Unforgettable fishing trips
As I started to remember the fishing trips, let me tell you a few more! When I was about 11, I rowed in a boat to lift nets we put down near the beach. I rowed and dad raised them. Soon, he said a large sinking log had caught the net and asked me to keep the boat firmly in place even in the wind.
Suddenly he shouted, "There's a huge pike in the net!" Then there was only a big water swirl and that "sinking log" was swimming away. While I was living in Siuntio and being with my brothers Lars and Pertti at Kirkkojoki, we were fishing for the first time on a clear water branch with a lure. For the first time ever, fishing with a lure in the Purnus River Valley area, Pertti got a brook trout weighing exactly 2 kg on his first throw!
In the coming years, we didn't get any so big trout. Once a couple of years later (1963) I got a 1 kg brook trout. The brook trout is a very beautiful fish in color and a rarity. That Purnus is located north of the center of the village. Kirkkojoki river joins at Prästgården into a single river with two distinct branches.
The right branch is clear water. It originates from Karhujärvi and flows through the forests. The left branch starts from three ditches, north of the Lappers. Those three ditches flow through the fields and therefore the water is always cloudy.
Another father's large residential and commercial building was only about 200m from the medieval St. Peter's Church. The church has the coats of arms of the nobles and their names on metal plates as if they were better people in the afterlife.
So many of those ancient Christians and nobles have mistaken in much! Time has not changed since. While living in Siuntio and working as a salesman at a butcher shop in Lohja on weekdays, I went to see a fish trap I made, which I had placed about 500 m distance up the Kirkkoki River.
In it were three pikes, the largest weighing 2 kg and the other two weighing 1 kg each. Since I did not have a plastic bag with me, I carried them one by one on the riverbank for about 50 m at a time until I could bring them all home.
I took them with me and cycled to the butcher shop in Lohja and sold them to the shopkeeper, Lasse Höysniemi. He put them on the meat desk to sale and the customers bought them all fresh on that day.
I'll tell you about a christmas eve when Siiri asked all of us older siblings to go ice fishing on the Black Pond, which was 3km away. She wanted to get us out of the house so she could cook christmas delicacies.
We were happy to go fishing and walk through the fields and eventually in the woods, each treading a path to the snow. We didn't catch a single fish. Although we also visited lake Lammasjärvi, we couldn't get any fish there.
In addition, it was so cold day that if we had not set fire to the branches of the tree on the ice, we would have really been frostbitten. After all, it was a very cold day, the sky had turned red already before our trip. We call this kind of weather frosty fire.
Returning along the same path in the light of the moon and stars, it was already late evening. The trip was particularly memorable. When we got home, I began to feel severe pain in my toes and fingers, which had become numb in the frostbite. The warm blood started to circulate again in the feet and hands. Fortunately we did not get any frostbite.
Fishing at a small pond
Finally, I will tell about a fishing trip I made with my school friend Henttu. He had found a small pond in the woods, where we caught a pike at every throw! I went there with him to fish with lure. We really got a pike with every throw.
When three pikes were already in my bag and a fourth was now caught in the lure, I saw a big and angry man running along the shore of the pond towards us shouting swear words in Swedish. Henttu ran away, but I couldn't because I had a big fish in the lure then.
The man was a Swedish-speaking police officer from Siuntio who owned the fish pond! I apologized and said I didn't know the pond was his. When I handed the fishes to him, he settled down, received them, and allowed me to go my way in peace.
Stealing cherries
Henttu also attracted me to cherry thieves in the large cherry garden of the Hömans in the center of the village. We went there at midnight. I climbed into a big and old cherry tree. It had two big branches and when I was at the top it broke up from top to bottom. My trouser leg was caught a branch.
Mr. Höman woke up and put the lights in the living room to see what was going on in the garden. Henttu had already escaped and I finally managed to get my trouser leg off the branch and run away. At home, I noticed that my wallet had fallen by the tree. It had a bank note for FIM 5 and a piece of paper, written my name on it.
Years later I tried to apologize to Höman, who runs the village shop, but he didn't spoke Finnish at all, and I didn't speak Swedish at that time. One woman tried to interpret my speech. Höman didn't seem to understand. Maybe he had forgotten the whole thing by his old age (?)
A big dog did bite me on a crab trip
At the age of 14, I and Henttu had secretly caught crabs in river in the north of Purnus. We cycled from there very early in the morning, passing Prästgården. Then I heard the barking of a large mixed breed terrier and when I had a torch in my hand it came running after me, a watchdog it was. Henttu had already cycled far away up the hill.
I pedaled as fast as I could, but because there was a slight uphill, the dog finally reached me. I was startled when it bit my shin. I felt it bit me through the rubber boots to the shin muscle. Something bad might also happen to the dog. Perhaps its foot hit the spokes of the wheel as it escaped as I came down from the fillar.
The scar is still in my shin muscle. Luckily I did not get any rabies as the dog bited my foot through the rubber boots and the wool socks to clean it's teeth adequately if it had rabies.
Another encounter with a dog
I remember another encounter with a big angry dog. At that time, I was still living in Ojamo, Lohja and I was then a small and feeble boy, about 7 years old.
