perjantai 21. helmikuuta 2020

The Seventh River



The Seventh River


In my youth, the Creator led me
to the Seventh River because he had
a good plan for me. Allow him to lead
you wherever he wants you to go!

Then you will experience amazing
things you had never even dreamed
of before! After reading this book,
you will understand that I have not
written this for you in vain. The book
is a biography of my life until 2020 
and I will continue to update it yet.


Best Regards
Leif Norrgård

Turku, Finland
March 10, 2020





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An Introduction




Copyright © 2020 by Leif Norrgård. All rights reserved.


An Introduction

   I wrote this book in Turku, Finland's 6th largest city and in March 2019 it had a population of 191,448. The Turku region is the third largest urban area in the country. 

  The small village of Siuntio, where my book was named on, had December 1, 2009 only 6,159 inhabitants and was the 154th largest municipality in Finland.


Location of Siuntio Church Village and City of Turku 
on the map of Finland and their coat of arms.


Where does the book's title "Seventh River" come from?

  The name of my book comes from a small church village between Lohja and Kirkkonummi, which is called Sjundeå in Swedish. It would translate as "Seventh River", although the name is Siuntio in Finnish. The village is perhaps best known today for its Siuntio Spa, which is part of the Scandic Hotel Chain. Siuntio has brought to my mind beautiful memories of the prophetic dreams I saw there, and the beautiful, rural nature of the village made a lasting impression on me.

  The reasons for writing this book are numerous. The book gives many answers to people who are looking for a real purpose in their lives without being led to membership in any Christian church or other organization. To that, I strive for honesty and, like a skilled artist, to portray only a few unexplained things in my life that have shown me that we are being watched from above and that our lives are intervened immediately when needed and get help in a timely manner. We have a good, loving and Almighty Creator!

  One of my HTOL classmates, whom I told I believe in a Creator who is good and Almighty, thought for a moment and then replied, "If He really exists, either He is not Almighty or He is a sadist!" That is probably the typical suspect mindset for atheist and skeptics.

  The wisest answer that can be given to them is to urge them wholeheartedly to seek personal contact with him so that they themselves may come to know him as a good, Almighty and loving Creator of all of us. I did it myself and found Love that goes beyond all human understanding!

  If he gives me more life in his grace, then I will be 71 in the first quarter of 2020. I realized that now is the time to translate this web book, which I published last year into Finnish, into English as well, so that it would not be just a good intention. I have received two requests to write a book about my experiences for teaching a number of believers and those who do not yet believe. My book is going to be a great adventure for the reader!

  I understand that it is difficult for modern people to remain silent, deeper, focused and contemplate the lives of people they do not know. Therefore, I try to divide the book into appropriate sections and proceed by narrating the events mainly chronologically. I will only write about the most interesting things.

  The reader will discover that I have truly experienced things beyond the reach of the human mind. Of course, as a man, I also hope that young men and older men will have access to this book because they are far too few among Christians.

  Some of my memories have become partially blurred over the decades, as I did not write a diary, but I started writing this just under 2 years ago. I have used some of my blog articles as I wrote this, which I found things that I would otherwise had partially forgotten.

  In my book I tell you the facts as I remember, so the people are real, even though I use most of them as aliases because I haven't asked them for permission to publish their names. I respect everyone's privacy.


How to read this book?

  To get the most out of the book, read the appropriate dose at a time. I think that one chapter at a time is the right dose to get the message across. Read this openly, critically, but give yourself permission to believe in many supernatural events without immediately explaining them as coincidences or products of my imagination. Of course, I also have a good imagination and I am also happy to have it as a great gift from my Creator!

  One good way to read this book is to put yourself in my position and look at the scenery I painted in front of you from that point of view. This world, where we can live by the width of the palm only by grace, is surprisingly beautiful and impossible to understand as a whole.

  Therefore, it is worth not even trying to fully comprehend it, except only a small dose at a time. We eat only a spoonful at a time, not the whole food pot at a time. If we were eating too much at once, we would have stomach problems.

  To enable me to outline this world as a whole, even only a little, and understand the basic reason for our existence, I have followed the above instructions in such a way that I have put myself into my Creator's boots, then imaginated, thought and looked at the world as a whole, as from his perspective.

  From my experience, I know that it is quite difficult for a person to step out of themselves and start thinking about things from a different person's perspective.


A change of mindset would change the world!

  For example, if politicians and heads of state would take one more step and started thinking about the interests of those who really need help instead of the interests of their own and their narrow reference group. Then they could begin to act according to what their heart feel compassion for those poor and sufferers. As a result, Finland would truly become a place where everyone would be good to live and stay. That would happen everywhere else in the world.

  There would be mutual love between people. However, the history of mankind has proved that humans are incapable of acting in the manner described above. If a politician did so, he would not be re-elected as MP or in municipal positions of trust. The Heads of State would also be fired rather soon and they would be replaced by the current selfish rulers seeking power, honor and wealth.

