Ta­pa­ni Syri, Lop­pi

From his mis­si­on trip to Fin­land, Ke­vin Ruo­na­vaa­ra re­mem­bers the care he re­cei­ved and the fel­lows­hip of the Holy Spi­rit.

Ke­vin Ruo­na­vaa­ra, a vi­si­tor from Ame­ri­ca, ar­ri­ves for the in­ter­view on a sun­ny but win­dy Mon­day mor­ning at the Su­vi­seu­rat area.

– I’ve pre­vi­ous­ly been on mis­si­on trips to Ecu­a­dor and Ca­na­da, but this is my first mis­si­on trip to Fin­land, he says.

Ke­vin is from Se­at­t­le, Was­hing­ton.

His wife Cin­dy Ruo­na­vaa­ra joi­ned him on the trip, but their nine child­ren — the yo­un­gest of whom is nine ye­ars old — sta­yed be­hind in Ame­ri­ca. Ruo­na­vaa­ra is an en­gi­neer who works with airc­raft, tes­ting whet­her de­li­ve­red equip­ment and ma­te­ri­als meet the re­qui­red spe­ci­fi­ca­ti­ons.

Smoke Sau­na and Rice Por­rid­ge

In his free time, Ruo­na­vaa­ra en­jo­ys he­a­ding in­to the fo­rest or moun­tains with his hun­ting bow or fly-fis­hing gear and a tent. His trips can last se­ve­ral days. He used to go alo­ne, but no­wa­da­ys he of­ten ta­kes a few of his child­ren with him.

Ruo­na­vaa­ra feels that Fin­nish cul­tu­re and pe­op­le’s ways of ac­ting are not all that dif­fe­rent from those in Ame­ri­ca.

– Ho­we­ver, pe­op­le in Fin­land are a bit qui­e­ter and more re­ser­ved, he ref­lects.

What he says he will miss most from Fin­land are the smoke sau­na and rice por­rid­ge.

Mo­ved by the Sin­ging

Ruo­na­vaa­ra desc­ri­bes his ex­pe­rien­ce at Su­vi­seu­rat as “overw­hel­ming.”

– As a yo­ung boy, I used to lis­ten to Su­vi­seu­rat songs on cas­set­te ta­pes and won­der what it would be like to be there, he says.

What has es­pe­ci­al­ly imp­res­sed him at Su­vi­seu­rat is the inc­re­dib­ly po­wer­ful sin­ging that can be he­ard even a ki­lo­me­ter away from the main tent.

– It feels like what John desc­ri­bes in the Book of Re­ve­la­ti­on: like the roar of many wa­ters. It brings te­ars to my ey­es.

Ruo­na­vaa­ra was ner­vous about his turn to ser­ve at Su­vi­seu­rat, but he felt the pra­yers of God's child­ren car­ried him through the task.

– Af­ter the speech, I felt re­lief, pe­a­ce, and trust that I can con­ti­nue to be un­der the care of God’s child­ren in the fu­tu­re, he re­cal­ls.

The Same Gos­pel

On this mis­si­on trip, Ruo­na­vaa­ra has had over ten turns to ser­ve. What has sta­yed with him most po­wer­ful­ly from his vi­sit to Fin­land is the ex­pe­rien­ce of the Holy Spi­rit’s fel­lows­hip with ot­her be­lie­vers.

He al­so fond­ly re­mem­bers the la­ke­si­de sum­mer cot­ta­ge, the smoke sau­na, eve­ry home they vi­si­ted, and the SRK of­fi­ce. He has been deep­ly touc­hed by the love and care shown to them.

– I feel that here in Fin­land, you are figh­ting the exact same bat­t­le against the three­fold ene­my as we are in Ame­ri­ca — and we are both li­ving from the very same gos­pel, Ruo­na­vaa­ra conc­lu­des.