June Update 2022

We...Made...It

Wow. It is incredible to see this prayer come to life. I don’t know about you, but there seem to be special times when you see your prayers that the Lord answers by grace that seems to enlarge the magnitude of his glory. This journey is one of those prayers. Years of praying, dreaming, and seeking his will collide at this moment. Here. In Finland. For his name and glory. All glory to the king for his love and provision that we don’t deserve.

We are beyond thankful for the quality time we got to spend with all of our family, friends, and church family. Thank you all for your selfless hospitality and pursuit of us in lew of this journey. Those moments did not go unnoticed and will never fade. We are especially thank you to our home church, Christ Community Church. You all have given us great support and love. You have shown and taught us what the body of Christ should respresent on this earth and what is looks like in the now. We feel equpped and sent to do this work because of the Lord using ordinary people to do extraordinary things in our lives.

Updates

We have found an apartment that is a five-minute car ride from our church that we will be serving. We got this apartment at a great price, but it needs some renovations. Our church has graciously stepped in to help in parts of the renovation. We will stay with some family for the next month and a half until the renovations are complete.

The youth camp that was supposed to happen is canceled due to unavailable camp spots. We are in the process of planning a lock-in for both kids ministry and youth ministry. I look forward to sharing testimonies and pictures with you all.

I met a guy at the airport on the way to Greece. We will get coffee soon. Please pray for that time that it would bear fruit for the name of Jesus.

Moving Robots?

We officially do not have an American number anymore. If you have messaged Heidi or I, we can’t respond. We do have European numbers now. I will message you if you have signed up to receive messages. Do not be alarmed if you get a message from a 358 number. That is just us :) If you haven’t signed up for updates, now is a great time to do that. Scroll to the bottom of the page to sign up for updates.

Personal Insight

This week, I found myself pondering what would make being a missionary in Finland challenging. At the church, another American missionary has been a missionary for one year. We got to have a conversation about this topic, to which he replied along the lines.

Often, we walk into being a missionary with fervent zeal and excitement. That is good, and we should have that. We run into discouragement when our passion doesn’t match the fruit we expect to produce. The way you combat this is that being faithful is what the Lord gives you DAILY. He is pleased to provide you the daily bread and see you use it for his glory. I thought this was profound and helps put God’s pace as a missionary into perspective. This comforted me to rest in the wings of the Lord rather than running on my endurance, trying to outpace. His will.

Cultural Insight

Finnish people do not say “hey” in passing very often. Amid my jetlag and the summertime days in Finland (the sun comes up at 3:30 am and goes down at 11 pm), I found myself going on a run through Paloheina. In my American way, most people I walked by, I either said “hey”, gave a “what’s up” nod, or simply gave a presidential wave. Out of around 10 of these interactions, I got ONE person to actually respond... it was the next-door neighbor.

Prayer Request

· The Byrd’s would move at the Lord’s pace, not at "man’s" expectations.

· Wisdom for the right words for gospel conversations with the Finnish people.

· Unity in the Byrd house amid this transition.

· A continued fire for the Lord to move during the youth in Olari, Espoo, and Matinkyla.