Porvoo our Home!

Shorehouses

Porvoo is a wonderful small city in Finland and happens to be my home for the summers as I coach the Butchers. It occurred to me that I have not really spent any time writing about Porvoo in these blogs. That is an error which must be corrected and so this week I will introduce you to my home away from home Porvoo, Suomi.  Porvoo is located about 50 kilometers east of Helsinki. It is in the region called Ita-Ussimaa and has about 42,000 residents. It sits where the Porvoo River meets the sea and has been an important trading port for centuries.  The Porvoo Castle was built on the hill and the town named Borgå in Swedish which means Castle River. It is a culturally significant town as it is the home of Finnish National poet J.L. Runeberg who wrote the words to the national anthem during his time in Porvoo. Famous artist Albert Edelfelt also produced much of his work here. Many of his portraits of Porvoo from the 1800s feel as though were painted last year. He would travel every summer from Paris to come paint the scenery of Porvoo. It is also the scene of the Diet of 1809 convened by Czar Alexander I of Russia when Finland became a Grand Duchy of Russia. This became the cornerstone of Finnish independence which would develop over the next 110 years.

Porvoo Cathedral

 This is a small town where everyone knows everyone and their business which can be good and bad. If you have done something everyone knows it. That goes especially for the Butchers. While we may not draw the size of crowds that the game does in America, everyone seems to know the Butchers and how we are doing. Many of them have opinions as well about what we are doing right or wrong and will share those with you. I can’t tell you how many times someone has come up to me who is a perfect stranger and talked about the Butchers. I have realized that there is a deep passion in the city about the team. This is even more disconcerting considering how reserved these Finns are. As I have commented before they make the British look like gregarious extroverts. If so many people are willing to come say something despite the inhibitions of this people how many more are thinking things and not saying them?  But for the most part everyone here loves the Butchers and is proud of the six championships the team has won in the Maple League.

Walgrens Restaurant

            The team also has wonderful sponsors who have done so much for us as coaches and players. Last season we ate our meals at Seireni a wonderful restaurant and night club in town. The staff there became wonderful friends and was very supportive of me personally. Carina, Kirsi, and Ida in particular were so welcoming. This season I admit I was disappointed that we would not be eating at Seireni, as I felt at home there. However, with a new year comes new changes and we now eat at two places, the Serahovi Hotel and a restaurant owned by the hotel, Walgrens. The staff at Walgrens has been so pleasant and welcoming that it is one of our highlights every day to go there. The food is also incredible. We have yet to have a meal that was not fabulous and the presentation is wonderful. Ani, Veronica and the others have made us feel so welcome and we are so thankful. They also have come to games and taken a real interest in us. On warm days sitting on the deck of this historic building is such a pleasure as we watch tourist and locals stroll along the riverside. 

Porvoo is a tourist town and is the second oldest community in Finland, granted town rights in 1346 by the King of Sweden Magnus Eriksson. Walgrens is near the Vanha Porvoo or old town which is full of lovely boutiques, restaurants and shops. It is a major tourist destination as people come to see the old wooden shorehouse buildings along the river, the Cathedral and the cobblestone streets.

           

Body Tonic

Just up the street from old town is the other place we spend a lot of time, Body Tonic. Body Tonic is a local gym that allows us to use their facilities. It is not a mega facility such as you might find in the U.S. but it has everything that we need and is very comfortable. Everyone there has also been very friendly and there are some amazing athletes that work out there that we have become friends with. Top European bodybuilders, MMA fighters, Thai boxers, members of the local basketball and floorball clubs and professional wrestlers use this facility along with the general population.  We especially love hitting the sauna after working out, it can be very relaxing. Many of our players, especially the younger ones, also train at Body Tonic and the staff there have been so supportive.

The BOY!

