Next month, more specifically, on the 12th of March, it will be one year since we moved into this emergency situation, in other words, part of our functions were moved to the internet and some events were put on hold completely.
Even though life in the congregation will return to the same as it was previously, it has still changed. But not to a worse state. We have found new ways to keep in touch, cast hope, pray and love.
One significant achievement during this epidemic time is that our congregations’ activities did not stop at any point. On the first Monday of the shutdown we began our internet meetings, our shared mid-day prayer moments. Through the end of January, there has been 274 of these broadcasts. In addition to these are of course our Sunday worship services.
During this time of social distancing, our congregation has all in all, been inspired, and been more active than normal, in praying for others. I dare to say, that encounters of the heart have been more meaningful than during normal years. Even though we have been physically apart, no one has been left alone. I hope that our shared prayer life gets stronger than it was before and is rooted firmly in the normal functions of the congregation.
Going towards the Spring, light will win over darkness. Light always wins. This light is in you, let it shine. Without you, this congregation, this community, this world, is a darker place to live.
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In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
(Matt. 5: 16)
Light, joy and freedom in Christ.
Pastor Mia
P.S. From the link below you can find many loved faces. These times will return again.
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ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING on March 7th -
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
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We warmly thank all those who have remembered and supported our congregation through their gifts. We are living through economically challenging times, and we need your prayers as well as financial support, so that our work can continue year round.
May God blesse you and your gift!
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THANK YOU TO THE CONGREGATION FROM INDIA |
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Christmas Joy for the Deborah Home in India
The traditional Christmas celebration for the children and area neighborhood was a little smaller this year due to the corona situation, and was a close-knit celebration for the children and employees only. It was a very warm celebration where the children gave small performances about the message of Christmas. in addition, God's Christmas message about Jesus Christ was read from the Bible.
The children eagerly awaited the gifts which had been bought specifically for each child by Deborah home employees, using donations received from Christmas Charity Drives. The highlight was the children receiving their gifts of new clothes, shoes, toys, sporting goods and their favorite- sweets.
We would like to thank everyone from the Lutheran Church in Florida for caring for our children. The gifts told the children of God's love for them. Let's pray for each other and that God will protect the children of the Deborah home. May God bless you abundantely!
Pastor Wara Raju and family
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Towards the Light
In Finland, the darkest time of the year is behind us and the backbone of winter has folded. It's nice to see the light, especially in the midst of the pandemic. For just over a month from now, at least during the day, we can already rejoice in the warming effect of the sun. Now that corona vaccinations have started, though slowly, we can be hopeful that the burden of the pandemic will also start to ease. It will certainly take time, but we are moving towards a better one. Personally, I look forward to being able to return to Florida next fall and spend next winter without snow.
Preparations for the annual meeting have progressed and the annual reports for the various areas are being finalized. Budgeting for 2021 has been challenging because there are many unknowns: how long and in what form the corona-induced operations and travel restrictions will continue, when and how abundant we snowbirds will return next fall and winter. The transition from a full-time pastor service to being herded by a seasonal pastor and gig pastors also poses some challenges to the planning of our operations. The next council will have to take an even more active role in coordinating operational activities. However, the basic principles have already been agreed and we can be confident in that respect, although the gap left by Pastor Mia is difficult to fill and instead of developing operations, the main emphasis will be on maintaining basic services. At this stage, however, it looks like 2021 will operationally be a transition year and the financial results will likely be clearly negative.
The lack of snowbirds and the reliance on online services alone made the year 2020 financially challenging. The result was negative, even though we received additional support from the Church of Finland. In addition, in the spring, the Making a Difference project raised almost $ 8,000 in extra money. The church sale related mortgage interest has not been included in the income statement.
Unfortunately, Covid-19 and the restrictions it caused negatively impacted the preschool’s operations, so that it also made loss despite wage cuts and all other austerity measures. A special thanks to the personnel for their flexibility during these tough times.
