May & June Update 2023
As I reflect on the months of May and June, this scripture from Matthew 22 has become a theme for the summer. This year has been filled with a pursuit of allowing Christ to penetrate every area of our lives. The aim for the youth group this year was for them to pursue an authentic relationship with God and intentional relationships with one another. This scripture was the exhortation I gave during the last youth meeting for the year and the theme of both summer events. Jesus tells us that all the law is summed up in these two commands. My prayer for us all is that we would pursue loving God and our neighbors authentically and intentionally. May we be inspired by this summative statement given by Jesus to make God known through our love for him and others.
Updates
Ministry
The month of May was full of different events for our church. For our sports ministry outreach, we played volleyball on an indoor court. It was a great time, and I learned that our students enjoy volleyball. We had a few new people there, which is always great. I am proud to see our students taking the challenge to invite friends to these events. Please pray that we will proclaim Christ as excitedly as we want to play the sports. That is the most crucial component of the event.
In May, we got the opportunity to graduate four seniors. These guys have been part of a bible study I started relatively early in Finland. Seeing their growth in loving God and others has been great. The blessing that has come out of this is that those same seniors have decided that they want to go and be volunteers for the youth. This is an amazing answer to prayer, and I am grateful to see the guys serve with me this way. A few of the graduates were volunteers for our two summer events. They have jumped right in on the leadership team! It is a great blessing, and I look forward to seeing the fruit from these students next year.
For the last three to four years, there has been a team of college students that visit Finland from Palm Beach Atlantic University to serve the local churches. This group of students has given up weeks of their summer to be the hands and feet of Christ in any way they can in Finland. This year I got to meet a new cohort of students and serve with them. Being with 7 Americans and living together for a few weeks was so refreshing. We went to Estonia for part of their time to connect with another local church. This trip also served as an opportunity to give them a much-needed break from all the hard work they had done. I am so grateful for how these students loved my family, and I look forward to meeting them in the future.
The month of June was the closing of the youth season. In Finland, many people spend July and August away, so all of our summer events happen in June. For our Pre Teen group, we had a Vacation Bible School Camp. The camp was for two days, from morning until late afternoon. A few students who graduated from the youth group joined this trip as their first youth group meeting. The lessons were about relationships, Authority, and Friends. This camp was much better than I ever expected. One of the highlights of the center was visiting a military island in Finland called Suomenlinna. We spent almost all day there fellowshipping, playing games, and enjoying the beach. I thank God for the first summer event with this group, and I look forward to making it a yearly occurrence.
We rented a cabin on a lake for two days for our Teen's Retreat. This was a very refreshing trip. Our rented cabin had two full Saunas, six kayaks, two boats, and three standing boards. We had twenty students, 5 of those being new to our group and three graduating from the pre-teen group. One fun idea that we came up with is to make a tie-dye retreat shirt. It turned out great, as you can see from the picture below. The theme of the retreat was how we are all connected by relationships. We make the unseen God seen through how we interact in our relationships in a watching world. We focused on the ultimate connection with God, those in authority, and strangers. This camp we the highlight of the year. Something about being out in nature and on a lake (without our phones) draws us closer to God. Most students were thrilled about the trip and look forward to doing it again :)
I got the great opportunity to preach at the main service this summer. It was exciting to use God's gifts to serve the youth this year and the congregation on Sunday through preaching. One American I have connected with lately is Mike McGarry. He is a youth pastor in the States who is now embarking on a journey to shepherd youth pastors worldwide. One of the great pieces of advice he gave me was to serve the full body of Christ, not just the youth. I value this advice very much. I have seen this exemplified in two of my dear friends, Richmond and Clark. This was the moment for me,and I am grateful for it. If you want to listen to the sermon, the link is at the bottom of the picture below.
It is a blessing to have such great volunteers who show up week after week to show these students the love of Christ. To close the year, the volunteers and I had a reflection meeting and celebrated by rock climbing. I am grateful for the people whom God has brought to this ministry. Please continue to pray for us that we may continue to share the truth of God's love faithfully.
Family
In May, our family took a vacation to Denmark for a week. Some of our friends from Houston met us there for the trip. We are so grateful for these friends who take the time to meet us on this side of the world. It was great to explore new countries and places.
June and July are summer cottage months for most Finns. They migrate to their cabins and spend weeks there grilling, sauna, and swimming in the lake. We got the opportunity to get away to some cottages ourselves and camping! We aim this summer to make Finland home for us so that we may serve the people more fully.
My wife and I celebrated our 7th anniversary in May. Time seems to just fly by, but we are grateful for one another and to be doing ministry together in this way. It has been a building point for our marriage and we look forward to many more years!
I am officially done with the first year of seminary. It is a wonderful gift to learn and apply God's word at such depth. The seminary has been a great blessing to grow with brothers and sisters in Christ in Finland. It was a sweet grace to be immersed with people who want to see God's kingdom come and will do! I look forward to my Independent Study and Thesis next year. Please pray for my studies.
Heidi is excited about this time of the year. All of our cool family plans are streaming from her. She is an amazing mom and organizer of our family. Her bible study is taking a break for the summer, but it has been a blessing for her. The families in the group have kids the same age as ours, so it is relative to our stage of life and filling her up relationally and spiritually.
Noah is quite the youth group kid. He has come to most of our events since we don't have anyone to watch him. He is the little brother to all the students in the youth group. It is amazing to see his growth as a person, his heart for truth, and his love for people. We are excited for him to continue to grow in the Christian community here. He continues to pray for his faith and trust to be wholly given to Christ.
Lukas is such a ball of energy. He is one of the kids that many people adore in the church. Noah and Lukas's relationship is so fun to watch. It is great to see them love, pursue, and play with one another so well. He is speaking Finnish more than English at this point, though it isn't much. We are just thrilled for who he is. He is such a joy, and we praise God for him.
HEIDI AND THE BOYS ARE COMING TO THE STATES! 🙌🏾
They will be there on October 24th and return to Finland on November 2nd. I will not make this trip, but I am excited for them! The family will be coming to C3 Sunday, October 29th. Please love on the family for me. Noah has missed Houston so much, so I think this will be great for him.
End of the Year Reflection
As we wrap up this season of ministry, I am reminded that we could not have done this without God using you all in our lives. We benefit from you through your prayers, support, and care. We are grateful for all that you have done for us. From the random checking in text messages to the surprise donations, we are spurred on to continue to live out the Gospel and share the good news will all those around us. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!
We are eager and expectant for next year as much as we were this year. With one year under our belt, there are structures built for us to build upon. One exciting opportunity that has arisen is for me to teach one class a week in a Christian school. This is exciting because I get to expand the impact of this ministry on the school system. This has the potential for me to get the gospel to more students outside our church and invite them to experience Jesus through UCC.
There are many little things that God is doing throughout this missionary journey, and we want to encourage you to stick with us! As we think about next year's support, there are some ways in which you can partner with us so that we can continue to be a light here in Finland. One main area is your financial contributions. Expectant fluctuations have risen from different supporters and life here in Finland. If you believe in what God is doing here in Finland, I encourage you to pray about what it would look like for you to support this ministry financially. Our goal is to raise $600 recurringly for the next season of ministry to accommodate the fluctuations. We are grateful for any help you can provide.
We praise the Lord for each of you. No day goes by when I don't think of you in some form, shape, or fashion. I pray your summer is filled with rest and connection with the Lord Jesus Christ.
God Bless :)
Heidi and Gabe
