Fifth Leg Finland, Yes Iceland

Hello All,

Our time in Finland is over, and it's been a great mix of busy and not busy, but always surrounded by dedicated Christians ready for their country to understand God in a new way. On our first day here, were given some insight on the Finnish mentality and average "religious" experience. Basically, if a Finnish person were in the same room as an elephant, they would be wondering what the elephant thinks of them. It's a huge generalization, but still says something. Also, most see Christianity as something that's for boring people. There are thick clear lines that are put in place by both sides where if you're a Christian you would never do this or go here, and if you aren't a Christian you would do those things or go to those places, and to become a Christian you would have to stop doing everything and become boring. Those are international thoughts, of course, but here, they seem to be pronounced. Depression and alcohol are also big things here.



The first city that we began doing things in was Tampere, which is north of Helsinki by 2 hours. On our first day there, the organizer for that city, Jukka, arranged a meeting for the youth leaders from the different churches in Tampere, and David spoke to them about seeking God and being radical in they way you reach people. This was the first time that they had assembled like this, and many of them were inspired and had questions. I saw many of them the next day during the setup for our show, involved in the many things that were going on there. They set up a skating half pipe, and hosted a competition, and also helped arrange the 4 hard core/metal bands that played before us. During the day, there were skaters, punks, normal folks, everybody, and vegetarians (due to a large vegetarian festival that was going on in the neighboring square) who came through to see and hear a bit. A couple of guys wrote satan's name in the gravel in front of the stage and after a few attempts, successfully drew a pentagram. Even though that's a bit funny, we did hear that there were some serious satanists who were praying against us during our show. When our show started more people came to see than earlier during the day, and by the end of the show, the seating was packed and the people in the surrounding areas were listening also. There were just two girls who came to talk with us more after the show, but I am certain that God was doing lots in everybody's hearts. I was able to talk with the two girls. One of them was not a Christian, and said that a month ago, she wouldn't have been open to thinking about God. She said that our show came at the perfect time, and she now was open to thinking about God. She is connected with Pilkku, a great lady who is the youth leader at one of the churches.

We had 2 more shows, which, at this moment, I don't have the time to be able to share about in detail... I went out for a meal of reindeer and mashed potatoes last night instead of working on this. Sorry. But it was very good. In short, the show in the far north in Rovaniemi was really good, at a great venue, and two guys responded and were incredibly serious about it. The third show was at a small small venue and was generally good.

Also, I experienced a true Finnish sauna that was very hot, and was interspersed by dunks in a very very cold lake. Perfect.


ICELAND

I know only a little about our time to come in Iceland. We're leaving today and will get there late tonight. Then, at 8 in the morning, we'll begin a 7 hour drive to the north then have a show. The next day drive again, have a show, the next day drive a little and have a show, and then we have a day or so to rest. So we're busy. Pray for endurance on this push.

Thanks for reading and praying along with us.
Love
Christa