to the Finnish way of life, which includes, but is not limited to:

sauna
winter fresh-water swimming
ice Skating
snowy sommersaults
floorball
makkara (Finnish Sausage)

(watch out, the yankee has a destructive slap-shot)

This is the paragraph where I was going to ask you to pray with us for a place to stay for our upcoming time in Copenhagen. A couple days ago, we hadn’t an idea where we would call home during upon our arrival in Denmark’s capital city. My eyeballs were tantalized this morning when I saw in an email that our contacts had found an apartment for us to stay in at a local church. So, tomorrow when we take the train into Copenhagen, we can rest easy knowing we have a place to lay our heads at night. Praise the Lord.

Secondly, we would value your prayers for open doors to share the project with groups in and near Copenhagen. We have a couple events planned for certain, namely a documentary night with a social awareness group on the 19th, and an exhibition in a café on Sunday the 22nd. Copenhagen is a big city, and we feel able and willing to share nearly anywhere, we just need God to direct us to the right places and people. Pray for encounters that are ordained and directed by the hands of the Lord.

Lastly, I also wanted to inform you that due to visa limitations and other circumstances, on the 27th of March, I will be leaving the soil of Europe to return to the blustery but beautiful state that is Washington. The entirety of plans are uncertain, but I do know that for now, God has placed it in my heart to share the project in Ellensburg, throughout Washington, and wherever else it would work out in the good ‘ol U.S. of A. I will do my utmost to keep you posted on the dates, locations and other details of such events.

(bye bye helsinki)

farewell stockholm / hello tampere.

music:
"För Sent För Edelweiss"
Håkan Hellström
För Sent För Edelweiss
2008 EMI

Saturday, the 7th of March, we arrived in Helsinki, Finland. We then proceeded by bus to our current location of Tampere. We have been warmly welcomed by the parents of some Finnish friends we met in Kona. We have been showered with hospitality and introduced to the wonders of the Finnish sauna, complete with snow-sommersaults.

It looks like we will be sharing in various churches and groups in the area until next Monday, March 16th, when we will leave for the final leg of the tour in Denmark.

from the swedish bible belt to a famed biologist's former stomping grounds

(jönköping is a pleasant city on a lake)

Monday night, the 23rd of February, Koala and I arrived in Jönköping, Sweden.

First of all, I must clarify the pronunciation of this city. I think the most accurate way I can describe this with American English spelling is to say: Yonshepping.

After the difficulties we had in Stockholm with trying to make connections, it was such a relief to arrive in a place where we already had previous friendship established. Our friend Bella, who we knew previously from YWAM in Kona, Hawaii, has been studying in Jönköping for the last couple years. We were excited to find that she had been able to set up quite a few different events with both public high schools, and some of the churches in the area. For our week spent in Jönköping, we were able to share in three public high schools, and four churches.

(sofia kyrkjan, where we shared with a small discussion group)

Public High schools always prove to be a good challenge. In these places, we were certainly given restrictions on how much we can actually talk about our faith, but it challenges us to translate the gospel into more common forms of speech. Every time we share in one of these settings, it becomes clear how practical the gospel of Jesus can be. For example: we were able to talk with a Media focus high school (most of the high schools in Scandinavia seem to have some sort of focus.)

One of the things God put on my heart to discuss was truth. I believe with my whole heart that if people in the media (whether it be news television, newspapers, radio, design, etc.) were to be searching for the ultimate truth in any topic or issue, they would be brought face to face with a need for solutions, and these solutions ultimately will be found in the infinite wisdom and knowledge that is found in Christ (Colossians 2:3). We discussed a bit how if they are willing to portray the truth of an issue, even if it is hard for people to hear, even if it makes some people uncomfortable, the whole-truth they communicate will stand out, even when it is compared with a host of well-prepared half-truths.

(ali-john, who we met at the local train station. he's originally from gambia.)

Whether we’re sharing in churches or schools, often people will ask us, “What can I do to help these people (those affected by the abuse of sex and/or money)” It’s a good question.

I am challenged because I can’t give people a direct plan to end human trafficking in the next five years (or some other concrete date.) This becomes an interesting issue in that we see it is something that we have to be willing to engage with in the way we live life. It is not just something we can donate money to, and it is not just something for which we can boycott a product or a company. It seems like this issue requires a bit more of an engaged response. And for myself this is a challenge.

We’ve talked to churches that are concerned about human trafficking and prostitution. Many churches want to establish ministries to deal with these problems, and to bring the women, children and men who have been affected into places of healing from the abuse that they have endured/given. This, however, is not so easy as just walking out to the streets and beginning “ministry.” If people are to leave lives of prostitution behind to build fresh, healthy lives, they are going to need new places – havens - where they begin something new. It would be hard for change to take root if we only love people for a couple hours only to let them return to their “night jobs” – but change can begin to take root when we see that life and ministry aren’t two different things.

