Home, sweet Finland

It has been quite silent here lately. But it doesn’t mean my life would have been silent.

Right now I’m at New York’s airport waiting for my flight to Brasil only to be continued by the last flight to Argentina. So my trip to Finland is officially over now. 

I arrived to Finland on the 26th of August after a long trip. My parents were waiting in the airport. How had I been missing them!

After one day of rest at home I went to do something really Finnish with my friends. We packed our backpacks and went hiking. In two days we walked 20 km. And of course we slept outside in tents and cooked our food on bonfire. Really Finnish.

My brother was moving to a new house with their family so I also had an opportunity to help him with fixing the new house. 

You can see more photos from my sister-in-law's blog. 

There were also two friends from YWAM Argentina visiting Finland and together we had a little trip visiting some youth camps and churches. Emilia, who had done her DTS at our base this year was also seeing her family so together we formed a great team. I had the honor to translate our visitors when they shared or preached in Spanish.

Ale on the left loves Finland.
Aaron on the right is Chilean and visiting Finland for the first time.

Love this car! Emilia was our trustworthy driver
as we miraculously fit into this Mini Cooper

In general, it was so crazy how many awesome encounters I had with so many people! I got to see all the closest family members, supporters, crowds of friends, got to know my new nieces and nephew and even met with my friends from the job I used to have. 

Getting to know one of the new family members

Spanish worship in Finnish church

These guys (Kruuvi) are my best friends!
So I was more than willing to help them with their gig.

Playing with my niece.

I was spoiled in many ways :D

My plan was also to share about the new base we are about to open in Rosario. So this week my friend arranged a mission night where I was able to explain well what we are doing as AME art team and what’s the deal with Rosario. I was surprised how many people came to listen to me and how generous they were with our project! Thank you all!

So basically I’m just super happy and thankful for all the details of this trip! It had already been more than two years and half since the last visit and I don’t know when the next opportunity will be! So that’s why I’m so grateful for this opportunity to travel in this season.

Thank you everyone for your time, support, prayers, conversations and friendship. It’s something crucial to have emotional, spiritual and financial support from my homeland. 

News, Good news

Good news!

There are some pretty awesome things going on I want to share with you guys!

Today I went to renew my residence. This is the third time I got to do it. Everything just went so smooth and perfect. Since this year I didn't even needed to pay for it! Since this year the religious residence is free also for the evangelical ministries!

Next year when I renew my residence for the forth time it will finally be a permanent one. It has been a long battle but it's easier every time.

As it is Argentina's independence day today we stopped the traffic in order to celebrate on the street with our neighbors.

A photo posted by Pyry Ihonen (@tofindmore) on Jul 9, 2016 at 5:14pm PDT

Last Saturday the 9th of July it was Argentina's 200th independence day! So we decided to celebrate well! We cut the traffic and danced folklore on the street! Lots of neighbors gathered to dance, hang out and eat tradicional Argentinean food.

This was also a strategic and prophetic move against the crime wave that had attacked our neighborhood lately. There have been more robbery than ever before and people are afraid to move outside. We have been interceding a lot for the situation, walking in the neighborhood doing spiritual warfare and this event was such a big part of this all.


In two weeks I'll be already on my way back home. I'll hope to see lots of friends in Finland during August!

Be blessed all!

Thanks Daddy for the best Christmas!

Greetings from São Paolo's airport! I'm almost there - just waiting for my third flight which will finally take me to Argentina.

So now as my visit in Finland is over it's a good time to post some photos and share a bit. 

The whole trip was such a great gift and a huge blessing! I really realized that it's by God's grace that I could see my family and friends, serve and enjoy. I could really experience Daddy's love through many different people, especially through my parents and family.

It was hard to leave my country once again - especially because I don't know when will I come back next time. I already miss friends and family. But more than anything I'm so thankful for the time I got to spend with them.

YWAM Ruurikkala - I got to know this amazing DTS!

A worship meeting where I shared a short testimony

The Christmas celebration of
the youth ministry of my home church

From a pentacostal church

Amazing Sarah, my friend from the DTS, came to see me!

Visiting my sister's family

Tampere

Thanks mom for taking us to eat!

Chinese dinner..! 

my daddy

The Christmas Eve. My brother came over with his wife 

The Christmas day
- singing for the homeless/alcoholists/poor

Lovely people indeed.
Got to pray for one of them and just share Daddy's love.

More family together!
The children make a real Christmas!

From my home church's new year camp.
I gave a teaching about missions.

Well, I also spent heaps of time with my friends, but I don't really have photos of that. However they are super important for me and I really liked just to relax.

Hope each one of you had an amazing Christmas and New Year. May God really bless u overwhelingly during this year!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

I'm so blessed to be back here in Finland for Christmas! I really enjoy spending time with my family and eating lots and lots.

This picture, because it's not snowing here, only raining..:0
So everything's mostly gray.

The few last days I'll spend on a camp of my home church and then I'll fly back to Argentina..!

instantes en Finlandia

In Finland! And it's FREEZING COLD..! But I love it. This is my land :)

Right now I'm at the YWAM base here in Ruurikkala. I just love this place, there's such a peace of God in this place. God has already ministered me with His love :)

But actually I just wanted to share a video. This is the one that Jeremy made for a music producer called Evan Sour. As I told before, Hiram (the leader of our ministry) is singing the 2nd part of the verse and almost all of the people in the video are my friends as well. You can also see me dancing the coreography in a green t-shirt and jumping in the rain in a blue t-shirt.

