GREETINGS FROM FINLAND!

I just spent the weekend with 45 Arabic Muslim background believers, who have all come to the Lord in the last few months here in Finland – what an amazing experience!
To hear the redeemed worshiping Jesus, to hear their unique stories of how they found Him, how they got to Finland, brought me to tears many times. Also their prayer requests… They were like dry sponges taking in everything and all that we were teaching.

Our church hosted these brothers, and a few sisters, at our campground. They came from several refugee centers in southern Finland that we have worked in. By our conservative estimation we have seen about 70 I*aqi and Sy*ian Ara*bs come to the Lord. On top of that dozens of Af**an and Ir*nians!

I shared my testimony about being in a lifeboat at the age of 12 when our ship had sunk in the Java sea – no-one knew where we were, no one heard our distress calls – except Jesus. That story connected! Redha came in the afternoon and started sharing his story: “I was saying goodbye to my father, and as I was embracing him, he told me that if I was ever in real trouble I should ask Isa Al-Masih for help! I was shocked – in over 30 years of being his son I never heard him say anything like that! That moment came a few months later when the engine of the boat that people smugglers had put us on stalled in the middle of the sea. The boat was drifting to the middle of the Mediterranean, and I was looking at the 3 families with small children onboard and I panicked. I jumped overboard thinking that at least I could try to swim somewhere! Realising that I really couldn’t swim – i remembered Isa Al-Masih! Right then a speed boat with two ladies onboard swept to the scene! They took me on board and towed our whole boat to shore. I came to realise that this was a miracle! I asked how on earth did they happen to come this way in the open sea? One of the ladies said that they heard God tell them to come in this direction. She was a Pale*tinian follower of Jesus.”

As they lined up for prayer at the end of the evening, many of them had prayer requests for their families back home – sickness, loneliness, worry. Mahmood said that after he told his family that he has become a follower of Jesus, his family refuses to answer their calls. Would you pray for him, and so many more that are experiencing rejection and loneliness? Ali asked for me to pray for his father who is suffering in Bagdad with heart failure due to diabetes. As I started praying for him, he yelled “wait!” He pressed record and later sent the prayer over Skype to Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad so his father could hear it!

I wanted you to hear that good things are happening! Please pray for these new brothers and sisters – and those still on the way! May He flood your hearts with joy at the harvest being brought in! We are praying for funds to purchase a vehicle that could be used by teams to travel to the different refugee centres around Southern Finland. Our team conducts farsi Alpha courses via Skype – and needs to reach the people personally. Also we are believing that we can soon employ an af*hani brother, a former *uran – teacher, to help disciple about 50 afghani new believers.
Many blessings,
Mika