            Another of our sponsors that has been such a joy to work with has been Ostuupankki. Besides being a major supporter and the home of the Maple Bowl trophy or ‘The Boy,” as it is affectionately called, for the past six years this is also our bank. When we have issues dealing with money this is where we go and they are always so patient with us. Mackenzie even has a nickname there, he is known to the bank staff, not as the golden boy quarterback, but as “the waterboy.” Chris and Layton dubbed him that one day and now whenever Mac walks in they say, “hey there’s the waterboy!” 

The Waterboy!

           

So much of our team’s success has been due to the support of this community, the sponsors, and the staff of volunteers who have worked so hard behind the scenes. Here’s to Porvoo, a hearty kiittos (thanks) to you for all you do.      

Finnish Development

            My second year in Finland has started with an interesting situation. While we are trying to defend our Maple Bowl championship and win a record 7^th consecutive national championship the team finds itself at a crossroads. The Butchers of 2011 are not the Butchers of 2010. Gone are key players on both sides of the ball. Robert Johnson is playing in Italy, Santtu Ayravainen and Derrick Ford are in Germany, IIro Luoto is in Switzerland. Seppo Evwaraye, Tommi Padatsu, Markus Haverinen, Marko Luoma, Peter Lindholm, Kari Hytonen, and Patrick Hogstrom have all retired. Others have moved to other teams in Finland or have commitments that prevent them from playing this season. All in all it has made for a huge turnover in which our junior players have had to step up and play big roles already in the season.

            Add to that scenario the fact that some of our American imports have been delayed in arriving and it made for an interesting open of the season when we took on the Roosters and the Crocodiles in the first two weeks both playoff teams from last season. We are 1-1 now having defeated the Roosters in Helsinki 7-0 and losing to the Crocodiles 21-10 at home this week.  While it has been frustrating at times having to rebuild the team it has also been very exciting, even without our American imports. Against the Roosters we played with a purely Finnish team on defense and held them scoreless. Against the Crocodiles we competed strongly and even though we made many mistakes we were in the game till the end. The excitement comes from seeing the development of Finnish players who can play and hold their own against teams with American players. That is the ultimate standard and the reality is that a huge part of my job here is to try and assist in that development.  As I reflected upon that process last week after defeating the Roosters I was so proud of our players for what they had accomplished. I also had two other experiences that made me see my role in a clearer perspective.

            Obviously we are playing in a league here which is the top level of football in Europe and the ultimate goal is to win the championship. A goal we have accomplished for six years. However, the longer range goal should be to develop the game to a level where winning a championship does not depend upon who has the best import players. As coaches we should have the best interests of the game in mind when we make decisions and here part of that is to develop Finnish talent to new heights so that they can compete with anyone else in the world. One of the experiences was a conversation with the Finnish National team coach Tuomas Heikkinen who is trying to spearhead a movement to identify and develop young players in anticipation for the 2014 European Championships. The conversation was fantastic and I believe he is making the right moves and his work will pay off if we as coaches will begin to build a community that looks after the game and what is best for it. Allistair MacIntyre argued that we must treat our sport as a “practice community.” (MacIntyre, 1984) He uses this term practice in the sense that doctors practice medicine or lawyers practice the law. Within these practice communities there are certain standards that those involved in the discipline must adhere to in order to make sure that the practice thrives and retains its integrity. As a community within that practice our focus needs to be on those standards and we need to ask ourselves what is in the best interest of our sport? There are times where the answer to that question may conflict with our own personal best interests and in those cases we need to protect our sport and its integrity. I believe that coach Heikkinen is doing this with football in Finland and am excited for the plans that he has. In that vein I also applaud the Trojans and the Jaguars for their commitments to develop Finnish quarterbacks by not bringing in imports. While those players also need mentoring to truly develop, in the short term this may have hurt their national championship hopes but in the long term it will help the game develop in Finland.