  The history of the nations of the last 5,500 years of mankind shows the tragic fact that there have been about 14,500 wars between the nations and the greater tribes of peoples. That means almost three wars every year! In addition, the most bloody and most devastating wars have taken place in the last century, due to the rapid development of weapons of mass destruction.


The problems of climate change

  If we observe climate change data in the short term, it indicates that the global average temperature has increased in recent decades. As a result, more severe storms, higher local temperatures, years of drought and severe rainfall have occurred in some areas.

  If we look at global climate change over a longer period of time, we find that there have been several so-called mini-ice periods, as well as very warm periods in the northern latitude. Dead tropical trees have been found under the ice cover of Greenland etc. 

  Given that the extraordinary hot summers of recent years have alarmed peoples' decision-makers, it is worth pondering where they came from. I do not think that the rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the root cause.

  Those who have not read the Bible carefully are unaware of the true causes of climate change. Quoting Prophecy on the subject: Hos. 4: 1-3.

>>1 Hear the word Yehowah, you children of Israel; For Yehowah has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “Indeed there is no truth, Nor goodness, Nor knowledge of Elohim in the land.

2 There is cursing, lying, Murder, Stealing, and committing adultery; They break boundaries, and Bloodshed causes Bloodshed.

3 Therefore the land will mourn, And everyone who dwells therein will waste away. All living things in her, Even animals in the field and Birds in the sky; Yes, the fish of the sea also die.<<

  While Yehowah rebukes his people Israel at that point in the Bible, the same reason applies to all other nations as well. The nations have lived wickedly, as in the days of Noah. This is why the peoples of the world have been hit by numerous natural disasters in recent years.


Is there still hope for mankind?

  I have read the entire Bible 41 times all the way through. In the approximately 7000 on the basis of promises I have become convinced that we have the hope of a better world that our Creator will self-create us in his time.

  But this present world, completely contaminated and corrupted by humans, will be burned with fire and brimstone before the creation of new heavens and a new earth. Only the elect of mankind are taken up in a new world.

  How can we be sure that such person as Creator even exists and that the Bible is a reliable source for the future of humanity and the world? This is exactly why I wrote this book, that the reader could be convinced of His existence and His good will for all of those who love and honor Him! 


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Table of Contents




Table of Contents

The cover page:

Chapter 2 - Years 1949-53 part 2/3:

Chapter 3 - Years 1949-53 part 3/3:

Chapter 4 - Years 1953-61 part 1/4:

Chapter 5 - Years 1953-61 part 2/4:

Chapter 6 - Years 1953-61 part 3/4:

Chapter 7 - Years 1953-61 part 4/4:

Chapter 8 - Years 1960-64 part 1/3:

Chapter 9 - Years 1960-64 part 2/3:

Chapter 10 - Years 1960-64 part 3/3:

Chapter 11 - Years 1964-68 part 1/3:

Chapter 12 - Years 1964-68 part 2/3:

Chapter 13 - Years 1964-68 part 3/3:

Chapter 14 - Years 1968-71:

Chapter 15 - Year 1971 part 1/2:

Chapter 16 - Year 1971 part 2/2:

Chapter 17 - Year 1972 part 1/7:

Chapter 18 - Year 1972 part 2/7:

Chapter 19 - Year 1972 part 3/7:

Chapter 20 - Year 1972 part 4/7:

Chapter 21 - Year 1972 part 5/7:

Chapter 22 - Year 1972 part 6/7:

Chapter 23 - Year 1972 part 7/7:

Chapter 24 - Year 1973 part 1/3:

Chapter 25 - Year 1973 part 2/3:

Chapter 26 - Year 1973 part 3/3:

Chapter 27 - Since 1973 part 1/4:

Chapter 28 - Since 1973 part 2/4:

Chapter 29 - Since 1973 part 3/4:

Chapter 30 - Since 1973 part 4/4:

Chapter 31 - Since 1977 part 1/6:

Chapter 32 - Since 1977 part 2/6:

Chapter 33 - Since 1977 part 3/6:

Chapter 34 - Since 1977 part 4/6:

Chapter 35 - Since 1977 part 5/6:

Chapter 36 - Since 1977 part 6/6:

Chapter 37 - Since 1978 part 1/6:

Chapter 38 - Since 1978 part 2/6:

Chapter 39 - Since 1978 part 3/6:

Chapter 40 - Since 1978 part 4/6:

Chapter 41 - Since 1978 part 5/6:

Chapter 42 - Since 1978 part 6/6:

Chapter 43 - Since 1979 part 1/3:

Chapter 44 - Since 1979 part 2/3:

Chapter 45 - Since 1979 part 3/3:

