Easter Skiing

We were invited by friends from church to go to Paltamo for the Easter weekend. We had such an enjoyable time. Their whole extended family of uncles and aunts and cousins (with children) was there, and it was a very festive family time. Most of the older generation only spoke minimal English, and I speak even less Finnish, so communication was slightly hampered, but aided by generous use of gesture and translation by any handy younger person. They reminded me so much of the older generation of Afrikaans people, except for the language of course. This was just because of the way they dressed, the way they interacted and the solid assumptions of their faith. It was so comforting to be in that environment, and so good to spend more time with our friends.

We went to a Maundy Thursday service, the first one I have ever been to, all in Finnish. I only caught a word or two, but needed no explanation for the ending of the service. Everyone has had communion, and while a man is reading some text (don't know), the priest first blows out a single candle from the 13 standing next to the pulpit, representing Judas, and then starts stripping the altar. All the other candles get blown out except for the one representing Jesus. All the lights are switched off, the altar is draped in black, and no decorations are left except for an arrangement of dry sticks. This is all done very steadily, and really brought home the lonelyness of Jesus on this night. This action was really violent in its symbolic power.

We spent a lot of time cross-country skiing, mostly on the lake next to our cottage, but also on a prepared track that had hills and turns to contend with. Now we cannot wait for next winter to arrive. I was given some skis, and bought boots, and Tracy borrowed skis from a friend of ours. It really is a full body workout, and is quite hard work, a bit like cycling, because you can at least rest on the downhill bits.

Paltamo is a small town, with about 3000 inhabitants, and still has a flowershop that leaves a section of the shop open at all times, if you have the right amount of change you can just leave it in a basket and take the flowers that you want. The shop has been run like that for 25 years!

Babies, Bible Study and Spring

We have had quite a weekend. We have known/suspected that Tracy was pregnant for some two weeks now, and took the home pregnancy test last weekend (first test I have had to pass in some time). Tracy started bleeding again on Saturday though, and we were very worried that we might lose this baby as well. Also not knowing where to go was a problem, together with the fact that we are not on the social system, and then they don't accept you at the hospital. You have to go to a private hospital. So I spoke to a friend of ours who is a doctor at church this morning. He said that it is an emergency and they must take us, and then directed us where to go. His wife had just had a baby and was still in the same maternity hospital, so he would meet us there when we arrive, and take us to the right people. What a blessing.

The nurses were very helpful and the doctor was a woman - which was good for Tracy, as she also does the whole gynae checkup, not just an ultrasound.

Anyway, she found a heartbeat, very clear - we could even see it on the screen. The baby is normal size for a 7 week old, and everything is OK. Thank you Jesus!! We had so many people praying: our old cell, all the elders from PCF, our parents and family, the church here, the pastor even had another meeting of 300 people praying for us yesterday. What a blessing to be part of the people of God!

I finally have my computer back to working after fighting with Dell for a while. I had to phone South Africa, and also went in person to the offices here. Eventually a kind man sent me the OS software so that I could load it, and all the drivers were available online. So now I can type again and not have to squint, my screen is at least 5 times bigger than Tracy's.

We had a new visitor to our small group meeting. We posted an advert on Facebook - there is a group for our buildings - and someone came because of that! We had a cool discussion, she is from China and has not had much to do with Christianity before, so we could explain quite a bit and it was very interesting having to explain the passage from 1 Peter we were studying, without her knowing anything about the Bible.

Spring has sprung. Most of the snow is gone, and behold, underneath there is green grass!!!! Unbelievable. We had some warm days the last week, with temperatures soaring to 10 Degrees. Hopefully this will continue, it is quite pleasant not to have so many layers on.