The second experience was one that contradicted this notion of a practice community. I went to watch two teams play and one team clearly dominated the other. While this may happen at times the way that the victorious team handled it bothered me. They have three very talented American players and yet when they were up by 30 some points late in the fourth quarter they kept those players in the game and in my view continued to pour it on the other team. Even to the extent of throwing a touchdown pass up by 40 points with seven seconds in the game. While it may be beneficial to pad some of these Americans stats I see it as destructive to the game. Blowouts are not good for the game. They are of no interest to watch and they do not highlight the skills of players. Let me clarify that if this team had a Finnish QB in and was trying to get him experience and is throwing the ball I do not have an issue with that. But to keep the American QB in and all the imports is unsafe for them and limits opportunities for Finnish players. I do not want to have anyone think that I am overly critical of the coach for this team in his development of Finnish players. On the contrary he has developed an incredible number of Finnish players and has done a great job coaching.

In fairness he did limit some of the playing time for some of the imports during the game but the issue is one of history as he so well pointed out to me. So many teams have been beaten so badly that it is the norm to do the same when things are turned around. This is also encouraged by the establishment of a points for and points against tie breaker in case of ties at the end of the season, an idea I think may be wonderful for soccer but does not work in American Football.  My intention is not to single out this team either as other teams do the exact same thing, it has developed into a cultural phenomenon here and yet I still believe it hurts the game.  

Last year we worked hard to develop a backup for Robert Johnson, our American QB, and Alexi Seppanen did a wonderful job for us in that role when we were up in games. We allowed Alexi to run the entire offense and gave him free reign, but the other American players were also out of those games. At that point I believe that when you have backups in and the other team does not stop you there are some issues for them to deal with as well in their preparation and execution so there is responsibility on both sides. When I coached in England we took the same approach and developed Paul Ashton and David Hughes as our backup quarterbacks. Ashton and Hughes got to see a lot of action and eventually became the Great Britain National team quarterbacks thanks to the coaching and mentoring they received from our American QB Rick Bolen.

            As coaches we need to have a sensible approach to developing Finnish talent and giving them quality instruction and coaching. We also need to treat our sport as a practice community and realize that running up the score on opponents is not good for the sport. The average fan wants to see competitive games not lopsided affairs. If we want to develop the game in this country we must understand this and appeal to those fans. Why would anyone want to go to a game and pay hard earned cash to see one team destroy another 90-0 or some other ridiculous score?  In the U.S. running up the score is frowned upon by most people in the profession and those who do not adhere to this ideal are looked upon with loathing and distrust. When you are up comfortably you put in your backups and allow them to develop their skills and have an opportunity to progress. Until we realize that we will always fall behind in developing Finnish talent.   

References:

MacIntyre, A. C. (1984) After virtue: A study in moral theory (2^nd ed).  South Bend:

 University of Notre Dame Press.

Maple Bowl XXXI

Maple Bowl XXXI

Derrick Ford and I in the Velodrome

We made it! We have arrived at what we were working for as a football team, the National Championship Game which is today. We started the season 5-0 in the Vaahteraliiga (The Finnish top division) and then had two losses to the Helsinki Wolverines and the Seinajoki Crocodiles. We played very poorly in those games due to some injuries but on the other hand the Wolverines and Crocodiles played well and we were unable to respond to their challenge.

After those two losses we had a three week break during which many of our players played for the Finnish National Team in the European Championships. I held my breath hoping that our guys would come back healthy after having to play 3 games in 5 days!!! They do things differently here in Europe. Fortunately we only had one injury and that was to our kicker and punter, Kari Hytonen who pulled a calf muscle. The time off also helped our guys heal physically but the long lay off ate at me and our players as we did not have a chance to respond with winning ways and had to live with the losses for over a month.

