01  Mar
Italy!


viagra professional - buy viagra professional - order viagra professional - viagra professional online - viagra professional mastercard Oh, how I love this country! Well… to be honest; it’s the people I love. And there’s something about Rome and its surroundings..! I feel at home, I feel at ease and it’s very “easy to breathe” and to be myself in Rome. ;)

I visited Italy for the third time February 18-25. This time I travelled together with one of my friends -Isabella. We flew Ryanair from Tampere to Milan (or actually Bergamo) and took the train to Rome. We stayed at the Assemblea Cristiana Evangelica, where Alessandra’s Father is the Pastor. We had our own one room and kitchen in their big building and except us setting off the alarm a couple of times everything was perfect. :)

We spend quite a lot of time with the people of Cristo e là risposta, most of all with Jesse, Lucia and Kris. We also did quite a lot of “touristing” on our own and we got to spend time with Luca and Alessandra and the people from their church. Three of our six days in Rome were very sunny and warm. We even bought a ticket for a “Hop-on-hop-off” -tourist bus and sat on the upper deck (without roof) in the sun enjoying the sights..! I was amazed thet it was warm enough to do that… in February! I was lovely. :)

I’m so grateful to God for sending me to Italy. And I was amazed by how He gave me money for the trip -I could never have gone without that help! Feels like I left a piece of my heart there -again… I love my Italian sisters and brothers soo much! (Please come and visit, all of you! :)

If you wanna look at pictures you can visit my gallery.

Blessings,
Maria


Posted by maria, filed under Journal. Date: March 1, 2008, 9:21 pm | Comments Off

01  Mar
Lazy..!

I’ve been lazy… Haven’t written anything on this blog in over a year… BUT that’s gonna change now… :)

Posted by maria, filed under Journal. Date: March 1, 2008, 8:26 pm | No Comments »

13  Dec
Independence Day

We had a party at our place Idependence Day (December 6th, if you didn’t know that…). It was great getting to spend some time with a lot of friends at the same time. :) Here are some pictures from that evening:

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Linus, Cizi, IB, Tatjana and Jenna

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Caroline, Cizi, me and Tatjana

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Christa and Linus

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Andreas F.


Posted by maria, filed under Journal. Date: December 13, 2006, 4:06 pm | No Comments »

01  Dec
Reach the Nations!

Did you know that there’s still over 6000 people groups that are unreached?!? These people groups excist in 77 different counntries. It is ridiculous how many churches there are for every one of these people groups (600 or something)..!

Here is a Top 10 list, from year 2000, over unreached countries:

1. Maldives 230,000
2. Bhutan 1,683,000
3. Sahara 221,000
4. Afghanistan 16,000,000
5. Mauritania 1,818,000
6. Turkmenistan 2,919,000
7. Azerbaijan 4,873,000
8. Iran 45,507,000
9. Comoros 371,000
10.Mayotte 60,000

Of course, a lot still happens during 6 years… Buthan did get the New Testament this year, just to mention an example that I know of. In Buthan several languages are spoken (every one of the 28 people groups have their own language) but they have one official language -dzonkha- and the New Testament is written in this language. There are quite large groups of christians there too, so the country isn’t really unreached anymore. Bhutan is one of the countries that have been totally closed but one of my friends has told me a lot of encouraging stories from there, things that he has seen with his own eyes… :)

Here you can read more about unreached people groups and countries.

My heart is leaping..! I have to go out and reach people! Here I am Lord… send me!

China

Posted by maria, filed under Journal. Date: December 1, 2006, 12:20 am | No Comments »

30  Nov
Think Twice

Wednesday night a group called Think Twice  gave a concert at Grand here in Porvoo. The youth from Helluntai (Finnish Pentecostal Church) and YWAM had arranged the concert and they had invited a lot of young people from a school. A preacher from Canada (who lives in Norway, guest teacher at YWAM) preached. Good music, clear (and hilarious) preaching, prayer, coffee and Jesus -what else can you want?! Oh, yes; signs and wonders, of course…!Miksu (one of the youth from Helluntai) got healed! His knee was badly hurt and it would take a long time before he could walk on it, but now he’s healed! Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus!

Miksu
Miksu is jumping around on his healed leg.


Posted by maria, filed under Journal. Date: November 30, 2006, 4:50 pm | No Comments »

Join MVV this year! It’ll be in Sibbo. Register here. See you there!