Chapter 46 - Since 1982 part 1/2:

Chapter 47 - Since 1982 part 2/2:

Chapter 48 - Since 1985 part 1/3:

Chapter 49 - Since 1985 part 2/3:

Chapter 50 - Since 1985 part 3/3:

Chapter 51 - Since 1990 part 1/3:

Chapter 52 - Since 1990 part 2/3:

Chapter 53 - Since 1990 part 3/3:

Chapter 54 - Since 1995:

Chapter 55 - Since 2005:

Chapter 56 - Since 2010:

Chapter 57 - Since 2015:

Chapter 58 - Since 2020:

Chapter 59 - Since 2025:

Chapter 60 - Since 2030:
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Source literature and other quotes




Source literature and other quotes


- Several Bible translations

- The book Acts was written about in the mid-80s (Robinson)
https://quizlet.com/397287589/bible-102-final-robinson-flash-cards/

- Google translation programs

- Finnish to English Dictionary
https://www.suomienglantisanakirja.fi/#/peukalokyyti

- Where Did the Name Jesus Come From? (YouTube video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZtWlmjH35w

- The Name of Elohim (God): Yehowah or Yehovah? (YouTube video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2uaZ4NgLk0

- My blogger.com posts of my homepages
 https://kotisivut-leif-norrgard.blogspot.com/2018/04/home-pages.html

- Google search engine for.ex. map of Siuntio
( For. ex. https://www.google.com/maps/place/02580+Siuntio/ )

- Pictures from my gallery

 - Free pictures from internet galleries





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Chapter 1 - Years 1949-53 part 1/3




Memories of my early childhood


  I was born on an early spring day in Skaftung, Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia, Finland, to a modest poverty family on 15 March 1949. At a time when I could not speak a word, my truly believing mother held me in her arms and asked in her heart, "What is this boy going to be?" I looked her in the eyes, smiled and said, "Priest!" It also came true, but in a different way than thought, as will be seen in the later chapters.

  I have born in the sauna, as was customary then. My dad told me that the doctor called to help with childbirth had forgotten the key to his doctor's bag to his home. I have born while he was picking it up. That's why my father had to work as a midwife. I have noticed my father's skillfulness in many different matter. Among other things, he has built detached houses, summer villas, even commercial buildings, and made additional income by weaving Finnish rug. One of the great ones was on the wall of our home. Others were sold.

  My grandfather Oskar Norrgård became completely blind at the age of 16 as a result of the accident. He was on a boat trip with two of his friends, sitting in front part of the boat and eating his lunch. Between a rower and a man sitting on the boat a dispute broke out. The man, who was sitting behind, grabbed his shotgun, aiming at the rower. The rower dodged and the gunshots hit my grandfather's face. Still, he was twice married.

  His first wife died and he remarried. As a result of the accident, Oskar became a member of the Conservative Lestadian faith. In one of the songs he composed, he says he is grateful to be blind in order to be seen. He published a Swedish broadcast magazine called "Zions Missionsblad". He sold clothing and textiles in his area.

  My father Paulus Sanfrid Mikael Norrgård told me that he had had to pull carts, which was loaded on clothes and textiles even during the very cold winter, assisting his father in his sales and business trips. I loved him very much. My father had an older brother, Leve, and a younger brother, Helge, who had sister Helga of the same age. They were twins. Because my grandfather was blind, his sons managed to secretly burn the moonshine and drink already in their youths.


My parents were of the Conservative-Lestadian family

  Both of my parents were of the conservative Lestadian family. So they both represent the widespread Old Lutheran Christian revival in Finland. My mother's maiden name was Kerttu Sanelma Hietamäki. She was 7 years older than my father. According to my father, my mother lied to her age, claiming to be much younger than she was in reality.

  Because of Lestadism, it was normal to take children to Christian summer tent meetings. I was less than 2 years old at the time. Therefore, I have no recollection of those meetings. My dear godmother Selma Norrgård, a girl named Selma Jauhiainen was a strong-willed and beautiful Savonese woman from Kiuruvesi.

  She was very worried about us three little boys: me, of my little brother Klaus and my big brother Lars. She had no children of her own, but she was patronizing her husband's unmarried child, a son named Arvo. Selma was deceived by her husband because she was unaware of her husband Leve's unmarried child before she was married. Therefore, they had no common children.

  Selma also lived with her husband in Skaftung, which is partly by the sea. That originally Swedish-speaking village used to be part of the municipality of Sideby, but was incorporated into Kristiinankaupunki in 1973. When my dad made car trips for up to 2 weeks as an insurance salesman, my mother became bored at home. She could not speak Swedish at all and left we, the three little boys alone in a private home when she went to Alajärvi to her grandparents for up to a week.