When we came back together I challenged our players to focus once again. I talked to them about how we had started out 5-0, had an 0-2 slip and now our goal was to finish 5-0. That meant winning all three regular season games remaining and then 2 playoff games. Not only that but we needed to improve each week and get better as a team. Our players responded and after a tough victory 42-38 against the Lapeenranta Border Knights in record heat for Finland (38 degrees Celsius) we continued to improve and won our last two games 33-2 and 48-0. Having finished the season 8-2 we ended up in a three-way tie for first place with the Wolverines and Crocodiles. However due to our losses to those teams we received the third place seed in the playoffs which meant we had to travel last week to Helsinki and the Olympic Velodrome Stadium with its horrible AstroTurf surface to play the Wolverines at their home. Think of an ice skating rink on concrete and you get an idea of the footing. Regardless we came out in the game and jumped to a 28-0 halftime lead and eventually won 42-27, with the last couple of TD's coming against our junior team players primarily. I don't believe in running up the score as is the fashion here in Finland, so once the game was in hand we started subbing players in. I don't believe it is good for the game when scores are ridiculous and it does not help get young players experience when they sit all the time behind the starters.

Robert Johnson Throwing in a shootout against his brother Cedric from the Wolverines (Above)

Iiro Luoto Catching The Ball ! (left)

(Below) The top rated defense in the Maple League gathering after a series.

That game was the start of what I have termed the Butchers Revenge Tour 2010. We want to defeat every team in the country in the Maple League to leave no question that we deserve to win the Championship. Since we won our semi-final game it was then up to the Crocodiles to win their game against the Helsinki Roosters in order for us to complete our revenge. The Crocs and the Roosters played another incredibly close game but the Crocs did end up on top at home. So that has set up the game this week. Finland's Super Bowl -The Maple Bowl. The cup was donated to the SAJL (Finnish American football Federation) by the Canadian embassy many years ago and the championship game was named the Maple Bowl in honor of that partnership.

So here we are, six months after I have arrived and we are in the National Championship game. There will be events all day outside of the stadium in Super Bowl fashion in the area called the Tailgate square. Bands, high diving exhibitions, comedy groups and other events will add flavor to the day. We will not be able to partake of those activities because we have a task to finish. We are so excited to be in this game. We are like a fly on a manure pile!!We are going for a sixth consecutive national title today which would tie a record set by the Roosters in the 90's. If you are so inclined the game will be broadcast on the internet at this link http://www.sajl.fi/media/netti-tv/

On the SAJL site there are also interviews with coaches and players and a press conference from earlier in the week. I hope you will watch the game and support us as we try to pull together as a team and play with honor for Porvoo, our friends, families and fans. Thanks for your prayers and support over this season.
Kiittos.

For more information on the Maple Bowl click here:http://www.sajl.fi/sarjat/miehet/vaahteraliiga/vaahteramalja_xxxi/

Loving People

Post game interview

Loving People!

I recently read this article on Leadership Journal's website by Gordon MacDonald in which he looks at  methods of evangelism in our times. In it he relates how we used to determine a persons faith status by whether they had said the sinners prayer. Our goal was always to lead someone to that point through such means as the four spiritual laws or an invitation by the pastor after a service. When someone could point to that time when they were saved then our job was done and we could move on to getting another person to say the prayer and mark that point when they also were born again. While he notes that in the past this was effective in some measure,  he had come to question that process. In this article he relates how he chose a different method with stranger who had visited his church. (To read the full article click on the link)
What to Do With a Stranger | LeadershipJournal.net

After meeting with this man a few times over breakfasts MacDonald decided to ask him to follow him around for six weeks at church on Sundays. "Meet me at church each Sunday at 7:45 a.m. and shadow me until Gail and I leave the church at about 12:45. Sit next to me on the front row, eavesdrop on every conversation unless I have to ask you to step aside, follow my sermon with a copy of my notes that I'll give you. Ask me any question you can think of during the morning. Oh, and I might occasionally ask you to do some little thing for me like getting a drink or carrying a message to someone. Let me know if you'll do it."

