Wedding in Finland

On January 18, 1991, there was a wedding in Finland for Heidi Nevanlinna and Bernt Aksel Larsen. A busload of guests from Oslo were going, including Bernt Stadven, Olaf Bekkevold, me and others. Sigurd Bratlie also attended the wedding, but he traveled by plane.

We had a blessed and, in many ways, quite unusual trip. Just as we were leaving, King Olav died. While we were on the way, the Gulf War broke out. This created a great seriousness among the young people, who were in the spirit of revival. The bus trip was a feast of fun, meetings, songs and music. Olaf Bekkevold, on the other hand, wasn’t having such a good time. It was no doubt weighing heavily on him that the content for the gatherings came largely from Kåre Smith and Bernt Stadven. The Sunday after the wedding there was a regular meeting in Finland, and Sigurd Bratlie spoke from Acts 20:29-30. “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.” Olaf Bekkevold didn’t want to travel back to Oslo by bus, so he arranged to go in a private car. Then, on the ferry to Stockholm, he allowed all the pent-up evil in his heart to flow out.