We drank a lot of coffee in Finland

So. Finland.

First, Jesus rocks my socks off.

Three years ago is the first time Finland every even inserted my mind. I heard about it, and it intrigued me for whatever reason…after the fact I didn’t think about it much, but it was a place sitting in the back of my mind. When I came to Hungary I met one of the students here from Finland, which I thought was so cool. I decided to study Finnish for my language study…just as something different. Then 10 day outreaches came up, and there was one to Finland. Up until that point I had been praying the Lord would show me where to go, and as soon as I heard about Finland I instantly knew that was where I was supposed to go. I have to make a confession though… As the 10 days were being presented to us they said we would be doing street evangelism…and to be honest this thought crossed my mind..

“Oh I don’t think I can go there…”
for the sole fact there was going to be street evangelism…

Then the other 10 days were presented…

They all were going to be involved in street evangelism too.

So I said ok Lord.

This may sound pathetic, and I admit it is. But understand that the thought of doing street evangelism put my stomach in knots….In big knots. The ones that you try and try to undo, but you just can’t.

That fear led me to prayer. I just started praying the Lord would remove that fear.

We were a team of 6. Clemens, Joe, Abbe, myself, and our leaders, Wes and Nicole.

I stepped off the plane last Saturday in Turku Finland, filled with anticipation and excitement.

[-I stole a few of my friends Clemen’s pictures, just an FYI-]

The Turku airport…is…well…an old warehouse.

We were greeted by three guys who drove us to the place we’d be spending our week. We were super blessed, as they put is up in a super cute and nice house, with plenty of room, and a kitchen.

Sunday morning we started our first day of the week we would spend laughing, drinking a ton of coffee, fellowshipping, and sharing the gospel with people.

We had breakfast, devos, and then went to the church at 8 to set everything up.

Clemens, Joe, and myself played with the kids. Wes taught, and Abbe and Nicole helped in worship. The afternoon we spent eating pizza, and hanging out at the church, that night we had an incredible time of fellowship and prayer back at the house.

Monday morning we spent getting a mini tour of Turku, and that afternoon we spent in the mall witnessing. It. Was. Awesome. That day I woke up, I felt more nervous than fear, and the Lord completely removed the fear, and it was by HIS power. It is easy to say ‘yeah God is powerful’ but when you get to see it, and experience it…it’s just…radical. No one got saved right there, but I know seeds were planted, and the people we talked too, we talked to them for a reason. We may not get to see the fruit, but the Lord completely knows, and I strongly believe He will continue to work in those people’s lives.
The doom church!



There were these cute little booths set up outside in the square.

I have a title for this post for a reason. We seriously drank so.much.coffee. Several times a day, everyday. Hi, my name is Sara and I am now a coffee addict. This place here below was so good. I guess it has won a lot of awards for it's coffee.

Tuesday morning we got to go to this really cool market, then walked up to this spot that overlooked Turku. Cool story about this, that morning we took the bus from the house we were staying into the city, well our bus ended up having problems, so we were late getting into the city. Well, when we were on the hill overlooking the city, there were a bunch of teenagers out from school at that time, so Wes, Nicole and Joe were able to go share with them. I just thought about how, if our bus hadn’t been late, we wouldn’t have been up there at that time…and those kids wouldn’t have been there.

The afternoon was spent in the mall again. That night we babysat the pastor’s and worship leaders kids, so they could go out with their wives.

Wednesday was a work day in the church. We built a shelf for their sound equipment, and painted behind the sink.

Thursday we spent the day in Helsinki. It’s a city two hours from Turku, and they have a church service there Thursday night. So we walked around, had an awesome picnic by the Baltic Sea, then that night had the church service.

We found a new friend!

Friday we spent just kind of hanging out with everyone, and that night we had men and woman’s prayer groups. It was so good!

Afterward I got to experience a whole new things….

Sauna.

The first time I heard we were going to be doing it, I didn’t really want to. But then I decided I did, and I am so glad I did. The house we stayed in had one, so we were able to do it there. Oh.my.goodness people. It makes your skin feel amazing, opens up those clogged up pores, and just makes you feel amazing. Right after you take a nice shower, and go to bed, and you will sleep like you have never slept before. I decided that is truly is magical….Maybe not, but something pretty close.

Saturday we got to visit Turku castle, and go on a picnic to a pretty little island. We were also able to spend with the families and everything again, and we left that night. Everyone is so great, and so genuine, they were just incredible.

So yeah, the best things about the trip: Coffee, chocolate, and sauna.

Ok, so not the best things. But those three things were right up there. In all seriousness though, God completely revealed Himself more to me, and really showed me how it is by His strength alone, and not by my might, or strength. I couldn’t have done anything by my own strength, but it was by His empowering, and just getting to see and experience how good and powerful He is.

Honestly, I can’t find words.

He just pressed so hard on my heart to reach out to people, to really reach out, not to just sit on my thumbs and not do anything about it. When we were talking to people, I just saw this hopelessness, and they reminded me of these little lost puppies. So many of them said they had never thought about the ‘meaning of life’ they weren’t really living for anything, just day to day stuff.

If you want to see anymore pictures, go here!