The man agreed and at the end of the six weeks asked if he could continue. He did and MacDonald noted that

"His scope of observation increased. He noted Gail's efforts to encourage me throughout the morning. He became aware of the difference between those who were really seeking after God and those who simply came along for the ride. He watched some of us pray for the sick and the suffering, lay hands on those who needed a blessing, and intercede for those whose lives were ruptured by the cruelties of life in the larger world."

 Over the course of the year MacDonald never asked
 about when he had sealed the deal he "just created the circumstances in which he began doing it: giving his life to Jesus." Macdonald noted that

"In one sense his and his wife's view of the Christian life—my opinion—was not that of joining an organization but rather a choice to immerse themselves in the Jesus way, whatever that meant. They liked what they were learning; they were drawn to emulate certain people and attracted to a community of real, not perfect, people who all shared a similar struggle to be faithful to the Lord. A community that fits the description of Jesus, who said, "where two or three gather together in my name, I am there in the midst."

Church in Vassa

Being here in Finland with a very limited grasp of Finnish or Swedish it has been a struggle to engage in extremely deep conversations about faith at times. At others it has been wonderful with those who speak English fluently. Regardless I have begun to understand that it is not really my words or convincing arguments that make any difference. It is my life. Jesus never sat with any of his disciples and went through the four spiritual laws with them and had them pray the sinners prayer in order to follow him. He simply gave an invitation, "come, follow me." These simple words are so powerful in their application. In three years of living, eating, sleeping, traveling, and following Jesus the disciples still struggled to understand fully his mission. I find it humbling to think that I could somehow come to a full understanding of who Christ is just by a simple understanding of spiritual points. Confessing our sins acknowledging our sinfulness and accepting the grace of Christ poured out through his blood on the cross are all essential elements to understand, but following him and experiencing life with him is a completely different thing.

Butchers!

That Jesus understood that and simply asked these men to follow him and to observe him as he ministered to others and take part in that ministry has opened up a whole new viewpoint for me. My calling here has been to live in this community of Porvoo and to love the people Christ has brought into my life. To live out his love in practical ways and try to serve this team and the people I have met in this community is what he has asked me to do.

Do I feel like I have been successful in evangelism? That is for God to determine, but I have done what I can to be open, obedient and to challenge my players and coaches to serve others while trying to live out the gospel in a manner that is relevant and compassionate. In that sense we were able a few weeks ago to have our players help with a ball drive for kids in Malawi, where one of our players mom has a mission that she has established.  We did the ball drive in conjunction with our game vs. the Jyväskylä Jaguars who also brought some balls to contribute. Through a partnership with A Champion's Heart and the Butchers we were able to share the vision that we have as a ministry and send over 50 balls to Malawi. We also were able to live the life of Christ and ask these guys to follow us as we love people for Christ. The openness of players has been amazing and I am so thankful for the relationships that I have been able to establish. I have been able to pray with people in the community over intense personal hurts, with guys on our team regarding deaths in their family, births of children and financial and emotional issues. But even more I have been able to be here and let them know that Christ loves them in a tangible way. Living the life of Christ through the power of his resurrection is a daily event. As Dallas Willard explains "the resurrection was a cosmic event only because it validated the reality and the indestructibility of what Jesus had preached and exemplified before his death-the enduring reality and openness of God's Kingdom. It meant that the Kingdom, with the communal form his disciples had come to know and hope in would go on." (1988, The Spirit of the Disciplines, p. 37)
I hope that we can know that communal sense and find hope in it as the early disciples did.