  She was sick and jealous of my father. I later heard about it separately from my father, and from Selma and from my father's believing sister, Helga. So my mother was mentally ill and would have desperately needed treatment for her illness. At that time it was impossible depending of lack of money. She maintained her faith in Jesus until her death. I loved her very much. I learned from her faithfulness! Rev. 2: 10c.

>> Be faithful to death, and I'll give you the crown of life <<


In the Guard of Angels

  Once my mother went to her grandparents for a week. My dad was far away on a business trip and we boys stayed home alone. Then it occurred to Selma how well my mother and we little boys could handle (?)

  She decided to find out and knocked on the door of my home. Nobody came to open it, but there was light in the apartment that winter evening. She knew the key to the front door would be stored under the carpet in front of the door. She found it and opened the door. She saw us little boys fleeing under the kitchen table in fear.

  But the worst part was that my mom wasn't home and she saw a burning oil lamp left on the top level of a bookcase. Its hot flame had already burned the dark area of the ceiling of the wooden house and there was already some smoke in the room.

  It would only have been a short time that the house could have caught fire! My dear godmother Selma immediately removed the lamp and gave us the food she brought and fed us daily until my mother returned home from Alajärvi.

  Then Selma asked my mother, wondering why she had left her child alone and put the oil lamp on the top of the bookshelf, as the whole house had been on fire in minutes (?) My mother had responded to her: "The guardian angels do protect the small children." That's where Selma realized my mother was seriously mentally ill.

  Since then, our Heavenly Father used Selma as a "guardian angel" as long as my parents lived in Skaftung. I was grateful for it and went to see her a few times in the 1990s, when she had to lie down paralyzed for four long years in the Lohja hospital ward. Then she, as an old lady, gladly told me about her memories. At that time I lived in Turku.

  My mother was absolutely right that Protecting Angels are able to protect children. However, she did not realize that childcare should not be left only to the angels for a week, and then travel alone from home to her parents! I'm sure that Protecting Angels put in my dear godmother Selma's heart to visit us just then!


Moving to Nummela, Vihti, Southern Finland 1951

  After my father, Paulus, got a permanent job as an insurance salesman at Aura Insurance Company, then known as the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Association, alias Land-Aura, we moved to Vihti in Nummela.

  The reason was that my father's sales area had become Southern Finland. By then my mother Kerttu had given birth to us wild boys, Lars 4 years old, me (Leif) 2 years old and Klaus 1 year old. A little later my mother got a painful miscarriage and the baby girl died. As a result, she suffered from heavy bleeding.

  My parents were able to rent a small old cottage from the lands of Hurri Manor. It was located in the forest, on the bank of the river near the manor. Because my father's business spanned all of southern Finland all the way to Vaasa, he made by his car business trips of up to two weeks, trying to sell various types of insurance, mostly fire and life insurance.

  He was polite, good to talk to, and he was considered honest and trustworthy, which he always was. While he was on a business trip and my mother was ill, we boys often went to beg for food at Hurri Manor. The old widow lady there was always dressed neatly and had great pity on us hungry and dirty little boys. 
  

Begging for food

  One sunny winter day we went along a frozen river bank and made a beggar's trip to her and knocked on the front door. The mistress of the manor saw us but did not let us in because we were full of lice and fleas.

  I heard her say to her maid: "Again those hungry boys of Norrgård are at the door begging for food. Don't just let them in because they have lice, but take and give to them fried pancakes out to the stairs. They'll eat there!" We got them on beautiful plates with cutlery of silver forks and knives. We didn't get a drink, but we ate pancakes with great appetite.

  Pancakes with strawberry jam were a rare treat and we little boys managed to eat them with a fork and knife, even though it was difficult. I remember the warm dish warming my cold fingers. I'm still grateful for that old lady of the mansion because of her kindness, and now as an adult I understand her fear of lice and fleas. There were perhaps bedbugs in that little cottage too (?)

  My mother had never been particularly diligent in cleaning home, and at that time it probably would not have been possible to remove bedbugs from the cracks in the walls of the wooden house. In addition, mother often had internal bleeding at the time and, of course, she was tired. Once my older brother Lars was seriously ill with malnutrition and after our father came home from a long work trip he saw Lars in critical condition.

  I still remember the case. Lars was sick, malnourished and could not sleep or walk. My dad then gave Lars boiled raisins, feeding him with a spoon to mouth. It was as a result of my father's gentle care that he began to recover and heal. Back then, at the age of 2, I well understood that our father loved us at least as much or even more than our mother.

  My mother got miscarriage and heavy bleeding. She later told me that my dad didn't take her to the hospital, though she asked for it. According to mother, dad just laughed at her. According to mother, this created a lack of confidence between them.

  The lack of confidence only deepened because even though father had given mother a promise not drink alcohol as a condition for marrying, due to the nature of his job, father began to drink as part of his job demands. In order to be able to sell of fire and other insurance to rich farm owners, was an important part of work to offer them liquor to drink.

