On 7 June, Veijo and Anna-Maija Olli were solemnly commissioned at St Elizabeth’s Church as missionaries serving the parishes of Pärnu and Sindi.
The Revd Esa Luukkala, director of the Mission Centre of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, assisted at the festive Mass and preached the sermon. The missionaries were commissioned by the Revd Toomas Nigola, pastor of Pärnu St Elizabeth’s Parish and dean of Pärnu Deanery; the Revd Esa Luukkala; and the Revd Joel Pulk, assistant pastor in Pärnu.
At the church coffee following the Mass, the Revd Luukkala spoke about the work of the EELC Mission Centre. Veijo and Anna-Maija introduced their journey so far, illustrating it with photographs and music.
The first and most important task now before our missionaries is to acquire a thorough command of Estonian. Their further areas of work will develop according to the needs of the parishes. Plans already discussed include starting various Bible study and fellowship groups and organising Finnish courses in which the Bible and other spiritual texts could be used as study material.
At the church coffee, someone also proposed starting a Turkish language group at the parish. Before coming to Pärnu, Veijo and Anna-Maija served as missionaries in Smyrna, present-day İzmir in Turkey.
We wish our new fellow workers God’s abundant blessing, wisdom, joy and many good encounters in Pärnu and Sindi, and throughout our deanery!
