Lydia has written the latest update to the Helsinki Plant blog. She is a super wife and mother and an amazing woman of faith. Lydia and I have been married for 10 years. The last season, has been the best yet on our journey doing life together and embarking upon our church planting adventure here in Finland.
We have started
the New Year with gratitude and amazement for all God has done in the last
year. We still are thrilled that we are actually here. I often walk around thinking
‘wow we live in Finland’. This time last year we hadn’t got a clue how this
would actually happen but here we are now with a beautiful story to tell of how
God miraculously opened many doors for us to get here.
We are grateful
for a mild winter, adjusting to the weather was something that we were very
nervous about but graciously it has been a mild one, so far we have only seen
temperatures go down to -21 and we have all escaped the dreaded frost bite! We
have made some lovely friends in our time here so far, most weekends we socialise
with others. When we moved here we wondered how we would make friends, so it
has been lovely to be able to invite many people into our home. We are thankful
for the key people who have been given to us, who know the Finnish system and have
helped us get through different administrative and logistical problems.
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| Johan & Edith making the most of the playground at the local school. In the winter the council ice it over & the Children skate instead of gym. |
I am so grateful
for a wonderful job and a precious colleague, Prajakta, and 14 bouncing 2-4
year olds to have fun with. We are so grateful for super teachers for Edith and
Johan at their pre-school and daycare. They have both settled in well, we are
very proud of them as they have dived full on and headfirst into Finnish
culture! They are often both very tired and can be quiet at school, but their
teachers say they are gradually starting to understand and use finnish more and
more. I am so grateful for a husband who can do the stay at home role so well.
I arrive home from work to dinner on the table and happy children, you cant
beat that!
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| A super Christmas meal with Steve & Hannah Jacob [left] and Luke & Alison Morrison [right] who visited from England |
I think one of
our biggest thank you’s to God is for the Jacob family. God has totally wowed
me with His provision of this wonderful family into our lives. He knows us and certainly
knows how to provide all that we need! At the end of November the Jacobs told
us they wanted to join us for church. We have been meeting on Sundays, these
have been fun and crazy times. I don't think Kev would ever have imagined he
would have been a kids worker at church but he has done an amazing job and come
up with many fun and creative ways to communicate the different stories to the
children [who currently outnumber the adults].
We have also
just started a monthly book group with Steve and Hanna. We are reading Terry
Virgo’s The Spirit Filled Church. We are wanting to look at the type of
background we have come from and the values we hold dear. We want to take the
opportunity together to chat through how these kind of values fit into contemporary
Finnish culture and what they would look like as we continue to work towards
establishing a thriving, Spirit-filled New Testament church. These have been
good times, encouraging us to rely more on the Holy Spirit and through Him be a
distinctive people in all that we do.
When we left the
UK six months ago without a home organised for us to move into when we arrived, we had to experience relying upon Jesus in a new, immediate way. During the
first few months of our time living here there were many daunting new things
where we needed to absolutely depend on God, earnestly seeking his guidance and
strength. As we are gradually settling in some of the pressures of being ‘foreigners’
in a new culture have just begun to ease. This has in turn enabled us to start
to ease back and establish some more familiar routines.
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| Enjoying the outdoors is such a massive part of Finnish life |
Since the New
Year Kev and I have both felt such a desire to press in deeper to God. We are
grateful for the non-Christian friendships that we have, but want to know a new
boldness to bring Jesus into these relationships. Church is super but we long
for more people to join with us.
As we currently
stand, we are so grateful for all that God has done but we are now hungry to
press in deeper and to broaden our horizons and expectations. We want to keep
seeking the new. We have both been reading about Old Testament characters who
have moved to new lands and been blessed even though they were often living and
working in a Godless or secular culture. We want to ask for the same. That as
we attempt to live faithfully with what God has given us, we would be a
blessing and be blessed in this wonderful nation.
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| Barnabas enjoying the sledge he bought with his Christmas money! |
We constantly
come up with different ideas for what Kev should go for once Barns starts
daycare in August. At the moment we think Kev should pursue getting onto the
full time Finnish course which is free of charge if taken during the first
three years of arriving in Finland. One of the challenges is organising childcare to enable him to attend the meetings and interviews [all at various times of day] to get a place on the course. Although most Finns speak excellent
English, without the Finnish language we feel we will only ever be able to
become integrated up to a certain point. Although sometimes being from overseas makes the
conversation easier, at other times it creates something of a barrier and adds
to the suspicion here of people wanting to discuss religion or people giving
away something for free.
For this season
ahead we are really wanting to press in deeper to Jesus, we are so grateful for
the friendships that He has given us but now want to step out in boldness in
these relationships. We want to continue to enjoy and faithfully serve the
friendships God has gifted to us. But, we are looking for breakthrough. We are
looking to Jesus to do a miracle, which transforms an amazingly enjoyable
network of relationships into something where people powerfully encounter the
gospel of Jesus Christ and lives are won for Him and transformed with eternal
consequence.
Some wizzy fizzy
let’s get busy prayer points:
- For excellent foundations to continue to be built with the Jacobs and us.
- More people to be added to us [there are a number of people currently on the fringe].
- For boldness and blessing in our friendships with a number of non-christian families and for some of these to be miraculously saved & discipled.
- For us all to become super fantastic Finnish speakers.
- Wisdom for us about Kev's future plans and for opportunities to emerge.
Thank you Thank
you Thank you Thank you Thank you
For your on going love and
support!
Follow on twitter: @Kevin_J_Jones
Email: finlandvision@gmail.com
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