However, the liquidity of our congregation remained good. We applied for and received a loan from the U.S.A. government’s PPP Paycheck Protection Program. It is possible to forgive the loan, but the processing of the application has been slow and is still pending
For the time being, we will have to continue our congregational activities on a limited scale and in a way that has already become familiar, with a focus on streaming services via Facebook for Sunday services as well as daily prayer moments. Hopefully, we will have more strength to our work already in February or March at the latest, when travel restrictions allow Sami Ettanen to come to Florida to help our congregation.
Continued blessings for the Year!
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“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
(Joh. 8:12)
Pertti Pietarinen
Council President
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We continue with Joseph and his brothers in Egypt, where they have gone at the request of their father to buy food for the starving people of Canaan.(Gen. 43 - 50)
1. When Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, he did it through a servant / he made the announcement himself in a dignified manner/ did it in a very emotional way.
2. Pharaoh sent Joseph's brothers with wagons to retrieve the rest of their family from Canaan / did not want to support Joseph's whole family in Egypt / asked Joseph himself to go get his family.
3. Which one is not Joseph's son? Manasseh / Gerson / Ephraim
4. What kind of work did Joseph ask his family to tell Pharaoh that they did ? Rock quarry workers / sheep herders / artisans
5. Joseph's father Jacob lived in Egypt only a year before his death / almost twenty years / did not like it in Egypt, and returned to his own land.
6. What did Joseph promise to his father? That Joseph would not bury his father in Egypt / that he would not remain in the service of the Pharaoh / that he would not worship the gods of Egypt.
7. What did Jacob do in blessing Joseph's sons? He blessed only the eldest son / gave a more valuable blessing to the youngest son / asked Joseph to do it for him.
8. When Jacob died Joseph was no longer interested in the welfare of his brothers/ promised to always look after his brothers and their families / sent his brothers back to Canaan with an abundance of gifts.
9. What age did Joseph live to?
95 / 110 / 140
10. Joseph's last wish was, that his brothers would be loyal to Pharaoh/ that his brothers would take care of his sons / promised that Joseph's bones would be taken out of Egypt.
CORRECT ANSWERS AT THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER! 😊
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The New Year began with our students learning about calendars, clocks and time. We made 2021 art and built our own “clocks”. We discussed what winter is like in different parts of the world, played with “snow” and made snowmen. We finished the month of January learning about our wonderful home state- Florida! We are talking about all the special things that are found in Florida (beaches, alligators, palm trees, orange trees, etc.) and about the things NOT found here (snow, mountains, polar bears, etc.). |
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Our Florida studies continue into February. We will make Florida collages, decorate coconuts, eat oranges and try some Key Lime Pie!
February 2nd is Groundhog Day. We will read stories about the tradition of the day and the entire week will be all about shadows! The children will make shadow tracings, measure their own shadows at different times of the day and play shadow puppets.
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The second week of February will be all about Love! The children will decorate their own mailboxes and deliver valentines to their friends. We will cut, paste, and paint hearts and at the end of the week have a party with singing, dancing and games.
We end the month with a unit on Healthy Habits. We will learn about washing hands and why it is so important (especially now!), eating healthy foods and taking care of our teeth. February is dental health month and we’ll talk about dental hygiene, make art with toothbrushes and share our beautiful smiles (covered by masks, of course!).
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God Bless and stay safe!
Pirjo Komonen Campitelli
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Sometimes our birhtday lists are not up to date. If you notice someone's name missing, please notify us. THANK YOU! |
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We warmly thank the Sipinen Family for their birthday donation to our congregation!
Missing from our Newsletter last month were poinsettia donations made in memory of Leila Meininki and Riitta Gorcke. (Kaarina S.)
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CELEBRATIONS AND FAREWELLS |
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We celebrated mant birthdays in January, although some on the other side of the Atlantic. All honorees were in our prayers. In the above photos are some that were met in person and a few familiar loved faces.
