Scandinavia: Special Witnessing Condition

Hans Karlsson
July 1985

Mrs. Kim with the blessed wives' team: Back row (left to right): Bjorg Lorentzen, Inge Johansen, Gertrud Vad, Karin Fuetsch, and Rosi Christensen. Front row (left to right): Liliana Karlsson, Mrs. Kim, and Bergljot Oladottir.

Seven blessed wives from Sweden, Norway, and Denmark came together in March for a 21-day witnessing campaign in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark.

This campaign gave many of the wives the opportunity to return to a front-line mission. "For a long time I couldn't take part in an active mission because I was taking care of my three children," said Bergljot Oladottir, the team leader. "These weeks in Copenhagen have given me rebirth." Mrs. Oladottir was born in Iceland, but joined the church with her husband in Oslo, Norway, in 1975.

"This team helped bring the Scandinavian countries closer together. It felt natural to be working together here in northern Europe," she said. "Through this experience we also could learn to offer a period of separation from our children, even if only for a short time. In this way we could give the most precious thing we had to Heavenly Father; so I felt very happy to do this."

The team's activities included visiting ministers, street witnessing, fundraising, visiting schools, and dialogues with minority groups. "Through visiting the ministers, we found out that the Christian churches in Denmark are much influenced by socialist thinking," said Mrs. Oladottir. "But we also had some good responses, which we hope can open the door for dialogue in the future."

The team was blessed at the end of the condition by a visit from Mrs. Chong Wha Kim, wife of the European leader Rev. Young Whi Kim. Her parental heart towards everyone created a very harmonious atmosphere. Mrs. Kim gave advice to the blessed wives, drawing from her many experiences of working with Father in the early days of the movement in Korea. "Father always set the condition to love the nation before his own family," she said. "This team has followed that tradition."

After the condition was over, a seven-day inter-Scandinavian workshop was held at the Finnish training center in Leppakoski, about fifty miles north of Helsinki and only some 150 miles from the Russian border. It was attended by more than thirty people.

Earlier inter-Scandinavian workshops, all given in the English language, had been held in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and this international cooperation is now blossoming into an exciting tradition for the future. The next blessed wives' witnessing condition and workshop will take place in September in Oslo, Norway.