“For He is our peace, He who made both one, and broke down the dividing wall of enmity through His flesh………….. so making peace”. Ephesians 2:14+15
(This was the verse printed in Finnish, Hebrew, Arabic and English, on the backside of the T-Shirts worn throughout the camp).
“Pyha, Pyha, Pyha Jeesus”, “Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh Ata” and “Kudoos, Kudoos, Kudooson Anta” meaning “You are Holy, Holy, Holy” were words sung and danced to, at almost each of our 35 performances in Finland.
The words sauna, lake, salmon fish and many more have become so familiar to all those who joined the
Israel-Finland 2005 King’s Kids Summer Outreach,
an experience we all will recall for many years to come.
On the 9th of August 2005, a team of 26 youth and leaders,
11 Israeli Arabs, 1 Palestinian Christian from a Muslim background and 14 attending Messianic Jewish congregations (both from Jewish and foreign backgrounds), left for Ben-Gurion, the airport of Tel-Aviv, on their way to a well-organized 3 week adventure in beautiful Finland, green and full of water, trees and blond people!
Challenges began even before departure, as in almost every case of a Palestinian trying to get his travel papers arranged. Things were not clear until the day of departure when, through many prayers, the Lord opened the door and N., a 14 year old resident of Beit-Jala, managed to join the team, praise the Lord.
Another challenge came right before getting on the plane, as the 27th member, a young Jewish boy, 10 years old, could not join us due to social complications which all of us thought had been solved.
That was a tough beginning, but God’s grace flowed over and guided our steps from the very first moments until our safe return on the 31st of August. What a Mighty God we serve! Nothing of what you’ve read and are about to read could have taken place without His presence and His Love.
The purpose of King’s Kids worldwide is to bless the Lord, worship Him and bring the message of His Salvation to all the nations through all the talents and energy the Lord has put and still develops in the life of each youngster, who chooses to give his/her life to the Lord.
King’s Kids Israel has been abundantly blessed. We received so much love and were given the best of everything by all the Finnish people we met on our outreach. We were hosted in Church centers, Christian schools, homes and beautiful Church holiday resorts. We trust all those precious friends to our loving Father’s hands and know that only He can repay them for all their goodness towards us.
During our stay in Finland we met about 14 local King’s Kids teams out of almost 50 teams in the whole country. We also had the pleasure of meeting a King’s Kids team from Estonia. It was always easy to tell who the Finnish team was and who the Israeli team as the difference between blond and brown hair was always pretty obvious. J
Most of our time was spent in the south of Finland. We went to Helsinki, Vantaa, Järvenpää, Kerava and Hamina. Towards the end of our trip we went more to the north to Mikkeli, Tampere and Raahe.
We began our outreach by performing on the streets of Helsinki along with around 5 more local King’s Kids teams. We spoke to people who came especially for the World Championship of Light Athletics taking place in Helsinki during those days.
More performances were held on the streets of many cities, in Christian and public schools, Lutheran, Pentecostal and Free Churches, parks and also at an orphanage and a prison.
Each performance was unique and different, and holds its place in our memories.
One particular performance that had its special effect on us all was the one held at a prison in Kerava. Many of the youth had never visited a prison before and definitely never with the intention of evangelism. The joy of the Lord filled our hearts as we saw some of those people who are away from God, with tearful eyes, wondering about the message that we brought and why we were so joyful. At the end of the performance, 5 prisoners asked for prayer. We pray that God’s love truly continues to touch and change their lives.
Another spectacular performance was our last one. It was in the Budapest airport as we waited for our connecting flight. We had gathered at a specific point, when we realized that a plane to Egypt was about to leave from that boarding gate. Egyptians, Iraqis and Syrians as well as people from our flight, Jewish Israelis, both secular and extremely religious gathered around. We all felt the Lord compelling us to perform and so we did Arabic, Hebrew and English dances. Some people left as they heard the words “Jesus” and “cross”, but some stayed all the time or even came back after they’d gone, and the Lord opened up doors of opportunity to share about Jesus. It was so touching and powerful that one of our youth said: “this was the performance during which I evangelized the most”.
We believe that the Lord used this time to do so much in the lives of each member of our King’s Kids team, both youth and leaders. The Lord challenged us in many ways and, looking back, we see the blessing of His intervention in solving all the big and small issues that came up.
One of the youth who has been on King’s Kids for the last 3 years, said: “this is the first time I feel I have truly been confronted with the issue of Arabs and Jews coming together as one in Christ. It was not easy, but the Lord taught me so much”. Praise the Lord.
We enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Finland. We canoed, sailed, played, ate delicious foods almost 5 times a day, traveled, worshipped, studied God’s word, danced, performed, spoke about Jesus’ love, made new friends, got to know more about the kindness and generosity of the Finnish nation, and so much more.
Above all, we experienced the victory of Christ, the fullness in Him, His grace, mercy, love and kindness towards us. We came out victorious through His blood.
This is the news we bring to you of a
Life changing, successful experience with God our Father.
We are so grateful for your support and prayers.
God Bless you all!
Rajaa’ Grimberg, youth leader King’s Kids Israel.