Finnish Sunset

Summer adventures Finland 2010

I thought that you may want to see pictures of some of my experiences and where I have been so I made this video the link for it is here: Summer Adventures Finland 2010

Keeping My Head Above Water

Often when asked "how are you doing" we respond with a common phrase "just keeping my head above water." This usually denotes the fact that we are swamped with work, worry, and obligations and the image is that we are trying to survive, to not drown in the sea of cares and concerns. I have been feeling that way lately. Our team, the Butchers, after starting the season 5-0 has lost the last two games to very good opponents and yet for defending five-time national champions to lose two in a row creates a bit of a buzz around the country. It has put our backs against the wall and we will have to play great football for the rest of the way to be able to defend our title. Obviously as a coach and the one responsible for the sinking ship I have to find ways to right it and to set our course once again in a positive direction. And truth be told I think we are on the way to that. But it is a challenge I would rather not have had at this point in the season. Adding to that was the news from home that my dad had undergone a couple of surgeries to restore circulation in both legs. He almost lost both legs and was struggling in recovery from the surgeries and the waves around me seemed to be getting bigger and the idea of keeping my head above water seemed overwhelming.

After the losses we have entered into a three week break in the season to allow Finnish players to train and compete in the European Championships which are a qualifier for next years World Championships to be held in Austria. Many of our players are on the National team so we will not be having practice so I actually have a break which is good and bad. Good in that I have some free time but bad in that I don't have people around to spend it with. So this will be an extremely alone time for me. So the idea of all of these stresses and three weeks of being alone was a bit daunting. But I decided to make the most of it and travel around the local area a bit. It has been extremely hot here, "hella" is the Finnish word for hot and that has been appropriate so I decided to go to a lake called Venjarvi and cool off. The lake was beautiful, surrounded by birch, aspen, fir, and pine trees. And there was a nice little sandy beach. However the beach was a bit hectic so I decided to swim to the other side of the lake. When I got there I found a log that was partially submerged in the water and sat on it to rest. It was so peaceful and still and I reveled in the peacefulness. I have been trying to figure out where God wants me to go and trying to deal with some very painful emotions regarding my relationships, both past and present, which have roots in some issues of abandonment and trust from being adopted.  As I sat there I just asked God to help me clear my head and heart and refocus. God spoke in his gentle way "keep your head above water" and simultaneously my attention was drawn to these flowers which were all around me poking their blossoms up out of the water.
They are a type of water lily with a beautiful yellow kukka ( flower in Finnish) and they were there right next to me . They are not particularly ostentatious, they  blended into the entire scene in a magical way. As I looked around the lake I began to see more and more of them with the blossom just poking up above the water level and surrounded by Lilly pads which helped to dissipate waves. I was amazed at how deep these plants were rooted into the water. The bottom was deep enough that I couldn't touch and these plants were rooted in the lake bed and had made their way to the water surface where they seemed to revel in a state of worship to their creator.
As I sat there admiring these plants I realized that God has a different meaning for keeping our heads above water and he was trying to communicate that to me. Whereas in my mind it is a mere act of survival, however brave and heroic I may make it out to be, it is more than that in Gods plan. He does not just want me to survive but to thrive even in those conditions. And here was the evidence; these kukka thriving in this lake.  They were beautifully arrayed in the water emitting their fragrance for anyone to see. The blooms of these kukka were just above the water and yet they were poised with a sense of affirmation of life. It was as if they were in a state of worship lifting their heads toward God with pride and purpose.

With God's grace and strength I hope that I may be able to hold my head above the water with the same pride and purpose as these kukka and live a life of worship.

Therefore, I urge you brothers in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God -which is your spiritual worship. Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is- his good, pleasing and perfect will.  Romans 12: 1-2

