Pastor Christian and the Samer

Where do you think the most beautiful place in all the earth is? Some people think the Rocky Mountains are beautiful, and they are! Tennessee, Virginia, and the Carolinas have a loveliness that draws people. Springtime in England is wonderful, Ethiopia has a grandeur all its own, as do Switzerland and, really, every other country. Many people enjoy the setting sun on the Sahara Desert or the ocean coast in the tropics, but the story I have to tell you this month is about a different area on earth, an area that Pastor Christian thought was the most beautiful to be found anywhere. It is a land in the northern parts of Finland and Norway, an area that includes parts of the Arctic Circle. There is snow and frozen land everywhere above the Arctic Circle. Trees and bushes do not grow very well here, but Elder Christian thought it was beautiful because over the frozen tundra and flat land the starry sky seems very close. It is a land known as the Land of the Midnight Sun because there are times every year when the sun does not set, and if you happened to be out on the snowy expanses then you might see glowing lights with rich hues quivering, shimmering, and moving across the sky. We call them the northern lights, and Pastor Christian thought that nowhere else on the earth was the handiwork of God seen in such radiant splendor as here. In addition to the glory of the heavens, though, there were towering mountains with quaint little villages in the valleys below the Arctic Circle and fascinating fiords, which are fingers of water reaching up into the land.

Not only did the people have weeks where the sun did not set, they also had weeks, almost two months worth, when the sun did not rise! It was dark and they had to have lights burning all the time. The area was also very isolated. Villages might be ten miles apart, even homes could be ten miles apart! Travel in the 1940s in this area was difficult. Not many people had vehicles and when it is dark all the time it can get rather discouraging. People were not able to visit each other very much. It was too cold and dark to go outside, but God had colporteurs in the area who went from village to village, and home to home, even though these places might be three to ten miles apart and they went on foot! The colporteurs visited the homes and villages in the winter because in the summer the swarms of mosquitoes were so bad that nobody wanted to be outside, so they went door to door in the winter even though it was very cold. The temperatures were almost always below zero Fahrenheit and 30 degrees below zero was common.

Pastor Christian thought about his people spread out, lonely, and perhaps getting discouraged, and he thought, “I must visit my people up in the northern areas during this time of no light because I know they do not have anyone to meet with. They live so far apart and they may be getting unhappy, so I will go and visit them!” So he and another brother decided to make a trip up into the Arctic Circle to visit their church members in northern Finland and Norway, and they had to go by reindeer. There were no cars to drive although there were occasional trucks, but to go this far north they had to go by reindeer sleds, which is something like dog sled travel in Alaska.

Before they left for this trip, however, Pastor Christian went to Helsinki and purchased the warmest clothes he could find because he was going to be out in the open for much of his trip, making a circle up through the villages and little isolated places above the Arctic Circle and then circling back home. The first thing he looked for were boots. He found warm, felt boots that came all the way up to his hips. He could hardly walk! Over these boots he put two pairs of warm woolen socks, and over these socks he put his regular overshoes. This took care of his legs and feet. He also wore long johns and a whole suit of warm clothing. Over this he had a fur coat. He also had a fur hat and two pairs of fur mittens. He could barely walk, but he did!

Now, there were ten reindeer and ten sleds one man per sled, and Pastor Christian was one of the men. Now, he had never driven a reindeer sled before. He was new at this. There were some experienced people on this trip, it is true, but he was responsible for his own sled and his own reindeer. He soon found out that the reindeer loped along at about four miles an hour, but Pastor Christian wanted to go faster. It was cold, and he wanted to get to the next village so he tried to get his reindeer to go faster. Do you know what happened? The reindeer turned around and with his strong forefeet began to stamp at Pastor Christian. The only thing he could do was quickly turn his sled over and hide under it until the reindeer stopped hitting the ground and sled. Then in Pastor Christian’s imagination the reindeer seemed to take a deep breath, and turning back to his task of pulling the sled was ready to move along?four miles an hour again! Pastor Christian was not happy with this and again urged his reindeer to run faster. The reindeer stopped, turned around, and under the sled Pastor Christian went! Of course, the seasoned reindeer drivers were laughing at this point. Pastor Christian had to wait until the reindeer stopped stamping on him. In one hour, this happened eighteen times, until Pastor Christian finally realized that he could not force the reindeer to go any faster than the reindeer wanted to go. So it was at four miles an hour that they sledded along to the next village.