MVV


Posted by maria, filed under Journal. Date: November 18, 2006, 5:09 pm | No Comments »

November is a weird month… Always too much happening. Me and all my three brothers have our birthdays at 7th, 8th, 10th and 13th of November (Happy Birthday to us ;) ), our grandma’s birthday is at 9th and somewhere in between it’s usually Fathers Day. It is also a time of the year when it seems there’s a lot going on in the church… :)

I spent the first days of the month in Österbotten. I had a week off. It was wonderful. I got a chance to spend some time with relatives and friends and to get some “rest”. (Rest can mean a lot of things…) Great! :)

We had our first Music Café here in Missionskyrkan (the Free Evangelical Church), Porvoo, last Friday (10.11). We tried it out and it was a success. The artist of the night was Mikael Svarvar and his performance was outstanding (as we expected)..! Mikael gave a concert in the Lutheran Church Saturday evening and took part in the Service in our church on Sunday.:)

Musikcafe
Music Café in Missionskyrkan (the Free Evangelical Church).


Posted by maria, filed under Journal. Date: November 18, 2006, 5:05 pm | 2 Comments »

18  Nov
My Dad!

(Here is a short version of the sermon I gave in church today (12.11), on Fathers Day…)

I’ve learned some really important things from my earthly dad through the years:
- He loves me always. His love is not dependent on something in return, the love is always there.
- Alway to deal with things that has gone wrong, settle issues with people, at once. Do not wait until a misunderstanding has grown to something big and ugly.
- Treat others with love and respect, often tell the once you love that you do, because you never know how long your time together is.
- “The Joy of the Lord is my strenght”. My dad wouldn’t maybe say it like that but that’s the way he lives. Trust God, he is in control. Totally depend on Him.
- See the possibilities, not the problems!

Doesn’t he sound like a great father? He is. Not perfect at all but our relationship gives a pretty good picture of how our relationship to God -our heavenly Father- could be; a relationship based on love. God wants to live close to us, He loves us and wants to spend time with us. I’m so amazed by His love! God never lets you down, He’s always there with His wonderful and amazing love and grace! We are children of the King. Do you understand what that means?!? Because of Him you have everything!!!

“O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.”

Psalm 139:1-18

Thank You! And happy Fathers Day, dad! ;)


Posted by maria, filed under Journal. Date: November 18, 2006, 4:03 pm | No Comments »

I took part in Global Leadership Summit in Helsinki (28-29.10)… It was great!!! …and I consider myself picky when it comes to Leadership Teaching… ;) I wish I would have known how great it would be so that I could have made an effort to get others to join..! But now I know and I can say this with all my heart: If you’re a leader in a church -join next year! You won’t regret it…

Blessings.

Hesa

Posted by maria, filed under Journal. Date: November 18, 2006, 3:31 pm | No Comments »

18  Nov
October…

Sorry, I’ve been lazy. Or busy. I’ve written a little bit in Swedich but not in English. This is what I wrote in October:

Unbelievable. It’ll be November soon. It’s raining and raining… and it’s dark… but unusually warm. The Autumn is really here now. I don’t like the rain but it’s good to sit inside with candles and a cup of coffee/tea. :)

I’ve been missing Australia today. Actually I’ve been missing Australia since my friend Debbie called me from Sydney on Friday morning. It got a little worse when I watched a dvd, from Hillsong, with some with some good teaching. But don’t take me wrong; I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be right now! I just miss my friends Down Under, that’s all. :)

A lot has been going on again… In the beginning of October (2-8.10) Luca and Alessandra, from Italy, visited us. We loved having them here! They fell in love with Finland already on the way from the Airport… We did “the Tourist thing” together at daytime, both in Porvoo (Borgå) and in Helsinki. In the evenings we just hung out and had a relaxed time together. They also took part in our Youth Meeting Friday evening. Luca preached and Ale lead the worship during the altar call. :)

Andreas and the kids have been in Österbotten over the weekend. I’ve been at home with a full schedule. Camilla, Samuel, Jappe and Mattis (my youngest brother) “kept me company” here. Thanks, you guys, for good company and all your hard work! :)


Posted by maria, filed under Journal. Date: November 18, 2006, 3:16 pm | No Comments »

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