Distributing the Three Angel’s Message

This trip to Finland has been in consideration since last fall, and it took a lot of telephone calls, letters and asking souls to get it together, and it seemed all was against it. Sister Birgitta Jeltsch from Germany asked me last summer if I would join her in mail boxing the pamphlets during my stay in Germany, and with enthusiasm I gave my “yes.” She did all the preparation work for our stay with the various believers in different areas, because she was born in Finland and knows everybody there from the church. A couple from our church in Germany who had a car wanted to join us, but they could not get the holiday that they requested. It ended up that only Birgitta and I were left and instead of going by car with the Ferry from Rostock to Helsinki, we had to fly from a small airport in Northern Germany.

In Helsinki we took the train to Toijala, where Br. Vladimir, the leader of the church, brought us to the IMS mission house, where we arrived just before dark. There we had to wait for a sister, who was willing to go with us during her holiday and provided us also with her car. She could not come until two nights later, so we cleaned the house and visited the dear, over 90year old, faithful sister Sally in her apartment in the senior citizen home. Eila, her long time friend and also the most faithful sister and canvasser in the church, close to 80 years in age, was in the mission house, but had then to go to the hospital. We visited her when we came back to the mission house after our trip.

When the sister arrived I thought we would never get our luggage and literature into the car. It was a twenty year old, two-door vehicle, and I had not much confidence that it would hold out for the entire journey! But, praise to the Lord for His goodness, we had not even once the slightest problem, neither with the car, nor with anyone of us; nobody got sick or in any wise upset. We had a most enjoyable, blessed time together, and distributed in eight days, over 9000 pamphlets. We went out at 9 AM and returned at 6 PM to wherever we had our lodging. The hospitality of the sisters who provided us rooms and meals was truly most kind and Christian. They wanted us to stay longer, but we had to go on. May the God bless them abundantly!

We drove the entire south of Finland from west to east, and a portion up the middle, altogether 1200 km, through little towns, villages and to the most remote areas deep in the country. Sometimes Birgitta and I went alone; the other sister helped at sister Anja’s place with the potato harvest, which had already been delayed because of much rain. There was concern of losing much of the crop because the soil had been soaked for so long.

We drove the side roads to get to the farmers and other lonesome places, to put the pamphlets into the mailboxes on the road. They were often together in a row of three to six, to even ten or more. Many times one box stood alone, far enough apart, that walking was too far, so we had to stop every few seconds, jump in and out of the car, rush to the box and be back in seconds. We did this for hours. The boxes are located such that you had to get out and could not drop the papers into them from the car window.

In the towns we parked the car and divided the area into three sections and went to the high-rise apartments. These were often up to nine floors high; we went up in the elevator and ran down the stairs. But there were many buildings that had only three to four floors with no elevator. We got quite hot from running up and down because the weather was cool and one had to wear a coat. The houses in Finland do not have mailboxes on the ground floor each apartment has the mail slot at its door. Quite a task for the mailman! To run up and down for maybe just one letter!

The weather was cool and rainy most of the time. Sometimes it was absolutely coming down in sheets so we drove on. Then when we reached the next town or village it had usually stopped. The Lord be praised for that. We were never really hindered from going out. But there were also sunny periods. The first Sabbath we spent at sister Anja’s place. She has several handicapped ladies to look after in her home. She gave Birgitta and myself her bedroom, which was warm and cozy. She provided the most delicious meals and every morning to my absolute delight, wild blueberries and blueberry sauce over the cooked cereal with bread of all sorts. She even made us a delicious fruit torte, (without sugar). The atmosphere in her house is incredibly peaceful, no loud voices, except some nice singing from one of the ladies. It was a most wonderful experience and I will not forget the three blessed nights we spent there.

The last Sabbath before returning to Germany the next day was spent in the mission house in Toijala. We had a very nice time with the believers. There we heard that after a few days of our work one letter already came in and two requests for the Bible correspondence course over the phone. We prayed very much that the people might earnestly read those pamphlets, especially those who live in such remote places that nobody normally would find them. May God bless the people and the pamphlets so that souls may be won for His Kingdom. To Him be the glory and we thank Him to have had the opportunity for this most enjoyable task.
AMEN.

Edda Tedford , Canada