  For father it was easier to guide drunken customers to sign insurance contracts. It was deception, though commonplace at the time.


One sad memory

  Even though I was only 2 years old, I remember one home evening when my drunken father put some strong liquor in the coffee and gave it to Lars. Lars, then the 4-year-old started to mumble like a drunk and my mom got hot, saying, "Listen Paulus, now I'll put you to the choice: From this house, either a bottle of liquor or me and the boys have to leave, because for my children you must no longer offer alcohol to drink. Is it clear?"

  Of course, my father promised to be sober because he did not want to argue with his wife in hearing the children. We didn't live long in Nummela, because my dad, who was used to drinking regularly, was no longer able to stop drinking liquor completely and didn't even want to. He cared for his family financially and did not intend to spend the rest of his life in living at renting house.

  Nor did he like the fact that mother began to command him, bold and powerful in nature when they were both. Few men agree to be commanded by their wives. Sure, there are even men that like, but my dad was from another country. Drinking alcohol didn't hinder his work and he was always kind even when drunk.

  My dad never got a hangover. It may have been because he had been involved in the illicit liquor-brewing of his two brothers in his youth, and had drunk often and a lot of very strong drinks. He also believed that without liquor he would not have been able to sell insurance.

  In the end, my mother implemented her threat, took their wedding gift silverware, and us, her three sons with her, and we traveled to her parents in Alajärvi. She did it secretly, and I can only imagine what my dad felt in his heart, when he arrived at his dark winter home, which was deserted and cold.

  You see, dad really deeply loved all his sons, as well as my mother, and he would not have wanted to divorce her even though he knew mother was unexpected and very jealous. Despite his several persuasions, mother did not want to return to him. That's why dad finally started looking for a new woman to start a new family with.




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Chapter 2 - Years 1949-53 part 2/3




MEMORIES FROM ALAJÄRVI
Life on my grandparents' farm

  My mother's parents owned a large two-story farmhouse called Pohjala. A huge big birch grew in its yard. We, the three boys, were fond of birch and went to hug it so we reached out to hold each other's hands around it. Perhaps we were one of the first wood lovers in Finland!

  The arable land consisted of three long rows of turnips. Rye was also cultivated and we were self-sufficient in food. There were three cows in the cowhouse: Muurikki, Mansikki and Mustikki. In the stable was one horse and a few sheep. There were chickens in the yard and it was nice to follow, their constant picks of worms and pecking of grains.

  Once in the summer, I saw a chicken in panic behind an iron bed that was slanted on the wall of a barn. Its beak spilled blood. It was said to have survived the goshawk attack and fortunately it survived.


  I have such an obscure image that I saw that goshawk was flying downward near our yard and I shouted to my brothers, "Look how big a bird!" Perhaps the chickens heard my shout too, were also vigilant because of it, and survived the attack of goshawk.


I drowned in a forest muddy pond at the age of 3

  On the edge of the fields of the house was a small stream with a clear water. There was long and wide meadow on the other side the stream, behind which the forest. In the forest there was a small muddy pond. Mother warned us boys about the viper (snakes) that were in large numbers on the meadow and we were not even allowed to go to the pond. We boys thought that if we run barefoot fast enough, the viper wouldn't bite us.

  Because the mother made crafts at home, she could not always shepherd her sons. Most of the time we were allowed to be in our own yard. So one summer day, we secretly ran fast barefoot across a long meadow into the woods onto on a mud pond because it was exciting.

  There were a few rocks on the beach. We hopped from stone to stone. I decided to jump from a big stone to a swamp, but there was deep water underneath it and I slipped, dropping my head first so my head and my upper body down to the ankles sank into the mud. I was moved into another dimension where I was sitting on a green meadow. Initially, I was there alone and couldn't move myself, not even my little finger.

  Soon a small and petite bird came close to me and began to sing. It sang very beautifully, apparently to me. For a long time I listened to a beautiful bird singing, wondering where I was? When I finally woke up, I saw myself naked in a water filled tinned washing oval and looked into my mother's eyes. She smiled and said, "Now Leif is back to life!" My body was completely green with birch pollen. It had fallen into a mantle everywhere on the surface of the mud pond.

  Later, I wondered what accident had actually happened and came to the conclusion that I had been dead for maybe an hour. Lars (5 years old) had seen only my ankles on the water surface and he pulled me (3 years old) up. He asked Klaus (2 years old) to stay by my side and ran to tell mom what had happened. The distance to home was about 1 km. Mom came to see me with Lars and carried me home in her arms.

  She must have prayed for help from above, a devout believer when she was. None of them understood to give me artificial respiration. Still, I had the grace to return to life. Thank you to my Heavenly Father! HalleluYah! As a result was, that I had a temporary speech disorder and my godmother, Selma, said I stuttered for over a year.