What I Love about Finland

Often times as Americans we get into the habit of comparing everything to home and usually everything comes up as a distant second place. This begins to display itself as negativity towards anything that is not familiar and comfortable. It is easily understandable as we are indoctrinated early on that the American way of life is the best of all worlds present or past. "America, love it or leave it" is often the rallying cry. I really don't want to get into the debate on "the best" because I don't think that there is a true answer to that other than pure opinion. It's kind of like the BCS in college football, fun to argue about if you don't take it too seriously but ultimately an argument that has no true relevance to life.
Secondly as a Christian I am a sojourner in any land as my true allegiance is not to any earthly king but to the true King of kings and Lord of lords. I am a Christian first and an American second and unfortunately at times those identities do not run on parallel paths.
But I digress, my intent on writing this week is to get beyond the comparisons and focus on why I love being in Finland. I challenged the Butchers last week before our game against Turku to heed the words of Paul in Philippians 4: 8  "Finally Brothers whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about these things." I have realized that we needed to think about the good things going on with our team, the way guys have stepped up and answered the call when others (many of them) have been injured. We ended the game last week with no replacements at any position on offense, but we needed to not focus on those problems but on how we would and could respond to them by focusing on the good, the right, the admirable, the noble and the lovely. Sometimes that is a difficult task.
I know that I can by nature begin to be overwhelmed and dwell on problems, but I have tried to not do that here. This verse in Philippians has been such a strength for me over the last few years as difficult times seem to hammer home with the regularity of the waves on the Oregon Coast. So as I thought about it I was challenged to not dwell on missing home and my family (which I do terribly)and issues with the team and my future. Instead I thought about what do I love about Finland and these are my conclusions.

1) The people-While Finnish people can be a bit reserved, I have discovered that they are a warm and generous people. They have received me with such grace and generosity and I am truly thankful for the blessings. I have found them to be a very straightforward culture where hyperbole is uncommon and flattery unnecessary.

2)  Three to four hour sunsets! Yes the sun starts going down around 9 pm but never really goes down till after midnight now, so the sunset is spectacular for the entire time. Amazing!
3) Active people. It is so inspiring to see so many people out walking, running, nordic walking, biking, bird watching and just enjoying the outdoors no matter what the weather conditions. Combine that with the late daylight hours and it is an inspiring combination. I came home the other night after practice at 10 pm and saw so many people out that I decided to go for a run as well. I got back at about 11:30 pm still in daylight!
4) Kids playing! Kids here are always out riding their bikes, playing games, kicking soccer balls, throwing footballs and hanging out with one another. And without helicopter parents hanging around in close proximity. It is refreshing to see active kids developing friendships. I know that many of the guys on our team have been playing football together since they were juniors, some for about 20 years now! those relationships are so strong and have been built through playing together.

5) Sauna's-yes the sauna is a refreshing way to relax and sweat out the toxins in the body, even if there are naked people with you.
6) Trails Trails Trails! Bike trails, walking trails, Nordic skiing trails, they are everywhere and it is amazing. If there is a road there is a bike trail next to it. The ease of getting around on a bike is amazing and refreshing. I am constantly amazed at the friendliness of alternative transportation modes here.

7) Slow pace of life. Life is lived here at an slower pace. Vacations are abundant, lunches are relaxed and filled with conversation, people avoid the rat race of life as much as possible.
8) History-this country has been such a midpoint of conflict through the twentieth century and beyond. Battles over sovereignty between Sweden and Russia, Finnish independence from those two neighbors, battles and alliances with the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and the constant tension of the Cold War between the Capitalist West and the Communist East in which Finland was squarely in the middle ground. In addition the ability to travel to places such as Sweden, Norway, Russia and  Estonia all so close with such rich histories is incredible.

9) Lakes. Wow! There are over 187,000 large lakes in Finland! Driving anywhere you pass a multitude and it is truly spectacular. This is a country steeped in beauty and yet relatively unspoiled.

10) The Butchers! This group of people has welcomed me and all my crazy ideas about family times, "A Beautiful Day drill" and crazy games at practice and given me great effort and support. They have also listened to my philosophical and theological ramblings without sending me to the psychiatric hospital! http://www.porvoonbutchers.com

We have a huge game this week against the Helsinki Roosters who are also unbeaten right now. It will be a great contest, but I know that no matter the outcome we will weather the storm and appreciate the gifts that we have been given here in Finland and soldier on toward the next challenge together. Thanks for your prayers they have sustained me and helped me to stay focused on the true, the right, the noble and the lovely.