Posts (page 2)

Celebrating the Lord with a crowd in Bujumbura, Burundi on my first trip to Africa in June, 2007. I really loved the Burundi way of worship although it took me a little while to get into the groove of it since we didn't have time for any rehearsals at all. But my earlier experience in African music came to rescue a bit. I had a chance to join the mission trip of Times Square Church from New York for ten days on this action packed trip. I had a chance to help distribute malaria pills to hundreds at a medical clinic and visit a deaf and mute kids' school as well. TSC was invited there by the president of Burundi to do medical mission and hold crusades among other things.

One of the first things I had an opportunity to do after I got back to Finland was to celebrate the fifty year anniversary of my parents in the small town of Selki in Finland. My dad is 82 and my mom is 72. The celebration was attended by their children, grand kids, friends and some guests who attended their wedding 50 years ago. The Saalem Brass from Helsinki Saalem Church played some Pentecostal oldies...

 

I attended my son Marcus' field trip to NuArt Art Park here in Bandung two days ago. The place hosts a permanent gallery of sculptures made by a Balinese artist Nyoman Nuarta. We were lucky enough to meet up with the artist himself and the kids all, - about 50 of them, - wanted his autograph. His work shop is also there. Currently he is working on a statue, which at 80 meters is supposed to be the tallest statue of man in the world! You can see the 15 meter tall head of the statue in the pictures and video here.

Most of his art is made of copper and other metals. The finnished statue is going to be standing on top of a huge hotel in northern Sumatra, which to me looked like Noah's Ark. From the brochure I saw the hotel looked like maybe a seven stories high yacht and is itself located on top of a mountain overlooking the ocean. Quite impressive I must say!

My wife, Päivi shared with me a cute incident from her work at the Bandung International Christian School here in Bandung, Indonesia. A first grader, age seven came to her after the music class and said: "I really like these God-songs. They do good to me! I don't like the Rock and Roll any more."

Indeed when saints sing unto the Lord, it is not only as a "sweet smelling aroma" to God, but it also does good to our own souls. Are u depressed or heart broken today? How about singing a God-song? The psalmist encourages us: "Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his" (Psalm 100:2,3). The New Testament further teaches that a life that esperiences the continual infilling of the Spirit is a life filled with singing (Eph. 5:18,19). The Apostle Paul himself found strength in singing praises to God in the prison cell of Thyatira. So no matter where you are, no matter what your circumstances, keep on singing those God-songs from your heart!  

JEESUS KNOWS HOW I AM FEELING

Today I visited Päivi's music class at Bandung Alliance International School while she was teaching the choir a new song for the Spring concert. The name of the song is "Jesus knows how I'm Feeling. The Bible says that in Jesus "we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebr.4:15). Actually it is originally in Finnish but Päivi translated the song into English. The kids really seemed to enjoy it:) Marcus is on the front row. Päivi has close to 200 students in the school.

We live in Bandung, which is the fourth largest city of Indonesia. It is located about 180km northwest from the capital, Jakarta in West Java. During the Dutch rule Bandung was the capital of Indonesia for a while. Still some buildings from the Dutch period can be found here. During the colonial times Bandung used to be called the Paris Van Java.

The city is situated at altitude of 768 m (2,520 ft) and is surrounded by tea plantations, rice terraces and volcanos. It is known in Indonesia for example for its Sundanese food and as a center of fashion. Many western clothing brands manifacture their products here and they are locally sold for a fraction of their western price in out-let malls. Also many students from all over Indonesia come to study here because some of Indonesia's best universities are here. Bandung is the center of Sundanese culture with more than 30 million Sundanese people living in the surrounding areas.

The population growth of the city has created considerable traffic, pollution and waste problems among others. Still many Indonesians from Jakarta come here for weekend breaks because of the cooler mountain air, shopping and tasty food.

Here is the latest of Leevi's Bible memory verses.

Leevi's Bible memory verse

My son, Leevi started his first grade here in Bandung in an international school in August 2006. The first three months were hard for him because he didn't speak a word in English (we speak mostly just Finnish at home). He came home crying and told me that he was stupid, because he didn't understand anything and was not understood by others. But kids learn fast. I am still struggling with my Indonesian but Leevi is now doing ok, as you can hear from this clip:)

My son, Leevi (6) was one of the wise men in a Christmas production in their school, Bandung Alliance International School in December. The production, Song in the Night, originates from Times Square Church in NYC. They gave my wife, Päivi permission to use it in her school where she is the music teacher. Several hundred people, both believers and pre-believers came to see it and were really touched by it.

In the middle is a picture of Leevi performing as a mummy in his classes (he is a first grader) presentation on Egypt also in December 2007.

On the bottom Leevi posing in the choir with one of his best friends from school.   

Our friends, Jorma and Merja from Cambodea visited us here in Bandung in November 2007. We took them to one of our favorite spots at Tangkuban Perahun, one of the active volcanos

surrounding our city. The peak is at 2076 meters (6,933 feet). More about the volcano here.