  When I visited at my godmother Selma just after that, I was enthused and liked of their beautiful paintings and pointing at them and stuttering, "To, to, to, to!" It made Selma and Leve to smile. They had really awesome landscape paintings. I fully recovered from my speech problems in about 2 years.

  Maybe I got a slight brain damage due to lack of oxygen. That's what Adonai alone knows. However, I have been alive since that accident for almost 70 years, so the severe damage there are certainly not been.


The Guardian Angel helped Lars boy

  It happened wonderful to Lars when he was 5 years old. He slept on the top bed of the bunk bed and had a board placed at the edge so he wouldn't accidentally fall down while sleeping. One night the board had fallen down and Lars began to fall head first down, thinking he was asleep. 

  He woke up in the air, when an angel in a white robe took caught him, turning him to a sitting position and gently placing him on the floor. It didn't amaze the home crowd at all because we all believed in the existence of guardian angels. He told me, that he even on his 59's remembered that incident. I then remembered that incident myself and what my grandmother said with gratitude and joy.


My jaw was dislocated

  Mother's parents were not rich, but rather poor too. Frequently, hunger groaned in my gut, and when I asked my grandmother for bread, she gave me a stone hard bread cradle she had taken from the breadcrumbs on the roof. I went to the yard and tried to eat it with my little teeth with the consequence that my jaw went out of position. It is still dislocated.

  Some dentists notice this and ask, "Do you know that your jaw is not in right position?" I must had to live with that injury. Jaw joints not in right position. Therefore, biting is done only by the muscles, and jaw muscles get tired quickly when I chew bread or something hard.

  If my grandmother ought to had thought a little more, she would have put that piece of bread in the water to soften and asked me to wait a moment before I started chewing it.


The farmhouse' chores

  My mother didn't bother to cook oat porridge, but she nourished us by giving in water soaked oat flakes, which meant that the oat flakes were mixed with lukewarm water. Even then they swelled.

  I helped my grandmother with butter making by rotating the machine with torsion lever. Machine was filled with creamy whole milk. My parents and godparents have already been called to eternity.

  That is why I also endeavor to tell, without embellishment, the weaknesses that we all have, some have more and some less. Telling the facts in a friendly manner is part of honesty.

  I do not like the fact that in the funeral is often just praised the dead and spoken only good of him, even if he would have be quite evil, bad and even violent in his life. Nor should he be insulted, but him ought to be judged correctly.

  Even the evil father and unworthy mother are dear to their children, and the loss of parents is often a great sadness for children. In addition, time changes memories and children remember best the good things about their youth. It is the defense mechanism created by our Creator into the human heart.





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Chapter 3 - Years 1949-53 part 3/3




Slaughter of a favorite sheep


  When I was 3 years old, my brother and I were secretly trapped upstairs where we slept. We tried to come downstairs in the morning and called for help. We hoped someone would open the door. My brothers panicked when no one answered. Lars kicked the door, but it stayed closed. Since I am by nature a clever like my father, so I figured there would be some reason to avert us coming down.

  So I went upstairs to the window overlooking the front yard. It me shouldn't have done, because I am very sensitive to look at the blood! I saw through the window how my mother's brothet Väinö did lure a sheep between his legs with a piece of bread.

  When it came to him without a hunch of evil, Väinö grabbed it with his other hand tightly and killed that my favorite sheep with a knife. When I saw the blood flowing from the sheep, I began to cry, for I could not understand why that old and so dear mother sheep had to suffer such a cruel fate! Later I went to the slaughter site crying.

  My little brother Klaus was particularly fond of our horse and when it gave birth to a foal, Klaus said we other shouldn't touch the foal because it was his. Once when Klaus went to clap the foal on the butt, it kicked him so that he fell down on his back in the yard. 

  Fortunately, Klaus did not get any worse injuries, but he did get a good lesson from his greed. We cannot own animals, for the earth is Yehowah's, with its fullness; The world, and those who dwell therein. (Ps. 24: 1).

  Additionally it is written: >> 10 For every animal of the forest is His, And the cattle on a thousand hills. 11 He know all the birds of the mountains. The wild animals of the field are His. (Ps. 50:10-11). "...they (the chosen believers) were (only) strangers and pilgrims on the earth!" (Hebrews 11:13c). That is what we are today too!


"Poisoned candies"

  In Ostrobothnia, candies were called 'makoset'. My father missed us sons and we sons him, but my mother not allowed him to meet us because she had the right to patronize us all boys. My father sent us some fruit, oranges and a bag of candy for Christmas. I remember mother claiming that dad was trying to poison us with candies.

  So she cooked them first in boiling water and rinsed them before giving them to us. She believed that the "touch poison" contained in them would dissolve in boiling water. My grandmother corrected my mother saying kindly, "Don't spoil your precious and good candies! Paulus doesn't hate his children because he sends them Christmas presents as well."