Next to my home, towards the center of Lohja, was a dense forest with lots of wild berries, blueberries and lingonberries. From there, we collected large quantities of dry fir cones for 'firewood' for the winter. Once, I accidentally went too close to a large detached house on the other side of the forest.
A big angry shepherd dog rushed out of the yard and ran straight towards me. The same dog had once driven my older sister and my older brother to climb the tree. It was really scary and fierce to defend its territory. I didn't dare to run away because I expected it to bite me then.
I just stood there and raised my legs quietly because we were next to a big ants nest and the ants were biting me. I prayed for help from above. The dog growled its time, but the ants began to climb along its legs as well and started bite it. Then the dog leaved me and returned to its own home yard. HalleluYah!
Consolation through sleep
At about the age of 16, I was spending summer in Siuntio and was seriously ill. I was scared to die the next night. I prayed for mercy and increased life. That night I had a dream where I was standing on a big rock with my hands raised toward the blue sky as if waiting for help from above.
I saw a white object bouncing around from above and it stopped in front of me in the air. It was white cardboard, about A5 in size, half the size of a standard typewriter. It came between my hands and I started read it. It contained my full name in capital letters. Then, with a little text, there was some writing I didn't see.
At the bottom left was a pink stamp with a slightly oblique stamp: Jesus Christ. At the bottom of the paper was the date and I thought the place was heaven. It wasn't, but the place was 'Jeesuksela'. Also the place where Jesus lives.
Although I couldn't figure out the small text, I foresaw it was comforting, because in the morning I woke up perfectly healthy. HalleluYah!
I was tried to rob
While studying for a second year at Oy Strömberg Ab's machine shop school, when I returned from summer vacation, I decided move my bike by cycling from Siuntio to Pitäjänmäki. The distance there was about 44 km and it was a tough ride for a bike without gears, also because there was a strong headwind almost all the way. I had never cycled such a long journey at once before.
It was late August and I arrived at Coffee house, very tired, about 1 km north of Espoo Cathedral, where Ikea is now located. By then, two-thirds of the journey had already been made. I saw two big youngsters running from that Coffee house, facing me, and shouting, "Stop now!"
Immediately I realized they want to rob me and intend to steal my bike. Luckily there was a gentle downhill ahead and I started to cycle with all my strength. The boys ran some distance behind me and almost caught me, but eventually turned back. I was wet in sweat and the pulse had increased dramatically.
When I realized I had gone far enough and when I realized how close they were to reaching me, I was very grateful to Yehowah who gave me strength enough to escape them. HalleluYah!
Fun case at the Strömberg's vocational school
We went during gymnastics hour to swim by the sea at Tali. There were swimming tracks between two wharfs about 25 m apart. We had to swim race that distance. I was a good swimmer and had already swim my turn.
When my school mate Eikka Lehtonen had to swim, he jumped into the sea, but disappeared and we started to wonder where he was? Soon we saw him climbing up holding to the platform pillar with both hands, and he said, "There was so bad cramp in my leg that I stopped swimming."
He later told his friends that he couldn't swim and didn't want to tell a physical education teacher. Because Ensio was from Polvijärvi (it is: knee + lake), there is humor in it: There's only water up to the knees in that lake, so you don't have to learn to swim!
Playing card games all night long
Although gambling was forbidden at school, we sometimes played cash poker in a smaller dormitory next to the big dorm, even overnight. It was a really nasty feeling to go to work early in the morning after losing nearly a week's pay in poker one night.
The game got me hooked and I decided to get rid of that craving. I prayed for help from above and made a promise, "My dear Heavenly Father, if you allow me to receive the FIM 120 I lost last night, I promise to stop playing money entirely." To my surprise, later on, my truly insane prayer was heard and answered! So gracious my dear Creator is!
I won all the big pots the next night! We had the rule that the winner had to continue that night as long as at least one player wanted to continue. A crafty card player, whose name I am not going to tell you here, said, "Lefa's luck simply can't last all night, so I challenge him to play." I was praying for help from above!
After many hours, he was finally ready to give up. By then, I had already won FIM 180 that night, and got more back what I had lost the previous night. There was one dangerous situation at night when he had a winner cards in his hand and I had a good cards too. He forgot to raise the stake, so he didn't win with winner cards like a small pot.
When he finished, he said, "You had an unbelievable luck all night!" Since I promised to Yehowah Elohim to stop playing for money, if I win, I have no longer played the card for money! See. Ps 76: 12-13.>>12. Make promises and keep them to Yehowah your Elohim. All who live around him bring gifts to the Fearful, 13. who humbles the courage of the princes and is to be feared by the kings of the earth.<<
I'm sure that some cheated at card plays, because their buddies were transmitted by secret signs to his friends, what cards the other players in his hand. I had no such help because my roommates were smarter than me and didn't play money games.
Anyway, it was wise to stop playing completely. In addition, I was better of working at the factory after sleeping well. It should be emphasized that fatigue would also have resulted in a high risk of accident at work.
