menossa mukana: it´s a wrap (the english version)

Some pictures from along the way:

(Summer dts - summer fun that is.)

(Some sour and happier faces =) and of course parties whenever possible.)

so for me the summer in Youth with a mission is over now and the students have left the building to go to their outreaches with their team leaders- some to Kenya, some to Israel. In a couple of months when they are returning I will see how the world has changed the students. And hopefully hear how they have changed the world.

The summer was. short. as always. and still somehow long. and so full of things. feelings. love, even. At least the last days full of emotions were telling that.

When the dts started this summer, there were a lot of questions... what will the students be like? how will I do as the leader of the school? how´s our staff going to handle it? will the teaching be good and what the students need? And of course the ultimate question: Hoe the heck are we going to make this all work fairly well?!? :)

Now about three months later I can already answer most of those. But I´ll quote pieces of some blogs our students have for this. I reckon this goes well with thoughts and feelings in the beginning of the school. And yes, somehow reading that felt real good:

"Already during these first few days I have noticed the difference between God´s normal and the world´s normal. In this world be try to do things for our own good. Other people here don´t have pressure to act towards me nicely, but still they do.

As adults we have learned that we have to be lovely to be loved. We can somehow understand God´s love, since He is the almighty. He simply is qualified to love unconditionally. Here, I have had to determine a new normal in many cases.

For the first time in my life I see what the great commandmend, love your Lord your God with your whole heart and your neighbour as yourself, really means. And it really shows! Here people think good about each others in the beginning, and no one tries to use the others for something. To be honest, since this I never really even believed it could work in the everyday life. Now, I do."

...So the school started with warmness, and so it continued. With time, pretty fast even we found out both the students and the staff were great folks. This year we had 12 students in the end, two americans and the rest finns. The funny thing was that two of the students originally came just to visit us for some days, but the atmosphere (and God?) affected them so they decided to stay and became students. I guess that talks about doing things right also. By the grace of God! :)

(the whole crew together during the plastic bag party)

Of course sometimes the summer was challenging also. With money issues and also with realationships and God issues there are sometimes challenging times ( I don´t like using the word problems that much) in this kind of surroundings also, but mostly there is a way out, and my opinion is that all that is just a part of life. and a part of Dts. We fiqure things out and talk about them, sometimes it takes the whole day, sometimes half of the night too, but that´s how we get them solved. By talking.

And as Roope our base leader always tells the students in the beginning of the school: "We even hope that you guys will get angry and pissed off, because that´s what liberates youse to be genuine and yourself." And that is how it is. And during the six months there are moments when most of the people will get pissed off or angry. Just to find out, that they will still be loved.

School of life. That´s the phrase I often use talking about the desciple training school. And once again based on the experience of this summer I have a little more weight behind saying that. The best, and the reasong for me working from seven in the morning to midnight without getting paid for that, is when when one of the students tell me they´ve gone forward. Or when I can just see it. Or when they dare to do something they didn´t dare to do before. Or they understand God or God´s love more. Or the are able to love others more and show it better. Or when someone says: God was talking to me yesterday.."

And of course for myself, when someone says it, or hands it over in a piece of paper: " I have learned a lot from you, thank you." That, is what gets my eyes wet. That I guess, is the best reward in this work.

My "job" this summer included a lot of translation of the lectures etc. and taking care of the practical stuff and of course tutoring the students. And also I was some kind of a "relationships-person." Meaning I tried to make sure people get along together and we get problems and relationship-issues solved and understand each others. And I guess that worked fairly well. But to be honest, the crew was great, even easy to deal with. Still, there were moments of feeling failure also. Moments you know you haven´t stood up to expectations. Your own, or someone else´s. With what I am or what I have done. There is still a long way to go to perfection.

(My friend Alejandro also visited us to teach us for a week.)

Sometimes I think about how priviledged it is to get to spend time at a place like our base is. And to get so many new friends. There´s too many to count almost, I have got to know so many new great people this summer again. And to live amongst people who really care about each others, there´s something big in that. Something that goes deeper, to your heart, soul even. There´s a piece about that in the blog of one of our american students:

"The people I have gotten to know at Ruurikkala I already love more than I could express. There is such kindness and concern for one another here. Ruurikkala stands as a representation to me of what the church is meant to look like. Would that we could be united as one universal Church in the way that I see here. What mountains we could move if that were so!"

...Also sometimes I wonder should we instead of talking about "coming back to normal life from the base life" be talking about how the normal life should be more like what we have there. The unity. Who defines normal in the end anyway? God, only? I´m not trying to declare that everything at the base is perfct and in our churches everything is not, no way. But there are still things that are being done right there, and that is very good. And some of that I want to keep with me, where ever I go, where ever I am.

So the summer is gone now. And the first reports from our teams from the outreach have been good to read. God is continuing His work in the teams and through them, and that´s how it should be. Sometimes I think about the teams and miss them when I pray for them, but still the strongest feeling is joy. For them having the opportunity to be there. Big things for a small human, to have a chance to go and do.

(some team members in Kenya at the moment)

Anyway, I´m gratefull for the summer and the Ruurikkala summer dts crew and God. And the combination of all those. From now on I´ll be staying in Helsinki. At least for now. Let´s see where the wing takes me. The car, that is.