February is alos full of birthdays. Two celebrating special occasions are Erkki Helenius and Saara Saarela-Vening.
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On the last Saturday of January a small and beautiful service was held at the church to honor the memory of Jaakko "Jack" Haikala. There was also a touching tribute read from Finnish golfer friends by Simo Nevasalo. Jack's wife Sinikka who passed away a year ago was a dear friend to our member Helena Himanka.
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It does not feel very much like January or February at our congregation considering the amount of people coming through the doors; there is more of a summer feeling. Usually at this point in the year our church is alive with the sound of big crowds; laughter and singing from a church full of worshippers. But no complaining, we are very blessed to have a small, loyal group of worshippers here at our services. For now, this is the new normal. We thank our Lord for each and every person, whether you are sitting in the pew at church or at home in front of a computer or phone screen. Although different than what we are used to, it is very nice to be able to listen to our services from wherever you are and whenever you feel like. I often go back after the service and listen to them again via FB. |
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I think the experience that we have all shared in the past year has taught us all to appreciate the people around us even more now than before. I know I certainly do! We had a major concern in January, and a prayer filled week, as one of our key musicians Tuomo Karvonen was hospitalized because of the coronavirus. Tuomo is recovering at home and we pray for his strength to return and for a full recovery.
Staying connected with God during these extraordinary and uncertain times is especially important as well. I hope that our worship team can play a role in bringing God’s message to you through music, word and prayer. We do it all for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
A Warm thank you to all the volunteers for giving your time to our church and your talents to the glory of God! You are very important to us.
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Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. (Is. 12:5)
With a thankful heart
Michael
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GUIDANCE AND PERSEVERANCE – EXCERPTS FROM OUR COLUMNIST PIRJO-LEENA KOSKINEN’S LIFE. |
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Pirjo-Leena and Mikko Koskinen are very familiar to many of our congregation members, at least by name. As a volunteer, Pirjo-Leena has lead our grief group for a couple of years and been a coluimnist in our newsletter since last fall. Mikko Koskinen is the editor of Amerikan Uutiset - newpaper. The editor wanted to know more about our columnist, and this article came from that interest.
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American Dreams
We were living the beginning of the 1970’s. Pirjo-Leena’s husband Mikko Koskinen was in North Carolina playing basketball and he was offered a players scholarship at the local university. The newlyweds, at that time, had already considered moving to America, but this wasn’t their time yet. In 1972, the couple settled down in Turku with their first child Jussi, where the family continued to grow, with the addition of two boys Jaakko and Aleksi. The Koskinen’s youngest son, Olli, was born in Tampere. The family had moved from Turku to a neighboring town of Tampere - Pirkkala in 1978.
Organizing the everyday lives of 4 boys, and a husband who is an entrepreneur and plays basketball on a national team level consumed all of Pirjo-Leena’s time. Previously, and already towards the final stretch, her studies in teaching were interrupted. Pirjo-Leena did not become a grade school teacher, even though she would later work as a teacher and substitute.
A couple of decades rolled by until thoughts of moving to America emerged again. Pirjo-Leena and Mikko’s good friends, Eino and Marjatta Grön, who had found their home in Florida, invited them to Lake Worth in 1993. For this three week vacation, the Koskinen’s rented a house from a Finnish acquaintance. The vacation began with quite a surprise, as a long white Cadillac, that Eino Grön had rented for them, from Sikanen, sat in front of the rental house.
The vacation was so successful, that during the next Christmas break, the whole family returned to Lake Worth, to that same house, rented from a friend, which had not sold yet. This was a good thing, because at the end of the family vacation, an agreement was made to transfer ownership to the Koskinen family.
The family’s second oldest son was interested in flying, and as there was a flight school near their new home, then the move across the Atlantic began to become reality. As Fall came, the family’s three youngest boys started school in Palm Beach County under the guidance of mother- Pirjo-Leena. Mikko-dad remained in Tampere to run their advertising agency. Also their oldest boy Jussi stayed in Finland and lived at home.