Enjoy! 

I am (almost) ready to go home

Time is running fast! 

Ok, the thing is that tomorrow I'm finally going to fly back to Finland to visit my family! I'm super excited! 

My plans are to stay the first week with YWAM Finland in Ruurikkala supporting the counseling ministry. The rest of the time I want to visit various congregations or events and share a bit about missions, art or what ever the need is. So if you want me to visit your congregation or small group, just let me know!

Other plans are to raise more supporters for me and for the art ministry in Buenos Aires. And well, of course to spend the real white Christmas at home with my beloved family that I haven't seen for almost a year and a half.

And well, right after the new year I'm already coming back to Argentina.

So I should be preparing myself to leave, but to be honest there're still other stuff to be done! Tonight I'm playing with the two bands of our ministry, with Jeremy Black and Pujahca. And every night I'm helping the girls from our ministry to make costumes to raise finances for our outreach in February. 

I'm a bit frustrated because I couldn't renew my residence yet, but well, I'll do it after coming back. God is super faithful and I have seen Him totally coming through once again in many areas. Just love my Daddy. 

Thank you a lot, all friends, supporters, family and all you readers!

Making costumes...

rehearsal with Jeremy Black

A sign we made for a event against
 child sex abuse and violence

A NIKO camp. Awesome experience!

Finishing the Finnish Summer

Few words and heaps of pictures from this summer in Finland.

I came back to Finland in the end of May. The most important reason for coming back just at that time was my brother's wedding in the beginning of June. I am so happy for my brother! It has also been a joy to get to know his wife better during the summer.

The wedding also brought all the siblings together.
From the youngest to the oldest.

The wedding wasn't the only party - of course not!
Some friends graduated. 

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I was asked to help with a youth camp of my church in June. So I prayed and said yes. The camp took us almost around the Finland! We went to the East, then to the North, West and finally back to the South. Most of the places I had never visited before and I was more than excited to know my country better!

I changed shirts with my new friend. I like my new one.

Finland is tiny, but anyway we got to sit hours on the bus... 
Me drinking mate.

This is not me. I haven't become a fish yet.

Lapland - the northern part of Finland.

Delicious food in the middle of nowhere.

Welcome to Finland! What would u like to do?

I know the Beautiful Maker of all this!

BTW, it is true that in the north the sun never goes down in summer! 
It shines through all the night. 

Ok, this time it was not Table Mountain in Cape Town, 
but we made it! 546m :D haha, it felt like 5k

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However most of my summer I worked... hard. Haha, not that hard, but a lot though. We have a summerhouse 20 minutes away from our house. We had heaps of things to fix there. About an half of the time I worked there with my father - rest of the time alone. 

The work was physical and I liked it. The best thing was I didn't have a strict schedule and I was able to live in the summer house if needed. Whenever I wanted to sunbathe or swim in the lake I just took a break and continued after a while. Cool, right?

Here's something we did:

Renovation of the SAUNA..! We made a new floor, renovated some walls, put a new ceiling... Many things!

I made the steps and the path next to the house.

The path to the shore

A platform for the table & chairs

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As most of the ywamers know the time after (or between) the mission field is not always easy. Even though I had a perfect summer the time was also hard for me. I have already got used to live in a Chirstian community surrounded by people. Being at home only with my parents easily made me feel myself alone. 

We are always living in the middle of a spiritual war - no matter if we realise it or not - no matter if we decide fight or not. I didn't see this reality all the time. During this summer I needed to humble myself with certain things. In the midst of my weakness I had to seek the Lord. However most of the time I felt I was failing because I just couldn't do what God had asked me to do.

In the midst of this pain God showed His perfect faitfulness again. He never asks us to do anything without also giving us the courage and humbleness we may need. God showed me again that it's all about Him. So this period of time became a time of victory, real joy, a family restoration and intimacy. All the promises God gave me for this time have been fullfilled.

"On that day I will gather you together

and bring you home again.

I will give you a good name, a name of distinction,

among all the nations of the earth,

as I restore your fortunes before their very eyes.

I, the Lord, have spoken!"

Zeph 3:20 (NLT)

I have no words to describe all the joy and peace God suddenly gave me. His faithfulness just blows my mind!

I have become so blessed by my friends! 
Praise God I don't need to be (stupid) alone..:D

Maybe far away from each other, but in the same boat anyway.

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Well, the summer is over and I'm leaving to the late winter of Argentina. However I have SO much good memories from this summer. God has been so good for me. I love my country, I love my language, my food and SAUNA. And that's why it's always so good to leave. You know you want to come back when it's the time.

Now I'm in the middle of the preparation for leaving. My flight is on Wednesday. No, I haven't packed :D But I'm not that stressed. God has showed His favor even in the small things: I have managed to sell many goods I haven't even used for years. There's so many details I could tell you where I can just see God's favor over my life.

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I wana praise for:

• this opportunity to spend summer in my country
• my family and my friends
• the faithfulnes and favor The I Am has showed me

I'm praying for:

• these two days of preparation for Argentina
• for my flight

Be blessed!

"If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, 

for he cannot deny who he is." 

- 2 Tim 2:13 (NLT)