Orlando arrived in Finland in the darkest month of the year. Nevertheless, the terrible weather and the strange Finnish society did not discourage him. He and Seija were soon engaged before Christmas and married at the Easter day in 1969. Orlando went to the University of Helsinki to learn theology. Soon, he found it was too difficult to learn theology in Finland without first mastering the Finnish language. The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (FELM) helped him to apply for a scholarship from the Lutheran World Federation (LWF); meanwhile, a foundation in Holland that helped former Roman Catholic priests accepted them to study and work in Velp, near Arhem.<\/p>\n
Seija got pregnant. They returned to Finland in the beginning of 1970 and their son Kristian was born in February. Then the scholarship from LWF arrived, offering an opportunity for Orlando to study at a Lutheran seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Seija had her own career, but she decided that for a time being, the most important things in their married life were taking care of coming children and let Orlando be ready into the Lutheran mission. Orlando had to get a certificate from a good Lutheran seminary. Seija followed him to the USA and stayed at home.<\/p>\n
Orlando studied theology at the seminar in Saint Paul for two years and graduated with a degree of Master of Theology. Immediately they went to Santiago, the capital of Chile, to join the Slum Project. In 1973, Orlando was ordained as a Lutheran pastor in Chile. He pastured a small congregation, the Good Samaritan Lutheran Congregation, in the poor area of La Faena. Meanwhile, their second child Inkeri was born in July 1973.<\/p>\n
The year of 1973 was memorable in Chilean history. Augusto Pinochet made a coup d\u00e9tat that was one of the bloodiest in 20-centry in Latin America. Pinochet\u2019s dictatorship left more than 3000 dead and missing. Continuing staying in Chile was particularly dangerous to them. They had been working in association with the American Lutheran Church, but they did not belong to it. In such a situation they needed protection. However, asking it to take them in was not an easy thing; there was no precedent to go by. By 1975, Seija had stopped working as a minister for near 6 years. She also needed to start a job. The American Lutheran Church, however, could not offer a job to Seija. They had to start to look for jobs in Finland.<\/p>\n
In October 1975 Seija\u2019s mother died. They went back to Finland for the funeral and vacation. Seija found a job in the church. Then, just by then, they got a letter from the American mission. It would take them in and offered Seija a job, but only for 2 years. They considered it and decided to remain in Finland.<\/p>\n
By then, Orlando had a Master of Theology. He had been ordained as a Lutheran pastor and had pastured a Lutheran congregation for 4 years. He had completed the \u2018transformation\u2019 from a Catholic priest to a Lutheran pastor. Would Finland be ready to accept this learned clergyman?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Orlando arrived in Finland in the darkest month of the year. Nevertheless, the terrible weather and the strange Finnish society did not discourage him. He and Seija were soon engaged before Christmas and married at the Easter day in 1969. Orlando went to the University of Helsinki to learn theology. Soon, he found it was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-89"],"yoast_head":"\n