The long train pulled into Oulu at exactly 4:16 am. Rain mixed with snow was falling. El Niño again? After
all this is January and we're about 90 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Hamid Johannsson
was waiting for me and we headed for his car. He lives in the town of 
Tyrnävä about 20
miles away. I stopped momentarily to take a picture of the sign of Oulu at the railway
station pictured on the right.
Oulu is a city about about 200,000 on the northeast side of the Gulf of Bothnia, the northerly arm of the Baltic Sea. It is called the capital of northern Finland and home to a respected University. The area is famous for its timber, potatoes and barley. It is also known for its electronics, steel and other industries. Finland is a very well advanced country with 60% of its population having Internet access, the highest in the world. On the west coast high-tech steel fabrication is responsible for most new cruise ships built. All this was surprising to me.
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We drove back in total darkness to the Johannsson home. It would be dark for quite a bit longer. Sunrise here at this time of year comes at 11:30 am and sets at 1:00 pm! Back at the home, Sirrka, Hamid's wife was commenting that she was happy to see the days getting longer. When daylight came the scenery outside was a perfect image of my home state of Minnesota--this must be the reason why so many Minnesotans have moved to Finland.
Hamid is of Iranian descent. He came as a student to Finland in 1975. When the revolution deposed the Shah of Iran in 1978 he decided not to return to the government of Ayatollah Khoumeni. He married Sirkka Liisa and they now have three children whose names are Bea, Silas and Bess.
The Johannsson's are the only Finnish family in the United Church of God. They live hundreds of miles from the nearest members who would actually be the Estonians. While the Estonian and Finnish languages have certain similarities, they really cannot easily communicate with them. One of the Estonian members, Ylo Maaring, is fluent in Finnish and sent a letter and gift to the Johannsson's with me. They appreciated reading the letter written in Finnish and want to start correspondence with Ylo.
The only spiritual contact they have is through tapes which they receive from the United Kingdom but now they wanted to hear a live sermon. So I spoke for several hours about what the United Church of God is doing and a gave a Bible Study about the parables of Matthew 13.
Each one of the parables speak about the Kingdom of God and how it proliferates. The parables speak of small beginnings and growth in the parable of the mustard seed and leaven. We took courage in these words and spoke of how their small example would be the start for something bigger. Finland is not a religious country and the challenge is great. The ground needs to be tilled for the word of the Kingdom to germinate.
We also talked about the international scope of the United Church of God and progress taking place in the different language translations of our literature. I spoke about the areas that I'm most familiar with which is our Russian translations. I also spoke about the relocation of nearly 200 Tajikistan refugees from fundamentalist Moslem persecutors.
Hamid had much to say about the resurgence of Islam. Teheran has become the capital and source of aggressive Islam proselatyzing and terrorism for the entire world. The focus and attention of Moslem displeasure is first against Israel and Jerusalem. Every Moslem is aware of the issues which he learns from childhood.
Islam's charismatic spiriitual leader is Ali Khamenei who lives in Teharan. He speaks Arabic perfectly without an accent and has the capability of bringing the Islamic together. An Islamic summit was recently held in Teheran. The USSR had been a kind of buffer to Islam as it dominated heavily Moslem areas such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kirkizstan, Azerbaijan. After it fragmented and removed its authority from these areas these countries have reacted aggresively and are beginning to encirle the former USSR itself.
Hamid Johannsson is an Azeri himself coming from northern Iran. His parents are moderate Moslems. His father was a civil leader in Azerbaijan. The Azeri's are the largest percentage of Iran's population. They are related to the Turks, the Turks different from the Ottomans. Ali Khameni, the Moslem leader, is Azeri. Today's Azeirbaijan with oil-rich capital of Baku was land that was sold by Iran to Russia in the last century. Sometimes Teheran is referred to as Central Azeirbaijan. Other segments of Iran's population consist of the Kurds, Baluchis and Turkmen. In the south there are some Arabs. Neigbboring Iraq, of course, is Arabic. Hamid along with his wife Sirkka Liisa have gone back to Iran to visit family as recently as last year.
The war between Iraq and Iran has not ended, it has only come to a cease-fire which could erupt again. It lasted ten years and brought losses of a million men on each side. The Iranian leader Ayatollah Khoumeni after taking control of the control of the country told the nation that they would be enduring a long war with Iraq and that they would need soldiers--they better start making them. The people responded and the population of Iran swelled from 27 million in 1978 to over 65 million today. Such is the power of Islam!
It was interesting that the day after I visited with Hamid and Sirkka that the world-renowned reporter Christiane Amanpour who is of Persian descent interviewied Iran's current president Mohammed Khatami. This was the first time since 1978 that there were public conciliatory words towards the United States encouraging cultural and tourist exchanges.
The Johannsson's are fluent in English and would like contact with those outside Finland. They permitted me to post their address which is
Olgankuja
91800 Tyrnävä
FINLAND
Sirkka served some specially smoked reindeer meat. It was cold-smoked for three months. For dinner that evening a huge fish was served. I don't know what it was called in Finnish, but we looked up the meaning in English and it was "pike perch" although it looked like neither. It was caught in the Gulf of Bothnia.
We took a sauna in their home. A Finnish experience.
The next day we again talked until my time of departure. I flew from Oulu back to Helsinki and then on to London where my good friend Maurice Frohn was waiting for me..... (to be continuned)
Here are some photos of the Johannsson family.