And I hope this is not taken as a hypercritical diatribe. It is something I struggle with myself. How to I prevent my life and my faith from being two separate things? I’m learning to become convinced that being a follower of Christ must induce a tangible difference in the state of our world.

(johannes, johan, and koala on what is arguably the longest bench in all of europe.)

(some photos on display at pingst kyrkjan)

(uppsala is a university town, with a lot of bicycles)

(there are also a lot of canals in uppsala)

(dom kyrkjan)

Tuesday, March third, Koala and I waved goodbye to Jönköping and traveled by train to the city of Uppsala, which is a bit less than an hour north of Stockholm. Uppsala is also the hometown of the founder of binomial nomenclature, Carolus Linnaeus. Here, Bella also helped to arrange for us to share in three high schools, and a young adult group in a church. It felt to be a very productive time, and we received positive feedback from many of the students – it is evident that many young people are concerned for the state of our world, and this to me is an encouragement.

As we shared Wednesday evening with the college aged group in a church, God directed me to a verse, which I found to be edifying as we continue on the journey of learning to walk out the practicalities of Jesus –following. I Peter 1:3 says,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

In accepting forgiveness of our sins through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the God who created the planet earth (and all of it’s surrounding accessories) gathers us towards His hope that is a moving reality. This hope to me lies partly in knowing that a hope in Christ is not one that is static or stationary, but rather one that is kinetic and transportable, jumping up and down.

We often feel dry, but it is refreshment, rehydration even, to come across scripture that speaks so directly to what we’ve been in need of. So, we continue to share about need in the world, and we continue to share about hope – though now we are pleased to keep in mind that the hope is moving.

Huskvarna/Jönköping: February 23 - March 1

tall spires, tall deeds.

Stockholm is beautiful. As we de-boarded the bus from Helsingborg, and began to transport our mass amounts of luggage up to our hostel, we were sweating and tired and frustrated with unruly baggage, but we were also struck by the peace of large, slowly falling snowflakes.

For the first few days, we were able to meet up with our school leader, Paul Childers, for a sort of pastoral visit. Paul was on his way through Europe as part of an around the world trip for photogenX and some of the other ministry work He is a part of, so he was able to make a quick stop to connect with us. We were able to discuss the tour thus far, as well as discuss the logistics of what is to come. It was refreshing to do business in person, as well as watch CNN, discuss world politics, and visit the Nobel Museum, amongst other things.

(santa klara kyrkjan: certainly not our normal venue)

During our time in Sweden’s big city, Koala and I were able to connect with one of the state churches in downtown Stockholm, Santa Klara Kyrkan. It is not uncommon in Sweden to see massive, beautiful churches, but it is quite unique to work with a church whose action can back up such tall spires. It was always a surprise to consider the variety of walks of life that the people were coming from: within a matter of an hour, I talked to a Romanian Gypsy (we spoke in Spanish), a Pakistani, a Chilean, and a Frenchman from Algeria – and these were just a few of our acquaintances. The church has a large influence in the community of downtown Stockholm, as they minister to the homeless, immigrants, and prostitutes on a regular basis. I was taken aback at all the activity and people that come through the building on a daily basis: this is certainly not a church that is sleeping.

They allowed us to share a small bit as part of their prayer meeting, and they also had us pray for a couple of the women in the church who are committed to working with local prostitutes on a regular basis. It was evident that we weren’t necessarily telling this group something new; more so, I think, or at least my prayer is that we may have been an encouragement for them to continue in a direction in which they are already moving.












Later in the week we were able to connect with a couple of other churches, New Life - an international church which includes upwards of 45 nationalities - as well as Tomas Kyrkjan – a smaller church with a beautiful mix of traditional liturgy and more “modern” forms of worship. We stayed around after these services to introduce our project to those who were interested. This always provides for great conversations and new connections.

One of my favorite quotes from the week came from the pastor of Tomas Kyrkjan, an American citizen who has become the pastor of a Swedish congregation. In trying to describe the origins of the Swedish language, he stated:

"If German and English had a baby, it would be Swedish."

This was certainly a statement for the ages, but Koala and I were thoroughly impressed as we eventually heard him give a sermon entirely in Swedish. Impressive I must say.


The time in Stockholm was a challenge in that we had not been able to pre-arrange any sort of events with the churches. The ways in which we were able to share were blessings considering the short notice with which they were planned, but we sometimes found ourselves frustrated, wondering how the project was really going anywhere. This was a good time to keep in mind the deeper goals behind this project, knowing that this is information that must come into the light, whether we are able to share in huge church settings, or just single conversations, one by one.