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The family’s two country living arrangement was only meant to be a temporary solution. This temporary arrangement stretched to three years. The boys enjoyed their time at school, but for mother the experience was spiritually tough. In addition to supporting three, soon to be adult, boys, Pirjo-Leena longed for something else in her life. There was a desire in her heart to serve the community outside of the walls of her home.
Fortunately, our Heavenly Father lead Pirjo-Leena to Marja-Leena Mäki, who was one of her neighbors. This connection was a very important relief valve to the every day care of three boys as a single parent. This lady from the neighborhood brought Pirjo-Leena to stores, flea markets, and also got her to join the meetings at Kotikirkko. At that time, it was very nice to be part of the congregation led by the Puusteli couple. The sermons of Pastor Timo could not be long enough and singing in the choir was great therapy for the mind and soul. Pirjo-Leena’s own faith was established in her childhood home, where her mother Inkeri, was a devout Christian and raised Pirjo-Leena and her sister Aila with prayer and Bible verses and proverbs.
Everything has its time
The desire to do something outside of family life was stirring inside Pirjo-Leena. This inner drive, took Pirjo-Leena to the Tampere employment office on her Christmas vacation to Finland. She happened upon a course catalog to a newly established Pirkanmaa University of Applied Sciences that advertised an English speaking nursing course. Her own age (49), gave her second thoughts, but this did not bother the school. Pirjo-Leena passed the tests held in April, which meant a return move to Finland in the Spring of 1997.
The move to Tampere normalized the family’s home life, although only youngest son Olli remained at home. During the same Spring, even the oldest son was able to move into a specially designed living facility for handicapped. This gave Pirjo-Leena the opportunity to focus on her nursing studies for two of the next three years.
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Third time tells the truth
After completion of her studies, thoughts once again turned to the possibility of spending time in warm Florida, away from cold winters of Finland. Pirjo-Leena, bold as always, flew to Florida, and earned her American nursing license. After this began her struggle to get a work permit. As a newly graduated nurse, it was not wise to just sit and wait for visas and permits to come through. Newly learned techniques and studies must be put to use. Swedish senior facilities were searching for Finnish nurses for temporary positions and Pirjo-Leena, along with her friend Suvi jumped at the chance.
This summer job stretched to nine months. Understandably, a hard-working and knowledgeable nurse was hard to let go, but the house in Lake Worth wanted its residents back and there was work for nurses in Florida as well.
Pirjo-Leena was offered a tempting position at Wellington Regional Hospital, but in the end decided on the Finnish Rest Home. This was a decision, that many Rest Home residents, employees, and friends have thanked her for afterwards.
Work on the night shifts at the Nursing home changed into Rest Home directors work, as the previous title owner, Hanna McColough moved onto director of the whole facility in 2004.
Time as the Rest Home director gave her a heavy work load and was very challenging. A rule change in 2010 opened up the residency to everyone, not just Finns. This was a hard situation to accept for the Finnish community at the beginning, but the direction was clear: there was not enough Finns to fill all the rooms. There were other big changes and plans that were experienced, but some were left in the planning stages. The Rest Home became like a second home and residents like a family to Pirjo-Leena during those years. Lots of shared joy and tears were experienced.
Pirjo-Leena’s other half, Mikko, after moving to Florida, had found himself something to do in tandem with golf, as editor of the sparsely issued Amerikan-Uutiset newspaper. The work was familiar to the ex-journalist of Turun Sanomat newspaper. When the newspaper fell on hard times and was about end their run, Mikko decided to buy the distribution rights in 2001, and Amerikan Uutiset once again began print and distribution at the beginning of 2002. The professional functioning of the newspaper has kept the man busy and the readers satisfied. If left up to Mikko, this newspaper business will continue on for a long time to come.