When they got to the border of what has been called Lapland, but where the native people call themselves the Sami or Samer which means peaceful or those who whisper, one of the keepers of the hotel said, “We cannot let you cross into the Arctic Circle in those clothes. Do you want to die? We have a mandate from the government that says we must dress anyone going into the Arctic Circle! No European clothes are allowed. So, go on up to your room and my husband will come up with the clothes that you must wear.” And soon he did go up, carrying clothes and a bundle of hay. Pastor Christian had to take off all of what he thought had been warm clothes and wear what the innkeeper gave him, which were warm reindeer skins, supposedly the warmest skins you can possibly find. From head to toe he wore warm, light reindeer skins, including two pairs of reindeer boots. Now this was in the late 1930s or early 1940s and the warm insulated clothing we are used to today they did not have. The first pair of boots Pastor Christian wore was filled with dry hay. He placed his feet into them and then the second pair of boots was pulled over that. Later he was very thankful he was wrapped in reindeer skins because they became lost in a blizzard for hours and he said his clothing saved his life.

After he had made the rounds in visiting the people in the far north and he was on his way back, he parted with his other pastor friend. His friend went home one way, and Pastor Christian returned home another way. Pastor Christian had to turn his reindeer clothes in at the next hotel because he was only using them and someone else might need them, but he obtained other warm clothing to wear.

Part of his journey home included riding to the next village in the back of a truck that could only go twelve miles an hour through the deep snow. It was sixty degrees Fahrenheit below zero. He and four men were in the back of the truck. They were spread out a little and seated in the back of the truck, but it was slow going to the next village and the cold seeped in through their thick clothing. Remember the driver could only go twelve miles an hour through the snow. Along the way there were stones on the road that marked off the kilometers. Every stone had a number on it that measured the distance traveled. Finally, it was getting so cold in the truck that the four men huddled together to keep warm. Pastor Christian thought, “I have to do something to help me get through this and take my mind off the cold,” so he decided to make up a little poem for every kilometer passed and he repeated that poem over and over until he came to the next kilometer marker. For example, at kilometer 124, he started to sing, “Count one hundred and twenty-four, I can stand all of this and more.” Then later at kilometer 139, he sang, “Count one hundred and thirty-nine, Though it’s cold, I’m feeling fine.” Singing these rhymes seemed to give him courage. An hour later he was singing, “Count one hundred and fifty-five, Numb and freezing but still alive!” And finally, “Count one hundred and sixty-one, God be praised that the thing is done!” And do you know what? They had to carry him off the truck. He could not walk he was so cold. They carried him up to his room and looked after him. He warmed up and slept until the next morning. One of the innkeepers said, “You must be on very important business to risk such a dangerous journey!” And Pastor Christian thought, “Yes! I am on the most important business there is! I am out sharing God’s word and encouraging God’s people even up in the far north where the sun doesn’t shine for many weeks; where life is harsh, even under the best of circumstances; and where the weather is cold, rough, and raw. I am out encouraging God’s people to stay true and faithful to him!”

At one stop on this journey, Pastor Christian met an innkeeper who said he had the largest library in the whole area. Pastor Christian said, “Well, I would like to see your library,” but the man said, “No, I will bring it to you.” And do you know what he brought? Five books! One book was the Bible, another book was on mathematics, another was a book on how to care for reindeer, another was a reading book, and the last was a book on Bible prophecy that he had purchased from visiting colporteurs. This was the biggest library in his region. These people had little to keep them going and very few to teach them about God, and so a pastor visiting them is doing the very best work because many of the people did not have a Bible to read for themselves and they were in need of someone to tell them about the good tidings of salvation. This reminds me of the verse in Isaiah which says: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” (Isaiah 52:7)

The innkeeper with the five books did not know at first who Pastor Christian was, and after he showed Pastor Christian his book on prophecy he told him he should get a copy for himself! Pastor Christian then introduced himself and spent the next few hours with him studying the prophecies of the Bible. Even though the innkeeper had never seen an Adventist other than the two girls who had sold him the book, he rejoiced in the advent hope!

We can share the good news of salvation with those around us too. We may not live in the land of the Midnight Sun where it can also be dark for several weeks a year, but we do live in a land of spiritual darkness, and Jesus wants us to let our lights shine for him.

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