  The mother did not listen to her mother, but was completely stranded in her fear, as most people with mental illness usually are. Even though I was only a little over 3 years old at the time, I listened to their conversation and realized that my mother was mentally ill and afraid of my father.

  Father told me 60 years later how mother had made his work difficult while the family was still living in Skaftung. When mother saw dad's address book with the names his clients, she sent a warning letter to all the women whose names she found there, in which she warned them not to socialize with my dad. Mom tore the address book and threw it in the trash!

  Dad said he didn't want to divorce his wife (my mother Kerttu) because he loved her, despite her quirks and hypochondria and jealousy. I learned a lot about my father's love for my mother!
  

The situation ended in divorce

  Mother filed for divorce at the pastor's office. Since my father was unable to live on celibacy, he began dating a smart divorced woman from Pusula, Somerniemi. The woman's name was Siiri Anteroinen, with maiden name Alhovuo. Siiri had divorced earlier from her husband, who was too often drunk. Dad and Siiri moved to the same apartment and started a new family.

  Mother withdrew her divorce application soon after she applied for it. She had read in the Bible that a woman should not request divorce from her husband. Her actions were also influenced by the fact that she heard that my father was already dating another woman. In addition, she regretted her starting of divorce process, but lost once and for all my father during that time.

  Her repentance was too late because my father had given her a year time to come back to him. He supported us children regularly with money and more.

  After that time had passed, my father did not believe my mother wanted to change her mind. In my opinion, the divorce was still the best solution because dad didn't want to stop alcohol drinking out. Therefore the divorce would have happen later to them anyway as a result of bitter disputes.

  The divorce apparently came into effect one year after my father had applied for it, because he felt my mother was just teasing him and trying to prevent him from marrying another woman by canceling her divorce application.

  I've never been told more about this process. I well understand my father's feelings and bitterness with the injustice he has experienced. After all, my mother had stolen table silver, their shared wedding gifts and other common property when moving to Ostrobothnia.

  My father, too, had made a crucial mistake in breaking his promise of sobriety. That and much more was just a result of it. That sadness touched us little kids the hardest! Because my dad was an insurance clerk, he had a typewriter and he knew the issues of divorce better than mother.

  Mother agreed that father handled the whole "paper war" (bureaucracy) of the divorce without a judge, as it saved costs. My cunning father noticed his chance had come.

  Mother told me decades later how my father had by fraud acquired right to patronage over me and she had been very bitter about it for decades. She said that she would not have given any of her sons to be patronized by a drunken father.
  

Stealing custody right by cheating

  Mother told me that father had prepared the necessary divorce papers and asked her quickly to sign them all, saying he had been in a hurry to somewhere.

  Because there were many papers, mother did not have time read them all. In two papers, it was written that mother would agree to give the custody of her son, Leif Norrgård, to his father, Paulus Norrgård.

  My father told me years later that he chose me because he wanted to protect me from my mother's unhealthy influence and because he loved me the most. That of course warmed my heart, but it was still wrong to love me more than my other brothers who still remained under my mother's patronage.

  Later I found out that both of my brothers had greatly missed father and also wanted to move to him. Stepmother Siiri didn't agree at the time. They had agreed together that Siiri's daughter Pirkko, from her first marriage, should be a member of that new reconstituted family. Pirkko is 5 months older than me.

  What was the real reason for dad's scam to motivate him patronize me, is told in the following chapter.




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Chapter 4 - Years 1953-61 part 1/4




The first prayer answer I received


  As soon as we boys learned to speak, my mother taught us to believe and trust in the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, and we had to pray the evening prayer every night:

  "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen." That prayer I knew by heart already at the age of 3.

  As a child, I believed wholeheartedly in Heavenly Father and Jesus, who loves us. I remember that at the age of 4, after that evening prayer, I thought that it was wrong that my mother take custody of all her sons and no allowed our father even to meet any of us.

  That is why, after an evening prayer, I stayed on my knees for a long time and secretly prayed a silent heart prayer saying:

  "Dear Jesus. You are a good and just God and you know that it is wrong that father haven't right to be patronized any of his sons and we cannot even meet him. I pray you send me to him, so that he is allowed to patronize me because I love him. I believe you are able and want to do that. Thank you! Amen".   
  
~ So did He, HalleluYah! ~


Soon I was the object of the struggle

  When mother finally realized what documents she had signed, she made every effort to prevent father from patronizing me. After all, she had been tricked into signing the transfer documents regarding the transfer of me to father's custody.

  At that time, my father lived in a small town in Lohja with Siiri and her daughter Pirkko. He drove from there twice by car to Alajärvi with the intention of pick me up, but mother, after receiving a letter from my father about his arrival, then took me into hiding place to his relatives.

