How Everything Started

In 2002, three Finnish ladies had an encounter with God and because of it headed out to Kenya. There in Mombasa they participated in a Christian conference and met a pastor and his wife, who told them about the miserable conditions facing the widows and orphans.

Little by little the catastrophic situation in Kenya began to dawn on the ladies. Kenya has 2,6 million AIDS-patients, which is the cause for a massive number of orphans. An estimated 600 people die daily from the disease. Due to the lack of social welfare, nobody takes care of the widows and orphans.

The crude shelters in the slums, wherein the poor live, are made from worthless material and have neither locks nor doors. The women living in such conditions have no protection if their own husband has died. In African culture, the woman receives her identity from her husband. The man is responsible for educating the children as well as protecting and sustaining the family. The woman without a man has no physical or sexual protection. The only help to widows and orphans have come from Christian churches that have undertaken the responsibility of supporting them.

When the Finnish ladies began to comprehend the destitution of the women and children, they were shocked and promised to do everything they could to help them. Hope for Tomorrow’s chairman, Outi Välimaa, felt that this was the purpose of her existence. After apprehending the situation, she said that she was willing to go, even to the President of Finland, to ask for help for the AIDS widows and orphans! All this she said to the pastor and his wife during the conference trip, and was herself astonished for making promises that she had not thought of beforehand. On the same day of the conference at a dinner table, Outi met Catherine Obwogo, the associate dean of the Bible school there. After a conversation with her Outi asked her to come to Finland to minister during the following summer. Catherine promised to come.

Having returned home the ladies got cold feet. They thought of talking too much and not being able to stand up to their promises. They even tried to forget what they had seen and heard. Outi thought that in reality they weren’t able to help anyone and regretted having said anything. Then she went to a ladies prayer meeting and told them what had happened in Kenya. She was going to write a polite letter, apologizing for all she had said, and back out of her promises.

Then one of ladies started to cry. She said of having received a prophecy not long ago about her having something to do with African children. The utterance of that woman was like adding fuel to the flame. Outi’s faith was rekindled to believe that when God was for them, helping the people in Kenya would not be impossible, even though man himself would have nothing at all.

The ladies decided that this matter was not going to be left at rest. So they established an organization and perceived that this was the purpose they had begun to meet in the first place. The organization was given a name, and then the Lord gave them the scripture from Psalm 68:5: "A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation."

The ladies continued on praying for the next step. Outi didn’t want the organization registered just yet. She wanted from the Lord confirmation as firm as a rock to be sure that this was not of man, but of God. They got all their registration papers ready to be sent out. At Outi’s request, they waited on the Lord for a seal of confirmation before proceeding any further.

They waited and waited, and Outi faithfully kept the registration papers for the organization in her bag. One day she received a letter from Kenya. Catherine was inquiring if the ministry trip to Finland would work out. Jari Välimaa, Outi’s husband, vicar of Vilppula, said he would arrange a speaking engagement for her during Midsummer’s festival. At the very moment when Catherine was invited to Finland, a person showed up promising to pay all her travelling and other expenses.

But the official initiation of the organization was still at a halt. Outi waited for a confirmation from the Lord. In May of 2003, prophet David Saunders from the U.S.A. was preaching at Tampere. Unexpectedly Saunders said that there is a woman here with a pink jacket, that where are you. Then he spoke directly to Outi from the basis of 2 Kings 4, saying, "You have said that you have nothing, but you have a gift and a call from God. Put that "nothing" into action and begin to fill the jars with oil. Prophet Elisha told the woman to send out his sons to go borrow many empty vessels, from all her neighbors, that she could pour out of her only jar and fill all the empty vessels with oil. Remember to bring many empty vessels, not just a few, because the widow probably felt troubled when there were no more empty vessels. If she had known that the oil would stop multiplying when there were no more empty vessels, she would have probably gathered many more empty vessels. Remember to gather many, many empty vessels! Many of them! Then you can rejoice in what the Lord is doing for a long time.

Outi had asked the Lord to seal this matter, but didn’t realize that it would be given to her so publicly and clearly. Straightaway she went to take the papers down to the mailbox at the Tampere train station. At the mailbox, a little five year-old African girl came and stood before Outi. She looked at Outi with her big round eyes, with her head tilted, as though expecting something. Outi was amazed and spontaneously knelt down in front of the girl, and asked her in English what her name was and where she came from. The girl replied in Finnish: I Am. She paused and then continued: From here.

Outi felt extremely good to be near the girl. She looked up and saw three African women with two very old baby carriages. The women seemed to be very tired so Outi helped them out the door. From there they headed toward the traffic lights. Outi figured that this five year-old girl was their child, and marvelled that God had sent Africans into this particular situation, right in the middle of mailing these papers! For three years she had often been to the same train station, and had never bumped into Africans, even less into little African children late in the evening.

Outi thought this was a great confirmation from the Lord to the matter at hand. Then she went outside and noticed the girl had not gone with the African women! There she was standing, the little girl, in the same place outside, as if she was waiting for Outi. Then Outi asked her in Finnish if her mother was from Kenya. The girl said nothing, only nodded, and went away.

Outi stopped to think how she should go and help the girl home. She looked around, but saw no Africans and the girl had vanished. The burden was quickly gone. She realized this was an encounter with the Lord, and it felt exceedingly great. Outi thought if the Africans she saw at the Tampere train station were God’s angels in human form. When she headed to the car, her husband looked at her and asked what had happened, for he read in Outi’s face that she had seen the Lord.

After the Lord had given this impressive cofirmation none of the ladies had room for any doubt that Hope for Tomorrow wouldn’t be God’s work! And it was also evident in practicality: matters began to advance at a great rate of speed, and the registration was finished in less than a week. Normally this process would take around four months. The permission to raise money was granted in a few days, when usually it takes weeks! This is the pace of Hope for Tomorrow!

Transcribed from Outi Välimaa’s interview, compiled by Seija Pajatie