Dateline: December 1, 1998, Vaasa Finland

The Journey

Vaasa is a city on the west coast of Finland. It received its charter in 1606, during the reign of Charles IX of Sweden and is named after the Royal House of Vasa. Finland’s first library was founded in Vaasa in 1794.

I had received an invitation to speak to university students at an evening seminar. The four-and-a-half-hour train ride was so pleasant, especially since I was able to ride in first class. Quiet, smooth and a workspace for finalizing the first ever talk to this demographic. In my mind they would be ideal candidates as future tentmakers.

Onni Haapala Jr. picked me up from the train station. He was the pastor of the local church that was hosting the seminar.

After a short tour of this historic beautiful seaside city, that has been invaded and burned down too many times, we headed to the venue. I made a note to myself to return to further explore this fascinating city by the sea, but in summer.

The Meeting

Some 30 people had decided to spend a dark December evening to hear about using your vocation as a platform to serve God in a closed country.

It was an uneventful seminar. I felt that it had fallen flat and since it was my first time to speak to university students, I had not hit my groove. It needs to be said, that at the end of any course, seminar or talk on tentmaking, there is a feeling of not having done a good enough job.

The Aftermath

This feeling quickly subsided when Pastor Onni brought me to his home for the night. There I was able to enjoy a wonderful evening chatting with Onni and his wife Marika.

Newlyweds are always fun to be with, so much optimism and zeal for the future. While we were enjoying a typical evening snack of rye bread and cheese, there was something else happening in the city of Vaasa. God was doing something despite my shortcomings.

The Rest of the Story

Some years later, I received an email report from a commissioning service of a family who were being sent out as missionaries. The father had spoken about their journey to the nations and how it started some years earlier one evening in Vaasa. Apparently, he had hesitated to come to the seminar, as he felt the focus would be on university students. For some reason he had decided to go anyway. At the venue he sat way in the back as he felt out of place. That also meant that I could not see him from the front.

For some puzzling reason the unfocused speaker had spent a substantial time in his presentation speaking of the need for couples and families in the unreached areas. Families have some advantages by being able to assimilate with locals through their children.

He went home that evening and excitedly told his wife that they should seriously consider becoming missionaries.

By Ari Rocklin

Unedited excerpt from a book I am writing