There is a lot of phy­si­cal, men­tal and spi­ri­tu­al pain in the world. I saw it very conc­re­te­ly du­ring my first fo­reign mis­si­on trip. The whole spect­rum of hu­man suf­fe­ring lay open be­fo­re my ey­es. Pe­op­le ap­p­ro­ac­hed me and beg­ged for help.

The dist­ress I had read about now had a face, a voi­ce and ple­a­ding ey­es. It be­ca­me re­a­li­ty to me. Suf­fe­ring came close, pain­ful­ly close.

I re­mem­ber the dif­fi­cult life si­tu­a­ti­on of Ann. Her one-room sheet me­tal home had been swept away by he­a­vy rains. It had been home for her, though ot­her pe­op­le had cal­led it a hut in the slum.

To pro­vi­de hu­ma­ni­ta­ri­an aid, SRK has es­tab­lis­hed a spe­ci­al hu­ma­ni­ta­ri­an aid com­mit­tee (HAC), which helps un­derp­ri­vi­le­ged pe­op­le along with the mis­si­on work done in their com­mu­ni­ties. Fi­nan­ci­al aid has been gi­ven for child­ren to go to school and for he­alth care.

Ann al­so re­cei­ved help from this com­mit­tee. The lo­cal mem­bers of HAC sub­mit­ted an ap­p­li­ca­ti­on on Ann’s be­half, be­cau­se she simp­ly did not have the ca­pa­ci­ty for it. They al­so brought her in­to hos­pi­tal and paid for her care.

The HAC al­lo­wan­ce hel­ped Ann get a new home, so the six child­ren she was ca­ring for did not re­main orp­ha­ned and ho­me­less. Ann is gra­te­ful to God and the unk­nown pe­op­le who do­na­ted mo­ney to the HAC pro­ject.

Now that I am pre­pa­ring for a new mis­si­on trip, I think about what my dis­tant friends have taught me. They have taught me gra­ti­tu­de. Things that have been self-evi­dent to me now seem like gifts I should be gra­te­ful for.

The know­led­ge that I will face again those pe­op­le in great need does not seem so pain­ful as it first did. I know my grand­pa­rents li­ved at a time of great in fa­mi­ne in Fin­land. Many Fin­nish pe­op­le died from di­se­a­ses or star­ved to de­ath, but pe­op­le al­so hel­ped each ot­her. It is our turn to help now. It is good and va­lu­ab­le to meet the ey­es of my fel­low hu­mans.

As­sis­tan­ce is gi­ven both to those who be­lie­ve in the way that we do as Con­ser­va­ti­ve La­es­ta­di­an Chris­ti­ans and those who lack this faith. Trus­ting in God and with His help, we will do what we can to pro­vi­de tem­po­ral as­sis­tan­ce to those in need.

The work of the gos­pel is al­so spre­a­ding, as more and more pe­op­le long for the word of grace and en­cou­ra­ge­ment. It is time for us to work.

Text: Mau­no Ku­run­lah­ti

Trans­la­ti­on: Sirk­ka-Lii­sa Lei­no­nen

You will find the ori­gi­nal fin­nish blog post here.