Ylläs

Early in the morning of the 12th of February, eight people (three English and five Finnish) set out from Helsinki on a journey that lasted about 14 hours. We were traveling to a place called Ylläs in Lapland, which is well within the Arctic Circle. Ylläs is a fell (a kind of mountain), and is the second largest ski resort in Lapland. We stayed in Ylläsjärvi, a nearby village.
When we finally arrived at our destination, some people were there already, and others came the next day. Some of us knew each other well, while others had never met, and together we stayed in a fairly large wooden cabin.

The week was basically a prayer-focused holiday. We had one room as a dedicated prayer room, and we each took slots (about 2 hours each per day) and filled most of the week with prayer. We also gathered each morning and evening to pray and worship together. This was particularly great, and it really created a rhythm of prayer throughout the week. Some evenings had particular themes of prayer, including praying for Finland, for Lapland, or for each other. Some of us also went on a pilgrimage to the starting place of the Lapland revival (more detail on that in the next blog post).

The week was also a holiday, and most of our group went skiing (either downhill or cross-country) a few times in the week. I personally didn't - balance and sliding aren't really my thing. But I was part of a group of us that went snow-shoe walking down the fell of Ylläs. The views from the top were pretty spectacular, and, in the quietness of Lapland, nature seems to cry out it's praise to God especially loudly. My lack of preparation meant that I wasn't wearing warm enough shoes and socks, so my feet were fairly frozen by the end of it.

We did spend a lot of time just relaxing together, eating really well, having saunas, and playing games. We were able to take time to share our hearts, our dreams and our stories with each other. The community aspect of the week was really cool, especially getting to know each other around prayer, food and fun. It was great to spend the week aware of God's presence with us in whatever we did.

To sum it up, the week was an amazing mix of a relaxing holiday, joyful community and purposeful prayer.