I noticed my strengths at school
In the last two school years, I noticed my own strengths during the theory period. I received commendable grades, it is 9 of no less than 4 subjects: mathematics, swedish, english and machine drawing. I was best able to solve the missing images in the machine drawing exercises.
I should have gotten 9 also in electrical machine learning since I got grade 9 + from the only exam we had. I only got 8 on that certificate.
It reminded me that I also got 9 + in the only agricultural test in the 7th grade of the civic school, but the teacher only gave me 8 in the certificate, saying "You don't know agriculture so well because your dad is not a farmer".
I was near to say that the school measures students 'data only on the basis of what they learned at school and on the exams, not on the basis of parents' occupations. I kept silent and said nothing.
Obtaining a driving license
I went to Nygård Driving School with my roommate Jarmo Palmu when I was 19 years old. In insider driving, I was close to make such a big mistake that I would not have passed the driving test. I had to drive straight ahead in the center of the Helsinki for as long as allowed by the road signs.
If it wasn't, then I had to turn right first, and if I couldn't get there, then left. The sun dazzled while I was driving so I didn't immediately notice that the street I was driving ended in the forbidden drive direction and I had already reached the center line of the intersection until I saw the forbidden direction and steered the car right.
The test supervisor said I was really close to getting rejected! The rest of my driving test went well. Jarmo also survived and the theory test well. I had problems with the theory test because the test room's window was open and a wood pile was hammered to the ground next to the window. It produced a loud hammering sound at regular intervals.
It disturbed my concentration so much that I had to pray for help from above. When I heard about the test results, I was told that I had not answered to 3 questions at all, but because they were in different categories, I passed the test.
Up to 3 errors allowed! I was a special case. I have been in many other mind a kind of borderline case, ie I have survived as at school than at work many bouts or "barely passed the test." This is also made clear by the fact that I will continue to tell you about awkward situations. I am convinced that Yehowah has helped me in them! HalleluYah!
I got the last points to HTOL
A nice co-worker at the Strömberg's shaft grinding section asked me to pursue HTOL, the Helsinki Technical School. I got excited about it. After graduating from vocational school in the spring of 1968, I submitted an application. I participated in the entrance examinations immediately that summer.
There were also difficult entrance examinations, especially in mathematics, which also included a couple of algebra exercises. I didn't know them and I was sure I had to get all the other math problems right if I was to get into HTOL. Again, I had to pray earnestly because the other two math questions were so difficult. Prayer helped again!
I got all of them right, like everyone else, except algebra problems, which I didn't even try. I got in HTOL on the first try and with the lowest score, according to the stated points!
Although a few others got just as few points and got on the same Machine Design Course III, it was once again a miracle in my life to reach with the smallest margin to HTOL! HalleluYah! My friend strove to a parallel course, a Machine Manufacturing course, and got there. If I remember correctly, he had tried to go there before, without getting there.
Dangerous departure party from Strömberg
That nice guy was a real celebrator. He also managed to get me involved. We bought 2 bottles of Hungarian white wine each and decided to drink them on the last day of work, 2 bottles each! Right in the morning, even before work started, we emptied one bottle each.
At noon, that my friend went to meet the boss and said he couldn't work any further and went home. I couldn't do it myself. I had been given the most difficult sanding job in my time at Strömberg on that day! I did drink another whole bottle and prayed for help from above.
I used the rotary grinding machine to grind the mounting bolts to connect the double rotors of the largest hydropower plant. The bolts surfaces had to have mirror surfaces of almost four triangles. The bolts had to be with a 1/1000 cone precision and 0,001 mm Tolerance precision for output diameters.
It was a really demanding job, even for sober! I remember walking slowly, slightly crouching to try the bolts on the rotor cone holes, and one man stared at me for a long time. He couldn't believe I was a drunk. Maybe he assumed I was tired or handicapped (?)
I still remember how to grind those bolts with a rotary grinder. It had a large grinding wheel about 80 cm in diameter with a rotation speed of about 2000 rpm, which had to be carefully hydraulically adjusted to grind the rotating taper bolt. If it had been allowed to come too hard on the bolt, the grinding wheel would have broken down, its pieces and the taper bolt flown with great force on my face!
The scale of grinder had always been difficult to see because it was too small. Before I always had to lean over and look closely at its small, dim and worn numerical values, but to my surprise that day I saw them clearly as if them were much larger, clear and lifted up to my face level!
That's why I managed to finish all the bolts before the work day ended! However, the next day I called the boss and asked if the inspector approved the bolts (?) Yes! He had done so! HalleluYah!
I have often thought afterwards how great grace was given to me in that situation, because the risk of an accident was really great. I had never before and after that been drunk at work and not at school! I also have wondered the great love that our Creator has loved me with, even though I've been such a fool many times.
I have been a fool in much other contexts, as is clear from later writings. Why would I give too good a picture of myself? Here too, there is a particularly great reason to say: HalleluYah!
The only thing I did right after drinking 1.5 liters of Hungarian white wine (two bottles of 0.75 liters) was that I prayed to Adonai to give me protection. I really got it and in a supernatural way.
I've been completely sober since 1970. Since then I have been a teetotaler and recommend it to everyone!
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