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Life’s schooling and constant guidance
Pirjo-Leena’s life has included curves and hills. She has made it through everything, and has learned from it. In the first few months of her nursing career she realized that “every day is its own struggle, and it has taught me to be humble.”
Pirjo-Leena’s has grown humble not just through work but also through five different cancers and the surgeries associated with them. Despite serious illness, Pirjo-Leena has made it through life without any bitterness, instead she shines positivity, warmth and thankfulness. One thing that has left her disappointed is that she lost her singing voice due to thyroid cancer, but all in all there is more thankfulness than suffering.
Asked about the future of the Finnish community, she hopes that people would learn to be more positive and try harder to do things together. It is very important to her that the Rest Home remain a Finnish language based facility. The residents have always been a very heart felt issue for Pirjo-Leena. She still leads a weekly reading group for them, although now it is done via the web, and is eagerly waiting for the time when she can see them face to face, as are we all.
“Even if my own plans and timetables did not happen, things happened as they should have. There is a strong story of guidance which has been present on my journey, that has set all the puzzle pieces in their correct places!”
– Pirjo-Leena
The St. Andrew’s congregation and Pastor Mia thank Pirjo-Leena and Mikko for their trust and good co-operation, which will hopefully continue well into the future.
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Take a Deep Breath
Many years ago, when our children were small, the second oldest came back from school complaining, that the neighbor’s boy was teasing him. It had been going on for a while but now my son was crying. I became angry: I will not tolerate teasing! ‘Where is the boy now?’ I asked. ‘He went biking in that sand pit.’ I left immediately, mad as a hornet swearing for revenge. Because there was no direct path or way to that place I had to walk downhill first and make a turn following a narrow industrial road until I saw the boy on his bike. Fortunately, while I had been walking I had time to calm down a bit and plan how to approach the issue. If I go now and directly burst out all the venom from my mind, it won’t stop the teasing, just the opposite, tomorrow could be worse. I took a deep breath, lowered my voice to the normal conversation level and asked, what had happened between the boys when my son came home crying. ‘Did you disagree about something’, I asked. The boy was now standing with the bike between his legs, mumbling something and avoiding looking at me directly. ‘If you argue about something, please, come to talk to me. We will figure it out together and straighten things up. Do you agree?’ He was nodding, we talked a few words about biking in general and I turned back towards my house. I was still a bit out of breath but convinced that my temperature would cool down. At home I talked with my son and we came to the conclusion that we didn’t really know what this boy was experiencing at school or at home, or what the initial reason was for his behavior. That was it, my son had no more problems with him anymore. What did I learn from this? That it’s useful to calm down before spewing out the pitch black accusations of your mind. I was thanking the Lord that the distance had been long enough for me to cool off my own head first. ‘Take a deep breath’ is still a useful reminder in crisis.
Wishing you a good February!
Pirjo-Leena
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RAIJA SIPINEN'S GREETING TO THE CONGREGATION
PART I (-III)
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Good readers!
When I was given the opportunity to write for this newsletter, I immediately jumped at the chance. My feeling is a little nostalgic, as this has been an extraordinary winter for myself and my husband Seppo Sipinen and our grand-daughter Marianne Mäenpää, as we are not in Florida. Hard times challenge us all, more or less, in many cases, but I would like to focus this writing on the good memories.
Let’s go back about 28 years, when we first came to St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Florida. At that time Pastor Törmälä was holding a devotional service on the fellowship hall side. We stepped through the doors, me and my cousin Aini Joki, and the pastor in question greeted us first but then almost fainted with astonishment. Aini’s sister Vieno had just passed away, and I apparently looked almost exactly like her. We spent only three weeks in Florida, but through Aini and Howard, the path to church became very familiar. Aini and Vieno had been, in many ways, load bearing strength at church.
