On my own, or am I?

well, hey there
it's been a while since my first post, so i thought i'd let u know how i'm getting on

Since Chris went 'forward' to England, it's been kinda different here. It feels more like i'm living here now. Having my own flat has been great - i've become quite house-proud. I've cleaned the bathroom and kitchen a couple of times. I swept the whole place last week, re-arranged the furniture and cleaned my balcony. I also defrosted the freezer part of my fridge freezer - it was solid ice! Took about 5 hours, and that included me hacking the ice with a knife every so often. So yeah, i'm a bit obsessed.

I'm about to start working in some schools, and i have meetings with some headmasters soon. I'm kinda helping out with music and english lessons hopefully.

I am currently really enjoying being here. I'm going along to Risteyspaikka church, and i played in their youth worship band last wkend, which was cool. The meetings are in Finnish, but people translate some of it, and i'm starting to recognise certain Christian words. I've been singing in Finnish a bit too, but their words sometimes fit in quite differently to how they do in English.

I have lots of friends here, which is a blessing. I've been hanging out with Julius lots - such a legend! I've been seeing quite a bit of people from the Network4youth 'team' and the Risteyspaikka youth group (where Julius and Julia go, if u know them).

God has been amazing - i've found that I've noticed him a lot more being away from home.
He spoke clearly to me about using music as evangelism through a band that came and spoke at a meeting last week. This was something God put on my heart a few years ago, but i hadn't really thought about it much for a while. I feel like that could be part of the reason for me being here.
God also helped last week when i kinda took the wrong bus and got completely lost - i ended up in Vantaa instead of Jakomäki, which is quite a different area. I got off the bus when i realised how lost i was (at about 11pm), and went to the bus stop across the road to try to go back. There was a guy there about my age who spoke really good english, on his way back to army service. He basically got me back to Jakomäki, which was wonderful. Anyone might thing there was some superior being orchestrating that.

there's so much more i could write, but i think i'll leave it at that for now
God bless you
john xx

For such a time as this

hey there
this is my first post on this blog about my year in Finland

Wow, it's weird finally being here after months of thinking about being here.
It's been great to see some of my Finnish friends and get back to this wonderful country.

I was involved in Urbaani Unelma (Urban Dream), which is somewhat like the Noise - community projects and celebrations from 6-10 August. It was great to be part of an event with 40 churches and organisations involved.

I've been wondering quite why God wanted me to come to Finland, but i've decided that He knows and I don't need to. In the words of Desiderius Erasmus, "To know nothing is the happiest life."
But God has been saying to me on several occasions that He brought me here "For such a time as this." That's really reassuring - to know that God has it all planned and I don't have to strive to accomplish things.
I am looking forward to the challenges that God is bringing my way

well, God bless you
until next time
john xx