  I remember one of those trips. It was summer and mom bought me a big tomato with the money she got from the tablecloths she sold. It tasted terribly bad and I said I didn't want to eat even though I was very hungry.

  We arrived in the evening to a family of one of his relatives. In the middle of the wooden house was a large table and a low wooden dish on the table, with potatous and herrings matured in the oven. The house host ate from it first. After that he handed the same wooden spoon to me, saying, "Come on, boy, sit down at the table and eat your stomach full!"

  I was so precise at the time that I could not imagine eating with dirty wooden spoon from the same container that someone else had already eaten from! Although I was real hungry, I said to mother, "Mom, I'm not hungry." It was a lie, because I didn't want to offend the house's host, who showed us his hospitality.

  Along the way, my mother came to a woman's house to evangelize, selling tablecloths she had woven. She said it cost FIM 1. The woman said she had no more than 90 pence. Mom said it was enough and sold the tablecloth. I saw the woman pick up those coins from a small porcelain bowl on the edge of the fireplace.

  I remember I was looking closely at her and seeing her humble and lovingkindness for us, strangers. She was a good-natured and neatly dressed pretty young woman with a long skirt down to her ankles and a neat apron wrapped around her.

  It is about 300 km (187 mi) from Lohja to Alajärvi and in vain driving there was very costly for father. Finally, he wrote to mother that when he'll come to pick me up for the third time, and if she would hide me again, he would immediately contact the police in the area who would then take her to prison.

  She was frightened of it and did not hide me anymore. Dad picked me up in his Gaz car and I was glad because I realized then that I had received the first concrete answer to my prayer in my life. HalleluYah!


Moving to Lohja 1954

  The car trip was exciting and it was nice to chat with dad for a long time. When I saw a big dog in the backyard of a farm, I said to dad, "What a big dog!" He asked, "How big?" I said it was the size of a horse. After hearing it, dad said that soon we would reach the bridge where the liars would fall into the river.

  I was scared and started to retract saying that the dog was not that big and when my dad said the bridge was already close, I admitted that the dog was of normal size. I was ashamed of being caught in a lie. It was a good lesson! 

  We arrived at the Lohja township center, where father's new family lived in a rented house, at Tehtaankatu 3. Next to the same house, in the courtyard, father's brother Leve and his family also lived. It was a pleasure to meet them and especially Selma again for a long time. Leve had moved at father's invitation to Lohja and father had helped Leve get a job as an insurance salesman.

  He spoke fluent Finnish and Swedish like father. Leve was not very successful at paperwork and father often took care of his paperwork, helping him with his accounting. Later, Leve went to work at a plywood mill only 300 m away. He was a carpenter by profession, and there he prospered and worked until he retired at 65.

  Stepmother Siiri was a skilled hairdresser and she practiced her profession in our home, which included a hairdressing saloon facing the street. As the cellulose mill was only about 300 m away, I felt a terrible, even dizzying bad odor as soon as we arrived in Lohja. Fortunately, I didn't notice it after a week! Man will soon get used even to the worst odor.


I got better living conditions

  Right away I noticed how cool and clean our new home was. I was immediately cleaned of lice and fleas. Siiri was very precise about her cleanliness and I really appreciated her. She was able to make good food from simple and cheap food ingredients. For the first time in my life, I got to eat my stomach full of nutritious food every day. Then I was 5 years old.

  We went to the rental sauna every Saturday to wash and take a steam bath. Pirkko and I always got our own bottle of lemonade, often sweet and non-alcoholic Keko Sahti, which was dark brown and even better taste than Coca Cola! I was so grateful for having such a good living from my Heavenly Father!

  I got a paper money for a birthday present and Siiri said, "Leif , go to shop and buy yourself a bag of candy." I went to the store, but I no longer remembered the word candy. I asked the seller for a bag of "makosia". She didn't understand and after a while I pointed at the candy dishes. At that time, the candies were sold loose in large glass jars.

  The seller used a little scoop to take the candies into a paper bag, which was then weighed. I returned home with satisfaction and gave the exchange money to Siiri. For the first time I lived in an densely inhabited little town and there was a lot of wonder. Large, timber-carrying trucks drove daily up and down hill our steep Tehtaankatu, where we were lived.

  According to Siiri, the truck driver stopped the truck, came and took me in his arms and carried me to the side, next to the road saying: "Listen boy. It's dangerous lie down the street, so you'd rather lie here than on the road." I remember the case differently.

  Since I had a playground only the sidewalk, right outside our home at the time, I was lying there and the passing truck driver thought that I was hurt because I was lying on my back without moving.

  He came and lifted me up. Stepmother saw only it, when I was already in the trucker's lap and she thought I had been lying on the road. As a shy and timid, I didn't tell stepmother about it. She was strong-willed woman and I was afraid of her.




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