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The years rolled by and we flew to Florida, at the beginning, for only short periods of time, but in 1996, we felt the need to stay in the warmth for a longer time. Our church friends Armi and Jussi Lampinen got us our long-time home in Boynton Beach, which they took upon themselves to renovate with the help of Elli and Martti Saari, to brand new condition. As we arrived for the first time in -96 to our new home, we had a beautiful home blessed by our Heavenly Father, it immediately felt like our own. Of course, we paid for all the expenses of the renovation.
From here on continued our Florida vacations year after year, our circle of friends growing bigger, as we got invites to pray and have coffee with many different people. We enjoyed the abundance. Most important, however, for our family has been St. Andrew’s Church. I have always remembered when our loved grandchild Marianne Mäenpää sang there for the first time, with microphone in hand, and very courageously. She stepped up, was very nervous, and hid behind the lecture pulpit, where she sang loudly – the song Rukous on silta.
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Ten years after this, our whole family spent Christmas in Florida. The church’s altar was filled with a multitude of poinsettias, and this startled me a bit, having just seen it for the first time. We heard that everyone who wanted could decorate the altar with these poinsettias and then take them home after Christmas.
The many church coffee socials that we have had the privilege to host as well as being part of, and then donating money to the church so that its important operations may continue, have remained in my memory. This ensures us all that we will be able to hear the word of God in the Finnish language in America as well.
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We have arranged many performers to the church, rest home and Finland House over the years, as well as the Palokka congregation music group under the direction of Heikki Tynkkynen and Liisa Partanen. The sermon that Sunday morning was given by Marita Tynkkynen. They left some lasting memories of their beautiful performance at church, and also at Finland House, Kerhotalo, but over all at the Rest Home, where they were staying, and keeping company to the residents during their trip to Florida. Greetings to the Rest Home, especially to Siiri and the whole staff. |
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Throughout the years, the Bible study group at the Rest Home, taught by Marja-Liisa Palonen has been very clear and educational. A few years ago, Marianne asked me to come to the Rest Home, and this Bible group was meeting at that time. There was a feeling of welcomeness within this group of residents. I also lead this Bible group once, and this place, because it is loved by Marianne, was also a draw for me. Marianne always sings to the residents, and this has been a great joy for them. One time I did an extempore- sermon there, and I believe that it touched the hearts of people. At the Rest Home now are our good friends Eira and Reino Pelkonen. Angels to them and others. (To be continued in March Newsletter) |
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1. When Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, "he cried with such loud sobs that the Egyptian Pharaoh's guards heard him" (Gen. 45:2)
2. Pharaoh asked Joseph to tell his brothers: "take wagons with them from Egypt for their wives and small children and to bring their father with them.
(Gen. 45:19)
3. Joseph's sons are Manasseh ja Ephraim. (Gen. 46:20)
4. Joseph asked the men in his family to tell Pharaoh that they were sheep herders, so that they would be able settle in an area selected by Joseph. (Gen. 46:33-34)
5. Joseph's father lived in Egypt for seventeen years.
(Gen. 47:28)
6. Joseph promised his father, that he would not bury him in Egypt.
(Gen. 47:29)
7. Jacob, while blessing Joseph's sons, gave a more worthy blessing to the youngest. (Gen 48:17-20)
8. Upon the death of Jacob, Joseph promised to always care for his brothers and their families. (Gen. 50:21)
9. Joseph lived to the age of 110. (Gen. 50:26)
10. Joseph made his brothers to promise him: "When God leads you to that land, you will take my body with you". (Gen: 50:25)
MY RESULTS
0-2 correct = My friend, Joseph's story is so wonderful and intriguing, it is worth reading!
3-5 correct = You did read it, but a VERY long time ago...
6-8 correct = Great, Joseph is very precious to you!
9-10 oikein = The church will buy you a coffee!
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CLICK HERE TO GET TO OUR FINNISH PARTNERS WEBSITES: |
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St. Andrew's Lutheran Church | (561) 582-0554 | 928 South E Street, Lake Worth, FL 33460 | www.standrewsfl.com |
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