Wednesday 20 July 2016

An update, long overdue!


Hi everyone,

So it turns out that Miska and I are not so great on updating our blog! O
ur previous post was over a year ago! However, I (Alison) have decided to take this into hand and aim to write regular posts, especially as we are approaching our last year at seminary and will be planning for our return to Finland.

So I thought I would just begin this recap with a quick overview of the past few years, it is always an encouragement to look back and see how God has richly provided for us over these past few years. We arrived in Los Angeles just under two years ago, there was Miska, I and a little 12 week old baby growing inside me, we had just four suitcases and two hand luggage bags. God abundantly provided for us through the generosity of other believers, when we arrived we had an apartment that was fully furnished waiting for us right down to the smallest of kitchen utensils. Getting a car, at first proved a struggle, but through patience and perseverance we finally found a good and reliable Toyota Corolla and I soon got used to driving on the wrong side of the road!

Miska, soon found his feet and settled into life at TMS, making friends and thoroughly enjoying his studies, delighting in the fact that he was where he had wanted to be for so many years and getting to study the Word of God in detail. For me, it took a little longer to find my feet, sure I was happy to move to Los Angeles, but for me I guess it felt like I was giving up more to come here, I was giving up my family, friends, the only church I had really ever known, job and even my own country. I certainly felt home sick for several months and cried a lot. Everything felt new, we spoke the same language, but even in that there were differences and the paperwork to get medical insurance and even a driving license was just completely foreign to me! Through it all God sustained me and strengthened me. As we started to get more involved at Grace Community Church, things started to fall into place, we joined the fellowship group called 'FaithBuilders' which also had a home Bible Study that met in our apartment complex. I started attending Every Woman's Grace (EWG) a women's Bible Study meeting on Wednesday mornings and Seminary Wives meeting on Wednesday evenings, also Women Walking Wisely a monthly women's meeting from FaithBuilders. 


Attending Membership classes was also a great wake up call for me, I thought when joining a church this size people would be rushing to make friends with you, and don't get me wrong people were certainly friendly, but in the class I learnt that it is our responsibility to put ourselves out there and reach out to people, that was a wake up call for me and I realised that I need to reach out the hand of friendship, rather than expecting it to be given to me on a plate. Also, that friendships can take time, when I compared them to friends at home, I realised that I had known them for years and of course our friendships were therefore closer.

In our EWG group for the first semester we studied 1 Peter, firstly I don't think I have ever studied a book so thoroughly, and I learnt so much from that book study that was so applicable to me in that time of my life. We were encouraged to learn the passage 1 Peter 1: 3-9 by heart, below is just a portion, but it certainly spoke to me that at time, knowing that we have all that we need through Christ, we have an inheritance that is kept in heaven for us, and we can rejoice in this through all trials we may be facing in our lives.


Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

I guess the biggest change came to us on February 25th 2015, when Jeremiah Ryle Wilhelmsson was born weighing 9lb 11oz! The first few weeks were again a struggle for me as I had some problems with breast feeding, but again perseverance paid off and all started working well. Jeremiah has truly been a gift from God to us. He is now almost 17 months, running around, saying random words, feeding himself and just generally being a little boy - head bumps and all!

Another blessing came to us in the form of moving apartment complexes, although we enjoyed where we lived and were happy there, the expense of the place was making a huge dent into our bank balance. Thankfully God provided for us a two bedroom apartment at a much cheaper rent than we were first paying, and what’s more the new complex was full of other seminary families, many of whom also had young children. This community has been such a blessing to me in so many ways I can't even express, and will be dearly missed when we return to Finland.

Okay, so this recap is getting longer than I expected and I feel like I have only covered such a little part of our time here so far. Miska has continued to enjoy the seminary and get to know more fellow students. He has also been blessed with several different work positions at the seminary and is now working as a designer for the marketing department at TMS. He was also recently voted to be the President of the Associated Student Body at TMS for the next academic year, which demonstrates how well he has settled in and adapted to seminary life. Also, our involvement in ministry at FaithBuilders recently resulted in an opportunity for Miska to preach at FaithBuilders in June. I was probably more nervous than him, but it was such a joy for me to see how much he has learnt over the past few years, and how he was able to put this into practice when preaching, it has made the whole seminary experience so worth it. If you would like to listen to the sermon, you can do so on the Grace Community Church website.


Sermon link: https://www.gracechurch.org/sermons/12178

So I think I will leave it there for now, my aim is to be brief on my posts and keep them more frequent, so watch this space :-)

Points for prayer and praise:
  • How God has sustained us and provided so much more than we ever could have imagined.
  • For Miska, as he finishes his last assignments for summer school by the end of July.
  • For me (Alison), that I will be a good helper to my husband and mother to my son, also for the little baby that is currently growing inside me.

Ps. Even though Miska hasn't written any blog updates here for over a year, he has actually published a few articles on his theological blog 'Nordic Preacher.' Here's the link if you're interested to read what he has written: http://www.nordicpreacher.com/

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