Helsinki, Finland

June 9:
In the morning we had breakfast, checked out of the Turku Hostel, and walked for the train. As we walk to the train we had a good time of prayer. As we walked by the library they were just opening the doors. We went in and sent some emails. I did my first mass emailing. The train ride to Helsinki, Finland was so smooth. You could barely feel the train begin to take off. It took about 2 hours. Once in Helsinki we decided on a hostel and made our way there. On the way we must have been looking lost because a local girl named Niina Peterson asked if we needed help. We had a great conversation right there on the street corner. She offered to take us to her families home to show us what the Finns live like out in the country. Hopefully it all works out. She’s 22 and the guy she lives with is 27. They’ve been together for 6 years. She wants to marry but he doesn’t. I was thinking, “Why buy the cow if the milk is for free?” She doesn’t understand and wants to start having kids. Marriage has been attacked here and most people just live together unfortunatly.

Once at the hostel we locked up our packs and took off the go get some food. We walked straight up to a window and on it, it advertised a bible study going on. We went in and listened. It was an American missionary teaching on different covenants. It was a little dry and boring. I think they really need a dose of the Holy Ghost. He makes all the difference. Afterward they broke into smaller groups to pray but our group had nothing to pray about so I prayed. Prayer is more caught than taught, I hope they caught some of the spirit of prayer. Afterward a woman gave us some contacts in the Baltic area and showed us to the grocery store. Back at the hostel we met Dan, from Chicago. He’s been traveling around the world with the money he’d saved for graduate school. He had actually grown up in Broken Arrow, OK of all places. Talk about a small world. He shared how Scandinavia used to be such a clean place. Since all the immigrants started coming from Africa and the Middle East graffiti and vandalism are now an ugly problem.

June 10:
Today we had breakfast with some old man who had fought in the Korean War. Now he travels looking for a place where he can live well on the pension he draws. He told me not to go to Iraq. We then walked all over the city. We led 3 Finnish boys around 15 years old to the Lord. It was quite easy. We then tried to witness to 4 young Nigerians but they already knew the Lord. We built them up and encouraged them in the Lord. They believe they have a chance at a future here. Back at the Hostel I tried out the famous Finnish Sauna. It was HOT and it really seemed more stressful than relaxing. I kept thinking of persecuted Christians and the tortures they experience. Then the thought came of GRACE. Thank God for Grace to do and go through anything with joy.

June 11:Friday
Today we found a place that had free internet but you could only use it for 15 minutes at a time. I met a guy named Nathan there from L.A.. He’s been doing missions work in Russia and had to leave for 3 days to get a new visa. His other 6 week visa had run out. We prayed together there in the store and said good bye. He showed us were the Russian Consulate is on a map so we could go apply for visas. We then went to the grocery store and got food for dinner. Sandwiches, fruit, and yogurt again. It seems to be a common meal for us on the road. Its kinda hard shopping in stores where everything is written in foreign languages.

This afternoon at the hostel we had a good discussion with Alex from Germany and Mejia (Maria with a rolled R). She was very open and said her sister had been born again. She wasn’t ready now but I pray she won’t wait too long. She’s 23.
I've had thoughts of marriage again lately. It seems that I have such an unusual life that it will take a special women to hook up with me. If I was normal I would have a normal job and probably a normal wife, if there is such a thing. As a normal guy with roots you could persue any beautiful woman. But, my roots are in the Lord and I seem to keep moving as he directs. Perhaps it's a season that will also come to an end or God will give her grace as well to go with me. Maybe I could put down some roots in the Middle East.

Sweden to Finland

June 5:
We locked up our bags and walked all over the city of Stockholm. It was awesome and very old. Later on we caught another bus to Uppsala, about 1.5 hours away. We walked all over the city looking for a place to stay. We finally found a hotel in town. It was a nice room and we got a good nights sleep. Nathan slept over 12 hours.

June 6: SUNDAY
On Sunday we got a late start, had a great breakfast, and missed everybuss to church. So we walked, not knowing were the church was but eventually found it. We made it for the last half hour. We met 2 ladies that bought us lunch that were really intrested in missions. One was RoseMary and the other I can't remember. We got to meet the assistant pastor also. After lunch with the ladies we took the bus back to the hotel and checked out. We caught the train back to Stockholm.

In Stockholm we baught tickets on an all night boat ride to Turku, Finland. Instead of taking the bus to the ship we walked. On the way we noticed some men on horses near the parliment building. We went to check it out and found a whole bunch of people waiting around anticipating something. Finally, a horn blew and the horses all got excited and acted like they would jump if they had to stay in one place any longer. The next thing we know the KING of Sweden and wife and kids are being escorted away in horse drawn carriages! It was awesome to see and one of his daughters was really beautiful and around my age. After they all passed we walked through the old town of Stockholm where the streets are really narrow and old looking. Many buildings dated back to the 1600’s.

We finally came to the ship and waded throught all the cars waiting to drive on. We finally boarded and made our way to the top deck of the ship. The view was great. At 8pm we started to move. The ride and views were awesome. There were so many islands. It was like the land had shattered like glass and water filled the spaces between. It was like that all the way to Finland. Every island had a small cottage on it and many mansions lined the banks. I stayed up on the deck as long as I could. It eventually got really cold and I went inside to find Nathan. There were some gippsies on board and they were quite a sight. They had some pretty funky clothes on and really stood out. Once inside we had a great dinner and tried to go to sleep. It was so uncomfortable and sleep was next to impossible.